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The handheld gaming device market has exploded in popularity over the last few years, and many premium gaming companies have released their flagship devices. Nintendo and Valve played a significant role in making this market grow this big with their Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck. However, new and more powerful handheld devices have been launched since then that outperform both.
This article presents the best handheld gaming devices you can buy in 2024.
Note: This list is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinions.
List of the best handheld gaming devices to buy
1) ROG Ally X
Price: $799
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The ROG Ally X is the most powerful handheld gaming device on the market yet. The device's internal specs outpace the competition. It has a great display, a powerful chipset, and the biggest battery on the list. Almost every game you play on it will run smoothly with great visuals.
Owing to the bigger battery, you can play for multiple hours on a single charge. This ROG Ally weighs just 678 grams, making it ideal for long gaming sessions.
Pros
- It is compact, lightweight, and comfortable to hold.
- It has a powerful SoC that will run most games comfortably.
- It has a fantastic battery life that will last long.
Cons
- The pricing is a bit on the higher side.
2) MSI Claw
Price: $599
The MSI Claw is quite an interesting device because it uses an Intel chip with an integrated Arc GPU. Intel doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to graphics, but the company has improved its drivers and performance a lot in the past few years to provide a decent gaming experience.
The MSI Claw can be configured with up to 32GB RAM, making it perfect for multitasking or streaming. In fact, some games require 32GB RAM these days and may not run best if it has only 16GB.
Pros
- The display is color-tuned and looks great.
- You get the option to buy it with 32GB RAM.
- The device is adorned with RGB LED elements in various buttons.
Cons
- The performance of the Intel Arc GPU is not as good as others with AMD chips.
3) Lenovo Legion Go
Price: $579
The Lenovo Legion Go is as powerful as the ROG Ally X since it has the same chipset and RAM speed. However, the memory capacity is lower than the ROG device, and so is the battery, which is why the Legion Go isn't the best among the ones mentioned herein. However, it is a lot cheaper than the Ally X, giving it a decent advantage over the other.
The Lenovo Legion Go also has a larger display and a higher refresh rate than any other handheld gaming device on this list. The most unique feature of the Legion Go is that its controller can be detached and used separately, like the Nintendo Switch.
Pros
- It has a powerful chipset that will run your games smoothly.
- It has a large display that will provide more screen real estate when gaming.
- It has the fastest supported DDR5 RAM to boost the gaming performance further.
Cons
- The device is quite heavy and may not be as comfortable as others on this list.
4) Steam Deck OLED
Price: $549
The Steam Deck is the device that inspired other tech manufacturers to develop their own handheld gaming devices. It has become so successful that Valve released an upgraded version with an OLED screen. The new screen can display a near-infinite contrast ratio and HDR. The display panel even supports a higher 90Hz refresh rate.
This Steam Deck uses a custom AMD chip and SteamOS to run your games and has more than decent performance. If the FPS starts to drop in some games, you can use the game's FSR 2 or SteamOS' in-built FSR feature to boost performance.
Pros
- It has an OLED screen with a high refresh rate to provide the best viewing experience.
- The custom AMD processor consumes less battery and delivers a decent gaming performance.
- The battery life is quite good and is better than MSI Claw and Lenovo Legion Go.
Cons
- The Steam Deck's performance is not as good as others.
5) Nintendo Switch OLED
Price: $338
The Nintendo Switch OLED is a unique handheld gaming device on this list. All others run Steam games, but the Nintendo Switch has a whole collection of curated games built exclusively for this device.
The OLED display is fantastic, and games like Zelda's Breath of the Wild really pop out on this screen. Even though it has a decently large 7-inch display, the Switch is actually smaller than other handhelds and feels comfortable in the hand.
Pros
- It has a fantastic OLED display.
- You get access to Nintendo's largest game library, which is unavailable anywhere else.
- It has a great form factor and weighs less comparatively.
Cons
- The Switch is quite old at this point, and a new Switch 2 is on the horizon.
Each handheld gaming device on this list offers some new. The Nintendo Switch is the most unique handheld gaming device on this list as it allows you to play exclusive Nintendo games. However, other devices have way more performance and can run games like The Witcher 3 much better than the Nintendo Switch.
