Best handheld gaming PC in 2024

Valve has realized the complete potential of its handheld with the Steam Deck OLED. The display is larger, brighter, and higher than the unique Deck in our quantity two spot, however the refresh is way over meets the attention.

You get enhancements to battery life for longer gaming classes, a weight discount for higher consolation, plus Wi-Fi for faster downloads. The Steam Deck OLED is the perfect on-ramp for handheld PC gaming there may be, with a couple of downsides. The APU contained in the OLED is sort of an identical to the unique Deck, save for effectivity, and that locations the hand-held considerably behind the curve when it comes to energy. Merely put, some triple AAA releases shall be out of attain to you.

If you happen to’re on the lookout for a well-priced handheld with a surprising show and entry to your Steam library on the go, the Steam Deck OLED is the best choice.

Learn our Steam Deck OLED overview.

The Steam Deck wasn’t the primary handheld gaming PC, but it surely’s definitely been essentially the most profitable. It offers you seamless integration with Steam and a console-like expertise means it may be as plug-and-play as you want – with the advantage of having a very user-tweakable OS beneath the hood.

The lower-end 64GB mannequin is now discontinued, however for now, you’ll be able to nonetheless decide it up from retailers like Amazon, broaden the storage, and pair it with the greatest Steam Deck equipment to carry it as much as a usable capability.

Titles equivalent to Starfield, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Remnant 2 trigger the Steam Deck to misstep. While we’re a bit away from all main AAA releases being unplayable, the clock is ticking and you might really feel you get extra worth should you go for one thing a bit newer.

The customized APU dubbed Van Gogh continues to be highly effective sufficient for many video games and should you primarily wish to play by retro video games, 2D video games, sidescrollers, or emulated titles then you can be more than pleased with the efficiency. That is nonetheless a great-value handheld gaming PC.

Learn our Steam Deck overview.

Whereas we didn’t get the OLED show that was extensively rumored, the Asus ROG Ally X made massive modifications to nearly each different side of its design and got here out the opposite facet as simply the perfect Home windows gaming handheld, even when Home windows is its largest downside when in comparison with the Steam Deck.

With 8GB additional reminiscence, and quicker reminiscence at that, the ROG Ally X can outperform nearly any like-for-like handheld gaming PC accessible proper now. Armoury Crate is way improved, and whereas not good, its interface is less complicated to know and navigate, which is big for individuals who don’t wish to have interaction with Home windows 11.

The $799 price ticket is difficult to swallow, however honest. One anticipated benefit of Ally X’s launch is that the bottom Ally Z1 Excessive has additionally seen its worth decreased fairly drastically. Nonetheless, should you’re chasing the perfect efficiency in video games with out being restricted to Steam, the Ally X has the Steam Deck and all different Ally handhelds overwhelmed arms down.

Learn our Asus ROG Ally X overview.

With its 8.8-inch show, the Lenovo Legion Go is the hand-held for you if you need a big-screen expertise. Whereas its measurement naturally helps with immersion, it’s additionally responsive, sharp, and vivid. With a local decision of 2560 x 1600 and a refresh fee of 144Hz, the IPS panel is about pretty much as good because it will get for an LCD handheld.

There’s some highly effective {hardware} too. The AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive chipset makes the Legion Go probably the most highly effective handhelds round, but it surely’s additionally probably the most versatile because of the removable controllers and kickstand, which offer you a singular expertise, particularly in ‘FPS Mode’.

The Legion Go does have a couple of flaws. It’s a lot heavier than its opponents, weighing in at 854g, which may make utilizing it for lengthy intervals a bit tiring. You’ll additionally have to tinker with settings and backbone pretty steadily, as 1600p might be too demanding for the Ryzen Z1 Excessive APU in lots of circumstances, and the software program might be fiddly.

Learn our Lenovo Legion Go overview.

The Aya Neo is a slick and svelte package deal that isn’t as astonishingly costly as the opposite non-Valve/Asus entries on our record immediately. It has a superb OLED show permitting for excellent distinction ranges with true blacks and shiny highlights making for a really vibrant and punchy picture.

OLEDs have good picture persistence too so there shall be no seen ghosting and enter delays shall be saved to a minimal given the very quick response time. Its pint-like statute means it’ll simply be stowed away in your bag and taking part in it on the go is way extra sensible than say with the comparatively monstrous Steam Deck.

The Steam Deck’s ace up its sleeve, nevertheless, is its droop characteristic which lets you decide up from the place you left off, one thing that’s sorely missed right here given how handy the Aye Neo Air is.

One other letdown is what’s powering the system beneath the hood. The Ryzen 5 5560U. This sadly doesn’t maintain a candle to the RNDA 2 and RDNA 3-derived APUs powering the remainder of our roundup.

This limits the Air to much less processing intense video games, however that also covers a variety of floor. 2D-pixel video games significantly shine on the OLED panel, for instance. Which may be greater than sufficient for you – particularly when mixed with its smallness.

Sony’s PSP is arguably one of many best-designed items of tech ever conceived and it’s clear GPD is of this persuasion because it appears they took the whole lot nice about that and improved the controls and added a keyboard hidden beneath a sliding display.

While being the same worth to different handhelds, this novel development and high quality design make it our decide for essentially the most premium handheld gaming PC. While the display doesn’t slide up that a lot, it makes a noticeable distinction and your neck will thanks should you play it for any size of time.

The keyboard just isn’t essentially the most excellent typing expertise but it surely’s surprisingly useable. It additionally blows the Steam Deck and ROG Ally’s contact keyboard out of the water. Powering the GPD Win Max 2 is the Ryzen 6800U, a really performant APU that may see more moderen titles ticking alongside regardless of it not being the newest and biggest.

By taking inspiration from the PSP although, the controls can solely be improved by a lot and they’re nonetheless extra cramped and uncomfortable than many of the different entries on this record. It’s after all fairly costly, however if you’re a PSP purist, which may be a small worth to pay.

Whereas not a PC gaming handheld within the conventional sense, the Razer Edge offers you entry to your PC library by way of cloud streaming. You possibly can hyperlink your Sport Cross, GeForce Now, and Steam accounts to stream video games from wherever and the Edge does all of it with a surprising show and loads of energy to again it up.

Cell video games are additionally a breeze because of the Andriod OS, providing you with the choice to run video games natively with its 128GB storage. After we reviewed the Razer Edge, we discovered the cloud streaming setup to have one notable flaw with its decision output, however past that, it was a incredible system with loads of room to develop sooner or later.

Nexus is the trick that the Edge has up its sleeve, because it permits you to utterly remap the button inputs to the included Razer Kishi V2 controller. You possibly can then make these overlays disappear, leaving your gaming expertise uninterrupted. This software program is just for cell titles although, as PC cloudy streaming helps the Razer Kishi V2 as if it was a regular Xbox controller.

Learn our Razer Edge overview.