Yes, I am aware of all of those details affecting my user experience. Most of it is in a good way. I don’t find myself needing/wanting touchpads. The higher resolution and refresh rate is certainly a welcome upgrade. Thermal throttling doesn’t seem to be an issue. It has an sd card slot for expandable storage. Battery longevity and replacement parts are valid concerns, but not total dealbreakers.

The handheld I’m looking at is the onexfly. Pretty much all of the reviews I’ve read and watched say that it’s an excellent device. The long term support is a good point, I don’t know how much I’d be able to depend on the company since they are based in China, but I am planning on buying it used/refurbished and putting Bazzite on it, so those points are a little less relevant because of that I think.

I actually did own a steam deck for a while and didn’t like physically holding it. It was too heavy, and the ergonomics weren’t right (in my opinion of course).

I appreciate what you’re saying, regardless, but I feel pretty confident that I know what I’m looking for and also what to look out for as well.

Streaming can be a good option, but it’s not ideal for me personally. I play a fair bit of platformers, so introducing any amount of latency is a no go. Also, I’d rather not run two devices at once. If I was going to have to run my laptop anyway, I’d just go ahead and play it on there instead.

Being able to upgrade (or not) is a valid point. For the mini pc, it wouldn’t really be used for any heavy duty stuff (except maybe some freecad if it was even capable). I suppose a small form factor like that will have certain tradeoffs.

With the handheld pc, I’ve got kind of a similar mindset. Many of the games I will be playing are indie games that will run great, but I can always tune down the settings for the more demanding titles. The particular model I’m looking at is a very capable device, and I think I’d be happy with it for a very long time.

Good tips, and thank you!

Thanks! I’m glad Freetube has been working again recently. That last outage lasted a while… Lofi girl keeps me sane, lol

There are lots of other handheld PC’s on the market (Steam Deck is the obvious choice, and arguably the best option because of the value).

The one I have been eyeballing is the onexfly. It’s got a better form factor (in my opinion), better screen, and better hardware. Yes they’re more money, but for something as uncompromising I think it would be worth the investment to me.

Ok, that is a fair criticism and it’s definitely been on my list for a while now, but for now I just use the one on the laptop itself.

I do appreciate the suggestions. I think my current chair/desk/footrest measurements/positioning are all pretty decent for me though. I just like being able to game in an inclined position, instead of sitting upright. I currently have a handheld that runs on android, and it’s pretty great, but the ecosystem is still just too much of a compromise for me.

That option did occur to me, but I’m not entirely sure that my space would allow for it… Also, even though my laptop is pretty powerful, I’m not sure how taxing that would be on it. My laptop’s screen is capable of a high refresh rate, and ideally I would want to still be able to take advantage of that.

Yes, I am aware of the streaming options. I would rather not have to run two devices at the same time though. Thanks for the suggestion.

I know it’s a contentious opinion, but the Steam Deck has a form factor that doesn’t work for me. It is a fantastic device, but I need something different.