The best Steam Deck alternatives in 2024

Despite the continually growing number of Windows handhelds, the ROG Ally remains the best Steam Deck alternative out there. While it doesn’t excel in any particular category relative to its competitors, ASUS’ system offers a gaming experience greater than the sum of its parts.

The ROG Ally is available with a choice of two processors, the Ryzen Z1 and Ryzen Z1 Extreme. While similar in name, these chips each boast markedly different performance due to their difference in spec. So much so, that we only recommend picking up models equipped with the Z1 Extreme, as the Z1’s value is considerably lower. If your budget can stretch to the more powerful CPU, though, you can expect frame rates that either match or exceed the Steam Deck.

Superior specs don’t stop at the processor with the ROG Ally, as it also comes with a sharper 1080p display with a higher refresh rate of 120Hz. There’s sadly no OLED option available, but its IPS LCD panel is about as good as you can get for this display type. Better still, this resolution is a sweet spot for performance and battery life, not putting too much strain on either front.

Out-of-the-box storage for the ROG Ally tops out at 512GB, but this can be easily upgraded with another off-the-shelf PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2230 SSD. You can add further space for games via the microSD card slot, but be aware that there are reports of the reader malfunctioning. ASUS has since deployed a patch that should have addressed these issues, so be sure to download any updates as they come, and exercise caution when playing particularly demanding games.

Taking inspiration from the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch, the Legion Go is one of the more ambitious and versatile alternatives to Valve’s handheld. With its detachable ‘TrueStrike’ controllers, built-in kickstand, and high levels of performance, the scale of its ambitions is only matched by the size of its display and chassis.

Featuring an 8.8-inch IPS panel, the Legion Go has one of the largest screens you’ll find on a handheld, complete with a suitably large pixel count of 1600p. Crisp as games look at this resolution, you need to prepare to downscale to 1200p or 800p as pushing up to 1600p can prove too much for the Ryzen Z1 Extreme, despite its otherwise strong capabilities.

Detaching the controllers from the Legion Go makes for a more relaxed portable gaming experience if you have the space to rest the machine on a nearby surface. However, the handheld also has ‘FPS Mode’, which transforms one of the controllers into a would-be mouse when combined with the included base which is useful for both games and light work.

Legion Space does offer plenty of customization but it’s much more fiddly than Valve’s offerings on the Steam Deck, but this could improve over time with future updates. The only other gripe that brings the Legion Go down a peg is its weight, measuring 854g, which can make it somewhat uncomfortable to use for prolonged periods.

Android gaming doesn’t get any better than on the Odin 2. While much of what makes this handheld so fantastic to game with comes down to its specs, its performance wouldn’t shine as much as it does if not for the work AYN has clearly put into the device’s delicious design.

At the heart of the Odin 2 lies a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, the same SoC found in the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Paired with at least 8GB of RAM, this combo naturally makes short work of even the most demanding Android games like Genshin Impact and Diablo Immortal.

The inclusion of Hall effect joysticks makes playing games on the Odin 2 a responsive joy, with nary a hint of drift. Annoyingly, the face buttons and D-pad don’t match up to the device’s joysticks. While they still provide a decent experience, some will find them uncomfortably small and they are prone to minor rattling.

The 8,000mAh battery provides hours upon hours of playtime and charging is easy and speedy thanks to support for 65W Quick Charge 5.0. The only real fault the Odin 2 has as a Steam Deck alternative is that you need to use cloud streaming services like Nvidia GeForce Now to play your library of PC games. Thankfully, it handles this task like a champ too.

Don’t let the size of the Win Mini (2024) fool you as this is one Steam Deck alternative that punches well above its weight, despite its size. Not only has GPD managed to squeeze plenty of performance into this lean machine, but opening up the clamshell chassis reveals a built-in keyboard and trackpad alongside its face buttons and Hall effect joysticks for a truly versatile system.

New for the Win Mini (2024), GPD has upgraded its display to include variable refresh rate (VRR) support. Despite its prevalence among gaming monitors, this feature is surprisingly rare among handhelds, with the Steam Deck and ROG Ally being some of the only other examples. In a nutshell, it keeps screen tearing at bay, regardless of your frame rate, making for a much smoother gaming experience.

Benchmarking the Win Mini (2024) reveals its surprising strength as a small but mighty gaming system. According to GPD, you can expect an average frame rate of 64fps in Forza Horizon 5, using the game’s ‘High’ preset. Of course, you can boost this even further by activating AMD FSR in games that support the upscaling tech.

The only major drawback of the Wini Mini (2024) is its price. Starting at $879 via Indiegogo, in lieu of Ryzen 5 8640U availability for now, it’s one of the more expensive Steam Deck alternatives on the market. However, an increased price for such a bespoke design isn’t a surprise and is something that many other handhelds on the market simply don’t offer.

It’s difficult to find a budget alternative to the Steam Deck but the Pocket 4 Pro is about as close as you can get. Costing just $200, it’s a surprisingly nippy Android handheld that can serve as a PC in a pinch through cloud streaming services. As its name suggests, it’s surprisingly great at retro gaming too.

Just because it’s relatively cheap, doesn’t mean that Retroid skimped on the build quality of the Pocket 4 Pro. Housed in its plastic chassis you’ll find a set of analog triggers and Hall effect analog sticks, which feel great across all genres of game but particularly shine in racing titles. While its 4.7-inch display is on the smaller side, as its 750p resolution, you can connect it to an external display and output 1080p video via its USB Type-C port.

The Pocket 4 Pro is one of the smaller Steam Deck alternatives on the market too, weighing in at just 251g, and with dimensions that make it genuinely pocketable in some pants. Naturally, this does make it somewhat unwieldy for those with larger hands, but most should find it comfortable to hold.

Given its price, you shouldn’t expect flagship-level performance but the Mediatek Dimensity 1100 SoC packs enough punch to see you through a bout of Android gaming and handles streaming with no problem. Just bear in mind that if you already have an expensive smartphone, you may already have a gaming device that’s just as capable as the Pocket 4 Pro, if not more so.

No list of Steam Deck alternatives would be complete without the Switch OLED, which emerges as our favorite version of Nintendo’s console for several reasons. The first, naturally, is its OLED panel, making it one of the cheapest devices to feature the display technology. Colors and contrast are simply sublime on this screen and make for a marked upgrade over more expensive LCD alternatives.

We suggest picking up the Switch OLED over the Lite as should you encounter any dreaded bouts of stick drift, you’ll only need to replace the faulty Joy-Con rather than the entire system. This does naturally increase the price, within $50 of the 256GB Steam Deck LCD, but the extra cost is well worth improving the longevity of your device.

One advantage the Switch enjoys over every other Steam Deck alternative is an ecosystem of physical games. Not only is a library of cartridges awesome to collect, but you’ll be able to sell them should you wish rather than be forever stuck with a digital license. However, the Nintendo eShop is ripe with downloads should you prefer.

It’s worth noting that we’re expecting a Switch 2 in the near future, which could see the Switch OLED and other models fall in price. However, until that time, Nintendo’s console remains the best handheld console out there.