u/GospelsNotPastorLies

I am looking on Aliexpress and I see a Miyoo Mini Plus without a SD card not even a smaller one for sale decent price so I'm considering it. However, I read this post u/Upbeat-Serve-6096 says in this Reddit Thread "If you use a new card without backing up data from the stock SD card, stock firmware won't play games. And if the internal flash dies (believe me, people have found out), the machine is bricked."

So if I buy a Mini Plus without an SD card am I screwed and it's just a paperweight cause I don't have data I need from the SD card?

Do a lot of these types of devices need the original SD card or files? You can't just download a new OS to a SD card and pop it in? Do Anbernics and Miyoo all do this?

Is Anbernicgames.com a fake site? These prices are massively different.

Anbernic.com ANBERNIC RG35XX H $57.99
ANBERNIC RG35XX H - The best retro game console $15.20

I'm assuming the 2nd one is some weird scam website but I'm new to these devices so just want to be sure.