Orange Pi enters handheld PC space with Orange Pi Neo, a Ryzen 7840U-powered handheld gaming device

Official product render of the Orange Pi Neo and its 2 color variations.
Official product render of the Orange Pi Neo and its 2 color variations. (Image credit: Orange Pi, Manjaro)

Joining the ever-increasing roster of Radeon 780M-powered handhelds like the ROG Ally, the Orange Pi Neo has joined the fray as a high-end handheld competitor [h/t VideoCardz]. Since it has the same iGPU and 7-inch screen as the Ally and the same 7840U CPU as competing handhelds (Ally uses the near-identical Z1 Extreme instead), it has a considerable performance advantage over the Steam Deck, which is still capable of pushing many modern titles with low-resolution scale, FPS cap, or both.

Unlike past devices from manufacturer Orange Pi, the Orange Pi Neo is not a Raspberry Pi alternative. Instead, it's joining a competitive market in (most likely, specs considered) the $600-$1000 handheld PC range, where one begins to make a major choice between the Steam Deck OLED's gorgeous display and the more powerful Radeon 780M handhelds which trade-off OLED for still-vibrant but less-accurate IPS panels.

Other specs listed on Manjaro's Orange Pi Neo page are mostly a match with what we've come to expect, though, including RGB lighting on the analog sticks, a 1080p-class (technically 1200p) 120 Hz display, and a 16GB LPDDR5 starting RAM configuration. Compared to the 16GB of 6400 MT/s RAM on the Ally, the Orange Pi Neo's starting 16GB is actually faster at 7500 MT/s and can be boosted to a 32GB configuration.

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Christopher Harper
Contributing Writer

Christopher Harper has been a successful freelance tech writer specializing in PC hardware and gaming since 2015, and ghostwrote for various B2B clients in High School before that. Outside of work, Christopher is best known to friends and rivals as an active competitive player in various eSports (particularly fighting games and arena shooters) and a purveyor of music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Killer Mike to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack.