(Image credit: Future)
Check out more of the year’s best tech in our PC Gamer Hardware Awards 2025 coverage.
This year has been a bit of a weird one for gaming handhelds. AMD’s mighty Strix Halo chip launched at CES, yet it’s too power hungry and hot to see its inclusion in anything we can actually use right now. AMD’s Z Extreme range is still going strong, though, with the Z1 Extreme making for a good mid-range handheld, and the new Z2 Extreme powering the surprisingly capable Asus ROG Xbox Ally X.
The Xbox Ally X had to do an awful lot to justify the very premium price point, but smart software, a comfortable fit, and excellent performance make it a standout choice for the 1% of the gaming world.
Despite its latest range of desktop chips being a bit of a letdown, Intel managed to put out some fierce mobile chips, too. The Core Ultra 7 258V powering the MSI Claw 8 AI+ seems to be one of the standouts, giving excellent performance. However, the chip isn’t the only thing that makes a device, and our favourite gaming handhelds of this year pack a punch in the look, feel, and battery life departments.
We didn’t see any new iterations from Valve in the hardware department this year, but other companies getting access to Steam OS means more bespoke Windows-less devices also made their way to market. Lenovo’s SteamOS-powered Legion Go S offers great performance, despite being on the older Z1 Extreme chip.
We saw companies like Ayaneo throw their hat in the ring with the Strix Point Ayaneo 3. This handheld comes with a very neat but odd modular control system that didn’t fully win our hearts over. Though not a PC, the implementation of smart DLSS in the Nintendo Switch 2 certainly bridges the performance gap, even if Nintendo is consistently its biggest selling point and its worst enemy.
As they say, cream rises to the top, and we’ve nominated the three creamiest best gaming handhelds of 2025, and we’ll announce which one takes the gold on New Year’s Eve.
Best gaming handheld 2025: the nominees
Lenovo Legion Go S SteamOS
Our Jacob said this Legion Go S was “almost exactly” what he was looking for in a handheld gaming PC. We still know that the Z1 Extreme is a bit of a banging chip, even if it’s getting on in age, and native SteamOS support means you can get even better performance out of it when compared to Windows. The one downside of SteamOS is not getting built-in support for some multiplayer titles, as Linux doesn’t play too friendly with many bits of anti-cheat software.
As well as this, over half a year later, the trackpad is still a bit disappointing. It lacks native support across the board, only working in a few games now, and it doesn’t stay on when not actively using it, so it all feels a tad messy. However, for its price, you are getting a comfortable and intuitive handheld that also just so happens to look gorgeous and runs very well.
Generally speaking, you can expect a few hours of play out of the device, often reaching between 30 to 60 fps in most games. It may not play absolutely everything (thanks, Linux), but what it can play, it plays well, with near top-tier performance under $1,000. SteamOS makes for a somewhat more console-like experience, but as we’ll see from our next pick, that’s not always a bad thing.
Read our full Lenovo Legion Go S SteamOS review.
Asus ROG Xbox Ally X
The Asus/Xbox collaboration needed to pack a real punch to justify that very high price tag, and our testing shows it has done just that. It is the best handheld to date, in pure stats, managing to place above pretty much everything else we’ve tried in gaming tests. Turns out the Z2 Extreme chip, with its upgraded RDNA 3.5 architecture and higher GPU boost clock, is no joke when it comes to games.
The ROG Xbox Ally X isn’t just a powerhouse, though. The Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) feature is a genuinely good bit of software, and the device itself is very comfortable in the hand. To top this all off, it’s also a really quiet device, even at turbo settings. The battery life is also solid, giving two hours in our gaming tests.
In fact, this handheld would likely be a winner without the need to compare it to two other devices if it weren’t just so expensive, and if it had a nicer screen. With the Xbox Ally X, we’re adding hundreds of dollars onto the price of competitors, and getting 5-10 average fps more. Of course, if you want the best of the best, the Xbox Ally X is a winner in other ways too, but that’s a lot of money to spend when you can get a marginally inferior device for a good bit less.
Still, Asus and Xbox have knocked their first gaming handheld collaboration out of the park, even if we mere mortals may not get our hands on it.
Read our full Asus ROG Xbox Ally X review.
MSI Claw 8 AI+
Intel’s mobile chips are a bright light in the middle of the dark cloud that is the rest of its CPU lineup right now. Luckily, that bright light is present in one of the very best handhelds this year. The Core Ultra 7 258V of the MSI Claw 8 AI+ sees almost identical scores to the Z1 Extreme in Wukong, but manages to surpass it and the Strix Point OneXPlayer OneXFly F1 Pro in our Cyberpunk tests.
Prior to the launch of the ROG Xbox Ally X, the Claw 8 AI+ sat jointly on the top of the podium for best-performing handheld. Now, it sits at around second or third, which is still a great showing for MSI’s handheld, especially so given it’s cheaper than the ROG Xbox Ally X.
So we know it performs well, but the Claw 8 AI+ also comes with a luscious 8-inch screen that combines with two hours of battery life to become a lovely device on the go. As is the case with all three nominations this year, it’s got a comfortable build too, which should help to counteract that almost 800 g weight.
Read our full MSI Claw 8 AI+ review.
Each of these three gaming handhelds offers different things at different price points, and they have all earned their nomination. It seems like budget gaming handhelds didn’t really get a word in edge ways this year, which we’re hoping isn’t a trend next year. Nonetheless, only one can take the win, and we’ll let you know who does on New Year’s Eve.
