Is it viable to use a gaming handheld as main dev machine? - eviltoast

Hello fellow devs.

I’m in need of a new machine as I had a little mishap with my notebook. For a long time, I thought on buying a gaming notebook as normally they should have the best hardware for my personal (gaming, light video edit) and professional (full stack web dev) needs.

Next week, Asus will launch the ROG Ally X officially on my country. So, I’m wondering if it could be a viable alternative.
The other possible devices would be ROG Ally (Z1 Extreme) and Lenovo Legion Go, as Steam Deck is not available here.

I work from home for a foreign company. I have a monitor, a wireless keyboard, and a usb trackball already. I bought them to use with a mac mini my previous company lend to me. I do not have a desktop and do not intend to buy one right now.

So… My questions: Does any of you have experience using a handheld device as a main dev machine? Are there any cons I’m not considering?

Thank you!

  • steventhedev@lemmy.world
    101·
    2 months ago

    I’d strongly recommend against it. Nothing to do with specs or viability but psychologically you’ll want to play games - they’re enjoyable. You can work around that in a few ways: only use the keyboard/mouse for dev work, only play games outside the workroom, etc. it will still take a lot of self discipline, but it’s nothing compared to having a different OS, physical machine, etc.

    In terms of specs - if it can run vs code, you can use the remote development plugins to run things on a beefier computer if you do heavy data work, etc. I don’t know if it will do video editing though.

    • T Jedi@bolha.forumOPEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      I’d strongly recommend against it. Nothing to do with specs or viability but psychologically you’ll want to play games - they’re enjoyable.

      This is my main concern, if I’m being completely honest.

      But that also applies the other way arround. I’m a bit of a workaholic, so most of the time I open my current notebook on the sofa I start to code. Having a device without a physical keyboard may stop me from on working outside my workroom or coding during vacations, for example.

      • steventhedev@lemmy.world
        31·
        2 months ago

        I have worked remotely on and off for years. Having a physical separation between the space where I work and the space where I play is an absolute must.

        Beyond that - the hardware needs for development and gaming are wildly different. If you want something that’s going to be good at both, you’re going to either going to have to spend a lot of money or compromise heavily on quality.

        • ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.netEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          The second paragraph kinda depends on how much horsepower they need for dev or gaming. If they play mostly indie games and don’t need cuda cores as an example, a steamdeck-like would serve pretty effectively in both roles, especially with the docking station.