More from Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and more: all the news about the handheld PC gaming revolution
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!
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!
