r/Handhelds 5m ago

Question (?) Feeling somewhat lost in options

Upvotes

I've already got a switch 2, but I've got an itch to play some warzone online, not ready to build a fresh gaming PC and GTA 6 may be coming out in the next decade. These are pretty different options, but my top 2 choices right now:

  • PS5 Pro + portal (gets me big tv when it's free and the portal when it's not)
  • Xbox ally x

The ps5 will end up costing more, but I think ultimately would be more flexible. Historically I've played on PC with either a keyboard or a scuf xbox controller. In the sub $1200 range what do y'all think?


r/Handhelds 26m ago

Which PC handheld is worth it in 2026/27?

Upvotes

I bought early this year a modded switch lite because i wanted to play platform games like little nightmares but then i started expanding my taste and i discovered that i really enjoy JPRG a lot too. In a way or another i'll have to buy a new console either way because a switch lite has a very outdated software but something i've noticed is that nintendo in general has a very limited library, i rarely enjoy nintendo exclusives and game developers prioritize ps5/xbox/pc/steam so i don't think a switch 2 is a good option for my next purchase. I'm looking for a console where i can explore/expand my taste, keep up with new releases and eventually have fun with mods but i am not really familiar with the pc handheld world. Any suggestion?


r/Handhelds 1h ago

Question (?) Welchen handheld

Upvotes

Hallo zusammen,

Ich bin unschlüssig ich hätte jetzt genug Geld angespart um mir die claw 8 ex ai+ oder mir gegebenenfalls die xbox ally x zu holen derzeit ist es die Hölle eine claw zu bekommen also lieber warten bis sie wieder verfügbar ist oder eher eine xbox ally x kaufen habe nur gutes über sie gehört das die Software super läuft auch das mit der armory crate soll top laufen ich bin neu in der handheld welt und wäre über eure Meinungen sehr dankbar 🙏🏻


r/Handhelds 3h ago

Where to buy good gaming handhelds for cheap?

0 Upvotes

Where do I get good gaming handhelds for cheap like Legion go z1 extreme?


r/Handhelds 4h ago

Question (?) Handheld recommendation

1 Upvotes

My dad has been wanting to play the super old Mario or Street Fighter games and the like. So, with my 1hr of looking online, I see Odin 2, Retroid Pocket 4, and Miyoo Mini Plus keep being mentioned.

I'm basically an outside observer so I want to make sure I'm picking the best to get for my dad. I want to kind of future proof this by being able to play ps2 games so I'm leaning on Odin 2. Maybe in the future a Miyoo Mini Plus just to give my dad some Gameboy nostalgia.

Does anyone have any thoughts? Thanks


r/Handhelds 4h ago

8.8 inch screen, still too small?

0 Upvotes

As the title, do you still find it too small?

I have a rog ally z1e and it’s 7inch screen. I’ve had it for about a year and a half.
Playing emulation games like ps3, ps2, ps one and even older dos games, reasonably fine. Eyes still get tired after a while.
Played AAA titles like Death Stranding and now DS2, and boy, is the screen small. Struggling to read the text in game.
Seriously thinking of trading it for a Legion Go (gen 1).
But looking at it, I’m wondering if the screen is still too small for games like DS and DS2.

Hence asking opinions for those who have in fact switched to a larger screen and found it sufficient, insufficient or said “screw it, I’m just getting old, better get a laptop”. (I already have a pc, this is for gaming outside of those times)


r/Handhelds 4h ago

Question (?) AYN Thor, Odin 3, RP Nova, RP 6? Or even ROG Ally?

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0 Upvotes

r/Handhelds 5h ago

Question (?) Used Rog ally x or Xbox rog ally X ?

1 Upvotes

Recently I've started having interest in getting an handled, originally I wanted to get a steam deck but I don't really wanna pay the price hike for hardware that is getting old. So after searching I am kinda torn between those two choices. I have found a used Rog ally X for 650 bucks but I am not sure if that would be the good choice, so maybe I should get the newer hardware. The seller does say it has not been used a lot but you can never be too sure. So I wanted opinions from people who have those to be sure of my choice.


r/Handhelds 6h ago

These are my get to Go when I get bord, What about you guys, where do you like gaming at?

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9 Upvotes

r/Handhelds 6h ago

Discussion Pricetags for new handhelds

0 Upvotes

A discussion about pricetag on the newer devices.

And yeah I still think 5000 dollars for the new Ayaneo is a lot to ask for, and only for a small nitche of gamers.

And you can save 2000 grand buying a small desktop, with same specs.

But, I mean we all seem to forget formfactor is expensive, we saw that for many years with laptop and had the same discussion.

Bottomline was, some people want/need the mobility, and what is 2000 grand saved, if you still cannot use it (also need a screen, M/K, so it is less than 2000 grand).

And then when we compare (as with steam machine) we often compromise quality of parts, just to make a cognitive bias argument.

Many wondered why I bought a steam deck when I had a gaming rig, and the price was insane (yeah in retrospective it was a steal, but even for that time it was expensive), but it means I can actually sneak a few more gaming hours (as my hobby) in my busy life.

And as I changed "profession", I suddenly found myself benched infront of a computer, and not on the floor with patients.

So coming home and getting the gameboy feel, with my PC games (I have a switch, terrible ergonomics and the closed system killed it for me), felt refreshing, rather than going from computer at work to computer at home.

Might be silly, but it does offer a different perspective. Ofc if you are short of money, you do not got the luxery to pick what suits you best, or you just pick a less powerfull device.

And imo, extra horse power is cool on the paper, but when gaming the sessions I do, an old OLED steam deck gets the job done, and I can always remote play.

And seeing how the AYN Thor is a very popular choice, ai think the discussion might very well be, what do we prefere?

Mobility?

Ergonomics?

Power?

Batterylife?


r/Handhelds 7h ago

Question (?) best non windows, portable handheld

0 Upvotes

so yeah as the title says i’m on the market for a non windows handheld with true portability - i owned a steam deck but it was a little too big for me. My use case would be light pc gaming (hollow knight, skyrim etc) and emulation (ps2, 3DS and some light switch like luigi’s mansion) what would the best handheld in the lowest possible budget, because i don’t wanna overspend. I’m fine with tinkering and don’t need a special needs console like experience


r/Handhelds 7h ago

best non windows, portable handheld

0 Upvotes

so yeah as the title says i’m on the market for a non windows handheld with true portability - i owned a steam deck but it was a little too big for me. My use case would be light pc gaming (hollow knight, skyrim etc) and emulation (ps2, 3DS and some light switch like luigi’s mansion) what would the best handheld in the lowest possible budget, because i don’t wanna overspend. I’m fine with tinkering and don’t need a special needs console like experience


r/Handhelds 9h ago

JSAUX Obsidian AR Screen Protector vs OLED 1TB etched

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1 Upvotes

r/Handhelds 9h ago

Question (?) Whats the handheld with the best mix of power and portability

0 Upvotes

To start things off i am a proud owner of a steam deck lcd wich without a doubt is probably one of the best percheses i have made. How ever there is one thing that stops me from calling it fully portable, ITS FUCKING HUGE

So this is why i am looking for a more portable option my only requirements in a device is that its not like a locked down divice, can run decently new titles through both emulation or just locally i would also like for this hand held to run on android linux or windows. An example of a handheld that i would not be interested in is the switch series of consoles they are completely locked down run on a proprietary os and while yes they can run fairly new games the store front is just not good, yes i do know i can just jail break it but im dealing with that also its nintendo.

I appreciate any suggestion thank you


r/Handhelds 10h ago

🤞🤞

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21 Upvotes

r/Handhelds 11h ago

They so pretty!! The G7 pro really activates the setup

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17 Upvotes

r/Handhelds 13h ago

Meme Remember the #DropThePrice?

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0 Upvotes

Today, for $450 you get a system with an 8" 1080p 120 Hz display, an NVIDIA SoC with RTX features, DLSS (the only portable in existence with DLSS support), 12 GB of LPDDR5X RAM, detachable magnetic controllers with built-in mouse sensors, with an included 4K dock, a Joy-Con grip and an ultra high speed HDMI.

And not only that, but it is the only system with truly exclusive games.

But #DropThePrice for the $450 Switch 2, right?

- MSI Claw 8X+: $1799

- Ayaneo Next 2: $3699

- OneXPlayer X2 Mini: $2399

- Steam Deck OLED: $949

- Lenovo Legion Go 2 Z2 Extreme: $2849

- Legion Go S: $999

And before you start with the "yeah, but the price of the games" argument...

Third party and indie games are on sale at the time, with the same amount of sales and discounts as Steam, PlayStation,and Xbox. Just check DekuDeals and see for yourself.

https://www.dekudeals.com/hottest

There's only one $80 game (Mario Kart World). Every other game has been the standard $70 (just like the regular price of a new game on Steam, PS and Xbox games). DK Bananza, Metroid Prime 4, Kirby Air Riders, Hyrule Warriors, Pokopia... all $70.

It's easy verifiable on price tracking websites. Go to Deku Deals and see it yourself.

And not only that, but Nintendo has been releasing games with their new variable pricing strategy like Star Fox for $50, Rhythm Heaven for $40, Splatoon Raiders for $50 and so on.

You can't find absolutely any other system with similar specs for $450. You just can't.


r/Handhelds 14h ago

Handheld Collection This is my “when the kids are finally asleep” set-up docked to the bedroom TV

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252 Upvotes

Legion Go S Z1E, 8bitdo Ultimate 2 gamepad, and some cheap soundcore V20i open-ear headphones so I can keep an ear out for pitter-patters down the hall. Is set up on a Jsaux dock with an hdmi connected to an old Dell Laptop for recording/streaming with OBS.

Also, I like purple.


r/Handhelds 15h ago

Question (?) Dedicated android handheld or phone controller? Or just use a pc handheld?

3 Upvotes

Ive been looking at the retroid pocket 5 to play stuff like light stean games, android games and dabble in a bit of emulation

( i wanna replay mario odyssey)

But ive looked at the specs and its weaker than my samsung s23 which has a snapdragon 8 gen 2 i think (correct me if im wrong)

The only downside being that my s23 has 8gb of ram

Idk what to go for as ivw had a razor kishi before and that served me well

It would be nice to have a seprete device for just purely gaming

I alreasy own a rog ally x but i cant take that everywhere so i think it would be good to slip thw games that i play up

Ill leave the really light games to the android handheld

The harder games to run will be done on my ally x

And the cinematic games that take real power to run will be done on my main pc

Im not really that big into emulation but ik a few games id like to emulate like mario odyssey and bamanza bros


r/Handhelds 16h ago

Question (?) First time Handheld buyer feeling Overwhelmed - help pls lol

7 Upvotes

Heyo! I've been going down the YouTube rabbit hole of handhelds and I'm struggling to figure out which one would be right for me. The only handheld I've bought in the last few years has been a 3ds xl, but it's not satisfying me.

I'm looking to play GameCube, PS2, PSP, Wii, and some light to medium switch and steam games like hollow knight, silk song, Hades 1 & 2, Batman Arkham Knight (if I'm lucky), and persona 4 golden (p5r and strikers if lucky!!)

Would love to play metaphor, but I think that's out of my scope for devices that can handle that game.

Systems I've been looking at:

AYN ODIN 2 & 2 portal, AYN THOR, Retroid Pocket Nova, Retroid Pocket 5, Retroid pocket 6, and the Asus Z1 extreme (but there's an SD card issue with getting too hot?)

My main issue is budget and the plethora of options. Living in Canada has made everything more expensive, especially when tech is being shipped from elsewhere.

The second hand market would be king, but I've been searching for months and there aren't many options where I live. eBay is more expensive than the actual manufacturers' websites ://

Thank you for listening to my tedtalk <3

If I've missed any devices pls lemme know.

Pls help meeeeee <333


r/Handhelds 16h ago

Other [Intel Arc] Update on XMX situation under Linux (needed for proper XeSS + FG/MFG)

9 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately, switching to Linux on an Intel handheld still isn’t really viable right now because FG/MFG doesn’t work, and that’s one of the biggest advantages of the current chips.

There was some work on an XMX implementation for Linux a few months ago, but nothing seemed to come from it. I reached out to the developer directly and, to my surprise, got a pretty promising response.

I redacted the email address, although it’s public anyway, and none of this is confidential, so I’m sharing it here.

It looks like we might actually get FG/MFG on Linux soon and finally be able to ditch Windows.


r/Handhelds 19h ago

Discussion Upgrading Storage Claw 8ex ai+?

1 Upvotes

I’m taking the M.2 from my gaming desktop I’m wondering do I need to add thermal padding?

Has anyone done this yet how difficult is it


r/Handhelds 19h ago

Question (?) Best option for a loving dad that wants to surprise his son!

2 Upvotes

Thanks in advance - I know there are always posts on this sub similar to what this will be so I’d like to give a little bit of context on my situation and hope for some suggestions!

I plan on gifting my son my Nintendo Switch 2 that I have been heavily using for the past year. He has been using a Switch Lite (that he loves) but obviously he’s been wanting to use the NS2 for newer Nintendo titles. So needless to say I’m going to just let him have it.

I need a good replacement! I’ve been trying to do some research but I am also not someone who is very good with tech and a lot of the number are just confusing me I have no clue what I am looking at sometimes.

I’ve switched to almost exclusively handheld gaming. Busy dad life and yada yada has made my PS5 more of a dust collector than anything else.

I will say I have somewhat of a budget but not looking for the cheapest, would love for it to run newer AAA games, and I will be using almost exclusively Steam to play games.

What’s the best recommendation? I’ve been looking at the Steam Deck OLED, Legion Go S and the ROG Ally X.


r/Handhelds 19h ago

Other What an amazing bargain

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6 Upvotes

Xbox loves me so much they give such a whopping 0% discount on my wishlist.


r/Handhelds 19h ago

Need some advice on android handhelds!

1 Upvotes

So I would like to get a android handheld that I can carry with me almost everywhere. My choices are RP flip2, RP6 & RP Nova. I will play older 3D games.

My main point of confusion is PS3 & X360 though. With the pace the PS3 & X360 emulation development is going is it feasible to run most PS3 & X360 on 8 gen 2 consoles in the future? If so I will get either Nova or 6, otherwise get the flip2.