More from Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and more: all the news about the handheld PC gaming revolution
I have a hard time believing this OneGx2 could be comfortable to hold, but major kudos if OneXPlayer can figure it out! I’m currently toying with a similar GPD machine that hides its joysticks beneath little covers, but a split keyboard and sticks beneath a full keyboard is something else.
If you read my Lenovo Legion Go review and thought “that but less expensive and cumbersome,” Videocardz may have good news: the unannounced smaller “Legion Go S 8ARP1” now has a firmware update for its unannounced AMD Rembrandt APU. That’s a last-gen architecture that should be more affordable than AMD’s “Extreme” line.
Also, though: the original Legion Go is its best price ever right now.
Ayaneo has revealed some specs for its next Windows handheld. The Ayaneo 3 will be available with either a seven-inch LCD or OLED HDR display, and an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 or Ryzen 7 8840U processor. The handheld will introduce an extra set of buttons on the back, plus lock switches to reduce the travel of its triggers for FPS players.
At 10am AEDT specifically, according to Valve. The company recently announced a November launch date in the country for the handheld gaming PC, but didn’t provide a specific date.
A tiny $1200 laptop that doubles as a gaming handheld, with an incredible array of ports. Surprisingly easy to type on, plays games as well or better than a Legion Go, supports two kinds of eGPUs. Keyboard and touchpad make navigating Windows way easier than most handhelds.
But you might not enjoy holding its stiff metal frame, and it’s better paired with a mouse!
Valve Steam Deck designer Lawrence Yang set some release timeline expectations in an interview with Reviews.org:
“We’re not going to do a bump every year. There’s no reason to do that. And, honestly, from our perspective, that’s kind of not really fair to your customers to come out with something so soon that’s only incrementally better. So we really do want to wait for a generational leap in compute without sacrificing battery life before we ship the real second generation of Steam Deck.”
That checks out given we already knew a next-gen Steam Deck might not arrive before 2026.
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!
