More from Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and more: all the news about the handheld PC gaming revolution
It’s the most gadgety handheld gaming PC yet, with a Surface-like detachable keyboard too. It’s not cheap — but unlike a Microsoft Surface, it actually comes with the keyboard and other accessories. It’s $200-$300 off for the first small batch of buyers.
We haven’t so much as touched one yet, mind! Could be iffy!
Zotac just confirmed the dimensions of its new PC gaming handheld to me — plus a few other specs — and wow is it large. The 7-inch handheld is wider, taller, and almost as thick as the 8-inch Lenovo Legion Go, and notably bigger than Steam Deck.
(Deck is technically thicker than both, but a lot of that’s down to taller joysticks.)
You can find the whole thing in PCWorld’s YouTube video at the 34-minute mark: with 3DMark Wildlife Extreme locked to 60fps, Lunar Lake (and its integrated memory!) is consuming 10 watts less than Meteor Lake.
As The Phawx points out, Meteor Lake kind of sucked at efficiency, so don’t celebrate yet? At least now Intel has a chance.
Could it match the Steam Deck OLED?
I’m the only one outside Asus to have touched one (don’t ask me why!) and Asus wouldn’t let me publish pics that day... but this new leaked image is exactly the device I touched, minus new texturing. The new leak also corroborates a doubled 80Wh battery — and claims it’ll last 3 hours of heavy gaming.
Windows Central reports a Lite version of the modular Steam Deck alternative is in the works, with an AMD Z1-based processor — and almost no information beyond that.
I think there’s more than enough room to shrink the relatively massive 8.8-inch display. Lenovo could also easily sacrifice the removable mouse/controllers, among other low-hanging fruit. We’re taking bets in the comments.
Deckmate was one of the first mounting systems for the Steam Deck, born from the maker community — its creator still lets you print most files for free.
But I will gladly pay $25 for its new Phone Mount, because it’s much more than that. It’s a do-anything mount with a magnet so strong, you can play on your fridge. Switch, Ally, and PlayStation Portal mounts available too.
I called the Claw an embarrassment, but there are now two sets of performance-enhancing updates since my tests — MSI now claims “average 26% better performance than competitors in the top 100 most popular Steam games” (albeit with upscaling on).
I gave the Steam Deck and ROG Ally a second chance, so I’ll do the same for the Claw.
3
Verge Score
Every competitor is better, and most of them are cheaper.
Anbernic’s Game Boy Advance SP homage goes on sale tomorrow for $65, and the just announced $339 Ayn Odin 2 Mini is a dead ringer for PlayStation Vita but with Qualcomm, Wi-Fi 7 and a 1080p mini-LED screen. Then on Saturday, Ayaneo will reveal its takes on the original Game Boy and Game Boy Micro.
Choices, choices!
Get a load of the transparent shells on the upcoming RG35XXSP! It’s still not listed for sale on Anbernic’s site, sadly, but that could change pretty soon.
The Steam Deck Dock is getting HDMI-CEC to wake your TV from sleep and switch its inputs, and and the Deck OLED will soon be able to decide which Bluetooth devices can wake it from sleep... plus Bluetooth A2DP and BAP audio support, microSD fixes, a new graphics driver, overclocking controls in the Deck LCD’s BIOS, and more in preview!
[Steam]
We knew one was coming, but apparently it’s coming soon. Tomorrow at 3PM ET, the company will “get hyped about new impending ROG Ally hardware” on this live YouTube stream. Here are the other teases we’ve recently seen.
The gaming handheld and mini-PC maker describes the Zune-brown and RGB dial-clad unit as a “Multifunction Graphics Dock,” but is holding details for a “Sharing Session” on May 18th at 3AM ET, as reported by VideoCardz.
Mobile graphics docks are slowly coming to market, including AMD 7600M XT-powered ones like the GPD G1 and the ONEXGPU (which can both connect with Oculink), and the RTX 4090-powered ROG XG Mobile.
Anbernic is the biggest name in affordable emu-portables. Many mimic a Game Boy — but the RG35XXSP is first to tackle the beloved folding Game Boy Advance SP.
It’s got dual microSD slots, a headphone jack, Bluetooth 4.2 and “5G WIFI,” plus HDMI output to your TV. Transparent shells, too! No price yet, but Retro Dodo says it’s imminent.
First Asus quietly changed the name of its original handheld to “ROG Ally (2023),” then VideoCardz obtained an internal document mentioning an “ROG Ally 2024.” Now, the community has spotted a black ROG Ally in a new post from Asus itself.
This is a company that loves to tease — remember, the first Ally was introduced on April Fools’.
Ever heard of Flick Stick, which rotates your camera a number of degrees when you flick a joystick that way? How about gyro aiming to precisely nudge a crosshair simultaneously? New “Dots per 360” and “Turn Camera 360” features make calibrating them easy. Add the new “Turn to Face Direction” key, and you can instantly face whichever direction you’ve been strafing.
