Monologue: Don't Buy A Switch 2, Get A Handheld Gaming PC

In this week’s monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through the awesome world of handheld gaming PCs - and why you should pick one up over a Nintendo Switch 2. Rog Ally X: https://rog.asus.com/us/gaming-handhelds/rog-ally/rog-ally-x-2024/ Lenovo Legion Go S: https://amzn.to/4kgZCKD MSI Claw: https://amzn.to/43PPNNG YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more. --- LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at https://discord.com/invite/QUUQUP9szv Ed's Socials: https://twitter.com/edzitron https://www.instagram.com/edzitron https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com https://www.threads.net/@edzitron See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.

• 0:05Speaker 01

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• 0:39Ed Zitron?

  Hello and welcome to this week's Better Offline Monologue. I'm your host, Ed Zitron.

• 0:50Ed Zitron?

  And let's start with one point: Fuck Nintendo. Back in February, Nintendo said that shortages of the Nintendo Switch will not be a problem, and came up with a genius, to quote multiple outlets, means of keeping scalpers from buying them all, by requiring those buying on Nintendo.com to have at least 12 months of Nintendo Online Memberships, as well as 50 combined hours of Nintendo Switch gameplay. Two weeks before launch, Nintendo America boss Doug Bowser, and yes, that is his name, said that the company believed it would have enough units to meet consumer demand throughout the holidays. Guess what? They didn't make enough, and now the Nintendo Switch 2 is sold out everywhere, with scalpers charging hundreds of dollars extra on eBay. If you're someone who's gonna email saying you're easily able to buy one, you're an exception to the rule and you fucking know it. Fuck Nintendo.

• 1:34Ed Zitron?

  They do this shit every time, creating artificial scarcity and then blaming it on unanticipated demand that they know will be there. They do this every single time. They did it back with the fucking Wii. It happens every time. I despise this company. They have this weird fucked up relationship with consumers where they like turn them into pay pigs, where it's just like, hey, we're gonna re- we're gonna do a new Zelda game. You wanna do that dance for me, you little piglet? And I say this to someone who's bought a Nintendo Switch. I don't know, I'm just- Of the companies I'm most tired of, kinda Nintendo's up there. While they may have their nice ecosystem- wait, I'm not talking about Nintendo here. I have a better suggestion, a much better suggestion. Buy a portable gaming PC instead.

• 2:18Ed Zitron?

  Since the Steam Deck launched in 2022, you've been able to play a remarkable amount of very, very good games like Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3 with better graphics, no need to hand cash to a company that fucking lies to you every time they launch a console. There's the Steam Deck and its OLED-screened upgrade pick, there's the MSI Claw 7, Lenovo's Legion Go, and one I actually got sent by Asus recently, their Rogue Ally X, and I really like it. One thing, though, there is a downside. Other than in the case of the Steam Deck, and it's Windows. Windows 11 is really, really funky with these handhelds. I'm gonna do a far more developed episode on the Rogue Ally X and others when I've spent more time with it, but Windows really does not like the handheld form factor, and Microsoft has clearly not made much of an effort to make sure that probably the most interesting

• 3:02Ed Zitron?

  form factor in PC gaming, if not gadgets, in years actually fucking works. Now, the reason I've kind of said the Steam Deck is different is they use their own operating system, SteamOS, which is a Linux-based system that really works very well, except for when it comes to anti-cheat measures, but that's just something you'll have to deal with. I know others are considering doing SteamOS integrations, I really hope so, because I love SteamOS, it's really good. And the reason I don't play my Steam Deck that much is because like, I got, like, I just don't like the... It doesn't feel good in my hands, okay? A lot of these things are gonna be like that for you. It's why later on I suggest you go and play with one. But across the board, there's another challenge. There's a battery life problem. Two to eight hours allegedly, but if I'm honest, running a Rogue Ally X at full-tilt

• 3:46Ed Zitron?

  turbo mode is gonna drain the battery pretty quickly. I haven't done official battery tests, I was still able to play for a couple of hours, it was good, I was playing stuff on full-tilt too. But this is one case where I'm fully willing to say we're only a few years in. Battery tech and chips will get smaller, and these things will last longer. Right now, they fit nicely in the hand, but they're a touch heavy and get a little hot, which is ganap-silavi for PC gaming. Either way, while I've played with a few of these handhelds, the Steam Deck and Rogue Ally X are the ones I've had the most time with, and Asus is really great. It can't really run Doom: The Dark Ages very well, it looks like a PS4 or PS3 version. It's been great for playing Madden 25, Redacted, Hades 2, the new Oblivion remaster, and a bunch of emulation stuff.

• 4:29Ed Zitron?

  Both the Steam Deck and the Rogue LAX also use power delivery, which is in a lot of modern chargers. Though I will add, the Rogue LAX wanted to charge at 90 watts when I plugged in the other day. Kinda weird, but I also was playing something a little bit taxing on it. These things are also not cheap, and while the Steam Deck is $399, it's getting on a bit. And the more recent, yet year-old Rogue LAX is 800 bucks. Though I should add, it's more powerful and has 128 Hz screen. I also really like it. Like, I've just been, I've been playing with it a lot. Yeah, I know on this show I'm constantly bitching about stuff such as like 1 minute ago, but I really do like the Rogue LAX. The Steam Deck is just too chunky for me, too chunky. I don't know if I've got small hands, but for my hands, they're kinda chubby. And just like the Rogue LAX more.

• 5:13Ed Zitron?

  And I will say, there are other options too, more powerful options. And like the GPD Win4, it's like $1,000, it's too much, it doesn't do enough, it's not worth your money. The Rogue LAX, right, 100 bucks, I actually really like. I think you could, you, you will be using this thing for years and you'll be very happy with it. And you could probably plug it into a battery when you're charging as well, so it will keep going. And I'll say, this segment is probably the most exciting part of the tech industry for me at the moment. And it's also the way I do most of my gaming. These consoles work really well. Yeah, they're a little bulky right now. Yeah, they got heating things, but there have been significant leaps between generations as far as power and battery life goes. I really hope we see more companies get into this space. And as they do, I'll probably end up playing with their versions too.

• 5:57Ed Zitron?

  I wanna do a bigger episode on handheld PC gaming. I've not done my rounds with all of them yet, but if you somehow M.P. off one of these things, email me, [email protected]. And I'm looking forward to, on a larger level, doing more gaming stuff. Gamers can be a little bit angry, I'm sure someone's gonna hear me say "fuck Nintendo" and get really upset. But you know what? Gaming industry needs a look at too, but there are really positive things. PC gaming rocks right now. There are tons of fun games you can play, but also these handheld gaming, there's years of games that work on them really, really well. I mean, I played Madden 25 because it's like ASMR for me. But it's nice, it works really well. I love these things, and I think you will too.

• 6:40Ed Zitron?

  So I really recommend, if you can, I think like Best Buy has a lot of them, go and play with them, pick them up, feel them in your hands, it's a very personal choice. And yeah, buy that instead of a Nintendo Switch 2. You don't need to play the latest version of Mario Kart. Mario Kart has been the same goddamn game for years, you know it and so do I. Anyway, that's gonna get me in trouble too. But give these things a go. And yeah, here you go, a semi-positive monologue for you. For bloody once. Thanks for listening.

• 7:15Speaker 04

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• 7:47Speaker 01

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• 7:55Speaker 02

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• 8:03Speaker 01

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• 8:47Speaker 06

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• 9:00Speaker 07

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• 9:43Speaker 07

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• 9:47Speaker 00

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.