Places to Get Cheap Gaming Handhelds?

NovaAlpha on 01/08/2026 - 01:15

I'm currently looking to buy an MSI Claw 8 AI+ A2VM, or something with similar specs.

Occasionally, I visit my partner's family down south and usually stay for the weekend. I normally bring my laptop with me, as well as my DJI drone to fly around, among some other toys. But it's getting a bit annoying carrying all that weight around. Ideally, I'd like to be able to take just one duffle bag with my clothes, toiletries, etc, without having to make room for a full-sized laptop.

My current laptop is a Lenovo Legion Pro 7, which is fairly beefy and heavy. I do have some other laptops that are lighter, but I don't really like carrying around something that's still relatively large.

Because of that, I've been thinking about getting a gaming handheld instead. I'd like something that I can play games on, but more importantly, something I can use as a workstation in desktop mode when I need to. My Steam Deck is a bit too underpowered for what I want.

At the moment, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ seems to offer the best bang for the buck. PBTech currently has it for $1699 NZD:

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/TABMSI82200/MSI-Claw-8-AI-A…

However, this morning I came across a used one on Facebook Marketplace for $1000, but unfortunately I missed out on it. I've also found a few other listings around $1400, but they're located outside Auckland.

At this point, I'm not particularly keen on paying the full $1700 for a brand-new one from PB Tech.

I've tried looking on Taobao, but the prices aren't significantly cheaper. I also haven't been able to find any particularly good deals on Amazon, and I haven't come across any refurbished options either.

So I'm wondering if anyone knows of other places I could look for one at a better price. I'm thinking of giving it another couple of weeks to see whether I can find a decent deal before just biting the bullet and buying a new one from PB Tech.

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  • P0KEMON on 01/08/2026 - 01:25

    Believe it or not, cash converters. Not in the same league, but picked up a switch oled bnib for $230 at the Hastings branch. They did have a SD and claw as well but they were used and around 500, neither had any box or cables though (woman who worked there though said they tested and "they worked").

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    • NovaAlpha on 01/08/2026 - 01:29

      Was this quite recent? The Claw I'm after is one of the higher end models, wonder if that's what they have. I'll check their website, thanks

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      • P0KEMON on 01/08/2026 - 01:43

        Not sure of the specs of them, I was specifically after the switch. This was around a month ago, they do online bidding on their website as well so maybe have a look there too.

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    • NovaAlpha on 01/08/2026 - 11:50

      You cant run a full, proper Windows or Linux desktop experience or Steam games on phones….unless you use emulation, which I don't want. I want proper laptop level performance to run my workload

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  • Kiwi on 01/08/2026 - 13:28

    Not sure if there are any decent deals on refurbs at the moment, but you could look around, this was a few years ago though, mine is still going strong: https://www.cheapies.nz/comment/246557/redir

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    • NovaAlpha on 01/08/2026 - 17:50

      thanks and yeah I checked a few sites (including PBTech) for refurb ones. The models I'm looking at are Lenovo Legion Go 2 or MSI Claw 8 AI+. The other models aren't interesting to me, they seem rather underpowered for my liking and those are the ones that tend to go on sale or have refurb units available, as they're a bit older.

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  • LCmoob on 04/08/2026 - 13:10

    The Lenovo handhelds seem very terrible when it comes the software that they run on so I'd personally stay clear of those. Just saw this article today

    https://videocardz.com/newz/lenovo-legion-go-bios-reportedly…

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    • NovaAlpha on 04/08/2026 - 15:11

      Hmm, that's interesting. I don't think it's a particularly common issue, though.

      Personally, I trust the brand. I've owned several Lenovo Legion gaming laptops over the years, ranging from models that use RTX 5060, 5070, and 5090, and they've all been excellent. One of the Legion lineup's biggest strengths is its chassis and cooling design. It's among the best in the gaming laptop space, so you're much less likely to run into thermal throttling (if any) compared to some other brands. Because of that, the GPUs can sustain higher power limits for longer, resulting in more consistent performance.

      I've honestly never had any major issues with Lenovo products, although I can't say the same for some of the other brands I've owned. That said, I'm pretty conservative when it comes to BIOS and driver updates. Having worked in IT for years, I've seen enough update-related issues that I usually wait around six months before installing them. My philosophy is generally "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"—especially for BIOS updates.

      There have also been cases where updates removed functionality I actually used. A good example is when Intel disabled CPU undervolting in BIOS updates to mitigate the Plundervolt vulnerability. While the security fix made sense, it also took away a useful feature for enthusiasts. So unless you're someone who just updates carelessly without checking, I don't think you'd run into these issues. I care more about the performance and what they're truly worth.

      Besides, I was looking at the Lenovo Legion Go 2, not their older models. I don't think their newer models have the same problem.

      Anyway, I bought a MSI Claw 8 AI+ AV2M for $1450 and it came with a lot of goodies too. Could have gotten it cheaper, but the other sellers are slacking off, so it's their loss. I'm pretty happy with my purchase and the MSI Claw is pretty damn good so far.

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      • Zero on 13/08/2026 - 21:41

        Recently purchased a Claw 8 AI also. It’s great. Have you found a carry case for yourself that fits?

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