By Aurora 
PC gamers have always dreamed of taking their whole setup on the go, right? We’ve had LAN parties and beefy gaming laptops that got us pretty close to that portable gaming vibe. But nothing beats the ease of whipping out one of these new PC gaming handhelds and playing basically anywhere.
ASUS ROG Ally has the better performance
We’ve tried out a bunch of the latest gaming handhelds, and honestly, most of them are pretty awesome. But two really steal the show. The Asus ROG Ally X is the best overall handheld gaming PC—it’s got a vibrant 7-inch screen, a speedy AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip, and a huge 80 Wh battery. If you’re looking for something more wallet-friendly, the Steam Deck is the way to go; it’s got everything you need at a price that doesn’t break the bank compared to others.
The Asus ROG Ally X is hands-down the best all-around handheld gaming PC because it nails the mix of power, comfort, and portability. The original ROG Ally was cool, but it had some issues—terrible battery life, it wasn’t comfy to hold for long, and it got way too hot. They’ve totally fixed all that with the Ally X, and it’s a big step up.
They swapped out the tiny battery and SSD for a massive 80 Wh battery and a 1 TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280 drive right out of the box. They also bumped the RAM from 16 to 24 GB of LPDDR5-6400, so games run a lot smoother. Plus, Asus tweaked the cooling system to stop it from overheating, and with the extra memory, it’s a bit faster even though it’s rocking the same processor and clock speeds.
Steam Deck is cheaper
Now, the Steam Deck? It’s the best budget handheld gaming PC by a long shot. Growing up, I would’ve killed for something like this—a small, affordable gaming PC I could toss in my backpack and play most of my games on. It beats the heck out of playing on a tiny fold-out screen on my Gamecube, powered by the car’s 12 V lighter in the back of my dad’s car—though I gotta say, those memories are pretty sweet.
The Steam Deck kinda brings back that old-school gaming vibe, helping you carve out time to play games you’d probably skip otherwise. I’ve blown through way more games on my Steam Deck than I ever would’ve just sticking to my desktop. That’s a thing with a lot of these handhelds, but the Steam Deck just feels so smooth.
Valve made their own Linux OS, SteamOS, for it, and it’s built totally for gaming. It works best with Steam games, but I’ve also slapped the Heroic Games Launcher on there to play Epic and GOG games without a hitch.
When it comes to performance, the Steam Deck is more about whether a game plays well, not about chasing high frame rates like on a desktop. It’s not super powerful—it’s got older CUs compared to some newer handhelds—but that’s fine since it’s only running an 800p screen. It handles modern games okay, but I mostly use mine for indie games.
It’s been awesome for playing all those cozy indie titles I’d never find time for on my desktop. That said, the Deck’s also great for game streaming if you’ve got something like a GeForce Now subscription. That’s how I play heavier games on it instead of trying to run them directly.
For the price, you really can’t beat the Steam Deck. Sure, other handhelds I’ve tried have better performance—some can crank out way higher frame rates and resolutions—but none of them come close to being as affordable.