The only way for that to work is for people to buy the ASUS ROG ALLY Pro. They're making little to no profit from this. So go and support them. Right now the Best Value option is the $700 Pro Model, followed by the $600 Base Model, then it's the $400 SteamDeck. Other options from GPD and competitors aren't even in the picture. If it was my money, I'd get the Ally Pro for the Portable Windows Gaming, Retroid Pocket 3+ for the Pocketable Android Games, and maybe an iPhone for those iOS Apps. That covers the three main ecosystems. Also upto consideration is a console like PS5, and a non-gaming laptop from either Lenovo or MacBook Pro, and if I have the space perhaps a Large Desktop PC for gaming at the luxury budget.
Valve already said that Steam Deck 2 will not come out soon it will take years and the revisions will not improve on specs but more on optimization. So if they stick with what they've said, SD will lag behind just like Half Life 3 😂
@@catchwreck928 Cope why? I'd rather have my Steamdeck than this. It looks great and all but the Steamdeck will get way more support, community support and has the essential trackpads.
Ive been saying this alot lately. I started gaming in the 8bit era. The leaps in gaming visuals have gotten smaller over the past 10 yrs. Its nuts that kids are growing up in a world where 60fps handhelds is standard. Blowing dust out of cartridges and 60 sec+ loading screens were standard in my childood 🥲. What a time to be alive
I like it. The battery life is the only issue with these handhelds. I’m so used to my Switch and its good battery life. But I might go for this ROG Ally.
Battery life is the exact reason these devices have not hit their potential and the most frustrating aspect to me not purchasing one. Luckily the obesity of the steam deck is fixed with this handheld without costing a fortune.
I am so glad Steam Deck came and created this market. There really weren't a lot of folks chasing handheld performance x86 before. Now there are multiple parties. I'd love to get an Ally and put SteamOS on it, or even just a nice Arch install and Steam as the default session.
@@stevemuzak8526 That's where I'd have to disagree with you. Making and releasing a product for sale is not the same as creating a market. Companies like AYN or GPD really only sell a few thousand units and in most markets, especially in the tech space, a few thousand sold units is basically a rounding error and essentially irrelevant. The only people who cared were the ultra enthusiasts. A few thousand nerds does not a market make. The Steam Deck brought the Handheld PC to mainstream attention and sold hundreds of thousands potentially even over a million units. The Steam Deck literally has other companies bending over backward creating accessories for it because there's tons of money to be made. That's what a market looks like.
This review helped me make my final decision to preorder the Ally. Thanks all of the detailed info and the extensive testing. Definitely the best review on the Ally I’ve seen so far.
It also depends on the community. Steamdeck has a great community and is backed by Steam, who's business is based on gaming. I really hope this device is not left alone by the company or gets revised every year.
True. Constant Revisions is what killed Sega yet there's so many people asking Valve to do the same. I hope they take their time with the next Steam deck. The current one has a lot of life left in the tank.
I have a question is the steam deck windows or is it a proprietary steam platform and if it's a steam platform does that mean you can't install Windows programs thank you?
Nice to see you included Virtua Tennis World Tour in the video. I put in a ton of hours into that game when I had my PSP. I actually lost the game and then had to rebuy it at Circuit City lol those were the good ol' days.
Regarding the Asus Rog Ally, I'm really excited about its potential. However, I think I'm going to hold off on purchasing it for now and wait for further revisions to the hardware and software. As an early adopter, I've learned that companies often make improvements based on user feedback. Take the example of the improved (Huaying)fan in later orders of the Steam Deck. So, I believe it's wise to give Asus some time to refine their product before jumping in. Can't wait to see what they come up with in the future.
As far as I remember, some early Steam Deck Units also came with the Huaying Fan, but they had supply issues and had to switch/use Delta fans to keep the Production running. The Delta Fans are also the "cause" of the "updated Fan Control" Setting within the Deck
I sold my deck for 50 dollars less than msrp. For $100 more ($699), I pre-ordered this. $100 dollars for 1080P/120hz and ~20 fps more is next gen category. For me, the deck was ergo; this looks ergo for me. Could care less about battery life, 2 hrs on always turbo is all I need.
Agreed. I ended up with a Steam Deck from the initial batch, and it was a wreck. The fan made headphones a necessity when playing anything moderately demanding. There were also regular crashes and freezes that I spend months trying to fix through tweaking and software updates before finding others with the same issues and realizing it was an issue with some of the initial units. After an RMA, my second deck has been a dream aside from the garbage screen (I really wish I could've paid an extra couple hundred to get something with 100% sRGB coverage). I really, really want to have a device that will let me play gamepass games and give me a chance to play some of those titles that SteamOS just doesn't support. It's great to see the ROG Ally making some great strides in that direction, but I'll likely reevaluate the handheld scene in a year and choose something then.
Wow, that time worked out perfect! Almost 40 exactly. Glad to hear you're going to do a comparison video vs the Steam Deck. I'm very happy with mine, I just can't wait until Valve gives us the dual boot option. I don't want to wear out a good sd card with windows and I don't really want to do a work around either.
@@catch82 Love my Steam Deck, and this Ally looks great. But I can definitely get plenty of gaming out of my SD for the next year or two until something generationally better (than the SD) comes out.
@@catch82 Is it worth getting a Steam Deck at this point? I was thinking about getting the $649 model solely for its etched glass screen (I loathe shiny/reflective displays) but I feel like I'd be scamming myself.
Windows is actually a selling point for me. When docked, I find myself using the Steam Deck as a desktop PC a lot. But because it’s Linux, I’m limited to the apps I want to use.
Thank you for your detailed evaluation of the D-pad, which was overlooked by most evaluations. As a player who wants to have a dedicated simulator handheld, this is extremely important to me
Good option for all in Australia where the Steam Deck hasn't been released. Valve have shot themselves in the foot here. I can't justify another handheld but I'm sure many will go for this. Nice review as ever.
Don't think Steam lost anything over Ally. I believe Valve is selling Deck at lost and planned to get that back by selling games. So, having Asus selling device won't cost Valve money and they can gain from selling games anyway. It's a win win.
I think I'm holding off on this one. I'd love a more powerful Steam Deck but think no trackpads and worse battery life would annoy me. Great sign of things to come in the future with prices being better than expected.
I'd understand this trackpad argument if the Steam Deck was the only device you had, but who's choosing to play these M&KB games on a Deck over a desktop with actual physical peripherals? 🤔
@@Vault_Phil I use Keyboard and a thumb trackball vs a normal mouse... the Steam Deck is almost exactly the same... its nice to be able to play them just as good on my Steam Deck with trackpads. I do not ever play with any other controller any more on any system/console anything.. I cannot stand using joysticks for most games.
Before buying, I recommend everyone to get acquainted with the topic that most "technical channels and hype train" avoid. Asus anti-consumer shit with the motherboard, AMD CPU burnout situation. I recommend watching the JayzTwoCents video night,, I'm sorry ASUS... but you're fired ''. And Gamers Nexus,, Scumbag ASUS: Overvolting CPUs & Screwing the Customer''.
Than you for a REAL review. I appreciate that you also included the negatives! I ordered one. Figure if I don't really see a huge increase over the Steam Deck I can return it (advantage of being a Best Buy purchase)
Yeah this being at Best Buy is pretty huge. People can like the Ayaneos or GPD devices, but if something is wrong with it (and by Reddit posts, that is very very possible) youre going to have to ship it to Hong Kong and its super informal on how that is processed. For $1000 devices, thats inexcusable I trust Valve much more of course, but I'm always going to prefer returning something in a store than having to send it in a box across the country and waiting weeks for a refund
The problem with ROG Ally is that they took the biggest minus of the Steam Deck and multiplied it by four, getting a very, very, very HUGE minus. I'm talking about battery life. The one who came up with the concept of this console did not come up with how to make a competitive product, but came up with an excellent advertisement that is very quickly read - "2 times more resolution and 2 times more hertz!". As a result, you get 4 times less battery life. AAA-games in turbo mode in 1080p literally work for 45 minutes. You can say: "Put 720p and rejoice." But 720p on a 1080p screen looks much worse than native 720p.
Battery life is fine lol don't be surprised when Nintendo and valve do the same for their next gen handhelds and you people will complain like children lol bunch of crybabies go buy a power bank and play the dam game 🤡
@@AhmadCycro It's not about putting a bigger battery but turning down the screen resolution to native 720p and making a very lightweight OS like what steam deck has. putting 1080p is not a good decision in the long run.
Really great review Russ, just placed my preorder! The battery was my biggest concern but seeing your in-depth comparisons between the profiles really helped with my decision. I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on the RSR upscaling at 720p, if the picture quality is comparable to normal 1080p and if it differs from your battery numbers at 720p!
Do you know if you are able to play while it’s plugged into the charger? also can it be charging while being transmitted to a monitor? Thanks for any help
Thank god you addressed things that other previews refused to answer or address. Because lord knows every big TH-cam tech side previews made this out to be the perfect device. I commend you on addressing and this awesome in dept review
@@mehmetsinanaydn5982 not just that, he constantly shows bias and that he doesn't fully understand all a products specifications before talking about them No knowledge depth whatsoever
Idk man if we going off the press conference its so durable you might not ever need to replace anything unless you’re really irresponsible lol! Plus I’ll just get a geek squad membership with best buy if im that concerned, Im a steam deck fanboy but man this handheld a true competitor!
Awesome review Russ! This confirms my worry about the Z1 Extreme. Although it is very powerful, it seems like you will have pretty bad battery life at those high TDPs, meanwhile it doesn't scale down well to low TDPs. If I'm playing GBA games on the Steam Deck. I reach 8.5hours of playtime (similar to 2D games like Sonic Mania, Huntdown etc) If I play Paper Mario on the Gamecube I get ~6 hours compared to 3hours on the ROG Ally. So for me personally I just like the balanced power profile of the Steam Deck. Better specs on paper doesn't necessarily make a good device. The ROG Ally probably has its target audience, but that audience definitely ain't me. :) I also bought the 400$ Steam Deck as a "companion device". I wouldn't want to spend more on such a device.
@@mechanicalmonk2020 Nope it doesn't. The deck clearly beats it at lower TDP just like every other competitors out there. It's crazy the kind of optimization Valve did with that thing.
The one thing that cannot be put on a spec sheet but carries immense value is customer support and service. Valve has been incredibly transparent about taking apart your deck for replacement parts and has also made them easy to access. I've also had fantastic interactions with Valve customer support and I can't say the same thing about Asus. This is one of my most important things when you're considering buying a 500$ handheld with the controller essentially "built in". Competition is always good but I'm sticking with my Steamdeck for that reason alone.
Very recently had to deal with the Valve support to refund the base station that wasn't working well with my 8KX. A common problem because of EMI I've wrote, but the guy requested I do some tests and send him logs even it was my legal right to send it back without any reason. So I wrote I don't do that and never heard of him again. I had to open a 2nd ticket to get my DHL label. So not impressed by this support at all.
Cannot wait for the side by side video with the Steam Deck. Thank you so much for going in depth about the small things like comfort when holding the device and button feel on these devices. The BIGGEST issue I've had with the steam deck is finding a comfortable way to hold the device since I use what is called " the claw" grip by my friends. Really hoping one of these smaller devices like the ROG Ally or the Win 4 fit me a touch better than the Steam Deck. I don't think you did one with the GPD Win 4, which is the other handheld PC I have been eyeing up lately. Would love to be able to compare the 3 devices much easier since they are all sitting at around that $600-$700 USD pricepoint.
I’ve been curious about this device for awhile and I’m happy to see how it works. As a steam deck owner, I don’t really think it’s worth getting this since the battery life is way better on it only going up to 15w at 800p, but most games can get away with being played at 720p, mid to low settings with solid performance. Also the community support surrounding the device is also a huge help in getting the most of the device and the performance at least in terms of emulation doesn’t seem that far off from what the deck can do. Even if some games can’t run well on the deck, anyone with a quality desktop can try playing on that for more demanding games at 60fps and higher graphical fidelity. The Ally is a great device flaws aside, but unless there’s something that outclasses the steam deck in every single way at a competitive price, then it’s very likely not worth upgrading. Awesome video russ!
Great review. Its good to see something like this now exists keeps Valve on its toes and that cant be bad for anyone. Im for sure going to stick with my Deck I actually am happy with the power and screen quality of it for a hand held. Ive got my PC to call on(which I find i use alot less these days) if I want a real top level experience when gaming.
Ended up canceling my preorder. Already have the steam deck and it just doesn't seem worth it. Especially considering my pc is already plenty capable of running the more demanding titles, so the question then becomes am I gonna replace my steam deck with this? Because I'm not carrying both around and the answer I think is no. Looks like a nice piece of tech though
here's what you'd be giving up: no trackpads, less back paddles, no hall joysticks available, no parts replacement program (think about the battery and the sticks!), no steam os, no joystick touch
@@cheater00 you can just run steam anyway. And there will be spa reparts. The reason they chose ifixit is because it's the easiest method for a starting hardware company. Asus can just send spares to any of their partners to sell.
I think the biggest thing this is missing that the steamdeck has is the touchpads for mouse heavy games like Civ. It just works so much better then trying to use the sticks and buttons.
Also missing is the lack of a suspend mode so you can't just turn it off and on when you want to pause and resume your game. On a handheld that is a deal breaker for me.
@@MortonSeinfeld There's an entire touchscreen to navigate with. Asus has been making gaming tablets and laptops with touchscreens for awhile now and as someone who owns a Flow Z13, using touch to navigate has been great.
As someone who is comfortable and familiar with computer hardware, one of my favorite things about the Steam Deck is how easy it is to upgrade and repair. How easy it is to access the internals on this Ally?
This. I’m excited to see iFixit do their takes on the repairability. And a partnership with Valve is a big upside to the Steam Deck’s repairability, so if something broke, I can replace without problem.
From what I've seen of the teardowns. It's 6 to 7 screws and then you can then easily pry it open. You can replace the SSD, thumbsticks and battery. It seems like a modular design like the deck but you can't easily replace the battery in the deck because they stuck it down.
Hey Rus. I really appreciate you not doing the stupid click bait "Steam Deck Killer" crap so many others are doing. I really appreciate you huat reciewing a device as a device.
Steam Deck owner here. The ROG Ally specs are impressive but the battery life is ass. 1 hour max on 25W for high demanding games and less than 2 hours (1h40m-45m) for average demanding games. Give or take 2h30m for standard emulation usage. That's a real bummer though. The hardware specs are there and noticeably improving year over year but unfortunately the battery tech is still lackluster for high demanding multi-hour usage on 1 charge. Would have paid 200 or 300 bucks above the current price for a doublesized battery.
Great review as always, Russ! Very impressed by the ROG Ally, if I didn't already have a steam deck then I think I'd be tempted to buy this instead. But it's not a big enough jump from the Steam Deck for me to want to upgrade, I always prefer to upgrade my electronics when the upgrade makes me go "wow this is so much better" but I can't blame anyone who doesn't have a steam deck or one of those 6800u devices if they choose to get this over any of those.
Looks good, but in Germany it’s 800€, 200€ more than the highest Steam Deck version. So not really worth it for me personally. Just got the 64GB version a week ago and so far really enjoying it
Devices like this that have issues with diagonals need to create a 4 way 8 way mode option in the menu, would help a lot with classic contra and pac-man style games.
This was the review I was waiting for. As always honest with big focus on detail. I hate windows so this is not device for me, but it’s great for competition;) I hope Valve is taking notes ;)
I don't feel like valve will be in any rush to spit out an updated Deck. I feel the Deck for most people is a great way to play through their steam backlogs and emulation in bed. I would rather see support for the device from Valve and the community for the next few years rather than doing the yearly refresh thing cell companies do.
Yes valve should take notes on how their true custom apu is so much better than rebranded laptop apus, that 1080p 120hz is a gimmick, that no gyro sucks and that true immediate sleep mode is so great. But also that a better screen when it comes to colours, contrast and backlight would be nice.
I just want to play new world which one you recommend ? I’m thinking buying the ally because of the 1080p I don’t know if a can stand the 800p from the steam
@@drizzydaniell6907 well firstly I'm no expert so don't take my advice and secondly I'm not familiar with new world but I play a lot of rdr2 and it looks fine to me, I am still in disbelief that handheld devices have come so far
@@GameTimeWhy I will be really surprised if Valve produces a follow-up any time soon. Valve is SUUUUPER slow at development and has a bad case of ADHD!
@@allenfrisch they've been talking about a SD 2 for a while though and some of their plans for it. I don't want a new one every years because that's silly but maybe 3 more years and see what new advancements in batteries and apus there are. Also oled screens should be in a better mass production spot in 3 years.
@@GameTimeWhy I think you're correct about the timing. Unfortunately, the tech is improving so fast at this point that Valve may have a hard time competing by the time they produce the next Deck.
It’s amazing but not the steam deck killer I was expecting it to be. The battery life was the biggest concern most people have. I was expecting 2 hours on turbo mode and 4 hours on silent mode. It’s possible over time the community will be able to optimize windows or just run steam OS to get better battery life. The screen is much better at 1080 but what’s the point if you end up running games at 720p. I think I’m gonna be patient for other companies to use this opportunity to make better handhelds next year.
the biggest thing about this product is the 120hz display and variable refresh support. it's a game changer for emulation. you actually need > 60hz to run every game in MAME properly because some games in MAME run over 60hz. And because very few if any emulated games exactly ran at exactly 60hz, you need a variable refresh display to run them without hitching. so basically, just the VRR support makes this handheld far better than any of the other options for emulation. everything else about this product is DULL
Asus is basically, making very very small profit. I wouldn't be surprised if ROG ally is selling at cost + 5% margin. At this price point, its a steal. The other company won't be able to compete at all. Sad, but true. ROG ally is just to cheap for the amount of hardware inside.
Trackpads, support and community is why I'll stick with the Steam Deck. It's tempting but I'd rather have something with official updates as well as performance tweaks/plugins from the community. The performance is good enough for the games I play on the go. I use my desktop for triple A titles anyways. But if it's a one and done, the ROG Ally would be more appealing to me. Great price for what you're getting.
Just a quick question: Does Ally support power pass through? I would love to be playing on an external power outlet on TURBO MODE without draining the battery nor charging the battery at the same time. Is there any settings or way to stop battery charging and use only external power adapter?
I honestly feel that the Steam Deck got many of the basic things right at a fabulous price with great support. With the buggy software mentioned on the Asus, as well as atrocious battery life, I’m staying well clear. I can’t bring myself to use Windows either. SteamOS, drop the 120Hz panel and replace it with a 60Hz OLED (which would help battery life) and it’d be a winner. I’d still have no confidence in Asus support and don’t think I ever will.
Hey Russ, not really a nitpick, more of a "you could improve this" thing. For your wide shots (eg the initial shot where you're on screen, talking) consider getting better optics, they don't have enough acuity for 1080p and you look a little blurry. It's perfectly fine, but I think if you want to push the envelope further, this could be one thing for you to consider.
Best review put there. Still disappointed about the battery which was my top problem with the Steam Deck. Also in Europe the Extreme is 799€ which is absurd
could it be that the usd price is before tax and the eu one with tax included? idk I just remember us has a weird thing of not including tax in their prices
If it takes 30 minutes to charge to 50%, it will not take another 30 minutes to charge the rest. It will take significantly more. The last 50% of any battery takes longer to charge than the first 50% because batteries work like that.
@@lemonscampi He said, "about an hour, hour and a half" and just wanted to clarify to anyone that didn't know in the comments that it will take more than they might think. So the expectations are closer to reality. ..................................................... you seem to like periods, have some more ...............................................
It's an interesting device for sure. Nice video. In the UK, I could get the 64gb Steam deck, the official dock and then a 2tb ssd for the same price. I think I'd prefer the Steam Deck, especially with the Steam OS.
Do remember the Deck has issues with the 64GB model. It's great value if you're willing to buy and install your own SSD, But without an upgrade the internal drive will likely fill up with compatibility data if you install enough games. That's not to say the Deck is bad, I bought and upgraded the base model myself. But unless you're willing to do that, I'd argue the only models you should be considering and comparing are the 256GB and up ones.
Never seen any of your videos before but I was keen on the Rog Ally. Just want to say, this review is extremely detailed. Excellent work, I’ll visit back to check out your other stuff.
This really is great, steam deck + optimized OS runs elden ring at sub 40 fps on most of the time, it's possible that with a lighter OS and some tweaks you can get a constant 60 on the ally
The "secondary function" is something that EVERY device should have, and games too - they should ALL provide this simple yet extremely powerful feature.
This device looks amazing, and those other companies in this space better step up, or sit down, as those $800 and up devices are now dinosaurs. Not because of the tech, but because of the prices they are being offered at, and the poor after purchase services they offer(or lack there of). While I still plan to get a Deck over this device as it checks more boxes for me(don't like Windows & want the touch pads), this is a great alternative and depending on personal needs, can easily be picked over the Deck. So within just a few hours, I would expect all those Chinese devices to have just lost 95% of their market in this time. Valve and ASUS also have brand names to their credit and probably above average customer care, even if those Chinese companies some how get competitive on price, there is ZERO chance they get better at after market care. So there really is only two devices in this market now, and both are priced right, great time to be a consumer for high end handhelds.
I look forward to the comparison with the Deck because I really cannot see how this is a better value than the Steam Deck when you had to drop down to 720 or 30fps to get more than 1 hour of battery, which you can already do in the Deck for $300 less. Obviously the 1080 screen must look way better, but $300 better? I don't know.
Holy shit and crap. It has been advertised as US prize without "EU TAX". It costs 799 € in EU. I knew it was too good to be TRUE/CHEAP Steam Deck 377 € with TAX in EU (Steam Sale)
Thank you for your awesome videos on ROG Ally, I got mine during the first week! Still enjoying it everyday! Gonna get a dock adapter to come to me next week!
Nice review! Personally not interested with the device but the way I see it, the more handhelds out there, the more studios will have to do a better job at optimizing their games. I'd like to point out that here in Europe the highest Steam Deck model costs 679€ and the Ally will be at 800€, so it's a significant price bump for a device that loses gyro and the touchpads. Also, for future proofing, I think handhelds coming after the Deck should have 32GB of Ram and LPDDR5X which this device doesn't have. I understand if this channel doesn't do that, others will so it's ok but I'd like to see a teardown of the Ally to see the repairability of it. Hopefully other big name brands will jump into the handheld market and keep it competitive and come with occulink support like the latest GPD Win Max 2 cuz Asus and their eGPUs prices are ridiculous, you could DIY an RX7900 XTX eGPU for the price of their mobile RTX3080 lol.
It does have gyro and the battery is replaceable and all parts are modular like the thumbsticks so you can put hall effect ones in if you want. There are videos showing inside of it and teardowns.
@@austintse5719 yup I've seen a teardown since posting, insides looks good, also learned about gyro in a text review but they said it wasn't working for now. It is a cool device now let's see what the availability will look like xD
"I'd like to point out that here in Europe the highest Steam Deck model costs 679€ and the Ally will be at 800€" - exactly, there is a big price difference between 699 USD (retail price according to video) and 800 EUR (retail price in reality in Europe, which is around 867 USD). Especially when compared to the 256GB Steam Deck version which costs 549 EUR in Europe...
@@Maegoss well at 799€ it's similar price to the UK at the current exchange rate. I ordered mine at £699 pounds. In the UK we have 20% sales tax included in the price to everything so that added to the US$ price plus import tax equates to 699 pounds. The Ayaneo and GPD devices are way higher priced so I think it's a fair price for the Ally.
As a Steam Deck owner, and with more handhelds coming out that are more powerful than the Steam Deck, one thing that is a bit interesting is that we are seeing games that were played best at low settings on Steam Deck are also best played at low settings with a bit higher frame rate. I was thinking we’d see games push up to medium settings being so much more powerful. These incremental improvements in power which only benefit the more recent power hungry games make it so hard for me to “upgrade”.
I just want to play new world which one you recommend ? I’m thinking buying the ally because of the 1080p I don’t know if a can stand the 800p from the steam
Steam Deck 512GB Comparison: Price difference US: +50$ ✅ Price difference EU: +120€🤯 (130$) Of course the price-performance ratio is still good but €799 is €799.
Unfortunately, what I expected happened. Performance is not way better compared to steam deck, battery life is bad, no touch sensors, so some games can't be played on this thing. And there are 2 reasons why this happened - lpddr5 and windows. The first is actually the biggest problem. Lpddr5 can't provide enough bandwidth and because of that GPU can't utilize all resources and consumes way more power than it should (I believe this can be partially fixed by lowering clocks on CPU and GPU). Windows is just not optimized for handhelds and can't be properly used for gaming. And I believe we will see a huge bump of performance when someone runs steamOS on this device, cause steamOS has lots of optimization under the hood in order to have the best performance per watt. P.S I believe they also could have used lpddr5x, but for some reason they didn't. It may be connected to the price, cause this soc's support lpddr5x. Update: I checked specs of 7840u (actual z1 extreme chip) and I can see that memory has only 2 channels when steam deck has 4 channels. So this is the reason why this handheld doesn't perform as good as it could have.
I just want to play new world which one you recommend ? I’m thinking buying the ally because of the 1080p I don’t know if a can stand the 800p from the steam
@@drizzydaniell6907 I don't have these consoles, so I can't really say what is better in real life. But I believe rog ally has better value and especially screen. I think you need to wait at least 1-2 weeks to see the full picture and only then decide what to buy.
When they announced the 120hz, I wondered how good it could be on such a small screen, and you have confirmed my fears. I figured it was more a selling point, than anything I could ever find use for, even though I knew only lesser games could use the feature anyways. Many complained of the Decks screen resolution before release, but those in the know knew on the 7" screen, it's maximum settings would be just fine. The Ally probably could have saved cost on the higher refresh here and put it someplace else, but I still figure the 120hz will be a WOW for those interested, even though in practical use it may not even be a factor.
The resolution on Steam deck is no where near okay. It is really bad. Om par of first gen Nintendo Switch.. Biggest reason I did not buy it. Games just looked quite bad overall.
@@MaxDrougge no it's not bad. stop deluding yourself. A 7" screen with 1200x800 resolution is 206 PPI. compared to a 27" 2560x1440 which has 108 PPI (half of steam deck ppi) , it'll be the same image quality if we consider the viewing distance of a desktop and a handheld.
@@irvinclemente2368 Oh no. It's far from the same. It was very notable poor resolution on the Deck. Very very big difference from for example my phone which has a similar PPI as the Ally. At least I wouldn't buy the Deck due to the poor screen.
@@MaxDrougge as I said the resolution isn't bad for steam deck because of the PPI. I don't care at all about your anecdotal evidence because the numbers don't lie.
The thing that sucks about 1080p is that even if you play at 720p, you can't make the pixels in the screen itself magically disappear. So it doesn't help to reduce battery life as much as just having a lower resolution display. So you might as well always play at 1080p.
I think the power saving wasn't from the display, but rather from the less CPU processing power. It will only need to process 720p loads as opposed to 1080p.
Thanks for the review as always. Some concerns though: - Packaging is horrible... no padding at all for the unit which is very concerning. I'll bet that ASUS will have a LOT of damaged units upon arrival :( - Battery life is disappointing (hopefully better on the Ally 2) - 512GB internal storage isn't enough in this day in age. I have 3TB on my Ayaneo 2 just for this fact!
Good review and nice to hear your thoughts on how you would use it. It looks like a great device and I hope it's a success but I'm happy with my Steam Deck. The things missing for me are at least 1 trackpad to mimic a mouse and the 4 back buttons on the Deck are great for FPS and third person shooters to replace the face buttons so you can aim 100% of the time so it's a shame to hear the 2 back buttons on this aren't as useful.
We voted for 40 minutes. You owe us 39 more seconds of pure gold.
We clearly got robbed
@@altair3090 Absolutely!
Watch it again 😃
LOL
KERRY gold
Honestly I love this device, not because I plan to buy, but to ensure Valve is kept on it's toes for the inevitable Steam Deck 2
Absolutely
Yes! Competition is great
Ditto! If much rather stick to the steam library than go around foraging for games on different platforms.
The only way for that to work is for people to buy the ASUS ROG ALLY Pro. They're making little to no profit from this. So go and support them.
Right now the Best Value option is the $700 Pro Model, followed by the $600 Base Model, then it's the $400 SteamDeck. Other options from GPD and competitors aren't even in the picture.
If it was my money, I'd get the Ally Pro for the Portable Windows Gaming, Retroid Pocket 3+ for the Pocketable Android Games, and maybe an iPhone for those iOS Apps. That covers the three main ecosystems. Also upto consideration is a console like PS5, and a non-gaming laptop from either Lenovo or MacBook Pro, and if I have the space perhaps a Large Desktop PC for gaming at the luxury budget.
Valve already said that Steam Deck 2 will not come out soon it will take years and the revisions will not improve on specs but more on optimization. So if they stick with what they've said, SD will lag behind just like Half Life 3 😂
I have a Steam Deck & it's nice to see other companies pushing competition.
exctly, the steam deck 2 will be exceptional
@@cvig1075 True, I might be getting an ROG Ally. Depending on how available it’ll be and when it gets to everyday users and not just TH-camrs.
cope harder brah
@@catchwreck928 oh stop. The Ally and Deck can exist together. Competition is good.
@@catchwreck928 Cope why? I'd rather have my Steamdeck than this. It looks great and all but the Steamdeck will get way more support, community support and has the essential trackpads.
The Steam Deck and ROG Ally are what the market needs. Powerful but affordable. Keep that kind of competition coming.
We need more battery tho or efficient cpus
@@DaleonM4 i think what we really need is less demanding games, these pc ports lately have been so power hungry, even the ones that really shouldnt
@@dorf7219 Jedi Survivor lol
bro really said "affordable" in the same sentence as ROG LMAO
@@火災のアイスクリーム Jedi Survivor on the Steam Deck is awesome for battery life. It was so broken on release that it was unplayable, ergo no game, no drain.
60fps in so many games on a handheld is just insane. What a time to be alive
Ive been saying this alot lately. I started gaming in the 8bit era. The leaps in gaming visuals have gotten smaller over the past 10 yrs. Its nuts that kids are growing up in a world where 60fps handhelds is standard. Blowing dust out of cartridges and 60 sec+ loading screens were standard in my childood 🥲. What a time to be alive
@@vsnrygaming8954 the move BACK to 60fps has been encouraging to behold!
@@kylerclarke2689 i remember fantasizing about the SEGA Nomad 😅
@@vsnrygaming8954 I'm a little younger than that. Gameboy SP coming with a BACKLIGHT in the screen blew my mind 😂
@@kylerclarke2689 oooooooooooh i remember when that was innovative 😅. We sound like old geezers 😭
I like it. The battery life is the only issue with these handhelds. I’m so used to my Switch and its good battery life. But I might go for this ROG Ally.
@@z_MVP_Z Nothing better than that and 8'' screen 60Hz (not that stupid thing of 120Hz) with 65Wh battery (and fast charging) for $799 (32GB/512GB)
Namaste Gee..
Battery life is the exact reason these devices have not hit their potential and the most frustrating aspect to me not purchasing one. Luckily the obesity of the steam deck is fixed with this handheld without costing a fortune.
Same. I'm going to rush to buy a handheld PC as soon as they can give me a top-end gaming experience with 6 hours of battery life.
It's actually not all that different from a first revision switch when playing in silent mode
I am so glad Steam Deck came and created this market. There really weren't a lot of folks chasing handheld performance x86 before. Now there are multiple parties. I'd love to get an Ally and put SteamOS on it, or even just a nice Arch install and Steam as the default session.
Remember ally runs at a higher tdp, for lower end emulation the deck is a lot better
They didn't create this market.
Nintendo was first
@@kiniiri1205 Not really. This is handheld PC gaming device
@@stevemuzak8526 That's where I'd have to disagree with you. Making and releasing a product for sale is not the same as creating a market. Companies like AYN or GPD really only sell a few thousand units and in most markets, especially in the tech space, a few thousand sold units is basically a rounding error and essentially irrelevant. The only people who cared were the ultra enthusiasts. A few thousand nerds does not a market make.
The Steam Deck brought the Handheld PC to mainstream attention and sold hundreds of thousands potentially even over a million units. The Steam Deck literally has other companies bending over backward creating accessories for it because there's tons of money to be made.
That's what a market looks like.
This review helped me make my final decision to preorder the Ally. Thanks all of the detailed info and the extensive testing. Definitely the best review on the Ally I’ve seen so far.
I audibly had a sigh of relief. I wasn't getting the info I needed from the other vids. Then, I saw your video show up on my feed.
Me too. I just pre ordered 2 of Allys and so far everyones been shitting on it 😩
It also depends on the community. Steamdeck has a great community and is backed by Steam, who's business is based on gaming.
I really hope this device is not left alone by the company or gets revised every year.
True. Constant Revisions is what killed Sega yet there's so many people asking Valve to do the same. I hope they take their time with the next Steam deck. The current one has a lot of life left in the tank.
I have a question is the steam deck windows or is it a proprietary steam platform and if it's a steam platform does that mean you can't install Windows programs thank you?
Nice to see you included Virtua Tennis World Tour in the video. I put in a ton of hours into that game when I had my PSP. I actually lost the game and then had to rebuy it at Circuit City lol those were the good ol' days.
Best ROG Ally video up yet. Solid approach. Nicely done.
Regarding the Asus Rog Ally, I'm really excited about its potential. However, I think I'm going to hold off on purchasing it for now and wait for further revisions to the hardware and software. As an early adopter, I've learned that companies often make improvements based on user feedback. Take the example of the improved (Huaying)fan in later orders of the Steam Deck. So, I believe it's wise to give Asus some time to refine their product before jumping in. Can't wait to see what they come up with in the future.
As far as I remember, some early Steam Deck Units also came with the Huaying Fan, but they had supply issues and had to switch/use Delta fans to keep the Production running.
The Delta Fans are also the "cause" of the "updated Fan Control" Setting within the Deck
I sold my deck for 50 dollars less than msrp. For $100 more ($699), I pre-ordered this. $100 dollars for 1080P/120hz and ~20 fps more is next gen category. For me, the deck was ergo; this looks ergo for me. Could care less about battery life, 2 hrs on always turbo is all I need.
Yep, never buy 1st gen gadgets, there are always some issues or something lacking in them.
Agreed. I ended up with a Steam Deck from the initial batch, and it was a wreck. The fan made headphones a necessity when playing anything moderately demanding. There were also regular crashes and freezes that I spend months trying to fix through tweaking and software updates before finding others with the same issues and realizing it was an issue with some of the initial units.
After an RMA, my second deck has been a dream aside from the garbage screen (I really wish I could've paid an extra couple hundred to get something with 100% sRGB coverage).
I really, really want to have a device that will let me play gamepass games and give me a chance to play some of those titles that SteamOS just doesn't support. It's great to see the ROG Ally making some great strides in that direction, but I'll likely reevaluate the handheld scene in a year and choose something then.
@@TerrannotOPcouldn’t care less *
Hats off to ASUS for trusting you with the first review unit. Well done with the emulation tests.
ETA and others have one too
He wasn't the first, don't spread false info
Wooo! I didn’t want to watch any other review until yours came out!
Wow, that time worked out perfect! Almost 40 exactly. Glad to hear you're going to do a comparison video vs the Steam Deck. I'm very happy with mine, I just can't wait until Valve gives us the dual boot option. I don't want to wear out a good sd card with windows and I don't really want to do a work around either.
Really excited to see what the handheld market looks like in 1-2 years.
@@catch82 Love my Steam Deck, and this Ally looks great. But I can definitely get plenty of gaming out of my SD for the next year or two until something generationally better (than the SD) comes out.
@@catch82 Is it worth getting a Steam Deck at this point? I was thinking about getting the $649 model solely for its etched glass screen (I loathe shiny/reflective displays) but I feel like I'd be scamming myself.
Windows is actually a selling point for me. When docked, I find myself using the Steam Deck as a desktop PC a lot. But because it’s Linux, I’m limited to the apps I want to use.
Thanks for doing the emulation stuff. Really why I want this device.
Thank you for your detailed evaluation of the D-pad, which was overlooked by most evaluations. As a player who wants to have a dedicated simulator handheld, this is extremely important to me
Good option for all in Australia where the Steam Deck hasn't been released. Valve have shot themselves in the foot here. I can't justify another handheld but I'm sure many will go for this. Nice review as ever.
Don't think Steam lost anything over Ally.
I believe Valve is selling Deck at lost and planned to get that back by selling games.
So, having Asus selling device won't cost Valve money and they can gain from selling games anyway. It's a win win.
I think I'm holding off on this one. I'd love a more powerful Steam Deck but think no trackpads and worse battery life would annoy me. Great sign of things to come in the future with prices being better than expected.
I'd understand this trackpad argument if the Steam Deck was the only device you had, but who's choosing to play these M&KB games on a Deck over a desktop with actual physical peripherals? 🤔
Yep. no track pads and no gyro is no bueno for me
@@Vault_Phil I use Keyboard and a thumb trackball vs a normal mouse... the Steam Deck is almost exactly the same... its nice to be able to play them just as good on my Steam Deck with trackpads. I do not ever play with any other controller any more on any system/console anything.. I cannot stand using joysticks for most games.
@@ScorpionF1RE_USA Ally does in fact have Gyro. Mentioned in the specs at the start.
Ahhh yea!
Looking forward getting myself this Asus Gaming Beast 👹
Before buying, I recommend everyone to get acquainted with the topic that most "technical channels and hype train" avoid. Asus anti-consumer shit with the motherboard, AMD CPU burnout situation. I recommend watching the JayzTwoCents video night,, I'm sorry ASUS... but you're fired ''. And Gamers Nexus,, Scumbag ASUS: Overvolting CPUs & Screwing the Customer''.
Than you for a REAL review. I appreciate that you also included the negatives! I ordered one. Figure if I don't really see a huge increase over the Steam Deck I can return it (advantage of being a Best Buy purchase)
Yeah this being at Best Buy is pretty huge. People can like the Ayaneos or GPD devices, but if something is wrong with it (and by Reddit posts, that is very very possible) youre going to have to ship it to Hong Kong and its super informal on how that is processed. For $1000 devices, thats inexcusable
I trust Valve much more of course, but I'm always going to prefer returning something in a store than having to send it in a box across the country and waiting weeks for a refund
Just did the same thing . Bought it , if I hate it I’ll stick with my SD .
The problem with ROG Ally is that they took the biggest minus of the Steam Deck and multiplied it by four, getting a very, very, very HUGE minus. I'm talking about battery life. The one who came up with the concept of this console did not come up with how to make a competitive product, but came up with an excellent advertisement that is very quickly read - "2 times more resolution and 2 times more hertz!". As a result, you get 4 times less battery life. AAA-games in turbo mode in 1080p literally work for 45 minutes. You can say: "Put 720p and rejoice." But 720p on a 1080p screen looks much worse than native 720p.
I guess it's just very hard to put a big battery in these handhelds without making them impossibly chunky and heavy.
My thoughts exactly.
Using a Powerbank isnt that bad imo
Battery life is fine lol don't be surprised when Nintendo and valve do the same for their next gen handhelds and you people will complain like children lol bunch of crybabies go buy a power bank and play the dam game 🤡
@@AhmadCycro It's not about putting a bigger battery but turning down the screen resolution to native 720p and making a very lightweight OS like what steam deck has. putting 1080p is not a good decision in the long run.
Really great review Russ, just placed my preorder! The battery was my biggest concern but seeing your in-depth comparisons between the profiles really helped with my decision. I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on the RSR upscaling at 720p, if the picture quality is comparable to normal 1080p and if it differs from your battery numbers at 720p!
Good question.
Do you know if you are able to play while it’s plugged into the charger? also can it be charging while being transmitted to a monitor? Thanks for any help
Love the thorough review. Surprised that the battery lasted as long as it did lol. Can't wait to see your direct comparison vs the Steam Deck
Don't tempt fate
Tha is for watching! Did you know that ROG stands for “subscribe to Mr Sujano?” It’s in their press notes and everything.
Thank god you addressed things that other previews refused to answer or address. Because lord knows every big TH-cam tech side previews made this out to be the perfect device. I commend you on addressing and this awesome in dept review
Meanwhile mrwhosetheboss straight up giving false information lol
@@shahtayyib i have nothing against the guy personally but his videos are so generic it hurts
Linus was very critical , surprisingly good overview
@@mehmetsinanaydn5982 not just that, he constantly shows bias and that he doesn't fully understand all a products specifications before talking about them
No knowledge depth whatsoever
@@Dx-so7jm agreed
you should mention the difficulty in buying and replacing broken parts and it should be a factor in comparing it to the deck
Idk man if we going off the press conference its so durable you might not ever need to replace anything unless you’re really irresponsible lol! Plus I’ll just get a geek squad membership with best buy if im that concerned, Im a steam deck fanboy but man this handheld a true competitor!
Awesome review Russ! This confirms my worry about the Z1 Extreme. Although it is very powerful, it seems like you will have pretty bad battery life at those high TDPs, meanwhile it doesn't scale down well to low TDPs. If I'm playing GBA games on the Steam Deck. I reach 8.5hours of playtime (similar to 2D games like Sonic Mania, Huntdown etc) If I play Paper Mario on the Gamecube I get ~6 hours compared to 3hours on the ROG Ally. So for me personally I just like the balanced power profile of the Steam Deck. Better specs on paper doesn't necessarily make a good device. The ROG Ally probably has its target audience, but that audience definitely ain't me. :) I also bought the 400$ Steam Deck as a "companion device". I wouldn't want to spend more on such a device.
It's the 120hz screen probably.
@@SkaMacanan can you keep it at 60?
@@SkaMacanan It's not. It's CPU draw. At equivalent TDP the Ally actually gets better battery than the deck.
@@thegameksk sure, he does mention this in the video.
@@mechanicalmonk2020 Nope it doesn't. The deck clearly beats it at lower TDP just like every other competitors out there. It's crazy the kind of optimization Valve did with that thing.
The one thing that cannot be put on a spec sheet but carries immense value is customer support and service. Valve has been incredibly transparent about taking apart your deck for replacement parts and has also made them easy to access. I've also had fantastic interactions with Valve customer support and I can't say the same thing about Asus.
This is one of my most important things when you're considering buying a 500$ handheld with the controller essentially "built in". Competition is always good but I'm sticking with my Steamdeck for that reason alone.
Very recently had to deal with the Valve support to refund the base station that wasn't working well with my 8KX. A common problem because of EMI I've wrote, but the guy requested I do some tests and send him logs even it was my legal right to send it back without any reason. So I wrote I don't do that and never heard of him again. I had to open a 2nd ticket to get my DHL label. So not impressed by this support at all.
Just pre-ordered partly based on your review. I haven't been this excited over a new toy in 20 years.
Linus heavily recommends it so much
Cannot wait for the side by side video with the Steam Deck. Thank you so much for going in depth about the small things like comfort when holding the device and button feel on these devices. The BIGGEST issue I've had with the steam deck is finding a comfortable way to hold the device since I use what is called " the claw" grip by my friends. Really hoping one of these smaller devices like the ROG Ally or the Win 4 fit me a touch better than the Steam Deck.
I don't think you did one with the GPD Win 4, which is the other handheld PC I have been eyeing up lately. Would love to be able to compare the 3 devices much easier since they are all sitting at around that $600-$700 USD pricepoint.
Haven't even watched it yet, but just wanna say, it's the review we've all been waiting for!
I’ve been curious about this device for awhile and I’m happy to see how it works. As a steam deck owner, I don’t really think it’s worth getting this since the battery life is way better on it only going up to 15w at 800p, but most games can get away with being played at 720p, mid to low settings with solid performance. Also the community support surrounding the device is also a huge help in getting the most of the device and the performance at least in terms of emulation doesn’t seem that far off from what the deck can do. Even if some games can’t run well on the deck, anyone with a quality desktop can try playing on that for more demanding games at 60fps and higher graphical fidelity. The Ally is a great device flaws aside, but unless there’s something that outclasses the steam deck in every single way at a competitive price, then it’s very likely not worth upgrading. Awesome video russ!
Great review. Its good to see something like this now exists keeps Valve on its toes and that cant be bad for anyone. Im for sure going to stick with my Deck I actually am happy with the power and screen quality of it for a hand held. Ive got my PC to call on(which I find i use alot less these days) if I want a real top level experience when gaming.
Ended up canceling my preorder. Already have the steam deck and it just doesn't seem worth it. Especially considering my pc is already plenty capable of running the more demanding titles, so the question then becomes am I gonna replace my steam deck with this? Because I'm not carrying both around and the answer I think is no. Looks like a nice piece of tech though
Sure looks like a Steam Deck competitor. However, I have no regrets about buying my Deck. I love that thing.
Something someone who have a bit of regrets would say.
@@WheeledHamster Consider being more happy about something you're about to buy (I'm assuming), and less happy about if others are unhappy.
here's what you'd be giving up: no trackpads, less back paddles, no hall joysticks available, no parts replacement program (think about the battery and the sticks!), no steam os, no joystick touch
@@cheater00 you can just run steam anyway. And there will be spa reparts. The reason they chose ifixit is because it's the easiest method for a starting hardware company. Asus can just send spares to any of their partners to sell.
@@WheeledHamster lol why????
Great preview/review. Looking forward to the SD comparison video. Would love to see a bit more on performance when "docked".
I think the biggest thing this is missing that the steamdeck has is the touchpads for mouse heavy games like Civ. It just works so much better then trying to use the sticks and buttons.
Yes. Trackpads and even the 4 back buttons. I use those all the time.
Especially considering this runs Windows out of the box. Navigating windows with analog sticks sounds like torture.
Also missing is the lack of a suspend mode so you can't just turn it off and on when you want to pause and resume your game. On a handheld that is a deal breaker for me.
@@MortonSeinfeld There's an entire touchscreen to navigate with. Asus has been making gaming tablets and laptops with touchscreens for awhile now and as someone who owns a Flow Z13, using touch to navigate has been great.
@@jollyrancherchick I've used Windows on a touch screen and it blows.
One of the best reviews on this covering the emulation. Thak you!
As someone who is comfortable and familiar with computer hardware, one of my favorite things about the Steam Deck is how easy it is to upgrade and repair. How easy it is to access the internals on this Ally?
This. I’m excited to see iFixit do their takes on the repairability.
And a partnership with Valve is a big upside to the Steam Deck’s repairability, so if something broke, I can replace without problem.
From what I've seen of the teardowns. It's 6 to 7 screws and then you can then easily pry it open. You can replace the SSD, thumbsticks and battery. It seems like a modular design like the deck but you can't easily replace the battery in the deck because they stuck it down.
Hey Rus.
I really appreciate you not doing the stupid click bait "Steam Deck Killer" crap so many others are doing.
I really appreciate you huat reciewing a device as a device.
Its a great day when RGC comes around with a 40 minute review!
It was 39 mins
Steam Deck owner here. The ROG Ally specs are impressive but the battery life is ass. 1 hour max on 25W for high demanding games and less than 2 hours (1h40m-45m) for average demanding games. Give or take 2h30m for standard emulation usage. That's a real bummer though. The hardware specs are there and noticeably improving year over year but unfortunately the battery tech is still lackluster for high demanding multi-hour usage on 1 charge. Would have paid 200 or 300 bucks above the current price for a doublesized battery.
Great review as always, Russ!
Very impressed by the ROG Ally, if I didn't already have a steam deck then I think I'd be tempted to buy this instead. But it's not a big enough jump from the Steam Deck for me to want to upgrade, I always prefer to upgrade my electronics when the upgrade makes me go "wow this is so much better" but I can't blame anyone who doesn't have a steam deck or one of those 6800u devices if they choose to get this over any of those.
Really appreciate your D pad section in your reviews! Thank you!!!
Looks good, but in Germany it’s 800€, 200€ more than the highest Steam Deck version. So not really worth it for me personally. Just got the 64GB version a week ago and so far really enjoying it
Man finally the dream of owning Rog ally is about to come true for me!!! Super excited since I saw this video day 1
Devices like this that have issues with diagonals need to create a 4 way 8 way mode option in the
menu, would help a lot with classic contra and pac-man style games.
This was the review I was waiting for. As always honest with big focus on detail. I hate windows so this is not device for me, but it’s great for competition;) I hope Valve is taking notes ;)
I don't feel like valve will be in any rush to spit out an updated Deck. I feel the Deck for most people is a great way to play through their steam backlogs and emulation in bed. I would rather see support for the device from Valve and the community for the next few years rather than doing the yearly refresh thing cell companies do.
You do realize that uh, you don't need to run Windows on this if you don't want to right??
Yes valve should take notes on how their true custom apu is so much better than rebranded laptop apus, that 1080p 120hz is a gimmick, that no gyro sucks and that true immediate sleep mode is so great. But also that a better screen when it comes to colours, contrast and backlight would be nice.
I'm truly impressed. This quality for this price is amazing. I hope this pushes the market forward significantly in terms of price/performance.
This with GamePass seems like a dream setup 👍
My thoughts as well.
10W mode 2x slower then Steam Deck. I guess Steam Deck still winner for On The Go use without charger
Ill stick to my deck but i am glad that companies are making good hardware for competitive prices
I just want to play new world which one you recommend ? I’m thinking buying the ally because of the 1080p I don’t know if a can stand the 800p from the steam
@@drizzydaniell6907 well firstly I'm no expert so don't take my advice and secondly I'm not familiar with new world but I play a lot of rdr2 and it looks fine to me, I am still in disbelief that handheld devices have come so far
this seems way better than i was expecting, really looking forward to the rog ally vs steam deck video
Exciting! I’m really curious to see how Valve will respond. So glad to have some genuine competition in this market!
Im hoping the SD 2 will have the same internal form factor so we can upgrade sd 1 with all the new parts.
@@GameTimeWhy I will be really surprised if Valve produces a follow-up any time soon. Valve is SUUUUPER slow at development and has a bad case of ADHD!
It's simple they won't.
@@allenfrisch they've been talking about a SD 2 for a while though and some of their plans for it. I don't want a new one every years because that's silly but maybe 3 more years and see what new advancements in batteries and apus there are. Also oled screens should be in a better mass production spot in 3 years.
@@GameTimeWhy I think you're correct about the timing. Unfortunately, the tech is improving so fast at this point that Valve may have a hard time competing by the time they produce the next Deck.
This is the review I was waiting for, I watched until the last second.
Thank you Russ I love your take on these devices !!
It’s amazing but not the steam deck killer I was expecting it to be. The battery life was the biggest concern most people have. I was expecting 2 hours on turbo mode and 4 hours on silent mode. It’s possible over time the community will be able to optimize windows or just run steam OS to get better battery life. The screen is much better at 1080 but what’s the point if you end up running games at 720p. I think I’m gonna be patient for other companies to use this opportunity to make better handhelds next year.
Yep, same. Not in a hurry. They be beta-testing, I be buying when the tech matures
the biggest thing about this product is the 120hz display and variable refresh support. it's a game changer for emulation.
you actually need > 60hz to run every game in MAME properly because some games in MAME run over 60hz.
And because very few if any emulated games exactly ran at exactly 60hz, you need a variable refresh display to run them without hitching. so basically, just the VRR support makes this handheld far better than any of the other options for emulation.
everything else about this product is DULL
Exactly my thoughts here! SteamOS + ROG Ally would be much better than Windows.
Asus is basically, making very very small profit. I wouldn't be surprised if ROG ally is selling at cost + 5% margin. At this price point, its a steal. The other company won't be able to compete at all. Sad, but true. ROG ally is just to cheap for the amount of hardware inside.
Best Asus Ally review I found even better than ETA Prime's.
Trackpads, support and community is why I'll stick with the Steam Deck. It's tempting but I'd rather have something with official updates as well as performance tweaks/plugins from the community. The performance is good enough for the games I play on the go. I use my desktop for triple A titles anyways. But if it's a one and done, the ROG Ally would be more appealing to me. Great price for what you're getting.
Same here. This does look nice though and even gets me more excited on what valve will do with Steam deck 2.
@@oladipupodurotimi4754there won’t be steam deck 2 for another 5-8 years . They sold steam deck at loss
Just a quick question: Does Ally support power pass through? I would love to be playing on an external power outlet on TURBO MODE without draining the battery nor charging the battery at the same time. Is there any settings or way to stop battery charging and use only external power adapter?
I honestly feel that the Steam Deck got many of the basic things right at a fabulous price with great support. With the buggy software mentioned on the Asus, as well as atrocious battery life, I’m staying well clear. I can’t bring myself to use Windows either. SteamOS, drop the 120Hz panel and replace it with a 60Hz OLED (which would help battery life) and it’d be a winner. I’d still have no confidence in Asus support and don’t think I ever will.
In light of them screwing over their customers with the motherboard fiasco, I agree with the last part of your comment.
Nice review, Russ! I've been watching your channel for years and you've helped so much with all the units I've bought.
Is there gyro? Steamdeck still works better due to trackpad, additional buttons and gyro (FPS), it seems harder to play RTS or MMO games on the Ally
Yes it has gyro. I agree that there are more games you can play on the Deck thanks to the trackpads!
@@RetroGameCorps not sure if it's best buys mistake, but on their page, they have the Z1 regular listing for 512Gb storage
Hey Russ, not really a nitpick, more of a "you could improve this" thing. For your wide shots (eg the initial shot where you're on screen, talking) consider getting better optics, they don't have enough acuity for 1080p and you look a little blurry. It's perfectly fine, but I think if you want to push the envelope further, this could be one thing for you to consider.
Best review put there. Still disappointed about the battery which was my top problem with the Steam Deck. Also in Europe the Extreme is 799€ which is absurd
Exactly, the price in Europe is way too high. Im not buying that over 650€
Same in uk it’s £699 which is 800€
@@NOVARIS Its 804€ in the UK, even more
Wait what?! 699$ are 650€. They increase the price by almost 200$ then..that’s crazy. Usually it’s Dollar price in Euro, so 699$ = 699€.
could it be that the usd price is before tax and the eu one with tax included? idk I just remember us has a weird thing of not including tax in their prices
Of the dozen or so ROG Ally videos on my timeline tonight, I picked this one to watch.
Great review. Wish Asus would have used a bigger battery. Sounds like they had a light enough unit to do it.
Here's hoping for a good aftermarket support ecosystem
If I didn’t already have a SD I would have difficulties picking one above the other. This thing looks sick!
If it takes 30 minutes to charge to 50%, it will not take another 30 minutes to charge the rest. It will take significantly more. The last 50% of any battery takes longer to charge than the first 50% because batteries work like that.
Thats why he said about 1:30 for a full charge and not 1 hour.........................................
@@lemonscampi He said, "about an hour, hour and a half" and just wanted to clarify to anyone that didn't know in the comments that it will take more than they might think. So the expectations are closer to reality.
..................................................... you seem to like periods, have some more ...............................................
Thank you for the detailed review. And thank you for "no clickbait title".
It's an interesting device for sure. Nice video.
In the UK, I could get the 64gb Steam deck, the official dock and then a 2tb ssd for the same price.
I think I'd prefer the Steam Deck, especially with the Steam OS.
All of that would be £628, so I could get a Micro SD card as well,
and it looks like the high spec ROG Ally is £699 in the UK.
I love my steam deck but this being able to get that extra performance is really nice
Do remember the Deck has issues with the 64GB model. It's great value if you're willing to buy and install your own SSD, But without an upgrade the internal drive will likely fill up with compatibility data if you install enough games.
That's not to say the Deck is bad, I bought and upgraded the base model myself. But unless you're willing to do that, I'd argue the only models you should be considering and comparing are the 256GB and up ones.
@@sceerane8662 I have the 64gb model if you have cryoutilities installed there is almost no issue
@@sceerane8662 that issues has been fixed by the community
Never seen any of your videos before but I was keen on the Rog Ally.
Just want to say, this review is extremely detailed. Excellent work, I’ll visit back to check out your other stuff.
This really is great, steam deck + optimized OS runs elden ring at sub 40 fps on most of the time, it's possible that with a lighter OS and some tweaks you can get a constant 60 on the ally
This was my thoughts exactly. Dual boot SteamOS on it, and see what it does.
The "secondary function" is something that EVERY device should have, and games too - they should ALL provide this simple yet extremely powerful feature.
Careful with Asus, their quality has taken a nose dive lately. Information readily available from Gamers Nexus.
I do a 2 hour commute every week, I would be tempted to buy one but I also feel a bit sick playing on these handheld things.
This device looks amazing, and those other companies in this space better step up, or sit down, as those $800 and up devices are now dinosaurs. Not because of the tech, but because of the prices they are being offered at, and the poor after purchase services they offer(or lack there of). While I still plan to get a Deck over this device as it checks more boxes for me(don't like Windows & want the touch pads), this is a great alternative and depending on personal needs, can easily be picked over the Deck.
So within just a few hours, I would expect all those Chinese devices to have just lost 95% of their market in this time. Valve and ASUS also have brand names to their credit and probably above average customer care, even if those Chinese companies some how get competitive on price, there is ZERO chance they get better at after market care. So there really is only two devices in this market now, and both are priced right, great time to be a consumer for high end handhelds.
Just picked one of these up and I am absolutely impressed with the quality and design.
its just crazy to see how the STeamdeck just paved the way for all these consoles
I look forward to the comparison with the Deck because I really cannot see how this is a better value than the Steam Deck when you had to drop down to 720 or 30fps to get more than 1 hour of battery, which you can already do in the Deck for $300 less. Obviously the 1080 screen must look way better, but $300 better? I don't know.
Actually is not that better than 720p, it's a small screen, and with AMD FSR things looks even more crisp
Holy shit and crap. It has been advertised as US prize without "EU TAX". It costs 799 € in EU.
I knew it was too good to be TRUE/CHEAP
Steam Deck 377 € with TAX in EU (Steam Sale)
Thank you for your awesome videos on ROG Ally, I got mine during the first week! Still enjoying it everyday!
Gonna get a dock adapter to come to me next week!
Nice review! Personally not interested with the device but the way I see it, the more handhelds out there, the more studios will have to do a better job at optimizing their games.
I'd like to point out that here in Europe the highest Steam Deck model costs 679€ and the Ally will be at 800€, so it's a significant price bump for a device that loses gyro and the touchpads.
Also, for future proofing, I think handhelds coming after the Deck should have 32GB of Ram and LPDDR5X which this device doesn't have.
I understand if this channel doesn't do that, others will so it's ok but I'd like to see a teardown of the Ally to see the repairability of it.
Hopefully other big name brands will jump into the handheld market and keep it competitive and come with occulink support like the latest GPD Win Max 2 cuz Asus and their eGPUs prices are ridiculous, you could DIY an RX7900 XTX eGPU for the price of their mobile RTX3080 lol.
It does have gyro and the battery is replaceable and all parts are modular like the thumbsticks so you can put hall effect ones in if you want. There are videos showing inside of it and teardowns.
@@austintse5719 yup I've seen a teardown since posting, insides looks good, also learned about gyro in a text review but they said it wasn't working for now.
It is a cool device now let's see what the availability will look like xD
"I'd like to point out that here in Europe the highest Steam Deck model costs 679€ and the Ally will be at 800€" - exactly, there is a big price difference between 699 USD (retail price according to video) and 800 EUR (retail price in reality in Europe, which is around 867 USD). Especially when compared to the 256GB Steam Deck version which costs 549 EUR in Europe...
@@Maegoss well at 799€ it's similar price to the UK at the current exchange rate. I ordered mine at £699 pounds. In the UK we have 20% sales tax included in the price to everything so that added to the US$ price plus import tax equates to 699 pounds. The Ayaneo and GPD devices are way higher priced so I think it's a fair price for the Ally.
This a superb in-depth review. Kudos!
As a Steam Deck owner, and with more handhelds coming out that are more powerful than the Steam Deck, one thing that is a bit interesting is that we are seeing games that were played best at low settings on Steam Deck are also best played at low settings with a bit higher frame rate. I was thinking we’d see games push up to medium settings being so much more powerful. These incremental improvements in power which only benefit the more recent power hungry games make it so hard for me to “upgrade”.
I just want to play new world which one you recommend ? I’m thinking buying the ally because of the 1080p I don’t know if a can stand the 800p from the steam
@@drizzydaniell6907 maybe wait until there are more reviews for games on the ally so you can make a more informed decision.
Yeah I am happy with not only the deck itself but the support for it. I don't think Asus will be supporting the ally the same.
Steam Deck 512GB Comparison:
Price difference US: +50$ ✅
Price difference EU: +120€🤯 (130$)
Of course the price-performance ratio is still good but €799 is €799.
Unfortunately, what I expected happened. Performance is not way better compared to steam deck, battery life is bad, no touch sensors, so some games can't be played on this thing. And there are 2 reasons why this happened - lpddr5 and windows. The first is actually the biggest problem. Lpddr5 can't provide enough bandwidth and because of that GPU can't utilize all resources and consumes way more power than it should (I believe this can be partially fixed by lowering clocks on CPU and GPU). Windows is just not optimized for handhelds and can't be properly used for gaming. And I believe we will see a huge bump of performance when someone runs steamOS on this device, cause steamOS has lots of optimization under the hood in order to have the best performance per watt.
P.S I believe they also could have used lpddr5x, but for some reason they didn't. It may be connected to the price, cause this soc's support lpddr5x.
Update: I checked specs of 7840u (actual z1 extreme chip) and I can see that memory has only 2 channels when steam deck has 4 channels. So this is the reason why this handheld doesn't perform as good as it could have.
I just want to play new world which one you recommend ? I’m thinking buying the ally because of the 1080p I don’t know if a can stand the 800p from the steam
@@drizzydaniell6907 I don't have these consoles, so I can't really say what is better in real life. But I believe rog ally has better value and especially screen. I think you need to wait at least 1-2 weeks to see the full picture and only then decide what to buy.
I got the pre-order email from best buy and rushed over here first. I'm excited to get into this video and value your take.
When they announced the 120hz, I wondered how good it could be on such a small screen, and you have confirmed my fears. I figured it was more a selling point, than anything I could ever find use for, even though I knew only lesser games could use the feature anyways. Many complained of the Decks screen resolution before release, but those in the know knew on the 7" screen, it's maximum settings would be just fine. The Ally probably could have saved cost on the higher refresh here and put it someplace else, but I still figure the 120hz will be a WOW for those interested, even though in practical use it may not even be a factor.
The resolution on Steam deck is no where near okay. It is really bad. Om par of first gen Nintendo Switch.. Biggest reason I did not buy it. Games just looked quite bad overall.
@@MaxDrougge no it's not bad. stop deluding yourself. A 7" screen with 1200x800 resolution is 206 PPI. compared to a 27" 2560x1440 which has 108 PPI (half of steam deck ppi) , it'll be the same image quality if we consider the viewing distance of a desktop and a handheld.
@@irvinclemente2368 Oh no. It's far from the same. It was very notable poor resolution on the Deck. Very very big difference from for example my phone which has a similar PPI as the Ally. At least I wouldn't buy the Deck due to the poor screen.
@@MaxDrougge as I said the resolution isn't bad for steam deck because of the PPI. I don't care at all about your anecdotal evidence because the numbers don't lie.
@@irvinclemente2368 Exactly. Numbers don't lie. 720p is poor resolution and it shows on the Deck. I assume you own a deck and want to live in denial?
An impressive and really professional dissertation. Thanks a lot
The thing that sucks about 1080p is that even if you play at 720p, you can't make the pixels in the screen itself magically disappear. So it doesn't help to reduce battery life as much as just having a lower resolution display. So you might as well always play at 1080p.
I think the power saving wasn't from the display, but rather from the less CPU processing power. It will only need to process 720p loads as opposed to 1080p.
That's super not how resolution's impact on power-draw and battery life works
Thanks for the review as always. Some concerns though:
- Packaging is horrible... no padding at all for the unit which is very concerning. I'll bet that ASUS will have a LOT of damaged units upon arrival :(
- Battery life is disappointing (hopefully better on the Ally 2)
- 512GB internal storage isn't enough in this day in age. I have 3TB on my Ayaneo 2 just for this fact!
Seems like a very marginal upgrade to the Deck. I think I'll wait until next year for the Ally 2 before upgrading
I hear in 4 years there will be an Ally 7, definitely should wait for that one.
You can wait forever.
My man! I was waiting on your opinion on this unit before I get one. We see eye-to-eye on a lot of points.
699 for the high spec model I shall eat my hat. I'm still not sure how it's that low. But I'm impressed, legitimately is a steam deck competitor.
Good review and nice to hear your thoughts on how you would use it. It looks like a great device and I hope it's a success but I'm happy with my Steam Deck. The things missing for me are at least 1 trackpad to mimic a mouse and the 4 back buttons on the Deck are great for FPS and third person shooters to replace the face buttons so you can aim 100% of the time so it's a shame to hear the 2 back buttons on this aren't as useful.
Pre Ordered mine today can’t wait. I love my steam deck but I wanted this so I can use other games I have in my library and Xbox games too.