- 20 hours ago
Welcome back to Handheld Showdown, a bracket-style competition series in which our hosts, Paul and Tony, battle it out with the best handheld gaming consoles out now. The votes are in and the winner is ready to be announced! Who will be crowned Handheld Showdown 2025 champion?
In this video, we reveal the results of the final and give our takes on which gaming handheld deserves to win it all. Whether your favorite wins or not, let us know in the comments who you want next year!
In this video, we reveal the results of the final and give our takes on which gaming handheld deserves to win it all. Whether your favorite wins or not, let us know in the comments who you want next year!
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TechTranscript
00:00The votes have been counted and verified and I can now reveal that the winner of Tom's Guy's handheld showdown 2025 is welcome back to handheld showdown our bracket style competition putting the best gaming consoles available right now in 2025 against each other and we have finally made it that's right today we are going to announce this year's winner and I could not be more excited in the last episode we revealed that the Asus RG Ally X will take
00:29on the Steam Deck OLED in the final and ask you to vote on who will be crowned champion and once again another massive thank you to those who participated thousands more votes were cast across both TomSky.com and our YouTube channel Tony I'm still really salty that the MSI Claw did not make it to the final but how's it been coping with the GO-S getting knocked out well Paul I'm very upset about that I'm still thinking about it but you know the cream of the crop has risen and we finally have our final two handhelds and I couldn't be more excited to see the results
00:59I'm also a little scared too but we'll see what happens so before we reveal the winner let's take a look back across the bracket to remind ourselves how we got here we began with eight consoles welcome to the very first episode of Tom's Guide's handheld showdown our bracket style competition to see which one is crowned the ultimate handheld gaming console Tony and I clashed from the very start
01:22one let's go yeah the field was thin to four come on oh my god whoa our favorites were mercilessly cut down
01:32watch the VCMS
01:34arguments got heated I'm not happy shots got personal well you finally got a win pull
01:41standing tall at the end I have a inkling feeling that the RGLI is gonna win I think it's gonna be the OLED
01:48we have the best YouTube viewers out there yes
01:53so there it is it's all come down to this moment so if you've liked what you've seen so far don't forget to
02:09subscribe to the channel we cover everything you need to know when it comes to tech but most importantly
02:14we will be checking out the brand new RG Xbox Ally X and Legion go to when they drop stick around at the
02:21end of the video for more of our thoughts on those devices now back to the main event in this envelope
02:27we have the results will it be the one-seeded Asus ROG Ally X
02:34or the two-seeded Steam Deck OLED the votes have been counted and verified and I can now reveal
02:44that the winner of Tom's Guy's handheld showdown 2025 is
02:50the Asus ROG Ally X
02:53they got confetti
02:55look at that we're in a war zone
02:56oh wow
02:58that's a lot
02:59that's that I'm I'm actually surprised by that result wow like I thought the the Steam Deck was
03:07gonna win but you know what I guess power is what people look for and look at I'm still surprised by
03:14this holy crap I'm not saying I'm upset you know like this is a great system but Tony look what we
03:20got hey oh we got a crown too look at that very nice the thing is like both systems are great you
03:27weren't you weren't you weren't you were you weren't you were you weren't you were not really gonna be losing
03:29with either so like even though I disagree you disagree I disagree yeah now I'm seeing I'm being
03:35diplomatic about it so you honestly think if you pick one you're diplomacy here
03:39yeah we've got a king you got a king all right fair enough both handhelds are handhelds one was
03:45great one is currently okay was this one is very good yeah I'm just upset by how this whole bracket turned out I'll be honest
03:56Yeah, but you love the ROG Ally.
03:58I love the original ROG Ally.
04:00I think it's just for me the price.
04:02Yeah, again, I think it's just,
04:04you're paying a lot of money for a barely updated handheld.
04:08You can still get the original one for half the price,
04:11and you're still getting basically the same performance.
04:13That's where I stand.
04:15That was my opinion day one, and here we are on the last.
04:20And I'm still siding with the original Ally there.
04:23Fair enough, although I still am, you know,
04:26if we're going to be honest here,
04:27I am still a little upset that the Legion OS didn't win.
04:29I still think that is, even though it is expensive,
04:32it's the best one overall has steamed OS,
04:34you know, the form factor, like, but you know,
04:37that's, it wasn't up to me, it's up to the fans,
04:39and I'm glad they chose what they believe was the best handheld.
04:43I can tell you from my experience,
04:44like, as far as what I've seen in the wild,
04:46and this is why I thought maybe the Steam Deck had a chance to win.
04:49Yeah.
04:50I've only seen the Steam Deck.
04:51Oh, out in the wild, right?
04:52Yeah.
04:53Like, as far as, like, anytime I've traveled,
04:55like, internationally, or even here on the subway,
04:57like, I've seen the Steam Deck, like, maybe five times.
04:59Never seen the Ally, never seen any of these other ones,
05:02except for the Switch, but not the Switch.
05:04Seen the Switch.
05:05Yeah.
05:06You know, you're right about that.
05:07I've seen, I'm not going to say a lot of Steam Decks,
05:09but I've seen some, and the only time I saw an Ally X in the wild
05:13was at a press event, so that doesn't count,
05:15because it's a bunch of tech nerds anyway.
05:17But currently, we're talking about now, right?
05:19Not the past.
05:20Yeah, the Ally X is just on everybody's lips,
05:22especially with the new Xbox version coming out.
05:25And people still love it.
05:27Even the original one that you love so much,
05:28we will still talk highly about it.
05:30So I can't say I'm surprised that people chose the better version
05:34of that system.
05:35That makes sense.
05:36So as the confetti settles around us,
05:39and the Ally X is taking a victory lap,
05:41we wanted to take a look forward to the coming months
05:44and talk about what's coming next.
05:46Let's start by looking at the Xbox Ally
05:48and the Xbox Ally X.
05:50Our pal Jason, hey Jason,
05:52actually just got their first hands-on with it,
05:54and I think he sent us a little video.
05:56Well, well, well.
05:58If it isn't Jason England showing up like a special character
06:01at the end of a Marvel film credits,
06:03I've been going hands-on with the ROG Xbox Ally
06:06and the ROG Xbox Ally X.
06:07But with all the dust settled
06:09and with the Ally X now winning this showdown,
06:12should you get it?
06:14Or should you wait for this one?
06:16There's three key differences going on here.
06:18Number one, it's much more comfortable in the hand
06:21with a design that's inspired by the Xbox controller.
06:24Number two, there's a pretty decent uplift in performance
06:27with the Ryzen Z2 AI Xtreme chipset inside.
06:31On raw specs,
06:32you're looking at about a 15-20% bump in performance,
06:35giving the chipset and the RAM inside these systems
06:38so much more headroom to run games super smoothly.
06:41Like we're talking Doom The Dark Ages
06:43at over 80 frames per second here.
06:45On a handheld.
06:47Number three is where it gets more interesting
06:50because Microsoft has finally fixed Windows 11
06:53on gaming handhelds.
06:54No more dealing with the mess that is
06:56a Windows 11 desktop on a 7-inch touchscreen.
06:59What you're getting instead is your boot straight
07:02into the Xbox UI.
07:04So you're not actually loading any of the background processes
07:07of Windows 11.
07:09So the ultimate question is,
07:10should you wait until October 16th?
07:12Well, there's a big question mark over the price,
07:16which I'll be honest,
07:17does make me slightly nervous.
07:19I'm setting up a prayer circle that the price is reasonable
07:22on these two things, but we'll see.
07:24Back to you guys.
07:26Pricing is obviously going to be one of the bigger questions
07:29right now.
07:30Leaks right now have it at $5.49 for the Xbox Ally
07:34and the X at $8.99.
07:36Yeah, remember that's not official yet.
07:37That's not official.
07:38So still expensive,
07:39but I think compared to what we're anticipating
07:41for other upcoming handhelds,
07:43still a little bit cheaper.
07:44And I'm wondering if they really are claiming
07:46this is an Xbox.
07:47Are they doing the same thing that they've been doing
07:49with Xbox for the past few years,
07:50subsidizing the consoles,
07:52anticipating that they're going to be making up
07:54for the cost with game sales?
07:56Do you think that's what's happening?
07:58It's possible.
07:59I know Xbox said that they've partnered with a bunch
08:01of their studios and all that to optimize games
08:05for the system.
08:06So it's possible they could be working with Asus
08:10to subsidize things.
08:12Very interesting.
08:13But regarding this console,
08:14when it was originally announced,
08:16I kind of dismissed it.
08:17I'm like, okay,
08:18so it's just an RG Ally with Xbox handles.
08:21But everything I've seen from Jason's preview
08:24to other things I've read,
08:26I'm like, there's actually a kind of intriguing console.
08:28It seems like the launcher will be more streamlined
08:31for this system.
08:33And I like the fact that you're not going to have
08:36Xbox RG Ally verified games,
08:40kind of like what Steam Deck does.
08:42So that's not going to say that every game that's verified
08:44works a hundred percent,
08:45but at least they're going to ensure the basics that,
08:47you know, you get controls,
08:48you know, the controls are going to be right.
08:49It's going to be legible.
08:50You know, sometimes you can't see stuff on the screen.
08:52I think that alone is a good thing.
08:55And they're also going to have like updated,
08:57like FSR type of,
08:59you know, features.
09:00It's up upscaling.
09:01That's going to come later in the next year,
09:03they said.
09:04But I like the fact that they're already thinking about that.
09:06So again,
09:07I was very skeptical about this console,
09:09but I'm actually kind of excited about it.
09:11So you brought up the new game launchers.
09:13Let's say in a perfect world,
09:14that is how it ends up.
09:15Do you think that would make SteamOS less relevant?
09:19Would you not see the appeal to SteamOS anymore?
09:22I still think SteamOS,
09:23it's been around so long,
09:24people know how to use it.
09:25But if this could be as easy to use as Steam,
09:27if I could literally,
09:29I could start it up out of the box,
09:31five minutes, I'm ready to play, right?
09:32If they could do that, bro,
09:34that'll be a real challenge to SteamOS for sure.
09:37And if all else was equal,
09:38I'll give you two reasons.
09:40You can't play games with anti-cheat software on Linux.
09:45So the new Battlefield 6 that's coming out,
09:47you can't play it on here.
09:48Despite, even if this could run it,
09:50like if it had the performance suit,
09:51which it definitely doesn't,
09:52it can't run it.
09:53Yeah.
09:54And the other thing,
09:55the one that is huge to me,
09:56the thing that I ran into immediately
09:58once I tried to play my games on here,
10:00is that you can't play your Xbox Game Pass titles.
10:03Yeah.
10:04You can only stream them.
10:05It's only available on Windows devices,
10:06which makes sense.
10:07They want you to have a Windows device.
10:08And I've always said that.
10:09It's like with SteamOS,
10:10it's just easier to start up,
10:12but you have a lot of limitations to deal with
10:14when it comes to your game library.
10:15So the Xbox ROG Ally could be the best of like all worlds, bro.
10:20It's really exciting.
10:22Also coming out very soon, Tony,
10:23is the Legion Go 2.
10:25What are we expecting to get with this one?
10:27So I actually went hands-on with it at CES,
10:29and it's basically like a better version of the Legion Go
10:33that we have now.
10:34Detachable controllers.
10:35It's going to have OLED.
10:37It's been confirmed that it's going to have the latest chips from AMD Z2 and all that.
10:43We don't know the price, obviously.
10:45I think the OLED is going to be a big selling point for that,
10:50and the power it promises.
10:52So what do you think about it?
10:53I mean, you said big.
10:54It's big.
10:55It's huge.
10:56Yeah, it's very big.
10:57That was the first thing I noticed when I got in my hand.
10:58This thing is too big.
10:59No, I get it.
11:00It is big.
11:01Like, you have to use the kickstand if you want to use it on the desk comfortably.
11:04But a lot of people, like our friend Ryan Epps, he's like,
11:08that OLED is going to sell me, bro.
11:09So, you know, that'll be a big one for people.
11:12And, you know, based on what I saw at CES, it looks really cool.
11:15And right now, it's expected to be unveiled at IFA in a couple of weeks, which I'm heading out to.
11:19So, if you want to see our coverage, just stay tuned.
11:21We've got a lot of cool videos coming out then.
11:23You may see something awesome there.
11:24What a journey.
11:26We've gone all the way from eight devices, and now we have our winner.
11:30Can the ASUS ROG Ally X hold on to the top spot next year?
11:34You'll have to tune back in to find out.
11:36In the meantime, keep the comments coming.
11:38Do you think the Steam Deck was robbed?
11:40Who else is coming for the crown?
11:41And what are you most excited to see in the coming year?
11:44It's been great to interact with you and see all the discussion happening on here.
11:47Yeah, I mean, it was great seeing, like, all the support for the handhelds I was supporting,
11:51as well as, like, just seeing how crazy some people could get about their fandom.
11:55Yeah, people get very militant about this stuff, but I love it, man.
11:58That's what makes it so fun.
11:59Yep, yep.
12:00So, you can find us everywhere at Tom's Guide, and you can follow Tony and me
12:03to see what other gaming and tech we're checking out.
12:06This has been an awesome experience, so thank you all for participating.
12:09Until the next one, we'll catch you later.
12:14Hold on, let's just clean you up a little bit.
12:19Oh, thank you.
12:21Appreciate that.
12:22Can't have me looking stupid on camera.
12:23Not stupid.
12:24Not stupid.
12:25Not stupid.
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