I feel like I'm the only one who finds this pricing reasonable? I looked up similar devices from Ayaneo and GPD and they're priced similarly. It's a premium ultrabook shrunk to a handheld size with a built in controller built by a company that can't offset costs from an online store like Steam can, what were people expecting?
this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2025
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For M$ to subsidize some of the cost of the hardware seeing how it’s their “next leap” for the Xbox? Or something along those lines.
It's just Xbox branded, though. ASUS controls the device and I don't think it likely that Microsoft is hedging the future of Xbox on a (likely) one-time business arrangement. This was just the compromise for Microsoft's failed in-house handheld that never saw the light of day.
(laughs in Steam Deck)
The Steam Deck was pushed specifically by an online storefront as a "first party console" for the purposes of being, if not a loss leader, something approximating it.
ASUS is not Microsoft. They were going to release a handheld format gaming laptop regardless. They just took some cash from MS to change the plastic on one of their buttons. Once they sell this, that is it for profits (aside from all the spyware ASUS bundles in). The GPDs and Aya Neos had the same problem. And these are significantly more powerful than a Steam Deck at this point.
I would need to dig through the marketing and cross reference AMD's latest naming nonsense. But 1k for a gaming laptop is a shockingly good deal and the MSI Claw A8 has the same processor and, as of the Toms Guide article I found, was priced at £849.
Personally? I don't think there is much point in getting something ridiculously powerful as a gameboy and find the Steam Deck to be a great sweet spot where I can play the games I want to play natively but also stream (locally or from a cloud service) if I REALLY need to play something Bigger on there. But I also never really saw a point to gaming laptops for similar reasons.
But the people who do want a gaming laptop? This is what you are looking at.
I hate that all these handhelds are only trying to differentiate by focusing on premium specs but ignoring the sweet price-performance ratio that made the SD a success.
Give me something that has the same specs as the SD, or slightly weaker but still able to play last gen and indies in a smaller form factor instead. I'd snap up a SD mini clamshell in a heartbeat
You know it's going to be a great and memorable platform to play games on when it's catchy & cool name is 3/4 corpo IP 1/4 name.
Wow that's expensive!!
What is that price tag 😂 Someone drop the Donte white wig meme please.
Big lol