with the steam deck starting to age out of newer 3D indies and AA games, i was hoping these companies would continue to deliver. $1800 is steep though. this is a terrible time for consumer electronics.
this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2026
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So its not allowed on planes, but only barely?
116wh battery means it won't be allowed on many airplanes. Usa/EU rules limit to 100wh
Just...why? Ya know the handheld PC market existed before Steam but only ballooned after the Steam Deck, but seemingly simultaneously no one understood why it was so successful. Spoiler: it's not because it was super powerful.
32GB RAM
Wow you can get the ram for $1,799, what a steal!
I honestly do wonder who their main market is – I assume handheld gamers would sooner opt for the cheapest option that gets the job done, which is by all accounts the Steam Deck just for sheer ease of use and decent price point for hardware.
The Lenovo and ASUS options are all more expensive than the Steam Deck and have been available for years.
Their draw are just various "gimmicks" like a 1080p screen and running Windows 11 stock for better compatibility with competitive shooters.
Why are people willing to deal with reduced battery life from a 1080p screen and a bloated OD? No idea. Why would anyone want to play a competitive shooter on a handheld? Also no idea. Why would anyone want to play with a bulkier handheld that has less battery life and less performance? Also also no idea.
Unfortunately a lot of gamers/consumers have... interesting priorities, hence why they buy these things.
That's better priced than I'd expect for a Max+ 395. I'm not gonna buy it though, the steam deck still works fine.
I don't really know anything about that CPU, but I assume it's pretty damn good considering the price of the whole unit, or at least it better be lol. How's that one compare to what's in the Steam Deck or the ROG Ally?
So the AI Max 395+ easily performs about 6 to 8 times faster than the Steam Deck, but it of course uses way more power to accomplish it.
I have a Framework Desktop with the 395+, I use it as a small form factor gaming PC and it can play any modern game at 1440p without upscaling on high graphics settings while maintaining 60fps. Max power draw of about 120 watts. It's also basically silent which is awesome.
I'd imagine if they limit power draw for a handheld, it'd probably run significantly more efficiently than either the steam deck or Ally though. But I also feel like throttling such a powerful iGPU seems kinda wasteful and the 385+ could work just as well at low power and cost less..