Razer Handheld Dock Chroma review: Full Steam ahead

Razer has spent the last several years going beyond its hardware comfort zone. Its diversity was on full display at this year's Consumer Electronics Show where attendees got to check out new laptops, peripherals, and lifestyle products, but one item that caught my attention was the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma, aimed at putting a player's handheld games on the big screen. The full product is out now and it delivers solidly on its premise with only a few compromises.

The Razer Handheld Dock Chroma is a portable docking station made of aluminum and plastic with "portable" being the main word. This is a tiny piece of work coming in a box that's barely bigger than a coaster. That makes it easy to pack for long trips and, given that PC gaming handhelds can be pretty beefy, that's a relief. It's even easier to set up with an intuitive foldable design that contains a 100W passthrough port, a 5Gbps Gigabit Ethernet port, three USB-A connectors, and a standard HDMI 2.0 port.

One negative worth noting is that there's a reason that this comes in such a small package. It's because it doesn't come with any sort of power cable or power supply for the dock or the handheld. Users have to provide their own cord. The only one provided is the USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 connector that hangs from the dock in dongle-like fashion to connect to the user's handheld device to help with video output.

The overall presentation is almost minimal, but effective. The top of the dock folds out to create a sturdy support for handheld devices. After the support is folded out, devices like the Steam Deck and the ROG Ally fit the dock perfectly with the provided connector sliding into a handheld's top port seamlessly. It operates with most modern devices with one noteworthy caveat. It does technically work with the Nintendo Switch, but because the Switch's USB-C connector is located at the bottom, it only fits Razer's dock when slotted upside down. It does the job, but it looks silly.

Silly visual aesthetics aside, the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma is a perfectly capable piece of work, acting as a plug-and-play device with seamless performance on larger screens and enough ports to allow for extra peripherals, like gamepads or keyboards. It can also act as a desktop replacement in certain instances. Those who own Windows-supported machines like the ROG Ally or the MSI Claw can utilize the proprietary Razer Synapse software to fully take advantage of the dock's Chroma RGB capabilities. With that said, I mainly reviewed this unit with Valve's Steam Deck, which doesn't run on Windows. Fortunately, there's a button along the side of the device with some preset lighting patterns available.

The other thing to note is that a handheld's positioning with the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma does matter. While the dock's design is ideal for portability, it leads to a few issues. Users have to be aware of their handheld's exhaust fans and make sure that the dock isn't blocking any of them. This can be tricky with the Steam Deck, which has its exhaust fans on the back, and the Switch, which has its fans along the top. While it's great to have a device that allows for handheld play on a bigger screen, the potential issues with handhelds potentially overheating is a downside to always keep in mind.

The Razer Handheld Dock Chroma has some design kinks, but hits the mark when it comes to portability. It's small enough to pack for vacations, doesn't take up a lot of space, and works well with a variety of modern handhelds. It won't always look great and, to prevent overheating in some cases, it probably shouldn't. However, as a way to use your Steam Deck with your TV, it's one of the better and more cost-effective solutions out there.

This review is based on a unit provided by the manufacturer. The Razer Handheld Dock Chroma is available now for $79.99 USD from the Razer website, RazerStore locations, and most partner retailers.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?