More from Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and more: all the news about the handheld PC gaming revolution
Listen along (use this link to get it in your podcast player of choice) as The Verge’s David Pierce discusses the current flood of portable gaming systems with Polygon editors Chris Plante and Russ Frushtick.
Yes, there’s plenty of focus on the portable gaming PC movement led by the Steam Deck, Rog Ally, and company, but there’s also consideration for the Switch and even your iPhone or Android device.
GPD, a boutique handheld PC maker that’s been kicking around long before the Steam Deck, is now pointing the finger at AMD for failing to deliver an entire batch of 7840U chips for its Win Max 2.
Practically every PC gaming handheld maker save Valve uses this chip or derivatives. Maybe a shortage? Bad blood? We’ve asked AMD to comment. Ayaneo has a clamshell coming out too...
Better known as the Ayaneo Slide, the company’s first handheld gaming PC with a keyboard (despite GPD filling the gap with many, many QWERTY-equipped entries, including the upcoming Win Mini) is among a slew of Steam Deck rivals with AMD’s 7000-series chip built-in, as well as a 6-inch 1080p screen, and Hall effect joystick / trigger setup.
The full details and price haven’t been revealed yet, but Ayaneo’s Indiegogo page is taking sign-ups for people who want alerts to lock in the lowest price possible right away.
If you took a Framework Mainboard, added a battery, screen and speakers, and stuck it all inside a case with slots for a pair of Nintendo Switch-style detachable Bluetooth controllers, you wouldn’t just have a poor man’s Lenovo Legion Go.
You’d have a gaming portable you can upgrade, potentially year after year, just by swapping that mainboard out. Why do I bring this up? Well:
The Steam Deck is discounted again, now up to 20 percent off for Steam’s 20th anniversary. Valve is selling its handheld PC for $359.10 ($39.90 off) for the 64GB model, $449.65 ($79.35 off) for the 256GB, and $519.20 (about $130 off) for the 512GB with an anti-glare screen. Even Valve’s dock is 20 percent off.
These are the best prices on Steam Decks right now, as the refurbished models are sold out. The promo runs until September 21st.
With Steam Deck competitors on the rise, Microsoft has been focused on phones for Xbox Cloud Gaming so far.
You can now nab a 2TB Sabrent Rocket Q4 for just $200 at Amazon — it’s typically $220–$260, and originally cost $300+ until SSD prices fell off a cliff.
2TB is the biggest you can easily fit into a Steam Deck, ROG Ally or Surface, because a single-sided M.2 2230 only has room for one flash chip.
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[Amazon.com]
Before you play on Ally, you may want AMD’s new graphics driver issued especially for this game. It seems playable plugged in.
Before you buy for Deck, know that GamingOnLinux couldn’t maintain 30fps even on the lowest settings; see video below. It’s a CPU-bound game on many planets, my colleague Tom tells me.
GamingOnLinux’s Liam Dawe reports it’s only available in advanced update channels right now, but should be part of the upcoming SteamOS 3.5 stable release. (3.5 also brings HDR for external screens.)
If you’re considering one of the new Steam Deck screen replacements, this might be a reason to wait?
iFixit sells the genuine Valve anti-glare screen for $100, including its microwavable iOpener tool to help loosen adhesive. Jsaux’s version has an electroplated oleophobic coating to resist fingerprints (which Valve’s admittedly attracts.)
I can’t say which is better, but it means we’ll soon have three replacement screen options — the third being the upcoming higher-resolution, more colorful DeckHD. None of them are beginner-friendly, with the latter also requiring a BIOS patch.
Can’t think of anyone I’d rather beat me to a handheld console than Taki Udon — and he’s just gotten hands on the Ayaneo Kun.
Its 75Wh battery dwarfs the one in the Steam Deck, it’s got a larger brighter 8.4-inch screen that goes down to 35Hz, and it not only sports a pair of Deck-esque trackpads and full button parity but a Deck-like UI as well. The big remaining questions: Battery life? Price? Can it ditch Windows?
New updates let you add a “hold to repeat” function to most buttons on the $700 Windows gaming handheld — or unmap them entirely. The joystick should now be more responsive on the desktop too, due to a smaller dead zone. Full changelog at the link below.
I can’t test because my units are with Asus. For now, I’ve moved onto testing an Ayaneo Geek which is... well, better than the last one I tried!
[rog-forum.asus.com]
Valve deemed it “playable” at launch, but apparently things have improved in a single day? Yesterday, GamingOnLinux, one of the sources I trust, certainly wouldn’t have agreed that the game’s default config “performs well on Steam Deck.”
Is it working well for you there?