There is a specific Steam Deck thread here, but since handheld gaming computers seem to be booming now with more manufacturers entering the market, I thought of opening a general thread for these machines where we can share experiences and questions.
I got an Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme for testing. This is a portable Windows 11 PC, which can run most current AAA games, but can also do pretty much anything a Windows PC can do. There are plenty of good reviews online and I am not intending to write a proper one. Just a mini-review based on my few hours of experience with the machine.
I tested the machine using a ROG Gaming Charger Deck, a modern TV, sound system, a relatively modern office screen, a Logitech mouse, a Stadia controller and Baldur's Gate 3.
My first impression is that the technological advancement on the handheld front is just astonishing. This small thing actually manages to run a game like BG3 through a TV using ultra presets. The resolution is not as high as it could be through a more powerful PC with an expensive graphics card, but it is high enough for me to enjoy the game. There was some lag in more dense parts of the city and FPS was around 30-50. Yet, pretty impressive for a small device like this. Good enough for me. The HDMI connected directly to my TV surround system and sound was great all around.
The operating system is clunky and it took me a while to get my Stadia controller to work through bluetooth. Once it worked, it felt like playing the game through a controller in Xbox. BG3 is not the best game to play using a controller and I was missing M&K, but I managed.
I tried the game through a computer screen too. Here I hit a problem because ROG Gaming Charger Deck only has one HDMI and one USB connection in addition to the USB-C port to the handheld. I could only connect my USB mouse since I did not have a bluetooth keyboard. It worked like a PC would work using a mouse. Cannot comment about keyboard, but I would not recommend a ROG Gaming Charger Deck due to few ports.
Then I tried the game from the native screen without connecting to the charger. FPS plummeted to 10-20 and the game was occasionally unplayable. The screen is small, but it is possible to see what is going on if you have no other option. It seems that the game almost requires the 30W mode, which is turned on automatically when a charger is connected. The battery will not last for long while playing a game like BG3 anyway. I was surprised how good sound the device has.
I got this device mostly to connect to TVs and screens while on travels but also to play PC games home as I do not own a Windows PC. I am impressed but uncertain whether I'll keep it. Lenovo Legion Go has a slightly bigger screen, detachable controllers, and even a mouse-mimic. I might go for that or then just wait for other manufacturers to come with their models.
The device was about half price compared to a stationary gaming PC (which I would rarely use) and one third of the price compared to a gaming laptop with decent specs, but costs more than current-gen consoles.
I got an Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme for testing. This is a portable Windows 11 PC, which can run most current AAA games, but can also do pretty much anything a Windows PC can do. There are plenty of good reviews online and I am not intending to write a proper one. Just a mini-review based on my few hours of experience with the machine.
I tested the machine using a ROG Gaming Charger Deck, a modern TV, sound system, a relatively modern office screen, a Logitech mouse, a Stadia controller and Baldur's Gate 3.
My first impression is that the technological advancement on the handheld front is just astonishing. This small thing actually manages to run a game like BG3 through a TV using ultra presets. The resolution is not as high as it could be through a more powerful PC with an expensive graphics card, but it is high enough for me to enjoy the game. There was some lag in more dense parts of the city and FPS was around 30-50. Yet, pretty impressive for a small device like this. Good enough for me. The HDMI connected directly to my TV surround system and sound was great all around.
The operating system is clunky and it took me a while to get my Stadia controller to work through bluetooth. Once it worked, it felt like playing the game through a controller in Xbox. BG3 is not the best game to play using a controller and I was missing M&K, but I managed.
I tried the game through a computer screen too. Here I hit a problem because ROG Gaming Charger Deck only has one HDMI and one USB connection in addition to the USB-C port to the handheld. I could only connect my USB mouse since I did not have a bluetooth keyboard. It worked like a PC would work using a mouse. Cannot comment about keyboard, but I would not recommend a ROG Gaming Charger Deck due to few ports.
Then I tried the game from the native screen without connecting to the charger. FPS plummeted to 10-20 and the game was occasionally unplayable. The screen is small, but it is possible to see what is going on if you have no other option. It seems that the game almost requires the 30W mode, which is turned on automatically when a charger is connected. The battery will not last for long while playing a game like BG3 anyway. I was surprised how good sound the device has.
I got this device mostly to connect to TVs and screens while on travels but also to play PC games home as I do not own a Windows PC. I am impressed but uncertain whether I'll keep it. Lenovo Legion Go has a slightly bigger screen, detachable controllers, and even a mouse-mimic. I might go for that or then just wait for other manufacturers to come with their models.
The device was about half price compared to a stationary gaming PC (which I would rarely use) and one third of the price compared to a gaming laptop with decent specs, but costs more than current-gen consoles.
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