The switch and switch 2 are better than all handheld PCs at present for one simple reason: it's much simpler to obtain and use for the average consumer. That's it. Average consumers don't give a shit about teraflops and fps as long as it's easy to use and still looks good.

The bigger trend is that enshitification of consoles have made steam a juggernaut.

$80 a game is a non starter for most people. Switch was a golden goose that revolutionized mobile handheld gaming. It was like a gameboy reboot. I doubt Switch 2 gets even close to half of the success

i’m blown away that the switch 2 is so beefy. nintendo has been the “lower spec consoles but AMAZING first party games” company for as long as i can remember.

my steam deck can play switch and nintendo games and steam games checkmate

I'm just going to point out some things.

1. The comparison comes from price point and the fact that both systems are handheld play anywhere systems with docking capability for couch play.

2. There are already arguably better spec's handhelds in this category that would outperform both these systems, but the cost of them is largely a deciding factor and it comes with some tradeoffs that include OS (since these are windows only handhelds with the exception of the Legion Go S, meaning that if you don't want windows you have to go to the added trouble of installing something like Bazzite).

3. We know that just about every handheld on the market has some tradeoffs. The Legion Go has a beautiful screen and joycon-like detachable controllers. But it's also heavier than the switch, and the steam deck and arguably less comfortable to hold for some. We know the the original ROG Ally had a bunch of problems including the fact that it would destroy its own SF card slot and potentially any SD card installed in it. It's newest iteration is great (lots of fixes, better GPU/CPU, larger SDD, better battery life, better ergonomics, fixed SD card slot etc), however it's also close to $1000. The Legion Go S had a different storage capacities depending on which OS you chose at launch. Even now there's different variants that give different performance at different price points (Z1 extreme vs Z2 Go). The Switch OG lacks emulation for a lot of newer games (Wii and DS games specifically). Those games are coming probably but they are available on other handhelds with just a little bit of extra work.

4. Ease of play and ease of emulation are things people who aren't buying these devices to tinker want. So the Switch 2 wins there. Just buy the subscription and you can emulate quite a lot of their gaming library with more to come.

5. Expecting a publication largely catering to the fans of Nintendo to offer up its competition as the better bargain for the money is just... Silly. It doesn't make sense.

The switch 2 doesn't add enough things to the table to make me want to spend $450+ to buy it. It's launch titles are not particularly compelling for me, and when you add their anti-emulation litigation to the pile and DCMA abuse, I just don't feel like it's something I'm currently willing to buy. On top of that there's lots of accessibility improvements I would love to see including joycon styles for 2D platformers that I clude a real D pad, GameCube style Joycons, or even just Joycons that would allow those with partial impairment or disability. There's a lot of unexplored territory for the design and execution of this product that doesn't include better graphics or being able to play cyberpunk 2077 and I think people forget that. Can you get such things on a steam deck? Yeah. Probably. But not natively docked to the system in handheld mode.

Nintendo life is just being a bit insecure due to constantly hearing about it being a deck measuring contest.

I don’t think these systems are comparable. They serve different markets.

Switch 2 can't play decades of PC games, all which are accessible on Switch.

I think you meant "which are accessible on Steam Deck"

They can play by play all the they want but at the end of the day. I can play games I brought back in 1997 on my steam deck they can barely handle going back one generation to the switch and have to use emulation and a subscription service for a handful of their older systems.

I went from CD of star fleet academy i had in a storage box to a SD card to the steam deck. Installed and running the longest part was setting the key binds in steam input.

When is the video game community going to understand there’s no such thing as “better”. The whole “this vs that” or “us vs them” just needs to stop.

You very politely missed the #1 point... I can already play every single nintendo game I've ever bought on my steamdeck. Right now. With no subscription, just simply uploading from my GBA/DS/3DS/Switch to my Steamdeck... Nintendo for reasons completely lost to me refuses to allow that. Like, wth are they even doing over there to not have solved that issue day 1 on the switch.

I literally purchased Rog Ally X as a response to how shitty switch 2 felt. I then installed Bazzite os on it.

Both systems have pros and cons. This article isn't bashing on the Steam Deck at all, just making the case for what the Switch 2 has going for it.

They say up front that this article is a response to the frankly obnoxious amount of "my gaming platform can beat up your gaming platform" circlejerking that has been going around - which you're kinda perpetuating.

The Deck does not "obliterate" the Switch 2, and a headline like that makes you part of the problem.