So I’ve got like 500 bucks. Not much, but enough to cop something decent if I don’t blow it on brand new crap.

I’ve been eyeing the ROG Ally yeah, the Windows handheld and I saw some used ones around 400 DOLLARS (same as Steam Deck used btw).
Now here’s the thing: buying new would wreck my budget. Buying used sounds smarter, but also risky. What the fuck should I be checking when buying a used console like this? Especially something like the Ally, which is basically a mini-PC and might’ve been abused or modded to hell.

I’m not just talking about the Ally tho. In general, are used games and consoles even worth it anymore? Or are most sellers just offloading ticking time bombs?

I don’t want to buy something that dies in 3 months, but I also don’t want to pay $800 for a shiny plastic box just because it’s new and comes with a stupid manual.

>What’s your experience with buying used consoles?
>What should I check before buying a used ROG Ally specifically?
>Is Steam Deck safer?
>Is it all just a lottery anyway?

Be honest. I’m broke but I still want to game.=

You’re better off buying estrogen and taking that. Then, start gooning your tiny white clitty to interracial cuck porn like the rest of us

don’t buy a handheld pc their batteries last one hour and their weight will kill your wrists.

If you're broke and you want to game, get a decent PC in your budget and just emulate. Nothing will compare when it comes to price point.

>Get a console
>Mod it
>Pirate
Yes?

>>715470084 (OP)
Buy a ps2 fat -- the ps2 has 4000 or so games, and many many classics are on it like mgs 2 and 3, kh 1 and 2, silent hill 2 and 3, p3 and p4, dmc 1 2 and 3, the list goes on and on. get fmcb and network adapter + hardrive. Has to be the fat for the network adapter to be compatible so you can hook up a hard drive. Make sure the hard drive is compatible with the ps2. You can often find them bundled together. You can plug in fmcb and pirate games easy peasy, no modding necessary

You can load games off of usb but the load times would suck and prerendered cutscenes would stutter to the point of being unwatchable, hence the need for the network adapter to install the hard drive to install them onto the hdd and run fast not fmv stutters no shitty load times

The ps2 will run you 80 ish and the power cable is generic so it costs nothing. Fmcb memory cards are about 10 bucks on ebay. Network adapter and hard drive might cost you another hundred ish idk. But after that its free games from then on and no bull shit

>>715470450
Yes, but the problem with a gaming PC is paying for the screen, the keyboard, the mouse, the speakers, everything that goes with it. In the end, it's going to cost a lot more than the Rog Ally. And what's more, in terms of power, playing in 1080p on a small screen, in low quality, I find it more beautiful than playing in 1080p Ultra on a 24-inch 1080p screen. But you, concretely, do you buy games second-hand or not? I know that here at /v/, there are a lot of collectors, so they buy new. But for the part, we're going to tell people that we can't afford what to do.

>>715470572
With the Rog Ally, it'll be like a PC, so yes, I could pirate games. Well, after all, the console doesn't have much storage. Afterwards, if you tell me that pirating a Wii or a PS3, well, the truth is, I don't see the point, they're too old, those consoles. I'm talking about something fairly recent.

>>715470084 (OP)
>cop something

>>715470775
I can always get a $400 PC, but the truth is, I don't really want to play in fixed mode behind an office chair. Yeah, there you go, so, but... And the truth is, the PS2, in quotes, the power, it's too old. I want to play modern games. But thank you for your idea, really, it's cool. For someone who wants to play on an original console, it's cool, really.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH0Gpk7Hi3A&ab_channel=ETAPRIME

>>715470382
I agree with you, the big problem with portable consoles, from what I've seen, is the battery life, which is disgusting. Afterwards, I could always play directly via the mains, but afterwards, it's less pleasant. It's good that there are no cables to bother me. Afterwards, in quotation marks, I play much less than before. I can just play for an hour or two in a day at a time, that's enough for me.

>>715470084 (OP)
Flea market and buy it for 10€.
That's the best way to buy used console, just avoid 360 since those are 99% have red ring of death.

>>715470084 (OP)
I've never successfully bought used electronics. As a rule I take the guesswork out and buy new. Drawing tablets, controllers, if they touched it then their poisons have already seeped into it and it'll stop working in 3 months or simply have something annoying wrong with it

>>715472034
I'm like you, I usually buy new. But when the difference between a used console and a new one is so big, $400 difference, I have questions.