One of the latest handhelds we have reviewed is the AYANEO Air, a powerhouse device with an AMD Ryzen 7 5826U Zen 3 processor all in a device that is just 20mm thin.
This device is by far the most powerful handheld we have ever reviewed. Yes, the 5.5″ screen may be slightly too small for a handful of games, but if you’re looking for portable power, this is the go to.
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Availability and pricing
Razer will have Blade 16 in stores in Q1-Q2 2023, starting at $2699. That’s for an RTX 4060 + IPS screen configuration, but we’ll have to update this section once all the specs and configurations are revealed.
The Blade 18 starts at $2799, for most likely similar specs.
Steam Deck vs Nintendo Switch OLED: Pricing
Steam Deck vs Switch OLED when it comes to price as mentioned before has put Switch OLED on the cheaper side than Steam Deck. Nintendo Switch OLED costs $349.99 while Steam Deck has varying prices depending on the storage capacity as follows:
- $399 (64GB)
- $529 (256GB)
- $649 (512GB)
Which Should You Buy?
The reason Nintendo has always excelled in the handheld market was because of their smart use of budget hardware to keep an accessible price point and because of their lineup of exclusive, quality games from massive franchises like Pokemon and Super Mario. Nintendo’s competitors in the handheld market all failed to keep up because despite having superior hardware in many ways, they were all too expensive and didn’t have the lineup of quality games to justify the price or even the boost in performance.
The Steam Deck is analogous to many of Nintendo’s competitors. It’s the rival to the Switch the same way the SEGA Game Gear was the rival to the Nintendo Game Boy and the Sony PSP was the rival to the Nintendo DS. While the Steam Deck is more powerful than the Switch, it also can be prohibitively expensive. And without Nintendo’s beloved games on the Steam Deck (unless Nintendo finds it in its heart to put its games on Steam, like that’s gonna happen), many would be more attracted to the Switch. It also remains in doubt how willing Valve is to support the Steam Deck over the years, especially with the fall of its Steam Machines initiative. However, unlike all of the other Nintendo competitors, the Steam Deck has the library to go toe-to-toe with Nintendo and offers a much more flexible user experience.
3] Versatility
Spoiler Alert: This is much closer than you think. As mentioned earlier, you can actually remove the controller from the Nintendo Switch and play the game. Which makes it versatile, but you can also play with your friend as there are two controller sticks attached to either side of the screen.
Steak Deck, on the other hand, can not do any of these things. You can remove the controller or give one to your friend, but it has some other tricks up its sleeve. It is a mini PC, so you can attach the Deck to your TV or Monitor and use the device as a controller. It is a PC at the end of the day, so, possibilities are endless.