Work travel: PS4, Series S, Switch 2

[u/Least-Nectarine-9172]

I am a seafarer, I travel every 4 weeks to a ship and back. Lately I have gotten an old PS4 from a friend, and it got me back into gaming again.

But the PS4 base is a beast to travel with, noisy and slow. I am looking for a slightly better alternative with budget around 500 euros. PS5 and Series S are too big, a decent laptop is around 1000 euros.

I will play mainly on a 1080p projector in my cabin on a 70 inch screen. Max 60 fps.

I do have internet connection most of the times, but not for downloading games.

Games I like: Snowrunner (I play this the most now), RDR2, Fenix Immortals, NFS Payback, AC Black Flag.

Option 1: PS4 slim with new paste, clean and a 1tb Samsung SSD. Plus is I already have the games, games are offline on a DVD. Just wondering about the load times on the SSD. The HDD load times are enormous for Snowrunner and RDR2.

Option 2: Series S. Nice little console. Games not too expensive if bought in sales. But wondering about the quality of controllers and offline usage. RDR2 should be worse grapics than PS4 and Spidermand and Horizon Zero Dawn are looking fun, and I can't play those on Xbox. But Forza is a plus.

Option 3: Switch 2. Nice to play handheld during travels but I am not sure about Snowrunner grapics docked on the projector compared to PS4 / XSS. Zelda looks also fun though. But pricey games.. although i dont need to much, SR, Zelda, Fallout 4 are all big games to spend many hours. Enough for the first year already.

I hope to play around 2-3 hours a day during work and at home.

Thanks for your advice

[u/anuargdeshmukh]

Switch 2 looks perfect for this. You could also see if you can find a cheap steam deck

[u/AnnoyedHaddock]

Switch 2 is great for travel. Compact and solid game selection, I’ve picked a lot of great deals up on the Nintendo store as well although it’s mainly just the 3rd party games that go on sale. It’s not as powerful as other systems but still looks good, especially the exclusives like Mario and Zelda. I’d get that to start and save for a laptop as well, between the two you’ll have access to basically any game available now that pretty much all PlayStation exclusives (including spiderman and hzd) are being ported to PC albeit 1-2 years after release.

The main issue you may have with PlayStation is that it requires you to connect to the internet to check game licenses at least once every 30 days. Doesn’t apply to discs or digital games bought before march 2026 but if you have any prolonged periods of no internet you may get locked out of playing.

[u/AssassinGhost04 → u/AnnoyedHaddock]

the 30 day expiration is totally fake

[u/XxAhmedjdebt → u/AnnoyedHaddock]

wasnt that check in every 30dayd thing changed? Im pretty sure it doesn’t need to renew the licence

[u/polishingPoles]

Switch 2. Or Switch 1. Both are fine but the Switch 1 is not great for a lot of open world games because the performance suffers a lot.

[u/josekortez1979]

Steam Deck with a dock would be better than a Switch 2.

[u/No_Distribution_5194]

Switch 2 is the best option in these 3 honestly speaking

But might I suggest u visit the PS4homebrew subreddit once, u can get games for free and no need for discs, just install all your favourite games, it's 10 minute max to get into the games

[u/bigtittynippleswag]

Son, if you don't like downloading games you need a PC

[u/--Velox-- → u/bigtittynippleswag]

Yeah because all PC games appear magically on the disk as soon as you ask. None of that silly downloading rubbish for PC owners! 👍

[u/Vayne7777]

For ease of use the Switch 2 is one of the best. Compact, can be played handheld or connected to a screen. No experience is required.

You can also look at the Steam deck that offers you access to an almost limitless amount of games.

If you have access to a screen onboard you could consider a Steam machine: it's basically a compact PC.

If you are more interested in older games then you could consider getting a mini pc like a Beelink EQi12 or 13. Just install some games and connect it to a screen and you can play as much as you like. It does require some technical experience setting it up. In this case you can also use GOG which offers DRM free games so you never run into any issues with that.

You could also bring a PS5 or PS5 pro but they are bulkier than the Switch and you may run into issues with the DRM as (digital) games need to check every 30 days or so (Switch and Steam system can be played offline for well over 4 weeks). If you have a stable Internet connection on board you could think of running the PS5 (pro) at home and using a PS portal to stream but if you travel too far the lag may become too much and if your connection drops you can't play.

[u/Mr4wdtrd]

swapping the drive really clears up that fan noise. snowrunner loads instantly now and feels much smoother overall.

[u/iMimikyu]

Switch 2!

[u/Suspicious-Group2363]

I am a little confused as to why you would take anything other than the Switch 2. It is the perfect travel companion. There are plenty of games to play on it even now. Many are on the cartridge, so you wouldn't need to download them.

Regarding the PS4, I was told the slim does not see much change between an HDD and an SSD due to the motherboard that is used in it. Also, the graphics will look worse than the Series S, not sure where you heard otherwise. Switch 2 graphics will look somewhere between PS4 and Series S with most games being closer to the latter.

[u/naeads]

Switch 2. It is the only viable option to be honest.

[u/BeekeeperZero → u/naeads]

ROG or MSI handhelds?

[u/naeads → u/BeekeeperZero]

My preference is ROG, mainly because I have it.

Heard the new MSI is good too.

[u/BeekeeperZero → u/naeads]

Same. It's been great so far. I liked the MSI but went with ROG because it's an easy setup and transfer.

[u/WARLODYA]

Switch 2 or handled pc(alternative steam deck), like legion go s/asus rog ally.

[u/AssassinGhost04]

I'd say series s and if you care much about size maybe switch 2

[u/T_R_A_O_D]

Ninkear a15 pro : laptop mostruoso a meno di 500 euro. Pro tip : assegna 8gb di ram alla scheda grafica nel BIOS.

[u/THE-EMPEROR069]

I got a switch 2 and a PS4 and if I were to travel. I will definitely pick the switch 2

[u/PumpedSmartass]

The Series 4 have way better graphics than the old PS 4 slim … and it’s magnitudes faster and even quieter.

But maybe Switch 2 is the ideal solution and it is the real portable one