Now’s the Worst Time to Get a Windows PC Gaming Handheld

Want to jump onto the PC gaming handheld train soon or upgrade your current handheld? You ought to wait a few months because the current crop of PC handhelds is getting long in the tooth, and 2025 should be a huge year for handheld gaming PCs, with all kinds of exciting stuff happening.

Next-gen Handheld APUs Are Coming Early Next Year

The main reason why I advise you to wait is because we’re getting next-gen handheld APUs early next year. Technically, Intel’s Lunar Lake lineup is already here, but we most likely won’t see a handheld device sporting a Lunar Lake SKU until January 2025, when MSI is slated to launch its next-gen MSI Claw 8 AI+ (looks like “AI” has officially become the latest fad in consumer tech branding) around CES 2025, which takes place at the beginning of January.

Considering the level of confidence Intel has in Lunar Lake’s gaming capabilities—the number of games shown on the slide below strongly suggests Intel has a lot of faith in its new iGPU—the fact that its Arc 140V iGPU found in premium Lunar Lake chips is noticeably faster than AMD’s current top-end model, the Radeon 890m, and the preliminary data impressive battery life and outstanding efficiency, I’m confident we’re going to see a lot of handhelds powered by Lunar Lake chips. All I ask from Intel is to get better at GPU drivers.

AMD is also preparing to launch its next-gen handheld gaming chip, the Z2 Extreme, in early 2025. The launch window suggests the announcement could come during CES 2025, with the first devices sporting the Z2 Extreme being unveiled at the same time.

In other words, we’re going to get a bunch of PC gaming handhelds in less than half a year, so if you can wait that long to begin your handheld journey, do it. If you’re looking to upgrade your current handheld, there’s really no reason to do so before the next-gen lineup powered by Lunar Lake and the Z2 Extreme lands.

The Rest of the 2024 Handheld PC Lineup is Anything But Exciting

There’s little reason to upgrade if you own an ROG Ally or any other Windows gaming handheld. The ROG Ally X has more memory than most other mainstream PC handhelds and a massive, 80Whr battery. But 24GB of RAM doesn’t improve gaming performance in games where the regular Ally already struggles. Star Wars Outlaws is outright unplayable on the ROG Ally, and the situation’s not much better on the X. The extra memory prevents sub-10FPS stutters, but the average performance is about the same.

Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 fares better, but, again, more memory won’t magically make the Z1 Extreme, found both in the OG Ally and the Ally X, faster in games. The Ally X’s huge battery upgrade can be a reason enough to switch, but only if you use your handheld almost exclusively away from outlets. That said, getting a power bank is much cheaper than shelling out big bucks for the Ally X, considering you’ll only see a couple more frames in games on average compared to the original.

As for the rest of the 2024 handheld gaming PC lineup, it’s pretty dull. The Zotac Zone has some cool features, such as adjustable Hall Effect triggers and thumbsticks, dual USB 4 ports, an HDR-capable OLED screen, and dual trackpads. On the flip side, the thing packs only 16GB of RAM, which is not enough for a premium PC gaming handheld in 2024, and the now quite anemic Ryzen 7 8840U, which has the same gaming performance as the Z1 Extreme. If the Zone were more affordable, that would be a solid set of specs, but the $799 MSRP makes it too expensive to compete with the Ally X and the gang.

Finally, we’re also getting the first handheld from Acer, the Nitro Blaze 7 (Wow, these names are something else), which also doesn’t excite much. We’re again getting only 16GB of RAM and a Ryzen 7 8840HS, which gobbles more power than the Z1 Extreme and its counterparts, the Ryzen 7 7840U and 8840U. At least you’re getting a 16 TOPS NPU, which is pretty much useless since Microsoft asks for at least 40 TOPS of AI performance for a PC to be Copilot Plus capable, but hey, now you can slap “AI” all over promotional materials.

Aside from the nice 144Hz IPS display with FreeSync Premium support and dual USB 4 ports, the rest of the Nitro Blaze 7 is run-of-the-mill. Then you’ve got a 50Whr battery, a downright irrational choice for a handheld powered by a power-hungry laptop CPU. There’s also strong evidence that the device is a rebrand of a Chinese handheld, the Terrans Force Handle 7, making the Nitro Blaze 7 even less exciting.

In other words, there’s no reason to get any of the upcoming 2024 PC handhelds and little reason to upgrade your current handheld to the ROG Ally X. It’s better to just wait and get a massively more powerful device in early 2025.

Current Gaming Handhelds Struggle With Recent AAA Titles

Lastly, if you’re interested in AAA gaming, I strongly advise waiting for 2025’s PC gaming handheld lineup. The current devices struggle with recent AAA games, especially the Steam Deck OLED and LCD, which pack a now pretty dated 4-core Zen 2 CPU. Don’t get me wrong, the Steam Deck is still an excellent handheld, but not a AAA gaming machine.

For example, as already noted, Star Wars Outlaws is unplayable on the ROG Ally and X, and the game doesn’t work at all on the Deck. Black Myth: Wukongis technically playable on the Deck, but the poor image quality and constant stuttering make the Deck experience quite unappealing.

Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 is another fresh-from-the-oven AAA title that runs at sub-30FPS on average on the Deck, especially during heavy action scenes where the Deck’s CPU is annihilated by the Tyranids. The situation with Ally is better, but still far from perfect.

To be honest, I don’t think the rest of the 2024 AAA lineup will run better on current PC gaming handhelds. Some games should run okay, such as Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which should be Steam Deck supported from day one, but heavy hitters such as God of War Ragnarök, Silent Hill 2 remake, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, and Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl will most likely run at sub-30FPS on the Deck if they run at all. The situation ought to be better on the Z1 Extreme and Ryzen 7840u/8840u devices, but even then, you shouldn’t expect a great experience beyond low graphical presets, an average of 30 FPS, and 720p or 900p resolution with upscaling.

So yeah, if you want to buy a new PC gaming handheld, wait a bit, if possible. If not, personally, I’d rather get a used device for less cash and then sell it once next-gen devices start coming out than spend a ton of money on a new and expensive handheld just to have it become obsolete in less than half a year. If you don’t own a gaming PC or console and really want a handheld gaming device, the best course of action could be to buy a used Nintendo Switch for less than $100, play the hell out of it for the next half a year, and then upgrade to a next-gen PC gaming handheld.