The Steam Deck is finally under threat from a Windows gaming handheld

It’s no secret that the big weakness of Windows gaming handhelds is, ironically, the operating system itself. It’s this quirk that has helped the Steam Deck and its Linux-based SteamOS maintain its position as a leader in the market, but that could now be under threat from opposition that comes completely out of left field, the AOKZOE A1X.

The AOKZOE A1X is a very new handheld to the market in that it was revealed in April 2025, and is currently only available to order via Kickstarter. I have a pre-production model, however, and my early impressions are that it’s finally a Windows handheld that won’t be held back by its operating system. Time will tell whether the A1X goes on to be one of the best handheld gaming PCs, but it’s off to a flying start in my view.

When I first unboxed the AOKZOE A1X, I have to admit I was a little underwhelmed, but this is largely because I’ve come straight from testing the Ayaneo 3, the first modular Windows handheld. Moving from this to testing a handheld with a comparatively plain design felt like a step back, but it only took a few hours for this feeling to dissipate, and it was replaced with a sense of awe.

Once I got the A1X up and running, it became very clear that Windows is not the same drawback on this device that it has been on countless other handhelds, such as the ROG Ally X, Legion Go, MSI Claw, and aforementioned Ayaneo 3.

But why? Well, it’s simple. In the close to ten hours of gaming on this handheld so far, not once has a game crashed or even stuttered when using the A1X’s quick access menu, called the OneXConsole.

Changing the system’s VRAM allocation didn’t cause an instant full system reset, leaving me worried I had bricked the handheld. Hell, even the simple act of controlling games and the quick access menu all just work. No quirks, no delays, no freezes. I’ve simply had no issues whatsoever with Windows on the A1X.

All of the issues I’ve just mentioned are so common on other Windows handhelds that my expectations for the AOKZOE A1X were lowered in anticipation. I expected to struggle to navigate the operating system, especially with no trackpads and only the touchscreen on which to rely. Instead, thanks to a responsive 120Hz VRR display in a native landscape setup, along with a dedicated keyboard button that, again, just works, everything I’ve done so far on the A1X has been laughably simple.

Given that Windows works just as well on the A1X as it does on any desktop gaming PC, it feels like the one real barrier preventing the Steam Deck from being knocked off the top spot is gone, and the A1X also has the Steam Deck eclipsed when it comes to gaming performance.

The AOKZOE A1X uses the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, just like the Ayaneo 3, but I’m a little surprised to see improved performance coming out of the A1X in initial testing.

When quickly running the Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark at 30W, the A1X achieved an average frame rate of 55.94fps on the high graphical preset while using AMD FSR 3 on quality and with frame generation enabled. This is compared to the Ayaneo 3 hitting 52fps under the same conditions, but at a native 1080p resolution rather than the 1200p of the A1X. It will be interesting to see if the A1X can outperform the Ayaeno 3 on any other gaming tests in my full review.

While I’m impressed by the A1X so far, though, its $1,499 price tag is worrying. While it can be purchased for $1,159 during the Kickstarter, it’s suggested that the full retail price will be much higher, and even given what I’ve seen so far, that’s an incredibly hard sell.

Are you planning on buying an AOKZOE A1X or another gaming handheld soon? If so, you can check out the best Steam Deck games for a look at the games that run incredibly well on handheld gaming PCs.

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