It’s hard not to be impressed by what manufacturers have achieved with the numerous options that are now available among the best PC gaming handhelds. What was once a domain left largely to Valve with the Steam Deck has evolved into a broader market, with the bulk of the systems available running Windows 11.

These devices pair sleek exteriors with high-refresh IPS or OLED displays and pack powerful (for a handheld) computing hardware inside. However, even the gaming handheld market has been squeezed by rising component prices, leading us to the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, the subject of this review. It’s by far the most powerful gaming handheld we’ve ever tested, thanks to its Intel Arc G3 Extreme SoC, but it’s also the most expensive ($1,799).

At every turn, the Claw 8 EX AI+ impressed with its performance, but the staggering price tag incessantly looms over the experience.

Design of the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+

We hope you like purple, as that’s the only color currently available for the Claw 8 EX AI+. Purple isn’t my favorite color in the world (that distinction belongs to blue), and it gives me Joker vibes from the 1989 Batman starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. Not only is the top of the chassis molded in purple plastic, but it also has a sparkly finish that makes it look a bit jewel-like. The lower half of the system is constructed of traditional black plastic.

The handgrips on the Claw 8 EX AI+ are well-spaced, perfectly sized for my hands, and evenly distribute weight, which helps mask the system’s 785-gram heft. Speaking of the handgrips, there’s a laser-etched dot texture molded where your palms and index fingers rest on the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ — this helps keep it in place instead of sliding around in your hands (especially if they perspire during long gaming sessions).

Controls-wise, the Claw 8 EX AI+ doesn’t break any new ground, which is generally a good thing. If you’re familiar with an Xbox controller, there are backlit ABXY buttons on the right, with a joystick just below, along with another joystick on the left side, with a D-pad (which features a metal dome) below it. Both joysticks sport an RGB ring at their bases. There are also four buttons on the face of the handheld, flanking the display, with the bottom-left button assigned to bringing up the MSI Quick Settings overlay for the Xbox Game Bar. The bottom right button launches MSI Center M, for launching and configuring games.

You’ll find the usual allotment of bumper and triggers at the top of the Claw 8 EX AI+. While the triggers feel nice, the bumpers are a smidge “wiggly,” but that’s a nitpick on my part. If you’re a fan of macro buttons, you may be disappointed to find that there are only two on the back of the Claw 8 EX AI+, versus the three or four you’ll find on competing systems like the Steam Deck.

Unlike Lenovo’s Legion Go series of handhelds, you won’t find a touchpad on the Claw 8 EX AI+. So all of your screen navigation will be limited to touching the screen with your finger, or using the joysticks in the Xbox overlay or MSI Center M.

All of the I/O ports are located at the top of the unit; here you’ll find a power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a microSD reader, a 3.5mm audio jack, and volume buttons.

There are two intakes (one for each cooling fan) located beside the macro buttons, while vents below the IO panel exhaust heat.

Although I’ll talk about the screen in detail later on, I must mention that the display doesn’t fit neatly within the confines of the center mass of the Claw 8 EX AI+. Instead, the bottom portion of the screen extends roughly half an inch below the body. It looks a little wonky at first, but it seems to be the only way that MSI could fit the 8-inch display, at least without making the whole device bigger.

The Claw 8 EX AI+ measures 12.6 x 5.12 x 1.98 inches, compared to 11.42 x 4.76 x 2.00 inches for the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, 11.64 x 5.38 x 1.66 inches for the Lenovo Legion Go 2, and 11.73 x 4.6 x 1.97 inches for the Steam Deck OLED.

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ Specifications and Components

Gaming and Graphics Performance on the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+

The Claw 8 EX AI+ features the new Intel Arc G3 Extreme SoC, which includes a 14-core GPU (4.7 GHz max clock) and a 12-core Arc B390 GPU that clocks up to 2.3 GHz.

The default power mode is MSI's AI Engine, which typically runs games at 25 watts, but can vary between 15 watts and 30 watts depending on the workload. There's also an Endurance Mode, which leverages the Intel Endurance Gaming Efficiency Preset. This limits the chip to 15 watts and targets 30 frames per second (FPS) while gaming. Finally, Manual Mode allows you to run PL1 Max at 35 watts.

For our testing, we used the default AI Engine Mode when on battery, and Manual Mode when plugged in (35 watts PL1 Max, 45 watts PL2 Max). We ran games at 1280 x 800 and 1920 x 1200 resolutions on the handheld, leveraging the Xbox Full Screen Experience to limit resource consumption from additional Windows software. Please note, however, that the ROG Xbox Ally X benchmarks were run at 720p/1080p due to its 16:9 aspect ratio display, while the Steam Deck is limited to 1280 x 800 resolution.

While playing Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, I was able to easily achieve 150-160 FPS on medium graphics settings at 800p with XeSS Balanced and the AI Engine power mode engaged. Battlefield 6 saw performance in the 70 fps range at 800p, with Auto detail settings and XeSS Balanced enabled.

Spoiler alert: the Arc 3 Extreme powering the Claw 8 EX AI+ is an absolute beast (in the handheld segment), delivering a 20 to 30+ FPS advantage over its peers across all the games in our benchmark suite. Starting with Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark (Medium, DX12), the Claw 8 EX AI+hit 98 FPS at 800p on battery power and 112 fps when plugged in (a 30+ FPS advantage over the ROG Xbox Ally X. Bumping the resolution to 1200p, the Claw 8 EX AI+ was faster at 1200p on battery power (67 FPS) than the ROG Ally X and Legion Go 2 were at 720p/800p on battery power. The system also impressed, reaching 72 FPS at 1200p when plugged in.

When benchmarking Cyberpunk 2077 (Steam Deck preset), the Claw 8 EX AI+ again showed its performance might, crushing all rivals. It delivered 78 FPS on battery power and 85 FPS when plugged in at 800p. At 1200p, those figures fell to 48 FPS and 52 FPS, respectively. We're at least getting a semblance of playability at 1200p resolution in the handheld space.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Favor performance, Vulkan) saw the Claw 8 EX AI+ run the tables again, hitting 115 FPS at 800p and 87 FPS at 1200p while plugged in to the wall. Of course, those numbers fell slightly on battery power, but were still above anything that the ROG Xbox Ally X or Legion Go 2 could muster.

It was more of the same in Borderlands 3 (Medium, DX11), which saw the largest performance variance between the Claw 8 EX AI+ on battery power and when plugged in. The handheld hit 94 FPS at 800p while plugged in, a full 18 FPS faster than with battery power. At 1200p while plugged in, it still managed to pull 78 FPS at 1200p.

Forza Horizon 6 is the newest addition to our benchmark suite, so we only have Steam Deck numbers to compare with the Claw 8 EX AI+. The Claw 8 EX AI+ hovered around the 100 FPS mark at 800p and managed 72-76 FPS at 1200p, depending on whether it was running on battery power.

For stress testing, we ran Metro Exodus 15 times at 800p at Medium quality settings to simulate roughly 30 minutes of gameplay. The Claw 8 EX AI+ hit an average frame rate of nearly 70 FPS on the benchmark. For comparison, the ROG Xbox Ally X managed 63.44 FPS using the same settings.

The Claw 8 EX AI+’s two performance cores averaged 4.06 GHz, the eight efficiency cores averaged 3.18 GHz, and the four low-power efficiency cores averaged 3.0 GHz.

Windows 11 and MSI Center M on the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+

The Claw 8 EX AI+ supports the Xbox Full Screen Experience, just like the ROG Xbox Ally X. However, it doesn't have its own dedicated Xbox app. You can access the interface by opening the Xbox app and selecting Full Screen from the top-right corner. You'll then be able to reboot the system directly into the Full Screen Experience, bypassing unnecessary Windows 11 components that could affect gaming performance.

All the benefits and limitations of the Full Screen Experience, as discussed in our ROG Xbox Ally X review, apply here, so I won't belabor those points. I would like to elaborate on the MSI Center M, which provides its own dedicated, gaming-centric interface. The full-screen interface can be navigated using the thumbpads, eliminating the need to tap the screen.

MSI Center M pulls in all of your games from multiple sources, including the Xbox Store, GOG Galaxy, Epic Games, and Steam (among others). It pulled games from all those sources, and most of them displayed a nice, high-resolution thumbnail. One exception was Cyberpunk 2077, which only displayed a low-resolution Start Menu icon that was blown up to a blurry mess.

You can customize navigation within MSI Center M to use the joysticks in Gamepad Mode (for gaming) or Desktop Mode (for using the standard Windows 11 interface). You can tweak sensitivity for the joysticks, and the Desktop Mode provides key mapping so that you can see which UI shortcut each button corresponds to.

Another component of the software package is MSI Quick Settings, an overlay that appears in the Xbox Game Bar. It can be recalled using the MSI Quick Settings button beside the left joystick. MSI Quick Settings features a sleek, easy-to-use interface that provides access to power profiles, screen brightness, gamepad control modes, display refresh rate, and screenshot capture (among other things).

Display on the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+

The Claw 8 EX AI+ features an 8-inch IPS display with a 120 Hz refresh rate and a 1920 x 1200 resolution. Given the $1,799 price tag, it would have been more fitting for MSI to include an OLED display, as we saw with the Legion Go 2. I think that’s a big miss by MSI, and one that I hope will be rectified in future versions.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we were unable to perform detailed, instrumented tests on the Claw 8 EX AI+’s display. So you’ll have to trust my eyeballs and the manufacturer’s specs for the time being. MSI claims that the display on the Claw 8 EX AI+ covers 100% of the sRGB color space and offers a peak brightness of 500 nits.

Although I didn’t have a Legion Go 2 on hand for a side-by-side comparison, I do have a Legion Go and a Legion Go S on my testing bench. We measured the former at 476.7 nits, and the Claw 8 EX AI+ seemed at least as bright (at maximum brightness) as the Legion Go, if not brighter, across multiple games and while using the Windows 11 interface.

Games generally looked good on the Claw 8 EX AI+, with good color balance. I racked up plenty of hours in Battlefield 6, trying my best to soak in the lush reds, oranges, and greens of the city architecture of the Saints Quarter map without getting my head blown off. Forza Horizon 6 looked magnificent in the colorful Japanese landscape, with vibrant city centers and majestic outdoor environments reflected in the vehicles' finishes. Everything looked good, but color vibrancy and overall visual “pop” would have been even better with an OLED panel, but I digress.

Battery Life on the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time recently playing more laid-back games; ones that won’t make my blood boil because of tense online matches. In particular, I’ve spent time playing Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.

I played the game at 800p with medium settings, Intel XeSS Balanced, power mode set to AI Engine, and display set to 50 percent. After playing for an hour (with an average of around 150 FPS), the battery dropped from 100 percent to 52 percent. Switching the power mode to Endurance, locked at 30 FPS, I still had 66 percent battery after an hour (when starting at 100 percent).

If I were to drop the brightness a bit, I could see battery life extending past 3 hours in Endurance mode.

Audio on the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+

The Claw 8 EX AI+ has a pair of 2-watt speakers, which are fine. They’re perfectly serviceable for most games. Given that I spent plenty of time playing Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, I noticed that the character voices sounded pretty good, and the plastic “clicking” sound of Lego stacking together during building exercises came through loud and clear.

Sound output was a bit more muddled in Battlefield 6, although I prefer to play games like that with headphones on anyway. In fact, given the mobility of handheld gaming PCs, most people will likely default to headphones for the best possible audio experience with the Claw 8 EX AI+.

Heat on the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+

While running the Metro Exodus stress test, the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ registered around 90 degrees Fahrenheit on the back of the chassis, close to dead-center. Moving towards the top of the unit, heat levels rose sharply to around 109 F near the cooling fans' exhausts.

The Arc G3 Extreme chip averaged 77.3 degrees Celsius.

Upgradeability on the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+

Cracking open the Claw 8 EX AI+ is incredibly easy – only six Phillips-head screws hold the back panel in place. Once the screws are removed, you can use a well-placed plastic pry tool to insert it between the black and purple halves of the chassis where they meet. Once you pry open a small section, the rest pops off easily.

Once inside, you’ll see the battery in the lower portion of the chassis and a full-length 2280 PCIe 4.0 SSD nestled between the two cooling fans (secured with one screw). In our review unit, the SSD was a 1TB Micron 2500 with QLC NAND.

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ Configurations

As of now, there’s only one configuration available of the Claw 8 EX AI+ with an Arc G3 Extreme SoC. Our system came with the aforementioned Arc G3 Extreme chip, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and an 8-inch 120Hz 1200p IPS touchscreen, for a whopping $1,799.99 at Best Buy.

Bottom Line

The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is an impressive machine that offers a solidly-built chassis, good ergonomics, and good battery life. However, the most impressive aspect of the handheld is its performance. The Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip allowed the Claw 8 EX AI+ to absolutely dominate our gaming benchmarks, delivering anywhere from a 20 to over 30 FPS advantage at 1200p or 800p resolution.

But that performance comes at a steep price: $1,799. That’s more than just expensive; it’s MacBook Pro pricing for a handheld, which is shocking, to say the least. For comparison, the Lenovo Legion Go 2 with 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and an OLED display retails for $1,349.99, and we already had extreme reservations concerning its price tag.

The Claw 8 EX AI+ is $450 more expensive and doesn’t even have the OLED display of the Legion Go 2. The saving grace for the Claw 8 EX AI+ is the Arc G3 Extreme chip, which gives unmatched performance across the board. However, it remains to be seen if the price premium is enough of a draw to more casual gamers.

MSI unveiled its Claw 8 EX AI+ handheld at Computex earlier this month, and it has just appeared on the company's website for $1,799, while Newegg has it listed for $1,699. It features Intel's new Arc G3 Extreme APU with flagship Arc B390 integrated graphics and 32GB of LPDDR5X memory. MSI says it tried everything to keep costs as low as possible, and that it'll be a tough year ahead with chances of even more price hikes.

Andy Chu, the brand's product marketing lead, told FRVR that "it’s a really difficult year for Intel and especially the OEM like us [...] because we also need to take those cost hikes for those key components like memory and also storage.” It's no secret at this point that DRAM and NAND prices have skyrocketed over the past few months, and even major vendors are struggling to keep up.

Every console is now more expensive than it was at launch, including the once bastion of affordability: the Steam Deck. The OLED version of Valve's handheld retails for $949 despite featuring last-gen hardware. The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ brings a huge performance boost over it, so the price almost looks justified in comparison. The ROG Xbox Ally X with the Ryzen Z2 Extreme is available for $999 everywhere, and that's AMD's mainstream rival to the Arc G3 Extreme at the moment.

"All I can say is we have tried every approach to get the memory and also storage at a lower cost. Like, deepen the relationship between us and also those suppliers, like to have some deals… and I think we have done everything we can do to make our system as affordable as possible," continued Chu. Not much you can do when hyperscalers annex all the production lines, offering fatter margins to these manufacturers.

It's a bit ironic to explicitly market your product as "AI+" while publicly complaining about the very consequences of said AI boom, but we digress. "Unfortunately, I think the situation, the result is what you see right here. So, I would say, yes, it will be a tough year for us and for the gamers,” warns Chu. We've already heard plenty of admonitions from various companies, but it's disheartening nonetheless to see the situation perpetually spiral out of control.

The executive goes on to say that "there’s much room for another price hike," so even the $1,799 price tag could go up in the following months. For context, you can find AMD's Strix Halo-equipped handhelds above the $2,000 mark, and they are significantly more capable machines. Even though they're far and few in between, let's not discount laptops either that have Panther Lake silicon and cost less than $2,000.

To be clear, the Claw 8 EX AI+ is a competent device that we were impressed by in our hands-on at Computex. Since Intel is only launching the Arc G3 Extreme right now, there was no cheaper base Arc G3 to put inside this thing either. Intel has mandated memory speeds for Panther Lake, but MSI could've surely cut down on the 32GB pool to save costs and make the handheld more affordable overall with 24GB or even 12GB configs.

Argentine developer Dante Leoncini has gotten the original Half-Life running at 30 FPS on a Nokia N95, the Symbian slider phone that launched in 2007, and has added mouse and keyboard support, he said in a post on X this week. Leoncini says that while some slowdowns remain, he has pinned down the cause and is working on a fix, the latest step in a series of efforts to run heavyweight software on the dual-core, 332 MHz handset. Half-Life shipped in 1998, needing a 133 MHz Pentium and 24MB of RAM at minimum, specs the N95 clears on paper. To date, Leoncini has managed to run Quake 3, Crash Bandicoot, and emulate Sega, ScummVM, and NES on the handset.

The N95 pairs a 332 MHz Texas Instruments OMAP 2420, a dual-core part built around the ARM11 design, with a PowerVR MBX 3D accelerator, 64MB of RAM, and a 240x320 display, all under Symbian OS 9.2 and S60 3rd Edition. An 8GB storage variant, released later in 2007, doubled the memory to 128MB.

Because the phone runs an Arm processor and a non-Windows operating system, getting Half-Life onto it requires a native Symbian build rather than emulation of the PC version. Leoncini has said before that the limiting factor on his earlier Quake 3 work was the CPU, which aligns with the slowdowns he’s now chasing.

Ports of Half-Life to unusual platforms generally lean on Xash3D, an open-source engine compatible with Valve's GoldSrc that’s been built for Android, the Raspberry Pi, and the Meta Quest. Whether Leoncini's N95 version uses it isn’t confirmed, however.

The OMAP 2420 architecture has managed to carry a game running at 30 FPS before. Way, way back in 2008, GMSArena reported that developer Olli Hinkka had ported Quake III Arena to S60 3rd Edition phones running the same chipset, with Bluetooth keyboard and mouse support and the option to host a multiplayer server on the phone itself. That port ran on the N95 8GB, N82, and E90, but not the original N95, which carried half the RAM of the 8GB model; Leoncini hasn’t said which N95 variant he’s using.

Half-Life is one of several things Leoncini has built or ported for the N95, alongside a from-scratch Blender clone called Blendersito and his own game engine, both on his GitHub. Running. In terms of the N95 as his choice of hardware medium, it’s far from the weirdest one we’ve seen.

MSI has long been a partner of Intel's with its Claw handheld, but at Computex, the company's Claw 8 EX AI+ looked like the strongest version yet. That's largely based on the fact that it's using the Intel Arc G3 Extreme, based on the company's Core Ultra Series 3 (Panther Lake) chips, with integrated graphics ready to take on AMD.

The system, which comes in one color, 'void purple,' has two extended grips on the sides. On the ground at Computex in Taipei, Tom's Hardware's Jeffrey Kampman confirmed that the Claw 8 EX AI+ "felt excellent in my hands," and that "the grips are large and well-contoured and distribute the weight of the system well."

Those grips also feature hall-effect triggers and sticks, and what MSI refers to as a "highly responsive D-Pad," along with a linear motor for rumble feedback.

Ergonomics have become a big deal. When Asus moved to its ROG Xbox lineup, it added some pretty serious grips to the sides. It makes the system wider, but also far more comfortable to hold. The same holds true here.

The system boasts an 8-inch, 120 Hz display with a variable refresh rate. The screen isn't totally flush between the grips, and juts out below them a bit in a weird style choice.

In our hands-on time with the device, Hogwarts Legacy ran well on the integrated B390, but we'll need to spend time testing in a less controlled environment to learn more for sure.

While MSI is still using its own Control Center M, its integrated into the Xbox Full Screen Experience, so you shouldn't have to deal with the Windows desktop unless you truly want to.We're hoping that the 80 WHr battery (the same size that you find in the Asus ROG Ally X), will allow for at least a few hours of gaming on a charge. Panther Lake has proven to be fairly efficient, but gaming is a pretty heavy workload.

Variations of the Claw will come with up to 32GB of RAM. MSI hasn't listed storage, but points out there's a single M.2 2280 SSD slot on the Claw. While MSI has yet to announce specifics on release dates or pricing, an early page on Best Buy that has since been pulled down suggested that a version with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage may be $1,699.99. But like much at Computex, there's not official pricing, so it's all still up in the air.

What initially seemed like a promising and legitimate foray into the retro gaming handheld market has rapidly evolved into a PR challenge for Lenovo. The company has cracked down on unauthorized Chinese merchants who were illegally selling Lenovo G02 to international buyers, violating the device's regional restrictions. To make matters worse, several unscrupulous sellers were reportedly preloading thousands of pirated games onto the G02.

Lenovo made it abundantly clear to Tom's Hardware that, despite licensing its branding for the G02 retro gaming handhelds, any distribution or sale outside China was strictly prohibited. In recent days, multiple sellers from Chinese e-commerce platforms, including AliExpress and Alibaba, have started selling the G02 globally. The breach not only violated Lenovo’s explicit restrictions but also caused the company potential legal complications, as some G02 units were later found to contain thousands of illicit ROMs.

Lenovo’s swift investigation into the unauthorized sales of its G02 retro gaming handheld has already yielded positive results. The first waves of AliExpress and Alibaba listings for the G02 are no longer available for purchase and effectively halted international purchases that extend beyond the device's intended market.

As soon as one listing is taken down, another sprouts up almost instantaneously. Resellers are persistent in profiting from the G02, so they will do whatever to circumvent Lenovo's crackdown. Shortly after the delistings, another Alibaba merchant had already begun offering the Lenovo G02 for $41.40, albeit with a minimum order quantity of 40 units. The bulk-sale approach will make it difficult for Lenovo and Chinese platforms to track and control the flow of the devices. Bulk sales appeal to international resellers and gray market operators, so who knows how much the Alibaba seller will move before Lenovo pulls the listing.

Needless to say, the G02 has turned into a nightmare for Lenovo. The company will likely have to employ additional resources to police Chinese e-commerce platforms and tighten its distribution channels to prevent the G02 from leaving China.

Different companies are responding to the global memory shortage in different ways. While some, such as Sony, Nintendo, or Valve, choose to raise prices to offset higher component costs, others opt to downgrade hardware specifications. According to Redditor Pixogen, Anbernic has quietly reduced the memory capacity of its RG34XXSP retro gaming handheld yet again without any official announcement. However, the company says that the standard memory capacity for the device remains 1GB and that this is an "unexpected error."

The RG34XXSP, which debuted in May 2025, quickly established itself as a popular retro gaming handheld thanks to solid specifications with a competitive price tag. The Game Boy Advance SP-inspired device launched with a generous 2GB of LPDDR4 memory. The ample memory enabled the RG34XXSP to run tons of classic games flawlessly, with very smooth emulation. However, the global memory shortage has significantly affected Anbernic, which has reduced the RG34XXSP's memory capacity.

In January 2026, Anbernic implemented the first downgrade to the RG34XXSP by halving the memory. Instead of 2GB, the clamshell retro gaming handheld device shipped with 1GB, but at the same price. The move understandably led to disappointment and frustration among retro aficionados. Now, a new report has surfaced claiming that Anbernic has once again halved the memory capacity, bringing it down to just 512MB, resulting in a 74% reduction compared to the original.

512 ram RG34xxSP - Update - Samsung 740 K4E4E324EE EGCF - 512 LPDDR3 from r/ANBERNIC

In the latest teardown of the RG34XXSP, the gaming handheld in question features a single Samsung K4E4E324EE-EGCF chip, which is a 512MB LPDDR3 memory module. The change reveals that Anbernic has not only reduced the device's memory capacity from its original specifications but also slapped an older, slower memory module into the RG34XXSP.

In a statement to Tom's Hardware, Anbernic says that the "current standard memory capacity is 1GB," and said that if a customer has received a 512MB version, this is "an unexpected error." Notably, the company didn't deny that this could have happened, and recommended that any affected users should contact the company's after-sales service team, who will "assist with a replacement as a priority." The company did not address the disparity between the listed LPDDR4 spec and the inclusion of LPDDR3.

The implications of the memory swap extend beyond the simple reduction in memory size. LPDDR4 is faster and more power-efficient than LPDDR3. Anyone with a 512MB RG34XXSP will probably experience reduced performance, especially with more demanding emulation. So customers should definitely reach out if they find this is the case.

The RG34XXSP’s prior hardware downgrade reflects the struggles many companies face as they attempt to deliver affordable products amid the memory shortage. As such, the company is claiming that this latest memory twist doesn't seem to be a downgrade or intentional, and claims that the handheld should still be shipping with 1GB of RAM.

After teasing the range earlier this year, Intel has officially revealed its Arc G3 range of chips designed for the best handheld gaming PCs. The Arc G3 range includes two SKUs, the Arc G3 and Arc G3 Extreme, that are built on Intel’s Core Ultra Series 3, or Panther Lake, silicon, and packing either the Arc B390 or Arc B370 integrated GPU, which are still the only two graphics processors on the market with Intel’s Xe3 architecture.

Intel has previously tried breaking into the handheld market with partner MSI, but it’s a space that’s been dominated by AMD’s Ryzen Z-series processors. Valve launched the Steam Deck with a custom AMD SoC, which was refined in the Steam Deck OLED, and both the ROG Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go S have stuck with Team Red. Intel’s G3 series looks like an attempt to establish Intel as a name in PC gaming handhelds, rather than just throwing laptop SKUs in the unique form factor as we’ve seen with devices like the MSI Claw.

Both chips use a 14-core CPU with 2 P-cores, 8 E-cores, and 4 LP E-cores. The main difference between them is the integrated GPU. The Arc B390 comes with 12 Xe3 cores while the Arc B370 comes with 10. Intel has yet to confirm clock speeds and power draw for the new range.

It has provided some other details, however. For starters, the G3 Extreme series will feature Intel Precompiled Shaders. AMD has recently partnered with Microsoft to provide something similar on desktop with Advanced Shader Delivery. The idea is that you download a precompiled set of shaders rather than compiling them at runtime, vastly reducing the time it takes to get into a game.

We’ve yet to see a true head-to-head battle between the Arc G3 and Ryzen Z ranges, but our testing of the B390 shows that it’s one impressive iGPU. Using high settings at 1080p with XeSS set to Balanced, we were able to achieve above 80 fps in Cyberpunk 2077. Mind you, that performance was inside a 16-inch Lenovo reference laptop. Expect lower performance inside a thermally-constrained handheld.

As with all recent Intel Arc graphics, Arc G3 chips come with full support for XeSS 3, including multi-frame generation, AI upscaling, and latency reduction. You’ll only be able to access those features in supported games, however. Unlike AMD, Intel doesn’t currently offer driver-level frame generation along the line of AMD Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF).

Intel says the chips will also arrive with Wi-Fi 7 R2, dual Bluetooth 6, and Thunderbolt 4. Partner systems from Acer, MSI, and OneXPlayer will start rolling out "in the coming months." Intel will be showing off several handhelds with the new Arc G3 range at Computex, and Tom's Hardware will have folks on the ground in Taipei to check them out in the flesh.

Acer and Intel are hoping to shake up the mobile handheld market with the Predator Atlas 8, a portable gaming device that takes on AMD’s dominance in the space with the new Intel Arc G3 and G3 Extreme processors, packing Arc B370 or B390 iGPUs. Acer is also promising up to 10% better AeroBlade cooling compared to the company’s previous systems, thanks to a dual-fan setup with what the company says is the first metal fan in a gaming handheld.

Other key features include an 8-inch 1920 x 1200 (16x10) touchscreen with 500 nits of peak brightness and a 120 Hz variable refresh rate. Acer lists the “IPS-level” screen as delivering 100% of the sRGB spectrum and 77.68% of the Adobe color space. The battery is listed as “up to 80 Wh,” with a 60Wh option that will likely be paired with the lesser, non-Extreme, chip.

That’s a fairly large battery for a handheld (80 Wh matches the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X), but it’s unclear at this point how the power consumption of Intel’s new chips will compare to the (mostly aging) AMD silicon in existing handhelds, like the Ryzen Z2 series. And the screen, while not OLED, sounds like it could suck down its share of power as well. But of course, as with all mobile gaming devices, battery life will vary widely depending on the kind of game you're playing and the settings.

You’ll also get the main features of Intel’s modern graphics, including ray tracing support and XeSS 3 upscaling. And Intel’s Endurance Gaming software is on board to balance frame rate and unplugged longevity. An XBOX Game Pass subscription is also included with this Windows 11 handheld; Acer says you’ll get two months of Game Pass Premium and three months of PC Game Pass.

Interestingly, the trigger switches are dual-mode, using both a micro switch and Hall effect, letting you switch between the former for speed in FPS titles and the latter for games that require an analog touch. Acer is also tossing in its PredatorSense software (for the first time on handhelds), providing system monitoring, performance mode switching, and access to game settings via a dedicated PredatorSense button.

Port selection and connectivity are about what we’d expect in a modern gaming handheld (especially one with Intel-based internals). You get two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a UHS-II microSD slot for expanding storage, and Wi-Fi 7 / Bluetooth 5.4.

At 810 grams (1.79 pounds) for the 80 Wh model, the Predator Atlas 8 will weigh less than Lenovo’s Legion Go (854 g), but more than the Steam Deck OLED (640 g). In the couple of photos that Acer has shared thus far, this doesn’t look like the sveltest handheld on the market, and we’re curious to get some hands-on time with it once we hit the ground for Computex 2026 in Taiwan.

Acer says the Predator Atlas 8 will be offered in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Australia in October (sorry, Asia). We’re still waiting on pricing, but given the volatility of the RAM and SSD markets, we likely won’t know that until we’re a lot closer to launch.

Valve's Steam Deck OLED is seeing a massive price increase. Widely considered one of the best handheld gaming PCs since its launch in 2023, the 512GB model is now $789, while the 1TB version is $949. Those are $240 and $300 increases, respectively.

In a blog post, Valve wrote that the price increases are "due to rising memory and storage costs."

"Steam Deck itself hasn't changed; these new prices reflect the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry as a whole," the post reads.

The 512GB Steam Deck OLED was previously $549, while the 1TB upgrade was $649. As low-end gaming laptops have dried up, these were seen as a great value. But back in February, the handheld started going out of stock due to those same component shortages.

In this light, the Lenovo Legion Go 2, which we reviewed at $1,349.99, and Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, at $999.99, don't seem quite as outrageous anymore. The entry-level Asus ROG Xbox Ally, despite some performance issues and technical problems, may look more attractive than ever if it keeps its $599.99 price.

Memory and storage have also wreaked havoc with Valve's plans to launch its upcoming Steam Machine PC and Stream Frame VR headset. Those were delayed from the first quarter of 2026 into a murkier time. This price hike also suggests that those systems, which use newer technologies, will be even more expensive. Valve did launch its Steam Controller earlier this month.

The Steam Deck OLED follows a pattern of years-old machines getting price hikes as their manufacturers deal with the current component landscape. Microsoft increased the standard Xbox Series X to $649, while Sony's PlayStation 5 recently jumped to $649.99 for the base model and $899 for the PS5 Pro. In September, Nintendo will raise the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 by $50 in September. (If you're doing the math, yes, a 1TB Steam Deck costs more than a PlayStation 5 Pro.)

The Steam Deck OLED's prior pricing had previously led the market, leading us to question the expense of some Windows-based alternatives. We'll have to see if this price holds, but if it does, it may reorganize the entire value proposition of this product category in the first place.

Under normal circumstances, any brand would be delighted to get its product in the spotlight, but some publicity can indeed be bad publicity. Lenovo’s G02 retro gaming handheld has become the center of a growing controversy after users who purchased the device reported it was seemingly preloaded with thousands of illegal game ROMs. In response to these allegations, Lenovo has contacted Tom’s Hardware to clarify the situation and has confirmed that it has launched an investigation into the matter.

To understand the G02's situation, it's necessary to start from the beginning. Although the G02 proudly sports Lenovo branding, Lenovo didn't design or manufacture it. Instead, the G02 is a white-label device. If you're not familiar with the term, it refers to mass-produced products that typically come from a single manufacturer and are re-branded and sold under other companies' labels.

As a result, the G02 is subject to a strict regional brand licensing agreement that limits its sales to the Chinese market. "Lenovo does not authorize the sale of this device outside of China, including third party platforms such as AliExpress or other reseller sites. Any such sales are not conducted or sanctioned by Lenovo or its authorized licensees," a company spokesperson told us.

That explains why Lenovo never officially announced the G02, nor did the device appear on the company's website or in its marketing channels. The G02 doesn't officially form a part of Lenovo's global product lineup, and its existence remained largely unknown to the public until foreign customers managed to buy one off a Chinese online e-commerce platform.

Lenovo made it clear in its statement to Tom’s Hardware that the company doesn't sell or distribute the G02 outside China under any circumstances. The prohibition also includes sales through third-party platforms such as AliExpress and other international reseller sites, which often serve as channels for gray-market imports.

Lenovo highlighted that G02 devices shipped by Lenovo or an authorized licensee do not include memory cards or preloaded games. Therefore, Lenovo suspects that a third party may have added the illegal ROMs to the G02 without the company's knowledge or approval once the device left the authorized channels.

AliExpress sellers generally refrain from explicitly advertising the G02 as bundled with any preloaded games, likely to avoid drawing attention to potential copyright issues or to avoid violating platform policies. Despite this, user feedback on this specific listing revealed a different story. Notably, one customer left a review stating that their device allegedly arrived with an astonishing 40,000 games pre-installed, four times more than the initial report. The claim is plausible given the G02's support for over 30 emulators, so that's a lot of Sony, Sega, and Nintendo ROMs.

"Devices officially distributed by Lenovo or its authorized licensees in the China market do not include memory cards or preloaded games. Any software or content found on devices sold outside of authorized channels may have been added by third parties without Lenovo’s knowledge or approval," the spokesperson said. "Any content installed by the user—and any issues that may arise—are the sole responsibility of the user of the device, as explicitly stated in its instruction manual."

In light of recent reports about third-party vendors selling the G02 with preloaded ROMs, Lenovo says it has launched an investigation into the matter. The company will probably have to thoroughly check its supply chain, distribution networks, and vendor partnerships to find any bad apples. The company says it will take swift and appropriate action as necessary.

The Lenovo G02 was never supposed to leave China, but it has. Now, Lenovo is in firefighter mode to correct the situation, because many companies, specifically Nintendo, don't take matters lightly when it comes to piracy. While any ensuing lawsuit would surely span international jurisdictions and encompass a complex set of facts about who did what and when, it's simpler and cheaper to nip the problem in the bud before lawyers ever have to darken a courtroom door.

Intel is expected to host a grand reveal for its rumored "Arc G3" series of chips for handhelds at the upcoming Computex 2026 show. According to Videocardz, one of those handhelds is being cooked up by Acer and is called the "Predator Atlas 8," suggesting it's an 8-inch device, likely going up against the MSI Claw 8.

The Arc G3 series is Intel's expected handheld push based on Panther Lake silicon, customized for maximum efficiency and competing against the Ryzen Z2 platform, which it teased at CES (though without the "Arc G3" name).

The Predator Atlas would be Acer's fourth handheld following the three models from its "Nitro Blaze" lineup: Blaze 7, Blaze 8, and Blaze 11. You might've never heard of those names because Acer hasn't released the Blaze 8 and 11 in global markets, while the Blaze 7 was never marketed enough to make a splash. Donning the new handheld in Predator branding, though, would suggest a more serious attempt at converting some of the Acer Predator laptop audience to a handheld.

Apart from the fact that it may reportedly feature an 8-inch screen, we don't know anything else about the rumored Predator Atlas 8. We do know quite a bit about Panther Lake, however. The Arc G3 was known as "Core G3" up until a couple of months ago, with leaks suggesting that the series has been delayed into Q2 2026. Intel has also famously taken digs at AMD's Z2 series, claiming it uses "ancient silicon," so it'll be interesting to see how G3 performs.

As mentioned, Intel teased its handheld push earlier this year alongside the Core Ultra Series 3 launch, but we didn't really get any details at the time. Since then, rumors have pointed toward two different SKUs: a standard Arc G3 and a G3 Extreme — both are tipped to have the same 14 cores split across a 2P+8E+4LP-E configuration, with integrated graphics where the silicon is expected to differ.

The base model likely has an Arc B370 iGPU with 10 Xe3 cores based on the "Celestial" architecture. The same graphics, core config, and a (P-core) boost clock speed of 4.7 GHz are also seen on the Core Ultra 5 338H processor, so the G3 could be an offshoot of that silicon. The Arc G3 extreme reportedly houses an Arc B390 iGPU instead, which would consist of 12 Xe3 cores; the Core Ultra X9 388H and Core Ultra X7 386H have the same iGPU.

Given Panther Lake's advances in gaming performance and efficiency across the board, the Arc G3 lineup should easily stand its ground against AMD's Ryzen Z2 family. We should expect the Red and Blue Teams to trade blows at mid to high power levels, but at lower wattages, Intel may be hard to beat, considering Lunar Lake was already impressive in that department.

A Lenovo-branded G02 retro handheld launched in China earlier this month, coming in at an affordable $63.56 on AliExpress compared to the thousands you have to pay for the Lenovo Legion Go 2. There were some questions if this was a legitimate Lenovo product or just another hardware manufacturer using the logo of a prominent brand, but a Lenovo employee in the company’s Product and Licensing department reportedly confirmed to Retro Dodo that it was an official, white-labeled device the company intended to sell only in China. More interestingly, they have unearthed that the handheld ships with thousands of copyrighted games, mostly from Nintendo.

“The G02 device is produced through a regional brand licensing agreement meant for the China market only and is not part of Lenovo’s official global product portfolio,” the company told the publication. “As such, products developed through these agreements may differ from Lenovo products sold through authorized channels.”

However, it wasn’t the handheld’s branding that caught Retro Dodo’s attention — instead, it was the fact that it came with thousands of copyrighted titles out of the box, most of them from Nintendo. It’s unclear if these games are licensed at all; after all, Nintendo is famously protective of its intellectual property, and it’s unlikely that it would readily allow a third-party hardware manufacturer to include Nintendo titles. Furthermore, the Japanese company built a reputation as a litigious company, targeting anyone that poses a threat to its IP.

The G02 is just a white-labeled device, meaning that its manufacturer just signed a deal with Lenovo to use its name for marketing purposes. However, the maker of the Legion Go handhelds still approved the regional licensing deal, even though we’re unsure if it reviewed the final product before it went on sale. One possibility is that the factory behind this retro handheld console loaded these ROMs after approval to boost sales, even though its AliExpress product page does not advertise that it comes with these games. Another alternative hypothetical scenario is that the developers behind this console accidentally included all the titles they were using to test the device in the general release.

Whatever the case, this could become a legal problem for Lenovo. After all, even if it’s just a white-labeled device made by a third-party manufacturer, it still carries the company’s branding. The company, in theory, could do some damage control to prevent this from becoming a bigger issue, like recalling the affected products or remotely deleting them, if possible. But the fact that Nintendo games were likely distributed outside of official channels would catch the attention of the Japanese company’s lawyers.

A modder by the name of tschicki has built a custom "PlayStation 2 Portable" from scratch, powered by a reverse-engineered motherboard that features original PS2 silicon. The hardware sits inside a 3D-printed shell with proper controls, USB-PD charging, and a bespoke cooling solution. The project is entirely open-source and available on GitHub for anyone to follow along with, if you have the right skills and patience required.

Work on the PS2 Portable actually began way back in 2022, but it was only made public last year. The four-year development period really shows when you take a look at how polished the finished product is. The design is inspired by modern handhelds such as the ROG Ally; it has an ergonomic shape with large grips that house two 5000mAh batteries to enable up to 4.5 hours of playtime on a single charge.

On the front, there's an asymmetric control scheme that actually features hall-effect joysticks and face buttons from the PS Vita 2000 model. There's a blue accent piece running along the top, enveloping the triggers and the USB-C port, providing some variety in an otherwise minimalist aesthetic. You'll also find vents up there for exhaust. The rear is largely plain with a few threaded screws and a cutout with a grill for intake.

The entire assembly is broken down into just two parts: a top half and a bottom half that screw into each other. The cooling is handled by a custom heatsink solution that uses the fan from the Switch Lite to keep the ICs under control.

This transitions us nicely into the actual crux of the project. The modder took six original ICs from the SCPH-7900x or SCPH-9000x PS2 models and put them on a custom motherboard.

Built upon the existing work of community veterans who have mapped out PS2 mainboards over the years, Tschicki reverse-engineered the entire circuitry of the console. They were then able to manually draw up a new motherboard layout that integrates the aforementioned original chips with completely new traces, video routing, and power management.

The donor ICs handle the bulk of the processing, such as the Emotion Engine (EE) and the Graphics Synthesizer (GS), while RP2040 microcontrollers are responsible for secondary tasks like thermals, controls, sound, and more. The modder used a custom FPGA-based video processor to get direct video out from the GS instead of going through an analog-to-digital converter that'd otherwise degrade the quality.

As such, the PS2 portable supports many resolutions, but it's wired up to a 5" 480x800p IPS LCD running at 60 Hz. To ensure the controls work on this screen, the RP2040 is utilized to convert data from the buttons and joysticks into native DualShock 2 signals, with full rumble support. Another RP2040 monitors the battery and controls power, allowing for fast charging or "charge and play" at 5V, 9V, or 12V.

Finally, to actually use the console, tschicki customized the original boot ROM to directly launch into homebrew, from where you can use the two microSD card slots present on the device to access your games. One slot hooks directly to the PS2 Memory Card's data lines and tricks the system into thinking one of those bulky 8MB Memory Cards is plugged in. You can use this for boot files and game saves, for instance.

The other slot bypasses the PS2's memory controller entirely and uses the open-source MX4SIO routing standard that doesn't try to emulate a memory card. Instead, it relies on custom homebrew apps running on the console to talk directly to the SD card's native storage interface. Once the custom MX4SIO driver is initialized, you can load up any game you want, which means this slot is better for library storage.

This is possible because the BIOS chip from the actual PS2 is one of the six ICs lifted from the original console, along with the CPU+GPU, the RAM (two separate chips), the I/O processor, and the SP2 audio processor. Anyhow, after the games are loaded, the handheld can play PS2 titles natively via custom software like OPL (Open PS2 Loader) or NHDDL, and supports PS1 games via DKWDRV. There is no emulation happening here.

Because of the sheer stature of custom modding work done, the PS2 Portable is one of the most impressive community projects in recent times. The fact that everything from the 3D printer files (STLs), the PCB schematics, the FPGA code, and the software firmware is open source is just the cherry on top. You can build your own identical handheld, but it's not going to be easy, and Tschicki even warns against it.

All of the relevant resources are available on GitHub, including the BOM (bill of materials) for the mechanical assembly and each PCBA. There's a 10-part documentation with steps you can follow, but they're incredibly detailed and only meant for experts with high-level soldering and programming knowledge. Do not attempt this as a fun DIY project, but then again, curiosity killed the cat.

Now, technically speaking, a portable PS2 already exists — it's called the PlayStation Portable (PSP), and it was one of the most successful consoles of all time. But it doesn't have the PS2's massive catalog of classics, so there's an argument to be made there. That being said, emulation has come a long way, and your phone can even play AAA PC games now, so stick to emulation if you're only after the nostalgia and not the microsoldering anguish.

Lenovo has seemingly entered the handheld gaming world with the silent launch of the G02, a retro-inspired gaming device that’s selling for $63.56 on AliExpress. The company is no stranger to the handheld gaming market, having released high-end gaming devices, such as the Legion Go 2 or the Legion Go S, that retail for over $1,000. The G02 is a step down from Lenovo's premium lineup and a move to attract a different audience.

• Buy the Lenovo G02 for $63.56 at AliExpress

X user Retro Gaming With Deadfred was the first to give the world a hands-on look at the Lenovo G02. In the post embedded belwo, you can see the “Lenovo Handheld Game Console G02” arriving in official packaging with the Lenovo logo. The short demo video features the device booting up and displaying the Lenovo logo on its startup screen. Adding further credibility, mentions of the G02 can also be found on Lenovo’s official Chinese website (though there is no noticeable mention on the U.S. site).

Diving into various retailer listings, the Lenovo G02 seemingly packs the Rockchip RK3326 SoC, which combines a 64-bit quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor up to 1.5 GHz with Mali-G31 MP2 graphics. The device reportedly includes 1GB of memory and 4GB of onboard storage, which you can expand via microSD cards up to 1TB. Although the Rockchip RK3326 is a bit long in the tooth, the eight-year-old chip is still a popular choice among retro gaming handheld manufacturers. It handles NES, SNES, Genesis, and Game Boy titles perfectly and holds its own even in PlayStation 1 games. However, it may struggle with Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, and PlayStation Portable games.

Lenovo has equipped the G02 with a 4.5-inch IPS display with a classic 4:3 aspect ratio, ideal for retro games. The screen resolution is crisp at 1024 x 768 pixels. The G02 provides a more visually pleasing experience than your typical 3.5-inch device. Its screen size also puts it in the 4- to 5-inch range, alongside competitors such as the Anbernic RG405M and the Retroid Pocket 3+.

Unlike some retro gaming handhelds that run Windows or Android, the G02 leverages a Linux-based operating system. While the retailer listings don’t specify the exact Linux distribution, they do confirm it’s a 64-bit platform that supports over 30 emulators. The choice of Linux means that the overall experience on the G02 should be smooth. And given that Linux is more lightweight, the G02's 4000 mAh battery should give you between three hours and six hours of playtime on a single charge. The G02 charges through a USB Type-C port.

The G02, available in black, white, or red, is a lightweight device thanks to its durable plastic shell. It measures just 5.9 x 3.9 x 1.3 inches (149 x 99 x 34 mm) and weighs in at only 0.6 lbs (258 grams). This compact footprint makes it easy to fit inside a backpack or even a large pocket. The G02 features a full set of buttons, including an analog stick with cRGB lighting, adding a modern touch.

Retro gaming aficionados will immediately notice that the Lenovo G02 has an uncanny resemblance to the Anbernic RG40XXV. They may have the same OEM. Under the hood, the G02 and RG40XXV are actually quite different. The Anbernic RG40XXV sports a smaller 4-inch display with a 640 x 480 resolution, compared to the G02’s 4.5-inch 1024 x 768 screen. Additionally, while the RG40XXV has the Allwinner H700 Soc, featuring a quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 CPU and Mali-G31 MP2 graphics.

The Lenovo G02 is $63.56 on AliExpress before any discounts or promotions. For comparison, the Anbernic RG40XXV, a close competitor both in looks and functionality, sells for $86.99 on Amazon. If you’re seeking an even better deal, Alibaba offers the Lenovo G02 for as low as $40 per unit. Alibaba caters to B2B customers, though the seller requires a minimum order of 40 units. Therefore, the $80 price tag on AliExpress could be introductory or a result of fluctuation. Keeping an eye out for AliExpress coupons or flash deals could bring prices down to a more attractive level.

If you’ve been paying close attention over the past year and change, you’ll quickly learn that while PC gaming is clearly struggling from apocalyptic component pricing, players are slowly looking to alternative platforms and operating systems to play games on. Valve’s Steam Deck is a primary cause for this success and has spawned a breed of x86-based handheld devices over the past few years. While Sony is reportedly developing its own handheld, Valve has been hard at work developing its own hardware ecosystem, or at least trying to, no thanks to the ongoing DRAM and NAND pricing devastation.

Valve’s upcoming Steam Frame will make use of an ARM-based Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, notably differing from the x86-based chips inside the now four-year-old Steam Deck and the upcoming Steam Machine. Alongside choosing an Arm-based chip for its upcoming VR headset, the company has been quietly contributing to a translation layer named FEX.

What is FEX?

FEX or FEX-Emu, translates raw x86 instructions into ARM64 instructions, with Proton handling the software and OS-level translations from Windows into something that can be understood by Linux. When FEX and Proton work in tandem, it means that Arm-based chips could very well run many “full-fat” games stored in your Steam Library.

Valve has been funding the development of FEX for years, which is, in itself, open source. As such, over the past year or so, development has started on getting FEX up and running on Android-based devices. One such example is GameNative, a slick open-source app that can tap into your Steam Library and allow you to make use of FEX (and Proton) to run games. There are additional apps that perform similar functions, such as GameSir’s Gamehub, which is a closed-source alternative that, in late 2025, came under fire for its capture of sensitive user telemetry data. So, be sure to research these options wisely if you want to try something like this out for yourself.

So, with that all in mind, let’s try to push current Android hardware to its limits and see just how well FEX is shaping up.

Setup

Of course, many Android devices might not be up to the task of running AAA, x86-based games. As it happens, I was shopping for a new Android tablet, and lucked out finding a deal on a used RedMagic Astra Gaming tablet, which is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 4 SoC, Adreno 830 GPU, and 24 GB of LPDDR5T RAM. The device is also equipped with active cooling, which is a rarity in smaller Android tablets.

It should be noted that Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chips are rolling out in the Android ecosystem, but availability remains limited in the U.S. With a decently powerful Android device in hand, it’ll serve as a good testbed to see exactly how (and if) current hardware on portable ARM-based devices is capable of running demanding games.

GameNative’s APK is available directly from their GitHub repository, and installation was simple: Once the app was installed, all I had to do was log into my Steam account, and voila, my entire library was available to choose from. The gamepad-friendly interface allows you to select from “Compatible” titles, and with that flicked on, I was able to view exactly which titles might play nicely with the RedMagic Astra.

For this test, I wanted to test a handful of AAA gaming titles to see how well they might run and to get a good understanding of how these titles can perform on modern hardware. For a baseline, Cyberpunk 2077 (RED Engine), Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Unreal Engine 5), and Resident Evil 3 (RE Engine) all serve as solid showcases to see how well these games might run. Resident Evil 3’s remake is an older RE Engine title, but given my Steam Library's lack of newer Capcom titles, it’ll just have to do.

Stalled boot

With Cyberpunk 2077 installed on the device, GameNative automatically chooses the best configurations for you and then pulls all of your Steam Cloud data to sync things up. This part of the process took a while, which is (what I presume to be) the sheer number of save files on my particular Steam Cloud variant. But it dutifully whittled away at downloading all of the required files to get Cyberpunk off the ground. And then… Nothing. Cyberpunk 2077 crashed to a halt. It took some tinkering with graphics drivers and Proton versions, then running a driver test to see if everything lined up.

Afterwards, I managed to finally load Cyberpunk 2077. Given that we want to run this as more of a proof-of-concept, rather than testing the silicon to its limits from the start, I immediately went to the settings menu and put everything on low, with FSR 2 off. After loading a save in a dense urban area, the game hangs, and seemingly nothing I did managed to solve that particular problem. Onwards, I pushed to the next title, undeterred.

Playable perfomance

Resident Evil 3, by contrast, offered a much smoother experience when running the title at 720p. With settings locked in and the application allowed to access the large RAM pool of the RedMagic Astra, I was able to play the introductory segments of the title with little to no issue. That should come as little surprise to anyone who knows that Capcom’s RE Engine scales incredibly well with lower-end devices, especially if they are limited in scope, such as Resident Evil 3 – I wouldn’t chance running a heavier, open-map title like Monster Hunter: Wilds on here so soon.

With the game up and running, I then pushed the image quality with settings set to prefer performance, with no upscaling. Resident Evil 3 stayed at a steady 40- 60 FPS for most of the introductory segment, and only when dealing with more challenging scenes with multiple light sources and particle effects did our frames begin to drop to lows of around 27 FPS. That’s still playable, though not quite offering a perfect experience, and some subjectivity comes into play. Following this, testing the ‘Prefer Graphics’ preset with no upscaling, we reached a range of 25-42 FPS, which is again, more than playable enough for a single-player title. While you’re not going to get that ideal 60 FPS target, the game also doesn’t look like you’re playing it through a vaseline filter, which is a plus.

With Resident Evil 3 producing solid results, I marched on to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. This Unreal Engine 5-based title was a tricky one to get up and running. Firstly, I had to set the lowest possible internal resolution, then select the correct drivers to get things set up. Following that, we were in the game. But there was one glaring issue: Image quality. The selected graphics driver (nor any other combination) actually yielded anything that remotely looked like Clair Obscur, with textures going haywire and environments missing some textures entirely. This one was a total, unplayable mess; even measuring its performance would have been a waste of time. So, what’s going on under the hood, and why is performance so variable between titles?

Fractured configurations

To understand why individual titles run so differently is to understand that each game runs a wholly different engine. CD Projekt Red’s RED Engine has proven to scale to systems like the Steam Deck and Switch 2, but performance in-game on the RedMagic Astra has yet to match either a Steam Deck or a Nintendo Switch 2 in image quality.

For Expedition 33’s Unreal Engine 5, this is a complicated nightmare. The CPU translation layer, in addition to DirectX12’s VKD3D translation, is what’s causing things to not load correctly, such as DX12’s mesh shaders. To put things simply, there’s a complex stack of operations required to run things smoothly, and when those graphical pipelines get as complex as a modern title, like Clair Obscur, the house of cards begins to fall down.

This isn’t a problem for Resident Evil 3’s RE Engine, which uses a lighter and cleaner implementation of DirectX12, especially when compared to Unreal Engine 5. You also have the option to launch with the DirectX 11-based DXVK, which, in itself, is much easier for a translation layer to handle than the more complicated VKD3D. The caveat here is that you’ll have to access a different legacy beta branch to enable that, as the main branch of the title forces DirectX 12.

Worsening things is the fact that so much of this support relies on community-developed graphics drivers, most notably, custom “Turnip” drivers, based on the open-source Linux Mesa project, which patches Vulkan extensions that are actively still being reverse-engineered by the developers. These optimizations get missed by the official Qualcomm system drivers, which are closed-source. Therefore, as demonstrated in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, when Turnip drivers are met with complex shader pipelines from UE5, the GPU driver can fail to render geometry correctly, even if the title boots.

Many titles that do not require the usage of such demanding graphical pipelines can work without breaking much of a sweat: So, if you’re missing out on Slay the Spire, or Hollow Knight: Silksong, those titles are demonstrably stable using FEX and emulator apps like GameNative. For our tests, we wanted to see how FEX handled complex shaders, graphics, and modern “big-budget” experiences.

Where does this leave FEX?

In and of itself, FEX is an ongoing project, and we’re not going to see major miracles happen overnight when it comes to elements out of the project’s scope, such as Qualcomm’s development of official drivers that officially support mainstream games.

Qualcomm’s mobile chips were built strictly to run mobile apps and games, meaning that adding the wrinkle of supporting elements like desktop-level Vulkan instructions is a use case they simply never really considered supporting before. If the company wants to capitalize on the work being done by the FEX team, Qualcomm-based chips must also come with similar levels of support as desktop graphics drivers, and the likelihood of that happening is quite slim indeed. As of the time of writing, community drivers for specific titles can enhance the experience of some titles, if you're willing to go to those lengths.

While the efforts of FEX-Emu and its complex, layered translation to get things running are indeed impressive, you’re not about to be able to take your whole Steam Library with you anywhere, until there’s more maturation of these applications and the community-made drivers (potentially with the help of a company like Valve) to create workarounds, or dedicated drivers. For now, it’s still too early to start throwing FEX out as a feature in a mainstream product until all of those rougher edges, like driver support, are smoothed off for end-users. Anyway, my tablet’s back to being relegated to being a very fancy comic-book reader again until the entire software pipeline has matured.

Valve has released Proton 11.0-Beta1, but this perhaps inconsequential-sounding test version comes with something revolutionary – support for Arm Linux devices. It isn’t mainstream yet; it is a beta version, of course, but folks have already shown off the Steam UI running on a Nintendo Switch. So, Steam gaming support on more open gaming devices from brands like Retroid, AYN, and Ayaneo should be far easier.

Steam Linux ARM64 beta on Switch

— @aagaming.me (@aagaming.me.bsky.social) 2026-04-17T11:10:52.424Z

Steam Linux ARM64 beta running on Ubuntu Linux Noble Numbat on Nintendo’s popular handheld.

AAGaming, which posted the Steam on Switch demo on BlueSky, embedded above, says they have shared “a working copy of proton arm + steamrt arm that you can drop right into conpatibilitytools.d to play games with this client.”

You can find the official Proton 11.0-Beta1 release on Valve’s Proton GitHub, alongside some release notes. The key change, as far as Arm gamers are concerned, is flagged in a section under the heading ARM64 Builds. Not much is said, but handheld gaming enthusiasts on social media have been quick to realize the implications. The newly bundled FEX 2604 can enable Steam’s built-in x86 Windows to ARM Linux gaming compatibility on your Arm Linux device.

This new Arm Linux compatibility for Steam is thought to have been implemented now to prepare for the Arm-powered Steam Frame gaming headset, which we went hands-on with last November. That headset was described as a ‘streaming-first device’ but packs very respectable Arm mobile hardware, such as a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 backed with 16GB LPDDR5X.

During our Steam Frame hands-on, we also learned about FEX bringing Steam games to Arm and running locally. In our demo, we saw the x86 version of Hades 2 running standalone with respectable performance at 1400p. The Valve rep clarified, “It’s actually running on Linux, running on Arm,” at the time. So, now we are seeing this ability surfacing in public betas, and already being used to get Steam OS and games running on alternative Arm hardware.

Valve is building a ‘Verified’ style list for the Steam Frame Arm hardware, much like its efforts seen on Steam Deck. Thus, users will know which games will run well locally and which they might prefer to stream from their gaming PCs.

Not interested in Arm? There's more...

In addition to the juicy Arm/Linux compatibility news, the new Proton 11 Beta includes goodies for existing Steam OS gamers. There’s a host of new certified playable titles for users, such as titles from the Resident Evil and Dino Crisis stables, plus Warhammer: Vermintide 2, SHOGUN: Total War, Breath of Fire IV, and more.

Numerous bug fixes are implemented in the release, too. For example, Valve has fixed Steam Overlay not working correctly with many EA games, and got the intro video playback in Crimson Desert to work properly.

Getting Proton 11 is easier if you already have a Steam OS device like the Deck. Just search for the update in the Steam Library.

Lenovo launched the Legion Go 2 handheld last year with a starting price of $1,049 for the 1 TB model with an AMD Ryzen Z2 APU. The upgraded Z2 Extreme version was priced at $1,350 instead. Now, thanks to the AI boom snatching production lines, amidst other geopolitical factors, the same device costs $2,000. Even worse, it seems like the 2 TB model's new price is a whopping $2,849, as per Lenovo's own website.

At launch, the 2 TB variant was around $1,480, so we're looking at almost double the price in just a few months. That being said, this SKU is still available for much cheaper with some retailers, but it's likely existing stock is selling for older prices. For instance, B&H has it listed for "just" $1,849.99 while Best Buy and Costco have pages up for the device with no inventory. It's likely that a restock will come at that updated $2,849 ask.

We've reviewed the Legion Go 2 positively, but it just doesn't make sense to pay almost $3,000 for a handheld gaming PC that doesn't even have truly flagship specs. The Z2 Extreme chip is a nice bump up from the Z1E, but you can get AMD's Strix Halo devices in this range. They might not have comparable battery life (and by extension, worse thermals), but they'll be significantly more performant.

The OneXPlayer Apex with a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and 48 GB of RAM can be pre-ordered for $2,299 right now. If you want a comparable 2 TB SSD, then the model with the same APU but 64 GB of RAM is listed for $2,799, which is still somehow cheaper than the Legion Go 2. It seems like Lenovo's pricing strategy is going beyond just compensating for the component crisis, because even other Z2E handhelds aren't as egregiously priced.

Case in point, the 1 TB ROG Xbox Ally X (there's no 2 TB model) is going for $999 at the moment, and it's readily available across vendors. Perhaps, Lenovo's internal data shows its handhelds are cannibalizing its laptop sales, so the company wants to create a clear distinction between the two. Pricing a perfectly good handheld out of most people's budget is not the best way to achieve that, but it certainly ensures very few will buy it.

Gaming handhelds aren't affordable anymore. Many of them go for $999 or more. And, crucially, the Steam Deck OLED, the best handheld gaming PC and a price leader at $549, has mostly been out of stock as the component crisis continues.

That makes it a great time to look at the Asus ROG Xbox Ally, a $599 Windows-based option with, spoiler alert, a chip that looks a lot like the one in the Steam Deck – at least on paper. The Ally shares a lot in common with the far more expensive ROG Xbox Ally X, but it's still distant enough from the Steam Deck, and has a few technical issues that makes it still feels compromised.

Design of the Asus ROG Xbox Ally

The ROG Xbox Ally's design is effectively identical to its more powerful sibling, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X. That's hard to complain about, as that machine had superior ergonomics compared to many other gaming handhelds thanks to prongs that feel like they're part of an Xbox controller.

There are, though, two major aesthetic differences. The first is that this handheld comes in white, while the Ally X is black. I owned white Xbox 360 controllers back in the day, and those got gross even in the best of circumstances. Granted, I'm now an adult who takes better care of his stuff, but I can't look at this and not worry about what will happen to this thing if I don't wash my handsevery time before I touch it. Despite my best efforts, it did get a bit dirty during my review period, possibly from my hands or just from sitting in my bag.

On the bright side, the cheaper model has colored buttons that match an Xbox controller, which the all-black X model doesn't.

The other difference is that at 1.48 pounds (670 grams), the Xbox Ally is slightly lighter than the Xbox Ally X at 1.58 pounds (715 grams). Putting them next to each other, I could definitely tell. The Steam Deck OLED is even lighter at 1.41 pounds (640 grams).

Unsurprisingly, the Ally has a controller layout very similar to an Xbox controller, including ABXY buttons, a D-pad on a disk, and offset joysticks, though it all has Asus' more angled look. Like the Ally X, you get rubberized texture on the control sticks, RGB lights, and clicky, tactile buttons.

The Ally's triggers don't feature rumble like the Ally X, but at this price, I'm not missing it. The bumpers are made out of cheap clicky plastic, and I would have liked to see those reinforced.

There are two macro buttons that you can customize on the rear of the device, down from four on the Steam Deck. On the front, there are a series of buttons for Asus and Xbox menus, including the Xbox button next to the left thumb stick, as well as Armoury Crate and Xbox library buttons. There are also Xbox-standard view and menu buttons.

On top of the handheld, Asus offers two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports, a microSD card reader, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. That's also where you'll find the volume rocker and a combination power button and fingerprint reader. (The Ally X replaces one of those Type-C ports with a faster USB4 port.)

Asus includes a little cardboard stand in the box. Considering the Steam Deck and Lenovo's Legion Go 2 handheld come with full-on carrying cases, Asus should consider better accessories next time around. If you want the official case, that will cost you $69.99.

Asus ROG Xbox Ally Specifications and Components

The Asus ROG Xbox Ally is powered by AMD's Ryzen Z2 A, a 4-core / 8-thread processor using AMD's Zen 2 architecture. On paper, it's significantly less powerful than the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme in the ROG Xbox Ally X, but it's also in a cheaper system. The Z2A has a max boost clock of 3.8 GHz and a boost clock of 2.8 GHz.

The Z2 A's default TDP is 15W, though it is configurable up to 20 W, which Asus uses in the system's turbo mode. Here's how Asus uses that with its performance modes, with comparisons to previous models:

The Z2 A SoC has an 8-core GPU, using integrated Radeon RDNA 2 graphics, as opposed to RDNA 3.5 on the Xbox Ally X, putting it in line with the Steam Deck OLED. Asus has included 16GB of RAM and a 512GB M.2 SSD in a standard M.2 2280 form factor. The 60 WHr battery is significantly smaller than the 80 WHr battery in the Ally X, but is larger than the 50 WHr cell in the Steam Deck OLED.

Gaming and Graphics on the Asus ROG Ally

The Asus ROG Ally's 8-core integrated GPU with RDNA 2 graphics effectively ages this machine out of the box. The technology is very similar to the Steam Deck OLED, which also uses 8 RDNA 2 compute units, albeit on a slower processor. The CPU and GPU share 16GB of memory, with 6GB assigned to the GPU by default (you can change this in Asus Armoury Crate SE, but we tested with the standard settings).

The handheld runs at a 15W performance mode when unplugged and a 20W turbo mode when plugged in, though you can switch between them. We ran games at both 1080p and 720p. For the Steam Deck OLED, we tested at 1920 x 1200 and 1280 x 800 to fit its 16:10 aspect ratio.

Using the Xbox Full Screen Experience should free up some memory and provide performance advantages, as it doesn't load some Windows components. We benchmarked games through the FSE, with the exception of our stress test, which requires additional logging software.

I used the ROG Xbox Ally to play Resident Evil Requiem, a game I bought while I was reviewing the handheld. I played the game at 720p without upscaling, using low graphics quality and otherwise auto-configured graphics settings, including low lighting and shadow. The game ran between 32 and 55 frames per second as Grace Ashcroft ran from the early game monster called "The Girl." In a third-person action scene at Rhodes Hill, with Leon Kennedy fighting a wave of enemies with a chainsaw, the tame ran at 34-37 FPS.

Two patterns emerged from our benchmarks. The first is that despite the 1080p screen, this machine is meant to game at 720p. On each of our benchmarks, the system couldn't handle the higher resolution at a playable frame rate, whether plugged in or unplugged. Borderlands 3 wouldn't even let us switch to 1080p at all, which an Asus representative claimed was a feature to encourage higher performance, but it only ever happened on that game.

The other pattern was that to meaningfully beat Valve's Steam Deck OLED, the Ally had to be plugged in or running at turbo mode. Even then, in some games, like Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Borderlands 3, it was still very close. On Red Dead Redemption 2, the Steam Deck was superior no matter what.

On our Metro Exodus stress test, the Xbox Ally ran the benchmark 10 times to simulate about half an hour of gameplay. The handheld averaged 43.28 frames per second and was consistent with a frame or so between runs. The average clock speed of four CPU cores was 2.66 GHz during the test while the GPU ran at 1241.36 MHz.

Windows 11 and Armoury Crate

Like the ROG Ally X that shipped beside it, the ROG Xbox Ally ships with Microsoft's Xbox Full Screen Experience. While it's far and away better than using the standard Windows 11 desktop on a gaming handheld, there are still some hitches throughout.

You boot straight into the Xbox app, meaning that Windows doesn't load certain components of the OS that aren't used for gaming. This should make the OS lighter and save RAM, letting you put the resources towards the games that you're playing. It came with Steam installed, which I appreciated, and the library also lets you easily download Epic Games, Battle.Net, GOG Galaxy, and Ubisoft Connect.

But still, the launchers don't always play nice with the Xbox controller. Epic Games, for instance, really is designed for a mouse and keyboard, and I was largely forced to use it with touch controls to get it to work. In addition, games bought from launchers are treated as second class-citizens, without box art or analysis of how well the game plays on your system.

Even if you never touch the regular Windows 11 desktop, you'll still have to deal with User Account Control pop-ups.

Asus' Armoury Crate SE software is still there, and you can use it to change RGB lighting and install updates. But it's baked into the Xbox menu in the Full Screen Experience, and most performance-related settings are way easier to reach there.

I was hoping that Asus and Microsoft would have fixed some issues that reviewers found at launch. For instance, I had sleep/wake issues. The first time I put the system to sleep with a game paused, I woke up to a Direct3D error and a crash screen. A few other times, I found that the system wouldn't wake up at all, and ultimately booted back to the Windows desktop. I also had the system wake up to a notification that the controller, permanently attached to the system, had disconnected. So save your progress before you put this system to sleep. If you didn't, you may wish you did.

Asus suggested to us that for many users, switching the power button to hibernate, not sleep, could fix the issue. This was more reliable, though we had to deal with the startup animation and a login screen each time, and the controllers would often take a minute to be detected. While Asus says recent Windows builds should have largely addressed the issues we had, a rep also gave us this statement:"Our team is aware of the issue of wake/sleep and is working on improving the end-user quality of life, it’s a bigger task than most people expect. Requiring coordination and efforts between ASUS, AMD, Microsoft, and some game developers as well since the expectation is a bit different on Windows as opposed to console gaming that you’d find on a traditional Xbox home console."

The ROG Xbox Ally feels more like a PC than an Xbox, and that includes all of the tinkering that some enthusiasts love, but without the simplicity one hopes for in a console-style experience.

Display on the Asus ROG Xbox Ally

The 7-inch, 1920 x 1080, 120 Hz touch screen on the ROG Xbox Ally is surprisingly decent for a standard LED panel.

In Resident Evil Requiem, the screen, even at 40% brightness, was enough for me to see enough of the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center's west wing to sneak around. And yes, there was plenty of crimson red blood when some Infected broke out the chainsaws.

On our meter, the Ally covered 85.4% of DCI-P3 volume and 120.6% of sRGB volume. Notably, both of those numbers are a bit higher than the screen on the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, which is the same on paper. But the regular Ally measured 488.8 nits, which is a bit dimmer than the Xbox Ally X at 515.8 nits. These differences suggest that Asus might have separate sources of displays, with some differences.

Either way, the Ally doesn't touch the Steam Deck OLED's screen, which is way more vivid and, at a max of 597.2 nits, significantly brighter.

Battery Life on the Asus ROG Xbox Ally

Battery life on a gaming handheld will be heavily dependent on the games you play and the settings you play. I often try to keep settings pretty conservative to try battery life, but I did play some intense games on the ROG Xbox Ally. If you play 2D side scrollers, you'll have longer battery life than what I saw.

Perhaps the hardest challenge I threw at the Xbox Ally and its 60 WHr battery was playing a bit of Resident Evil Requiem on it. One night, I sat back in a relatively dark room and snuck through the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center as Grace Ashcroft. I used auto-detected settings and low graphics quality at 720p, but with FSR on and the screen locked to 60 FPS and 40% brightness, along with the 15W performance mode that the Ally defaults to when unplugged. After an hour and 17 minutes of playtime, the system had a 45% charge left over. That suggests that, had I not needed to wind down if I wanted to sleep that night, I could have probably hit about two-and-a-half hours at those settings.

Audio on the Asus ROG Xbox Ally

In general, the dual speaker system in the Xbox Ally isn't going to beat some decent headphones. Still, it's good enough to play games without them. In Resident Evil Requiem, a boom of thunder was deep enough to surprise me. A shriek from the monster "the girl" was loud and clear, as was an infected chef's repeated meat chopping.

That being said, in dialogue-heavy games, like Marvel's Midnight Suns, I did find myself wishing for a bit more vocal clarity.

The system's front-facing speakers are definitely loud enough. Some games are just better with headphones. That's the case with a PC or handheld of any size.

Heat on the Asus ROG Xbox Ally

During our Metro Exodus stress test, we took measurements on the back of the system. The system stayed pretty cool, measuring 88 degrees Fahrenheit at the center of the system, and 89.5 a bit closer to the macro buttons. This is all completely acceptable. The hottest point was at the vent on top of the system, where the hot air exhausts; that hit 104.5 F, but you won't need to touch that portion of the system to play games.

The AMD Ryzen Z2 A SoC hit an average of 67.7 degrees Celsius inside the handheld.

Upgradeability on the Asus ROG Xbox Ally

If the 512GB SSD in the ROG Xbox Ally is feeling a bit cramped, I have good news: you can upgrade it. I also have bad news: It's kind of a pain.

The Xbox Ally is held together with eight Phillips-head screws: five on the back of the handheld and three on the bottom. The middle screw on the rear is captive, but every other screw comes out, so have something nearby to keep them organized.

With the screws out, you'll need a tool to pry from the top and all the way around the sides of the system, controller handles included, to separate the back from the rest of the handheld. You'll need to be careful not to damage a ribbon cable that connects the motherboard to the M1 and M2 buttons on the back of the system. It's enough of a hassle that I'd recommend most people just use the microSD card reader instead.

The only component that you can upgrade is the M.2 2280 SSD, which is right at the center when you open the system. The battery cable runs over the SSD, and while you should disconnect that before doing work anyway, you'll need to in order to get the SSD out and install a new one.

Asus is using modular thumbsticks here. These are potentiometers, so they'll be prone to drift eventually. While Asus doesn't sell replacements, other companies, like GuliKit, sell affordable TMR replacements that you can consider if you ever have an issue.

Asus ROG Xbox Ally Configurations

Asus sells the ROG Xbox Ally in just one configuration. The $599.99 model comes with an AMD Ryzen Z2 A processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 7-inch, 1080p touchscreen. As of this writing, it can be found for as low as $499.99 on Amazon, making it cheaper than the Steam Deck OLED with the right deal.

Its more powerful sibling, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, has a black chassis and red buttons, and bumps up to an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, 24GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. It costs $999.99.

Bottom Line

There's no denying that gaming handhelds are getting expensive, with many at or over the $999 mark. That makes the Asus ROG Xbox Ally's pricing alone, at $599, a breath of fresh air. While it looks very much like the more expensive ROG Xbox Ally X, it doesn't have the polish or the power.

In terms of price, the Ally's only competition is the Steam Deck OLED, which starts at $549 for the 512GB model. But despite being 3 years old, that system still has a nicer screen, better performance on battery, and similar performance to the Ally when plugged in. That Deck also comes with a carrying case.

Still, the Xbox Ally can play games well enough, which might be all you need. But the fact that I'm still facing sleep/wake issues similar to early reviewers more than seven months after this thing was released suggests they may never be truly fixed.

And while the Windows Full Screen Experience is a huge improvement to the regular Windows 11 desktop, SteamOS is still simpler, smoother, and easier to use.

That would all make for an easy decision, except that, as of this writing, the Steam Deck OLED has been largely out of stock for weeks, with blips in and out. If you're patient, waiting might get you a superior device. But if you want to get a relatively affordable system and don't mind Windows 11 and some technical quirks, the ROG Xbox Ally is here, available, and feels great in the hands.

Last month, Ayaneo unveiled the Next 2 — a new premium handheld console featuring AMD's Strix Halo chips and all the specs you could ever ask for. Windows-based handhelds are already niche enough, but launching a high-end one during a global component crisis was going to pose even more of a challenge. Sure enough, the company has just announced it's "no longer sustainable" to sell the Next 2, and pre-orders for the device are being suspended temporarily.

Ayaneo posted the update on its Indiegogo page, saying that it was already prepared to absorb a slight loss on the Next 2 due to ongoing shortages, but the situation has now slipped out of control. At the time of the initial announcement, storage prices were already high, but following the Chinese New Year, quotes from memory vendors had shot up many times, making it impossible to produce the device feasibly.

As a reminder, the Next 2 started at $1,999, but you could get it for $1,799 as part of early bird pricing, and that's with an AMD Ryzen AI Max 385 chip, 32 GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and 1 TB of storage. The higher-spec'd configs were much more expensive; the unit with the flagship Ryzen AI Max 395+ and 128 of RAM, along with a 2 TB SSD, was priced at $4,299 ($3,499 for early bird preorders).

Those price tags already look eye-watering, even with preorder discounts, so the fact that Ayaneo can't hit them anymore should signal just how bad things have gotten. The company claims the cost is approaching "twice the price" that was originally set, throwing away any profit and incurring a massive loss that a small OEM like Ayaneo can't absorb.

Still, Ayaneo is going to honor all the existing preorders, so if you already bought one via the Indiegogo campaign, you will receive the handheld. Going forward, though, all sales channels for the Next 2 are blocked, and no new preorders are being accepted, but the suspension is temporary. The company says it doesn't want to submit to price fluctuations, and the handheld should return to sale if the component crisis eases up.

Moreover, the after-sales customer support for the Next 2 is not affected, as promised by Ayaneo, with sufficient spare parts for any repairs or RMA. The Next 2 product line is not ending either; this is just a provisional pit stop, and the handheld is too spec'd out to just be left on the table. It features a 9.06-inch 2K 165 Hz OLED display and a 116 Wh battery, providing performance comparable to a laptop.

Nintendo is reportedly planning to reduce Switch 2 production after the company failed to meet its expected year-end holiday sales in 2025. Bloomberg reports that the Japanese gaming giant intends to reduce output from 6 million to 4 million units — a 33% reduction from its initial plan — effective April 2026. This is a disastrous development for the maker of the popular gaming handheld, especially after it had a blockbuster opening weekend sales of 3.5 million units, selling a million more units than the original Switch did during its first month.

This is certainly a challenge for Nintendo, especially as a console’s second year could potentially mark how it will perform over the rest of its lifespan. So, if the company fails to maintain the Switch 2’s momentum, third-party developers might be discouraged from making new titles for the console owing to its smaller user base compared to other competitors like the Sony PlayStation and the Steam Deck.

Some reports blame the larger download sizes and the increasing price of microSD Express cards that the console requires for the sluggish game sales on the Nintendo platform. However, a few gamers contest this, saying that more expensive titles and the lack of compelling new releases are the primary reasons why fewer people are buying games for the Switch 2. Thankfully, the just-released Pokémon Pokopia has seemingly garnered the interest of fans, with the title selling over two million units in just four days, providing a much-needed boost to Nintendo.

Others inside the company argue that the reduced sales were caused by people buying the Switch 2 much earlier than expected. The report claims that this was because of the ample supply that Nintendo had leading up to the release of the console. If true, then this could be the reason why the company experienced fewer sales during the holiday season. Furthermore, it could have been compounded by the uncertainty brought about by the tariffs set by President Donald Trump, with some people buying the console as early as they can to avoid any possible price increases brought about by the import taxes.

The company’s problems do not end at the underperforming sales of its handheld console, though. Skyrocketing RAM and storage chip prices are posing a challenge for every manufacturer, and Nintendo is purportedly already considering increasing the Switch 2’s $450 price, which could further reduce sales numbers. It’s also reportedly working on a hardware revision for the EU market, where the handheld may get a removable battery to comply with regulations that will take effect next year. While this will initially be limited to Europe, the fact that it will have to make some hardware changes would entail additional cost at a time when global instability and uncertainty are making everything else so expensive.

After delaying its upcoming gaming console due to the ongoing memory crisis, Valve has yet to confirm a concrete release date for the Steam Machine. That said, it seems that the software groundwork is already in motion. The company recently rolled out a major update for SteamOS with version 3.8.0, which brings “initial support for upcoming Steam Machine hardware.” While that doesn’t reveal much about the hardware or its launch timeline, it does offer some reassurance that the final product is likely on track for a release later this year.

The latest SteamOS 3.8.0 update is currently in a preview state, meaning that you will have to opt-in for the update by heading to Settings>System and changing the System Update Channel from Stable to “Preview.” As per the official patch notes, users can expect a host of new features and improvements on existing devices, including the Steam Deck (LCD/OLED) as well as third-party handheld consoles that support SteamOS.

Some of the key highlights include an updated graphics driver for improved overall performance and stability, a new setting to allow using Bluetooth headset mics, and enhanced support for screen recording and streaming tools like OBS and Discord. Valve has also done some significant work when it comes to controllers, as the update offers reduced handheld controller input latency and improved support for a number of devices, including the OneXPlayer F1 series, GPD Win 5, GPD Win Mini, Anbernic Win600, OrangePi NEO, and Lenovo Legion Go. Additionally, the update brings controller support for OneXPlayer X1 series and the Lenovo Legion Go 2.

Desktop Mode also sees a significant upgrade, including improved scaling on TVs, support for external HDR and VRR displays, and per-display scaling options. These are particularly interesting as they could be crucial for the upcoming Steam Machine. Valve has also refined window handling for games running via Proton and ensured that keyboard layouts and language settings now sync with Game Mode.

Some notable system-level improvements, particularly for Steam Deck users, include a new “Memory Power Down” option, which should help reduce power consumption during idle states, thereby improving battery life. There’s also preliminary support for system hibernation, which has been a long-requested feature allowing the device to save its state to storage and completely power off, leading to better battery preservation compared to Sleep mode. Additionally, Bluetooth Wake has been re-enabled for the Steam Deck LCD, allowing users to wake the device using a controller.

The Nintendo Switch 2 will reportedly get a removable battery specifically for the European market. According to Nikkei [machine translated], the company is making the hardware revision due to Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, which says that “Any natural or legal person that places on the market products incorporating portable batteries shall ensure that those batteries are readily removable and replaceable by the end-user at any time during the lifetime of the product.” Although the law was passed in 2023, the removable battery clause will not take effect until February 18, 2027.

This change will also affect the Joy-cons, making it easier for users to replace the batteries on the console and its controllers without needing special tools, solvents, or other materials — at least in the EU. Nevertheless, there is hope for the rest of the world, as the company is reportedly planning to make the same change if the U.S. and Japan adopt similar right-to-repair rules.

It’s unclear why Nintendo didn’t build the Switch 2 with a removable battery from the get-go, especially as Europe is its second-largest market after the United States. Still, this is good news for European fans as it would allow them to easily replace the battery on future Switch 2 consoles, letting them keep their gaming handheld for longer.

This is another challenge that Nintendo has faced in recent months. Despite the Switch 2’s record-breaking opening weekend sales, the company is facing weaker game sales. One report blamed the AI-driven chip shortage for making storage more expensive, although others point to pricier titles and a lack of compelling options as the reason gamers are purchasing fewer games. It has even sued the U.S. government over tariffs, demanding a $200 billion refund with interest.

Note that the EU regulation isn’t limited to the Nintendo Switch 2 or gaming handhelds. In fact, it’s expected to affect nearly every portable battery-powered device, including smartphones, laptops, earbuds, headphones, and more. Other companies have already started responding to this change, with Sony making it easier to replace the batteries on its DualSense controllers and the new MacBook Neo being much easier to repair than older MacBook models.

The ROG Xbox Ally X gaming handheld will soon be getting a performance upgrade in the form of Auto Super Resolution, or Auto SR. Microsoft confirmed the feature at the ongoing Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2026 and is expected to begin an initial rollout in April 2026. A key benefit of Auto SR is that it operates at the OS level and can run directly on the device using an NPU, in this case, the Ryzen Z2 AI Extreme chip powering the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X. This approach should increase frame rates, reduce load on the GPU, and potentially improve battery life.

Auto SR was originally introduced as an exclusive feature for Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon X or Snapdragon X2 processors. It is an AI-powered image upscaling solution designed to work similarly to DLSS, FSR, and other upscaling technologies.

According to Microsoft, users can expect a boost in performance by up to 30% when Auto SR is enabled on the handheld console. While that may sound impressive, in a video shared by @ethangach on X, the company showcased a quick demo using the ROG Xbox Ally X, where Forza Horizon 5 ran at 35 FPS on average with no upscaling as compared to 51 FPS average when enabling Auto SR. Click the tweet below to see a video of Microsoft's announcement:

An important aspect to consider is that enabling Auto SR can introduce some amount of latency, which may or may not affect the gaming experience depending on the title. On top of that, Microsoft’s official documentation says that Auto SR is currently only supported in games that run on DirectX 11 or DirectX 12, although that may change once it adds support for Xbox ROG Ally X.

In related news, the company recently confirmed that its next-generation Xbox console, codenamed Project Helix, will be powered by a custom AMD SoC with support for a new upscaling tech called FSR Diamond. Much like Auto SR, FSR Diamond is going to rely on AI-assisted upscaling in addition to ray regeneration for ray tracing and path tracing, as well as multi-frame generation to deliver higher resolutions and improved visual performance. While the next Xbox is still some time away, the introduction of Auto SR on handheld hardware could offer an early glimpse of how Microsoft plans to lean more heavily on AI-driven graphics technologies in the future.

Lenovo has made laptops with rollable screens and folding screens, but now it's bringing flexible panels to gaming handhelds (at least, as a proof of concept). The Legion Go Fold Concept utilizes a POLED screen that flips out from 7.7 inches to 11.6 inches.

The prototype, which we went hands-on with before its MWC 2026 announcement, is significantly smaller and lighter than Lenovo's current Legion Go laptop lineup. The system defaults to a 7.7-inch handheld mode with the display folded in half. The screen can then be folded vertically so that you can have something else running on the other half. Lenovo representatives suggested you might put game guides, YouTube playthroughs, or chat there.

But unlike the existing Legion Gos, you can attach the controllers to all four sides. If you unfold the display and rotate it 90 degrees, you can get a "horizon" full screen that lets you play games on the entire 11.6-inch panel.

In addition, Lenovo showed off the concept with a wireless keyboard that can be used with the device to operate like a Microsoft Surface, allowing for full access to Windows 11 with a mouse and keyboard. You could also use this for gaming, as the right controller works as a vertical mouse, allowing for standard first-person shooter controls.

For the first time, Lenovo also has a piece of plastic to go between the two controllers, allowing them to act as one piece when disconnected from the PC (just like Switch Joy-Cons). The right controller also features a screen, though I can't say looking at the time or silly characters is terribly useful. I did, however, appreciate the introduction of trigger stops to the controllers.

For the concept, Lenovo is opting for Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V "Lunar Lake" chips with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. The screen has a resolution of 2435 x 1712 when it's unfolded. My hope is that Lenovo finds a way to get Core Ultra Series 3 chips with Intel's B390 graphics in, though Lenovo claims that the 258V can run at low TDPs to get the most out of the 48 WHr battery.

The idea is interesting, but the current state of the hardware is still quite early. While the hinge mechanism felt solid enough when it was closed, there was noticeable floppiness while it was open. The controllers were impressively light at 230 grams, but they almost felt like toys. For a machine I'm going to be folding, unfolding, and rotating around, I hope Lenovo can make it feel more sturdy if it approaches a full release.

I also worry that this only folds with the plastic OLED display facing the outside. That makes sense for the goal that Lenovo is trying to accomplish. But this is a plastic-covered screen, and if I'm using this as a portable laptop, then switching to gaming, I could be using this for the majority of my day. I hope a launch version, if it materializes, comes with a nice case to protect the screen.

There were some software hitches, too, in the early device. Lenovo didn't show us the system running a game, but I did open a copy of Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. The game would only run with the screen open full-screen, and vertically, as the software wasn't there for me to adjust it to Lenovo's various screen settings. While this is an early device, Lenovo's rollable that did hit the market, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable, didn't allow you to change either resolution or screen orientation. So I would like to see Lenovo get this part of the feature set working.

I found the keyboard to be a bit difficult to set up, but others with me checking out the Legion Fold quite liked the idea, as it would let them use the system as a full Windows 11 laptop to do work when they're not gaming.

There is no potential price or release date for the Legion Fold just yet. Lenovo has been toying (and working) quite a lot with foldable screens recently. It had two generations of the ThinkPad X1 Fold, and brought a previous concept, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable, to market. Since then, it's been showing off gaming concepts, with a Legion Pro rollable with a screen that extends sideways, before revealing this foldable handheld. Time will tell if either Legion product shows up on shelves.

An interestingly timed update to the Asus ROG Ally with the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU has just been released. That in itself wouldn't necessarily be big news, but it follows recent reporting that suggested that AMD was deprecating the Z1 Extreme chip, leaving handhelds like the ROG Ally without further GPU updates as a result.

There hasn't been a lot of clear confirmation, from either AMD or manufacturers like Asus, about the status of the Z1 Extreme. What we do know, however, is that it had been several months since the ROG Ally received a major SoC update. With reports that other Z1 Extreme handhelds like the Lenovo Legion Go and Go S were also lacking new updates, and seemingly a confirmation from Lenovo's Korean branch that product updates were stopping for those handhelds, consumers with Z1 Extreme-powered handhelds have been left with uncertainty over recent days.

The update (h/t Videocardz) brings the latest available GPU driver for the Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme to version 32.0.22029.13001 and is available for download from the Asus website. With no release notes, it's difficult to determine the changes between this driver and the last, but the driver branch number (22029) matches the last minor driver release (32.0.22029.1019), which added support for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 back in November 2025. The last major release noted on the Asus website prior to that was back in August 2025 with driver 32.0.21013.11001.

The same batch number might suggest that this isn't a huge change, either, especially with no release notes, and also given that the main Radeon GPU driver branch has moved to 23xxx, but that isn't confirmed by Asus or AMD here.

Reddit discussion over the news does suggest a level of relief among Asus ROG Ally owners for a new update, but it doesn't necessarily confirm AMD's plans for this chip, or Asus' for the handheld. AMD has itself, so far, made no comment about its plans for the Z1 Extreme, and hasn't replied to a request for comment so far. Asus, too, hasn't made any public comments about the lifespan of the Asus ROG Ally or ROG Ally X with the Z1 Extreme APU, but a driver update would suggest it hasn't completely abandoned one of its major handhelds just yet.

One way or another, these handheld gaming PCs will continue to work, even without updates, although they will lack the optimizations for new game releases that new GPU drivers provide. A good alternative continues to be a switch to a Linux-based OS like Valve's SteamOS or Bazzite. These use their own open-source drivers, which don't rely on AMD and could be a lifeline as older handhelds become deprecated, as long as you're comfortable ditching Windows, even if like-for-like performance isn't something that can be guaranteed.

The Steam Deck availability has been spotty in the U.S. and in various parts of Asia since the first half of February, and Valve finally confirmed that this is due to memory and storage shortages in some regions. Unfortunately, it seems that the shortage has now spread worldwide, with GamingOnLinux reporting that Canada and Europe are also out of stock of the popular handheld.

We also checked Steam Deck availability in various regions and confirmed that the console isn’t available in several EU countries, Canada, and Japan, although you can still get it at the time of writing if you’re in Australia, the U.K., Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan. It should be noted, though, that the LCD version is no longer in production — that’s why it’s out of stock everywhere. It’s unclear when we’ll get the Steam Deck back in stock in the affected regions, though Valve’s partner in East Asia, Komodo Station, estimates it will be back in stock by the end of this month.

The memory and storage chip shortage that’s affecting this popular handheld gaming console is driven by the AI boom. Several tech companies and hyperscalers are pouring billions of dollars into building data centers that demand hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of AI GPUs. Since these heavily funded firms are willing to pay top dollars for HBM and NAND chips, memory and storage chip fabs are allocating more of their production capacity to these customers to the detriment of the consumer market.

RAM modules and SSDs were among the first components hit by the shortage, with prices increasing by 2X to 5X from last year. This means you’ll be in a world of pain if you need a new RAM kit or storage drive today — if that’s the case, then you should consult our RAM price tracker and SSD price tracker to get the best deals available at the moment.

Laptop manufacturers were the next to go, with mainstream companies like Dell and Lenovo and niche firms like Framework announcing back-to-back price hikes. Even Apple, with its famously deep pockets, admitted that the memory situation will have a greater impact on its Q2 earnings and that the company is already chasing memory supply.

It seems the ripples of the chip shortage are now spreading to gaming systems, with the Steam Deck the first to be hit hard. Thankfully, the other devices on our best handheld gaming PCs list are still available at the moment, though they tend to be more expensive than the Valve handheld. So, if you’re in the market for a handheld console, you'd better get one right now while stocks are available.

Valve has announced on the Steam Deck page that there is limited supply for the handheld console in some areas, with all three models on the site marked as “Out of stock”. The company said on the store page that the “Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages.” This is bad news for gamers, especially as the Steam Deck is one of the best handheld gaming PCs on the market.

The Steam Deck OLED is the latest victim of the AI boom, with data centers and AI hyperscalers using up the global supply of memory and storage chips. The Steam Deck LCD model was the first to go in Valve’s handheld lineup, with the company discontinuing the most affordable model in late 2025. Although it did not give a reason for axing the $399 handheld, one of the plausible explanations for the move is that the 256GB is no longer profitable because of the skyrocketing prices of NAND chips.

RAM prices are expected to continue rising this year, meaning the situation will likely go from bad to worse. Valve isn’t the only company to increase prices, cut production, or run out of stock — Apple admitted that it’s chasing memory supply and that the shortage would have a greater impact on its Q2 earnings. Even the most expensive Mac Studio units with 512GB of Unified Memory are on backorder for up to 6 weeks because of demand from OpenClaw users.

This is also a bad sign for the Steam Machine, which was expected to arrive during the first quarter of 2026, but has since been delayed by the company. Valve also said that it will not subsidize the living room PC console and that it’s expected to be priced competitively against entry-level gaming PCs. But with RAM, GPU, and SSD costs rising nearly every week, it seems that the console will break the $1,000 mark.

We first saw signs of the chip shortage affecting the Steam Deck last week, but this is the first time that Valve has acknowledged the lack of memory and storage chip supply. We hope that the company can find an alternative source for these chips so that it can resume orders and deliveries of its popular handheld. But if the shortage continues, gamers may have no choice but to go for the more expensive Asus ROG Xbox Ally X or Lenovo Legion Go 2 if they want a new gaming device right now.

Valve's Steam Deck OLED, our current pick for the best handheld gaming PC, is suddenly out of stock on Steam in the US and from partner Komodo in Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan.

The stock issue began late last night, according to deal hunter Wario64. While the company stopped production of the LCD Steam Deck in December, there has been no suggestion that the OLED model was on the way out.

On Reddit, some users in Europe are stating that they still see stock. On the gaming forum ResetEra, some users in Japan say they see a note on Komodo that stock will return in February. The US store has no such note, though you can still add the device to your Steam Wishlist.

Valve has not responded to requests for comment as of publication.

Speculation is intense, as Valve has had to delay the Steam Machine and Steam Frame and is reconsidering its pricing strategy due to component shortages. It's unclear where Steam Deck manufacturing falls in the company's plans — if at all.

Unlike some PC manufacturers, such as HP and Dell, Valve's scale isn't that of a global hardware giant. While some are wondering if there's a Steam Deck 2 imminent (Valve hasn't suggested it), others are talking online about the cost of making a Steam Deck as the price of memory and storage skyrocket. It's unlikely that Valve has the same backlog of components as do its competitors that specialize in consumer hardware, which could make producing the Steam Deck very expensive.

Valve likely already sells the Steam Deck at a loss. Owners primarily buy a Steam Deck to purchase games through the Steam storefront, and Valve collects a 30% cut of said game sales.

Even without the entry-level pricing of the LCD model, the $549 512GB OLED and $649 1TB options are still relatively affordable compared to competition, such as the $999.99 Asus ROG Xbox Ally X or the $1,349.99 Lenovo Legion Go 2. (The Asus ROG Xbox Ally is $599.99, but it was largely panned at release.)

This might just be a blip, in which case it may be quickly forgotten. But if it continues, it could be another sign of what we already know will be an incredibly difficult year for gaming and consumer electronics in general.

Chinese hardware manufacturer Ayaneo, known for its handheld gaming consoles and mini PCs, has unveiled details of its upcoming flagship device. The Next 2 is a premium Windows handheld gaming console that features the largest built-in battery in its category, along with AMD’s powerful Strix Halo chips and a 9.06-inch OLED display. As with its previous projects, Ayaneo has listed the Next 2 for pre-order on Indiegogo, with prices starting at $1,799 for the 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD model and climbing to $4,299 for the fully specced configuration featuring 128GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD, and a top-of-the-line AMD APU.

The Next 2 will be available in white and black color options and feature a design that is larger than most current-generation handheld consoles, including the Asus ROG Ally X and Valve’s Steam Deck. It is also considerably heavier due to its beefy internals, weighing in at 3.14 lbs, more than double the weight of the Steam Deck.

Ayaneo claims it is the first Windows handheld to offer adjustable-torque TMR Hall-effect joysticks and also features Hall-effect linear triggers with a dual-lock switch on the rear. Additional controls include an 8-way floating D-pad, four customizable rear buttons, dual smart touchpads on either side of the display, and front-facing stereo speakers. I/O and connectivity options include two USB4 Type-C ports with charging and DisplayPort support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.4, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD card expansion slot.

The large custom OLED display features a 2400x1504 resolution and supports an adjustable refresh rate of up to 165 Hz, with selectable modes at 60 Hz, 120 Hz, 144 Hz, and 165 Hz. However, there is no clarity whether the panel supports variable refresh rate. The display also covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and delivers an impressive peak brightness of up to 1,155 nits.

Powering the Next 2 is AMD’s Ryzen AI Max+ 395, a performance-focused SoC featuring sixteen Zen 5 CPU cores and the Radeon 8060S iGPU, which has the potential to deliver gaming performance comparable to a laptop RTX 4060. The chip can be paired with up to 128GB of unified LPDDR5X memory running at 8,000 MT/s, shared between the CPU and iGPU, allowing users to allocate up to 96GB specifically for VRAM. Simply put, this chip should demolish nearly every handheld gaming console currently on the market. Ayaneo is also offering the Next 2 with the Ryzen AI Max 385, a more modest chip with 8-cores, integrated Radeon 8050S graphics, 32GB of memory, and a 1TB SSD.

To keep all that power in check, the handheld is equipped with a dual-fan cooling system paired with a massive heatsink to tame AMD’s Strix Halo chip under sustained loads. Powering the entire package is an enormous 116 Whr battery, an almost unheard-of capacity even among laptops that are limited to 99 WHr. For context, airline regulations typically allow lithium batteries up to 100 Whr without approval, while anything larger requires special clearance.

The only other handheld powered by a Strix Halo chip is the GPD Win 5, the first Ryzen AI Max+ 395–based handheld to actually make it to market. However, it relies on a detachable external battery rather than a built-in one, which can be a compromise for some users.

Back at CES 2026, Intel teased Panther Lake for handhelds, choosing to hand off the details to its partners rather than reveal what's to come. Dubbed "Core G3" according to leaks, these will be a dedicated series of chips powering next-gen gaming handhelds, meant to succeed Lunar Lake designs. Previously, the launch window for Core G3 was set for the end of Q1 2026, but new reports point to a delay until the second quarter.

Through leaks, rumors, and official confirmations, we know that handhelds featuring PTL silicon will be somewhat custom. The chips won't be 1:1 with off-the-shelf parts; instead, they'll be tweaked variants aimed at competing with AMD's Z2 series. Videocardz has reported that Intel will be using the "484" silicon for at least two SKUs, referred to as midrange offerings.

The first is the base model Core G3 featuring the Arc B360 iGPU with 10 Xe3 cores, then there's the upgraded "Core G3 Extreme" model housing the Arc B380 iGPU with the full-fat 12 Xe3 cores. Either chip will reportedly have 14 CPU cores (2P + 8E + 4LP) and similar base/boost clocks, with only a 100 MHz difference between the two. The power envelope is currently unknown.

Both of the aforementioned B360 and B380 iGPUs haven't been announced yet, so there's speculation that they'll debut alongside the Core G3 series when it launches in Q2 2026. Intel showcased several OEMs, including MSI, Acer, GPD, and OneXPlayer, at its press event at CES, so we should get a wide variety of devices soon. Right now, though, everything is basically subject to change given the volatility of the PC industry.

The main competition for these chips, AMD's Ryzen Z2 series, has been called "ancient silicon" by Intel. AMD's rebuttal pointed out PTL's jack-of-all-trades approach, compared to Team Red's more targeted, segmented mobile lineup, which features Strix Point (now Gorgon Point), Strix Halo, and Fire Range. The Blue Team holds an efficiency advantage but doesn't scale well with power, according to AMD.

So far, Intel's handhelds featuring Lunar Lake and Meteor Lake chips have fared decently well, so Panther Lake's significant graphical leaps should help foster some intense competition. To be clear, Intel has always said Panther Lake for handhelds was coming "later this year," rather than announcing a concrete release date, so this new report is just building on older ones.

The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, Microsoft’s first Xbox-branded gaming handheld, comes with 24GB of LPDDR5X memory, which is more than adequate for most use cases in this category. However, for users who want more headroom or plan to use the handheld as a hybrid portable desktop replacement, SlickBuys Mods and Repairs has successfully upgraded the system to a massive 64GB of RAM. This is the same modder who previously demonstrated their skills on the original ROG Ally by upgrading its memory from 16GB to 32GB.

In a detailed video, the modder has showcased the entire process of replacing the soldered 6GB Micron LPDDR5X 8533 MT/s memory packages with higher-density 16GB SK Hynix LPDDR5X modules. The process involves completely dismantling the ROG Xbox Ally X by undoing a bunch of screws to remove the back panel, followed by carefully removing the internal components, including the battery, SSD, joysticks, heatsink, and a bunch of ribbon cables.

After gaining full access to the motherboard, the modder begins preparing the new memory modules by desoldering them from a custom PCB they were shipped with and reballing each memory chip. The stock 24GB memory modules are then removed from the ROG Xbox Ally X motherboard with a heat gun, along with any solder residue. The new modules are then placed and soldered onto the motherboard.

Once the new memory modules are installed, the next step is to modify the BIOS so it can properly recognize the newly installed RAM. The original BIOS chip is removed, and the APCB file is edited with a bunch of values using a CH341A USB programmer. The BIOS chip is then soldered back onto the motherboard, followed by moving two strap resistors to ensure that the newly installed memory chips run at their maximum clock speeds. The modder then reassembles all the components, and after booting into the system, we can see that the Windows Task Manager indicates 64GB of installed memory.

Unfortunately, the modder has not shared any performance benefits post the memory upgrade, nor do they mention the entire cost for this mod. Considering the $300 32GB memory upgrade previously done on the original ROG Ally, along with today's highly volatile DRAM market, we wouldn’t be surprised if it is upwards of $500, which is almost half the cost of the gaming handheld.

While this mod is exciting, it’s important to note that upgrading soldered memory is not easy, even if it may look straightforward. The process requires specialized tools, skills, and knowledge, and even if one manages to replace the chips successfully, modifying the BIOS and the risk of damaging the motherboard make such mods impractical for most users.

A budding enthusiast on Reddit has just built their own PS4 handheld by taking a PS4 Slim's motherboard and shrinking it down to be portable. They slapped a screen on top and 3D printed a custom shell that houses a battery, some controls, and even an ESP32 microcontroller running custom firmware to monitor/manage temps. The project was shared across a bunch of subreddits by u/wewillmakeitnow, including the r/handheld community:

🎮 [Final Build] Fully functional & stable Portable PS4 Slim 🔥 from r/Handhelds

As you can see above, the device looks like the child of a Nintendo DS and a PSP. The ergonomics leave a little to be desired, but it does look like a finished product. It features seemingly original PS4 controls ripped straight from a legit controller. There's a small screen in the bottom-right corner for monitoring power and temps, and all the controls also have LEDs embedded behind them.

This is not the first-ever PS4 handheld online, either, as YouTube is littered with project videos showcasing multiple attempts at shrinking down a PlayStation 4. One video by Restore Technique features a "PS4T" that even looks similarly boxy in its design to this one. Regardless, individual modding efforts are always worth highlighting, and this one includes a gorgeous 7-inch OLED screen, which is certainly something new.

The Reddit post is light on details, and there's no accompanying video to dissect and break down, but the OP has a somewhat rich post history. We can trace back the creation of this handheld to at least October 2025, when u/wewillmakeitnow first shared progress on the project. Even at the time, they said work on the device had started months ago, so it might've been a year-long operation at this point.

They said it was impossible... I'm building a portable PS4 (90% complete) 🔥 from r/psx

The portable PS4 Slim is inspired by Millomaker's portable Xbox 360, and just like that, this device also omits the disc drive to achieve a small footprint. The main challenge with building a handheld PS4 was cutting down the motherboard to be more compact while maintaining most of the essential features. Hence, there's an entirely new power delivery and cooling system inside.

The thermals are handled by a fan on the back, which has cut-off fuses wired to it, managed by an MCU that ensures safe temperatures. Whenever power reaches 10V, the controller will shut off power to protect the system and the battery. The OP says their goal was not just size reduction, but also "better power efficiency and thermal behavior."

The battery consists of 6x 21700 cells, each providing 6000mAh, totaling out to around 130Wh, which exceeds the 99Wh max allowed on airplanes — in case you were looking to travel with it. That translates to 2.7-3 hours of runtime under a moderate load playing lightweight games, consuming around 44W per hour. Jumping to demanding AAA titles will cut that endurance to just 1.3-1.5 hours.

In terms of connectivity, the handheld has an HDMI port to connect it to an external display, aided by a barrel jack to ensure full power when plugged in. You can use this thing as a normal PS4 when you don't need the portability. There are 3x USB-C ports on the device, with the original DualShock 4 antennae as well, for that seamless console-like pairing.

The hobbyist says this device was a "personal engineering challenge" rather than something designed for mass production. Its shell is 3D printed using a rather dark-looking ABS plastic with a glossy finish that rivals the original PS3. One of the older posts in OP's history shows off a much more comfortable shell, so clearly there's room for improvement even if the handheld is ready and stable for now.

Lenovo is giving AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme official SteamOS support for the first time. The Legion Go 2 launched in October last year, bringing the Z2 Extreme to the mobile gaming market and fixing many of the issues with Lenovo’s first handheld outing. Now, you can get it with official SteamOS support, combining the best aspects of the Legion Go 2 and Lenovo’s Legion Go S.

SteamOS is available directly from Valve for a DIY install, and Linux distros like Bazzite do a good job emulating Valve’s handheld interface. However, official support brings some perks. As we saw with the Legion Go S, SteamOS provides significantly better performance across games than Windows 11, even when comparing the exact same hardware inside the same chassis.

AMD’s Z2 Extreme is still at the heart of the Legion Go 2 with SteamOS. It’s an eight-core chip that leverages three Zen 5 cores and five Zen 5c cores, the latter of which trade peak clock speed for a space-optimized design. The Zen 5 cores can boost up to 5GHz while the Zen 5c cores top out at 3.3GHz. It defaults to a 28W TDP, though it has an adjustable TDP range from 15W up to 35W. The gaming grunt comes from the integrated RDNA 3.5 GPU, which sports 16 CUs.

Alongside AMD’s chip, Lenovo offers up to 32GB of LPDDR5x memory and 2TB of storage, plus an additional 2TB available through the microSD card slot. The memory is clocked at 8000 MT/s for the 32GB model and 7500 MT/s for the 16GB model. Lenovo is using the same OLED screen featured on the Windows 11 version of the Legion Go 2, which is an 8.8-inch screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1200, a 144Hz refresh rate, 10-point touch support, variable refresh rate, and a certification for VESA’s DisplayHDR True Black 1000.

Everything about the SteamOS Legion Go 2 is identical to the original model, short of the operating system. You still get dual USB 4 ports for charging or accessories, detachable controllers, a touchpad, six programmable buttons, and Hall Effect joysticks.

Lenovo says the Legion Go 2 with SteamOS should be available in June, starting at $1,199. The Legion Go 2 with Windows 11 is listed at $1,349 for the 32GB model, so the 32GB model of the SteamOS version should land somewhere around that price. It’s worth highlighting that the SteamOS version of the Legion Go S has a slightly lower price than the Windows 11 version, so hopefully that trend continues with the Legion Go 2. But with the way RAM prices are right now, who can predict what pricing might be like in six months?

Refreshed Legion laptops with new AMD branding

Lenovo is refreshing its Legion 5 and 7 ranges, and for the first time ever, properly noting configurations that come with an AMD CPU. Lenovo usually notes configurations with an Intel processor with an “i,” such as the Lenovo Legion 5i, while the AMD configuration would normally be called the Lenovo Legion 5. Now, Lenovo is adding an “a,” turning the Lenovo Legion 5 into the Legion 5a.

Naming aside, Lenovo is updating the Legion 7a, Legion 5i, and Legion 5a. The higher-end Legion 7a includes one of AMD’s new Ryzen AI 400 ‘Gorgon Point’ CPUs. The laptop carries up to an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470, which features 12 cores (4x Zen 5 / 8x Zen 5c) and an RDNA 3.5 iGPU with 16 CUs. You can also pack in up to an Nvidia RTX 5060 mobile GPU, 64GB of LPDDR5x-8533 (capped at 8000 MT/s), and 2TB of storage split across two M.2 2242 PCIe Gen 4 slots.

Although the design of the Legion 7a remains mostly unchanged, Lenovo claims the laptop is 10% lighter and up to 5% thinner than the previous generation.

The Legion 5 range tops out slightly lower. The Legion 5i carries one of Intel’s new Panther Lake CPUs, the 16-core Core Ultra 9 386H. It’s not technically the flagship SKU, which is a title claimed by the Core Ultra X9 388H with its beefy integrated GPU. The Core Ultra 9 386H is almost identical outside of the GPU, however, sporting 16 total cores split across four performance cores, eight efficiency cores, and four low-power efficiency cores, along with a 4.9 GHz maximum boost clock on the P-cores.

For the Legion 5a, Lenovo is releasing two versions – one tops out with a new Ryzen AI 9 465 with 10 cores and 12 RDNA 3.5 CUs, while the other uses the older Ryzen 7 250; a Zen 4-based chip with eight cores. All three configurations top out with an RTX 5060, up to 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory, and 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage.

You can configure all of the laptops with one of Lenovo’s TrueSight OLED displays. The Legion 5 models use a 15.3-inch panel with a 2560 x 1600 resolution and 165Hz refresh rate, while the Legion 7a comes with a 16-inch panel with the same resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate. The Legion 5s carry a VESA DisplayHDR True Black 600 certification, while the Legion 7a holds a coveted DisplayHDR True Black 1000 badge.

Lenovo says all four variants should be available by April. The Legion 7a starts at $1,999, and the Legion 5a starts at $1,499 with Gorgon Point and $1,299 with Hawk Point Refresh. The Legion 5i is slightly more expensive, starting at $1,549.

In addition to Legion refreshes, the budget-focused LOQ range is getting a refresh with the LOQ15AHP11, starting at $1,149 with an AMD Ryzen 7 250, as well as up to an RTX 5060 mobile GPU and 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory. It’s a name bump alone, as this model already carries these same specs. Lenovo revealed the LOQ15IPH11, as well, which features one of Intel’s new Core Ultra 7 356H CPUs. However, Lenovo isn’t selling this model in the U.S.

Microsoft's attempts to unify the handheld gaming experience across Windows-based handhelds have been a moderate success so far. Debuting on the Xbox ROG Ally devices, the Xbox Full-Screen Experience (FSE) has been slowly rolling out to other handhelds, and the latest in the batch is Lenovo's Legion Go devices. We're now seeing reports from users on Reddit showing it off in a new Legion Space update.

Update! On Legion Go 2 from r/LegionGo

To be clear, Xbox FSE has been available on Legion Go for a while through both unofficial mods and semi-official support, and even now, this new update doesn't natively install FSE as a launcher — instead, just the features surrounding it. The actual console-like UI still needs to be manually enabled in Windows settings first, running the 25H2 update (otherwise, you'll need to be an Insider).

So, it's essentially an optimization update that adds better FSE support if your Legion Go already had it. Previously, you had to open to Xbox app and enter the full-screen experience from there. With this new update, there's now a toggle right inside Legion Space that will do that directly, streamlining the process.

Moreover, there's also a new Legion Space widget in Xbox Game Bar, allowing you to toggle between thermal modes, vibration intensity, RGB effects, and more. It's pretty basic compared to something like the community-run Xbox Gaming Bar widget, but it's a start to a deeper, more integrated experience.

Some of the shortcuts have been remapped to follow Microsoft's guidelines. A long press of the Legion R button will bring up the Task Switcher (Win + Tab), and you can toggle FSE by pressing Win + F11 as well. A single click will bring up the default Legion Space widget instead. When FSE is enabled, the device's registry key is set to handheld to ensure available resources are used correctly.

Remember, the entire selling point of FSE, beyond the aesthetic change, is that it eliminates unnecessary background processes to boost performance. How much that actually translates into real-life improvements, well, that's a different story. Legion Go device owners should see this new update when they open Legion Space, available on the Legion Go 1, Legion Go 2, and Legion Go S.

Valve just announced that it will discontinue the $399 256GB LCD Steam Deck, making the most affordable option the $549 512GB OLED model. You can see the announcement when you visit the Steam Deck page on Steam, with the company adding a simple note underneath the Choose Your Steam Deck section.

Valve says, “We are no longer producing the Steam Deck LCD 256GB model. Once sold out, it will no longer be available.” With the purchase button under the LCD model grayed out and marked as “Out of stock,” it’s safe to say that we’d no longer be able to purchase the best budget handheld gaming PC of 2025 brand new, although there’s still a chance that you can score a refurbished version down the road.

The company did not explain why it’s ending the production of one of its most popular Steam Deck models, so we can only guess as to why they’re doing that. One plausible theory is that the 256GB model is no longer profitable due to the ongoing RAM crisis. A Kingston rep said NAND prices for kits have more than tripled since the start of the year, forcing memory module manufacturers to raise prices as their costs rise. More than that, the problem is expected to get worse in 2026, as memory chip makers hedge their bets against an AI bubble.

Others say that the company is clearing up inventory in preparation for new products. Valve just announced the new Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and Steam Frame 3D headset. However, these are totally different device categories, so it’s unlikely that their manufacturing lines would’ve affected Steam Deck production. It’s also doubtful that Valve is preparing for a second-generation handheld gaming console, especially since it previously said it won’t release a new model unless chipmakers have introduced chips with significant architectural improvements.

The discontinuation of the $399 Steam Deck is a disaster for budget gamers, especially as it’s one of the most affordable mainstream handheld consoles available on the market. A quick look around for competing consoles shows that the base Asus ROG Ally starts at $489.99 at Best Buy, while the entry-level Lenovo Legion Go S is priced at $589.99 on Amazon. So, if you want to get a Steam Deck for Christmas, you have no choice but to shell out an extra $150 for the OLED model.

A gaming handheld for under £380, with delivery before Christmas? This is a deal you’re not going to want to miss, as the price of this MSI Claw A1M handheld gaming PC has been slashed, giving you a powerful and portable gaming machine for a price that rivals the original Steam Deck – and these specs are better.

• Check out this deal on Amazon

You’re paying just £379.99 for this MSI Claw handheld, which is less than half the price of its original RRP of £799.99, while only slightly more expensive than the entry-level 256GB Steam Deck LCD. The MSI Claw A1M is available in a few different variations, but this is the upper-tier A1M-016 model, featuring an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 7-inch LCD display.

This MSI handheld, on paper, has a pretty decent spec sheet. That Intel processor features 16 cores, six of which are Performance cores, which are great for gaming. Overall performance on this particular CPU wasn’t as competitive when it launched, but MSI has issued several BIOS and Intel driver updates since to help close the cap and make it a more competitive Steam Deck rival.

One area in which this Meteor Lake chip scored well, at least in our benchmark testing in an Asus laptop, was for its GPU performance. This isn’t a completely like-for-like comparison as these machines feature totally different specs, but it does show that the Intel Arc chip, which has eight Xe cores, managed playable frame rates at 720p, and in some cases at 1080p, using medium graphics presets. That’s supported by the use of XeSS frame generation, Intel’s DLSS competitor, which is able to use AI to boost frame rates in-game, at least in games that support it.

The MSI Claw A1M-016 comes with 1TB of SSD storage, which is a formidable amount at this price point, along with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. The 7-inch screen uses an IPS panel with a 120Hz variable refresh rate and a 500nits refresh rate, and can manage resolutions up to 1,920 x 1,080. As we’ve mentioned, however, 1080p might be a struggle for this GPU in some instances, and you may find yourself switching down to 720p for improved performance.

Wi-Fi 7 support, along with Bluetooth 5.4, ensures a decent set of connectivity for this handheld to networks and wireless peripherals. It uses Windows 11, and while there’s no support for installing SteamOS (at least at the moment), the MSI Claw does support Microsoft’s new full-screen Xbox mode for these handhelds to make them easier to use. You can expect between one and two hours of battery life as you game with this device, although you can keep playing while you're hooked up to a charger using USB-C.

Time has proved kinder to this MSI Claw handheld than many may have anticipated, and MSI and Intel have both worked hard to improve gaming performance on this device. That, plus a price drop to £379.99, makes it an absolute steal compared to the competition. If you’re looking for a budget-friendly handheld for delivery before Christmas, you won’t find a better-priced model than this MSI Claw A1M right now.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

If you’ve been tempted to pick up a handheld gaming PC in time for Christmas, then you’re in luck. The price of a brand new Lenovo Legion Go S handheld running SteamOS has dropped to a record low on Amazon’s website, offering better specs and a much better price than Valve’s own Steam Deck rival.

• Check out this deal on Amazon UK

With a £427.97 sale price, this Lenovo handheld is one of the more affordable ways to play PC games portably. Handhelds like this one are a great alternative to consoles, but also to a bulkier (and more expensive) laptop or PC. With delivery ahead of Christmas still available, this 21% discount is a saving worth considering.

Let’s look at the specs first. The Lenovo Legion Go S is on our list of the best handheld gaming PCs for a reason as a more powerful alternative to the aging Steam Deck. You can pick up the Legion Go S in two variants, but this is the cheaper model, featuring the AMD Ryzen Z2 Go APU.

The processor is one of the few physical differences between the two models on sale, aside from the price you’ll pay. The AMD Ryzen Z2 Go is a Zen 3+ processor with four CPU cores and eight threads, with a boost clock speed up to 4.3 GHz. The built-in Radeon GPU it features is RDNA 2-based with 12 compute units and a TDP of between 15 and 30W. Those specs make it a more powerful option than the Steam Deck’s Zen 2-based Van Gogh APU, which has four CPU cores and an RDNA 2 GPU with only eight compute units.

As our Lenovo Legion Go S with SteamOS review shows, the Z2 Go isn’t as powerful as the more expensive Z1 Extreme model, but it isn’t far off, and running SteamOS is certainly better than running it with Windows 11. Frame rates were playable in several intensive games we tested, including Cyberpunk 2077 at 800p, which was able to reach 50fps on average, while the same handheld running Windows 11 was only able to manage 32fps.

Alongside that AMD processor, you’re also getting 16GB of LPDDR5X-6400 memory and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. The Lenovo Legion Go S also features an 8-inch IPS display with a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 and a variable refresh rate of 120 Hz. You can game at 1200p on the Z2 Go, but better frame rates in resource-heavy games are available with a drop down to 800p.

While this isn’t an OLED like the similarly-priced Steam Deck OLED, it does offer a bigger screen (8-inch vs 7.4) with a higher native resolution and VRR support, alongside the already-mentioned superior gaming performance. You've also got a bigger battery, with the Lenovo Legion Go S featuring a 55.5 WHr battery, which, in our tests, was able to last for around two hours using the power saving profile.

SteamOS is the game-changer for handhelds like this Lenovo Legion Go S. While Microsoft is trying to improve the handheld experience on Windows 11, SteamOS continues to be the best and most lightweight option for handheld gamers, especially on lower-powered model like this. You’re also able to take full advantage of Valve’s efforts over recent years to improve Linux gaming on handhelds with the Proton compatibility layer, gaining immediate access to a huge range of compatible games on Steam.

With SSD and RAM prices soaring, if you’re looking for a portable and affordable gaming PC that’ll let you play through your Steam backlog, then this Lenovo Legion Go S handheld with SteamOS is one of the best options right now. That £427.97 sale price is the lowest we’ve seen so far, and if those chip prices start to affect handhelds in the new year, it might be the lowest we see for some time.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

Atari officially launched the Gamestation Go handheld retro gaming console a couple of months ago, and we were lucky enough to acquire one recently. This is quite a departure from the best PC gaming handhelds we usually test, but it still packs in buckets of fun for those with a taste for retro.

Fuelling the Gamestation Go’s potential success are several special features. Probably the most alluring features of this 7-inch handheld are its pleasing array of retro arcade--appropriate controls, and My Arcade’s inclusion of a whopping 200+ classic games from Atari, Jaleco, Namco, and others built-in.

The combination of a bumper selection of classic console and arcade titles, alongside those unique for its form factor controls, should make this product a winner. However, the price, compared to portable retro-gaming alternatives out there, and a failure to play to its strengths, means we are marking it down quite strongly.

Design of the Atari Gamestation Go

The Atari Gamestation Go takes its cues from the most popular PC handheld designs right now. In other words, it looks a lot like a Steam Deck or ROG Ally – from a distance. Once you take a little more time to absorb what you are seeing, though, some interesting differences will catch your eye.

Scanning beyond the now familiar 7-inch landscape form factor, several things become obvious. To the right, there is a numeric keypad. That’s different. But to the right are some of the most important physical controller design ‘innovations’ – in our experience. From top to bottom, you will see an integrated paddle/dial/spinner; below that, there’s a more familiar D-pad, and below that a trackball. Control options like these can really impact the retro-gaming experience – and there are several famous Atari console and arcade games that used controls like paddles and trackballs to differentiate the gaming experience.

Unpacking and getting hands-on

Atari and My Arcade have produced some excellent packaging for this device. The box looks glossy, bright, and eye catching, highlighting the console design and its classic arcade contents. This positive impression grows when you flip up the faux-top to reveal a gatefold gaming content reveal. The games that My Arcade must expect to exert the strongest pull are shown in a grid on the upper half of the gatefold; below you will see the full 200+ games listed.

Inside the box, we see everything is very well padded for protection in transit. Moreover, the makers haven’t skimped on accessories. There’s an HDMI cable, USB-C charging cable, and power brick, all provided. A couple of bits of paperwork are also to be found in the box. One asks users to connect to Wi-Fi to keep the system up to date, and the other advertises the upcoming GamePad and Arcade Stick controller peripherals, made especially for Gamestation users. These will surely plug directly into the two USB-C ports on the back of the device.

In my hands, the Gamestation Go feels plastic but very solid. Twisting it, there is a little give, but nothing dramatic, and there was no easily induced creaking heard, or threat of panels buckling observed.

Atari Gamestation Go Specifications

Teardown attempt – not entirely successful

Atari and My Arcade don't disclose the components used inside the Gamestation Go, so I was more than curious to open up this handheld up to take a look at the PCB.

First, the good news: Accessing the battery was a cinch. Two T6 screws needed to be removed from the back panel, and then the battery cover, sat between the legs of the integrated kickstand, could slide down and reveal the 7,200mAh 3.7W battery pack.

It was simple enough to unplug the battery, as the two adhesive strips fixing it in place just needed some gentle persuasion. This battery is attached to the PCB via a small 3-wire removable connector.

Now onto the bad news. I could find no more screws and couldn’t pry apart the console by levering any of its seams with my tools. Stumped, I went along to my local smart device repair emporium, and they thought the screen would need to be heated up, and the PCB would be uncovered by pulling this up and away, like one might open up a tablet. However, they couldn’t guarantee the device would still work after such an operation, so I decided not to sacrifice this handheld.

We have seen no other teardown online, but Atari enthusiasts buzzing around forums generally think that the innards of the new Gamestation Go are closely related to the non-portable Gamestation Pro, released two years prior. This non-portable TV-companion console was torn down here.

If the assumption that these consoles have a very similar set of inner components is correct, the new Gamestation Go will be Rockchip RK3032-powered. This is a very modest SoC, with dual Arm Cortex-A7 cores, supported by Mali-400MP graphics and up to 512MB of DDR3 RAM.

For software support, an RK3032 retro gaming device maker will usually look to Linux SpectralElec 3.0 and EmuELEC v9.0 builds. It will also struggle with any games newer than the 16-bit era, which tallies with my experience of this system (as we'll discuss later).

Gaming experience

From sliding the red switch to the on-position, to reaching the game UI of the Gamestation Go, takes an unwelcome full 30 seconds. Once there, you will be presented with a colorful interface where the D-Pad is used to scroll horizontally between ‘systems.’ After a system has been selected, there are usually subcategories to flick through vertically, followed by a cascading list of actual games.

It can take a while to get to a game you like, and (perhaps obviously) the Atari family contains a long list of consoles and platforms, each with rather long game lists inside. Thankfully, you can favorite/bookmark titles, and there is a recent list, too, but these shortcut lists aren’t global. Thus, you have favorite lists for Atari games, for PIKO, and Jaleco titles. Moreover, smaller main categories like Atari Recharged, Balls of Steel (pinball), and Pac-Man titles are offered up in a horizontally scrolling format, like the home screen.

As you scroll through the list of games in your chosen category, the console UI shows a picture of the cartridge or cabinet, plus an animation showing gameplay, and beneath that, there’s a more-info section.

In your chosen game, it is quick and easy to head to the settings menu to adjust brightness, screen aspect ratio, load and save states, and view (but not adjust) the controls available. Moreover, the Home button works quickly for getting straight back to the game selection UI and picking something else to enjoy.

The games library

I was keen to dive into some of the classics I remember from the arcades of yesteryear. Some of these titles ate through quite a few coins in my time. Thus, it was exciting to see Asteroids, Berzerk, Breakout, Millipede, Missile Command, Space Duel, Breakout, and Tempest among the roster of titles.

Quite a few of my favorite old arcade titles are ‘vector’ style, and I enjoyed playing them. However, bear in mind that many arcade games get hard and frantic quite quickly. Remember, these titles were designed to hook people in and extract cash as quickly and efficiently as possible – not for lengthy gaming sessions.

Still on the topic of the arcade games on this machine, it was interesting to check each one, and the SmartGlow lighting choices for controls that had been pre-ordained by My Arcade.

For example, Asteroids used the D-pad for ship rotation and thrust, and one of the ABXY buttons for fire. I also enjoyed using the rotational paddle dial in Super Breakout and Tempest. Some fun trackball games that got me playing were Millipede and Missile Command.

It's also important to note the Gamestation Go ahs many duplicate games. Sometimes I wondered why there were so many duplicates, especially in the Atari library. For example, there are versions of Centipede for the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, and arcade. Then titles like Asteroids and Breakout also have modern Recharged Editions, as well as various old console and arcade versions.

Controllers don’t live up to their potential

While control method authenticity is something of a star attraction for Gamestation Go gamers, there are some clear issues with it, in my experience.

One of the first things you may notice when gaming on this handheld is that you can’t change the controller configuration. The pre-defined SmartGlow indicated controller configuration is what you have to live with. If a game is configured to use the D-pad for movement by Atari / My Arcade, then trying the paddle or trackball will be futile. There’s no way to change this in any of the firmwares I had during testing (v 1.0 and v1.1).

Not only did the SmartGlow highlighted pre-selected controller choices and adjustment possibilities disappoint, the physical interfaces aren’t the best. Specifically, I found the inertia of the paddle, dial, spinner (or whatever you prefer to call it) was too strong. So it was often cold-treacle slow to move in response to on-screen action. I didn’t enjoy the trackball either. I’d instead call it the track-marble, as it is so small. This control method is really overly sensitive, with no way to tone it down. The D-Pad, ABXY buttons, and shoulder buttons all felt good enough, though.

Games performance and compatibility

With the pre-installed games, I didn’t notice any poor performance or symptoms of the hardware not being up to the job. I’d say the most processor-intensive (newest) titles available in the pre-installed list all worked without a hitch, without slowdowns, glitching, or audio pops or crackling. Thus, this handheld, with its underlying hardware, is fit for purpose.

Micro SD card fun

Though not documented by Atari or My Arcade on the official product pages, Gamestation Go users can expand their playable games library using the system’s microSD card slot. This feature is another one that is shared by the prior Gamestation Pro console.

To get an SD card to be recognized by the system, you must format it using exFAT. ROMs for particular systems need to use pre-set extensions. It also makes sense to keep ROMs for different systems in different sensibly named folders, for your hygiene and sanity.

To access these files, you must turn on the system with the SD card already inserted. Just before the UI settles down and is ready for user interaction, you then select between the 'Local Storage' or 'Micro SD card' options (see above gallery). It is easy to press the Home button and get back to the basic folders and files SD card list. If you press Home twice in a row, it will take you to the built-in games. From here, I didn't find a way to get back to the SD card contents, except via a system restart.

I successfully tested and enjoyed some games from the Sega Genesis (AKA Mega Drive), Super Nintendo (SNES), Atari Lynx, and NeoGeo Pocket Color (NGPC) systems. All the titles I tried from these systems played nicely, albeit with just the D-Pad and ABXY buttons usable during play. Perhaps some SNES games pushed the system a little too far, as I heard a bit of audio crackling in some of these classic titles.

Moving beyond the 16-bit era, I had no success with original PlayStation, Nintendo 64, or PlayStation Portable titles, whatsoever. While the latter two platforms may have been limited by the lack of analog joystick controls provided by the Gamestation Go, the PS1 should have been fine in this respect.

I could have tried more titles, and I’ve read of other testers having success with them, but I gave up when all my picks just black-screened and returned me to the UI. I’d only very limited hopes that the Rockchip CPU could have coped with the newer systems, anyway.

Bottom line

My Arcade and Atari have crafted a handheld retro gaming console graced by a bevy of unique retro-futuristic controls. It is clever to differentiate this device by having a paddle and trackball built-in, and this will surely exert a gravitational pull on retro gamers in its orbit. While the Gamestation Go largely works as intended, its appeal is dulled by the lack of user-configuration options, rendering quirks in classic vector games, and a price point that feels misaligned with its level of hardware and software polish. We remain hopeful that further firmware updates can improve matters, but canny customers don't buy on a promise.

Another thorn in the Gamestation Go's sides is that nearly everyone owns a smartphone, with a screen approaching the 7-inch diagonal of this handheld. Many more will have access to a portable in the form of a tablet, laptop, or handheld - often with even larger, more immersive, screens. Add a nice game controller to the powerful mobile device you already own, and you can probably enjoy playing emulated consoles from eras much more recent than the Gamestation Go can hope to support.

These flexible alternative platforms also have legitimate access to many of the same Atari games via Google Play, the Apple App store, and the various PC/Steam games libraries.

Providing yet more competition to the Atari Gamestation Go are consoles like the Nintendo Switch. Users of this popular hybrid console can load up carts / downloads like Atari Mania, and several Atari Recharged collections.

Last but not least, there are dozens of gaming handhelds on Amazon, AliExpress and other marketplaces that are designed primarily for playing retro console and arcade ROMs. These platforms may have fewer legitimately licensed game collection options, but that won't bother some. While I haven't seen any rivals with the trackball or paddle that the Atari offers, they often come with analog joysticks - and enough processing power to make later generations of console and arcade games playable. Moreover, there are lots of options around $50, if a 4-inch screen is enough for your retro gaming fix.

Among these alternatives, to be fair, is the My Arcade Atari Pocket Player Pro at just $39.99 on Amazon at 11% off right now. It has a small screen at just 2.75-inches, and relatively limited controls. However, it still has a decent 100+ licensed games built in and similar cool styling to the newer and more substantial Gamestation Go. That alternative Atari-branded product might just be enough for an enjoyable blast from the past. We'd also expect the larger new console to have some attractive price cuts in due course, rewarding those who are patient.

During my testing, the Gamestation Go’s firmware received an update from version 1.0 to 1.1. It was good to see some improvements, but I feel there’s still plenty more to do in future revisions.

If you're still in for the nostalgia, you can grab the Atari Gamestation Go from Amazon.com for $179.99 today.

Armoury Crate SE, the all-in-one control panel Asus ships with its ROG Ally handhelds, is getting a significant update, adding an extensive list of features on all devices. This version brings general improvements to all models, along with more customization options such as integrating Radeon Chill into the FPS Limiter function, which was only accessible via AMD Adrenaline before. Most notably, users can now tweak power draw settings for efficiency and performance cores individually on the ROG Xbox Ally X.

The aforementioned tweak is exclusive to the ROG Xbox Ally X, which features AMD's Z2 Extreme APU. The Z2E is a hybrid design, featuring 3 proper Zen 5 cores and 5 efficiency-focused Zen 5C cores, split across two CCXs. Previously, all 8 of these cores were addressed together — the user couldn't control how much power would go to each core — now, Asus has added "P-core / E-core options" under Performance settings.

This means you should be able to manage the wattage being pushed to at least either CCX, if not each core individually, to prioritize performance or efficiency. If you're playing a lightweight title that doesn't require a lot of power, turning down the P-Core cluster's TDP could squeeze out more battery life. It's all about giving the user control over their system, even if the device can otherwise handle itself.

Apart from this highlight feature, Asus has also adjusted the aforementioned FPS Limiter's 45 FPS preset to 40 FPS, changed some UI colors here and there, added the Windows Power Mode options to Manual operating mode, and introduced a bunch of bug fixes. Supported devices can now enter or exit the Xbox Fullscreen experience with custom-mapped bindings as well.

Along with the new Armoury Crate SE, accompanying MCU and BIOS updates also bring "improved power consumption" in Windows Modern Standby, the Xbox Ally X's impulse triggers should get better haptics, and Cloud Recovery is made more seamless across the board. You can visit the changelog page to see the complete list of all the patches, alongside details for BIOS updates.

Valve unveiled its new batch of hardware for 2026 yesterday, including a new Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and even the Steam Frame VR headset. One particularly beloved device was missing from the pack, though, and that's the Steam Deck. Now, Valve has confirmed that the Steam Deck 2 is still probably years away, noting it is waiting for a major leap in silicon to deliver the performance jump it deserves.

Launched three years ago, the Steam Deck has received only one major upgrade, the OLED variant, with many left seeking a little more juice out of this handheld. Unfortunately, the wait won't be cut any shorter as Valve has just made its priorities clear — it envisions the Steam Deck 2 as a true next-gen leap, not an iterative upgrade. Pierre-Loup Griffais, a software engineer at Valve and the lead developer behind SteamOS, spoke to IGN, clarifying, "The thing we're making sure of is that it's a worthwhile enough performance upgrade to make sense as a standalone product."

Even if you take into account the current PC handheld landscape, the Steam Deck has fallen quite a bit behind when it comes to performance. It's a testament to Valve's optimization through Proton that SteamOS can run so many Deck-verified titles, but its age is showing with some demanding AAA blockbusters, which also affect battery life.

Either extending battery endurance while maintaining similar performance or prioritizing improved frame rates while maintaining the same battery life is not enough. For Valve, the Steam Deck 2 has to provide significant jumps across both aspects with no compromise. And right now, the silicon that exists (despite various advances) is simply not up to the task, according to Griffais.

“We're not interested in getting to a point where it's 20 or 30 or even 50% more performance at the same battery life. We want something a little bit more demarcated than that. So we've been working back from silicon advancements and architectural improvements, and I think we have a pretty good idea of what the next version of Steam Deck is going to be, but right now there's no offerings in that landscape, in the SoC landscape, that we think would truly be a next-gen performance Steam Deck,” he told IGN.

To jog your memory, the Steam Deck shipped with AMD's Z1 Extreme chip, which has since been succeeded by the Z2 Extreme — as found in the ROG Xbox Ally X — offering remarkable improvements in low-wattage scenarios and respectable bumps at higher TDPs. But apparently, something like the Z2E isn't sufficient for Valve, and it's betting on upcoming silicon to address even more shortcomings.

AMD does have high-performance Strix Halo APUs at the moment, the top-end model offers 40 RDNA 3.5 CUs, matching RTX 4060 laptop performance. That's a massive jump available to harvest right away, and even if it's efficient, it's certainly not cheap, and a Steam Deck successor cannot compromise on accessibility.

Therefore, perhaps the next lineup from AMD is what brings Strix Halo numbers to the masses, at which point Valve might opt for it in the Steam Deck 2. These comments echo prior sentiment from the company, such as last year when it said Steam Decks won't have annual releases, and even before that, in 2023, when Valve confirmed the next Steam Deck is at least 2-3 years away, though the timeline likely shifted a bit when Valve's new PC-centric hardware came into the picture.

Steam has added a screen-off download feature to the Steam Deck, allowing gamers to download games without consuming a lot of battery power. According to the company, this feature will automatically turn on when you’re charging your console, while you can also enable it manually in the settings menu if you want low-power downloads even while on battery power. When it’s activated and you press the power button while downloading content, the Steam Deck will ask if you want to continue the download with the screen off. It will also go to low-power mode after you leave it idle for some time.

When in this mode, you can move or press a button on the Steam Deck to check the download status. From there, you can fully switch on the console and get to gaming, or just leave it be to continue downloading in the background of your life. However, if you activate the feature in battery mode and your handheld’s battery level falls below 20%, it will pause the download and go into full sleep mode to conserve power.

Although this might seem like a minor quality-of-life improvement, it will go a long way to improve your experience with the Steam Deck. For example, if you found a new large title you want to try out, you can download it before going to bed while keeping your handheld plugged in, and you can expect to play that new game the following day. The company also did not mention if this applies to DLC and game updates, but if it does, it would keep game updates an automatic background task every time you charge your device. That way, you can say goodbye to waiting for downloads just so you can play the latest version of your favorite title. OLED users will naturally save more battery life, and it will also help preserve OLED screen life.

Unfortunately, this isn’t available to all users yet — you have to be in the Beta or Preview channel to use this on your Steam Deck. Still, it’s going to be quite helpful for a ton of users once it hits mainstream updates, especially for those who frequently use their handheld consoles without access to high-speed internet, like when you’re passing the time while on the road.

Even though the value proposition was put in the backseat, Microsoft and Asus took a step in the right direction for PC handhelds with the new ROG Xbox Ally, especially with the work done to optimize Windows and create the Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE). By turning off unnecessary background tasks and disabling much of the telemetry, the team was able to squeeze out more FPS without upping the power limits — all while sporting a polished, console-like UI. Turns out, the hardware is actually capable of even more than that, courtesy of Linux, of course.

In a not-so-scientific benchmark conducted by YouTuber Cyber Dopamine, the Rog Xbox Ally managed to perform better without Windows, the operating system it ships with out of the box. Cyber installed Bazzite, a popular Linux distro for handhelds built specifically to offer that console-esque, seamless experience. Visually, Bazzite looks identical to SteamOS because it uses Steam's Big Picture Mode as its main launcher. It also behaves similarly, but has its own custom menus and settings for customizing things like power profiles (which override Asus' built-in ones).

When testing Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Cyber noticed a shockingly significant jump in FPS, with Linux generating ~32% more FPS compared to Windows. This trend follows at lower wattages, albeit with less noticeable differences, and the delta actually plateaus in Hogwarts Legacy to the point that both Bazzite and the Xbox FSE offer the same FPS at 13W. That being said, those frame rates are much more consistent on Linux, according to Cyber, who shows that the FPS graph on Windows fluctuates regularly, while staying mostly flat on Bazzite.

So, not only do you get higher frame rates, but those frames stay stable. On top of all this, Cyber highlights that waking up the Xbox Ally from its sleep state is instantaneous on Bazzite, similar to how it's on the Steam Deck. On Windows, however, it takes up to 40 seconds for the handheld to actually go into its sleep state with the fans turned off, and then a good ~15 seconds to come back on. Cyber compares a handheld to a book, arguing that you should be able to get into it without having to wait or think about any issues, like the controller sometimes becoming unresponsive on Windows.

Fascinatingly, Xbox Ally's release of Bazzite was being patched as Cyber was testing it. Our host would play a game, hop around the OS, fiddle with some settings, and report back any bug to "Antheus" (part of the dev team), who would then write new code for it live and quickly push the update in real time. Bazzite devs took bug-fixing to an entirely new level and made the end-user experience better for all Rog Xbox Ally owners. Even if you don't want to always stay inside Bazzite — for instance, when playing Battlefield 6 that requires anticheat — you can just dual-boot back into Windows and enjoy the best of both worlds.

The ROG Xbox Ally launched to solid reviews this past week, with many praising its performance capabilities in a vacuum, while criticizing the cost and questioning how much of an Xbox product this really is. Well, we now know that at least when it comes to pricing, Microsoft gave free rein to Asus to ask what it felt was right for the hardware. In a new interview with Variety, Xbox President Sarah Bond detailed how the company developed the Xbox ROG Ally with Asus, along with teasing next-gen hardware to come.

Xbox is one of three players in the mainstream console market, alongside PlayStation and Nintendo. These three differentiate themselves from PC by offering an integrated package that has a much better value proposition. For instance, even today, the PS5 hardware for ~$500 is a great deal, considering similar performance would likely cost you more on PC. That's what makes the Xbox ROG Ally a wild card, because it isn't exactly affordable — $599 for the base unit and $999 for the Xbox Ally X is a bold demand.

"That is all of their insight into the market, into the feature set, into what people want, to determine the ultimate prices of the devices,” said Sarah Bond, confirming that the company relied on Asus' experience in handhelds to get to the final price. While early leaks hinted at a $549 price for the base model and $899 for the upgraded Ally X, it turned out to be even more expensive when Microsoft officially unveiled the pricing, causing an uproar in the community.

Despite the steep costs, the more expensive ROG Ally X sold out on the Microsoft Store when pre-orders opened, and sales have been consistent, according to Xbox itself, with Sarah recalling, "The reaction was overwhelming demand for the device... I feel really good about the value that we’re giving gamers for the price, based off the reception to the hardware." That's certainly a controversial statement that many won't agree with, especially considering how weak the Z2A-powered standard Xbox Ally is. It's more expensive than even a Series X but performs only slightly better than last-gen's Steam Deck in many tests.

Bond also hinted at Microsoft's next-gen hardware, which she says is in the prototyping and design stage. She said Microsoft's partnership with AMD would provide an opportunity to innovate and bring gamers a choice. Beyond rumors, we only have speculative fiction to gossip over, so let's just hope that Magnus (the name of the APU it's said to be using), being a mainline Xbox console, is more competitively priced when it arrives.

Despite the setbacks, Xbox and Asus have cooked up a competent handheld that, if it weren't for the pricing, would've been a slam dunk like the Steam Deck. Not to mention that such a partnership could yield cheaper, more attractive options in the future, now that the existing ROG Ally platform has already been utilized once. If you're interested in getting your hands on an Xbox ROG Ally, then make sure to check out our guide on where to buy one.

After months of launch hype, announcements, and promising reviews, the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X are finally available to buy.

In our own Asus ROG Xbox Ally X review, we loved its comfortable controller grips and balanced weight, as well as the new Xbox Full Screen Experience. Improved performance at 720p and the Xbox button are a bonus, but there are also some drawbacks. It's more expensive than the previous ROG Ally X, lacks some visual punch versus OLED-based competitors, and doesn't come with a carrying case. There are also some promised features that we have to reserve judgment on. But overall, it did well enough to score four out of five stars and earn a spot on our Best PC Gaming Handhelds list.

Now available to buy, here are all the places you can pick up the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X in the U.S.

Where to buy the ROG Xbox Ally

Where to buy the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X

What's the difference between the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X?

As you can see, there's a not-insignificant price gap between the two new Xbox Ally models, so what does $400 extra get you?

Both handhelds come with the Windows 11 Home operating system and the aforementioned Xbox Full Screen experience. They also have the same controls and the same display. The $599 Ally features a Z2 A Processor, whereas the Ally X features the more potent Z2 Extreme Processor, which will boost gaming performance. It also features a larger 1TB M.2 drive, as opposed to the 512GB size of the Ally.

There's more RAM — 24GB versus 16GB — and the Ally X comes with a USB4 port. For the extra beef, the Ally X is slightly heavier, but also has a larger battery. You can see the full breakdown below.

As noted, both the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X are now available to buy from all of the above retail sections. There's no telling how popular either will, or how much stock various retailers have, so if you want to get your hands on one, it's worth moving quickly.

For the last few years, most of the best PC gaming handhelds were running on the same chips. But with its new Lenovo Legion Go 2, Lenovo is using the latest AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme, while also making plenty of upgrades to the design.The new Legion Go still has detachable controllers and an 8.8-inch screen. But now, that screen is OLED (albeit with a lesser resolution than last time around), and the system has better ergonomics. But it's still bulky, heavy, and our unit was $1,349.99 as tested (though it does seem like the market may follow with increased prices). Still, the Z2 Extreme does offer some performance benefits, particularly at 1280 x 800pIf you want a slew of hardware features, the Legion is an obvious, if expensive, way to go. If you're willing to have a simpler experience without OLED and detachable controllers, there are still plenty of options on the handheld market that cost less, though admittedly few with the Z2 Extreme just yet.

Design of the Lenovo Legion Go 2

There's no doubt about it: The Legion Go 2 is a thick, bulky handheld. That mass allows for the connection to the removable controllers, and hopefully, we'll also find that it allows for strong cooling.Lenovo's "TrueStrike" controllers still resemble Nintendo's Switch Joy-Cons in that they disconnect from the system and control it wirelessly, but that's where most of the comparisons end. These controllers are bulky, though Lenovo has improved the ergonomics from the original, and they fit more comfortably in my hands thanks to more rounded edges. There's still a standard Xbox-style A/B/X/Y layout with offset joysticks. On the rear, the left controller has two buttons, while the right controller has one (as well as two customizable buttons to use in mouse mode).

The controllers now have Hall effect joysticks that should prevent drift, and a redesigned D-Pad sits on a pivot disk. The buttons are a bit less tactile than I'd like, but I got used to them quickly. Beyond the two rear buttons on each controller, the right controller also features three customizable buttons through Legion Space, and it still features a mouse sensor for the "FPS mode" from the previous generation, with an included base. In short, the controller sits in base vertically, letting you grip the controller like a joystick, while moving it like a mouse.

FPS mode works, but I rarely found it my go-to mode, as I tend to be sitting without a desk when I'm playing on a handheld. If you do use it, you'll have to do a lot of button remapping. In several games I played, certain commands didn't have a default mapping. You can create as many profiles as you want, but if you play lots of shooters, you'll want to save lots of presets and switch between them before games.

I do wish the right control stick were slightly lower on the controller. On a standard Xbox controller, the stick is under the buttons like it is here, but ever so slightly more to the left. When I played Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4, my thumb rubbed against the stick when I was pressing buttons to jump and do tricks.

What did take me a bit of time to get used to was the sheer number of menu and options buttons. The left controller has four (one for Legion Space, one for the Xbox-style view button, and dedicated buttons for Alt-Tab and showing the Windows desktop), while the right side has a more standard two for quick settings (I used this a lot) and an Xbox Menu button.

I still wish there were a regular Xbox button for Game Bar (there is a shortcut to act as one, however).

The right controller still has a touchpad, but there isn’t a corresponding one on the left side. I much prefer the Steam Deck's option to have both, if you're going to go that route at all.

Lenovo's controllers connect to the system with Pogo pins. Each controller slides into a rail system and then disconnects with a push button. The disconnect is easy enough, but I sometimes had a hard time sliding the controllers back in, and ended up scratching some paint on the rail on the right controller. The system also comes with a cover for one set of pins to cover the right rail in FPS mode. I do wish it included two covers for people who use both controllers disconnected often.

On top of the system, there's a USB4 Type-C port, volume rocker, and the power button, which now also doubles as a fingerprint reader. All of the other ports — another USB-C port, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and a microSD card slot — are on the bottom of the system. This is a good layout, allowing you to charge and attach a USB-C peripheral at the same time. The fingerprint reader is useful, but it's a bit of a stretch to reach when holding the system in handheld mode.There are RGB circles around the joysticks, providing a bit of customizable decoration. While colors can be changed in the Legion Space app, the light rings can also be used to show how much battery is left (based on a series of blinking patterns) and if the controllers are connected.

The back of the system has a sturdy kickstand that covers most of the width of the console. You won't have any worries about this thing falling over. Above the kickstand are a series of vents, which suck in cool air, run it over the Z2 Extreme, and then exhaust through vents on the top. These were far enough from my hands that I didn't even think about them when playing games.

At 11.64 x 5.38 x 1.66 inches with the controllers on, it's thicker than the original Go, but ever so slightly smaller in other dimensions. The Asus ROG Ally X is substantially smaller at 11.02 x 4.37 x 1.45 inches, while the Steam Deck OLED is the widest of the bunch at 11.73 x 4.6 x 1.97 inches.

At 2.03 pounds with the controllers, the Legion Go 2 is heavier than the original Go (1.88 pounds), the Ally X (1.49 pounds), and the Steam Deck OLED (1.41 pounds). While some people may prefer the large screen and controllers, I felt the weight immediately and would sometimes end play sessions with tired hands and wrists.

Lenovo Legion Go 2 Specifications and Components

The Legion Go 2 is the first PC gaming handheld that we're testing with AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor. Like the Z1 Extreme before it, this is an 8-core, 16-thread processor, but it's now using three Zen 5 cores and five Zen 5c cores.The Z2 Extreme has a max boost clock of up to 5 GHz on the Zen 5 cores, (3.3 GHz on the Zen 5c cores) and a base clock of 2 GHz. (That max boost is actually 0.1 GHz slower than the Z1 Extreme). While the Z2 Extreme shares a 28W TDP with its predecessor, it has a 15-35W configurable TDP, which is higher than the Z1 Extreme's 9-30W cTDP. The 16-core GPU is a bump up from the 12-core GPU in the Z1 Extreme, and now it uses more recent Radeon RDNA 3.5 graphics.

The 32GB of RAM in this Legion Go 2 review unit should help it, as the CPU and GPU share the RAM. It's a step above what we saw in the Asus ROG Ally X, which used 24GB of RAM.The 1TB drive that Lenovo includes is an M.2 2242 SSD, but if you want to upgrade on your own, the slot can fit standard-length M.2 2280 drives.

Lenovo's 74 WHr battery is a big increase over the 49.2 WHr cell in the original Legion Go. The Ally X has a slightly larger 80 WHr battery.

Gaming and Graphics Performance on the Lenovo Legion Go 2

The Z2 Extreme and its integrated 16-core Radeon RDNA 3.5 graphics offer a boost over Z1 Extreme and the custom chips in the Steam Deck. I don't think it's inherently worth upgrading if you have one of those systems, though it should allow for some slight boosts in quality.

Out of the box, Lenovo's default thermal mode is "Performance," though there are also "Quiet" and "Balanced" options. The default fan option is "smart," which features a gentle curve, though you can adjust it. In our benchmark testing, we test handhelds plugged in and unplugged to see performance differences. We ran the Legion Go 2 unplugged at the default performance setting. Plugged in, I used a custom mode with a 35W TDP and a 45W burst, along with fans running full speed. That TDP increase tended to show bigger improvements at lower resolutions.

In a note for reviewers, though, Lenovo suggested that performance mode is recommended when plugged into the wall. So while we're reviewing at defaults, you'll probably want to step down to at least balanced mode when unplugged for longer battery life.

Note that while we ran our benchmarks at 1280 x 800 and 1920 x 1200, we had to adjust those to standard 1080p and 720p for the Asus ROG Ally X, which has a 16:9 screen, unlike the Legion Go 2, Legion Go, and Steam Deck.

When I played Tony Hawk's Pro Skater at 1280 x 800 on performance mode at high settings, the game ran between 73 and 93 frames per second. Marvel's Midnight Suns easily hit a 60 FPS cap I instituted on medium settings when I had thermals on balanced mode.

On the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark at medium settings, the system ran at 66 frames per second at 800p unplugged and 75 FPS plugged in at a slightly higher TDP. At 1200p, it ran at 42 FPS unplugged and 47 FPS plugged in. This showed a large improvement over the previous generations at 800p.

Using Cyberpunk 2077's Steam Deck Preset, the Legion Go 2 again made strides at 800p at 47 FPS unplugged and 57 FPS plugged in. At 1200p, the game was playable, but this was one area where this system lost to the original ROG Ally X.

The trends continued in Red Dead Redemption 2's lowest (favor performance) settings using Vulkan. The game ran at 65 FPS unplugged at 800p and 80 FPS plugged in. At 1200p, it ran at 46 FPS and 50 FPS, respectively.

You probably won't be using a handheld to play Borderlands 4, so we gave Borderlands 3 another run (medium settings, DX11). Shocker: more gains at 800p, hitting 76 FPS plugged in and 67 FPS unplugged. At 1200p, it ran at 50 FPS unplugged and 56 FPS with the TDP boost plugged in.

We also ran our 15-run Metro Exodus stress test. For handhelds, we drop this down to low settings at 720p while plugged in. Given the results, we may need to reconsider that in the future to make it more stressful. The Legion Go 2 ran the game at an average 123 frames and was largely consistent between the runs.

The Zen 5 cores ran at an average of 3.8 GHz during the test, while the Zen 5c ran at 2.74 GHz. The integrated GPU averaged 1.963.47 MHz.

Lenovo Legion Space on the Lenovo Legion Go 2

At its best, Lenovo's Legion Space is the best software I've seen that attempts to mask Windows 11's flaws for gaming handhelds. At its worst, I had it freeze on me mid-game. Windows 11 is still just not great without a mouse and keyboard.

Then again, Microsoft's handheld gaming mode for Windows 11 is likely to come to the Legion Go 2 next year (or you could try to run a leaked version now), so this may all be moot in a few months.

Legion Space can show system stats, let you adjust and calibrate controls, and launch installed games. It often launched in the background when I booted the system up, though sometimes it would come to the foreground, oddly enough. There's also a store to buy games through Lenovo, but I prefer to stick to the big launchers.

The part I enjoyed most was the quick settings menu, which acts like what we've seen on the Steam Deck and ROG Ally X. But among Windows devices, the Legion Go 2's menu was the most responsive, easiest to navigate, and has the most useful shortcuts. I used it a surprising amount.

It also has the system's performance profiles. While the system defaults to Performance mode out of the box, enthusiasts may appreciate the custom option that lets you make adjustments on a watt-by-watt basis.

There are also numerous shortcuts for everything from taking screenshots to increasing or decreasing power consumption. The shortcut to see all of the shortcuts is the Legion Space button + LB.

The one big problem I had with Legion Space was trying to remap controls while in a game. It was too much, and the software kept freezing up and telling me to update my controllers (there was no new firmware for the controllers.)

It might be more helpful for Legion Space to always launch on boot, but it's easy enough to open with a touch of a button on the left controller.

Of course, this all runs with Windows 11, which means all of its shortcomings. To set the devices up, you'll need to use lots of usernames and passwords for launchers, all of which require poking at the touchscreen unless you connect a keyboard.

Display on the Lenovo Legion Go 2

The Legion Go 2's 8.8-inch display has seen some changes since the last generation of Legion Go. While the last screen was very pretty, this one uses OLED technology for more vivid colors and deeper blacks. The 1920 x 1200 resolution is a drop from 2560 x 1600 on the original Go, but in general I'm OK with this, as the integrated graphics available aren't capable of running too many games at that resolution anyway.

And the screen is beautiful. Games look great. In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4, the Tokyo tournament level is filled with neon pink, purple, and blue ramps and rails that contrast with the cement of streets and bike lanes. The OLED screen made those colors scream, and those ramps looked great as I had skaters do grab tricks over them. In Marvel's Midnight Suns, Doctor Strange's red cape contrasted against Venom's symbiote skin in an early game mission.

The Legion Go did very well on our measured tests, covering 135.8% of the DCI-P3, by volume, and 191.7% of the sRGB space, far and away beating the rest of the field. And while it's definitely usable at 445 nits of brightness, it's dimmer than the non-OLED Go, as well as the Asus ROG Ally X and Steam Deck OLED. (The original Steam Deck can't hold a candle to any of these screens.)

When the screen's brightness is way up, it looks incredible. When you have it turned down, you start to notice how glossy reflective it is. When I took a break from work to use the system to play some games at my desk, which is next to a window, it wasn't as pleasant to use. But if you want to save battery by turning down the luminosity, you'll have to deal with it.

Battery Life on the Lenovo Legion Go 2

The bad news is that despite being thicker and bringing a bigger battery, the Legion Go 2 won't last through a cross-country flight for most games.

At one point in my testing, I spent an hour and a half playing Marvel's Midnight Suns at what I thought were pretty generous settings. I set the screen to 800p and played the game at 720p; knocked the power profile down to balanced; set the screen to just 30% brightness, which was still usable in the dark room I was playing in; limited the frame rate to 60 frames per second; and played on medium settings in the game.

After an hour, I was down to 66% of battery. By the full hour and a half, I was down to 50%, with the system estimating I had an hour and 28 minutes remaining.

Another time, I spent an hour playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4. This time I had the screen at 50% brightness and 144 Hz, but still at 1280 x 800. When I was done, 54% of the battery remained, with the Legion predicting I had 1 hour and 51 minutes remaining.

Battery life will depend heavily on what games you play and the settings you play them at, but that initial three-hour window for a game with fairly light recommended settings isn't a great look. If you play a 2D game like Stardew Valley or Dead Cells, sure, expect more. If you run Cyberpunk 2077 as hard as you can to get playable frame rates on the Legion, expect less.

Audio on the Lenovo Legion Go 2

The 2W stereo speakers on the Legion Go 2 do a decent job, but they have one disadvantage: they're on top of the handheld. That means they point just a little bit away from you.

Still, they were more than loud enough. Full volume easily filled a small room, and I was more than comfortable at 60%. When I played Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4, the system was challenged with both music and game sound effects. The vocals and guitars on KennyHoopla and Travis Barker's "hollywood sucks//" sounded clear, even under the sounds of grinding on rails, wheels rolling, and skaters yelping in pain as they fell. The only thing that really suffered was the deepest low end. In this case, it was the drums in the background song, and you don't hire Travis Barker if you don't want great drums.

Heat on the Lenovo Legion Go 2

I measured skin temperatures while running our Metro Exodus stress test. The system stayed cool where it was important.

The controllers each measured roughly 84 degrees Fahrenheit. It makes sense these would stay cool, as they're technically separate units, even though I had them attached to the system for the test.

The hottest point on the rear of the system reached 98.3 F, near the vents. My fingers didn't reach there. The hottest point was the exhaust by the top vent at 106.3 F, though again, it's far from where I would grip the system in handheld mode.

During the test, the CPU averaged 65.5 degrees Celsius, while the GPU cores averaged 62.9 C.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo Legion Go 2

Before you open the Legion Go 2, you're best off removing the controllers to prevent wobble. Once they're off, there are eight Phillips head screws screws on the back to remove. Two of those are underneath the kickstand, so you'll want to lift that to its maximum angle. Those two screws are very recessed, so you'll need a thin screwdriver, which I didn't have on me. What we do know, we've been able to find from Lenovo's detailed maintenance manual.

Once those are out, you'll need a pry tool to loosen the clips and remove the back.

While you can swap out the M.2 SSD, it's not immediately visible. You also have to remove the battery and the fan to get access, which isn't as easy as some competitors. Once you do that, a single screw holds down the M.2 2242 SSD, just like any other PC. While Lenovo is using an M.2 2242, the slot supports M.2 2280, which is more common.

Lenovo Legion Go 2 Configurations

There's no good way to say it — the Lenovo Legion Go 2 is a very expensive gaming handheld. As tested, with the Z2 Extreme, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD, the Legion Go 2 is a whopping $1,349.99. Lenovo includes a carrying case this time around, which is a nice addition, but the handheld should have more storage for this price.

A cheaper configuration at Best Buy is $1,099.99 with the base Ryzen Z2, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage.

Earlier this year, Lenovo said the Legion Go 2 would start at $1,049, so we're likely to see variants with different amounts of RAM, storage, and Z-series chips.

All that said, handheld prices have definitely increased since we worried about the $799.99 price tag on the Asus ROG Ally X last year.

Microsoft and Asus' ROG Xbox Ally X, with the same Z2 Extreme, is going to be $999. We're hitting the point where you can get a decent gaming laptop for the price of a handheld. For the price of our review unit, you could get a $499.99 Nintendo Switch 2 and a top-end $649 Steam Deck OLED with 1TB of storage — a total of $1,148.99 — and still afford multiple games.

Bottom Line

There is a definite audience for the Lenovo Legion Go 2. People who want the most powerful AMD Z-series variant (and forgetting about a few rare Strix Halo handhelds), an OLED display, and want to be able to disconnect the controllers from the system like a Nintendo Switch.

For $1,349.99, though, you really need to want all those things. On the other hand, the Legion Go 2 offers some of them exclusively. No other major brand has detachable controllers, and the only other significant handheld from a major company that has an OLED screen is the Steam Deck OLED. In the Windows world, it's really the only one, unless you get into smaller brands like Aya Neo.

The Z2 Extreme does bump performance up over the Z1, but the biggest gains are still at 1280 x 800p. I'm of the opinion that if you have a handheld and you like it, it's not a must upgrade, but if you haven't, you'll get solid performance with the right settings.

The system is heavy, though, at over two pounds, and the battery drains pretty quick, even at low screen brightness levels. If you want all of these features and have $1,349 to spare, though, the Legion Go 2 is perhaps the most full-featured system out there. But cheaper competitors are good enough that I'd suggest at least giving them a look first.

The first game that uses Apple’s AirPods as a motion controller has been released on the App Store for iOS and iPadOS devices. RidePods – Race with Head delivers a fast-paced motorcycle racing experience, where head movements provide the control. Basically, your head becomes a big Wiimote. Developer Ali Tanis explains that he has become the first to launch an AirPods-controlled game after he successfully reverse-engineered the spatial audio feature of Apple’s popular earbuds.

Tanis only came up with this idea a few weeks ago, when developing another app. It struck him that it might be possible to leverage the sensors powering Apple's spatial audio feature for other purposes, specifically for motion control. Of course, his hunch was correct.

After successfully reverse-engineering the spatial audio, a few weeks later, this motorcycle game was approved by Apple for inclusion in its walled garden App Store. Tanis explains that RidePods players control the game, where they race on a motorcycle, and you simply “tilt your head to steer.”

Sadly, I don’t have AirPods to test RidePods. However, I downloaded the app and noted that there’s an option to brake/accelerate by moving your head forward or backward.

App Store visitors are warned that “Without compatible earbuds, gameplay may not function as intended.” Specific models with spatial audio that are confirmed to be compatible include the Apple AirPods Pro and AirPods (3rd Generation) earbuds.

Beyond the headlining “World’s First Earbuds-Controlled Motorcycle Racing Game” claims, the game is said to offer intuitive, fast-paced gameplay, with smooth and responsive handling. Players must dodge cars, trucks, and obstacles while chasing the highest score. You are challenged to beat your own records and push your limits in quick adrenaline-fueled racing sessions.

There are surely further possibilities for innovative apps to tap into the spatial audio API that Tanis has accessed.

Click 'see more' to see a RidePods gameplay video demo

Apple and its hidden APIs

If you're looking at picking up one of the new ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X machines — and we wouldn't blame you, because they do look pretty sweet — we have some advice: namely, don't buy one off eBay. Yes, scalpers are already trying to move pre-orders for the system, and they're pushing them for as much as 2.5 times the manufacturer's suggested retail price of $999 USD. No, we're not kidding; see for yourself.

Seriously, don't buy this. If you really want a ROG Xbox Ally X, head right on over to Best Buy, where you can still pre-order the thing ahead of its October 16 release date for the standard price of $999—a price that's already a little contentious given that performance is likely to be only slightly ahead of the extant $899 ROG Ally X despite that machine being based on the previous-generation Z1 Extreme processor.

Don't mistake us; the ROG Xbox Ally X has a few upgrades over the previous model, like ergonomic handgrips, faster 8-Gbps LPDDR5X memory, and Xbox Series-style Impulse Triggers with haptic feedback. Still, the star of the show is undoubtedly that it debuts the top-end chip in the AMD Ryzen Z2 series, the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme. This is fundamentally the same processor as the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, but where that chip disables Strix Point's NPU, the version coming in the Microsoft-branded machine retains its NPU functionality for AI features coming in 2026.

YouTuber James Channel set himself quite a challenge: to transmogrify the “biggest, heaviest, power-hungry console anybody had ever seen” into a handheld. However, as you can see from the video below (h/t PC Gamer), his quest was a success. It might not be the most elegant conversion we’ve seen, with the cut-up and pared-down console largely held together using duct tape and hot glue, but it is a sight to behold. The bare DVD, spinning at ~10,000RPM, that sits central to the design, adds a bit of a danger-thrill to the retro gaming experience, too.

The video starts with James grabbing an original Xbox from his shelves stuffed full of iconic consoles in various states of disrepair. But the chosen black and green box from Microsoft isn’t ready to be converted, just yet. It has a number of faults that need repairing while it is in its native state, before the hacksaw and hot glue-driven modding begins. Starting with a known working sample will simplify any troubleshooting further down the line.

Once repaired, the original Xbox is cut down with a view to portability by James, who tosses unwanted components and shards of case to the floor. This isn’t going to be a mod that solely relies on the original Xbox, though. James also pillages an old iPod portable video dock for screen and speakers, replaces the "huge heavy" 3.5-inch HDD with a Compact Flash drive solution, and saws Xbox controllers in half to flank the central screen/console area.

James gave up on this project for three weeks, but reenergized, returned to it to complete the job. A hurdle that had stubbornly stood in the way of a success was overcome when he discovers that seven out of eight Xbox drives he bought as donors for this project were DOA... After putting this bad luck in the used components lottery (and a miss-crimped IDE connector) in the rearview mirror, the admitted "portable monstrosity" can come to life.

OneXPlayer is no stranger to the handheld market. Unlike Microsoft, which just announced pricing for its Xbox Ally, OneXPlayer has been riding the wave of bleeding-edge portable PC gaming for years, and it's back with a new flagship offering: the OneXFly Apex. As the name suggests, it's a top-end device pulling absolutely no punches when it comes to hardware. The full spec sheet wasn't revealed, but the social media tease was enough to give us a solid idea of what's to come.

The Apex is powered by the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 — AMD's latest and greatest Strix Halo APU with 16 cores clocked at up to 5.1 GHz, and the Radeon 8060S iGPU carrying 40 CUs. OneXPlayer will pair this with up to 128 GB of memory and an 8-inch 120 Hz VRR display in native landscape orientation. Storage will be handled by an M.2 slot under the hood and one expandable Mini SSD slot outside. For controls, we get an asymmetrical stick layout, akin to ROG Ally devices, along with adjustable multi-stage triggers and stereo speakers tuned by Harman.

Perhaps the most interesting bit, though, is the power on hand here. OneXPlayer is quoting a 120W TDP, which would fully utilize the Max+ 395's potential. To keep the chip under control, the device has "silent liquid cooling," which could indicate a vapor chamber, but the company didn't provide any details beyond that. In comparison, the GP5 Win 5, which will also ship with the same Strix Halo APU, only has a single fan to manage its thermals, but that handheld maxes out at only 75W. The device didn't look exceptionally thick in the renders either, which is a huge plus.

Fueling this setup is an 85 WHr "removable battery" that would theoretically last less than an hour at full power. This one looks to be internal, unlike the external battery pack on the GPD Win 5. Anyhow, gaming rarely requires all CPU and GPU cores to work simultaneously, so we expect that number to be much higher. It also remains to be seen whether the 120W TDP is possible on battery power. Even then, presumably, you can always access the OneXConsole software to adjust power levels and extract more performance from your system.

We're still missing crucial information on price and availability. OneXPlayer didn't show off the device at its recent keynote, which could point toward some last-minute changes or perhaps an entirely new tier of product, so expect more details to come out soon. A device like this is made or broken by how much it costs and even without any official confirmation, it's hard to imagine the Apex being affordable. It's almost like a machine that solely exists to show what's possible today at the top end.

The ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X, the latest handheld consoles developed by Asus and Microsoft, are now officially available for pre-order. The ROG Xbox Ally X is priced at $999, while the standard ROG Xbox Ally comes in at $599. Customers can reserve either of the models by visiting Asus’ or Microsoft’s respective online stores,

Several third party retailers are also taking pre-orders including Amazon, Best Buy, Ant Online, and Walmart. Interestingly, the ROG Xbox Ally X is going to sell exclusively on Best Buy, while the ROG Xbox Ally is open for other retailers.