0:24 I mean, what a difference a year makes.
0:26 In my previous gaming handheld buying
0:28 guide, I could really only recommend two
0:31 of these. It would be the Alli X and the
0:34 Steam Deck OLED. The rest were all a bit
0:36 well crap. But now we have so many
0:38 options with better performance, battery
0:40 life, more interesting designs, which is
0:42 great. More options to choose from, but
0:44 now it's even more complicated and which
0:45 one's the right one and why have they
0:47 got more expensive? Well, sit back, grab
0:50 your popcorn or confectionary of choice
0:52 and I will tell you which one you should
0:53 buy. I will also link all of these in
0:55 the description below. Just to clarify
0:57 though, I'm talking about gaming PC
0:59 handhelds. So, not your Switch twos or
1:01 your Backbone Pro for your phone or your
1:04 PS portal. Proper gaming PC handhelds.
1:06 From the Steam Deck to the Lenovo Legion
1:10 Go S to the uh ROG Xbox Ally and its
1:12 bigger brother, well, not technically
1:15 bigger, higherend brother, the LIX, uh
1:18 Lenovo Legion Go, of course, and even
1:21 the MSI Claw A8. And just like the
1:22 children I don't have, I like all of
1:24 them. Well, mostly, but for different
1:27 reasons. But as always, your pays more,
1:29 you get more. Faster performance, more
1:31 storage, longer battery life, and better
1:32 screens. But we'll talk about
1:34 performance and battery life figures a
1:35 little bit later in the video. But
1:36 before any of that, the first question
1:38 you need to ask yourself is, do you want
1:41 to have a handheld with Steam OS or with
1:43 Windows? With Steam OS running on the
1:45 two Steam Decks, obviously, and also the
1:48 Lenovo Legion Go S, well, one variant of
1:51 it. Everything else runs Windows. Now,
1:53 Steam OS is great because it's the most
1:54 easy pick up and play kind of
1:56 experience. It's easy to use. It boots
1:58 quickly and it's a great option if you
2:00 mostly play well Steam games and just
2:02 don't want to deal with Windows, which
2:04 is a bit of a system hog and really
2:06 finicky to use on a 7 or 8 in screen.
2:08 But the downside is you don't get
2:10 support for other game stores or game
2:12 pass. Although there are workarounds if
2:13 you're happy to tinker in Linux, but
2:15 also if a game isn't listed as Steam
2:17 Deck verified or compatible, then it
2:19 just won't work on any Steam OS device.
2:22 Although you can stream from Steam if
2:24 you have another gaming PC. Steam OS
2:26 does also have a Linux-based desktop
2:28 mode which isn't compatible with Windows
2:30 apps, but it does have tons of great
2:31 emulators and you can use this to play
2:34 old console games. Windows 11 on the
2:37 other hand is well Windows on a
2:39 handheld. And yes, it gives you more
2:40 options. It's more versatile. You've got
2:42 access to all the game stores. You can
2:44 also just use it like a regular PC. You
2:45 know, connect a mouse and keyboard, put
2:47 it, you know, as a desktop dock. It's a
2:50 proper full fat PC, but that also comes
2:52 with the downsides. Like, Windows has
2:53 more processes running in the
2:54 background, which can impact your
2:56 performance, your frame rate a little
2:58 bit. It's also just really finicky and
3:00 kind of horrible to use as a touchscreen
3:02 interface on a screen this small. And
3:04 what's funny with these new RG Xbox
3:06 allies is that they kind of try to hide
3:07 the Windows desktop behind the scenes.
3:09 It now launches into this full screen
3:12 Xbox experience mode, which really is
3:15 just a PC app, but full screen. them.
3:17 You can still access the full desktop if
3:18 you need to, but they're just trying to
3:20 hide away some of this clunk. Clunk.
3:22 It's a weird word, isn't it? Clunk. I've
3:24 said it too many times now. Clunk. It
3:26 sounds weird. Let's move on. So,
3:27 question two. How much do you actually
3:29 need to spend? And this does tie in a
3:31 little bit because generally the Windows
3:33 devices are more expensive than those
3:34 running Steam OS. The Steam Deck and
3:36 these Legion goss. So, let's go through
3:38 the pros and cons of each of these.
3:40 Starting with the most affordable ones,
3:42 the Steam Decks. You've got the LCD and
3:44 the OLED. While the OLED refresh is an
3:46 improvement, they're both getting on a
3:48 little bit now. Performance can't match
3:51 the newer, pricier models, the 800p
3:52 resolution has, well, half the pixels of
3:54 everything else here. But then picking
3:56 it up, pressing the on button, and it
3:58 just works. Steam OS makes everything so
4:00 easy to pick up and play. Setup is a
4:02 breeze, and while performance isn't
4:04 flagship level, it is consistent,
4:06 particularly on the OLED. It's
4:08 comfortable. You get two touch pads,
4:10 which most other handhelds don't, except
4:12 the Legion. They've also made it easy to
4:14 see if games are deck optimized or not.
4:16 Plus, some have special deck graphics
4:18 presets that run best. It's basically
4:21 the perfect starter PC handheld, and
4:22 ideally, you already have a healthy
4:25 library of PC games on Steam, but you
4:26 can also install other game stores via
4:28 third party apps like non Steam
4:31 launchers when you're in the Linux mode.
4:32 I think my biggest frustration with the
4:33 Steam Deck, though, is just a lot of
4:35 games don't run on this if they're not
4:37 verified or compatible or if they
4:38 require like a third party anti-che
4:41 software. So games like Battlefield 6,
4:41 even though they wouldn't run
4:43 particularly well on this hardware, they
4:45 simply won't work. The Steam Deck is
4:47 also only 15 watts and that's the same
4:49 plugged in or on battery. So while frame
4:51 rates will be consistent, you don't get
4:53 the high power modes like on some of the
4:54 others. And also the screen doesn't
4:56 support VRR when in handheld mode all
4:58 day long. I would recommend paying a
4:59 little bit more and getting the OLED.
5:00 It's a nice refinement and you're
5:03 getting a bigger, brighter 90 Hz HDR
5:04 OLED screen. more consistent
5:07 performance, 50% longer battery life,
5:08 better Wi-Fi speakers, thumbsticks, and
5:10 it's lighter. It's a big upgrade over
5:14 the LCD. Then we have the new Origy Xbox
5:15 Ally. And for similar money to the Steam
5:18 Deco, around $500, $600ish, you're
5:21 getting a cut down cut price version
5:23 compared to its well fancier flagship
5:27 brother, the Alli X. The problem is it's
5:28 really cut down, particularly in terms
5:30 of performance. To be clear though,
5:32 despite the branding and the fact that
5:33 it's written on it and it has an Xbox
5:36 logo here, this is not an Xbox handheld.
5:38 It's an Origy Ally 2 essentially. The
5:39 main difference really is that you
5:41 launch straight into this full screen
5:43 Xbox app and it's very good. You have
5:45 access to all your game launchers, Game
5:48 Pass, Xbox cloud gaming and settings.
5:49 So, because you're not launching
5:51 straight into the full fat desktop,
5:52 Windows is a little bit less of a system
5:54 hog. We also get the exact same very
5:57 comfy stretched out Xbox controller
6:00 design of its pricier sibling, the LAX.
6:03 Even the same 7in taintp 120 Hz 500 nit
6:06 VR display. In fact, every single RG
6:09 Alli has had the exact same screen. The
6:11 LAX, the original one, the Xbox Alli,
6:14 the Xbox LAX, all exactly the same
6:15 screen. There's been no improvement at
6:16 all. I mean, it's not the end of the
6:17 world. They're still very nice screens,
6:20 but next to a 144 hertz OLED like we
6:23 have on this guy, I feel like Asus maybe
6:24 could have done a little bit more there.
6:26 The cheaper ally also has half the
6:28 storage of the X. This is 512. That's a
6:30 terabyte. Although we do have a micro SD
6:32 card slot to expand the storage, and you
6:34 can open it up and actually switch out
6:36 the M2 SSD for a larger size, but
6:38 obviously you have to pay for that and
6:40 do that yourself. The cheaper Xbox Ally
6:42 also gets less RAM, 16 gigs rather than
6:44 24, and it's slower RAM. The battery is
6:46 smaller at 60 watts rather than 80.
6:48 There's no haptic impulse triggers,
6:50 which is disappointing. The big problem,
6:52 though, is that while this has the full
6:54 fat Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, the new
6:56 flagship top-end processor, this comes
6:59 with the Ryzen Z2A, and I'm just going
7:02 to say A stands for average. The Zed 2A
7:04 is the slowest in the Zed 2 lineup, even
7:06 below the Go with half the CPU and GPU
7:08 cores of the Zed 2 Extreme and even last
7:11 year's Z1 Extreme. Plus, the GPU cores
7:13 are slower and the turbo mode tops out
7:16 at just 20 watts compared to 35 on the
7:18 LAX when plugged in. Honestly, this is
7:21 closer to Steam Deck performance. And
7:22 battery life in my Cyberpunk test was
7:25 about 20 minutes shorter than the LAX at
7:27 1 hour 51. It can still play basically
7:29 any PC game. You just have to adjust the
7:30 settings and the resolution a little
7:32 bit, manage expectations. Just my
7:34 opinion. But if you do want one of these
7:36 guys with the comfortable controllers
7:37 and the Xbox integration, you know, you
7:39 just want an Alli 2 basically. Save up a
7:41 little bit longer. Wait for a deal or a
7:43 discount and get the full proper Alli X.
7:46 This is significantly better. Or if you
7:47 can find one, maybe go for last year's
7:50 ROG Alli X. It's the same display and
7:52 it's the Z1 Extreme chip and you can
7:53 probably find it on a quite a good deal
7:55 now cuz it's a little bit over a year
7:57 old. This is a much better buy than
8:00 this. So then what about these guys? The
8:02 Lenovo Legion Go S. And actually,
8:04 there's two of them. One with Windows 11
8:07 and this one that uses Steam OS. Think
8:09 of it like a supercharged Steam Deck,
8:11 which if we're being honest, is really
8:14 all any of us want. Both models have Z2
8:17 Go and Zed1 Extreme SKUs. The Zed2 Go is
8:18 slower but more efficient and more
8:21 affordable, starting at about £500 or
8:23 £650 for a Steam OS one. Now, here I
8:27 actually have two Z1E SteamOS GO S's,
8:30 and these are around £700 or $900, which
8:32 is quite a lot of money. But, as we'll
8:34 see later, the Zed1 Extreme isn't that
8:36 far behind the Zed 2 Extreme at the same
8:37 power limit. The funny thing is, I'm
8:39 surrounded by much more expensive,
8:42 better quote unquote handhelds. But
8:43 picking this off, it just feels like
8:46 what a gaming handheld should feel like
8:48 with great build quality and ergonomics.
8:50 We have adjustable triggers and even a
8:51 little touch pad right there. It does
8:53 feel like a cheaper version of the Goto
8:55 in terms of materials. Uh the touchpad
8:57 here is much bigger. We have the
8:59 kickstand at the back, detachable
9:01 controllers, the much bigger screen. So
9:03 yeah, Legion Goto, as we'll come to is
9:06 higherend, but I think for most people
9:08 and maybe myself included, even though
9:10 it's not quite as powerful, this may end
9:12 up being one of my favorites. And I love
9:14 this screen. It's 8 in, which I think is
9:17 the sweet spot size. Full HD plus 120 Hz
9:19 IPS, not OLED. And bear in mind, the
9:22 Steam OS version of the Legion Go S's
9:23 are a little bit faster in games and
9:25 have slightly better battery life. And
9:27 that better battery is useful because we
9:30 do have a fairly small 55.5Wh
9:32 hour cell in here, which is more than a
9:34 Steam Deck, but significantly less than
9:36 the 70 to 80 W hours we get on most
9:39 other high-end models. Battery life was
9:41 the second shortest on test. And the
9:43 fans do also get quite loud under heavy
9:45 load. So, it is not perfect, but I think
9:46 if you are going to buy one of these,
9:49 for my money, the Zed2 Go Steam OS
9:52 version is the pick of the bunch. It is
9:53 a fair bit less powerful than the Zed1
9:55 Extreme or Zed 2 Extreme, but it's
9:57 significantly cheaper and I think good
9:58 enough and actually quite a bit faster
10:10 >> So, then moving up to the Orig Xbox Ally
10:13 X. This is probably the most hyped new
10:15 handheld of the year, obviously with
10:17 that Xbox marketing behind it. But what
10:21 does the extra £300 or $400 get you over
10:23 the cheaper Ally? Well, essentially just
10:25 a lot more performance. You have the Z2
10:26 Extreme chip, which has, as I say,
10:28 double the CPU, double the GPU cores, 24
10:30 gigs of faster RAM, a terabyte of
10:32 storage, a bigger 80Wh battery. It's
10:34 black rather than white, which obviously
10:37 is faster. This USB type-C port is USB
10:39 4, which obviously is faster if you want
10:41 to output to higherend monitors or even
10:43 potentially plug in an external graphics
10:45 card. Asus obviously make their XG
10:47 mobile docks. We have the haptic impulse
10:49 triggers which make it feel a bit more
10:51 well visceral in your hand. But yeah,
10:52 most importantly, it's the chip, the
10:56 Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme. And in my tests,
10:59 it's between 80 and 100% faster than the
11:01 cheaper Ally. But it's not just about
11:03 performance. For me, this and also its
11:05 cheaper brother are probably the most
11:07 comfortable handhelds you can get. And
11:10 that's all down to these chunkier uh
11:11 controllers. It really is like they've
11:13 just taken an Xbox controller and
11:14 elongated it. It does make it a little
11:16 bit thicker than some of the rivals, but
11:19 yeah, it is by far the most comfortable,
11:21 at least for me. And you can play proper
11:23 AAA games at medium to high settings at
11:26 1080p, even in handheld mode. The leap
11:28 over the cheaper Xbox Li is huge. As for
11:30 battery life, I got two hours and 10 in
11:33 Cyberpunk using turbo mode. Pretty good.
11:35 Although a good half an hour short of
11:38 the battery life champ, the MSI Claw A8,
11:39 although mark that with an asterisk.
11:41 More on that in a second. But as is the
11:42 case for all of these, if you're not
11:44 playing AAA, you know, really demanding
11:46 games, simpler stuff, you'll get a good
11:47 5 hours out of this. And again, you can
11:49 expand the storage via the micro SD or
11:51 you can open it up and uh change out the
11:53 internal SSD. Although, quick sidebar,
11:54 if you are rocking one of the previous
11:56 Alli X's, I don't think it's worth
11:57 upgrading. I guess it's a little bit
11:59 faster, more comfortable to hold, but
12:01 this is still an exceptional device.
12:02 However, I would say if you're rocking
12:05 an original Ally, then yes, it's
12:07 definitely worth upgrading primarily for
12:09 the battery life. After the Steam Deck,
12:10 this was like the first proper gaming
12:11 handheld we had and certainly the first
12:13 one that was running Windows. The
12:15 problem with it was the battery life. 40
12:18 W hours. You got like 45 minutes of AAA
12:20 gaming from this. Awful. So, the step up
12:22 to the LAX was a big deal because they
12:23 double the battery and then kept the
12:25 same battery going into the new guy.
12:26 Although actually this does last a
12:28 little bit longer than the old X. But
12:29 before you click off the video and think
12:32 I'm going to go and buy an RG Xbox ally.
12:35 Well, hold up. Is the MSI Claw for an
12:39 extra £50 or so actually a better device
12:43 than the Origin? This is the MSI Claw A8
12:45 and it follows on from the Intelbased
12:47 Claw 8 AI Plus we had earlier in 2025,
12:49 but this new one uses the latest Z2
12:51 Extreme chip just like the Orig Liix.
12:54 Same 24 gigs of RAM, same terabyte of
12:56 storage, and an equally big 80Wh
12:58 battery. So, specs- wise, very similar
13:00 to this, but I do prefer the screen on
13:03 here. I love this full HD 120 Hz VR.
13:04 Now, I have some good news and some bad
13:07 news about this MSI Claw A8. Firstly,
13:09 the performance wasn't quite up to the
13:11 same standard as the Lenovo and the ROG
13:13 with the same Z2 Extreme chips using the
13:16 default AI engine preset. In a couple of
13:17 games, I was getting around 10 frames
13:20 pers less than its rivals. But the flip
13:22 side of that slightly lower performance
13:23 because I think it's running at a lower
13:26 wattage in that AI engine mode. We get a
13:27 longer battery life. In my Cyberpunk
13:30 test, the claw lasted 27% longer and
13:32 almost 30% longer than the Steam Deck
13:34 OLED while also achieving double the
13:36 frame rate. That's not bad at all. But
13:38 one thing I can't get over with the MSI
13:41 Claw, as impressive as this is, is the
13:44 design. It just feels so cheap and
13:47 plasticky. This is a very expensive bit
13:48 of kit. It's like in the same uh price
13:50 bracket as these top end flagship
13:54 handhelds and yet it feels like a $200
13:56 or $300 just
13:59 just
14:01 it's really disappointing. It might not
14:02 bother you, but it does make me hesitate
14:04 about recommending this simply because
14:06 it just feels so
14:08 cheap. Alternatively, there's the
14:11 Intelbased Claw 8 AI Plus. It's similar
14:13 money, but with a slightly different
14:15 design. And importantly, it has an Intel
14:18 Core Ultra 258V chip along with 32 gigs
14:21 of RAM and Wi-Fi 7, making it a better
14:22 pure Windows machine for more demanding
14:25 tasks. While the Core A8 with Z2 Extreme
14:27 is probably a slightly better gaming
14:29 option as it's more efficient, has
14:31 better battery life, and runs cooler.
14:32 Although I don't have the Intel version
14:36 on test, but if you have deeper pockets,
14:38 both figuratively because you need more
14:40 money to pay for it because it's more
14:41 expensive, but also literally because
14:43 it's the biggest handheld on the market
14:46 by some margin, then maybe consider the
14:48 Legion Go. This has all the bells and
14:52 whistles. Z2 Extreme massive 8.8 in 144
14:56 hertz full HD plus VRR OLED display,
14:58 detachable controllers with a kickstand.
15:00 Even the materials feel a lot more
15:02 premium. But as impressive as this
15:05 genuinely is, it has two Achilles heels,
15:07 as we all do, to be fair. The sheer size
15:09 and weight of this thing, and also the
15:13 price. Starting at £900 or $1,100 for
15:16 the cheapest Z2, 16 gig 512 model, but
15:18 really you'd want this one, the higher
15:20 end with the Z2 Extreme, 32 gigs of RAM,
15:25 a TB storage for £1,100 or $1,350.
15:29 For context, the original Legion Go was
15:32 $700. This has almost doubled in price.
15:34 So, unless you need the extra RAM or
15:36 want the best, biggest screen or can't
15:37 live without detachable controllers for
15:39 some reason, it's a bit overkill. It's
15:41 too expensive. It's too heavy. And the
15:42 Xbox LAX will give you similar
15:44 performance, similar battery in a much
15:46 more comfortable, portable form factor.
15:48 I also have to own up to a mistake
15:51 because in my review of the Xbox LA RX,
15:52 I actually did some comparisons with
15:54 this guy and I found that I was getting
15:56 like 10 to 15% lower performance for
15:58 some reason despite the fact that this
16:00 had more memory, the same Z2 Extreme
16:01 chip. I did all the driver updates. I
16:03 ran the test several times, different
16:05 power modes, RSR, and all that stuff.
16:06 Couldn't work it out. Turns out, as
16:08 actually some of you pointed out in the
16:10 comments, that the VRAM had been limited
16:13 to 2 GB by default. So, I had to go into
16:14 the BIOS and then change the allocation
16:17 of the VRAM up to like 8 GB, which then
16:18 did did make a sort of 10 to 15%
16:20 difference in performance, but I
16:21 shouldn't have to be doing that when I'm
16:25 spending $1,350 on a premium uh handheld
16:27 experience. It's a very strange but
16:29 solvable issue. So, the Legion Goto is
16:32 clearly a handheld for the enthusiasts,
16:33 people who want to tinker and have the
16:35 most flexibility and just want the
16:46 So, those are the main options if you
16:48 want a new gaming handheld. But let's
16:50 talk about performance. And I ran a few
16:52 tests at 1080p, although 800p on the
16:54 Steam Deck using high settings at their
16:56 highest performance presets on and off
16:58 battery. And in Cyberpunk, everything
17:01 with a Z2 Extreme was way out in front.
17:03 But here we can see just how much slower
17:05 that Z2A chip is in the cheaper Orig
17:07 Xbox Ally. And also the Steam Deck,
17:09 while consistent, is the slowest
17:11 overall, as you would expect. Although
17:12 the good thing about the Steam Deck is
17:13 you're getting basically the same
17:15 performance on or off battery. In Red
17:17 Dead 2, it was a similar story, although
17:19 I probably would drop the graphics a
17:20 smidge, maybe down to medium to get a
17:22 more playable frame rate. But again, the
17:24 Z2 Extremes are clearly the most
17:26 capable. In Battlefield 6, the Z1E
17:28 models were all pretty strong, but
17:30 there's just no catching the Xbox LAX
17:32 and Legion Go 2, although they did
17:34 suffer a bigger drop off when switching
17:36 to handheld mode. And sadly being
17:38 unsupported by Steam OS means it just
17:39 didn't run on the Steam Deck or the
17:41 Steam powered Legion Go, which was also
17:44 the case with F-125 where all the Z2E
17:46 models were pretty consistent, but the
17:48 others were oddly slow at times. This is
17:50 kind of where handhelds do still feel a
17:52 little bit new, like driver updates,
17:54 game support. It's all improving over
17:56 time, but it's still not a seamless
17:58 experience. But I think my takeaway is
18:00 while the Zed2 Extreme is the most
18:02 impressive, if you can find a decent
18:04 used model with a Z1 Extreme chip and
18:06 save a bit of money, for example, the
18:08 older ROG Xbox Lax, that's probably
18:10 going to be your best bang for buck. As
18:12 for battery life, well, you really have
18:13 to manage expectations with these
18:16 things. But clear winner, MSI Claw A8. I
18:18 think mostly because it's running a
18:19 little bit slower, lower wattage
18:20 compared to some of the rivals, but it
18:23 has a equally big 80wh battery. The
18:25 Legion Goto and the ROG Xbox didn't last
18:27 as long, although they did average a
18:29 higher frame rate. So, considering
18:31 frames per watt, they probably equal out
18:33 about the same. The Steam Deck OLED did
18:35 really well, but at half the resolution
18:37 and also half the frame rate of some of
18:38 the others. But unfortunately, the
18:41 Legion OS was the most underwhelming.
18:43 So, that is a lot of me waffling. Shall
18:44 I just get to the point? Which one
18:47 should you buy? Well, it's going to vary
18:49 for everyone. Different budgets,
18:52 different needs. I would buy the ROG
18:54 Xbox LAX, but for a thousand US dollars,
18:56 it's a lot of money. So, I think for a
18:58 lot of people, a better budget option
19:00 would either be the Steam Deco OLED,
19:03 which is this one, or the Legion Go S
19:06 with the Z2A and Steam OS as well. Both
19:08 have their flaws, but at that price
19:10 point, still worth considering. Thank
19:11 you so much for watching, guys. That was
19:12 a lot to take in. If you've got any
19:14 other questions, drop a comment below.
19:15 Links in the description. You can check
19:17 out my full review of the Orig and the
19:19 Lenovo right here. I'll see you next
19:20 time right here on the Tech Jab. Thanks
