The 7 Very Best Handheld Consoles

Platform: Windows | Weight: 1.41 pounds | Screen size and resolution: 8.8-inches; 2560 x 1600 | Screen type: LED | Storage: 512 GB | Battery life: 2-4 hours | Ports: USB-C (2)

If you’re willing to forgo Nintendo-exclusive titles, I think most people are better off getting the Lenovo Legion Go. It quickly earned its place as my favorite handheld console earlier this year thanks to its great features and uniquely versatile design. Compared to the other handhelds I’ve tested, it can connect to more peripherals, it’s the only console that’s not a Switch to feature removable controllers, and you can use it as a Windows tablet.

Lenovo included a bunch of features in the Legion Go that make it more enjoyable for game playing than competitors like the ASUS Rog Ally or Steam Deck. Its 8.8-inch screen is the largest of any handheld console, and the screen looks great with a higher resolution than any other model on this list. There’s an adjustable stand on the back that you can use to prop the Legion Go’s screen up at nearly any angle. The controllers, which are on either side of the screen, can be removed and used in the same way as the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Cons. With the two USB-C ports, you can plug in third-party accessories such as external GPUs or a monitor while charging the console.

The Legion Go’s screen shines with games like Baldur’s Gate 3. Movement looks smooth, details are bright, and items are easy to spot even when zoomed out. I wouldn’t recommend playing this game on low graphics settings, though, as things get too choppy to be enjoyable. Even less graphics-heavy games like Dave the Diver and Stardew Valley benefit from the Legion’s crisp display, and colors pop, but not quite as much as on the Steam Deck OLED. Despite having a larger screen than consoles like the ROG Ally and Steam Deck, Lenovo’s handheld doesn’t feel significantly bigger, though the added weight is just enough to be noticeable and result in slightly shorter play sessions.

The controls on the Lenovo are more comfortable to hold than the Steam Deck’s or ROG Ally’s, even when removed from the device, and work great with the Legion Go when using its stand, which can prop the device up at nearly any angle. I’ve used it to play a bit of Slay the Spire at a coffee shop, and on an airplane tray over the holidays. No other handheld console is as flexible with how you interact with it. To do the same thing with the Steam Deck or ROG Ally, you’d need third-party accessories like a stand and wireless controller, and the Switch’s flimsy plastic stand only works at one angle.

Because its controls are detachable, the Legion Go works as a Windows tablet when the controls are removed. You can even pair a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard with it.

As with the other handhelds that can play PC games, battery life can be quite short. The Legion Go can only run on battery power for about four hours maximum, and that’s with very conservative graphics settings. Playing games like Baldur’s Gate or Call of Duty will eat through the battery much faster — in just about two hours — but it’s enough to get through a short flight.

Platform: Windows | Weight: 1.34 pounds | Screen size and resolution: 7-inches; 1920 x 1080 | Screen type: LED | Storage: 256 GB; microSD card slot (1) | Battery life: 1-4 hours | Ports: USB-C (1)

The ASUS ROG Ally — the only other handheld on this list to come installed with Windows — is like a smaller Legion Go with a more gamer-focused design but fewer bells and whistles. It has a smaller, lower-resolution display than the Legion, and it’s a tad bit lighter. You can’t detach the controls, and it lacks a stand, but playing games works the same. Among all the consoles I tested, this one also has the best on-device sound: Audio sounds clear even at full volume, and dialogue is easier to hear than on any other device.

The ROG Ally is just as comfortable to hold as the Legion Go. Its buttons are responsive, and the joysticks move smoothly, but there isn’t a trackpad on either side, which both the Steam Deck and Legion Go have for more precise movement and cursor control. While I wish the Ally had removable controllers, I appreciate that Asus made its handheld light enough to not be strenuous on the arms. In fact, when I traveled with the Legion Go over the holidays, I missed the lighter Ally.

The Ally’s display looks bright, crisp, and responsive even in action-focused games. Its LED display doesn’t produce the same vibrant colors as the Steam Deck’s OLED display, but games still look good on it.

Performance on the Ally is similar to the Legion Go, as it’s powered by the same chip. That said, battery life is slightly worse. When playing less demanding games like Dave the Diver, I could squeeze just about four hours of gameplay out of the ROG Ally, but that dipped down to just over an hour while playing Baldur’s Gate 3. You can manage this by using lower performance settings, which are easily accessible via an on-device button.

Although technically the Ally, like the Legion Go, supports external GPUs for better graphics, it only works with one ASUS makes. It’s more expensive than other third-party options, and the Legion Go doesn’t have this limitation. And even if you do plug in an external GPU, you’d have to use the only USB-C port on the Ally, so you can’t charge it simultaneously. It’s also worth noting that there have been several issues with the ROG Ally damaging microSD cards, so it’s best to only use the on-device storage with this one. ASUS has announced a new console that will hopefully address this issue, and we’ll be updating this guide after I’ve tested that model.

Platform: Not listed | Weight: 0.71 pounds | Screen size and resolution: 7-inches; 1280 x 720 | Screen type: OLED | Storage: 64 GB | Battery life: 4.5-9 hours | Ports: USB-C (1)

I’ve been playing games on my Switch since 2017, and have used it everywhere from the seats of San Francisco’s BART trains to an uncomfortable airplane seat to my couch. Since it weighs under a pound, I hardly notice it in my bag, and I can lift it out one-handed. While I do wish it had access to more AAA titles like Baldur’s Gate, the Switch is still my main travel companion, as I don’t have to keep a close eye on the battery like I do with the Legion Go or Ally.

Aside from an upgrade to an OLED screen in 2021, Nintendo hasn’t significantly updated its flagship console since its debut in 2017. That’s mainly a testament to the strength of its design. The screen — especially on the newer OLED model — still looks good, even if it’s not as sophisticated as some of the others on this list, and that’s because the games available on the Switch are designed to work well on it.

The Switch is the only way to play Nintendo-exclusive games, including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and old games from consoles like the SNES if you’re subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online (you can do this on other consoles via emulators, but the Switch is the only official way to play old Nintendo classics). You won’t find games like Elden Ring, but indie titles like Celeste and Hades are available and run just as well as on any other platform. There are over 10,000 titles in the Nintendo Store, so though it’s not as vast a library as Steam’s, there are plenty of excellent games to try out.

The Joy-Cons are light and easy to hold, and they can be snapped into a controller mold that allows them to be held in a more traditional grip. I prefer using Nintendo’s Switch Pro controller when my Switch is in its dock, but the Joy-Con controller mold works just fine.

The Switch is one of only two devices on this list to feature a stand, but unlike the Legion Go’s stand, the Switch’s is plastic and only works at one angle. It’s not nearly as stable as the Lenovo’s, and its angle isn’t the most convenient to look at. It’s better than not having one at all, but the stand on my personal Switch from 2017 is quite flimsy despite limited use.

Platform: Custom Linux | Weight: 1.47 pounds | Screen size and resolution: 7-inches; 1280 x 800 | Screen type: OLED | Storage: 512 GB | Battery life: 2-5 hours | Ports: USB-C (1)

Valve’s Steam Deck is not quite as versatile as the Legion Go, but it’s the closest a handheld console that plays PC games gets to feeling as polished as the Nintendo Switch thanks to its custom interface and direct integration into the Steam store. Both the Legion Go and ROG Ally, on the other hand, are complicated by running Windows.

The Steam Deck’s operating system is designed to boot straight into your games library, much like a traditional console. You can also easily navigate to the store and buy new games. Conveniently, Steam will tell you if the game is Deck compatible or not. The interface is the most elegant and easy to navigate of any console I’ve tested, and if you’re familiar with the company’s desktop software, you’ll be a whiz at getting around the Deck in no time. Even if you’re not, it won’t take long.

Just like with the Lenovo and ASUS, there are a ton of settings to tinker with and fine-tune your device’s performance; the Deck just has a cleaner interface and more convenient features. For instance, you can set a frame-rate cap on a per-game basis rather than having to fiddle with your settings every time you launch a different game. Games performed well on the Deck, including The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and Baldur’s Gate 3, but the battery usually lasted just shy of two hours. It lasted longer while playing games such as Stardew Valley and Terraria, and I could get just about five hours of gameplay with similarly resource-light games. That’s better than on the Ally or Legion Go.

Controls on the Deck are comfortable to hold, and the buttons are neither too mushy nor too clicky; in fact, they feel identical to the buttons on the Legion Go. Each side of the device has a joystick and a trackpad, a four-button array (directional pad on the left, letter buttons on the right), and two shortcut buttons on each side. The Steam Deck’s OLED screen is more pleasant to look at than the LED displays of the Legion Go or ROG Ally thanks to its brighter colors, but its lower resolution produces fewer details.

It’s mostly a strength, but the Deck’s direct integration with the Steam platform can be limiting as well. Without diving into advanced settings and installing things through funky methods, you can’t run games from outside the Steam Store on the Deck, leaving out things like emulators or games like Fortnite that aren’t on Steam.

Platform: Android | Weight: 1.02 pounds | Screen size and resolution: 7-inches; 1920 x 1080 | Screen type: OLED | Storage: 64 GB | Battery life: 10 hours | Ports: USB-C (1)

Cloud gaming has come a long way, and with a decent internet connection, you can stream AAA games like Fallout 4 from a browser. Logitech’s G Cloud doesn’t have the power of the ROG Ally or Steam Deck, but because all the games are running on a server, it doesn’t need it. Instead, the G Cloud runs a custom version of Android that lets you sign into cloud-gaming services like Xbox Game Pass or Nvidia Cloud Gaming. That means you’ll need to be online in order for this device to play games usually restricted to more powerful consoles. But because it runs Android, you can also install games from the Google Play Store for offline play, like Stardew Valley and Hades (via a Netflix subscription), and you can pop in an SD card to store more media than the onboard 64GB can hold.

You won’t be able to see as many details on the G Cloud’s 1080p screen as you would on the Legion Go, but this console’s resolution is higher than that of the rest of the consoles I’ve tested, and even playing games over the web, it looked great as long as my connection remained stable.

My favorite thing about using cloud-gaming services is that, unlike when playing games from a store like Steam, you don’t have to wait for things to download. That, of course, means you’ll need an internet connection whenever you want to play, but it’s nice being able to launch a game for the first time without having to wait two hours for a 60 GB file to download over Wi-Fi.

Battery life on the G Cloud lasts hours longer than that of any other non-Switch console I tested, maxing out at about ten hours.

Removable controllers aren’t necessary for a portable console, but the G Cloud is one I do wish had them. Since it runs Android, it could be used as an Android tablet, and you can install apps like Netflix or the Kindle app, but because the controls are fixed in place, the G Cloud is hard to hold when doing anything other than gaming.

If you’re looking for a large-screen device that’ll let you stream games from the cloud, no device does that in a more straightforward way than the G Cloud. You can access the same cloud services from the Legion Go or ROG Ally, but they’re more expensive and their batteries won’t last as long performing the same activities. The G Cloud will also work with any emulators that are on the Google Play Store, and since it’s lighter than the Steam Deck, Legion, and Ally, it’ll serve as a better emulation machine than any of them.

Platform: iOS, Android | Weight: 0.3 pounds | Screen size and resolution: N/A | Screen type: N/A | Storage: N/A | Battery life: N/A | Ports: N/A

Dedicated consoles are the best way to play games, but if you need something lightweight and don’t want to add another device to your bag, the Backbone One can turn any iPhone or Android phone into a Switch-like gaming device. The controller slides out so you can dock your phone into it (there are USB-C and Lightning versions of the Backbone), and it stays securely in place until you remove it. This controller doesn’t have any batteries — all the controls are powered by the phone — and there’s no pairing necessary, just dock and play.

Like with the G Cloud, using your phone will allow you to access any games on the App Store or Google Play Store, all while taking up less space. If you’re using an iOS phone, though, cloud gaming is a bit trickier as you can’t install an app for any of the cloud-gaming services directly onto your device. Instead, you’ll have to access and play the games through Safari. It works, but it’s not as nice of an experience.

Mobile gaming won’t give you access to the same level of games as a true console, but there are plenty of games on iOS and Android that are just as good as some games you can find on Steam, Xbox, or Playstation. (The iOSgaming subreddit has some particularly thorough roundups if you need some guidance). You can also install an emulator on either platform to play the same games as on the Anbernic, though you’ll have to find downloads of the games yourself.