The handheld console market is on the rise. And Steam Deck currently ranks at the top. But there are other viable alternatives as well, such as the Ayn Odin, which comes at a more affordable price tag. Both of these devices offer different gaming experiences, but if you had to choose one, which one would you buy?
Steam Deck vs Ayn Odin
The Steam Deck and Ayn Odin are two of the best handheld gaming consoles that have recently entered the portable gaming scene. To determine which ranks at the top, we compare them side by side to help you make a good purchasing decision.
Design & Build
The Steam Deck is made of high-quality plastic and has a contoured grip with molding on the back. It features all the usual buttons, triggers, analog sticks, and D-pad. Plus, it also has two trackpads that offer mouse-like functionality. As for the Ayn Odin, it shares a similar build quality to the Deck and is available in various color options. It has a layout similar to the Switch and is about 284 grams lighter than the Deck.
Accessories
The Steam Deck doesn’t come with a docking station, you’ll have to buy that separately. However, the Ayn Odin includes a dock in the package, dubbed “Super Dock.” Wanna know what features give it that title? Well, aside from all the basic ports, it also has ports for N64 and GameCube controllers. Moreover, you can open up its compartment and install a two-and-a-half-inch hard drive or SSD. So now you can have a huge game library without limitations.
Specs
The Ayn Odin has a 5.98-inch FullHD touchscreen, while the Steam Deck has a 7-inch touchscreen with 1280 by 800 resolution. So clearly, Odin wins this round in terms of resolution. Inside, the Ayn Odin is equipped with a Snapdragon 845 CPU and an Adreno 630 GPU. In addition, it boasts 4 gigs of memory and up to 256 GB of storage.
On the other hand, Steam Deck uses a custom quad-core, eight-thread Zen 2 APU that sports RDNA 2 GPU cores and supports LPDDR5 memory. Speaking of memory, it has 16 gigs of RAM and up to 512 GB of NVMe storage. Regarding the battery, the Ayn Odin has a 6600-milliamp hour battery, and the Steam Deck has a slightly less powerful 5200-milliamp hour battery. Odin’s runs on Android 10, while Steam Deck operates on SteamOS 3.0. Overall, the Ayn Odin has weaker hardware than the Deck. But that doesn’t mean it’s slow or not right for you!
Performance
And as a result of its superior hardware, the Steam Deck can effortlessly run Deck-verified triple-A games. In Devil May Cry 5, the Deck can go well above 60FPS on Medium to High settings. And when it comes to 2D platformers like Dead Cells, it can go beyond the 100 FPS mark.
Meanwhile, Odin can easily run most Android games and emulate older titles from the GameCube and Nintendo DS era. Nonetheless, when it comes to emulation, the Steam Deck still outperforms the Ayn Odin. But when it comes to streaming games, both of these deliver similar performances. As for who has the better runtime, Ayn Odin can last for around 7 hours, while the Deck lasts up to 8 hours.
Final Verdict
So that was all about the Steam Deck versus Ayn Odin debate. Even though the Steam Deck currently holds the title of best handheld, the Ayn Odin still has a lot to offer in terms of retro gaming and better portability. Plus, let’s not forget about the ‘Super Dock”! The Steam Deck is a portable gaming computer great for running old and new PC games, while the Odin is ideal for on-the-go emulation of retro games.
Moreover, the Ayn Odin is more optimized regarding software and is much cheaper than the Steam Deck. However, Valve’s Steam Deck leads the way with its hardware and performance. So it’s up to you. Do you choose optimized software or raw hardware performance?
