Below we are going to list what, from our point of view, are the best portable consoles that you can buy today, taking into account the points that we have highlighted in the previous section. There are actually many models on the market from different manufacturers, but it is true that not all of them have had the same success for different reasons and, therefore, we are going to limit ourselves to the best-known and most successful ones.
That being said, here we go with the best portable consoles today.
nintendo switch
Being the leader for several generations, the nintendo switch It becomes a perfect solution for those people looking for a console to play the various titles offered by the Japanese company. This platform has been one of the most recognized in recent years, and surely when the new version of this model comes out, it will continue with the legacy that the Switch has maintained for so long.
In terms of portability, it is one of the best there is, since in the end its size is not excessively large, making the playability much more comfortable than others that we can find. And it is not only about the way we can use it with the controllers connected, since if we disconnect them and rest the game console on a table or a stable surface, we can play without needing to hold it, which offers a great variety to the game. time to use it.
If we talk about hardware, it is clear that the nintendo switch It is not an extremely powerful console, in the end it is a platform that is already old, but it is still capable of running many high-requirement games, although the quality is affected. In short, it is a great video game console, which offers a fairly wide variety of games, extremely portable and comfortable to use, offering a usage time of up to 9 hours, and it is also one of the cheapest on the market.
Valve Steam Deck
There was a time when Steam set out to promote their own console, with an operating system based on their platform to buy video games, and after a period of development, they created the Steam Decka device that offers portability and compatibility with all games Steam. It is a video game console that sought to provide a portable solution for those mainly PC players, who wanted to take their favorite games anywhere without losing any progress they had.
It is in this way that it quickly became a platform desired by many people, and honestly it has not been that long since it was launched, so the hardware it contains could be described as relatively new. This implies that it is capable of playing many of the games on the platform fluidly, with great performance, although it is clear that there are differences between versions, since the OLED model offers superior features, such as an improvement in the battery. , the screen and so on.
It is a portable device, which due to its design can be a little uncomfortable on certain occasions, but which perfectly meets the requirements that a portable console needs. In terms of battery, it is not extremely powerful, by this we mean the fact that it lasts relatively little, since in the end it depends on the type of game we use, but as a rule, the specifications themselves indicate that the new version has a battery life of between 3 and 12 hours.
ASUS ROG Ally
Like other companies, when it was established as a necessity to create a console that allowed us to play as if we had a computer, asus started with his project, the ROG Allya video game console similar to the Steam Deck. In this case, we can refer to this console as a laptop with integrated controls, since in the end it is a model that integrates a Windows 11 operating system, so technically it is a platform that we can compare with a computer .
It is a video game console that came to face a challenge, being able to play any game with high graphics in a stable way, and it has certainly managed to position itself as one of the best when it comes to performance. In the end it is a miniature computer, since thanks to the AMD Ryzen Z1 that it incorporates along with all its other components, it is capable of offering great visual quality without losing too many FPS, but taking into account that it has an OS that In general, it consumes a lot, it is normal that part of the power is allocated to it.
In terms of battery, it is a big problem, since it offers a similar autonomy to the Steam Deck, but since it is a device that incorporates much more powerful components, it can be completely downloaded in a short time. After several tests, in games that require a large amount of resources the battery of this game console does not usually last more than an hour, but in the end it is what we can expect when we play a next-generation title with the graphics at maximum.
Lenovo Legion Go
like the ROG Allythe Legion Go of Lenovo arose as a direct competition against the Steam DeckIn general terms we can compare it with the Asus game console, since in the end it has the same objective, to create a laptop with built-in controls. The appearance of this console is similar to that of the ROG Allybut it has an improvement that makes its playability and usefulness similar to that of the Switch, since the controls of this device can also be removed, allowing it to be used in the same way as the console. Nintendo.
As for hardware, we really can’t explain much either, since it is a model that could be defined as a higher version than the ROG Ally, since it incorporates the same processor, but with slightly faster RAM. Where we can see a big change is in the screen, since it offers 8.8 inches with a resolution of 2560×1600, being much superior to what the others we have seen offer.
The problem we may encounter is, although it may not seem like it, power, since in the end it is a device that has an integrated battery, so the more powerful the components, the faster the battery will discharge. If, in addition to the hardware itself, we add that the screen has a really high resolution, we can imagine that trying to play any latest generation title to the maximum and with the best quality is possible, as long as we have the charger on hand to connect it. hourly.
Ayaneo and its many portable consoles
On the other hand, we have the manufacturer Ayaneoof which we must highlight that they do not have a single console that represents a specific model, since they have several completely different types, from some cheaper ones, to real beasts that can cost more than €1000 and that are undoubtedly among the best consoles laptops that can be purchased.
They have a wide variety of models and generally offer various purposes, but in this case we are going to focus on the Ayaneo KUN and in one of his latest releases, the Ayaneo Flip DS.
In terms of performance, both consoles are similar, since they incorporate the same hardware that we can configure depending on our budget, since we can choose models that incorporate 16, 32 or 64 GB of RAM, as well as 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB or 4 TB of storage. As for the appearance, it is completely different, since while the KUN version offers a similarity to the Steam Deckthe Ayaneo Flip DS It is, as its name indicates, a replica of the nintendo dsbut adapted to state-of-the-art hardware.
It should be noted that in the end these are computer-based consoles, which seek to offer the best possible quality, and although they have great power, the use of the battery is similar to what we can find in the ROG Ally and the Lenovo Go by playing at the highest level of quality possible. Although it should be noted that even so, the specifications indicate that this should last a little longer than those mentioned, since technically it is better than what the consoles offer. Lenovo and asus.
Anbernic RG35XX
There is also a model for those people who only want to play retro video games, although there are many other ways to do this, such as emulators, we can directly buy a console that directly has everything we need incorporated to replicate a console. game boy. In this case we are referring to the RG35XX console from the Anbernic company, which offers a model similar to the Nintendobut adapted to be able to play titles from other old devices.
There’s not much to explain about these. portable consoles, since in the end in terms of hardware it has what is necessary to be able to run games from 15-20 years ago, so it is really not too powerful, taking into account that these titles can be played on a low-power device such as a Raspberry PI. Even so, it is a perfect alternative for those people who want a portable retro consoleand they don’t want to have to worry about finding the original cartridges, as it is quite complicated nowadays.
There are two models, but the biggest difference is that the 64 GB model includes 5,000 games, while the 64 GB+128 GB model includes a total of 10,000 games, double that of the most basic version. The price does not exceed 100 euros and offers an autonomy of up to 8 hours, being a perfect option even to give as a gift as it is a device that seeks to allow you to play all the classic games that we can only find on older consoles.