What should I switch too? An Ally as a stopgap, save for laptop or build a PC?

Well, its a bit in the khyali pulao stages right now, since I don’t have the income to do any of them. But I need to replace my love-it-or-hate-it junk Dell Inspiron because its overheating like nuts, and has been since I bought it. It used to work more than it heated, but now it heats up enough to crash. And well, its always loved throttling the moment I need it the most. Just last week, I missed out on a commission deadline (1800) because it crashed for a few hours. So I’m calling quits with this four year old boy, it has served me well, but it shall be replaced with a more well thought out option. Now heres the pinch, sorry for rambling: My on hand budget is 30,000 Rupees. Once I get a stable job, that naturally increases. Which means I can build a PC and yada-yada. Or convince my future boss to buy me a swanky setup/laptop. Why is the Ally even here, you must be wondering… I like handhelds a lot. I have the Steam Deck, and the draw of a Windows Handheld is making my greedy little heart yearn for it. Using it as a stopgap is just my way of justifying my urge to hoard another handheld (and play valorant with friends). To my understanding, the Ally at 39k beats almost anything except a PC. I use mine for gaming, basic modelling work and other design tasks. My Steam deck is a better performer than my RTX laptop, so in my head a device that performs better than my aged like milk buddy and costs a 3rd of it is an absolute win. Then, I’ll build a PC at the end of 2026, with my not yet heard earned money. I’m sorry for rambling so much, I tend to overthink simple things too much.

TL:DR:
I need a somewhat portable PC device for gaming and working, on a dangerously low budget. So I look for replacements, and find Ally Z1E is like 30k for a 1650ti/laptop 2050 performer. Urge to hoard handhelds and have a solution now clouds barely developed cortex. Should I buy Ally and then build a PC/buy a lappy end of 2026? Or build a barebones PC now, get my laptop fixed and build it up later? Am I dumb for thinking so much?

Save your money and stick with the Steam Deck. If you need Windows for Valorant, just boot it from an external SSD. Once you’re docked with your peripherals, it’ll work just like a desktop.

where can you get steam deck for under 30k?

I got the 256 for just under 40k while we were travelling in Australia from Valve only.

Isn’t that a little hard to do? I’ve only booted one device like that before, I don’t wanna mess up my Steam Deck by doing something wrong.

It’s a bit more complex than on a PC, but booting from an external drive is safe. it won’t affect your steam os setup.

You can try it if you have a sd card, pendrive or SSD laying around.

Try to check at cex.

Okay, I might just try that, Im feeling brave enough to dual boot but ill try dual booting an older windows onto my laptop and see if that works first, my Deck is to precious to risk it hehe. Thanks for the advice!

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