More from Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and more: all the news about the handheld PC gaming revolution
Last week I asked: “Will Valve really sell a Steam Deck plugin that helps bring Epic Games to the handheld?”
Turns out the answer is no. As far as I’m aware, Junk Store will still be available to sideload through Decky Loader, though.
“Junk Store has been approved for sale on the Steam Store!” its developers write — before pointing out Valve hasn’t technically approved the Epic Games Store and GOG game installer tool quite yet.
But why shouldn’t they? You can already add Junk Store to a Steam Deck with the Decky Loader sideloading system. I asked Valve; we’ll see!
The best PC/Switch/Steam Deck gamepad I’ve ever used. Top-tier joysticks and wireless, great battery life, gyro, and rumble, convenient dock, can wake Switch and/or OLED Deck wirelessly from couch. Comfy, too! If it had swappable battery and saved multiple Bluetooth pairings, it’d truly be Ultimate.
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If you don’t have a Steam account but want to buy a Steam Deck for someone, Valve now lets you complete a Steam Deck purchase as a guest. Could be useful for the holidays.
I know, this looks ridiculous — but the last time I was sick, and that time I was injured, I’d have given good money for it! It’s a $9 ball joint adapter that connects Mechanism’s increasingly large array of gaming mounts to popular flexible arms you can buy.
Also see: Mechanism’s gaming pillow and its delightfully strong MagSafe + twin-finger adapter.
Unlike every other “Best Steam Deck SSD” written story I’ve found, Tom’s Hardware actually put them to the test — 16 drives in total.
Most offered similar results! The Crucial P310 and Corsair MP600 Mini (with new Phison E27T controller) slightly stood out on performance and battery life — but not temperature.
The Claw was an embarrassment, and MSI quickly announced successors with Intel’s new Lunar Lake instead. But though MSI originally said the “MSI Claw 8 AI Plus” should arrive September, it’s now telling ComputerBase it won’t launch till CES in January.
Just to be clear, the ROG Ally X put the final nail in the original Claw’s coffin. Friends don’t let friends buy an original Claw.
I thought it might be vaporware, but maybe it’s worse! Mysten Labs wants a $599 deposit today that’s basically non-refundable — the terms and conditions roughly boil down to “maybe you get your money back if we don’t ship by 2027 but pray I don’t alter the deal further.” Check out the “bad faith” clause too.
All this for a last-gen chip and a 60Hz screen.
[www.suiplay0x1.com]
It’d be tough for me to recommend a $1,000 Ayaneo Kun over a $800 Asus ROG Ally X, but one particular sticking point may go away — you can buy it (and the fairly weak Ayaneo Next Lite) directly from Best Buy, making potential returns easy.
Ayaneo has lovely build quality. While its PC handhelds haven’t nailed battery and affordability yet, it’s one to watch!
We held off on a story ’cuz we couldn’t initially find it on preorder, but here it is at Scan UK and Overclockers UK and Germany’s CaseKing, for example.
What about the US? Zotac told Tom’s Hardware it isn’t offering preorders here. Can’t imagine it beats ROG Ally X for the same $800 with a much smaller battery inside... but twin trackpads and OLED intrigue me!
$450 MSRP for a Game Boy emulator console is a bundle of cash, OLED screen and premium build notwithstanding — $700 if you want it in Game Boy grey.
$220 for the elegant Micro seems better, but we’re still talking about a crowdfunded Indiegogo. Would you pick these over an $220 Analogue Pocket? Full specs at the links.
7
Verge Score
In some ways, it’s even better than Deck.
Can a Windows handheld beat Valve’s Steam Deck OLED? This sequel to last year’s ROG Ally answers with more storage, faster RAM, double the battery, and USB4. We’ll need more time for benchmarking and battery testing before we can publish our review, but if you can’t wait, it is available now from Asus and Best Buy.
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The Nintendo DS-like’s lower screen will soon double as a virtual keyboard, triple as a virtual touchpad, and quadruple as a dual-screen task switcher with the company’s Ayaspace v2.5 software update. Those could all make it a bit easier to navigate Windows handheld!
The Minisforum DEG1 is just $99, it’s already on sale, and your existing desktop PC parts (GPU, PSU) can make it work.
It connects with Oculink, not USB4, so it won’t work with most laptops — mostly boutique handhelds. But it could be more powerful than existing Oculink eGPUs with a desktop card at its disposal!
