War of the handhelds

Anyone into gaming knows about the Steam Deck which has been available for most of the world since February 2022 Yet it has not made its debut in India Valversquos Steam Deck has kicked off the Portable PC War and from that one device we now have multiple devices that are as similar as much as they are different So far from all the handheld gaming PCs released worldwide only the ROG Ally has made it to our shores albeit in minuscule quantities However with the international market gearing up to release even more handheld gaming PCs this year we will have a trickledown effect I think we will also see a few more handhelds launched in India Here are players that have the likelihood of launching something soonROG Ally XLaunch likelihood LaunchedSince the ROG Ally Z1 Extreme was launched in India last year at a competitive price we can expect it to launch this year in limited quantities The ROG Ally X from early reviews seems to have squashed all the prevalent problems with the previous device and doubled the battery life On the inside the logic board has been redesigned to support a larger 2280 NVME drive that is user upgradable with which you can have up to 4TB on the device The core processor is still the same Ryzen Z1 extreme but instead of 16GB the new device has 24GB RAM which means more shared memory for your handheld I got comfortable with the device for a significant amount of time it is much more userfriendly than the previous generation The device is already supported by Bazzite OS giving it a Steam Decklike experience Valve has also announced support for the ROG Ally making it a valuable deviceZotac ZoneLaunch likelihood Medium ProbabilityZotac Zone takes the ROG Ally X and smashes it with a Steam Deck OLED Zotac Zone is an impressive device It has an almost identical processor to the Z1 Extreme I canrsquot tell much difference as the specifications are practically identical However the device is limited to 16GB RAMmdashsoldered to the board However like the Steam Deck it has awesome dual trackpads a nice OLED screen and hall effect buttons and joysticks making them durable Not to mention there are extra programmable buttons at the back The device is extremely comfortable and balanced making it seem lighter than it is However since it was only recently launched there is no support from Bazzite OS or support from SteamOS The battery life is also half as long as the new ROG Ally X which puts it at a slight disadvantage However going by the international price it is very competitively priced and if launched in India it would make it very hard for buyers to choose Like ASUS Zotac has significant clout in the Indian market and is known for its lowcost highperforming GPU cardsLenovo Legion GoLaunch Likelihood High probabilityThe Legion Go was shown off at one of Lenovorsquos recent events in India but the company has been slow to launch even as its global counterpart gears up to launch a second iteration of the device As a gaming device the Legion has some significant advantages It has a much larger screen at 88 inches You can disconnect the controllers similar to a Nintendo Switch and use them in FPSmouse mode which gives you an advantage in FPS games While it runs the same processor as the ROG Ally and Ally X it has only 16GB of RAM and costs a little under the new Ally X internationally We donrsquot know what the price for India will be Considering how long they are taking to launch the device it has to be priced significantly lower than the ROG Ally X to be considered Like the Ally X the Go is supported by Bazzite and has a significant fan following thanks to its larger screen and detachable controllers The launch probability is high but I would wait for the second iteration The current model should launch cheaper than the ROG Ally XAcer Nitro Blaze 7Launch likelihood Low probabilityAcer showed off the Nitro Blaze 7 at IFA 2024 marking its entry into the handheld gaming market Powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor It has a 7inch Full HD touchscreen with a 144Hz refresh rate It will have storage options of up to 2TB and the 16GB of LPDDR5x memory ensures everything runs smoothly whether yoursquore gaming or multitasking Weighing in at just 670g the Nitro Blaze 7 can be carried anywhere but it doesnrsquot skimp on connectivity offering WiFi 6E and USB4 for fast transfers The probability of this device showing up in India is low but you never knowMSI Claw 8 AILaunch likelihood Low probabilityThe MSI Claw 8 AI first showcased at Computex and later at Intelrsquos event at IFA Berlin stands out as the only Windowspowered Intelbased device in its class The Claw 8 AI is set to run on Intelrsquos latest Lunar Lake CPUs which promises enhanced graphics and better battery life compared to AMDrsquos Ryzen chips this is according to Intel The device features an 8inch 1920x1200 display with a 120Hz refresh rate and VRR an Intel Core Ultra 200 ldquoLunar Lakerdquo processor and a sizable 80Whr battery It also includes two Thunderbolt 4 ports a microSD card reader and an audio combo jack with MSIrsquos Center M 20 for control While MSI enjoys strong brand recognition in markets like India they did not release the previous Claw model here and seem to face challenges in gaining traction with Intel as a partner Still this device could find Intel loyalists especially if it is priced competitively