The best gaming handhelds for 2024

Steam Deck OLED – Show: 7.4-inch HDR OLED, 1,280 x 800 solution, 1,000 nits height HDR brightness, 600 nits SDR brightness, as much as 90Hz | Processor: Customized 6nm AMD APU | RAM: 16GB LPDDR5 6400 MT/s | Garage: 512GB, 1TB SSD | Battery: 50Whr | Dimensions: 11.73 x 4.6 x 1.93 inches | Weight: 1.41 kilos | Wi-fi: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 | OS: SteamOS

Steam Deck LCD – Show: 7-inch IPS, 1,280 x 800 solution, 400 nits brightness, 60Hz | Processor: Customized 7nm AMD APU | RAM: 16GB LPDDR5 5500 MT/s | Garage: 256GB SSD | Battery: 40Whr | Dimensions: 11.73 x 4.6 x 1.93 inches | Weight: 1.48 kilos | Wi-fi: Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0 | OS: SteamOS

Because of a refresh late last year, Valve’s Steam Deck continues to provide the most efficient stability of value, functionality and value within the gaming hand held marketplace. And the brand new Steam Deck OLED is a radical improve over the unique. Beginning at $549 for 512GB of garage, this variant includes a 7.4-inch OLED show that’s brighter, sooner, somewhat larger and extra vibrant than the 7-inch IPS panel at the now entry-level type. The upper distinction and richer colours of an OLED display screen makes each sport glance higher through default, however this show additionally helps HDR, with considerably brighter highlights at its height. The utmost refresh price has jumped from 60Hz to 90Hz as nicely, which will assist many video games glance smoother.

Because of the fewer power-hungry show, a extra environment friendly AMD APU and a bigger battery, the Steam Deck OLED additionally lasts longer than prior to. No hand held can play resource-intensive “AAA” video games for too lengthy, however Valve says the brand new type can run for 3 to twelve hours relying at the sport, while the LCD type lasts between two and 8. A bigger fan assists in keeping issues cooler and quieter, and the chassis feels lighter. Efficiency is kind of the similar, even though the OLED type’s larger reminiscence bandwidth can assist it acquire a pair further frames in sure video games.

All that stated, $549 is a large funding. The entry-level Steam Deck, which makes use of a extra elementary IPS LCD show however now comes with a 256GB SSD as same old, remains to be an unrivaled price at $399. More recent AAA video games are surely pushing their limits, however each Decks can run lots of video games that simply aren’t imaginable on a Nintendo Transfer, from Elden Ring to Final Fantasy VII Remake to the Resident Evil 4 remake. Whilst respectable sport beef up is proscribed to a subset of the Steam library, the checklist of officially verified and still-playable titles is huge, numerous and repeatedly rising. (There are workarounds to get right of entry to different storefronts as nicely.)

A near-constant move of updates has grew to become Valve’s SteamOS into a versatile but user-friendly platform. You’ll nonetheless want to make tweaks now and again to get a sport to run optimally, however the procedure is typically simple. That continual, mixed with third-party gear like EmuDeck, makes the Deck very good for emulation as nicely. Some PS3 and unique Xbox video games can also be difficult, however on the subject of the entirety else works fantastically. You’ll additionally cloud move Xbox video games with a little setup.

The Steam Deck’s greatest factor is its length: At two inches thick and just about a foot lengthy, it stretches the definition of a “handheld” tool, even supposing the OLED type is lighter through comparability. The LCD Deck can get heat and noisy rather temporarily, too, and the d-pad on every tool is slightly gentle. However the contoured grips at the again assist offset the majority, and each variations really feel robust, with responsive face buttons and triggers, easy joysticks and helpful twin touchpads.

Show: 7-inch IPS, 1080p solution, 500 nits brightness, 120Hz, VRR | Processor: AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive or AMD Ryzen Z1 | RAM: 16GB LPDDR5 6400 MT/s | Garage: 512GB SSD | Battery: 40Whr | Dimensions: 11.02 x 4.37 x 0.83-1.28 inches | Weight: 1.34 kilos | Wi-fi: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 | OS: Home windows 11

In the event you’re prepared to spend further for extra continual, you’ll skip the Steam Deck and purchase a Home windows-based hand held as a substitute. The ASUS ROG Ally is the only that are meant to paintings for the general public, and it’s a tight selection for those who’re prepared to commerce ease of use for a better functionality ceiling. Call to mind it like a extra transportable gaming pc.

Be aware that we’re in particular recommending the type with an AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive APU, which prices $649. ASUS sells any other model with a weaker Ryzen Z1 chip for $150 much less, however the continual drop-off there’s too nice. With the Z1 Excessive, the ROG Best friend can play extra tough video games at greater body charges and resolutions than the Steam Deck. In our review, we noticed fps beneficial properties of 15 to twenty-five p.c in AAA fare like Cyberpunk 2077 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Whilst the Steam Deck formally tops out at a TDP of 15W, the ROG Best friend’s Turbo mode boosts its continual draw to 25W (or 30W when plugged in), letting it eke out extra frames. The recent addition of AMD’s Fluid Movement Frames body era tech can assist some video games glance smoother, too, even though setting that feature up and correctly optimizing it is a ways from intuitive. Usually, the ROG Best friend is not absolutely the quickest hand held, and the Steam Deck can in fact outperform it every now and then on the identical TDP, solution and graphics settings. But it surely has extra overhead going ahead, which is vital for those who most commonly play graphically tough video games.

The ROG Best friend’s 7-inch LCD show isn’t as shiny or color-rich because the Steam Deck OLED, nevertheless it has a sharper 1080p solution and a sooner 120Hz refresh price. Most significantly, it helps variable refresh charges (VRR), which is helping stay the picture easy at the same time as a sport’s body price fluctuates. In spite of having a similar-size display screen, the ROG Best friend could also be shorter, lighter and thinner than the Steam Deck OLED. That stated, it doesn’t include a case. And even though the {hardware} isn’t as a lot of a brick because the Steam Deck, Valve’s hand held has extra pronounced grips round its again, which might nonetheless enable you cling for the ones with massive fingers.

The ROG Best friend’s upgraded functionality and sharper show come on the expense of battery lifestyles, then again. That typically sits within the two- to four-hour vary, however it may be even much less with sure video games and better functionality modes, slightly defeating the purpose of a “portable” tool.

As it runs on Home windows 11, the ROG Best friend can play video games from any gaming shopper, no longer only a number of Steam video games. In the event you’ve constructed up libraries on retail outlets like Epic, GOG, Itch.io or the Xbox app, you’ll get right of entry to them right here as you could on another Home windows PC, no particular workarounds required. For many who wish to play Epic exclusives like Alan Wake 2 or Xbox Sport Cross titles, it is a actual merit.

However the greatest factor with all Home windows handhelds is Home windows itself. ASUS has made more strides than maximum through turning its Armoury Crate utility right into a centralized settings hub and sport library, nevertheless it’s nonetheless slapping a bandage on an OS that merely isn’t designed for this tool elegance (for now).

Whether or not a sport works easily in an instant can really feel like a crapshoot on a Home windows hand held. Occasionally the UI received’t scale correctly, now and again you’ll need to spend a number of mins fidgeting with graphics settings and key bindings, oftentimes you’ll need to change between navigating the OS with buttons and along with your palms. I as soon as needed to hard-reset the ROG Best friend after a driving force factor stored the display screen from turning on.

ASUS presentations a useful seven-minute educational on tips on how to replace and use the ROG Best friend upon first launching Armoury Crate, however the truth that it wishes a seven-minute intro video within the first position is telling. No one will confuse the Steam Deck with a Transfer, nevertheless it’s a lot more practical to only select up and use than any Home windows selection.

The ROG Best friend has additionally had some troubles with high quality regulate. Maximum particularly, a number of customers have reported issues of the tool ejecting or outright killing their microSD playing cards, a topic ASUS has since confirmed. The tool’s SSD is replaceable with a little legwork, then again, so we propose taking that course if you want greater than 512GB of garage. Numerous ASUS tool house owners have famous specifically terrible experiences with the corporate’s guaranty and go back carrier as nicely, even though the company recently pledged to overtake its buyer beef up processes.

Since our remaining replace, ASUS has unveiled a upgraded variant of the Best friend referred to as the ROG Ally X, which is up for pre-order now and will likely be launched on July 22. This type has the similar show and chipset however makes use of a larger 80Whr battery, 1TB of garage, 24GB of sooner RAM, an additional USB-C port and several other design tweaks, together with extra pronounced grips and a revised d-pad. The trade-offs are that it’s somewhat thicker and heavier, plus it prices extra at $800. Engadget’s Sam Rutherford used to be extremely inspired with the upgrades in his hands-on preview, however we’ll replace this information once more as soon as we will be able to absolutely evaluation the brand new type.

Show: 4.7-inch IPS, 750 x 1,334 solution, 500 nits brightness, 60Hz | Processor: MediaTek Dimensity 1100 | RAM: 8GB LPDDR4x | Garage: 128GB UFS 3.1 | Battery: 5,000mAh | Dimensions: 7.27 x 3.25 x 0.62 inches | Weight: 0.58 kilos | Wi-fi: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 | OS: Android 11

The $199 Retroid Pocket 4 Pro is a smart price for many who basically desire a gaming hand held to emulate older consoles. It’s an Android-based tool with a ways much less continual than the Steam Deck or ROG Best friend, so it might probably most effective run PC, PS5 and Xbox video games by means of streaming. But when you need one thing extra compact and are prepared to move through the rigors of having emulators to paintings, it’s essentially the most succesful hand held we’ve examined for lower than $200.

The Pocket 4 Professional runs on a MediaTek Dimensity 1100 chip and 8GB of RAM, and it has a integrated fan with 3 other modes you’ll turn on to achieve somewhat further functionality. This gives sufficient continual to play maximum video games from the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube, two common unfashionable consoles which are incessantly difficult for cell handhelds to emulate. Now not each sport labored — specifically tough titles like Big name Wars Rogue Squadron II and ESPN NFL 2K5 had been too uneven — and getting many others to run optimally required tinkering with solution, rendering and energetic cooling settings. With some setup, even though, it might probably play a vital bite of PS2 and GameCube video games at complete pace and double their local solution. The truth it might probably stably play extra extensive titles like Gran Turismo 4 in any respect, even at decrease settings, is incredible for the cash.

Virtually the entirety we examined from methods beneath the PS2 and GameCube at the functionality totem pole — PSP, Dreamcast, PS1, N64, and so forth. — ran flawlessly at a 2-4x upscale. The one exceptions had been a couple of video games for the notoriously thorny Sega Saturn. Make a choice video games from later consoles just like the 3DS and Wii had been additionally playable, even though the revel in used to be extra touch-and-go. For contemporary video games, Xbox cloud streaming labored simply positive, as did local Android video games with gamepad beef up like Diablo Immortal.

The Pocket 4 Professional is constructed like a shorter Nintendo Transfer Lite. It’s a flat slab that lacks ergonomic grips however remains to be comfy to carry because of its low weight and small profile. (Retroid sells a comfy for any other $15 if you want it, even though.) It doesn’t really feel affordable or creaky in spite of its plastic body, and its textured coating is pleasant to touch. All of its buttons really feel proper: The face buttons are easy and feature a comfy quantity of go back and forth; the analog triggers are very easily huge and flared; the bumpers are clicky and simple to tell apart; and the d-pad is company and actual. The joysticks are at the stubby aspect and positioned somewhat too low at the tool to be really ok with trendy video games, however they’ve a comfy point of anxiety. And since they use magnetic Hall effect sensors, they must steer clear of drifting problems over the years. Beneath the ones are to hand get started, make a choice, house and again buttons. There’s additionally a micro-HDMI port for connecting to a TV or observe. The down-firing audio system are completely respectable, even though they’re simple to hide along with your palms unintentionally.

The 4.7-inch IPS show isn’t essentially the most correct we’ve examined even after updates, nevertheless it’s sufficiently shiny, sharp and vibrant, and any shade temperature problems are challenging to note except you’re taking a look at white background. It’s cramped for streaming trendy video games, then again, and its 16:9 side ratio manner you’ll get hefty black borders with some older consoles through default. Battery lifestyles is okay given the tool’s size-to-performance ratio: We were given 3 to 4 hours with PS2 and GameCube video games, and round 8 or 9 hours blending in older consoles. The energetic cooling gadget prevents the Pocket 4 Professional from ever feeling too sizzling, even though it might probably get noticeably loud at its perfect functionality environment.

Retroid additionally sells a non-Professional model of the Pocket 4 with a slower Dimensity 900 chip and 4GB of RAM for $149. We haven’t been ready to check it, however for those who like this design and don’t care as a lot about emulating video games from the PS2, GameCube and up, it can be a greater price. It will nonetheless have the ability to play many video games from the ones two methods, and the entirety beneath that are meant to be rock cast. However the Pocket 4 Professional casts a much broader protection web performance-wise, so it must be price the additional $50 for many who wish to emulate higher-power consoles extra reliably.

Show: 6-inch IPS, 1080p solution | Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | RAM: 8GB, 12GB or 16GB LPDDR5x | Garage: 128GB, 256GB or 512GB UFS 4.0 | Battery: 8,000mAh | Dimensions: 8.86 x 3.86 x 0.67 inches | Weight: 0.93 kilos | Wi-fi: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 | OS: Android 13

When you have more money to burn on an emulation-focused device, the AYN Odin 2 is the very best unfashionable gaming hand held you’ll purchase at this time. This Android tool can play the entirety the Retroid Pocket 4 Professional can plus somewhat further, with smoother and extra dependable functionality. That is principally because of its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, which is identical chip utilized by a lot of remaining yr’s flagship phones.

The Odin 2 begins at $299 for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of garage, which is costly when the entry-level Steam Deck allows you to play PC video games for simply $100 extra. Nonetheless, amongst extra compact cell handhelds, there is not a lot else that runs this nicely on this value vary. It performed all PS2 and GameCube video games we examined at two to a few instances their local solution, whilst methods just like the PS1, N64 and Dreamcast had been in most cases playable at a 3-4x upscale. Maximum 3DS and Wii video games could have little to no slowdowns at 2-3x, both. It’s higher than maximum with the Sega Saturn, and it might probably play a much broader vary of Transfer video games than the Pocket 4 Professional (even though you must simply purchase a Transfer if that is a big fear). More difficult methods will nonetheless require some settings tweaks, however you received’t need to tinker on a game-by-game foundation up to you are going to with lower-cost gadgets.

It’s no longer simply uncooked functionality, even though: The Odin 2 could also be a polished piece of {hardware}. It’s no longer as compact because the Pocket 4 Professional, nevertheless it’s a lot much less chunky than a conveyable PC and the curved grips on its again make it simple to carry, specifically with more moderen video games. Its d-pad, face buttons, analog triggers and Corridor impact joysticks all really feel nice. Different touches like a fingerprint scanner, a devoted go back button, a micro-HDMI out port and two customizable again buttons are all great perks, and the front-facing audio system are a transparent improve over the Pocket 4 Professional.

The 6-inch, 1080p touchscreen is cast and well-sized, even though it might probably keep just a little too shiny in darker settings. Battery lifestyles is excellent: We were given greater than 8 hours of juice emulating methods just like the PS2, however that jumped over 20 hours with lighter duties. The tool helps 65W speedy charging as nicely. Cloud streaming and local Android video games paintings as they must, and because the entire thing runs on a calmly modded model of Google’s OS, its inventory interface must really feel acquainted to maximum.

The bottom Odin 2 has been out and in of inventory, and the Pocket 4 Professional is a if truth be told compelling selection for $100 much less. However the Odin 2 remains to be a step up in functionality and general convenience for many who can come up with the money for it. If you wish to play the classics or move trendy video games with no hitch, it’s the Android hand held to get.

Show: 3.5-inch LCD, 1,600 x 1,440 solution, VRR 30Hz-62Hz | Chipset: Altera Cyclone V FPGA, Altera Cyclone 10 FPGA | RAM: 3.4MB BRAM, 2x 16MB 16-bit mobile RAM, 64MB 16-bit SDRAM, 256KB 16-bit asynchronous SRAM | Battery: 4,300mAh | Dimensions: 5.86 x 3.46 x 0.86 inches | Weight: 0.61 kilos | OS: Analogue OS

The Analogue Pocket is the ultimate Game Boy. Its vertical design is constructed like a modernized, top rate model of Nintendo’s vintage hand held, and it might probably even paintings with equipment just like the Sport Boy Digicam. In comparison to the unique, even though, the Pocket provides two further face buttons, a couple of rear triggers, a microSD slot, a USB-C port and a chargeable battery rated for 6 to ten hours of playtime. Most importantly, it has a lovely 3.5-inch show that’s each backlit and extremely sharp (615 ppi) however can also be set to seem like an previous Sport Boy panel with other filter out modes. The tool too can output to a TV with an not obligatory dock.

In contrast to the unfashionable handhelds discussed above, the Pocket is designed to play precise cartridges, no longer simply ROM information. It really works with Sport Boy, Sport Boy Colour and Sport Boy Advance video games via its cartridge slot, whilst video games from the Sega Sport Equipment, TurboGrafx-16, Neo Geo Pocket and Atari Lynx are playable via not obligatory adapters.

Like previous Analogue gadgets, the Pocket makes use of field-programmable gate array (FPGA) motherboards to imitate its goal methods on a {hardware} point. In follow, this implies the Pocket’s “emulation” of older titles is near-perfect, with a degree of responsiveness and visible faithfulness that software-based emulation can’t fit. Pop in a Sport Boy or GBA cartridge and you’ll necessarily play it as supposed. That stated, because of a big post-launch update and an energetic consumer neighborhood, the Pocket too can run ROMs off a microSD card and thus play methods just like the SNES and Sega Genesis.

The Pocket isn’t affordable at $220, and its shoulder buttons aren’t as crisp to press because the superb d-pad or face buttons. Nonetheless, if in case you have a choice of Sport Boy, Sport Equipment or GBA video games, the Pocket is essentially the most chic option to play them, and it’s most effective turn into extra flexible over the years. Its greatest flaw is that it can be hard to shop for — be expecting to attend a couple of weeks for brand new orders to send, if no longer longer.