The Deck ranges from 420 to 680. The Legion Go S is 520, right in the middle of that. The Z1 Extreme ROG Ally is 670, right in line with the top of the line Deck (and noticeably more powerful). The Switch 2 is 470, on the cheaper side and also a fair bit beefier.
This article is arguing that having next-gen chips in boutique devices for 1K is a) a new development, and b) a bad thing. It is neither.
Before the Deck went mass market with PC handhelds they would routinely be a lot more expensive. The original Ayaneo was between 800 and 900 in 2021. The Pro model went up to 1200.
I want those things to exist. I want GPD to cram a Strix Halo into a handheld with a removable battery. I want Ayaneo to build a dual screen clamshell. I want Odin to slap a Xbox controller around an iPad. I want them to make a dumb console that spits out its buttons so you can flip them around. I want vertical handhelds. All that kooky weirdness is experimenting with new form factors and parts in ways that will move the segment forward. Without Ayaneo, Odin or GPD being dumb enough to cram a laptop into a handheld there’d be no Steam Deck in the first place.
Let the people who like weird hardware dump a grand or two into those weird things and that’s how you eventually get a comfortably priced for-the-rest-of-us device from Valve or Asus that takes the ideas from those that work.
It sucks when a device category dies and disappears. Most people might not care, but those who do really do, and it sucks when you can’t upgrade to what you want anymore.
I’m not a handheld guy, but for me, it’s phones with keyboards.
So if there’s somebody making boutique devices for niche audiences, more power to them!
Handheld gaming PCs are really not necessary devices, so if you can’t afford a high-end one, get a cheap one. And if you can’t afford that, stick a gamepad on your phone and boot up a switch emulator or winlator.
Mudman here with the most salient point and better written then my “fuck off if you don’t want those devices you don’t have to buy them” but also the used market for those devices is way weirder, I grabbed a Z1 extreme Ally for $250, I’m also for sure ordering a Ayn Thor at 10 tonight, but I enjoy playing with weird hardware more than I do the games tbh
And yeah, man, these weird devices are being sold to weird people who like them for what they are. Which also means when the next weird thing comes out those weirdos are likely to get upsold and resell older stuff. All of these things are going to be fantastic eBay haul Youtube videos from retro hardware people in the 2070s, assuming we avoid going full Mad Max Idiocracy that long.
It was, I read that like a beautifully worded rebuttal. And yeah once you’re really in that subculture you kind of learn to buy and sell and it mostly washes out as a free hobby. I buy a handful of lower end shit on Aliexpress during a sale, get to try stuff out, put Cfw on it and sell for a small profit, I then use those profits to buy other shit
This is just… not true?
The Deck ranges from 420 to 680. The Legion Go S is 520, right in the middle of that. The Z1 Extreme ROG Ally is 670, right in line with the top of the line Deck (and noticeably more powerful). The Switch 2 is 470, on the cheaper side and also a fair bit beefier.
This article is arguing that having next-gen chips in boutique devices for 1K is a) a new development, and b) a bad thing. It is neither.
Before the Deck went mass market with PC handhelds they would routinely be a lot more expensive. The original Ayaneo was between 800 and 900 in 2021. The Pro model went up to 1200.
I want those things to exist. I want GPD to cram a Strix Halo into a handheld with a removable battery. I want Ayaneo to build a dual screen clamshell. I want Odin to slap a Xbox controller around an iPad. I want them to make a dumb console that spits out its buttons so you can flip them around. I want vertical handhelds. All that kooky weirdness is experimenting with new form factors and parts in ways that will move the segment forward. Without Ayaneo, Odin or GPD being dumb enough to cram a laptop into a handheld there’d be no Steam Deck in the first place.
Let the people who like weird hardware dump a grand or two into those weird things and that’s how you eventually get a comfortably priced for-the-rest-of-us device from Valve or Asus that takes the ideas from those that work.
Total agreement.
It sucks when a device category dies and disappears. Most people might not care, but those who do really do, and it sucks when you can’t upgrade to what you want anymore.
I’m not a handheld guy, but for me, it’s phones with keyboards.
So if there’s somebody making boutique devices for niche audiences, more power to them!
Handheld gaming PCs are really not necessary devices, so if you can’t afford a high-end one, get a cheap one. And if you can’t afford that, stick a gamepad on your phone and boot up a switch emulator or winlator.
Leave people their niche hobbies!
Mudman here with the most salient point and better written then my “fuck off if you don’t want those devices you don’t have to buy them” but also the used market for those devices is way weirder, I grabbed a Z1 extreme Ally for $250, I’m also for sure ordering a Ayn Thor at 10 tonight, but I enjoy playing with weird hardware more than I do the games tbh
I choose to read that as a genuine compliment.
And yeah, man, these weird devices are being sold to weird people who like them for what they are. Which also means when the next weird thing comes out those weirdos are likely to get upsold and resell older stuff. All of these things are going to be fantastic eBay haul Youtube videos from retro hardware people in the 2070s, assuming we avoid going full Mad Max Idiocracy that long.
It was, I read that like a beautifully worded rebuttal. And yeah once you’re really in that subculture you kind of learn to buy and sell and it mostly washes out as a free hobby. I buy a handful of lower end shit on Aliexpress during a sale, get to try stuff out, put Cfw on it and sell for a small profit, I then use those profits to buy other shit