I need a decent handheld for emulation and I think steam deck is the best choice out of all the options available, the other option I had in mind was the retroid pocket 4 pro but for that price (200 dollars) I might as well save up for another week and get a steam deck (500 dollars).
My problem is I don’t really like spending money at all, I have three issues with spending
1.) Money makes me horny
2.) Money can go to my savings account where it would be safer
3.) Stannis Baratheon crack pipe
I have been enjoying my miyoo mini plus but the system maxes out at PS1 and ideally I want to be playing PS2 emulation
What's the latest generation system you want to emulate through? That would inform whether advising to save on something cheaper or not makes sense.
PS3 would be cool also ps2 and game cube, so I think steam deck is worth it because I can emulate but also play games from current gen
Definitely Deck or stronger in that case. I'd look into the Ally and the Legion Go as well but they're probably pushing price range.
If you drop specific PS3 titles I can tell you if they're on the more/less intense spectrum to emulate as well. Also probably worth looking up the steam deck vs. steam deck OLED performance for games of interest on RPCS3 as you might be able to squeeze out some savings there if it makes sense.
Additionally because it's probably of immediate interest look into ported decompilation games too. I'm pretty sure I have a resetera (sorry it's just the best aggregate list I've found) thread on them in the emulation megatherad.