Valve's portable Steam Deck has burst onto the market, making a big splash in the portable gaming scene. The new handheld gaming PC is even making many enthusiasts question whether this is the answer over something like a gaming laptop. However, Steam Deck isn't the only portable PC machine on the market, and some of the competitors are looking to Valve's innovations for future products.
OneXPlayer is one brand known for making some pretty premium portable units, but even in our recent review of the One-Netbook OneXPlayer Mini, the benefits of the Steam Deck were pretty clear.
While these are very nifty units packed with power, for a price, the Steam Deck's cheaper options and specific software is helping it surge ahead in popularity. However, if you found yourself wishing there was a more premium Steam Deck on offer, OneXPlayer may be about to deliver.
Steam Deck review: Our verdict on Valve's handheld PC.
Steam Deck availability: How to get one.
Steam Deck battery life: What's the real battery life of the new device?
How loud is the Steam Deck? And will it pass the Significant Other test?
Steam Deck - The emulation dream machine: Using Valve's handheld hardware as the ultimate emulator.
Currently, the OneXPlayers are running Windows, which is great for familiarity but doesn't necessarily make the best use of the form factor. Steam Decks are running a version of Linux called SteamOS which uses Proton to get games working on the Linux platform and is helping with general use and compatibility over some competitors.
According to an interview with WePC, OneXPlayer is looking to a Linux based solution in the future, potentially even SteamOS. This means we may start to see really premium specced portable PC gaming consoles, running well optimised software.
Elden Ring was recently tweaked to run much better on the SteamOS platform thanks to changes made to caching. These kind of fixes being implemented on portable machines means any platform that can take advantage of the specialised software should benefit. In short, portable PCs from all brands could be about to see a surge in viability.
In the case of OneXPlayer, this could mean a boon for high-end portable machines. One of the main downsides we found with the mini was that some games just wouldn't run, and other aspects could be fiddly. It's likely SteamOS could fix many of these problems, finally giving these premium machines a chance to feel like it inside and out.
Given the difficulties involved with locking down a Steam Deck at the moment, a little more competition can only be a good thing.
