And, individually, Valve has quickly stopped promoting the $649 1TB mannequin of its Steam Deck OLED within the US and Canada, citing unspecified provide chain constraints:
Steam Deck OLED 1TB fashions are quickly out-of-stock within the US and Canada as we adapt to current provide chain constraints. We anticipate being again in inventory by finish of summer season, and at present anticipate costs will stay the identical. We’ll replace right here as quickly as we now have extra readability on what the timeline in the end seems to be like.
Thoughts you, the $549 512GB Steam Deck OLED is the mannequin I’d suggest anyhow. However mixed with the truth that the Intel-powered MSI Claw AI 8 Plus additionally acquired a $100 value hike shortly after launch, it looks like Home windows makers are not meaningfully competing with the the Steam Deck or Swap 2, and I’m starting to marvel if Microsoft will likely be ready to take action when the Xbox Ally launches later this yr.
It’s not clear if Trump’s commerce battle with China is liable for any of those particular value adjustments, although it appears possible within the case of the Asus ROG Ally X. The $800 handheld now begins at $900 at Finest Purchase within the US, however nonetheless prices the equal of $800 at Best Buy Canada, and hasn’t gone up in value in Mexico both.
Asus wouldn’t inform us why the worth has gone up, and even affirm the worth enhance to The Verge, after repeated emails.
Lenovo, in the meantime, raised its costs on the entry-level Legion Go S with SteamOS twice earlier than it put the hand held on sale Might twenty fifth. It instructed us in regards to the first $50 value enhance in March, and quietly raised the worth one other $50 earlier than launch.
Because of this, the $599 Legion Go S now prices $50 greater than its closest competitor, the $549 Steam Deck OLED, which makes Lenovo’s handheld a tougher decide than it in any other case might have been. Whereas the SteamOS model is far improved over the Home windows one, it’s not a transparent winner over the Steam Deck in efficiency, battery life, display high quality, or consolation in my exams.
I plan to have a full evaluate of the SteamOS model of the Legion Go S quickly, now that I’ve examined each the Z2 Go and Z1 Excessive configs. I nonetheless wouldn’t suggest shopping for the Home windows Z2 Go model, which has been discounted right down to the identical $599. In case you’re questioning, MSI nonetheless has not despatched The Verge an MSI Claw 8 AI Plus for evaluate, after I warned readers to not purchase its disappointing predecessor, and the corporate not solutions my emails.
If these costs all appear too excessive for you, there’s one deal I maintain seeing anecdotally: apparently, some retailers are providing YMMV closeout offers as little as $349 on the unique Lenovo Legion Go together with removable controllers. I discovered it cumbersome and uncomfortable to carry, and a sequel is on the way in which, but it surely’s extra attention-grabbing at that value, and its Z1 Excessive chip makes it extra highly effective than any Z2 Go handheld.