Fair points, yes, but I was speaking within the context of companies that are actually producing handheld PCs. None of the other potentially capable companies you’ve mentioned have shown any indication that they care to enter the space.

The big question with that plan, though, is what’s in it for Valve/Epic? Valve has no incentive to let anyone else in on their cut, and Epic’s is so low already there wouldn’t be any room to let anyone else in on it with them.

I suppose Epic could try to get a deal in place where EGS is installed as the default store on the Ally or Legion, but it’s not like anyone’s going to just stick with the default - first thing anyone will do is just install Steam, and everyone knows it. I don’t see a way for a deal like that to make sense for Epic to even bother with.

Author can’t seem to understand that Valve’s the only company that can properly do the console-style “subsidize hardware cost based on the cut you’ll get from selling the games” method in the PC space. Asus, Lenovo, Ayaneo - they don’t have the luxury of maybe taking a bit of a haircut on the hardware and then more than making it up on the back end via software sales. They only get paid for the initial sale and then they’re done, so their devices are going to have to be more expensive.

Why should it matter which launcher I use?

This is answered in the OP article itself:

Why don’t some publishers do this? The reasoning is pretty simple really: Valve take a cut of all sales on Steam, including DLC and micro-transactions. So if you purchased directly before, publishers will want to keep you there so any extras you purchase don’t get a cut eaten by Valve.

The speculation for a while (and, frankly, the direction I’d love to see them go in) is that the work on the Deck was going to be a stepping stone to a standalone VR headset. Take what they learned in VR with the Index and then what they learned in portable PCs with the Deck and slap the two together to get a real Quest competitor out there.

There’ve even been numerous leaks over the years (even pre-Deck) about a standalone headset internally labeled “Deckard”.

Some of the 2023s are moving to 2024, but the bigger issue is that the 2024s - which would still be in production/post-production at this point if there were no strike - will be pushed out indefinitely.

The OS makes the steam deck better than any other handheld

Agreed, but with the addition of “for me” at the end there. What makes it better for you and me is going to be a drawback for someone who only plays, say, Destiny 2, Fortnite, or things that are on Game Pass Ultimate.

Yeah, that theoretical person is going to have an absolute garbage time navigating the OS itself, but that’s what they have to put up with to be able to play the games they want on a handheld PC. They might very well find that trade-off worthwhile, and it’s not for us to tell them they’re wrong.

in my opinion.

That being the key phrase.

My opinion pretty much aligns with yours, but the point is that no one can make sweeping objective statements about which is better (like this article and so many others try to do) since different things matter to different people. A variety of different options in the market is only a good thing.

The main problem with any sort of discussion like this is that “better” is going to mean different things to different people.

Is the one with longer battery life better?

Is the one with more powerful hardware better?

Is the one with trackpads better?

Is the one that can play non-Steam games with less hassle better, even if its UX is overall clunkier?

Is the one with a smoother UX better, even if you might not be able to play every single game you own on it?

Deck is going to be better in some ways for some people, and the Ally (et al.) will be better in some ways for other people. At the end of the day, the entire market segment is better for all of us because competing devices exist. Trying to turn this into a zero-sum turf war is only going to be detrimental to everyone. (Not saying that that’s what you are doing, just speaking in general about what tends to happen when comparisons like this get brought up.)