The PlayStation Portal is a great way to play your PlayStation 5 games while in another room or even beyond your home. But accessories can really help to elevate your experience by offering added protection, convenience, and more. As such, we’ve compiled a short list of accessories we think you should consider for your PlayStation Portal.
Unfortunately, Sony has limited what headphones and earbuds can be used with the PlayStation Portal. While you can use any wired earbuds or headphones that you want, opting to go wireless means you’ll have to choose from one of the very few devices that support Sony’s new Link technology. This makes the PlayStation PULSE Explore the most versatile earbuds you can snag for the PlayStation Portal. They’re pricey, but they offer excellent sound quality and easy multi-device connectivity. They average around 5 hours of playtime on a single charge, and the included charging case is a rather snazzy addition.
There are a lot of solid carrying cases available for the PlayStation Portal, but we really like Skull & Co.’s hard-shell case. The device sits just right inside the soft material with very little wiggle room, ensuring that it remains secure even if the case gets bumped around. Meanwhile, you can store some cables or other small accessories inside the included mesh pocket. The case is even waterproof — though we wouldn’t recommend testing that unnecessarily, of course!
The screen is arguably the most delicate and important part of the PlayStation Portal, so you’ll want to be sure it’s very well protected — especially if you have young ones or use outside the home where damage can occur more easily. That’s where a screen protector comes in handy! We like the ivoler Screen Protector, which offers solid fingerprint, dust, and water resistance while letting you continue to see the on-screen action without any visual disturbances. It even comes as a 2-pack, so you’ll have a backup if and when you need it.
You can charge the PlayStation Portal using any USB-C cable, but if you want a way to store or display the device in the process, you’ll want a charging dock. We’re fans of the LVVIL Charging Stand, which uses a magnetic connector that makes placing the device on the stand incredibly simple. It’s a compact stand, too, meaning it’s not too much of a hassle to move it around if you ever need to, and its LED lights are customizable to give it a bit of flair wherever you have it seated.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.