Best handheld gaming PC in 2023

Are you wanting for the greatest handheld gaming PC? Valve ignited the hand-held PC arms race in 2022 with the discharge of the Steam Deck. Nonetheless, it wasn’t the primary, as a couple of older gamers have been iterating and enhancing their designs, alongside new rivals within the Asus ROG Ally and soon-to-be Lenovo Legion Go throwing their hat into the ring.

To make sense of this quickly altering market, we’ve collated a listing of all the most effective handheld gaming PCs. Not like the greatest gaming PCs, these fashions have a portability issue meaning you possibly can carry them anyplace. We’ve taken a take a look at specs, construct high quality, worth, and software program to kind the wheat from the chaff, even together with one thing which may technically match on our greatest gaming laptop computer listing too.

We’ve already talked about the venerable Steam Deck however it’s possible you’ll be after one thing with just a little extra oomph – a query greatest answered by the Asus ROG Ally with its Z1 Excessive chip. If portability is your major concern, maybe the Aya Neo Air might tickle your pickle with its minuscule footprint and vibrant OLED show.

If you happen to’re all work and play then the GPD Win Max 2 and its novel convertible design may hit two birds and one stone with its distinctive pairing of a controller and conventional laptop computer design.

There’s lots to select from, so learn on to see what handheld gaming PC may be greatest in your palms.

These are the most effective handheld gaming PCs in 2023:

1. Asus ROG Ally

Greatest handheld gaming PC total.

Asus ROG Ally specs:

Professionals

• 120Hz VRR show
• Quick Ryzen Z1 chip
• Huge firm backing

Cons

• MicroSD card overheating
• Armory Crate isn’t pretty much as good as SteamOS

The $699 (£699) Asus costs for its ROG Ally is a pittance in comparison with what smaller production-run corporations akin to OneXplayer, GPD or Aya Neo supply up, and while they prepare dinner up their very own Zen 4-based handhelds, the ROG Ally stands head and shoulders above them.

The Z1 Excessive chip is sufficient to energy many of the newest and biggest PC video games, together with Starfield mods designed to boost the sport’s efficiency.

The VRR show will vastly improve consistency when gaming too, with no screentearing. Because of this you received’t should stress about reaching a selected goal like it’s a must to with the Steam Deck. You’ll be able to improve the expertise additional by pairing it with the most effective Asus ROG Ally equipment.

One of many few areas for critique comes from a identified subject with MicroSD playing cards. If you happen to decorate your Ally with a high-capacity NVMe drive, you’ll be wonderful, however in some instances, MicroSDs have gotten frazzled after overheating.

Armory Crate additionally isn’t the most effective handheld interface. Entering into and utilizing it may be just a little clunky at the most effective of instances, particularly within the early days. Happily, you possibly can simply arrange Steam Huge Image mode to provoke on launch and you’ll basically have a really shut expertise to the Steam Deck – simply with out precompiled shader compilations.

The souped-up {hardware} and nice construct high quality land it our high spot. If you happen to love enjoying fashionable titles specifically, the Asus ROG Ally’s spec put it able to lengthy out-last the Steam Deck.

Learn our Asus ROG Ally evaluate.

2. Steam Deck

Greatest worth handheld gaming PC.

Steam Deck specs:

Professionals

• Unmatched price-to-performance
• Enormous aftermarket ecosystem
• SteamOS

Cons

• Lackluster display screen
• Sport compatibility
• Verification program isn’t at all times appropriate

Although the Steam Deck wasn’t the primary handheld gaming PC, it’s actually a very powerful – and profitable. Tens of millions have been offered for a motive. The seamless integration with Steam and console-like expertise means it may be as plug-and-play as you want – with the good thing about having a very user-tweakable OS underneath the hood.

The lower-end 64GB mannequin is among the greatest low cost handheld gaming PCs available on the market, and it’s even cheaper in case you go for a refurbished mannequin. You may as well increase the storage and pair it with the most effective Steam Deck equipment to convey it as much as snuff.

The customized APU dubbed Van Gogh continues to be lots highly effective for many video games and in case you primarily wish to play by retro video games, 2D video games, sidescrollers, or emulated titles then you’ll be more than pleased with the efficiency on supply.

That mentioned latest titles akin to Starfield, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Remnant 2 trigger the Steam Deck to misstep. While we’re just a little away from all main AAA releases being unplayable, the clock is ticking and it’s possible you’ll really feel you get extra worth in case you go for one thing just a little newer.

The Steam Deck Verification program doesn’t at all times ship both There have been a lot of video games which were verified however clearly don’t work very effectively on the Deck. Websites like ProtonDB can supply a extra nuanced take although so in case you do your analysis – you shouldn’t run into too many snafus.

If you happen to fancy customizing your Steam Deck, we’ve obtained guides on the most effective Steam Deck docks, instances,  display screen protectors, and skins.

Learn our Steam Deck evaluate.

3. OneXPlayer 2

Greatest display screen on a handheld Gaming PC.

OneXPlayer 2 specs:

Professionals

• Lovely display screen
• Removable controllers
• Corridor impact triggers

Cons

• Costly
• Publish-launch assist

It won’t have an OLED or VRR however the sharpness of such a decision in such a small dimension makes for some unbelievably crisp visuals.

2D video games – particularly these with a pixel artwork design – will probably be as sharp as a pin. Although most new video games received’t be capable to make use of this decision, OneXPlayer recommends bumping it all the way down to 1200p which can scale properly to its native decision.

The controllers are removable in an identical method to the Change and the upcoming Lenovo Legion Professional which means the OneXPlayer 2 is nice as a small impromptu pill. It’s price holding in thoughts that the controllers can’t join collectively with out a particular bracket that’s offered individually.

OneXPlayer has launched a couple of merchandise now however they don’t have the commercial would possibly behind them like Asus or Valve do – making post-launch assist a priority.

There’s a good vary of equipment to select from to additional improve the OneXPlayer 2 expertise although. There’s a clip-on keyboard if you wish to get some work finished and the aforementioned controller bracket which implies you wouldn’t should convey a separate controller with you.

It’s also very costly however that value does afford you options you received’t discover elsewhere proper now. All of those options make it an ideal selection for somebody who desires essentially the most versatile gaming handheld PC with a stunning display screen to drool over.

4. GPD Win Max 2

Greatest convertible handheld gaming PC.

GPD Win Max 2 specs:

Professionals

• Basically a laptop computer
• Elevated eye place
• Nice keyboard

Cons

When you may have work at 9 however emulation at 5. The GPD Win Max 2 is form of the mullet of the gaming handheld PC world – enterprise up entrance and occasion on the again. What makes this diminutive netbook a handheld gaming PC is the inclusion of the joystick and triggers. Furthering its credentials is the very fact the joysticks use Corridor Sensors so that you simply want by no means fear about stick-drift.

The shockingly useable keyboard is nice for productiveness duties in case you want absolutely the smallest laptop computer on the go but it surely’s additionally nice to have when textual content prompts seem in video games otherwise you like plenty of hotkeys. The 2560 x 1600 display screen may be very sharp too – simply not fairly as crispy because the OneXPlayer 2’s – so video games and textual content will probably be very straightforward on the attention.

With the addition of a keyboard nonetheless, comes further weight and the GPD Win Max 2 weighs a whopping 2.22lbs (1005g) so that you would possibly must pump iron to comfortably maintain it for longer than 5 minutes. To make up for this weight – your pockets will probably be markedly lighter because the GPD Win Max 2 prices a fairly penny.

Like different smaller producers on this listing, GPD might not have the manufacturing of scale to maintain prices down however they’ve been within the enterprise longer than anybody else with the unique GPD Win debuting in 2016 and this experience shines by of their merchandise.

5. Aya Neo Air

Greatest transportable handheld gaming PC.

Aya Neo Air specs:

Professionals

• Extraordinarily mild and transportable
• Attractive OLED
• Corridor Impact joystick and triggers

Cons

• Underpowered
• No droop function

The Aya Neo is a really slick and svelte package deal that isn’t as astonishingly costly as among the different non-Valve/Asus entries on our listing right this moment. It has a wonderful OLED show that enables for excellent distinction ranges with true-blacks and vivid highlights making for a really vibrant and punchy picture.

OLEDs have superb picture persistence too so there will probably be no seen ghosting and enter delays will probably be stored to a minimal given the very quick response time. Its pint-like statute means it is going to simply be stowed away in your bag and enjoying it on the go is way extra sensible than say with the comparatively monstrous Steam Deck.

The Steam Deck’s ace up its sleeve, nonetheless, is its droop function 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 gadget underneath 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 plenty of floor. 2D pixel video games notably and actually shine on the OLED panel, for instance. That could be greater than sufficient for you – particularly when mixed with its smallness.

6. GPD Win 4

Most premium gaming handheld PC.

GPD Win 4 specs:

Professionals

• Slick PSP-like design
• Sliding display screen

Cons

• Cramped controls
• Costly

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 every thing nice about that and improved the controls and added a keyboard hidden beneath a sliding display screen.

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

The keyboard is clearly not essentially the most supreme 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 can see newer titles ticking alongside regardless of it not being the most recent 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 listing. It’s after all somewhat costly, however if you’re a PSP purist, that could be a small value to pay.

How we selected the most effective handheld gaming PC

When compiling this listing, we had a number of key areas to think about. Right here’s how we determined what was price a spot:

• Pricing: Regardless of the way you take a look at it, shopping for a handheld gaming PC goes to be costly, nonetheless, there’s nonetheless fairly a variety in prices, and we wished to incorporate choices to accommodate everyone’s funds as a lot as attainable so we wished to incorporate at the least one choice underneath $500. Going for cheaper choices generally is a bit dangerous since you would possibly find yourself with a subpar piece of drugs, however we solely advocate choices which can be price their salt.
• Processing energy: Our high decide, the Asus ROG Ally, makes use of the AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive, which implies it shouldn’t have any drawback enjoying new triple-A video games – each latest releases, and new ones that come out over the following couple of years. We advocate searching for this in case you get pleasure from enjoying all the most recent video games – after all, these kinds of video games aren’t for everybody and something operating off the AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive goes to hold a bigger price ticket.
• Portability: We’ve included a variety of sizes right here, as we recognize that completely different players are going to search for completely different ranges of portability. Would you like one thing to curve up on the couch with? Or one thing you possibly can simply convey with you whenever you’re out and about? One thing just like the Steam Deck or the Asus ROG Ally will probably be just a little too large, however a smaller mannequin just like the Aya Neo Air will probably be significantly better suited to the duty. Relying in your meant use for the PC, you should definitely learn up on the dimensions and weight.
• Display: Not solely are you going to wish to take heed to display screen dimension, but in addition what kind of display screen your chosen handheld PC has. If you happen to go for one with an OLED display screen, you’ll get distinctive image high quality, however it is going to price much more. In the meantime, an LCD display screen can nonetheless look good (however not as good) and comes with a smaller price ticket. We’ve included choices which have a variety of screens.

If you wish to discover out extra in regards to the course of that goes into creating these lists, learn our how we take a look at web page. Nonetheless questions? Learn the FAQs under:

Are handheld gaming PCs good?

Sure, completely. They may be barely much less fulfilling to make use of for video games which were particularly designed with a keyboard and mouse setup in thoughts, however that’s only a small slither of the PC gaming pie. Handheld gaming PCs would possibly really supply a superior gaming expertise for numerous video games and genres.

Which is essentially the most highly effective handheld gaming PC?

We advocate the Asus ROG Ally. Not solely is that this a wonderful selection for anyone who desires to position latest triple-A video games, however it’s a comparatively future-proof selection too. We suspect that will probably be a few years till it begins to battle with large new releases.

Is PC extra highly effective than any console?

That is somewhat depending on which PC you purchase. If you happen to purchase a very previous, outdated mannequin, it won’t be fairly as highly effective as a PlayStation 5 or an Xbox Collection X. Nonetheless, the probabilities are that in case you go for a brand new gaming PC, you’re going to be getting one thing that’s extra highly effective than any console.

For extra assist choosing the proper PC for you, learn our guides on the most effective mini gaming PC, and easy methods to construct a gaming PC. You’ll have the perfect setup very quickly.