25% Of Gaming Fans Would Consider Buying This Steam Deck Alternative - SlashGear Survey
This steam deck alternative has gaming fans leaning towards it, and it has something Valve's handheld console doesn't. The Steam Deck is still generating some buzz within the gaming community, especially now that Valve finally dropped the waiting list for buyers. Ever since its arrival, however, numerous Steam Deck alternatives have already entered the market. These portable gaming machines are already winning some fans over by addressing and even outdoing some of the Steam Deck's surprising pros and cons. Given how the Steam Deck's specs are competent enough to take on casual desktop setups, that's saying a lot.
Now, there are a couple of standouts in the pocket gaming PC market, particularly the ones from Ayaneo and GPD. The Ayaneo Air puts gaming chops in a more portable, lightweight form factor, while the beefier Ayaneo Next comes with power that rivals the Steam Deck. On the other hand, the GPD Win 3 features gaming hardware that's quite different from competing devices. Both manufacturers offer hardware with enough oomph to give Valve a run for its money, but will that be enough to win gaming fans over as well?
Battle of the best Steam Deck alternatives: size wins
After asking 606 gaming fans in the U.S. about their preferred Steam Deck alternative, the majority of them, or 25.58%, opted for the ONEXPlayer. Compared to the Steam Deck, the ONEXPlayer is bigger in almost every department. The ONEXPlayer's specs feature huge 512GB or 1TB storage options, an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, desktop-esque I/O ports, a hefty 15,300-mAh battery, and perhaps the biggest screen among the competition: an 8.4-inch IPS LCD display running at a crisp 2560x1600 resolution. The Ayaneo Next took second place, garnering 23.27% of the votes, which is pretty much to be expected considering it's already among the best Steam Deck alternatives currently available.
What's more surprising, however, is that 20.30% of gamers chose the Ayn Odin Pro – a Qualcomm-powered handheld gaming device with a meager 4GB RAM running on Android 10. Despite being the most underpowered Steam Deck alternative on the list, the Ayn Odin Pro still took third place, leaving the GPD Win 3 below it at just 15.84%. Of course, this leaves the lightweight Ayaneo Air dead last, winning over just 15.02% of the respondents. Perhaps this is due to its poor power-to-price ratio which, as it stands, makes it lighter yet pricier than the Steam Deck. Regardless, gaming fans went big on the ONEXPlayer, and its massive size certainly reflected their enthusiasm towards it.