The rise of Steam Deck alternatives is pretty cool

[Wrexis]

A couple of videos have shown me some alternatives recently that look pretty interesting.
Competition is healthy!

The Mini “Steam Deck”

I like this more than steam deck and Nintendo switch. Ayeneo Air is the smallest gaming pc handheld I've used.If you want to support the channel, consider a ...

www.youtube.com

Ayeneo Air ($500) has an interesting fixture in that the thumbsticks use magnets, meaning it will never have stick drift.
Note Ayaneo has different models that are more powerful in spec if you want a direct Steam Deck competitor.

Finally, Ryzen Power Has Been Added To The All-New ONEXPLAYER Mini!

The All-New ONEXPLAYER Mini is Smaller Lighter and Faster! This Handheld gaming pc is powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U running at uptown 4.4GHz! The New 1280x...

www.youtube.com

OneXPlayer Mini ($1,259) is more of an enthusiast device based on the price.
Crazy to see this do (some) emulated PS3 games at 60fps.

Got your eye on any?

 

[Deleted member 93062]

It's just kind of a shame that they can't be subsidized as much as Steam can subsidize the Deck.

 

[Strings]

I've got the Loki Max paid off:

Iunno when it'll get to me, but I have an Odin Pro (their previous release) and it's fantastic.

 

[Tendo]

I've got the Loki Max paid off:

Iunno when it'll get to me, but I have an Odin Pro (their previous release) and it's fantastic.

Click to shrink...

The only windows handheld I might consider is a loki. I love my odin so much. Its an incredible device. I haven't pre ordered a loki max yet due to funds, but depending on reviews I may dive in.

 

[modoversus]

Hoping to pre-order an Odin Pro this week, to run Windows 11 ARM along Android. I know compatibility is going to be hit and miss (just being able to run full speed Ultra Street Fighter IV on it is motivating for me), but it's cheaper and thinkering with it will be fun.

 

[JoanneAlley]

Sadly Aya Neo Air's 1080p screen makes it a no go for me (though I understand it's probably literally impossible to source 720p OLED panels). With hardware weaker than a Steam deck, that means that you'll need to play a lot of games in sub native res resolution.

 

[Slayven]

I think they missing the point without some kinda of trackpadlike

 

[Walnut]

I think they missing the point without some kinda of trackpadlike

Click to shrink...

I agree with this, the trackpads are the killer app so to speak for the Steam Deck for me. I would pay $3k for a really powerful high battery portable device if it had all of the control options and versatility the Steam Deck does. Heck I've forgotten to bring my work laptop with me when I was visiting family and just pulled out my Steam Deck and got everything done, it's wild how much you can do with it because of those trackpads

 

[nded]

I really do hope it takes off as a PC form factor.

 

[Slayven]

I agree with this, the trackpads are the killer app so to speak for the Steam Deck for me. I would pay $3k for a really powerful high battery portable device if it had all of the control options and versatility the Steam Deck does. Heck I've forgotten to bring my work laptop with me when I was visiting family and just pulled out my Steam Deck and got everything done, it's wild how much you can do with it because of those trackpads

Click to shrink...

yeah the input really makes it next level, otherwise you are limited to gamepad games unless you bring alone a mouse and keyboard, which to me kills the point of being portable

 

[M. Wallace]

Dave 2D just had a vid on one today


View: https://youtu.be/BnXRS18K7gc

 

[Strings]

Hoping to pre-order an Odin Pro this week, to run Windows 11 ARM along Android. I know compatibility is going to be hit and miss (just being able to run full speed Ultra Street Fighter IV on it is motivating for me), but it's cheaper and thinkering with it will be fun.

Click to shrink...

There isn't really a big reason to get an Odin anymore (especially the Pro) with how strong and affordable the lower tiers of Loki are (outside of wanting to play android games in particular). Check out the Mini Pro with the i3 upgrade for something much more powerful at iirc the same or slightly higher price. The performance to price ratio on it is nuts.

 

[mute]

I hope I have a lot to choose from come time for Steam Deck 2. Really need prices to come down, and more control layout options. I'm fine with SteamOS though, if they can offer a lower price version sans windows.

 

[Water]

I feel like a lot of YouTubers are overplaying the hype of some of the alt steam decks. I seriously doubt these guys are logging serious hours on these devices.

Sure - I think they're pretty cool, but after using the steam deck consistently since it started shipping, you know that a Windows handheld is going to be a bit of a battle.

Trackpads make a huge difference and SteamOS is just so friendly to use. Also the steam deck is just so comfortable.
I've had so many handhelds in my life, and the steam deck is just a joy to hold even after long play sessions. I feel like it's really in a class of it's own. I think there's room for improvement 100% (No Wifi 6E sucks), but for all of the drawbacks I can see something taking the spot.

 

[Wrexis]

What games are you guys playing that are so heavily dependent on trackpads? Genuinely curious.
Most of my Steam games are controller games as my PC is hooked up to my TV.

 

[Firefly]

What games are you guys playing that are so heavily dependent on trackpads? Genuinely curious.
Most of my Steam games are controller games as my PC is hooked up to my TV.

Click to shrink...

If you're going to make a Windows handheld then not having trackpad will severely limit the kinds of games you can play. Strategy games for instances don't support controllers unless you're playing ones with existing console version. It also works much better in shooters than analog sticks if you have it configured properly. Its a must have feature.

These alternatives are a constant reminder of how mich Valve got right with their first attempt. It makes absolutely no sense for the Aya Neo Air to have a 1080p screen at such a small size. This thing will chew up the battery and people already complaint about it on a 800p Steam Deck.

 

[SteveWinwood]

What games are you guys playing that are so heavily dependent on trackpads? Genuinely curious.
Most of my Steam games are controller games as my PC is hooked up to my TV.

Click to shrink...

The touchpads are still the most underrated thing in any valve hardware. Once you get them honed in and you get used to them... chefs kiss.

 

[Xeno]

My friend has an Aya Neo and loves it. I kinda want one.

 

[ResetEraIsTheBestEra]

Damn that Loki looks badass. If I had the money I would get the Pro version.

 

[Vagabond]

Echoed OP. I am waiting for some other designs other than the XL Vita (seriously, where are the other form factors?) but the future of these things is bright once they reach the retail scene. It might take another big name jumping in though. I could've sworn Asus, NEC, and Toshiba had something cooking at some point.

 

[minimalism]

I have never been able to reconcile gyro/touchpad controls. They just feel too weird for me (like a half baked in between the two extremes) and can never replicate m/kb in any meaningful capacity so it's either twin sticking it or going full m/kb and not half-assing it.

 

[Mechaplum]

Sadly only the Deck makes sense to me with the pads.

 

[kubev]

I've really only used the touch pads for mouse control, and I think I'd be totally fine with being able to switch the sticks to mouse mode at any time. Frankly, one of the worst things about the Steam Deck for me is how the controls switch modes automatically between desktop and games (when using Windows, at least). Valve can claim as much as it wants that Steam Deck is basically as flexible as a PC, but it's pretty clear it wasn't intended for use with Windows, and I think anyone who puts out a competitive alternative to Steam Deck that DOES work better with Windows could stand to make a lot of money.

 

[bonch00ski]

Sadly none of them look to be as comfortable to hold as the Steam Deck. I've become spoiled with the analog stick placement and the buttons to the sides of the sticks.

Every other alternative having the right tick below the face buttons just looks uncomfortable as I see their right thumb bend in a way that isn't sustainable for long play sessions.

 

[Craymond]

The touchpads are still the most underrated thing in any valve hardware. Once you get them honed in and you get used to them... chefs kiss.

Click to shrink...

Are there resources to "honing them in"? I find the trackpads miserable to use - clicks missed, overly sensitive scrolling/tracking, keyboard swapping between thumbs is awkward as hell. I want to like it but don't see how. Can someone enlighten me with their set up? Make me a believer that this is a worthwhile feature.

To this point: The default settings suck and I doubt too many people will be willing to fiddle with them. Could render this controller option moot in peoples choice of steam-like decks.

 

[TheMadTitan]

If you're going to make a Windows handheld then not having trackpad will severely limit the kinds of games you can play. Strategy games for instances don't support controllers unless you're playing ones with existing console version. It also works much better in shooters than analog sticks if you have it configured properly. Its a must have feature.

These alternatives are a constant reminder of how mich Valve got right with their first attempt. It makes absolutely no sense for the Aya Neo Air to have a 1080p screen at such a small size. This thing will chew up the battery and people already complaint about it on a 800p Steam Deck.

Click to shrink...

For fps games that support mixed input, having a trackpad would be a boon for aiming versus an analog stick.

 

[Atom]

More options is generally good. Unfortunately imo it feels like many of these devices just miss the mark in one or more ways. Like that Air -- afaik you're looking at a 1080p screen but that's not a target you're likely to hit on modern games so you'll have bad non integer scaling (and its gonna pull more power). The screen dimensions are small enough that text visibility starts to become a concern as many games are not particularly great about this (like heck, some games are borderline illegible on the switch/switch lite). The battery is just not good enough for anything but the lightest of use cases. I would have doubts about how much Aya has done around low power optimizations for the device so idk how likely it is that you'd be able to cap power and still get satisfactory performance (versus some of the absolutely wild ultra low power use cases with the Steam deck). It's a windows handheld and looks a far cry from how comparatively seamless steam OS looks (though was aya doing some sort of ubuntu fork for their devices? Feel like I read that somewhere). It only gets worse when you look that that new Aya device with trackpads, except the trackpads are at the bottom of the device and basically unusable comfortably. And after Ayn's shitshow with their 61hz screens, screens that meaningfully reduce battery life, etc., I would never consider preordering a product from them.

It all comes down to the steam deck seems like an exceptionally thoughtfully designed device that gets a lot of the things right that other x86 handhelds have gotten wrong historically, and maybe Valve has the luxury to do that and undercut the competition, and it's not realistic to expect the same from these smaller manufacturers, but unless you have a specific use case like needing one of the 6000 chips right now for a modest performance improvement, or Valve doesn't ship to your country (totally valid), or you want something much smaller, it feels like the Steam Deck is still the better experience.

 

[Majora's Mask]

I love them. Once we get 6800U performance below 700 usd I'll probably jump on it since I don't believe Valve has any intentions of bringing the Steam Deck to latam any time soon.

 

[AshenOne]

Thats good.

 

[SindbadtheSailor]

That actually looked pretty good. But for support reasons alone, anything based out of China just doesn't work for logistical reasons.

Also yeah, the trackpad on the deck is absolutely killer feature. Without that, it's essentially another switch and I already have one and don't like it all that much.

 

[cw_sasuke]

I mean the SteamDeck itself it just the Valve alternative of portable PCs that have been existing for a while.

 

[KORNdog]

I've got the Loki Max paid off:

Iunno when it'll get to me, but I have an Odin Pro (their previous release) and it's fantastic.

Click to shrink...

That low right analog stick (and no grips to speak of) is giving me cramp just looking at it. Lol

 

[Tmespe]

The formfactor might be cool, but a PC handheld without SteamOS would be a nonstarter for me. The appeal of SteamDeck is the combination of software and hardware, and none of these have that. Do these even have proper suspend? I would think that is important for a handheld, but it's not really mentioned.

 

[oofouchugh]

6800U devices have me super excited. I was originally sold on the Loki Max but the GPD Win Max 2 looks like the overkill device for me.

 

[brokenswiftie]

do any of em hit the same price/performance as a steam deck though?
that's the biggest reason I want one
ps4 like performance on the go at just 399

 

[TheDutchSlayer]

There were already 2 "major" players before the steam deck but they were priced at 800-1000 so that was the problem they did not went more mainstream.
Indeed its great to see that there is even more competition now.

 

[Walnut]

What games are you guys playing that are so heavily dependent on trackpads? Genuinely curious.
Most of my Steam games are controller games as my PC is hooked up to my TV.

Click to shrink...

Pretty much any shooting game. I am exceptionally terrible at console FPS, but I can hold my own OK at single player FPS on Steam Controller/Steam Deck thanks to the trackpads and gyro. It's not my preferred setup for multiplayer but I think I could make it work in a pinch.

Being able to actually play Borderlands and Duke Nukem 3D on the go has been a game changer for me personally.

 

[Hasney]

There were tons before the Steam Deck, Valve just made them mainstream in a way that made people interested.

There's big things a lot of these miss the mark on though. Price, availability (even compared to Steam Deck, crazily enough), ergonomics and interface.

The last one will come as some are looking to use SteamOS in the future. The rest I hope they learn from.

 

[Alexandros]

Yeah, there are several very interesting devices on the horizon, it's very cool to see. AYA, AYN, GPD, OneXplayer, even Anbernic got into the x86 game with the Win600.

 

[Atom]

do any of em hit the same price/performance as a steam deck though?
that's the biggest reason I want one
ps4 like performance on the go at just 399

Click to shrink...

Afaik no. They range from worse performance at a similar price point to modestly better performance at a much higher price point. Not really reasonable to expect but it is what it is.

 

[aronmayo]

I have a Steam Deck and Ayaneo Next and they are roughly on par when I balance out all the Pros and Cons of each. The Next is definitely stronger for retro gaming due to much better CPU, and Deck is better for GPU-heavy games. Both are really comfy and have decent battery life. Next has better build quality and the hall-sensor triggers and joysticks hopefully mean longer product life. Deck is way cheaper.

Unfortunately the price is going to be the killer for all these competitors. The Next costs an insane amount of cash relative to the performance you get.

Ayn Loki looks really neat, but is it going to have the awful 61hz screen that causes stutter on 90% of all content like the Ayn Odin? Looks nice but that screen is so intolerable to the point where I regret getting the Odin.

 

[aronmayo]

The formfactor might be cool, but a PC handheld without SteamOS would be a nonstarter for me. The appeal of SteamDeck is the combination of software and hardware, and none of these have that. Do these even have proper suspend? I would think that is important for a handheld, but it's not really mentioned.

Click to shrink...

Windows Hibernate/Sleep mode on Ayaneo Next actually works for me 90% of the time which is a huge surprise. It functions identically to the Steam Deck's suspend but it does eat more battery. Not sure how they do it but the Deck eats essentially no battery whatsoever when suspended, it's unbelievable.

 

[DukeBlueBall]

After using the steam deck for a few weeks as a windows handheld. I've come to the conclusion that an ultimate windows gaming device is basically the Win Max 2.

HW keyboard.
Ability to toggle between mouse and joystick input for the joystick.
Back buttons.

I prefer the steam deck layout tho, so I had to design a windows handheld it'll basically be the the steamdeck with a toggle for mouse / controller input, and a split mini keyboard instead of the track pads.

I'm never going to play RTS and mobas with a track pad so I don't need them on the device.

 

[Pargon]

These devices have been around for a while - it's just that the Steam Deck is putting pressure on them to be better.
But I feel that you're missing the point a bit, if you don't see how big a deal SteamOS is for a handheld PC like this.
I would wait until SteamOS 3 is public, and devices are designed for/shipping with it.

And I'd rather have dual touchpads and no sticks, than dual sticks and no touchpads.
Or maybe a left stick and a right touchpad (though dual touchpads are more flexible).
But I've been using the Steam Controller since the public beta, hate using analog sticks for camera control in games, and also play games that don't include analog support - or play much better with touchpads/mice.

 

[Lampa]

To be fair, these have been around for a long time, before the Deck, but all of them run Windows on a rather small touch screen, and are very expensive. Unlike the Deck, they are very niche products, that I feel are just over hyped in the wake of Steam Deck

 

[345]

I have a Steam Deck and Ayaneo Next and they are roughly on par when I balance out all the Pros and Cons of each. The Next is definitely stronger for retro gaming due to much better CPU, and Deck is better for GPU-heavy games. Both are really comfy and have decent battery life. Next has better build quality and the hall-sensor triggers and joysticks hopefully mean longer product life. Deck is way cheaper.

Unfortunately the price is going to be the killer for all these competitors. The Next costs an insane amount of cash relative to the performance you get.

Click to shrink...

i agree with your take on the aya neo next, i think it's better in some ways and ultimately kind of a toss-up but hard to justify the price.

i wonder if that'll hold true around the world though. valve is an american company and the strong dollar is going to make a difference. the steam deck just launched in japan for about $740 for the 512GB version, for example, versus about $1180 for a 1TB aya neo next.

still a big price premium but it's more like 50% than the 100%+ in the US, which seems more reasonable given the specs (including windows license) and how valve isn't even attempting to make any money on its product.

 

[klauskpm]

Nice thread. I'll keep my eyes on it.

 

[brain_stew]

I'm pleased for the competition and the alternatives but so far every competing device has severely missed the mark on either price, ergonomics, controls or OS and usually all 4 at once.

The sooner that the competition realise that they need to ditch Windows, the better. And no, not for some custom Linux distribution that's never going to have the support it needs. They need to fully embrace Steam OS.

A smaller Steam Deck absolutely has a place in the market but if you're going to release a Windows handheld with a 5.5" 1080p screen and no touchpads then you're just signalling to me that you don't know what you're doing. That combination makes absolutely no sense with RDNA2 graphics and it's positively baffling with Vega graphics.

Hopefully as RDNA2 based SOCs become cheaper, we start to see some more sensible devices that are more focused on a great end user experience and not a pointless spec war. I think we're only really going to see that if a bigger manufacturer enters the space.

 

[brain_stew]

i agree with your take on the aya neo next, i think it's better in some ways and ultimately kind of a toss-up but hard to justify the price.

i wonder if that'll hold true around the world though. valve is an american company and the strong dollar is going to make a difference. the steam deck just launched in japan for about $740 for the 512GB version, for example, versus about $1180 for a 1TB aya neo next.

still a big price premium but it's more like 50% than the 100%+ in the US, which seems more reasonable given the specs (including windows license) and how valve isn't even attempting to make any money on its product.

Click to shrink...

You're comparing (far and away) the worst value Steam Deck there though. The 64GB model still exists and games run just fine off an SD card in Steam OS and there's lots of cheap options to add an SSD if you want to.

If you haven't got a competitive option against the 64GB Steam Deck, then you're not real competition.

The challenge for competitors here is that the Steam Deck pretty much maxes out the available GPU performance available in any modern SOC, and additional CPU performance is currently only mostly useful for emulation. It's really difficult to justify a 3x the price of the base Steam Deck when performance in the majority of retail games is doing to be roughly on par at a 15w TDP. And no, I don't find performance comparisons at 28w TDP relevant, that's not a realistic use case for a battery powered handheld.

 

[Falus]

I love my steam deck but it's too big , and bulky. Or the screen is too small. But nowadays I hate super big bezels. I wish it was lighter really. I put a protection with a stand on it it's even worse now