It’s raining gaming handhelds: What we saw at CES 2025

Is there such a thing as “too many choices”? If so, the recently concluded CES 2025 in Las Vegas was the perfect place for gamers around the world to see what device makers have in store for them in the upcoming year. If the amount of selection alone is anything to go by, this is a year of very tough decisions when it comes to gaming hardware as Nvidia’s RTX 50 series GPUs, a variety of gaming handhelds, and the next iteration of gaming laptops are everything. Ready to launch very soon.

As gamers around the world will struggle to balance that with the limitations of their paychecks, this week’s column takes a look at three portable gaming devices revealed at CES 2025 that are worth considering if you’re looking for a gaming handheld in 2025. Thinking about getting. You’re still scoffing at the credentials of gaming handhelds, so let me tell you how, with an M4 Mac mini and one of these portable devices, you may soon find your trusty laptop useless.

1.Lenovo Legion Go S and Go 2:

Lenovo kicked off CES 2025 by showcasing the world’s first third-party gaming handheld for Steam OS. Powered by a custom Ryzen Z2 Go processor, the Go S is expected to be more powerful than Valve’s Steam Deck’s current lineup and Lenovo has refined the design and feel of the device following feedback from the first Legion Go. As for the Legion Go 2, a prototype was showcased at CES, and the final product (set to launch in the second half of 2025) is expected to have not only improved internals, but better speakers, a revised cooling system, and a fingerprint sensor. hopefully. Sensor.

2. Acer Nitro Blaze 8 and 11:

Acer continues its experimentation with gaming handhelds as its Blaze 7 is followed by an 8-inch and a mammoth-sized 11-inch model. Priced at USD 899 for the 8-inch model and USD 1,099 for the 11-inch, the devices are expected to launch in Q2 2025 and will feature the same CPU, GPU, and RAM chips (Ryzen 7 8840HS/Radeon 780 M/16 GB ) are operated by. LPDDR5).

3. ROG Flow Z13:

Asus didn’t offer a refresh of the Ally lineup, but it did bring a successor to the Flow Z13. While the Flow may be considered a laptop, it’s basically a hybrid play device that’s 13mm thick and powered by AMD’s latest and greatest chip, Ryzen AI Max. Offering a QHD Nebula display with a 180 Hz refresh rate and GPUs going up to Radeon 8060s and 128 GB of RAM, the Flow 13 suddenly seems like a viable gaming handheld if one is considering the Nitro Blaze 11. Sound system with Dolby Atmos and Wi-Fi 7 It could be a future-proof gaming device but at almost double the price.

If none of these three devices catch your eye, fear not, 2025 still has plenty more in stock for you. With the inevitable arrival of the Switch (2?) and the expected refresh coming to the Steam deck, it’s harder than ever to make a choice. Speaking for myself, I can’t decide which device I should buy to replace my old Switch from 2019. For now, I guess I’ll just wait and see?

Related Articles

Back to top button