Handheld gaming in South Africa

Many gaming fans in South Africa are likely travelling this festive season and will leave their beloved consoles and gaming PCs at home for the holidays, preventing them from accessing their favourite games.

However, several great handheld consoles and gaming PCs are available to gamers in the country so they can continue to play their games, even when not at home.

Portable gaming devices are making a comeback. They were very popular between the 1990s and 2000s, with companies like Nintendo and Sony dominating the space.

However, manufacturers have recently launched numerous handheld gaming devices, leading to a resurgence in handheld gaming.

Nintendo launched the Switch in 2017, giving Nintendo fans access to a slew of new, more demanding games, as well as several older Super NES and Gameboy games through Nintendo Switch Online.

Several Linux and Windows-based handheld gaming PCs have also hit the market in recent years. The power computers support nearly any PC game, including popular and demanding AAA titles.

These handheld gaming PCs are powered by compact central processing unit and graphics processing unit architecture, which combined with improved power efficiency, enables high-end gaming capabilities in small form factors.

They also have small, power-efficient displays with high refresh rates that allow for an impressive gaming experience.

Sony launched a unique device for the space — the PlayStation Portal — in December 2023, enabling users to stream games from their PlayStation 5 console over Wi-Fi. The console doesn’t run any games natively.

It is the only handheld gaming device listed in this article that doesn’t run titles natively on its hardware.

“PlayStation Portal will connect remotely to your PS5 over Wi-Fi, so you’ll be able to swiftly jump from playing on your PS5 to your PlayStation Portal,” said Hideaki Nishino, senior vice president of platform experience at Sony Interactive Entertainment, when the company unveiled the device.

Below are some of the best portable gaming PCs and consoles you can buy in South Africa.

Nintendo Switch Lite

Nintendo’s Switch Lite is effectively a stripped-back version of the standard Nintendo Switch. It features a smaller 5.5-inch LCD with a 1,280 x 720-pixel resolution.

The handheld console packs an Nvidia Custom Tegra processor and 32GB of internal storage, which is expandable by up to 2TB using microSDHC or microSDXC cards, which are sold separately.

The Nintendo Switch Lite exclusively plays Nintendo Switch games, with popular titles including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo Switch Sports, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

The Nintendo Switch Lite is available in blue, yellow, grey, turquoise, and coral. Prices in South Africa start at around R4,500.

Nintendo Switch OLED

The Nintendo Switch OLED is an enhanced version of the standard Nintendo Switch, with the significant difference being the inclusion of an OLED display.

The 7.7-inch display provides the same resolution as the LCD in the Switch Lite. However, its OLED technology means it is better at handling dark and light precision and offers much wider viewing angles.

It also packs an Nvidia Custom Tegra processor and ups the internal storage to 64GB. Users can expand their storage with a microSDHC or microSDXC card.

The Switch OLED exclusively runs Nintendo Switch games, and prices start at around R9,000 in South Africa.

PlayStation Portal

The PlayStation Portal is a unique handheld in the sense that it doesn’t run games natively. Instead, it requires a Wi-Fi connection to the user’s PlayStation 5 console to run titles.

It features an eight-inch LCD with a 1080p resolution and a refresh rate of 60Hz.

The handheld console features controllers on either side of the display, similar to the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Con controllers. The PlayStation Portal controllers have adaptive triggers that provide haptic feedback.

The PlayStation Portal can stream games directly from your PlayStation 5 via Wi-Fi, enabling fans to continue playing their favourite PlayStation 5 games while mobile.

Pricing for the PlayStation Portal starts at around R5,000 in South Africa.

Asus ROG Ally Z1 | Z1 Extreme

The Asus ROG Ally Z1 and Z1 Extreme are portable gaming PCs that enable users to play a wide range of PC games, including AAA titles, while on the go.

The base Z1 packs an AMD Ryzen Z1 processor, comprising six cores and 12 threads, with a boost speed of up to 4.90GHz. This is combined with AMD Radeon Graphics, which can reach speeds of up to 2.8 teraflops.

The Z1 Extreme packs an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor with eight cores and 16 threads. The higher-specced processor has a boost speed of up to 5.10GHz, and its AMD Radeon Graphics offers speeds of up to 8.6 teraflops.

Regarding memory and storage, both specifications have 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB of SSD storage.

Both have similar display specs, with 7-inch 1,920 x 1,080-pixel LCD displays with a 120Hz refresh rate.

Pricing for the Asus ROG Ally Z1 starts at around R12,000, while the Extreme spec is available for around R15,999. However, retailers are running festive season promotions with significant discounts on both handhelds.

MSI Claw A1M

The MSI Claw A1M is a handheld gaming PC, much like the Asus ROG Ally Z1 and Z1 Extreme. However, it is powered by an Intel processor rather than AMD.

It enables users to run popular and demanding PC titles while on the move.

It has a 7-inch 1,920 x 1,080-pixel LCD with a 120Hz refresh rate and is powered by the Intel Core Ultra 5-135H or Intel Core 7-155H, depending on the spec you choose, combined with Intel Arc graphics.

It is available with either 16GB or 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512GB and 1TB internal storage configurations. Using a microSD card, it offers expandable storage of up to 2TB.

Pricing for the MSI Claw A1M handheld gaming console starts at around R9,000 in South Africa.

Asus ROG Ally X

The Asus ROG Ally X is the manufacturer’s 2024 handheld gaming console, offering several improvements over the Z1 and Z1 Extreme.

It packs the same AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor featured in the Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme, combined with 24GB of LPDDR5 memory and a 1TB SSD.

It has a 7-inch 1,920 x 1,080-pixel LCD with up to 500 nits of brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate.

The most significant difference between the Asus ROG Ally X and Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme is battery life. The newer device packs a 80Wh battery, doubling the capacity of the Z1 Extreme.

The Asus ROG Ally X is priced at R17,999 in South Africa.

Lenovo Legion Go

Lenovo’s Legion Go handheld gaming PC offers the highest resolution and refresh rate display of the devices listed in this article.

It also has the largest display at 8.8 inches. It offers a 2,560 x 1,600 LCD with a refresh rate of up to 144Hz and a peak brightness of 500 nits.

In terms of internal hardware, the Lenovo Legion Go is similarly specced to the Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme, with the same processor and graphics, 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and 512GB of internal storage.

It packs a 49.2Wh battery that is capable of charging at a rate of 65W. Pricing for the Lenovo Legion Go starts at around R20,299 in South Africa.

Valve Steam Deck

Valve’s Steam Deck is often credited as the handheld gaming console that ignited the resurgence in handheld gaming in recent years.

Launched in February 2022, the Steam Deck has a low resolution compared to some of the other handhelds listed at 1,200 x 800 pixels with a 60Hz refresh rate.

It packs a custom AMD Zen 2 CPU and AMD RDNA 2 GPU, combined with 16GB of RAM and a choice of 64GB, 256GB, or 512GB of internal storage.

Regarding battery life, the Steam Deck packs a 40Wh battery, which is similar to that packed into the Asus ROG Ally Z1 and Z1 Extreme.