An old Android tablet makes a better Steam Link screen than any handheld I own

It's no secret that I love handheld gaming, whether that's a small device emulating older games or using one of the most powerful gaming handhelds on the market. But some games deserve a larger screen, or just aren't playable on the handhelds you can carry around, especially if you want to play strategy games.

That is fine; I'm a big believer in using the right device for the job, but sometimes I want to play those games from the comfort of bed or the couch without being tied to the desk I sit at for work. That's where I turn to an Android tablet with Steam Link installed, streaming games from my gaming PC onto the tablet on my lap.

You can use pretty much any half-decent Android tablet, but I've been using the OnePlus Pad 3 with its glorious 13.2-inch screen, and it's almost as good as sitting at my desk, without having actually to sit there.

It's Valve's best-maintained client

And most Android tablets are cheaper than gaming handhelds

I've got Steam Link installed on all my TV boxes, which are Apple TV 4K devices. The Android client has historically updated more frequently, though they're more on par these days. Features like the new Pyrowave codec for Remote Play are a joy to use on the OnePlus Pad 3's 144Hz refresh rate, giving me a smooth gaming experience even over Wi-Fi.

Or you could use Artemis and Apollo if you want

The Steam Link app works well, but it doesn't offer as many tweaks as Apollo and Artemis. The former runs on your gaming PC to encode the virtual display, while the latter decodes and shows the stream on your Android tablet. This pairing gives you automatically adjusting resolution, refresh rate, and aspect ratio to suit your device, and you can opt to turn off your PC's screen while streaming to your Android device.

Again, the Steam Link app provides all of these (except the option to keep the display off), but I vaguely remember it couldn't at one point. Now you can set the Steam Link stream to match the host or client device's properties, and I change this depending on what game I'm playing. I don't have a consistent logic; Destiny 2 seems to look better at the tablet's aspect ratio, but I like playing more story-oriented games like Uncharted and Tomb Raider at ultra-wide with letterboxing.

You get bigger, better screens (mostly)

Good luck trying to hold a 13-inch handheld

I want to start by saying I don't have an issue with the screen size on gaming handhelds. Well, maybe on the MSI Claw, where the 8-inch screen is a little odd to hold. Other than that, I find most handhelds' 7-inch screens are just fine, whether they're at 800p or 1080p. They're designed to be large enough to see but portable.

I don't always need that portability when I'm playing from the other side of the house. Sometimes I want a big screen to play on, one that's bright and responsive enough for fast-paced action. I used to use an 11-inch iPad Pro before getting the OnePlus Pad 3, but it was an older iPad Pro, and the A-series chip was aging.

Using an Android tablet gives me a larger screen to use and another option for finishing games in my backlog. I've come to terms with the fact that sometimes I want to play but don't want to move to do so, and having the tablet on the nightstand makes that decision-making process easier.

And my Wi-Fi connection is better

The handheld I use most in my collection is the Steam Deck LCD, which has Wi-Fi 5. That's fine for downloading games, but it can struggle to stream Remote Play from my gaming PC. The Wi-Fi 7 chip in the OnePlus Pad 3 has no such issues, and never skips a beat while I'm playing Destiny 2 at high resolution, or anything else I want to slob out and play from the couch.

I get a choice of controller

Ergonomics aside, I don't always want to hold the weight of a handheld

I've used most of the gaming handhelds on the market, and they all have ergonomic issues after a while. Some of that is just down to form factor and having to keep a 7-inch screen between the controls, but the grips, control placement, and weight also matter. And while I know I could pair a controller to them, that feels weird to me, because they already have built-in controller parts.

My brain doesn't like that idea, but I can use anything with Bluetooth on an Android tablet. Sometimes I use an Xbox controller because it's familiar, while other times I use a DualSense because the symmetrical thumbsticks are comfortable. I can't use it all the time, though, as I really dislike the trigger design. I also don't have to worry about wearing out the controller parts, because they're not part of the tablet, and I can easily swap to another controller.

And I still get keyboard and mouse support if I want it

Okay, this isn't strictly limited to the tablet, because I could do this on the gaming handheld too. But then I'd have to find a stand to keep the handheld screen visible, while my tablet's keyboard also has a kickstand. The touchpad isn't my favorite way to navigate anything, but a Bluetooth mouse fixes that, so I can play resource management or strategy games without resorting to the touchscreen or a controller.

Steam Link lets me play from other screens

Thanks to Steam Link, I can play my Steam library from anywhere in the house. That's a bigger deal than you might think, because I often want to play games but don't want to sit at my desk all the time. And playing on a larger screen, without dragging a laptop around, is great for games I want to play but don't want to play on a handheld's smaller screen.