Simply, how much are you going to use it as a true portable? If you’re almost always near power, something like a Legion Go will probably be okay, and give you the extra performance you imagine. If you’re going to be relying on the battery a lot or exclusively, though, the Steam Deck hands down is the better choice. At the same 15W, there’s actually not any handheld that truly beats it in performance. It’s only when you exceed that, that they start to pull away. The Steam Deck gets better battery life than anything else, even at 15W. You start pushing more power to get that extra performance, and you’re looking at an hour or less of play time.

This isn’t the best place to ask my man. The sub is super biased from what I’ve read.

The questions you asked are worth asking. Both operating systems work well enough as a daily driver but if you’re planning on using it like a PC sometimes, there’s no question ease of use goes to Windows. Application comparability and familiarity go a long way when using a desktop OS.

As far as AAA games, the Deck has hit its limit with demanding titles. Even heavy games from the second half of this year don’t play well. Demanding AAA titles from the next 1-2 years? I doubt it. It struggles with some games from this year.

There are a few things in its favor:

• Price is crazy for what you get

• steamOS is amazing for a gaming handheld

• Valve’s support is unwavering, it’s going to get support for the long haul…regardless of whether it’ll be playing new games

In my opinion it comes down to what you need: if you want an easy to use, inexpensive, well supported machine go for the Deck. If you want the Windows desktop experience and enough power to play newer, demanding AAA titles go for the GO.

Steam Deck OLED - it’s a better screen than any of the other players can provide, that alone makes up for the performance difference imo. Plus being able to use Steam natively.