The Problems with Ultra Cheap PC Handhelds, Pre-Orders and SteamOS

WULFF DEN
28 Jan 202424:57

Summary

TLDRThe video covers the host's frustrating experience pre-ordering two AYN Loki handheld gaming devices, culminating in him finally receiving three units. He reviews the $224 Loki Zero, discussing its specs, game performance, versatility of Windows, and process of installing SteamOS. Though underpowered, the Loki Zero seems compelling for its price compared to Android competitors if using lightweight emulators and indie games. The video also examines SteamOS licenses and why companies can't ship devices with SteamOS installed without Valve's approval.

Takeaways

  • 😀 The buying process for the AYN Loki was frustrating, with multiple SKU changes and lack of communication.
  • 🤔 Getting review units for free may bias reviews compared to regular buyers' experiences.
  • 🤨 The Loki Zero is the cheapest Windows handheld at $224, but runs games poorly.
  • 😟 Putting SteamOS on the Loki was easy with ChimeraOS, but compatibility is hit or miss.
  • 😠 SteamOS licensing issues prevent third parties from shipping it out of the box.
  • 😶‍🌫️ The Loki Zero benchmarks low, but runs some 2D indie games fine.
  • 😐 Few 3D games run well on the Loki Zero even on Windows.
  • 🙂 The Loki is useful for low-powered 2D indie games, especially ones on Steam.
  • 😮 The buying experience matters and should be considered in reviews.
  • 🧐 Despite flaws, the Loki Zero is compelling for the price versus Android handhelds.

Q & A

  • What devices did the narrator originally pre-order and what happened to those pre-orders?

    -The narrator originally pre-ordered the Loki 256 and the Loki Mini Intel version. Both pre-orders ended up being canceled or discontinued by AYN.

  • What games ran well on the Loki Zero?

    -Less demanding 2D indie games like Celeste and Gravity Circuit ran great on the Loki Zero.

  • Why didn't the narrator test out the Loki Mini Pro?

    -The narrator didn't test out the Loki Mini Pro because it was extremely similar in power and price to the Loki Zero, and AYN had already discontinued it.

  • What is the narrator's view on getting review units for free?

    -The narrator doesn't think getting free review units contributes to inherent bias. However, he notes that it can provide a different experience from regular consumers going through a buying process.

  • What happened when the narrator tweeted about his frustrating ordering experience?

    -Someone from AYN saw his tweet, reached out apologizing, looked into his order, and offered him a free Odin 2 Pro review unit.

  • How does the Loki Zero compare to other handhelds in a similar price range?

    -With the option to install EmuDeck on Windows or ChimeraOS, the Loki Zero seems more and more enticing compared to Android handhelds like the Retroid or Anbernic in a similar price range.

  • Why aren't there more SteamOS devices besides the Steam Deck?

    -The Steam client software required for SteamOS is proprietary, so you need a license from Valve to include it commercially. This makes it difficult for other companies to release SteamOS devices.

  • What was the narrator's experience getting ChimeraOS running on the Loki Zero?

    -Putting ChimeraOS on the Loki Zero wasn't too difficult overall. Performance seemed on par with running Celeste natively in Windows.

  • What are some recommendations the narrator gave for handheld gaming PCs?

    -The narrator recommended saving up for a cheap Steam Deck, base model Asus ROG Ally, or other device with more power if possible. But said the Loki Zero could be decent depending on use case.

  • What does the narrator think is the best option for compatibility and UI on these devices?

    -The narrator thinks running Steam in Big Picture Mode on Windows provides the best compatibility and UI experience on these low-powered handheld PCs.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Preorder Issues and Buying Process Frustrations

The first paragraph discusses the confusing and frustrating process of preordering the AYN Loki devices. There were constant changes, cancellations, and miscommunications, leading to not receiving the devices for over a year. This highlights issues with preorders and buying processes in general.

05:01

😒 Multiple Device Confusion and Lack of Updates

The second paragraph continues to describe the confusing ordering process. The author ended up with two very similar devices but had no updates for months. He had to inquire multiple times before finally getting the devices after over a year.

10:01

😠 $11 Shakedown and Resolving Issues

The third paragraph discusses how the author had to pay an additional $11 shipping fee after over a year of no updates. He tweets about the bad experience, leading AYN to finally resolve the issues and send the devices. It shows how issues may not get fixed without public visibility.

15:02

🤔 Reflections on Review Units and Buying Process

The fourth paragraph reflects on how getting free review units provides a different buying experience than regular consumers would have. The author aims to focus more on conveying the full consumer experience in future reviews.

20:03

😕 Performance Limitations but Useful Versatility

The fifth paragraph evaluates the Loki Zero's performance. Most 3D games failed to run well, but cheaper 2D indie games ran smoothly. While performance is limited, the versatility of a cheap full Windows device can be useful for specific applications.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Windows handheld

A handheld gaming device that runs the Windows operating system instead of Android or custom firmware. The video focuses on the AYN Loki Zero, an affordable $224 Windows handheld. It provides flexibility to install programs, emulators, and games available on Windows.

💡Steam Deck

A popular handheld gaming PC made by Valve. It runs SteamOS and can play games from the Steam library. The Loki Zero is compared to the Steam Deck as a more affordable alternative at $224 vs $399.

💡SteamOS

The Linux-based operating system made by Valve that runs on the Steam Deck. It provides an optimized gaming experience and interface. The video explores trying to install SteamOS on the Loki Zero to enhance compatibility and performance for games.

💡ChimeraOS

A community-made distribution of SteamOS that can be installed on Windows handhelds like the Loki Zero. It attempts to provide a Steam Deck-like gaming experience on other devices, with varying degrees of compatibility.

💡compatibility

Whether games and programs will install and run properly on a device. Compatibility issues are a concern on the underpowered Loki Zero, so different OS options are tried to improve game compatibility.

💡performance

The hardware capability and speed of the device for running games and applications. The Loki Zero's low performance means many 3D games do not run well or at all compared to the reviewer's other devices.

💡indie games

Typically 2D, low-demand video games made by independent developers. The Loki Zero can comfortably run less intensive indie games like Celeste, making it somewhat capable as a basic gaming device.

💡emulation

Running older game console and arcade software on modern hardware. The versatility of Windows allows setting up emulators easily on the Loki Zero to play retro games.

💡Big Picture Mode

A controller-friendly user interface in Steam for accessing games. Enabling this by default on Windows provides a better experience compared to the standard Windows UI on a handheld gaming device like the Loki Zero.

💡EmuDeck

An emulation pre-configuration tool for setting up emulators easily on Linux devices like the Steam Deck. The video mentions EmuDeck is also now available to simplify emulator use on Windows handhelds like the Loki Zero as well.

Highlights

The AYN Loki Zero is the cheapest Windows handheld you can get for $224.

The buying process for the Loki Zero was frustrating, with many delays, order changes, and lack of communication.

Reviewers getting free devices can miss issues in the buying process that consumers may experience.

The Loki Zero couldn't run modern 3D games like Resident Evil 4, but handled 2D indie games well.

Putting SteamOS on the Loki Zero via ChimeraOS worked well, similar to the Steam Deck experience.

Valve requires a license to include SteamOS, which is why most competitors use Windows instead.

The Windows UI isn't ideal for handhelds, but provides flexibility over Android for emulation.

For $224, the Loki Zero could be useful for indie games, emulators, and trying out SteamOS.

The Loki Zero has a weak AMD 3050e processor that scored only 317 in 3DMark.

Games like Sonic Origins wouldn't even load on the Loki Zero due to the weak hardware.

Tweaking settings can help demanding games run on the Loki Zero, but with many compromises.

ChimeraOS on the Loki Zero provided a similar SteamOS experience to the Steam Deck.

SteamOS competitors likely use HoloISO to avoid licensing issues with SteamOS.

A cheaper SteamOS device like the Ayaneo Next could get better performance than Loki Zero.

The Loki Zero could be a good low-cost option compared to Android handhelds in the same price range.

Transcripts

play00:04

(chair descending)

play00:06

- There are a lot of different directions

play00:07

I could take this video.

play00:08

I still don't really know what I'm gonna call it.

play00:09

I could call it something like,

play00:11

this is the cheapest Windows handheld you can get right now,

play00:13

brand new, which seems click-baity enough.

play00:17

Or something about how SteamOS never launches

play00:20

with any device other than the Steam Deck,

play00:23

despite valve claiming that it would be available

play00:26

for others to use.

play00:28

Having something that's this cheap compete directly

play00:31

with the Steam Deck could be really enticing,

play00:34

especially for something that also has the option

play00:37

to have full blown Windows on here

play00:40

and for cheaper than a Steam Deck.

play00:42

Or I could call it something like review bias

play00:45

and getting a thing for free

play00:46

because there's a decent amount of that in here too.

play00:50

I didn't get this for free, I paid for this.

play00:53

I'm just gonna take you along on the journey with me.

play00:56

Strap in, this is probably gonna be a decently long video.

play01:00

All the way back in 2022, I released what I consider

play01:04

to be the best high-end emulation handheld for a long time,

play01:08

The Odin.

play01:09

It was their first product and it ran on Android.

play01:12

Very soon after the success of that release,

play01:15

they announced the AYN Loki,

play01:18

which would be their Windows based line.

play01:21

"World's Most Affordable Windows Handheld", they called it.

play01:25

And I think they're right.

play01:27

After they announced this,

play01:28

they announced the most SKUs have ever seen in a handheld,

play01:31

all different types of RAM and storage configurations.

play01:35

There's AMD chip sets, there were Intel chip sets,

play01:38

just so many it was hard to keep track of.

play01:42

I wanted the absolute cheapest one

play01:45

and some sort of middle tier one.

play01:47

I thought those would be the most interesting,

play01:49

but also I just didn't wanna spend a lot of money.

play01:52

If I bought every Windows handheld and reviewed it on here,

play01:55

I would be broke.

play01:56

And if you're gonna be spending that much money

play01:58

on a PC handheld, why would you get one of these?

play02:00

Just get an Ally or a Legion Go

play02:03

or the new MSI that's coming out or whatever.

play02:05

All of these SKUs were so confusing.

play02:09

It completely broke my pre-order.

play02:12

I'm gonna be talking a lot about the buying process

play02:16

of this thing.

play02:17

If you're not interested in that, you could skip around.

play02:19

I have timestamps on a little scrubber down here.

play02:22

You can just skip ahead.

play02:23

But I think it's important to talk about

play02:25

because if you're interested in anything like this,

play02:28

you're gonna need to go through that process.

play02:31

I think this also brings up the greater problem

play02:33

of pre-orders in general.

play02:35

So many of these things start as crowdfunding campaigns.

play02:38

That can sometimes be a recipe for disaster.

play02:41

But before we get into that, there's a lot to go through.

play02:44

We gotta make some coffee.

play02:45

This video is sponsored by Trade coffee.

play02:47

See what I did here?

play02:48

I 3D printed a little caddy here so

play02:51

that Hannah doesn't yell at me when I leave my milk jugs

play02:55

over here by the sink, and then we get into a huge fight.

play02:58

So I like now everything's nice and neat over here.

play03:02

I pull about three espresso shots a day.

play03:05

The first one is always for Hannah,

play03:07

because if I mess up, she's not gonna notice.

play03:10

You want a flavor, what flavor?

play03:11

Vanilla, vanilla blonde, a blonde vanilla.

play03:15

What I like about Trade is that.

play03:17

(device whirring)

play03:20

Trade is a coffee subscription service that allows you

play03:22

to find all different types of nice new coffees

play03:25

without you having to look for yourself.

play03:27

It's definitely notes of honey walnuts.

play03:33

Trade sources the best local roasters

play03:35

and bring them right to your doorstep.

play03:37

You're gonna have to wait, I'm swamped here.

play03:39

I hate mobile orders.

play03:40

Trade maps your specific preferences

play03:42

to hundreds of different coffee flavor profiles.

play03:45

They use art and science and witchcraft and ghouls

play03:49

and ghosts to match the stuff that you like

play03:51

with coffee that you're gonna love.

play03:53

Ah, it's all right.

play03:55

Click the link below to get a free bag of roasted

play03:58

to order coffee with select subscriptions.

play04:00

All right, all right, one pop cup, congratulations.

play04:03

(soft music)

play04:05

On June 4th, 2022, I pre-ordered both the Loki 256

play04:11

and the Loki Mini Intel version,

play04:14

neither of which I ended up with.

play04:16

On June 29th of that year.

play04:17

I got an email, the Intel version,

play04:19

Loki model has been discontinued

play04:21

and your pre-order will have the ability to get a refund

play04:24

or a free upgrade to a Loki Mini Pro.

play04:27

I just said, "Yes please."

play04:29

They then updated my order.

play04:31

Over a year goes by and I don't hear anything,

play04:36

but I got a little antsy

play04:37

and I decided to look into where my couple

play04:40

of hundred dollars has been sitting,

play04:42

and I realized that it had my old address on the order.

play04:45

So I just responded to that order update from a year prior.

play04:49

Said, "Hey man, can I change my address real quick?"

play04:53

And they said, "You can change your address

play04:55

when you pay the final payment for Loki 256.

play04:57

By the way, there is a Loki Mini Pro Intel in your order,

play05:01

which has been canceled.

play05:02

You can get a refund or upgrade to other device.

play05:05

Please confirm."

play05:07

I changed that Intel version, remember?

play05:08

Yes, it changed to a different Intel version

play05:10

that also doesn't exist anymore.

play05:13

Now I'm a little mad. I might've been a little rude.

play05:17

I said, "That is the second Loki that has been canceled.

play05:21

What other Loki devices are still coming out?"

play05:25

Because I want them to tell me what,

play05:27

give me some suggestions.

play05:30

I ended up with the Loki Zero and the Loki Mini Pro.

play05:34

I'm not sure why those are the two that I ended up with.

play05:38

They're barely any different from each other

play05:40

and cost almost about the same.

play05:42

After this, nothing happened for months.

play05:46

And then the devices came out

play05:48

and I saw other people started posting their reviews

play05:52

of the thing people, who paid for the device.

play05:55

They weren't sent review units, they paid for the thing.

play05:58

So this happens sometimes.

play06:00

Sometimes orders get staggered and whatever.

play06:02

And I waited a couple more weeks

play06:04

and then I finally decided to email back on October 13th.

play06:08

I emailed them just asking for an update.

play06:11

They hit me back with, "Sorry, I find that we forget

play06:14

to charge you the difference $11 on shipping fee.

play06:18

There is shipping fee

play06:19

for one console only the invoice email has sent.

play06:22

Please pay on it, thank you."

play06:25

And then that was followed by a little more back and forth

play06:28

because there was a bunch of website errors

play06:29

that prevented me from paying their stupid $11

play06:32

for some reason until they finally sent me a direct link

play06:34

to pay them that $11 and everything was fine.

play06:37

I made a silly little tweet about the incident

play06:39

because I thought that $11 shakedown was pretty funny,

play06:41

but also I was a little bit frustrated

play06:43

that it's been over a year

play06:45

and I hadn't heard anything about these devices.

play06:47

If I didn't say anything, I would've just never gotten it.

play06:50

I pre-ordered two devices.

play06:52

Other people are getting theirs

play06:53

and I'm not getting mine due to a plethora

play06:55

of technical errors on their end.

play06:58

And also that weird SKU changing.

play07:01

It was one of the most frustrating buying experiences

play07:04

that I've ever had, and it's changed the way

play07:07

that I've thought about doing these sorts of reviews.

play07:09

I like to make these videos as a very anecdotal story

play07:13

based on my experiences with a product

play07:17

or device so that I can inform potential buyers

play07:21

about what they might experience without all the bull.

play07:24

I sometimes do technical breakdowns

play07:27

if I'm interested enough, but for the most part,

play07:30

it's just me around with something to give you an idea

play07:32

of what a real world experience

play07:34

with this thing would look like.

play07:35

It turns out that one of the major experiences

play07:38

that I've been missing when reviewing these things

play07:41

is the buying process.

play07:42

And sometimes that's just gonna be unavoidable

play07:45

because sometimes I get offered these things early

play07:48

and for free, and that would greatly benefit the video

play07:51

if I could get it out earlier.

play07:53

And also, these things are expensive.

play07:55

I just don't wanna pay for it.

play07:56

I'm not gonna say no to that,

play07:57

but it is definitely something I have to consider

play08:00

and convey to you that I didn't go through

play08:02

that experience if that ever happens.

play08:04

Some people think that getting given a device for free

play08:07

for review contributes to some sort of inherent bias.

play08:11

I don't think that, I think I've proven

play08:13

that in some of my previous videos.

play08:14

However, it's definitely important to specify

play08:17

because the experience

play08:19

of the reviewer might be different

play08:21

from just a general consumer.

play08:23

For example, Asus sent me an Ally

play08:26

that was all set up already, so I didn't have to go

play08:29

through the whole Windows setup process.

play08:31

That's definitely a different experience than

play08:33

what a consumer walking at the Best Buy would experience.

play08:35

What getting a free review unit definitely does do

play08:39

is silence any issues that might arise

play08:42

when a consumer is going through that buying process.

play08:45

This is something that I wanna pay closer attention

play08:48

to in the future wherever I can.

play08:51

For what it's worth,

play08:51

I very recently reviewed the AYN Odin 2,

play08:54

which is another one of their devices,

play08:56

and before that video,

play08:57

I put out a poll asking if anybody else

play08:59

has had any issues purchasing from AYN.

play09:02

And the responses were an overwhelming no,

play09:05

not a single person had any stories of having any issues

play09:09

with the buying process of an AYN product.

play09:12

This seemed to have been of unique problem specific to me.

play09:16

One day after that tweet about that $11 shakedown,

play09:19

I received an email from a different person at AYN.

play09:24

It turns out somebody took my tweet

play09:26

and posted it in the AYN Discord.

play09:28

Then somebody at AYN saw it

play09:30

and looked through the orders, found my name,

play09:33

and traced it back to me and found my email

play09:36

and reached out apologizing

play09:38

and offering me an Odin 2 Pro review unit.

play09:42

That's completely different

play09:43

than any of the issues that I had.

play09:44

But I said, yeah, sure, whatever.

play09:46

All three devices showed up just a few days later.

play09:51

And I think what makes me so mad about this whole thing is

play09:53

that I don't think this issue would've been resolved at all

play09:59

if I didn't tweet about it.

play10:01

I don't like pulling the, do you know who I am card?

play10:05

That wasn't my intention at all.

play10:07

I didn't think anybody at AYN would see my tweet

play10:10

or even care about it.

play10:11

I wanna be treated as a regular consumer,

play10:13

not as an influencer, because I want

play10:16

to experience the product just like a consumer can

play10:19

so I can make a video about that whole experience.

play10:23

It's also worth noting that I pre-ordered the AYN Odin 2 Max

play10:28

myself, and just like a day or two

play10:31

after I got all these other devices, I got

play10:33

that one right at my doorstep.

play10:35

So now I'm swimming in AYNs.

play10:37

(doorbell rings) (knocking)

play10:41

(camerman laughing)

play10:43

(indistinct chattering)

play10:48

- Oh my God, what, oh my God, is this for real?

play10:50

- [Speaker] What is that?

play10:51

- [Speaker] This is a AYN something.

play10:54

- Anyway, I finally got around to messing around

play10:57

with the AYN Loki Zero.

play10:58

They also sent me the AYN Loki Mini Pro

play11:01

because I bought that too which I never took out of the box.

play11:05

They seem to be extremely similar in power and price.

play11:09

And the real nail in the coffin is

play11:11

that they already discontinued the Loki Mini Pro.

play11:15

It's not even on their website anymore.

play11:17

I really got this thing for no reason at all,

play11:21

and I think I was so confused and frustrated

play11:23

because this was like the third time I had

play11:24

to change my order that I just said,

play11:26

make it the comparable version.

play11:28

Whatever the comparable version is, just get me that.

play11:30

Meanwhile, I already had the Loki Zero,

play11:32

which is the comparable version.

play11:35

They just basically made me get the AMD version of this,

play11:39

which is the same goddamn thing.

play11:42

This Loki Zero is the cheapest Windows handheld

play11:44

you can get your hands on right now it's just $250

play11:49

and at the time of writing it's just $224 on sale.

play11:54

You might be asking yourself, if it's so cheap,

play11:56

what are you gonna be playing on here?

play11:59

Chip's Challenge and that's about it.

play12:02

(cheerful music)

play12:03

Remember that, remember Chip's Challenge?

play12:06

Most of the games that I threw its way failed miserably,

play12:10

which was disappointing, but it doesn't mean it's not useful

play12:13

because again, it's $224 for a whole ass Windows handheld.

play12:18

As much as I crap on Windows for having a cumbersome UI

play12:22

for a handheld form factor,

play12:24

there's no denying the versatility of Windows.

play12:28

I love Android for how easy it is

play12:30

to put emulators on Android handhelds,

play12:33

but it's just as easy, if not easier

play12:36

to do it on a Windows handheld

play12:37

because you have all of Windows to work with.

play12:41

You're gonna have similar emulation performance

play12:43

with this thing that you would on a similarly priced,

play12:45

like Retroid, Game Cube will be just fine on here

play12:49

if not a little better.

play12:51

I wouldn't expect anything more than that.

play12:54

(game tinging)

play12:56

(triumphant music)

play12:59

Oof.

play13:02

The Loki Zero has four gigabytes

play13:04

of DDR4 RAM, 128 gigabytes of storage,

play13:08

a six inch 1080p 60 Hertz IPS display

play13:13

Wi-Fi 5, and a monster AMD 3050e processor

play13:19

that can get you a whopping 317 on the 3DMark benchmark.

play13:24

To give you some perspective,

play13:26

my Asus ROG Ally got just about 3000.

play13:30

The Loki Zero is not a hallmark of power,

play13:34

so you'll maybe be surprised to know that none

play13:38

of the cool ran on here.

play13:39

Resident Evil 4 wouldn't run.

play13:41

Ghost Wire crashed immediately so did Palworld.

play13:45

Neon White did run, but not well.

play13:48

Basically no 3D game would even load on here.

play13:52

Sonic Superstars also ran, but not well.

play13:55

I just wouldn't wanna play like this.

play13:58

There's probably a lot of tweaks you can do to get some

play14:01

of this stuff running, drop the resolution down a lot,

play14:04

drop the frame rate down, maybe get some other

play14:06

going on in there, but I don't gotta do that

play14:09

with any of my other devices.

play14:11

I'm not gonna do that with this.

play14:12

Also, in my experience,

play14:13

tweaking around with stuff like that

play14:16

doesn't make it run great.

play14:18

Just makes things run a little slightly better.

play14:20

You're compromising a lot there.

play14:23

So far, not a very glowing endorsement,

play14:26

but games like Celeste

play14:28

and even Gravity Circuit,

play14:30

not very demanding 2D indie games, they ran great on here.

play14:34

This shouldn't really be that impressive.

play14:37

Celeste runs fine on even a cheap Android phone,

play14:40

but it is kind of impressive still for a device

play14:43

that's only $224.

play14:46

Having something this cheap

play14:48

that has full fledged Windows on it can be pretty cool.

play14:52

I'm a big fan of these types of indie games.

play14:55

Sure you can get a switch and play everything on there.

play14:58

That's where I used to play all of these types of games.

play15:01

But if the Steam Deck has taught me anything,

play15:04

it's that these types of games, like for example,

play15:07

Gravity Circuit release first on Steam usually.

play15:11

So you could be playing these games on something like this

play15:16

potentially months before you would be able

play15:19

to play them on Switch.

play15:21

It's a very useful device in that regard,

play15:24

but you just always have to keep in mind that a game

play15:27

that you want might not necessarily run on here.

play15:31

A device like an Asus Ally or a Steam Deck

play15:35

or even a Switch might be a more reasonable investment,

play15:39

but those are all also more expensive.

play15:42

You'll have to save up for those

play15:44

unless you count a Switch Lite.

play15:46

This Loki Zero is cool for a very specific use case.

play15:50

I would almost never recommend it to anyone.

play15:53

If you are interested in playing low powered PC games

play15:56

on a handheld, I shouldn't even have to recommend it to you.

play16:00

You should just know by now that this is the device for you.

play16:03

You'll also have to consider the resources required

play16:06

for every future game that comes out.

play16:08

You're gonna be limited a little bit.

play16:10

Now, I can't talk about this device without talking

play16:13

about SteamOS.

play16:15

This can be a whole video in and of itself.

play16:19

One very interesting use case for this thing is just

play16:22

straight up putting SteamOS on here.

play16:25

This isn't something that I was even interested in

play16:28

or I ever even wanted to do,

play16:30

but a lot of people were suggesting it

play16:32

for this device specifically.

play16:34

People are putting Chimera OS on here

play16:36

and on similar devices, which is a custom version

play16:39

of SteamOS for devices like this.

play16:43

It was honestly not hard to put on here at all.

play16:47

I thought it was gonna be a huge pain in the ass

play16:48

and it was not.

play16:49

I don't even think that I followed a tutorial

play16:52

that was specific for this device.

play16:53

I did have to put it on a micro SD card just

play16:57

so I wouldn't harm the Windows installation on here.

play16:59

So that might affect some performance.

play17:02

But after all was said and done, I was very impressed.

play17:05

I love SteamOS on the Steam Deck

play17:08

and this is virtually the same exact experience.

play17:11

It's a full on Linux OS

play17:13

so you will have the same compatibility issues

play17:16

that an actual Steam Deck would have,

play17:18

but also some of the same compatibility benefits.

play17:23

Basically, Celeste was the only game

play17:25

that I could get on here.

play17:26

I didn't really have a lot of space on the microSD card,

play17:29

but it ran fantastic, just as good as it did on Windows

play17:33

and I played it for a decent amount

play17:34

of plane ride I just took

play17:36

because my Lenovo Legion Go was dead

play17:38

from playing Prince of Persia

play17:39

and the outlets on the plane didn't work,

play17:41

but ChimeraOS didn't help any of the games

play17:44

that wouldn't load on straight up Windows.

play17:46

Palworld didn't work.

play17:47

Sonic Superstars straight up wouldn't load.

play17:50

Gravity Circuit wouldn't load,

play17:52

for some reason it gave me this weird error.

play17:54

There should not be a reason for that game to not load,

play17:57

but I like the idea of SteamOS being on here.

play18:00

It's a crapshoot if a game will work or not,

play18:02

but it basically put a Steam Deck in my hand

play18:05

for half the price of a Steam Deck,

play18:08

which brings up a lot more questions.

play18:11

Here's another tangent

play18:12

to make this video way longer than it needs to be.

play18:15

When the Steam Deck originally came out, Valve claimed

play18:18

that they would allow other companies

play18:21

to release SteamOS on their own hardware.

play18:25

This would be similar

play18:26

to those Steam machines from many moons ago.

play18:29

And when I first heard that news, I thought, oh no,

play18:32

because everyone knows just

play18:33

how well those Steam machines turned out.

play18:35

Well, we've seen many Steam Deck competitors,

play18:38

but they're all Windows based,

play18:40

so why no SteamOS based devices?

play18:43

There's the Anbernic Win600, which released

play18:47

with Windows, but Anbernic on their website

play18:49

does have a SteamOS distribution

play18:53

that you can install yourself.

play18:54

That's about the closest we've gotten.

play18:57

Nothing that ships with it right out of the box.

play19:00

Recently Ayaneo announced the Ayaneo Next Lite,

play19:05

a super cheap $299 SteamOS based device.

play19:09

Wait, wait, wait, hold on, HoloISO based device.

play19:14

They redacted their original post.

play19:15

A cheaper competitor to the Steam Deck sounds awesome.

play19:19

Finally, a device shipping with SteamOS I mean HoloISO,

play19:24

what is HoloISO anyway?

play19:27

HoloISO attempts to bring the Steam Deck's SteamOS Holo

play19:31

redistribution into a generic, installable format

play19:34

and provide a close to official SteamOS experience.

play19:38

Why all that and why not just SteamOS,

play19:42

isn't SteamOS open source?

play19:44

It turns out it's not entirely open source.

play19:48

According to Valve's own website,

play19:50

the Steam client is proprietary software.

play19:53

This is the thing that you use to buy the games,

play19:57

the whole meat of it.

play19:59

In order to include SteamOS on your device

play20:02

that you're trying to sell, you need a license from Valve,

play20:06

which might not be so easy to get.

play20:09

Without this license,

play20:11

you absolutely cannot use the Steam symbol

play20:15

or terms like SteamOS in any

play20:17

of your commercial communication.

play20:20

Well, that explains Ayaneo's redaction.

play20:23

I love the idea of a SteamOS based handheld

play20:26

that's not made by Valve, getting a cheaper, smaller,

play20:30

more comfortable gaming experience sounds awesome

play20:33

and competition is always great for us consumers.

play20:36

I'm rooting for Ayaneo here,

play20:38

but this project is in its very early stages

play20:42

and I think it's entirely possible that they get a cease

play20:44

and desist before this thing even makes it

play20:46

to the pre-order stage,

play20:47

which is most likely why the AYN Loki

play20:50

doesn't have any official options for SteamOS on here.

play20:54

It didn't ship with it or anything.

play20:56

The Anbernic Win600 has an official option,

play21:00

but Anbernic just does not give a (computer tone).

play21:03

The best option is still probably

play21:05

to just have Steam set the Big Picture Mode by default

play21:08

because that will get you the best compatibility

play21:10

with the best UI.

play21:12

But if a device launches with SteamOS, it'll be optimized

play21:17

for that and in theory games will run great

play21:19

on that hardware.

play21:21

SteamOS could potentially get low powered hardware

play21:25

to run games great just like it does on the Steam Deck,

play21:28

but until then it's just kind of a fun thing

play21:32

to mess around with.

play21:33

On the Loki Zero SteamOS, or I mean ChimeraOS,

play21:36

wasn't too hard to put on here.

play21:38

This thing notably does not play nice

play21:40

with my Thunderbolt 4 docks.

play21:42

I had to use a dongle to get ChimeraOS on here,

play21:45

but it was simple enough.

play21:47

After getting it on here though, you have

play21:49

to boot into the BIOS in order to switch boot options.

play21:54

In order to do that, you need to turn the unit on

play21:57

while pressing these two bottom function buttons

play21:59

at the same time.

play22:01

Then you need an actual keyboard to navigate the BIOS.

play22:04

When I was on a plane, I obviously didn't have a keyboard.

play22:07

Luckily you can set Windows to boot into a sort

play22:10

of recovery mode and pick your boot options from there.

play22:12

Again, ChimeraOS is just a fun thing to mess around with.

play22:15

I would still just recommend Steam in Big Picture Mode

play22:19

on Windows for the best compatibility.

play22:21

We went through a whole journey in this video.

play22:24

I love the idea of cheap Windows handhelds.

play22:28

I would love SteamOS

play22:29

to be seen in whatever iteration it could be seen in

play22:31

on future Windows handhelds.

play22:33

When I first purchased this thing, I resented it.

play22:37

When I actually got my hands on it

play22:39

and I tried games on it for the first time,

play22:42

I was grossed out by it, but after tinkering a bit

play22:45

and remembering that it was only $224,

play22:48

I actually kind of really like it.

play22:51

I would still recommend saving up for something

play22:53

with a bit more juice, a cheap Steam Deck,

play22:55

or even the base Asus Ally that's frequently on sale.

play22:59

But when you compare the Loki Zero to other handhelds

play23:02

that I've covered on this channel in the same price point,

play23:04

it starts to look more and more enticing.

play23:07

I do like Android for emulation, but that's

play23:10

because Windows is usually so expensive.

play23:14

The Windows UI is terrible,

play23:16

but it does give you a lot of flexibility

play23:19

and with EmuDeck available for it now,

play23:21

it suddenly seems like a decent option

play23:24

against a Retroid or an Anbernic.

play23:26

EmuDeck also has an installer for ChimeraOS

play23:30

and I heard emulators might run better on there too.

play23:33

And let's not forget this thing could play PC games too,

play23:37

as long as they can run on what is essentially like what,

play23:40

10 or 15-year-old hardware?

play23:42

So what do you guys think about all

play23:44

of the things we talked about here?

play23:46

What do you think about us reviewers getting stuff

play23:49

for free and talking about it?

play23:51

What do you think about the AYN Loki Zero specifically?

play23:55

Do you think it's a decent deal?

play23:58

Are there use cases for this that I haven't thought of

play24:01

that would make it a little more interesting to me?

play24:03

What do you think about SteamOS

play24:05

and ChimeraOS and all of that stuff?

play24:07

Leave it in the comments below, at me on Twitter, any

play24:09

and all this other social media garbage.

play24:10

If I found out a lot more about SteamOS distributions,

play24:15

maybe I can make a whole video on that.

play24:17

Thank you Trade for helping sponsor this video.

play24:19

They are maybe my favorite sponsor

play24:21

because I use them every single day, multiple times a day.

play24:25

And I was a subscriber even

play24:26

before they sponsored this video.

play24:28

Also, check out twitch.tv/wulffden.

play24:31

I stream there all of the time.

play24:32

I streamed messing around with this thing

play24:35

and that's where somebody gave me that Chips Challenge joke

play24:38

and I just stole it right from them, I'm so sorry.

play24:40

But the most important thing that you could do

play24:42

to help support us right here is just subscribe

play24:44

and share this video with a friend, a friend

play24:47

who is interested in a PC handheld,

play24:49

but doesn't wanna spend too much money.

play24:51

Thank you very much, have yourself a good week.

play24:54

See you later.