The Best Portable Gaming Consoles To Enjoy Your Favorites On The Go

Processor: AMD Zen 2 CPU | Display: 7.4-inch HDR (1,280 x 800) OLED touchscreen | Battery: 50Whrs | Dimensions: 11.7 x 4.6 x 1.9 inches | Weight: 1.4 pounds | Storage: 256GB, 512GB and 1TB

Best for: On-the-go gamers looking for an affordable, high-performance, all-around-quality portable PC.

Pros:

• Significantly improves on its predecessor
• Perfect mix of power, performance, comfort, and value
• Supports Steam’s massive games library

Cons:

• Lacks native Windows support

Less than two years after Valve took the portable gaming world by storm with its ambitious—albeit somewhat flawed—Steam Deck, the company delivered the far superior Steam Deck OLED. While the newer model’s most significant upgrade is right in its name, its retina-searing screen represents just one of the machine’s many improvements.

The much brighter—and slightly bigger—display unquestionably steals the show, but the OLED also brings an abundance of quality-of-life improvements. You get better battery life, a bigger cooling fan, increased storage, enhancements to the touchscreen, haptics and trackpads and a massive library of supported games that continues to grow. Of course, the new take also retains what worked so well the first time around, from the hardware’s incredibly ergonomic design to its impressive performance.

Processor: Nvidia Custom Tegra processor | Display: 7-inch (1,280 x 720) OLED touchscreen | Battery: 4,310mAh | Dimensions: 4 x 9.5 x 0.5 inches | Weight: 0.9 pounds | Storage: 64GB

Best for: Gamers looking to play Nintendo’s popular, prolific library of first-party titles.

Pros:

• Deep, quality library of first- and third-party games
• Works effortlessly as both a handheld and home console
• Ergonomic, affordable and accessible

Cons:

• Lacking power limits access to latest premium games
• Outdated hardware

Nintendo’s enormously popular home console/handheld hybrid might seem like an odd fit on a list covering what essentially is portable gaming PCs. But the Nintendo Switch OLED is one of the most popular portable gaming consoles, and with good reason. In addition to supporting a massive library of games, the Switch OLED is much more affordable compared to its higher-end competitors. And while it lags far behind in terms of raw horsepower and performance, it still manages to splash some of the medium’s prettiest games across its gorgeous OLED display, including hits like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Luigi’s Mansion 2 and more.

Of course, its real draw is that aforementioned massive selection of fan-favorite, first-party games. The Switch OLED might not be able to run the latest, most technically advanced titles, but who cares about 4K resolutions and ray-tracing when you can play the latest Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda titles while sipping a latte at Starbucks.

Processor: AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme Processor | Display: 7-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS touchscreen | Battery: 40WHrs |Dimensions: 11 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches | Weight: 1.1 pounds | Storage: 512GB

Best for: Players that want to effortlessly play their Windows game library on a portable.

Pros:

• Windows-based platform plays more games
• Sturdy, yet lightweight build
• Speedy, powerful performance

Cons:

• Interface not as polished or intuitive as Steam Deck’s

If there’s one flaw holding back the Steam Deck OLED, it’s the fact its Linux-based operating system can be a bit finicky with non-Steam games. Granted, the Steam library is a gateway to thousands of titles and, if you don’t mind suffering a few headaches and jumping some hurdles, you can get just about anything to run on Valve’s hardware. That said, if you want a friction-less experience for those non-Steam titles—including those exclusive to popular, digital storefronts such as Xbox Game Pass and Epic Games Store—you’ll probably want to stick with a Windows-based platform.

Among the many portable consoles running Windows 11, the Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme is your best bet. Featuring powerful performance, an eye-popping, 7-inch touchscreen screen and palatable price tag, it checks all the right boxes for gamers looking to play Fortnite, other Windows-friendly favorites and Steam games on the go. The ROG Ally Z1 Extreme also feels great in your hands, offering a lightweight yet sturdy build. It’s little brother, the ROG Ally Z1, is also a great choice, though we recommend ponying up for the pricier model’s better processor if your budget allows.

Processor: AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme Processor | Display: 8.8-inch QHD (2,560 x 1,600) IPS touchscreen | Battery: 2-cell 49.2WHr | Dimensions: 1.6 x 11.7 x 5.1 inches | Weight: 1.8 pounds | Storage: 512GB and 1TB

Best for: Gamers looking to play on the biggest, most impressive portable screen.

Pros:

• 8.8-inch display showcases your graphics beautifully
• Peppy performance, crisp visuals
• Convenient detachable controllers

Cons:

• Larger screen adds bulk and heft

One of the absolute coolest things about taking PC games portable is seeing eye-pleasing epics, like Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut, spring to life in the palm of your hand. Of course, this element is significantly elevated with a larger display where you can enjoy your graphics with more detail. Enter the Lenovo Legion Go and its almost ridiculously large display. At a whopping 8.8 inches, the Windows-based console’s screen is significantly bigger than any other hardware in its category.

But its massive QHD display is far from the hardware’s only selling point, as during testing, the Nintendo Switch-like, detachable controllers also made it incredibly versatile compared to the competition’s all-in-one designs. While the Lenovo Legion Go’s defining features allow it to stand out from the portable pack, the added heft and bulk they bring can also detract a bit from its intended mobility. Still, if you’re looking to drop your friends’ jaws, just fire up this beast’s awesome screen on the subway.

Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 processor | Display: 7-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS touchscreen | Battery: 6-Cell 53Whr | Dimensions: 11.5 x 4.6 x 08. inches | Weight: 1.5 pounds | Storage: 512GB and 1TB

Best for: Mobile gamers who prioritize quality audio as much as performance.

Pros:

• Quality speakers offer beefy audio experience
• Recent updates have added polish, better performance

Cons:

• Still suffers from occasional performance hiccups
• Expensive compared to the competition

While MSI typically dominates the gaming laptop space, its first foray into portable gaming, the MSI Claw A1M, features the best sound out of any other handheld console we tested. Audio quality is often an afterthought in portable hardware design—especially since most players rely on headphones anyway—so the Claw’s ear-pleasing sound is immediately appreciated during gameplay. On top of sounding louder than similar devices, its pair of 2-watt speakers deliver a richer experience, with impressive, nuanced layering and separation between highs and lows.

In terms of its performance, during testing, there are still some bugs present that may deter you. Since its launch, MSI has fixed many of them, but it still has some way to go before they’re all worked out. It’s also pricier compared to the competition.