**Midlife Refresh: A Detailed Review of Gaming Handhelds**

I recently had the opportunity to run a looped f124 race at 720p and 50% brightness using mid power modes on various gaming handheld devices. The first device to drop was the Ally, which lasted for just 1 hour and 20 minutes. This was closely followed by the Legion Go, which took an impressive 45 minutes longer to succumb to the heat, lasting a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes. The MSI Claw trailed behind, managing a respectable 2 hours before giving up, while the Steam Deck OED (Open Edition) took a bit longer to fall, lasting a total of 2 hours and 15 minutes. The R Alx, however, proved to be the most resilient device, lasting an astonishing 3 hours in this grueling test.

The results of this test are telling, and they suggest that each device has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. While the Ally was the first to drop, it also managed to average the fastest performance over the course of the test. This is likely due to its optimized cooling system, which allowed it to maintain a consistent temperature even under heavy load.

The Legion Go and MSI Claw were notable for their relatively short battery life, but they still managed to provide an impressive amount of gameplay time. The Steam Deck OED's longer battery life was not enough to overcome its mediocre performance in this test, however.

For those considering purchasing a gaming handheld device, there are several key factors to keep in mind. Firstly, it is essential to choose the largest storage option possible, as even three or four games can quickly fill up an internal 512 GB drive. Expanding the storage capacity through microSD cards is also a viable option, but it will result in slightly lower performance and longer battery life.

Secondly, capping the frame rate to either 30 FPS, 45 FPS, or 60 FPS can significantly improve battery life, especially when playing older or less intensive games. This is because the device's processor will not be working as hard, resulting in reduced heat generation and energy consumption.

Thirdly, getting a big external power bank is essential for extending gameplay time on the go. These batteries can provide a significant boost to the device's battery life, allowing users to play for hours without needing to recharge.

Fourthly, having a dock for your handheld device can be incredibly useful. Not only does it allow you to prop up the device and access additional ports, but it also enables you to use your handheld like a desktop PC. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for gamers, who can now play games on their device while still being able to access additional peripherals.

Lastly, it is worth noting that streaming games from GeForce Now or Xbox Cloud Gaming is a great way to extend gameplay time without having to carry around your device's power bank. However, this method does require a fast and reliable internet connection, as well as a subscription to the relevant service.

**Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Gaming Handheld Device**

There are several tips that can help you get the most out of your gaming handheld device:

* **Use upscaling and frame generation tech**: More and more games are implementing AMD's FSR 2 or Intel's xCSS upscaling tech, which gives you more performance for free.

* **Use Steam's Big Picture Mode**: If you're playing games through the Steam Library on any of these devices, using Steam's Big Picture Mode can provide a much nicer UI experience than the default interface.

**When to Buy: A Discussion of Upcoming Devices**

The gaming handheld market is currently dominated by three devices: the Steam Deck OED, the R Alx, and the MSI Claw. However, with new chip technology on the horizon, it's likely that we'll see some significant updates to these devices in the near future.

Intel's Luna Lake processor, which was rumored to be announced earlier this year, is expected to provide a major boost to performance and power efficiency. AMD's Z2 Extreme processor, meanwhile, has been confirmed as part of their next-generation lineup, but its exact specifications have not yet been revealed.

Given that these new chips are unlikely to arrive until the second half of 2023 at the earliest, it may be wise for gamers to wait before making a purchase. However, if you're in the market for a gaming handheld device now, there are several excellent options available.

**Which Device Should You Choose?**

So, which device should you choose between the Steam Deck OED and the R Alx? The answer depends on your specific needs and preferences.

The Steam Deck OED is a great option if you're looking for a simple, no-frills gaming experience. Its UI is easy to use, and it provides access to a wide range of games through the Steam Library. However, its battery life could be improved, especially considering its relatively high price point.

The R Alx, on the other hand, offers more versatility and flexibility than the Steam Deck OED. With support for multiple operating systems and a wider range of storage options, it's an excellent choice for gamers who want to mix things up or try out new platforms. However, its performance in this test was somewhat mediocre, which may be a concern for some users.

Ultimately, the decision comes down to what you value most: performance, battery life, or versatility. Whichever device you choose, make sure it's one that meets your needs and provides an enjoyable gaming experience.

In conclusion, the gaming handheld market is constantly evolving, with new devices and technologies emerging all the time. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each device and following our tips for getting the most out of your handheld, you can ensure that you're always playing your best games on the go.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enjust buy a steam deck OLED right I mean beautiful OLED screen you get a terabyte of storage in the higher end model easy to use good value and it just works so is the steam deed the best gaming handheld or should you go for one of these guys we've got the MSI claw we've got the Lenovo Legion go the new Rog Ali X as well as the original Ally and also the original steam deck here four five of the main gaming handheld options and I'm going to run you through the pros and cons of each to hopefully help you figure out which one you should buy and if you do find this video useful a cheeky like And subscribe would be fantastic and also leave links to all these in the description below let's kick off with the steam deck and it's less of a question of why buy a steam deck and more why not because there are three big reasons why the deck is still top of my list for most Gamers out there and that's the gorgeous OLED screen the usability of running Steam OS rather than Windows 11 and also the price because this base model the original LCD version of the steam Tech OLED you can pick this up for £350 for a full gaming PC although I would argue the new steam de OLED with 1 TB of storage is actually the best value for what you get so essentially this steam Deco Leed was a midlife update which brought a ton of upgrades like faster Ram faster Wi-Fi the OLED screen with HDR much higher brightness and also Slimmer bezels a jump from 60 to 90 htz and also a much longer battery life but what it has kept is the same 800p display which does feel a little bit low resolution next to the competition and while performance is impressive and a good match for the resolution you will get a higher FPS in most games and more performance options on its Rivals the design is a bit boring it's got this sort of prototype industrial aesthetic all very plastic but basically they're all plastic what I do appreciate though is these quite chunky grips uh much more comfortable to hold and it does also come with a case if you buy the one Tab model so not the flashiest uh design in the world but it does the job it's quite functional but we do get a pair of touchpads which really helps in games which favor Mouse controls plus we get extra buttons on the back and also a Micro SD card slot there's also tons of accessories out there like larger grips external batteries and docks for turning this into more of a desktop gaming PC in a way it's hard not to compare the steam Deck with the switch because like Nintendo valves combined control of hardware and software in the game store mean it all just works Steam OS is fast and easy to use with plenty of settings to customize it and you can boot up and begin your games fast we get the deck verified system that letss you know how well games will run before you actually buy or launch them plus there's a control layer which Maps the deck's controls to each game and you can customize this yourself or find Alternatives made by the community the whole thing is just awesome and it takes a lot of the guesswork out of running games and the best bit is you don't have to jump into Windows to switch games or adjust OS settings although some games with launchers or anti-che apps can have issues launching on the deck because rather than Windows this runs Linux OS which also has a desktop you can access VI the power button and from here you can install apps like non steam launchers and it's a good way to get your existing libraries onto the deck so you don't feel quite so tied into your steam library and the steam store the downside is that Linux doesn't have quite the same widespread app compatibility that Windows does although definitely give em deck a try as it turns your steam deck into the perfect retro console emulator so Al together and also factoring in the price the steam de OLED is hard to argue with as being the best gaming handheld but what about its closest rival which I think right now is the brand new Alli X this is also very much a midlife refresh like the OLED was to the original Deck Over the original Ally and while the processor and the screen hasn't changed nearly everything else has and the refinements add up to make it a far better experience I mean we're talking double the battery size now 80 W hours double the storage at a terabyte 24 gigs of faster Ram a fullsize PCI 4 SSD for cheaper and also larger Drive upgrades quieter fans a new USB four ports so you can connect it to external gpus louder speakers and also faster 100 wat charging plus the controls and the grips have been improved for better comfort and I would probably say the speakers on the LAX are the best among all these handhelds the downsides though of The Lax are that it's a little bit thicker a little bit heavier compared to the original and also a little bit more expensive but there are two main reasons why you should consider buying the LAX and that is the battery life it is by far the best on test and we'll come to some benchmarks in a second and side by-side comparisons but also the fact that this is the only gaming handheld that offers a variable refresh screen to smooth out your choppier frame rates and it can make a big difference but most importantly it's that battery the allyx lasted over twice as long as the original Ally in my tests and in less demanding games with a capped frame rate you can comfortably get 4 to 5 hours but it also gives you the option of cranking the performance up to the 25 wat turbo mode without worrying that it will kill your battery life in you know 45 minutes now you'll get maybe an hour and a half but still it's like twice as long as the old one and that's just kind of shifted my expectation of what we should expect for gaming handheld battery life these all now need to catch up to the all X also the fact that we have more and faster Ram results in slightly higher frame rates or at least smoother frame rates across the board plus the Armory crate UI is pretty straightforward to use and you've got tons of customization options and so far it's been relatively crash free actually I think they bed out a lot of the bugs with the original Alli also a big update came to Armory crate which also went to the old one so I would say it's probably the smoothest least Bugg experience that you'll get on a Windows handheld downsides well it is more expensive this will cost you £800 same in dollars although I supect if it's anything like the original lii over the next few months we might see some good deals also still an LCD screen no OLED insight and For Better or Worse it does still run Windows now windows on handhelds gets a bad WP but it does give you the option of easily installing other game launchers or any of the millions of compatible apps on Windows I mean this can be a full desktop PC if you plug in a dock the trouble is navigating windows on a screen this small without a touchpad like the deck and Legion go it's fiddly it's unintuitive it's just rubbish still all windows handhelds are awkward and I've probably had the fewest issues with the all X also with a big boost in battery life the overall refinements it's hard to argue that this actually isn't the best choice now uh especially among the windows competitors but I wouldn't go as far as to say that the LAX is a steam deck killer because there's just too many advantages of this it's cheaper we have the Ola screen you get a case with it a lot of people just prer this Linux and Steam OS setup it's much simpler to use and far fewer crashes and bugs it's more of the iPhone of gaming handhelds versus a technically higher end Android phone just a quick note on the original Ali if you were thinking about maybe getting a discounted one because you can get this for about 500 quid now 300 less than the LAX and it shares the same Z 1 extreme processor same screen and a very similar design including the UI as well so there are some reasons to buy it but I probably wouldn't for around this price I would go with the steam de OLED uh and also there were some issues with earlier models so perhaps avoid getting a pre-owned one or used one because there was some micr SD frying issues with early units coming out on this they did resolve that eventually it's not an issue so far on The Lax but my biggest issue with this is just the battery life kind of sucks so yeah for that kind of money go for an OLED if you got a bit more to spend get the LAX so it's fair to say that Asus had a bit of a hard time especially at launch with the original Ally but also MSI they've had a bit of a tough time with this claw uh especially at launch because there were just tons of driver issues and the problem with most original reviews for this guy is that like a week or two later a Big Driver update came out which quite significantly improved performance actually uh I've seen anything from 7 up to 30% increase in performance just through updates it's clawing its way back shall we say and actually this is the only gaming handheld that runs Windows 11 as well to not use the AMD Z1 extreme processor this uses an Intel chip either the core Ultra 5 135h with 512 gigs of storage or the one I have here the faster Ultra 7 155h with 1 terab of storage so MSI have definitely C top but the frame rates are still genuinely lower than its Rivals especially in more demanding games and especially the 1% lows and a lot of the problem seems to stem from the graphics driver compatibility with each game which is why Shadow the Tomb Raider and a couple of the games were within one or two FPS of the other devices yet fortnite was half what I got on the other Dev devices and it is interesting that sometimes I'm not seeing any performance difference between balanced and performance modes which suggests we're just having optimization issues it's the Intel chip that just isn't that well optimized in this kind of Hardware it was a brave Choice from MSI and I would love to see an MSI claw 2 with one of Intel's upcoming Luna Lake chips which is supposed to boost the graphics the Intel art Graphics by like 50% so I would love to see that uh but for now the performance the stabilization the optimization on the claw does hold it back it's still Windows 11 though and we get msi's Center M app which is pretty good now even if it's not quite as slick as the others and the design has been pretty good as well and one advantage of this huge vent on the back here pretty much the whole back of it is a vent is that it does run cool and very quietly even on higher power modes the overall audio experience is actually really polished like the LX we're also getting a TTP 120 HZ screen although it doesn't support variable refresh rates like the Ali does but I like what MSI has done and I think over time this will keep getting better so it is still worth considering the MSI claw Ali X on the end then the MSI claw steam de OLED original Ally which means we now get to talk about the legion go this is by far the most unique gaming handheld and I kind of love it actually by far the biggest with an 8.8 in 16 by10 so a little bit taller IPS display meaning an almost 50% bigger screen area than the steam deck and 66% larger than the claw Alli and Alli X which just makes your games feel so much more immersive plus it has the highest resolution, 1600p and also the highest refresh rate at 144 Hertz but then it does still use the same Z1 extreme processor as the original Alli and also the Alx and actually I think with the Boos in Ram and the faster RAM on there you'll get a slightly smoother performance of The Lax and also as nice as this screen is it is still LCD doesn't have the benefit of OLED and also it doesn't have vrr like we get on the Allies but I have to say using Windows on this bigger high red screen is much nicer the touchpad makes all the difference for navigating around we get two fast USB 4 ports one on the top one on the bottom for flexibility but like the first gen of all of these basically the legion go did have some issues at launch again with drivers uh bugs crashes performance not being where it should be these are all basically first gen devices in an entirely new category only now are we seeing like 1.5 versions of a couple of them but now the legion go is Light Years better it's quieted the UI is great with plenty of tweaking options and power profiles although I did get games going into weird shaped Windows sometimes when changing resolution the grips are nice and comfortable the buttons feel good and of course Legion ghost party trick is its switch style detachable controllers although possibly my favorite feature is just the simple kickstand it's the only one with a kickstand it's very nice especially when you have the detached controllers and you can use them remotely what I don't like so much is that the extra size the extra weight means it does become less comfortable to hold for longer seses and also a little bit awkward to carry around it also needs a one terb option as well the 512 gig storage filled up in no time in my testing plus the SSD isn't the standard 2280 size so upgrades are a little bit pricier with fewer high capacity options I also don't think the sound quality is quite as good as the others thanks to the speakers being on the top rather than facing towards you and the battery life was well second from bottom here only beating the original Ally still though I really like the legion go it just off for something a little bit different uh that you're doing get on the rivals the detachable controls the flip stand just the sheer size and beauty of this screen although as I say again it's not OLED or vrr so I really like the legion go genuinely do I think with the detachable controls the kickstand the size of that screen uh having a touchpad here the UI it's a much nicer experience than when it was at launch really really good allrounder the problem is among all of these is that I'm just now a bit spoiled by the battery life on the LAX now while I do have six G gaming handheld on the table in front of me here there are other options for example the AO neocon is an absolute Beast with its 8.4 in screen dual trackpads and it kind of feels like a steam deck XL only much much more expensive still it looks great and I'd love to get my hands on one but I can't actually buy it here in the UK alternatively there's the Logitech g-cloud although this is more designed for streaming than gaming on it locally and if you want handheld gaming on a tight budget then maybe grab a controller for your phone like a backbone or a razor key sheep although that's not really the same thing is it I don't want to play mobile games uh speaking of gaming though while I have these here how do these compare in terms of performance and real world gaming well except for the steam deck the processors in these guys all have very similar levels of performance on paper at least and I tested each game using the 15 to 17 watt kind of balance mode and also the Circa 25 watt performance preset modes and most of the time frame rate difference comes down to the power limit or the ram speed or the cooling systems and the fan curves overall the Lix comes out on top by a few frames with the OG Ali A couple frames behind that on average and then the legion go behind that although the differences aren't significant but a few extra frames here and there does make the experience feel more polished the steam Deco lead is very well optimized being able to hit similar frame rates with its lower default TDP as the others at much higher power limits and it's consistent you're not seeing as many Big Frame drops and also support for FSR 2 and 3 and xdss in some games means even even though the steam dech OLED is technically the least powerful it's still a great gaming experience as for battery life well I ran a looped f124 race at 720p and 50% brightness using mid power modes the first to drop was the Ally at just 1 hour and 20 minutes then the legion go at an hour 45 followed by the MSI Claw at 2 hours then the steam de OED at 2 hours 15 while the r Alx achieved a heroic 3 hours so the Alx not only lasts the longest but is on average the fastest as well I mean obviously this is a midlife refresh we haven't had the benefit of that on the legion go or the MSI claw yet The Lax is a very tempting option we're nearly done I promise but just a few quick tips before I wrap up number one go for the biggest storage option you possibly can because after you've got three or four games installed you will easily fill up an internal 512 gig storage drive so either expand it with micro SD which you can that is certainly the cheapest way of doing it and it's kind of like having cartridges where you can have a bunch of games installed on different SD cards and switch them out you will get slightly lower performance slightly longer battery times because obviously the read and right is slower than internal drive but try and get the biggest storage option possible or expand it yourself afterwards tip number two and your battery life can be significantly improved if you cap the frame rate to either 30 45 or 60 FPS and if you are playing older or less intensive games then use the lowest power setting tip number three get yourself a big external power bank so you can plug in and use these for much much longer and also then you can take it out charge it separately and you don't always have to carry around with you but an external battery can give these guys a big boost to their battery tip number four have a look at getting a dock this can help prop up your handheld and also provides extra ports so you can drop it in and use it like a desktop PC and it opens up a whole new way of using it tip number five and while you can of course play all your games locally on these devices don't forget you can also stream your games from GeForce now or Xbox cloud gaming it is a little bit harder to access this on the steam DED definitely an advantage of going for a windows-based device having the different game stores and access to streaming apps and because you're streaming it it's not using the interal processor nearly as much so you'll get much longer battery life but of course you will need a fast and reliable internet connection and also these services are subscription based so you'll have to pay for them tip number six use upscaling and also frame generation Tech where possible because more and more games are implementing amd's FSR 2 or FSR 3 with frame gen or Intel's xcss upscaling Tech basically gives you more performance for free tip number seven and if you're playing a game through the steam Library age on any of these guys then use steam's Big Picture Mode because that puts you in basically the same UI interface as you get with a steam deck and is much nicer to use number eight and handhelds are great for emulating old consoles it can take a bit of time to set up but it opens up a whole world of older games and breathe that was a lot to take in now in terms of whether you should buy one now or wait a little bit longer well I think now's as good as time as any I suspect we won't see new devices from any of these companies until maybe the second half of second quarter of next year because we still need a new chip to come from either Intel with Luna lake or more likely AMD with say their Z2 extreme processor that's not even been confirmed yet so as soon as that's available then I'll have to build the units so there's no problem with buying one now but I can't finish this video without telling you which one I would buy I think if I didn't own any of these I was going to jump into my first gaming handheld I would buy the steam echoed it's much cheaper it's a really simple and nice UI lovely OLED screen but if battery life is incredibly important and you do often play games from other game launchers and you just want that versatility of Windows as buggy and slightly awkward to use as it is then I think the LAX is an equally good option I don't think either is better than the other they just give you slightly different things but what do you think which one would you go for and if you do own one of these let me know in the comments below what your experience has been like and whether you'd recommend it to someone else thank you so much for watching guys if you enjoyed the video a like And subscribe would be fantastic and I'll see you next time right here on the tech chatjust buy a steam deck OLED right I mean beautiful OLED screen you get a terabyte of storage in the higher end model easy to use good value and it just works so is the steam deed the best gaming handheld or should you go for one of these guys we've got the MSI claw we've got the Lenovo Legion go the new Rog Ali X as well as the original Ally and also the original steam deck here four five of the main gaming handheld options and I'm going to run you through the pros and cons of each to hopefully help you figure out which one you should buy and if you do find this video useful a cheeky like And subscribe would be fantastic and also leave links to all these in the description below let's kick off with the steam deck and it's less of a question of why buy a steam deck and more why not because there are three big reasons why the deck is still top of my list for most Gamers out there and that's the gorgeous OLED screen the usability of running Steam OS rather than Windows 11 and also the price because this base model the original LCD version of the steam Tech OLED you can pick this up for £350 for a full gaming PC although I would argue the new steam de OLED with 1 TB of storage is actually the best value for what you get so essentially this steam Deco Leed was a midlife update which brought a ton of upgrades like faster Ram faster Wi-Fi the OLED screen with HDR much higher brightness and also Slimmer bezels a jump from 60 to 90 htz and also a much longer battery life but what it has kept is the same 800p display which does feel a little bit low resolution next to the competition and while performance is impressive and a good match for the resolution you will get a higher FPS in most games and more performance options on its Rivals the design is a bit boring it's got this sort of prototype industrial aesthetic all very plastic but basically they're all plastic what I do appreciate though is these quite chunky grips uh much more comfortable to hold and it does also come with a case if you buy the one Tab model so not the flashiest uh design in the world but it does the job it's quite functional but we do get a pair of touchpads which really helps in games which favor Mouse controls plus we get extra buttons on the back and also a Micro SD card slot there's also tons of accessories out there like larger grips external batteries and docks for turning this into more of a desktop gaming PC in a way it's hard not to compare the steam Deck with the switch because like Nintendo valves combined control of hardware and software in the game store mean it all just works Steam OS is fast and easy to use with plenty of settings to customize it and you can boot up and begin your games fast we get the deck verified system that letss you know how well games will run before you actually buy or launch them plus there's a control layer which Maps the deck's controls to each game and you can customize this yourself or find Alternatives made by the community the whole thing is just awesome and it takes a lot of the guesswork out of running games and the best bit is you don't have to jump into Windows to switch games or adjust OS settings although some games with launchers or anti-che apps can have issues launching on the deck because rather than Windows this runs Linux OS which also has a desktop you can access VI the power button and from here you can install apps like non steam launchers and it's a good way to get your existing libraries onto the deck so you don't feel quite so tied into your steam library and the steam store the downside is that Linux doesn't have quite the same widespread app compatibility that Windows does although definitely give em deck a try as it turns your steam deck into the perfect retro console emulator so Al together and also factoring in the price the steam de OLED is hard to argue with as being the best gaming handheld but what about its closest rival which I think right now is the brand new Alli X this is also very much a midlife refresh like the OLED was to the original Deck Over the original Ally and while the processor and the screen hasn't changed nearly everything else has and the refinements add up to make it a far better experience I mean we're talking double the battery size now 80 W hours double the storage at a terabyte 24 gigs of faster Ram a fullsize PCI 4 SSD for cheaper and also larger Drive upgrades quieter fans a new USB four ports so you can connect it to external gpus louder speakers and also faster 100 wat charging plus the controls and the grips have been improved for better comfort and I would probably say the speakers on the LAX are the best among all these handhelds the downsides though of The Lax are that it's a little bit thicker a little bit heavier compared to the original and also a little bit more expensive but there are two main reasons why you should consider buying the LAX and that is the battery life it is by far the best on test and we'll come to some benchmarks in a second and side by-side comparisons but also the fact that this is the only gaming handheld that offers a variable refresh screen to smooth out your choppier frame rates and it can make a big difference but most importantly it's that battery the allyx lasted over twice as long as the original Ally in my tests and in less demanding games with a capped frame rate you can comfortably get 4 to 5 hours but it also gives you the option of cranking the performance up to the 25 wat turbo mode without worrying that it will kill your battery life in you know 45 minutes now you'll get maybe an hour and a half but still it's like twice as long as the old one and that's just kind of shifted my expectation of what we should expect for gaming handheld battery life these all now need to catch up to the all X also the fact that we have more and faster Ram results in slightly higher frame rates or at least smoother frame rates across the board plus the Armory crate UI is pretty straightforward to use and you've got tons of customization options and so far it's been relatively crash free actually I think they bed out a lot of the bugs with the original Alli also a big update came to Armory crate which also went to the old one so I would say it's probably the smoothest least Bugg experience that you'll get on a Windows handheld downsides well it is more expensive this will cost you £800 same in dollars although I supect if it's anything like the original lii over the next few months we might see some good deals also still an LCD screen no OLED insight and For Better or Worse it does still run Windows now windows on handhelds gets a bad WP but it does give you the option of easily installing other game launchers or any of the millions of compatible apps on Windows I mean this can be a full desktop PC if you plug in a dock the trouble is navigating windows on a screen this small without a touchpad like the deck and Legion go it's fiddly it's unintuitive it's just rubbish still all windows handhelds are awkward and I've probably had the fewest issues with the all X also with a big boost in battery life the overall refinements it's hard to argue that this actually isn't the best choice now uh especially among the windows competitors but I wouldn't go as far as to say that the LAX is a steam deck killer because there's just too many advantages of this it's cheaper we have the Ola screen you get a case with it a lot of people just prer this Linux and Steam OS setup it's much simpler to use and far fewer crashes and bugs it's more of the iPhone of gaming handhelds versus a technically higher end Android phone just a quick note on the original Ali if you were thinking about maybe getting a discounted one because you can get this for about 500 quid now 300 less than the LAX and it shares the same Z 1 extreme processor same screen and a very similar design including the UI as well so there are some reasons to buy it but I probably wouldn't for around this price I would go with the steam de OLED uh and also there were some issues with earlier models so perhaps avoid getting a pre-owned one or used one because there was some micr SD frying issues with early units coming out on this they did resolve that eventually it's not an issue so far on The Lax but my biggest issue with this is just the battery life kind of sucks so yeah for that kind of money go for an OLED if you got a bit more to spend get the LAX so it's fair to say that Asus had a bit of a hard time especially at launch with the original Ally but also MSI they've had a bit of a tough time with this claw uh especially at launch because there were just tons of driver issues and the problem with most original reviews for this guy is that like a week or two later a Big Driver update came out which quite significantly improved performance actually uh I've seen anything from 7 up to 30% increase in performance just through updates it's clawing its way back shall we say and actually this is the only gaming handheld that runs Windows 11 as well to not use the AMD Z1 extreme processor this uses an Intel chip either the core Ultra 5 135h with 512 gigs of storage or the one I have here the faster Ultra 7 155h with 1 terab of storage so MSI have definitely C top but the frame rates are still genuinely lower than its Rivals especially in more demanding games and especially the 1% lows and a lot of the problem seems to stem from the graphics driver compatibility with each game which is why Shadow the Tomb Raider and a couple of the games were within one or two FPS of the other devices yet fortnite was half what I got on the other Dev devices and it is interesting that sometimes I'm not seeing any performance difference between balanced and performance modes which suggests we're just having optimization issues it's the Intel chip that just isn't that well optimized in this kind of Hardware it was a brave Choice from MSI and I would love to see an MSI claw 2 with one of Intel's upcoming Luna Lake chips which is supposed to boost the graphics the Intel art Graphics by like 50% so I would love to see that uh but for now the performance the stabilization the optimization on the claw does hold it back it's still Windows 11 though and we get msi's Center M app which is pretty good now even if it's not quite as slick as the others and the design has been pretty good as well and one advantage of this huge vent on the back here pretty much the whole back of it is a vent is that it does run cool and very quietly even on higher power modes the overall audio experience is actually really polished like the LX we're also getting a TTP 120 HZ screen although it doesn't support variable refresh rates like the Ali does but I like what MSI has done and I think over time this will keep getting better so it is still worth considering the MSI claw Ali X on the end then the MSI claw steam de OLED original Ally which means we now get to talk about the legion go this is by far the most unique gaming handheld and I kind of love it actually by far the biggest with an 8.8 in 16 by10 so a little bit taller IPS display meaning an almost 50% bigger screen area than the steam deck and 66% larger than the claw Alli and Alli X which just makes your games feel so much more immersive plus it has the highest resolution, 1600p and also the highest refresh rate at 144 Hertz but then it does still use the same Z1 extreme processor as the original Alli and also the Alx and actually I think with the Boos in Ram and the faster RAM on there you'll get a slightly smoother performance of The Lax and also as nice as this screen is it is still LCD doesn't have the benefit of OLED and also it doesn't have vrr like we get on the Allies but I have to say using Windows on this bigger high red screen is much nicer the touchpad makes all the difference for navigating around we get two fast USB 4 ports one on the top one on the bottom for flexibility but like the first gen of all of these basically the legion go did have some issues at launch again with drivers uh bugs crashes performance not being where it should be these are all basically first gen devices in an entirely new category only now are we seeing like 1.5 versions of a couple of them but now the legion go is Light Years better it's quieted the UI is great with plenty of tweaking options and power profiles although I did get games going into weird shaped Windows sometimes when changing resolution the grips are nice and comfortable the buttons feel good and of course Legion ghost party trick is its switch style detachable controllers although possibly my favorite feature is just the simple kickstand it's the only one with a kickstand it's very nice especially when you have the detached controllers and you can use them remotely what I don't like so much is that the extra size the extra weight means it does become less comfortable to hold for longer seses and also a little bit awkward to carry around it also needs a one terb option as well the 512 gig storage filled up in no time in my testing plus the SSD isn't the standard 2280 size so upgrades are a little bit pricier with fewer high capacity options I also don't think the sound quality is quite as good as the others thanks to the speakers being on the top rather than facing towards you and the battery life was well second from bottom here only beating the original Ally still though I really like the legion go it just off for something a little bit different uh that you're doing get on the rivals the detachable controls the flip stand just the sheer size and beauty of this screen although as I say again it's not OLED or vrr so I really like the legion go genuinely do I think with the detachable controls the kickstand the size of that screen uh having a touchpad here the UI it's a much nicer experience than when it was at launch really really good allrounder the problem is among all of these is that I'm just now a bit spoiled by the battery life on the LAX now while I do have six G gaming handheld on the table in front of me here there are other options for example the AO neocon is an absolute Beast with its 8.4 in screen dual trackpads and it kind of feels like a steam deck XL only much much more expensive still it looks great and I'd love to get my hands on one but I can't actually buy it here in the UK alternatively there's the Logitech g-cloud although this is more designed for streaming than gaming on it locally and if you want handheld gaming on a tight budget then maybe grab a controller for your phone like a backbone or a razor key sheep although that's not really the same thing is it I don't want to play mobile games uh speaking of gaming though while I have these here how do these compare in terms of performance and real world gaming well except for the steam deck the processors in these guys all have very similar levels of performance on paper at least and I tested each game using the 15 to 17 watt kind of balance mode and also the Circa 25 watt performance preset modes and most of the time frame rate difference comes down to the power limit or the ram speed or the cooling systems and the fan curves overall the Lix comes out on top by a few frames with the OG Ali A couple frames behind that on average and then the legion go behind that although the differences aren't significant but a few extra frames here and there does make the experience feel more polished the steam Deco lead is very well optimized being able to hit similar frame rates with its lower default TDP as the others at much higher power limits and it's consistent you're not seeing as many Big Frame drops and also support for FSR 2 and 3 and xdss in some games means even even though the steam dech OLED is technically the least powerful it's still a great gaming experience as for battery life well I ran a looped f124 race at 720p and 50% brightness using mid power modes the first to drop was the Ally at just 1 hour and 20 minutes then the legion go at an hour 45 followed by the MSI Claw at 2 hours then the steam de OED at 2 hours 15 while the r Alx achieved a heroic 3 hours so the Alx not only lasts the longest but is on average the fastest as well I mean obviously this is a midlife refresh we haven't had the benefit of that on the legion go or the MSI claw yet The Lax is a very tempting option we're nearly done I promise but just a few quick tips before I wrap up number one go for the biggest storage option you possibly can because after you've got three or four games installed you will easily fill up an internal 512 gig storage drive so either expand it with micro SD which you can that is certainly the cheapest way of doing it and it's kind of like having cartridges where you can have a bunch of games installed on different SD cards and switch them out you will get slightly lower performance slightly longer battery times because obviously the read and right is slower than internal drive but try and get the biggest storage option possible or expand it yourself afterwards tip number two and your battery life can be significantly improved if you cap the frame rate to either 30 45 or 60 FPS and if you are playing older or less intensive games then use the lowest power setting tip number three get yourself a big external power bank so you can plug in and use these for much much longer and also then you can take it out charge it separately and you don't always have to carry around with you but an external battery can give these guys a big boost to their battery tip number four have a look at getting a dock this can help prop up your handheld and also provides extra ports so you can drop it in and use it like a desktop PC and it opens up a whole new way of using it tip number five and while you can of course play all your games locally on these devices don't forget you can also stream your games from GeForce now or Xbox cloud gaming it is a little bit harder to access this on the steam DED definitely an advantage of going for a windows-based device having the different game stores and access to streaming apps and because you're streaming it it's not using the interal processor nearly as much so you'll get much longer battery life but of course you will need a fast and reliable internet connection and also these services are subscription based so you'll have to pay for them tip number six use upscaling and also frame generation Tech where possible because more and more games are implementing amd's FSR 2 or FSR 3 with frame gen or Intel's xcss upscaling Tech basically gives you more performance for free tip number seven and if you're playing a game through the steam Library age on any of these guys then use steam's Big Picture Mode because that puts you in basically the same UI interface as you get with a steam deck and is much nicer to use number eight and handhelds are great for emulating old consoles it can take a bit of time to set up but it opens up a whole world of older games and breathe that was a lot to take in now in terms of whether you should buy one now or wait a little bit longer well I think now's as good as time as any I suspect we won't see new devices from any of these companies until maybe the second half of second quarter of next year because we still need a new chip to come from either Intel with Luna lake or more likely AMD with say their Z2 extreme processor that's not even been confirmed yet so as soon as that's available then I'll have to build the units so there's no problem with buying one now but I can't finish this video without telling you which one I would buy I think if I didn't own any of these I was going to jump into my first gaming handheld I would buy the steam echoed it's much cheaper it's a really simple and nice UI lovely OLED screen but if battery life is incredibly important and you do often play games from other game launchers and you just want that versatility of Windows as buggy and slightly awkward to use as it is then I think the LAX is an equally good option I don't think either is better than the other they just give you slightly different things but what do you think which one would you go for and if you do own one of these let me know in the comments below what your experience has been like and whether you'd recommend it to someone else thank you so much for watching guys if you enjoyed the video a like And subscribe would be fantastic and I'll see you next time right here on the tech chat\n"