Jun 10, 2026 · 35 min · 9 segments
One does not simply buy one reasonably priced handheld and then be content with their purchase. When you start spending what was originally a steam deck's worth of money chasing incremental upgrades…
My first...
Proper handheld gaming PC was the Steam Deck.
100% because of its form factor.
I was kind of tired of lugging around a giant Steam Deck.
And well, just for the fact that it had a built-in keyboard and the right D-pad that I wanted.
And just that little like optical nub that you could... used as a mouse, it got that portability factor like perfect for me.
It should have been my device to solve all the Steam Deck's shortcomings, I felt it had, until I realized that the GPD Win had its own shortcomings, you know.
No devices perfect uh it was definitely a lesson in the expectations one should have when it comes to chinese niche computer after sales support but i had to do a lot of my own learning uh make sure i knew how to repaste the device troubleshoot any problems that i might have and yeah the uh next to no after sales support it isn't the biggest con but it's kind of what you should be expecting when it comes to these kind of hobby devices at least in in that stage right i think valve and asus and lenovo and who knows msi have kind of had to take a mainstream approach to this but before i get too off topic it's kind of dictated what i'd like to call a romanticized oversell on the capabilities that most in the handheld hobby might know all too well once you start sticking around long enough And kind of at every stage, every time something is just slightly powered, but has like the potential, people pump its tires so hard.
And yeah, I mean, I fell for the super hype.
It's not like I hate the device, but it's just not the perfect device, right? It was the first time I bought a device that didn't come with planned accessories.
You know, you really miss the days of quality third-party accessories that you might associate from like Nintendo handhelds.
Okay, maybe not like the original Gameboy, you know the days of hard plastic and disintegrating silicon but it's hard not to use that as the example when like the switch and the switch to Basically just had a cult following all sorts of cases and grips and stands people of imagining things from their own 3d renders and I mean like we found out about the switch to what it actually looked like and from what a leaked third-party case seller so yeah it's kind of nice when there's just so much third-party anticipation for accessories that you see like grips and stands and docks and cases they all just come out of the woodwork like as quickly as possible and sure you know half of them sucked it's not like my switch 2 is any different most of the cases can be docked in without wedging i mean that's fine before i i don't know make this tangent go off even further I'd say it's been almost a full year and now we're just starting getting the the attachable controllers, you know, that don't need some kind of giant awkward adapter in the middle to make them work.
But I think even if you have, even if you consider all that, I think just the broad adaption of 3D printing and especially.
what seems just to be kind of like mainstream TPU molding.
You know, I think that was kind of the era turning moment when it comes to handhelds.
But to regroup here, Let's try to be a little more concise from here on out.
My first...
Proper handheld gaming PC was the Steam Deck.
100% because of its form factor.
I was kind of tired of lugging around a giant Steam Deck.
And well, just for the fact that it had a built-in keyboard and the right D-pad that I wanted.
And just that little like optical nub that you could... used as a mouse, it got that portability factor like perfect for me.
It should have been my device to solve all the Steam Deck's shortcomings, I felt it had, until I realized that the GPD Win had its own shortcomings, you know.
No devices perfect uh it was definitely a lesson in the expectations one should have when it comes to chinese niche computer after sales support but i had to do a lot of my own learning uh make sure i knew how to repaste the device troubleshoot any problems that i might have and yeah the uh next to no after sales support it isn't the biggest con but it's kind of what you should be expecting when it comes to these kind of hobby devices at least in in that stage right i think valve and asus and lenovo and who knows msi have kind of had to take a mainstream approach to this but before i get too off topic it's kind of dictated what i'd like to call a romanticized oversell on the capabilities that most in the handheld hobby might know all too well once you start sticking around long enough And kind of at every stage, every time something is just slightly powered, but has like the potential, people pump its tires so hard.
And yeah, I mean, I fell for the super hype.
It's not like I hate the device, but it's just not the perfect device, right? It was the first time I bought a device that didn't come with planned accessories.
You know, you really miss the days of quality third-party accessories that you might associate from like Nintendo handhelds.
Okay, maybe not like the original Gameboy, you know the days of hard plastic and disintegrating silicon but it's hard not to use that as the example when like the switch and the switch to Basically just had a cult following all sorts of cases and grips and stands people of imagining things from their own 3d renders and I mean like we found out about the switch to what it actually looked like and from what a leaked third-party case seller so yeah it's kind of nice when there's just so much third-party anticipation for accessories that you see like grips and stands and docks and cases they all just come out of the woodwork like as quickly as possible and sure you know half of them sucked it's not like my switch 2 is any different most of the cases can be docked in without wedging i mean that's fine before i i don't know make this tangent go off even further I'd say it's been almost a full year and now we're just starting getting the the attachable controllers, you know, that don't need some kind of giant awkward adapter in the middle to make them work.
But I think even if you have, even if you consider all that, I think just the broad adaption of 3D printing and especially.
what seems just to be kind of like mainstream TPU molding.
You know, I think that was kind of the era turning moment when it comes to handhelds.
But to regroup here, Let's try to be a little more concise from here on out.
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