Lilbits: Another Celeron N5105 mini PC, variable refresh rates for Chrome OS, and all handheld gaming PCs now face Steam Deck comparisons

Ever since Valve announced it was developing a handheld gaming PC, it’s been hard to resist comparing other handhelds from companies like GPD, One Netbook, and AYA to the Steam Deck. Now that the Steam Deck has actually begun shipping and the first reviews are in, those comparisons have become inevitable.

And it’s obvious why: the Steam Deck has the highest-performance GPU of any handheld to date, and it also has one of the lowest price tags: you can easily spend 2-3 times more on an AYA Neo Next or ONEXPLAYER than you’d spend on a Steam Deck. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t still some good reasons to spend the extra money… they just probably aren’t going to be good enough reasons for most people to justify paying the premium

The Verge’s review of the AYA Neo Next is a prime example. What’s ostensibly a review of AYA’s second-gen handheld is as much about how it stacks up against the Steam Deck as it is an article about what you can actually do with the AYA Neo Next itself. The review is still worth a read though, as it really does make a case that there’s room for niche devices like the Next.

In other recent tech news from around the web, the list of mini desktop PCs powered by a 10-watt Intel Celeron N5105 Jasper Lake processor continues to grow, another sign that Google is taking gaming on Chromebooks seriously arrives (Chrome OS 101 adds support for variable screen refresh rates), and Microsoft has released a new preview build of Windows 11 for Insiders on the dev channel.

The @verge review of the AYA Neo Next is probably indicative of what we’ll see from every handheld gaming PC from now on: you can’t avoid Steam Deck comparisons. Here you pay a lot more for better game compatibility, more storage, and less performance. https://t.co/96PT8fdrHM

— Liliputing (@liliputingnews) March 18, 2022

The Bewinner mini PC is yet another compact computer with an Intel Celeron N5105 Jasper Lake processor. This model sells for about 399 Euros (in Europe) and has 8GB of RAM, and an M.2 2280 slot for an SSD. https://t.co/AwLdgTD9RZ

— Liliputing (@liliputingnews) March 18, 2022

Chrome OS is getting support for variable screen refresh rates, which could come in handy now that gaming on Chromebooks is becoming a thing. So far no Chromebooks have displays that would support this, but external monitors should. https://t.co/piXHQi6pYl

— Liliputing (@liliputingnews) March 18, 2022

Windows 11 preview build 22579 lets you name Start Menu folders, support for switching apps with a three-finger swipe, Run New Task button on all pages of Task Manager, and a bunch of bug fixes. https://t.co/9o2X07BDoM

— Liliputing (@liliputingnews) March 18, 2022

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