It's safe to say that the market for great PC gaming handhelds has absolutely exploded over the last few years. If that wasn't true before, it's definitely true following Computex 2024, which brought tons of weird and cool tech products. Even though the gaming handheld market is starting to get crowded, we saw four new devices announced at Computex. There are refreshed models, like the Asus ROG Ally X and MSI Claw AI 8 Plus. On top of that, there are all-new handhelds, including the Zotac Zone and the Adata XPG NIA. Are any of these actually worth caring about, or are the reliable ROG Ally and Steam Deck OLED still the two best options? To help you sift through the noise, we've ranked every PC gaming handheld announced at Computex from worst to best.

4 MSI Claw 8 AI Plus

After the first Claw flopped, MSI has a lot to prove

Photos of the original MSI Claw at a trade show.

We're starting this list off with the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus, and that might be surprising to some. It's true that, awful name aside, the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus looks pretty good on paper. This refreshed gaming handheld will be powered by Intel's upcoming Lunar Lake platform, has a redesigned cooling system, and an 80 Whr battery. All of this is expected to create a much better gaming experience than the current MSI Claw. There's also a bigger, 8-inch touchscreen and a second Thunderbolt port for better connectivity. In other words, the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus is the gaming handheld MSI should've made in the first place.

Still, MSI gave us similar reasons to be optimistic about the original Claw. The company still sells MSI Claw units above the price of the standard ROG Ally, despite the experience being considerably worse. Just about every review shredded the MSI Claw — maybe not at the level of the Rabbit R1, but it was surprisingly close. There's a reason no gaming handhelds before the Claw used Intel processors, it seems. MSI has to prove the Claw 8 AI Plus is a worthy competitor before we buy in again, and that's why it's the worst on this list.

3 Zotac Zone

A massive gaming handheld with questionable specs

Let's get one thing out of the way first: there's nothing wrong with the Zotac Zone. It's a solid gaming handheld with impressive on-paper specs and a competitive price tag. The problem is that the Zotac Zone doesn't really do anything to differentiate itself from the rest of the gaming handhelds on the market today. This late in the handheld race, you need to offer something new to stand out from stalwarts like the ROG Ally and Steam Deck. The Zotac Zone, with a 7-inch AMOLED screen and an AMD Ryzen 7 8840U processor, isn't that different from its competitors.

While the $800 price point isn't necessarily high, you get less bang for your buck with the Zotac Zone. For the same price, the new ROG Ally X gives you more storage, battery life, and memory. The Zotac Zone looks to be a good handheld — just not good enough to unseat proven devices.

2 Adata XPG Nia

User-replaceable RAM in a gaming handheld? Sign me up!

The Adata XPG Nia won't be for everyone, but you can't say it doesn't try anything new. This is a monstrous gaming handheld that sacrifices portability to offer a better gaming experience. Part of that effort includes the screen, which tilts upward for a better viewing angle. There's also user-replaceable memory, and this is a first on a consumer gaming handheld. This device uses LPCAMM2 RAM, so upgrades won't just be possible — they'll be fairly easy. The Adata XPG Nia is also set to use AMD's Phoenix APU when it arrives sometime in 2025. Of course, there's a good chance things will change along the way. For now, let's give props to Adata for innovating beyond what's already available on current PC gaming handhelds.

1 ROG Ally X

The best PC gaming handheld for Windows just got a lot better

Just like the Steam Deck OLED was a mid-cycle refresh to the Steam Deck, the new ROG Ally X is a slight improvement over the original ROG Ally. It's not a true successor, mostly because it still uses the same Ryzen Z1 Extreme chipset, and will provide similar performance as the first ROG Ally. However, just about everything else is improved. The ergonomics are better, there's a second USB-C port, it has more memory and storage, and provides longer battery life.

It's definitively the best Windows gaming handheld out there, and will give the Steam Deck an even bigger run for its money. You probably shouldn't upgrade if you have the first ROG Ally, but for new customers, the $800 price tag is fair. Out of all the handhelds announced at Computex, the ROG Ally X didn't have any real competition for the top spot on this list.

Is there such a thing as too much competition?

Competition is always a good thing, as long as it's the right kind of competition. We don't need a million ROG Ally clones, and that's what the original MSI Claw appears to be — and the upcoming Zotac Zone could be one as well. Instead, we need gaming handhelds to get weird. Give us features like tilting displays and user-replaceable RAM on the Adata XPG Nia. Make the removable controllers and integrated kickstand on the Lenovo Legion Go actually good. Come up with cool concepts like dual screens and built-in keyboards. The top handhelds at Computex either refined an existing product (ROG Ally X) or created something completely new (Adata XPG Nia). The others just didn't do enough to be worth caring about.