this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023

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Has anyone tried one of these Steam Deck alternatives like ROG Ally, GPD, OneXPlayer etc? I'm kinda keen on this Ayaneo Geek 1S (www.indiegogo.com)

submitted 1 year ago by 2tone@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] Acid@startrek.website 1 points 1 year ago

I had an Aya Neo 2 at work the other day so here's my brief take on it from an experience perspective.

All the other hand held PC's that aren't the steamdeck are just that, hand held PC's. When you reset or reinstall windows you have no drivers have to plug in a keyboard and mouse to get a driver package of about 19 different things before it's usable then you need to install Aya Neo Space and have that auto launch at startup so that you somewhat get a hand held console experience.

The deck by contrast is just a single recovery image that is good to go and just works.

So I'd say if you want something that just works well buy a steamdeck while it may have less games than the others it truly is a pick up and play experience, if you want to tinker look into the others however I'd suggest you avoid the Ally due to the melting SD card issue for now.

[–] Akip@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Only tried my steam deck, just wanna chime in how great steamOS is. It's not just about the hardware.

In fact once valve releases it, i'm sure it will be the step for me to finally leave my windows machine I use for gaming. It's just that smooth, great experience out of the box. No fiddeling.

[–] shiroininja@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I really love launching the new big picture mode. Valve is really nailing the better console feel

[–] Zoldyck@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I've been following Steam Deck since it was announced. Never got one because of reasons, but as soon as they announce the Steam Deck 2, I'm placing an order.

Nintendo has serious new competition, which is very welcome.

[–] 2tone@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You're absolutely right about the software experience. And the overall ecosystem. Steam deck wins hands down on those. There is ChimeraOS out there too but Aya's software doesn't look too bad, actually

[–] zikk_transport2@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Let me give you a tip - if you are planning to play games just like you do with Xbox controller - pick any device you want.

But if you want to have these:

Gyro aiming
Trackpads (aka "mouse touchpad")
Back buttons
Self-repair
Value (price/performance)
Customization freedom (macros, shortcuts layers, virtual menus of bindings in-game, idk many more choices...)

Then you have to pick Steam Deck.

Hell, it should be enough for you to check what are your choices if you break Aya vs Steam Deck display. Where would you get display? How easy it's to replace?

With Steam Deck it's iFixIt and they have parts, quality guides and tools for everything. What does Aya have?

[–] Dax87@forum.stellarcastle.net 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I have a steam deck, but also a gpd win max (2020). I managed to get diablo 4 running on the win max at a playable frame rate which is cool. I've never tried AyaNeo though.

There are so many others out there too. We have a community dedicated to all x86 gaming handhelds if you're interested. !hh86@forum.stellarcastle.net

[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You should also definitely consider battery life and how important each “upgrade” is. Windows supports a few extra games but isn’t optimized for a handheld like SteamOS. A better screen or more performance would be cool but not if it costs an hour of battery life.

One thing that ended up surprising me is how little I’ve cared about performance on the Deck. It’s kind of the nature of a handheld that you play games like Hades and not RDR2 or whatever. So, it ends up being less of a problem. Big, beautiful games tend to call for a big screen and a few hours whereas a portable is like, “I have 30 minutes to kill. I’ll play Tetris Effect.”

[–] Shrek@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

That's such a big thing. Linux is better for a handheld. I used to own a couple of GPD Win's and Windows made it so frustrating so I just sold them. With my Steam Deck I have found very few games I couldn't play on Linux. I actually can't think of a single example that isn't a competitive multiplayer game. But, personally I didn't buy a handheld for competitive multiplayer..

[–] ext23@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm waiting for one with an OLED screen and good battery life. New models are coming out all the time and I'm excited to see what's available in a year or two.

[–] 2tone@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

That Ayaneo Air 1S just launched on Indiegogo and has an OLED screen. It's a stunning piece of kit but I'm not convinced by the battery life, which is why I'd be more interested in the Geek 1S or a different device altogether.

[–] M_Reimer@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

All the alternatives are advertised to be shipped with Windows only and so not interesting to me. Probably this is interesting for a lot of potential customers but I don't want Windows on any device that I own.

[–] d3Xt3r@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They're all basically PCs so you can actually still install Linux on them. In fact, there's a distro called ChimeraOS, which is a community-made SteamOS, that you can install on any handheld (or even a regular PC). ChimeraOS contributors even regularly test against popular handled devices (like the ROG Ally for instance) and put in fixes and optimizations for various things. So in that regard, getting something that's NOT the Steam Deck may not be such a crazy idea.

[–] M_Reimer@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Interesting. Did not know about ChimeraOS. But can I get a ROG Ally without paying for a Windows license?

[–] d3Xt3r@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

No, but even with the Windows tax it's cheaper than the Steam Deck. The 512GB Steam Deck is $649, but the ROG Ally equivalent is $599 - and it has a much faster CPU+GPU.