Why I Think Gaming Handhelds are Slightly Overhyped

Since the Steam Deck’s 2022 debut, gaming handhelds have become a darling of the gaming community. With competing products from Ayaneo, Asus, and MSI, what makes these handhelds special, and why do I think they’re a bit overhyped? Keep reading to find out!

The Appeal

Gaming handhelds offer a magical mix of portability and power, which is very entrancing to the gaming community. Previously, handhelds were novelty devices limited to casual games, but the latest devices can handle AAA games, albeit at lower resolutions and settings.

Nostalgia also fuels their popularity. Many gamers fondly remember playing on devices like the Gameboy or PSP, and this childhood magic drives adult demand, boosting sales.

The Jank

Now that we have the general appeal out of the way, let me walk you through the reasons why I think gaming handhelds are slightly overhyped.

Battery Life

Though these consoles have long battery life for less intensive games, they fall behind in demanding titles. Playing AAA games at decent settings drains the battery quickly, giving just enough for one session.

Boosting TDP, GPU speed, or brightness for outdoor use worsens this, making frequent recharges necessary. The Steam Deck, for example, lasts 1.5-3 hours on AAA games at default settings, which is manageable but requires frequent trips to the charger.

The Bulk

Most gaming handhelds are either too big to be portable, or too small to be powerful. The Steam Deck is one of the best-performing handhelds, but it weighs 670 grams, which makes it very uncomfortable to play with it for long sessions, with the need for something to rest it on being irresistible.

Something like the ROG Ally is much more handleable at 608 grams and a much more compact and handlable body, but it eats through its battery time, partially due to the smaller size and the use of Windows instead of something like Steam OS for the Steam Deck.

The Price

The prices of these handhelds make them inaccessible to a large portion of the gaming community. Bear in mind that the prices listed here are of the base variants of these consoles, with the prices quickly going up with better storage, RAM, and processor configurations.

If you want to game on the go, the best mileage you can get is from a second-hand gaming laptop, albeit it won’t be as tight-knit of an experience. 

Situational Appeal

Let’s say you have a PC and a gaming laptop, but you want to get a handheld. What is the use case of this device in your situation? At home, you’d be better off using your PC for a better experience in terms of visuals, peripherals, and framerate.

If you have a place to sit, your laptop would take centre stage for the same reasons. Granted, you’ll have to connect your power supply to the most out of it, but it is a minor inconvenience.

This leaves the handhelds only appealable in niche scenarios like bus rides and flights where you won’t be able to use your other devices. In my opinion, this small window of appeal really diminishes the things that are great about these devices.

The above benchmark was taken with a laptop with an 11th gen i5, and an RTX 3050. The Steam Deck was rendering at 720p with medium settings and FSR on, while the laptop was rendering at 1080p High with DLSS on.

A Very Bright Future

Putting my minor nitpicks aside, it’s very easy to see how these devices have been great for the gaming industry. The staleness with the boring and underwhelming hardware releases took a turn for the better with the debut of these handhelds.

These devices are set to be the next big thing, with the technology right now being at the cusp of being efficient enough for a great experience, but not quite there. Additionally, the competition also suggests the prices landing at a more comfortable plateau.

With all first-generation products, the jank is inevitable. All of us at Tech4Gamers are more than excited to see what these gaming handhelds have in store in later iterations!