More from Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and more: all the news about the handheld PC gaming revolution
From Asus and, seemingly, Xbox. My colleague Tom Warren reported earlier this month about how the two companies were working together.
Busy time for gaming handhelds!
That’s Valve’s bullet point in its SteamOS 3.7.0 Preview patch notes about the promised ability to install SteamOS on other handhelds. That feature is expected to officially launch as soon as April, so it tracks that Valve is introducing it in the Preview branch now.
[store.steampowered.com]
Do you have an OG Asus ROG Ally with a 40Wh pack? Jsaux, the biggest name in handheld accessory innovations, is now selling a 65Wh upgrade kit for $80. It comes with a slightly thicker back cover and an extended heatsink too. If that’s not enough battery, iFixit’s slightly hackier mod can give you an ROG Ally X-beating 88Wh. Jsaux seems to be out of stock, but you can smash a “notify me” button.
Thin enough to fit inside the Steam Deck’s case, protects joysticks and screen, unfolds to become a magnetic stand — dare I back it? Well, Shane Blomberg tells me his partners have lined up a factory that serves Incipio and Tumi; his partner Scott Truong has designed goods for both those brands; it takes minimal tooling to make this a reality, and that they’ve successfully shipped a pair of previous Kickstarters.
Oh, and they say they’ve already tested the magnets to ensure no interference with the Steam Deck’s fan.
4
Verge Score
Wrong price, wrong guts.
Chris Plante! How dare you suggest the device I called “the most exciting PC handheld” is better than the Steam Deck because it’s “on steroids in every way?”
Plante, direct-messaging me on Slack:
For me being on steroids is not inherently a good thing. people’s hearts explode and their privates shrink
Oh! Well then. That DOES sound like the pre-production model they sent me. For a better “Steam Deck Plus” experience in the meanwhile, try this!
To make the Steam Deck even more portable, modder Crastinator-pro stripped the handheld down to the bare essentials needed to play games while connected to a TV or pair of AR glasses.
The smaller and lighter Steam Brick says goodbye to the Steam Deck’s screen, controls, and battery and stuffs the remaining electronics into a custom 3D-printed housing featuring just a USB port and a power button.
It might be time for a more unified platform.
I added controllers to a 13-inch gaming tablet and I don’t regret it.
Ever wanted to have dinner with The Verge’s staff, shooting the shit about gadgets? Here’s the next best thing: we filmed a roundtable chat over our actual team dinner at CES in Las Vegas; this clip is just a taste.
If you’d rather have more photos and not-quite-details about this prototype, find ‘em here.
The SteamOS and/or Windows-toting Lenovo Legion Go S was the best handheld of CES 2025, but it wasn’t the only Lenovo portable I took for a spin! The third time was the charm for this detachable-controller and kickstand Legion Go 2 prototype, which I found working at the third venue I encountered it.
The Intel Lunar Lake handheld, on sale now, looks and feels SO much better than the original, and I hear it performs far better, too.
Lenovo sent Dave2D an entire pre-production unit of the soon-to-be Steam-ified Legion Go S, complete with its Lenovo-exclusive AMD Z2 Go chip, so he’s got the best look yet. You can see its full-length SSD slot here (with spacer for smaller drives) for easy upgrades.
He also ran early benchmarks that suggest it’ll surely have more performance than the Steam Deck. We both agree it won’t be a battery life champ.
Physically, and on paper, I would pick this one over the original Legion Go in a heartbeat. It feels so much better — and it’s the first third-party handheld with SteamOS, which vastly improves that feel.
Sorry I couldn’t provide any performance or battery impressions, though: this unit has an old Z1 Extreme chip inside, no intensive games on display, not even a Portal 2 savegame.
The Legion Go S is the immediate successor to the Legion Go handheld, minus the detachable gamepads / mouse / kickstand and plus a SteamOS option. But a Legion Go 2 is coming sometime in 2025, Lenovo has announced.
Specs include Ryzen Z2 Extreme, an 8.8-inch 144Hz OLED screen with VRR (!), and a big 74Wh battery. This one didn’t turn on, but the grips are definitely comfier!
Valve just squashed its second Steam Deck-adjacent rumor in one day. “We’re not currently working with GPD on official SteamOS support,” Valve designer Lawrence Yang tells The Verge.
GPD said it planned to offer SteamOS on its Win 4 handheld, “with system adaptation provided by Valve.” Ayaneo once claimed to have SteamOS too. We’re expecting Lenovo to announce the first third-party SteamOS handheld this week.
[GamingOnLinux]
It’s co-developed with Tencent, it’s called the Sunday Dragon, and it’s absolutely huge with an 11-inch autostereoscopic screen (like the Nintendo 3DS but massive). I nearly dropped it trying to remove its detachable controllers.
The 3D popped to life just fine for me, and while the heft gave me pause, the grips are sculpted nicely. Lunar Lake inside.
