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Magyar3 pricey handheld PCs the Steam Deck has to fight for supremacy
One of the biggest selling points of Valve's Steam Deck is its affordability, but is it worth paying more for any of the other options on the market? All of these Steam Deck rivals cost well over US$1,000, so what can they bring to the table for the extra money?
1. ONEXPLAYER Mini
The ONEXPLAYER Mini was announced in late 2021 and was released in January 2022. Its compact, 7-inch, 1920 x 1200 touchscreen display means it is the most analogous to the Steam Deck in terms of ergonomics. It is only available with a quad-core Intel Core i7-1195G7 processor and up to 16 GB of RAM.
For graphics processing, the ONEXPLAYER Mini relies on the Tiger Lake-U Xe Graphics G7 with 96 execution units. This makes it quite a capable gaming machine but also means it falls short of Valve's Steam Deck in terms of graphics performance in most applications.
2. GPD Pocket 3
The GPD Pocket 3 is an interesting device. It features up to a quad-core, hyperthreading-enabled Intel Core i7-1195G7 processor and 8 or 16 GB of RAM. Attached to this, there is an 8-inch, 1920 x 1200, 500-nit, touchscreen display with pen support and a convertible hinge that allows you to turn the device into a tablet. If you are after a unique device that is more of a generalist than a specialist gaming device, this may be the best handheld option around. The one downside is that the GPD Pocket 3 does not feature game controls, but does have a compact physical keyboard.
If a miniature, all-rounder laptop sounds like your cup of tea, check it out on Amazon.
3. AYANEO Next
In terms of graphics and gaming performance, the AMD Ryzen 7 5825U-equipped AYANEO Next doesn't really compare to the Steam Deck - it has better CPU performance, but it still features AMD's RX Vega 8 integrated graphics, so it loses in that department. However, rumour has it that AYANEO is planning on releasing a new Next device based around the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U with AMD Radeon 680M graphics, which features 4 more RDNA 2 CUs than the Steam Deck.
Given that the Steam Deck features 8x RDNA 2 CUs, the unreleased AYANEO Next - expected to launch around late 2022 - should have up to 50% more graphics horsepower to work with. Not only will it be based on newer architecture than the Steam Deck, it will also have more CPU cores, more GPU power and a much higher price, given the current AYA NEO Next launched at US$1,335.
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