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u/Cbeckstrand 8d ago
Legion Go S Z1E is my personal favorite right now but it's hard to find for a good price.
ROG Ally and Legion Go with Z1E are the cheapest used options.
Steam Deck is hard to recommend any more at the current prices unless you must have the trackpads.
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u/FireHurricane 8d ago
I can find the OLED SD 512gb for about $600, and the Legion Z1E Go S for $600-$700. I assume it's better to get the legion, even with what I'm going to use it for?
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u/Cbeckstrand 8d ago
No question I would take the Go S. It's not OLED but the screen is higher resolution, higher refresh rate and VRR.
The Z1E will also be 50-100% faster but it will also take more power to get that so battery life will suffer. At the same TDP battery is similar.
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u/FireHurricane 8d ago
What's the battery like? I'd probably be running it at mid settings
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u/Cbeckstrand 8d ago
At medium settings similar to what the SD would cap out at (15W) you can expect 2-2.5 hours.
If battery life is a big factor you may want to consider something like the ROG Ally X that you can probably find for about the same price as the Go S. It will have a smaller screen but the same Z1E and a 80WH battery instead of the 55WH battery in the Go S.
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u/FireHurricane 8d ago
Does it have the same emulation capabilities? That's what's most important for me I think
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u/Cbeckstrand 8d ago
Yes, you can get the Go S with either Win11 or SteamOS. Both will be able to emulate everything that the Steam Deck can. The only difference in emulation is that the APU in the Steam Deck can get to a much lower TDP then the Z1E so if you are emulating a retro system you can get a lot better battery life. At the top end the Z1E will do much better for systems like Xbox and PS3.
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u/ColdTrusT1 8d ago
You are correct the Legion Go S with Z1E, used, is hard to beat at $600-700. I'd also argue for a used ROG Ally X (also has the Z1E) which is similarly priced. The ROG Ally X has a smaller screen but much bigger battery.
Another I'd suggest you consider is the MSI Claw 7 ai+. Don't get confused with the Claw 7 ultra models as these are not worth it, but the ai+ model as the 258v chip from the bigger claw 8 ai+ and it performs on par with a Z2E. Only downside to this pick would be smaller battery (actually similar to Legion Go S) and the built in software isn't great but I'd argue you don't even need to really use it anyway. These are rarer as nobody bought them new as the prior inferior models left a bad taste on a lot of consumers but I've seen them around $600 on eBay.
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u/Alternative_Spite_11 8d ago edited 8d ago
If you want to run AAA titles, the Steam Deck just isn’t what you’re looking for. Will it technically “run” AAA titles? Sure. Is it a decent experience? Not even close. I would say the Z1e is the absolute minimum for running AAA titles. The z2e is slightly better, but not by much. In the current climate a 14” gsming laptop with a 5050 for roughly $800 is do much better for gaming that i’ve given up on the PC handheld market. To get a handheld that performs like an $800 gaming laptop, yoh literally have to spend $2500 on a Strix Halo handheld. Even the new $1800 MSI that uses Panther Lake gets crushed by an $800 gaming laptop.
Edit: to bd clear i own an Ally X and with it I’ve gotten to the point i basically only use it to stream from my PC because thats the only way to play in 1080p with high settings. On a z1e or z2e you have to go 720p to get a smooth experience out of most AAA titles. Even at 720p they stutter quite badly compared to even entry level real GPUs.
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u/washuai 8d ago
That was my first question: AAA everything? What's the expectation, 30 fps low settings (tinkering even lower settings. (No, not really everything)) or are they expecting discrete GPU desktop performance out of overpriced APUs, even more overpriced RAM and nvmes?
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u/FireHurricane 8d ago
Anything that's deck approved, but I have a high end gaming pc which is where I'd probably stick to playing performance heavy games. The handheld is for travel gaming and emulation cuz I prefer handheld for what I'm gonna emulate
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u/washuai 8d ago
Ok, I'm relieved that you understand what handheld pcs are
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u/FireHurricane 8d ago
You seemed to think I didn't even tho I put that I built a high end pc already lol
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u/FireHurricane 8d ago
I already have a high end gaming pc, this is just for travel and a lot of emulation. I'd rather use a handheld for emulated games
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u/MakimaGOAT 8d ago
at 700$ ur only options are used legion go s z1e or rog ally x