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Microsoft dives into the handheld gaming PC wars with the Asus ROG Xbox Ally (arstechnica.com)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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This will probably be the biggest competition the Steam Deck has within the handheld PC space.

Most noteworthy is that windows is finally focusing on providing a decent handheld experience, including booting straight to a controller friendly interface, and reducing background processes for better fps and battery.

Edit: The handheld Xbox UI will.come to all windows PCs, but it's not clear if the reduced performance bloat version will be available. It sounds like only Xbox branded devices may get the full benefit of optimized windows.

It's also the ugliest handheld PC yet (imo), but I can appreciate that they're pushing for comfort over looks.

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[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

Well, it makes the hardware more complicated to manufacture, more error prone, more bigger, more costly. The software becomes also a little bit more complicated. Maybe they are afraid that trackpads wouldn't appeal to normies, because it looks weird first and most "console" gamers might want to use a "normal" gamepad like handheld, like any other handheld. Trackpads look so different and weird compared to the Switch in example. Being similar to the Switch in the look might be a reason for them to exclude it. But most importantly, it makes it more costly. So, I can see reasons for this.

Having said this, I would never buy a PC handheld without a single trackpad again. I love them (not in the literal sense BTW :D). Compared with good software for input, like Steam Input, they become invaluable.

this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2025

101 points (93.9% liked)

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