Which Handheld Would you get?

[oxrufiioxo]

I'd be happy to have a Switch myself. The only thing that puts me off is that I have no games for it, while I have over 500 on Steam.

My issue with the current handheld is the battery life to perfomance ratio sucks... That being said if I could run modern games at ultra 120fps 720p for 2-3 hours I'd take that but it's likely never to happen.

I'd have to be into older pc games or stuff that's super light for the steam deck or any windows handheld to be worth it for me with current hardware.

Everyone games different though we all have to decide what makes the most sense for ourselves.

Even the op is leaning towards the ally X even though almost 5x more people picked the steam oled in his poll.

 

[mechtech]

I have been looking at handhelds for a minute and know that there are more coming soon but before that Black Friday is coming. The Steam Deck is already $373 and you know Valve are more aware than us of what AMD has coming down the pipeline I did my taxes for the first time in like 10 years so I have had a bit of a windfall from the Govt. I am probably willing to go as high as $1000 Canadian but would prefer to stay under $700. Storage size is not a concern for me either and they all support USB C. Which would you get?

I'd probably get the Nintendo just for Link. Fond memories going back to the adventure of Link on the NES to Ocarina of Time

Where did the past 35 years go??

 

[AusWolf]

My issue with the current handheld is the battery life to perfomance ratio sucks... That being said if I could run modern games at ultra 120fps 720p for 2-3 hours I'd take that but it's likely never to happen.

I'd have to be into older pc games or stuff that's super light for the steam deck or any windows handheld to be worth it for me with current hardware.

Everyone games different though we all have to decide what makes the most sense for ourselves.

Even the op is leaning towards the ally X even though almost 5x more people picked the steam oled in his poll.

I totally agree!

Like I said, the main things that draw me to the Steam Deck are its affordability, its quality (which is said to be better than Windows handhelds at the moment) and the fact that I own most of my games on Steam. The weaker hardware doesn't bother me much, as I wouldn't be playing AAA titles on it - that's what my PC is for. I generally dislike playing with a controller anyway, but it's fine for indie games, for which the aging Zen 2 APU is OK as well. I'd probably also get better battery life on it than someone playing Wukong, for example. So for my use case, a more expensive Windows handheld would be pointless, but I totally get why someone would rather opt for one of those instead.

 

[Flogger23m]

I'd be happy to have a Switch myself. The only thing that puts me off is that I have no games for it, while I have over 500 on Steam.

Certainly a valid point, though a lot of those games won't have UIs designed around a smaller screen. Switch games are designed around the smaller screen size. A lot of games will do fine, but I'm sure a lot will either require some modding.

 

[AusWolf]

Certainly a valid point, though a lot of those games won't have UIs designed around a smaller screen. Switch games are designed around the smaller screen size. A lot of games will do fine, but I'm sure a lot will either require some modding.

Good point as well, but is the optimised UI worth spending extra £30-50 per game when I already have them all on Steam?

 

[Hyderz]

My issue with the current handheld is the battery life to perfomance ratio sucks... That being said if I could run modern games at ultra 120fps 720p for 2-3 hours I'd take that but it's likely never to happen.

I'd have to be into older pc games or stuff that's super light for the steam deck or any windows handheld to be worth it for me with current hardware.

Everyone games different though we all have to decide what makes the most sense for ourselves.

Even the op is leaning towards the ally X even though almost 5x more people picked the steam oled in his poll.

Game dependant with the steam deck, I got almost 4hrs at 1280x720 60fps for ff7 remake which is pretty incredible. I saw somebody got close to 3hrs for Elden ring

 

[wolf]

Steam deck never had the power that I wanted in a handheld.

ROG Ally X is currently the closest to what I'd want, and has an appropriate amount of RAM to allocate 8GB to the GPU and have plenty left over, but the 780m feels too late in the cycle now, I'd want something with 890m (or better, Strix Halo when?) and 32GB of 7500MT/S or faster RAM.

I feel that personally for me, one might never be fast enough to actually get me to buy it relative to what chips are available and inbound in the pipeline.

Thought I have stated that a GPD Win Max with the AI HX 370 (890m), the aforementioned 32GB of fast RAM, an occulink port and 120hz+ display would be a buy for me, but mostly because the utility as a genuinely fast laptop (that looks like a laptop) seals the deal, and even then it'd have to be soon, like by end of year.

 

[Vayra86]

Game dependant with the steam deck, I got almost 4hrs at 1280x720 60fps for ff7 remake which is pretty incredible. I saw somebody got close to 3hrs for Elden ring

Yeah that's my experience too, and the SD Oled, especially when set to 45 FPS (90hz) strikes a fantastic balance of smoothness, batt life and responsiveness. Its a notable difference from the LCD, and with better battery life on top.

Quite happy with the Oled version, its a pretty big upgrade because the IPS (LCD) screen is really quite bad at contrast / blacks.

As for horsepower... it really depends what you're wanting a handheld for; but I find the best games on it really don't require or have super duper graphics. Graphically intensive games are still best played on bigger screens anyway imho.

 

[AleXXX666]

I'd like to have Steam Deck, I'm not "OLED"-cumboy, so I'd be ok with plain variant...
and I know cASUS will be fkin overprice.

 

[AusWolf]

Steam deck never had the power that I wanted in a handheld.

ROG Ally X is currently the closest to what I'd want, and has an appropriate amount of RAM to allocate 8GB to the GPU and have plenty left over, but the 780m feels too late in the cycle now, I'd want something with 890m (or better, Strix Halo when?) and 32GB of 7500MT/S or faster RAM.

I feel that personally for me, one might never be fast enough to actually get me to buy it relative to what chips are available and inbound in the pipeline.

Thought I have stated that a GPD Win Max with the AI HX 370 (890m), the aforementioned 32GB of fast RAM, an occulink port and 120hz+ display would be a buy for me, but mostly because the utility as a genuinely fast laptop (that looks like a laptop) seals the deal, and even then it'd have to be soon, like by end of year.

Those expectations are touching into gaming laptop / budget gaming PC territory. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with expecting such things, but I, personally, wouldn't want to confuse a handheld with my gaming PC. The latter is for playing those AAA games that require the horsepower, while the former is for passing a couple of hours of downtime on a trip. For that, I find Steam Deck level performance plenty.

As for horsepower... it really depends what you're wanting a handheld for; but I find the best games on it really don't require or have super duper graphics. Graphically intensive games are still best played on bigger screens anyway imho.

Exactly my thoughts.

 

[gffermari]

The "none" option is not responding to this thread. lol

Fair enough.

Anyway, I actually wonder how the use of handheld came into existence again.
I had a black and white gameboy 30 years ago (fuuuu...it was that long ago) but nothing after that.
Although it's admirable that all these new devices can run nearly everything at decent settings, I still find it hard to like them.
My issue is that if I want to play a good game, I would like to do it in a proper monitor or TV.
If I want something for the road, then ....I would use the mobile phone although I hate them as hell for gaming.
I find it hard to justify a purchase of a handheld.

I don't know anything about the specs etc of these devices but most likely I would go for a Steam Deck OLED.

 

[AusWolf]

My issue is that if I want to play a good game, I would like to do it in a proper monitor or TV.
If I want something for the road, then ....I would use the mobile phone although I hate them as hell for gaming.

The purpose of a handheld is somewhere between these two use cases, imo. Personally, I hate even just the idea of gaming on a touchscreen even more than I hate controllers. A handheld is a handy little thing for a trip where a laptop would be overkill. So far, I've tried to fill this gap with my PSP, which is badly showing its age especially with its low-res videos, and a netbook, which is way to weak for anything.

 

[wolf]

Those expectations are touching into gaming laptop / budget gaming PC territory. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with expecting such things, but I, personally, wouldn't want to confuse a handheld with my gaming PC. The latter is for playing those AAA games that require the horsepower, while the former is for passing a couple of hours of downtime on a trip. For that, I find Steam Deck level performance plenty

You're not wrong at all, it's more about buying tech when it's actually new and not halfway through or toward the end of its lifecycle. Whatever I buy if want to be able to dip my toes in newer AAA but get awesome efficiency and battery life playing older stuff too. I'd be lying if I said the specs didn't matter to me, but they do and I want to buy cutting edge even if it's low end.

 

[AusWolf]

You're not wrong at all, it's more about buying tech when it's actually new and not halfway through or toward the end of its lifecycle. Whatever I buy if want to be able to dip my toes in newer AAA but get awesome efficiency and battery life playing older stuff too. I'd be lying if I said the specs didn't matter to me, but they do and I want to buy cutting edge even if it's low end.

That's fine and understandable.

Personally, I don't want cutting edge. I just want something to pass the downtime with on a trip. Like I mentioned earlier, I still use my PSP up to this day, which has hardly been cutting edge in the last 15-18 years, more like the opposite. I like my tech, and as long as it works, I like keeping it and using it. So even if I bought something truly new and revolutionary, it would only be that for maybe 10-20% of its lifetime.

 

[wolf]

That's fine and understandable.

Personally, I don't want cutting edge. I just want something to pass the downtime with on a trip. Like I mentioned earlier, I still use my PSP up to this day, which has hardly been cutting edge in the last 15-18 years, more like the opposite. I like my tech, and as long as it works, I like keeping it and using it. So even if I bought something truly new and revolutionary, it would only be that for maybe 10-20% of its lifetime.

Again not wrong, and hec, I could amuse myself for hours on end with my OLED switch... If my son wasn't playing it on those trips

 

[SchumannFrequency]

In my opinion, the Steam Deck has the best (aesthetic) design of all gaming handhelds.

 

[lexluthermiester]

The latest Windows handheld I'd go for is the Acer Nitro Blaze 7, which isn't listed in the poll.

However, the next handheld I'm buying is going to be the Retroid Pocket 5, which is Android based.

 

[vekspec]

Do current owners count? I got the Ally for my birthday during it's biggest sale, added in a 2TB SN740 after. very happy!

 

[Vayra86]

If I want something for the road, then ....I would use the mobile phone although I hate them as hell for gaming.

Alright picture this. Last summer holiday I was enjoying casually building towns in Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles in front of my tent on a sufficiently sized screen with lots of input options, with a beer in hand and the sun on my face. I hate gaming on mobile phone too, not in the least because every game is an ad infested shithole; an aspect that you don't find in bought games for a PC (most of the time lol).

And that experience was literally a PC experience except in handheld format. Performance was great, visually impressive, immersive... its all there really. That's a pretty good thing for 'on the road' gaming I'd say. It also helps that there's a literal sea of indie games that just fit perfectly for this type of device, and a lot of them are not only cheap but at their core just simply built on great concepts with decent to very good execution.

 

[Dr. Dro]

ROG Ally X, the Steam Deck OLED has regional availability concerns and I dislike the fact it is designed to run on Linux

 

[Frick]

I'd be happy to have a Switch myself. The only thing that puts me off is that I have no games for it, while I have over 500 on Steam.

You buy a Nintento console to play Nintendo games, not PC games. I don't see the either/or situation tbh. I'm still looking for a used Switch in decent nick and even used they tend to be incredibly expensive, like "add €60 and I'll get a brand new one" expensive, if it was "just" a console to play whatever I can play on my laptop I wouldn't look for one, because then I would play those games on the laptop.

Alright picture this. Last summer holiday I was enjoying casually building towns in Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles in front of my tent on a sufficiently sized screen with lots of input options, with a beer in hand and the sun on my face. I hate gaming on mobile phone too, not in the least because every game is an ad infested shithole; an aspect that you don't find in bought games for a PC (most of the time lol).

And that experience was literally a PC experience except in handheld format. Performance was great, visually impressive, immersive... its all there really. That's a pretty good thing for 'on the road' gaming I'd say. It also helps that there's a literal sea of indie games that just fit perfectly for this type of device, and a lot of them are not only cheap but at their core just simply built on great concepts with decent to very good execution.

Tenting is for reflection, not gaming. Me spending an entire week in Japan drinking the cheapest whisky I could find and playing through the entirety of Disco Elysium is completely different!

Anyway I've been pretty seriously looking into the Anbernic stuff, and I quite like the look of the RG35XX, the problem is, always, availability at a sensible cost. But I didn't know the Steam Deck was getting to be so cheap, it's honestly quite tempting but pretty far down the list of things of wants so it ain't happening.

 

[Flogger23m]

Good point as well, but is the optimised UI worth spending extra £30-50 per game when I already have them all on Steam?

Depends on the game I suppose. I think in the end you'll probably end up playing certain types of games. IMO I wouldn't bother with an FPS game, not without a mouse and keyboard. I assume platformers, interactive story games and whatnot is what most people end up playing. I'm assuming once people get over the cool factor of playing any PC game on a mobile platform, they stop playing most games because they just don't play well on a small screen and controller. Like an RTS game or FPS.

 

[Vayra86]

Tenting is for reflection, not gaming.

Yeah the sun's reflection was annoying at times, but hey, we cope

 

[welly321]

I'd probably get the Nintendo just for Link. Fond memories going back to the adventure of Link on the NES to Ocarina of Time

Where did the past 35 years go??

you can emulate that on any handheld....

 

[mechtech]

you can emulate that on any handheld....

Legitimately???