Now that we’re into Cyber Week and the thick of the holiday shopping season, there are going to be a ton of video games on sale. What likely won’t be on sale are gaming handhelds. 

These portable consoles are the hottest trend in gaming right now, with companies making their own handheld. With so many choices out there, you might be wondering which one to get. Luckily, this guide will help you decide what gaming handheld is the one to pick. 

What else to buy

Cases: If you’re buying one of the handhelds up above and want to get some important accessories, or maybe some more affordable gifts for the grandparents to buy, then a case is the way to go. Each handheld has different cases made just for it or you can buy one case to fit them all. 

MicroSD cards: With the exception of the PlayStation Portal, all the handhelds listed support extra storage, and if you’re buying a handheld for someone who does a lot of gaming, they probably have too many games to fit on the default storage on the handheld. The Steam Deck, Xbox Ally X and Legion Go 2 support traditional microSD cards, while the Switch 2 uses microSD Express cards. The minimum storage you’d want to buy is 512GB, but ideally you’ll want 1TB. 

Docks: Of all the handhelds, the Switch 2 is the only one that comes with a proper dock. The others you’ll have to buy separately. The PlayStation Portal is a bit of an outlier when it comes to docks, as it doesn’t connect to a TV, but there is a charger dock available for purchase to make sure it’s always charged. There are docks that can fit the Steam Deck, Xbox Ally X and Legion Go 2, but it’s recommended to get those docks designed specifically for them. 

Power banks: All the handhelds, with the exception of the PlayStation Portal, have about 2 hours of battery life if you max out the settings while playing. The Portal, since it’s just streaming, has a battery life of 6 to 8 hours. For those gaming on the go, having a power bank is practically a necessity. There is a wide range of power banks out there, and 10,000mAh would be the absolute minimum, as that can double the battery life of most handhelds. 

Netflix says it is dropping support for casting shows from mobile devices to TVs and streaming devices.

The streaming company hasn’t yet commented on the reason for the change. However, on a Help page on its website, Netflix appears to be encouraging people to use the built-in Netflix apps for those TVs and devices.

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A representative for Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Several websites are reporting that casting still works on older versions of the Netflix app and that some devices, such as older Chromecast models, may still appear under the Cast button option. In our own testing, an LG TV that was previously available for casting no longer appears there. Some have reported they lost the ability to cast to their TVs as early as mid-November. 

According to the Netflix help page, only those who aren’t on an ad-supported basic plan can still access the feature for older devices, such as Chromecasts.

Netflix’s move comes as movie and TV streaming services (and music services such as Spotify) are steadily increasing their prices, leading some viewers to cancel services to save money.