DF: Handheld PC AAA gaming! Legion Go Vs ROG Ally Vs Onexplayer 2 vs AYNEO KUN

Digital Foundry released a video today comparing the current top of the line PC handhelds to each other and even the Steam Deck and PS5! They used current gen only games or games where the PC version is much ahead of the previous console generations versions in lower settings such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Horizon Forbidden West.

I am really impressed with how the current PC handhelds are slightly better than Xbox Series S in graphical settings for some games and can run games at PS5 performance mode graphics level but with lower resolution and half the framerate. The performance gap is even smaller when using PS5 quality mode and equivalent on PC handhelds.

A Plague Tale Requiem and Horizon Forbidden West look great on them.

I am disappointed they didn't cover frame generation tech though just to show people what to expect from FSR 3.0, AMD Fluid Motion Frames and Lossless Scaling Frame generation technologies even if they game wasn't running at 60fps. Me and other PC handheld users have gotten good results despite not playing at the recommended base 60 fps recommended for it by AMD.

Also in other news recent rumors are pointing to the Nintendo Switch being weaker than the Steam Deck which is disappointing. I thought it would be at least on par. Hopefully it is only slightly weaker.

Considering how big the steam deck is and how short the battery life, I wouldn't expect the Switch 2 to match it. Hopefully within spitting distance though.

@judaspete: The battery life of the Steam Deck OLED is unbelievable for the types of graphics and performance you can get out of it. The Switch already can't fit in pockets so I would gladly have a handheld that is a little thicker if it means much better performance. The difference between the Switch and the Steam Deck in graphics and performance is night and day in 3D titles that push the hardware. Some games on the Switch are unplayable or borderline unplayable even in docked mode despite looking like hot garbage on them already.

I also figure a shorter battery life would give Nintendo the excuse to sell their own power banks and 3rd parties licensed by them. Obviously I don't want the new Switch to last 1 and half hours at best but who is seriously going to be playing a game for 6-8 hours straight with no access to electricity outside of some small minority of people that travel by plane regularly and get stuck with the seat with broken power outlets every time? Nowadays most people have portable power banks even if they have phones with long last battery life because people can make the mistake of forgetting to charge their phone or the outlet in their bedroom being to far away from their bed and they still want to use their phone.

On the one hand, it's neat that these systems have enough clout to play those games. On the other, those are not really games I would play on a handheld myself. I love my Deck but I use it to play different types of games. e.g. I much prefer to play Stardew Valley on a handheld compared to a desktop. But I'd much prefer to play something like Spiderman on a PC.

For the price of those systems you can also build a PC that can beat those handhelds.

Still: many of the top 10 most played on the Deck are AAA games so someone is clearly getting a kick out of it. And there does seem to be enough interest that many manufacturers are already talking about their next iterations of their current crop. SO many people are really digging the portability.

@osan0: Eh different strokes for different folks. Mobile gaming is huge but a lot of people want to play traditional home console and PC games on portable devices which are the types of games phones and tablets natively lack and especially lack the processing power for.

Also you are paying for portability with these devices. I can't slide a gaming desktop into my backpack and pull it out to play some Doom Eternal on the plane or train or in a waiting room. If power was all that mattered in PC gaming there wouldn't be so many laptop gamers on our platform and they wouldn't be selling so much.

The ROG Ally for example compared to gaming laptops of the same price is pretty good value when it comes to performance with it only being outpaced in games that only support DLSS and not FSR on it compared to competition using RTX and the screen on it is better in colors compared to laptops of the same price. Not to mention the ROG Ally Z1 Extreme goes on sale frequently for as low as $600. The Z1 Model is actually a good alternative to the Steam Deck with its often on sale price being $400 now. The Lenovo Legion Go has recently gone as low as $629 brand new for it.

@BassMan: That gif 😂😂😂

Whats the point of these, do people really fly on planes or go on long train rides thatmuch?