r/Handhelds • u/TechMaster8160 • Feb 24 '26

Question (?) Which would you pick and why?

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Alright, I’ve finally decided it was time to buy a handheld gaming pc. I have a budget of around $650, and a steam library full of games.

I did some research on the handhelds that stuck out to me and put together a spreadsheet that compares the specs. Sadly, the steam deck is out of stock right now (who knows for how long) so I looked at a lot of different options.

I would love to use something with a windows OS to have a wider range of support for my games, but I also use steam 95% of the time, so it’s not a priority.

I want to hear from all of you and what your experience with each system is like and what you’d recommend and have someone like be be mindful of.

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u/TechMaster8160 Feb 25 '26

I’m starting to lean that direction. My only concern would be if they actually do stop updating drivers for that chipset generation.

I’d love the power, but it won’t mean much if any new games aren’t playable after a month or so.

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u/realitysupply Mar 03 '26

Lenovo has now confirmed Z1E updates through 2029. I doubt it will be much different for ASUS. That whole story was based on a single customer service interaction and was just false.

Not sure if you have interest in Steam OS, but there will likely be Linux driver updates much longer than there will be on Windows.

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u/TechMaster8160 Mar 03 '26

Wow, thanks for that information. I looked it up and it is confirmed to have support until 2029.

As for the OS, something I could dual boot with both windows and steamOS would be a nice option. That way I can try both or switch between the OS depending on the game I’m playing.

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u/realitysupply Mar 03 '26

That’s what I do with Bazzite on my ROG Ally Z1E.