Note that in the price section, I said there was a $500 difference between the $650 Steam Deck and the $700 ROG Ally. Just in case you needed me to clarify, I meant to say $50 and not $500. This channel is really going downhill!
On paper, the ROG Ally is so much more powerful (and I use Win10 on my Steam Deck anyways), but the performance gains are not enough to make me want to upgrade. Maybe I'll wait 1 more generation.
In Europe: Steam Deck 512GB Comparison: Price difference US: +50$ ✅ Price difference EU: +120€🤯 (130$) Of course the price-performance ratio is still good but €799 is €799. SD 512GB 679€ vs ROG Ally 799€
Tbh I don't think the 512 gb sd is worth it if you ever upgraded a PC. You can just buy the base model and upgrade the ssd for like 50 bucks, so in that price performance figure the steam deck gets a lot better in value. Also soon is summer sale and if it drops another 50 bucks I probably will buy one. The ally is nice, but performance on low tdp isn't a game changer, the higher resolution and frame rate are nice to haves, but not essential for me.
Summary: Size - Negligible difference Screen - ROG wins Audio - Neglibible difference Controls - Steam Deck wins I/O and Ports - ROG wins Software - Stability - Steam Deck wins (for now) Battery - Steam Deck wins Performance - ROG wins Dockability - ROG wins Cooling - Both are cool Catalog - ROG wins Price - It depends Availability - Repairability - Steam Deck wins Trustworthiness - Steam Deck wins Summary - Steam Deck for Retro games, comfort, battery, reliability, trustworthiness. ROG for better display, performance, catalog, versatility ROG has some advantages for being windows based and better specs at a marginally higher price. Steam Deck is more usable though bc of battery life being less of a hassle.
If steamdeck wins for battery then I'll definitely hold off on ROG and wait for the next better device. Some AAA titles don't even get 2hrs on steam deck lmao
@@SimplyTooFresh im mostly using moonlight with my chromecast, because I feel like emulation wise the steam deck can handle games but it isnt exactly stutter free. but i feel like the steam deck runs everything else fine.
To my knowledge, you've been the only reviewer that brought up repairs and trustworthiness. That's why I hold your channel above the others. For the average consumer who isn't able to purchase every handheld unit, it's important for those with a platform to be as honest with us as possible. Most of the other reviewers aren't taking any of those things into account before hyping up the Ally over the Deck, which is very misleading to the viewer. To many of us, reliability and support is more important than the absolute highest FPS. ASUS's incredibly shady practices has completely turned me off to the Ally. Can't imagine gambling on a $700 dollar device from a company who treats the consumer with such low regards. At least with the Deck I have the peace of mind of consistent updates, support and the option of replacing/repairing parts. Thanks for the review.
I feel like Valve put a lot more thought into their product than Asus did... Valve went above and beyond to design something that was user repairable, and had extensive control options, and came in at an incredible price. Asus just kind of saw what other companies were doing, like AyaNeo, and just threw something out at a slightly more aggressive price point which is not necessarily a bad thing. But as anyone who has used asus motherboards in the past can probably agree with, they seem to fall on their face when it comes to software. Not to mention their current reputation with their motherboards has me questioning the years of loyalty i've shown the company when it comes time for PC upgrades.
typical salty steam deck owner.. just because u regret ur steam deck, doesnt mean you have to try hard to praise steam deck and disprove rog ally just to justify ur steam deck purchase lmao
I've been given a deck for Father's day/ Birthday and was happy but had kinda changed what i wanted to the Ally when i found out about it. Thank you this was a very helpful to the point video and I'm now very happy with what i have. Now I just have to figure out how to make my deck do what i want! 😅
The Ally is perfect for emulating newer games, I’m still using both devices, but I pick up the Ally more frequently now. Mainly, because the awesome PS3 and Switch emulator performance. I do hope that Valve is going to release a newer, more powerful Steam Deck later.
Docking the steam deck is not bad at all if youre using FSR scaling in the deck settings. You can upscale 720p render to 1080p or even 1440p with no perceivable performance impact and play with the sharpness slider a bit and it looks amazing.
As a Norwegian I'm so happy that the Asus ROG Ally actually releases here! I've wanted a Steam Deck for so long, but they don't sell then here... I've already pre-ordered a Ally!
Oh shit, did they comment on why not? I assumed EEA would be the same as us in the EU. They even included the UK. Is there an option to do mail forwarding from DK or SE? In Ireland we have a cheap option like that for the UK
Getting one from Sweden was a really long and cumbersome process, but I finally got my Deck in the end 😇 I got the cheapest model (64GB) for $415 + shipping costs, which came up at about 4500kr ($420). I also bought a 512GB microSD card for 500kr ($50), making the total come at *5000kr,* or ~ *$470*. This just exceeded the upper limit of my affordability budget. As a comparison, the Z1 Extreme ROG Ally costs *9000kr* here in Norway *($840),* yielding a difference of 4000kr ($375 -- the price of another Deck), and there's no way I can afford that! So, to me, the Steam Deck is still the the more realistically obtainable and affordable product. But it's great that you have the budget to pre-order the Ally, and I agree, having it avaialble for purchase _domestically_ was such great news 😇👍
A couple of things I think some fail to realize. First the steam deck launched a year ago and only within the last few months did it become freely available to the public. Second optimization is almost as important as the hardware itself. A device with great specs and poor support will never reach it's full potential. The ease of use the steam deck has created within PC gaming makes it really approachable to a lot of people for the very first time. The steam deck has really given people that switch like experience except with PC games. So where as the Asus ROG is a PC with controlles attached to it the steam deck is a game system that happens to be a PC. The steam deck doesn't really need to be the most powerful device out there so long as steam keeps optimizing it and updating it, I think we will be using the current steam deck for years to come, maybe we will see a pro version at some point. But the fact is the steam deck is still new and valve hasn't even come close to making enough to move on from the current version. The steam deck has steam and so long as steam keeps optimizing games to run well on the deck and so long as they keep improving the software the steam deck is really the winner here. With the steam deck you can tinker if you want or you can very easily jump right into a game without knowing basically anything about Linux. The Asus ROG is a PC, it's going to take tinkering and some knowledge to get things going. Unfortunately this is going to make that device not as approachable for many people who aren't looking for a PC but a game system.
been looking at specs and reviews allday , with the summer sale split between the 2 but your right about the steam deck being easier to work on so many options for cases, switches , and has steam behind so support will be there, and if next version is better im sure some will come up with a way to upgrade the screen to a 120hz, so far theyve been able to upgrade the storage to 3 tb
The most brilliant, comprehensive, and even-handed assessment of these two devices on the internet, bar none. I’m so happy that you spent some time talking about the trustworthiness issues, and appreciate your candor around your own perspective and acknowledging that others may have differing needs. While I’m sticking to my Steam Deck as well, I wish nothing but the best to my Asus Ally brothers and sisters! Happy Gaming to us all! And also-I’m beginning to realize that your secret sauce is simply your diligence, your objectivity, and your willingness to always go the extra mile. Nowhere else on TH-cam is there a content creator that makes such extensive videos that are worth watching start to finish, every single time. So glad to be fan and to have watched from the early days to your continued rise. Excellent work, as always!
Honestly, I tried both in store and the steam deck felt much better quality wise. It ended up making me get the deck. Waiting to see how the legion go feels
I bought a steam deck to play games like dead cells, terraria, do some basic emulation, and replay older titles like fallout 3, metro or Wolfenstein which look and play great on the deck, and can run for hours on end without having to constantly plug in which defeats the purpose of portable gaming to me. So the ergonomics, support, reliability and power of the SD keeps me content for now. Would a better screen or more power be nice? Sure but everything comes at a cost especially in battery life. However, a slightly smaller bodied, Oled screen, larger battery Steam deck 2 would have me absolutely throwing my money at valve!
Excellent video, thanks. For me, I am staying with the steam deck since I mostly use it only for emulation. I really don't think I need a rog ally for that purpose. Enudeck works fine for me. I will probably purchase a rog ally eventually, but only when it goes down in price or on sale.
Dude once u dive deep and u unlock the full potential of the deck, it's freakin amazing.. u can emulate off of anything, this is a pc in ur hands.. dual boot windows.. thank me later 👍💯
@@xBonafidexProdigyfair enough. It all depends on what you intend to play. Personally, I could never give up StarCraft 2 in handheld. Those trackpads are a must for that game.
One note on the great on deck, is that those are certified by valve as meeting their internal metrics. I have played quite a few games that are technically unsupported and they worked excellently on deck. Super happy with my deck, based on reviews I’m happy I bought the low end steam deck and upgraded storage. Suits all my needs so far from AAA to emulation.
The bad part is games that are on the verified list but don't work perfectly out the box, like missing cutscenes in samurai shodown story mode and others.
@@buhshmuh Look up Proton-GE to fix your missing cutscene videos. Usually caused by video codecs that Valve is legally prevented from supplying in base Proton but Proton-GE is community maintained.
Honestly, I'm probably in the minority here, but the $400 steam deck was already pushing my budget. If a similar handheld doesn't starr at 400 or less I'm not gonna be hype for it 🤷
I don't think you are, no. I have a fairly good income, but still it's about risk/reward for me, I can afford to have a 400$ device stolen, or fail after 2/3 years, it will be painful but not the end of the world. A 800$ device would be really, really bitter for me.
Agreed. For a handheld gaming device, $400 is pushing my limits. I did buy the low end Steam Deck and spend $60 to upgrade the SSD. However when you are talking $600-700 thats out of my range. I am still waiting for that $150 device with a nice 4"+ screen that can play Gen6 without any issues. for the RP4+
nope. in my country the ally cost twice as much as the deck. complete deal breaker. even if it was better in every aspect, there's no way i'm paying that much for a handheld video game.
This was a great and informative video; thank you for taking the time to make it. I was one of the first to get a Steam Deck during the first wave of shipments. Love the device and have invested in many accessories like Valve's SD Dock and DBrand's Killswitch skin/case. Was wondering if I should sell it and get an Ally; your video has helped me decide to stick with the Deck at least for now.
"Great on deck" is not the best measurement for how many games will play on Steam Deck vs. the ROG Ally. That's because a huge portion of the game that are listed as "playable" rather than "great on deck" only have that distinction because of small text size - which would also be an issue on the ROG Ally. Sure there are some games that will have other problems, but it certainly isn't half like this video implies.
I have 150 games in my library and I have yet to run into a game that I can’t play on my Deck. Granted, I only play singleplayer games so anti-cheat isn’t an issue for me
and i would imagine that any game with anti cheat like valorant or cod mw2 could be bypassed by just installing windows as a secondary OS right? so that would mean that compatibility isn’t really an issue, just takes more work. looking into both of these as a substitute for a gaming pc so pls lmk lol :)
@@logangagnier8937 Recently, running windows on the Steam Deck has gotten a heck of a lot more convenient due to new versions of Steam Deck Tools. I am 100% windows on it now and haven't looked back.
Where i live in Norway Valve refuse to sell their hardware. So if I'm going to buy a steamdeck on a used marked here (even if it's new) we're talking early ps5 scalping price! About 1000$ without any warrenty. So 900$ wich the Asus rog ally cost in Norway i'm "happy" to buy. Sucks its so expensive compared to usa, but thats life. I at least gets a 5 year waranty wich is standard in Norway.I wanted a handheld pc for years now, and the rog ally seems like a good place to start😊
As a steam deck user, I think I'm gonna sit this one out. I don't really play aaa games on it (which I have my pc for). Having said that, it will very interesting in the next couple of years. For me, battery life improvements will attract me the most.
Meh, Steam Deck owner here. Preordered the Ally minutes after they opened preorders. I want full speed Switch, PS3 emulation and more games running at 60fps with higher graphical settings with a much lower fan DB level. Plus, I won’t have to deal with a million versions of proton anymore, wine tricks, installing dependencies etc. I love my deck, but they’re not updating the hardware for years so, yea for me worth it.
@@RetroGameCorpsI will probably sell it, providing the ally once in my hands is everything I expect it to be. At least I’ll be able to return it to my local Best Buy if it sucks which is like 15 minutes from my house. If that’s the case I’ll keep my SD.
@@michaeliovani4487 I am kinda in the same boat, I just want to play AAA without issues or compatibility. I only had the SD for a couple of days but I’m already tire of different protons and videos of how to do shit, specifically for Ubisoft games. Question, did you like the Ally Rog? Did you end up keeping it?
There's one minor point I might make pertaining to the Software section; it's mentioned that the Windows desktop experience on the Ally is difficult to navigate without an external keyboard and mouse. I feel that the Steam Deck handles this very well with its trackpads, allowing a reasonable facsimile to a mouse and keyboard. Admittedly the built in solution is a little clunky, but does still work, especially regarding mouse control as the haptic feedback really helps to impart the cursor's momentum.
Ally owner here. I have had zero issues navigating windows. I’ve actually come to enjoy it with the touch screen aspect. I just use the joystick to move my cursor and it’s worked great.
Just popped in to say that we tested over 4600 games in 2 weeks on the ally and it played them all with no mods or 3rd party programs. The steam deck ran about 32% of that library.
A few months, but Gamers Nexus has a pretty good technical break down of ROG Ally with their new upgrades for their tools. Pretty cool possible addition to reference to put in description :)
Windows on SD is really good and its really not that hard to dual boot the SD with steam os and W11. This is why the SD wins for me because of the trackpads that are not on the ROG Ally, they make using windows (and linux for that matter) much more user friendly. I bought the SD base model for £315 when it was on sale and immediately swapped out the 64gb emmc ssd for a 512gb ssd for £50 totalling £365. In the UK, the 512gb model costs £569 so I saved £204 doing it this way.
Yup, I picked up a 512gb sd card for a windows boot so that I can play my gamepass/gog games on the go, while the internal nvme is used for my steam games and emulation. I feel like it's the best of both worlds.
I'm happy with my steam deck. Upgraded to 1tb dual boot. On steam os, i got my steam games and emulator games (mostly switch games). On windows, i got my other non-steam games with steam deck tools installed. Now, i rarely play on my pc and my switch is forever collecting dust.
Excellent and fair comparison. I feel that so many people are bandwagoning on either side big time so far, and spitting false information. Nice to have an unbiased actual comparison. Both devices are great machines and both have specific people they are better for. Not everyone needs trackpads or needs insane battery life. Not everyone plays 30 year old 2d console games. Some people value the power more. Some value the compatibility more. Some value Steam's ability to work well and no Windows. Nothing wrong with that. More options is better for everyone.
I was set on getting an Ally over a Deck until this comparison. The additional horsepower is great but I don’t think I have as much faith in ASUS as I do in Valve to properly support the device over time, and for what I want to use it for, I think the Deck will be fine.
Idk bro Id much rather choose a more powerfull machine, especially the one as flexible as the Ally Steam Deck is great for older games, Indie games and Emulating older consoles but for something like YUZU or CEMU the Ally is just plain better Also Game Pass ❤️
In terms of outright performance 7840u with faster ram will beat the X1 extreme in the ally, and an H skew sometime in the next few months will probably beat that as well. And yeah don't trust asus to do more than give you a simple launcher and an ok tuning panel. Still, the ally is a lot of performance for "just" $700, considering comparable systems will probably all be $1k+ unless they come in barebones form. This chip really needs more than a 40wh battery though, it's more suited to a laptop where you can throw in a 75+wh battery and more cooling to push the TDP more consistently.
@RetroGameCorps Hi, man, love your work. Are you aware that @TH-cam seems to put commercials right in the middle of your sound test comparisons on some of your videos? Ticked me off at least 3 times that I noticed, it was completely disruptive to the actual test. Thank you for your service.
Im a huge Valve/Steam fan. And as much as i ADORE the Steam Deck, if i was to purchase one of the two I'd personally buy the ROG Ally. But they are both great nevertheless.
I was on the fence about this but now I am convinced, the steam deck deal is still unbeatable thank you so much for this amazing guide and everything else you do, keep up the great work sir
Another nice thing about steamdecks track pads is you can literally make a function wheel. Set a Few buttons and Slide your around on the touchpad to Do x this or that function with a corresponding overlay that'll show over it. It really shines in mmos or RTS games
Regarding the power usage with steam deck versus the Ally. I'm not sure if the ally can get much better with games that are less demanding. It has to power a lot more cores than the steam deck does. Twice the amount of cores actually, the cores need a minimum amount of power delivered to them in order to function, It would probably take something like disabling SMT or etc to get closer to the steamdeck. Which I'm not sure you can even do in Windows and might require changing in the BIOS. Overall the 7840u is just more power hungry by its very nature
@@Dracossaint You are right. If you play lower setting game the Steam Deck double the Ally. I watched a whole video of someone testing it on multiple games; both high end and low end games.
By having a bottom port you save two seconds of your life whenever you want to play docked, but get a life long frustration of awkward gaming while charging 😅
I was so close to ordering the Ally. I don’t have a Deck either. But, I feel that there’s something higher quality about Valve as a company. Steam OS, the updates etc. I do want the powerful handheld and do want to play Xbox games but still think I’ll wait for the next Deck sale.
steam deck 2 is the way to go but they said they wont improve it for many many years. Steam deck will eventually be absolete. I am waiting on Rog Ally 2 or 1 with better update.
@@dubonstin8676 could also just boot into windows on the steam deck, it requires more work since it isn’t the natively installed operating system, but it’s absolutely an option for games with anti cheat
@@gambaownsus nah, it won't be obsolete. The ROG proves that, with its jankiness and terrible battery, it shows windows hand helds arent ready yet either. The deck will serve me nicely as a companion to my ps5 and xbox until the deck 2 drops in end of 24 early 25 (hopefully)
Sold my steam deck yesterday for the rog ally. Im hyped for it. If worst comes to worst ill just return it and get anotber steam deck. Ngl it was hard to let it go lol. Both devices are fantastic and im sure the community will bring updates just like the steam deck.
Thank you for this. I was debating about buying a steam deck recently, and then this dropped and I've been so curious. Honestly the display itself is a huge selling point for me.
The handheld market is really cool now. So many options and the competition is great! I agree with your statement about longevity. Because at the end of the day. It doesn't matter what device you choose. Steam will ultimately be the winner. Which is why I went with the steamdeck to be honest. I didn't know if I would've liked it or not, but months later it's pretty much the only handheld I use now. And the support from Valve is amazing
S Tier comparison. What you said about Asus trying to refresh every year where Valve would more likely keep it around for years is exactly one of my big reasons for going with the Steam Deck!
while i do agree with you and i’m also likely gonna go for the steam deck as well, i don’t really see yearly upgrades as that big of a deal. you could still hold on to the rog ally 1 by the time the 3rd or 4th revision comes out. you’d be missing out on marginal performance increase year over year until the point it becomes actually worth upgrading (like a pc, which is speculation since i don’t own one lol just a ps5 and mac). it’s more a matter of how much windows, rog, and the community are willing to and able to support it
It's not a Sony or Xbox, the traditional gaming console, which mean even it will refresh annually or not, it does not matter at all. Because you can still play games on it if the hardware can handle it. So it is not the reason why pick deck or ally.
Thanks. These thorough reviews are very helpful. The Ally is 🔥 I’ll probably hold off until a SteamDeck 2 or Ally 2. I’ve never got any first gen products. I’m happy with my Switch currently… but always wished to have a Windows handheld.
@@Teilzeit02 lol they all represented one console - Switch, got same chip, same power... It's like to make new revision, but sell it as a new console :\ (well N-company like to do something like that) Or we can say that Ally is just a new gen of portable PCs, there Asus collected everything from all to their pPC. Main problem not "first gen" but that it's still a PC, not a console... Asus dont give a s if a game wont be playable on device, of we'll be optimizing games for Ally, they just jumped on hypetrain, while Valve is doing all work as a locomotive... Store, optimization, contacts with devs.
Hands down the best comparison video. Exactly what I was looking for. I especially like your comments on the ergonomics and buttons. I’m a steam deck user (and ps5 user) and no matter how you look at it, steam deck feels better to hold then the ally. But I still preordered the ally because I really want to use windows right out of the box. (Don’t feel like dual booting windows on my deck.)
I've read some really frightening reviews on the Ally. It sounds way to buggy and very hard to use compared to the Steam Deck. I'm glad you talked a little bit about it.
I got my steam deck in like 3 days from the site.. Im loyal to valve they have a community with endless customer service and tips even beta tests. Its well worth it. Plus the steam UI and track pads are the deal breaker for me..
My Base deck upgraded WD 512gb drive. $55 SP 1TB Sd card. $68 Undervolted 50,50,50 MEM OC 6400Mhz CPU OC 3900Mhz GPU OC 2000MHz PTM7950 thermal pad on cpu Thermal pad mod On heatsink TDP @ 24 watts (80C-85c) TDP @ 20 watts (65C-70C) Fantastic custom fan curve And perfect vibrant deck settings 💪 I’m good
i do 100% believe if they would revise the steam deck this year or next year and just gave us a better screen with this chipset inside. It would once again be the biggest talking point.
@MyLazySundae take it from someone who has one bro, I honestly think it is the worst thing about the steam deck. I LOVE the idea of a handheld pc when I am away, but I often bring my switch instead as the screen is just horrible on the Steam deck. It doesn't have VRR and the frame time can be all over the place, the colors are horrible, not even that plug-in that can make it more vibrant is worth it as the colors are still very limited on screen, and the contrast ratio is..... well just horrible lol. I have the ASUS on pre order, and if that one sucks I am just going to return it and wait for more revisions to come out. But from what I've seen, the Asus is the one to get.
@@juleswinnfield1246 it’s fine if you are okay with that screen, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a horrible screen. It has a coverage of 67% sRGB and a 1200:1, aka a horrible screen and it’s facts bro.
The reason I love the Steam deck and am not considering the Ally is the touchpad ( a lot of my games are top-down games like Rimworld, RTS games, indie games which work better with a mouse like papers please, etc and it makes navigating menus in videos games like Terraria easier and of course FPS games), the community support ( the huge variety of community configs and support). The Steamdeck has great input support giving you a choice of inputs. The steam OS is also amazing and the valve has done amazing in support. However hardware-wise, I'll have to admit the Ally has great specs and performance, especially with the screen.
@Meow Wow I haven't experimented with gyro and the touch sensors at all. I tend to play in environments (like bed) where I don't get to be all that centered so gyro wasn't that great for me. I'm glad to hear it does work well though. I want to try it out for shooters.
Even though tech TH-camrs are basically copying each other and milking a product for all it's worth for the $$$, I have come to appreciate yours more over others like that of ETA Prime. You go in depth with deep, methodical reviews. People will know exactly what they are up against down to a T.
Jup eta prime just doesnt invest much time, often in benchmarks he just uses old ones. Look at his ally vs deck video, he tests them at different resolution
I like that you do reviews and comparisons kind of more for the "average" viewer, those that don't know or care what frequency the ram is and just wants to know if it's good or not. Another awesome video!
Valve has also been consistently updating the steam deck since launch. It seems like every month at least I get a new update and the device has only gotten better. Very happy with my purchase thus far.
I was set on buying the Ally….the idea of “more power” was enough for me…then I got to try them both….steam deck OS felt soooo much better and smoother….Windows just felt weird…laggy, hard to explain….the touch pads are also perfect…got my Steam Deck about a week ago
Both are amazing handhelds. Im definetly gonna order one before or maybe on christmas. It will keep the steam deck me and my wife share company or we take turns but either way itll be a nice addition to our handheld collection.
With ASUS’s terrible customer service, I’ll stick to my SteamDeck for now. As soon as Valve releases a new revision with better screen and battery life, I’ll upgrade then
@@AlaaSalem I should have been more specific. Sure, the Ally support ray tracing, but how much power does it need for that? How much FPS do I have to give up or which graphic settings do I have to choose in order to still get a good performance?
Thank you Russ for giving us the first balanced review of the ROG Ally. All other outlets are gushing about performance while often paying very little respect to battery and the general experience, but this video actually give people an idea of what they can expect in order to make a informed purchasing decision 🙂 Really looking forward to The Phawx video as well. Equally confident in his review process as well.
Great and fair comparison video! The only thing I envy the Ally for in theory is the eGPU. In practice it's way too expensive anyways, but this should be the standard in future for mobile devices. Regarding the screens, videoglasses should be the most important addition to buy for any mobile device in the future, so I'm fine with any screen because I can expand it with glasses. And for trustworthyness, most people don't care at all about how bad companies are, but for me ASUS is a big red flag and it's great that you mentioned it.
@@whwhywhywhywhywhywhy Things like the nreal air seems like the best accessory regarding these mobile gaming/entertainment devices. And if you have one you can still use them even if you upgrade, because after all it's only a display, so it seems like a good investment.
@@little_fluffy_clouds I use the steamdeck docked a lot because it is as good as my old pc at 10% of power consumption, so it would be nice if I can save the money of parts I already have (CPU, RAM) and expand it with upgrades that are most important for gaming, which is the GPU. The same goes for people that use laptops as their main device, which often has comparable CPU performance of a PC but not GPU performance. And if you think about brands like GPD or Ayaneo which devices cost over 1k$ this would be even nicer money wise. From a technical standpoint we already have this option with Thunderbolt, it only must be integrated.
what competition ? literally every handheld released in the last 6 months blow the steamdeck out of the water , the only reason why it's compared it's because it is the first handheld this gen released :)
@@ofensatulthere's something called price and battery life. On low tdp the rog ally still cant beat It. But you look like the type of person that doesn't even buy the product, just becomes a cheerleader online lol
Great review and comparison! Good to see Captain America into gaming xD I'll probably go with the middle tier steam deck as the extra $200 is not worth for me since I'll prefer gaming on PC whenever possible anyways.
I am really happy for the ROG Ally, the price is amazing and that’s the thing that calls my attention the most. Is going to make manufacturers more conscious es and stabling a market price. While there will still be a place for it, the other fellows like Aya are going to start looking at ways to compete at that price point and innovation will come out of that. I like my steam deck a lot more and don’t see any reason why to trade, but I love the pressure that it puts on Valve. Nothing like some competition to get engineers and designers fired up. I am really exited for the future of mobile gaming and emulation.
Yup this. Almost pulled trigger on a onexplayer X/ ayaneo2 and glad i held off now...ayaneo to me looks to be in trouble with the ally on the way now...
I think the steam deck is better. Better ergonomics, better controls, better user interface. And you can install windows and have the best of both worlds. Its also cheaper so when the new model comes out you don’t feel like you wasted money. If they sell the steam deck 2 at the same price its going to be a big win.
I agree with this. It's why I went with the deck. The ROG is just not ready yet, windows 11 is not ready for portable gaming and it shows hard. The deck has constant support and shows no signs of slowing down, and just offers a great experience overall. Plus asus may just drop another device next year. It's better to stick with the deck as it does what I want it to do for now, and just hold out for the deck 2 for my next handheld upgrade
90 mins battery life, and that is only on mid level games settings........they could have doubled that with ease by going with 60fps and a 720p screen as 1080p and 120 rps is wasted on such a screen that small.....and no touch pads means all your mouse required pc games are dead at the starting gate....this needed more optimisations and trimming.
Note that in the price section, I said there was a $500 difference between the $650 Steam Deck and the $700 ROG Ally. Just in case you needed me to clarify, I meant to say $50 and not $500. This channel is really going downhill!
if only it was 500 difference.
Just 50 dollars and you get so much more
can't wait thanks for the comparison
On paper, the ROG Ally is so much more powerful (and I use Win10 on my Steam Deck anyways), but the performance gains are not enough to make me want to upgrade. Maybe I'll wait 1 more generation.
And if u take 400$ steamdeck and 50$ 512gb SSD that u install yourself there is even more pros towards point made in this vid(playstyle)
Cheapest SD in EU is 419€ but Ally 699€. Too expensive, not worth the upgrade.
In Europe: 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.
SD 512GB 679€ vs ROG Ally 799€
EU price hike is what makes many products not value friendly, somewhat related to Vat and USD/EUR ratio, keeps me away from many products.
@@karandras2854 Oh Yes :/
@@karandras2854 us Europeans have it bad for all of the merch 😢
Tbh I don't think the 512 gb sd is worth it if you ever upgraded a PC. You can just buy the base model and upgrade the ssd for like 50 bucks, so in that price performance figure the steam deck gets a lot better in value. Also soon is summer sale and if it drops another 50 bucks I probably will buy one. The ally is nice, but performance on low tdp isn't a game changer, the higher resolution and frame rate are nice to haves, but not essential for me.
@@biglevian exactly!
Summary:
Size - Negligible difference
Screen - ROG wins
Audio - Neglibible difference
Controls - Steam Deck wins
I/O and Ports - ROG wins
Software -
Stability - Steam Deck wins (for now)
Battery - Steam Deck wins
Performance - ROG wins
Dockability - ROG wins
Cooling - Both are cool
Catalog - ROG wins
Price - It depends
Availability -
Repairability - Steam Deck wins
Trustworthiness - Steam Deck wins
Summary - Steam Deck for Retro games, comfort, battery, reliability, trustworthiness. ROG for better display, performance, catalog, versatility
ROG has some advantages for being windows based and better specs at a marginally higher price. Steam Deck is more usable though bc of battery life being less of a hassle.
Fire for the summary
gonna stick with the steam deck for now, but in the future i might look into getting a second device that is more powerful.
If steamdeck wins for battery then I'll definitely hold off on ROG and wait for the next better device. Some AAA titles don't even get 2hrs on steam deck lmao
@@SimplyTooFresh im mostly using moonlight with my chromecast, because I feel like emulation wise the steam deck can handle games but it isnt exactly stutter free. but i feel like the steam deck runs everything else fine.
To my knowledge, you've been the only reviewer that brought up repairs and trustworthiness. That's why I hold your channel above the others. For the average consumer who isn't able to purchase every handheld unit, it's important for those with a platform to be as honest with us as possible. Most of the other reviewers aren't taking any of those things into account before hyping up the Ally over the Deck, which is very misleading to the viewer. To many of us, reliability and support is more important than the absolute highest FPS. ASUS's incredibly shady practices has completely turned me off to the Ally. Can't imagine gambling on a $700 dollar device from a company who treats the consumer with such low regards. At least with the Deck I have the peace of mind of consistent updates, support and the option of replacing/repairing parts. Thanks for the review.
What I love about my Deck is, I feel like I’m back in the early Android days again and just tinkering with customization!
My deck is bigger than yours!
@@Jdubkilla😂😂😂
Dominican starting on Gaming here.
I am crazy to start playing Elder Ring.
- Recently purchased my Steam Deck. 🙌🏾
I feel like Valve put a lot more thought into their product than Asus did... Valve went above and beyond to design something that was user repairable, and had extensive control options, and came in at an incredible price. Asus just kind of saw what other companies were doing, like AyaNeo, and just threw something out at a slightly more aggressive price point which is not necessarily a bad thing. But as anyone who has used asus motherboards in the past can probably agree with, they seem to fall on their face when it comes to software. Not to mention their current reputation with their motherboards has me questioning the years of loyalty i've shown the company when it comes time for PC upgrades.
typical salty steam deck owner.. just because u regret ur steam deck, doesnt mean you have to try hard to praise steam deck and disprove rog ally just to justify ur steam deck purchase lmao
He regret buying steam deck🤣
Cry about it
@@Bodonism what is he crying about, kids you like you need to grow up
@@ericwilliams8647he is crying about his steam deck being ass now wym can u not read?
I've been given a deck for Father's day/ Birthday and was happy but had kinda changed what i wanted to the Ally when i found out about it. Thank you this was a very helpful to the point video and I'm now very happy with what i have. Now I just have to figure out how to make my deck do what i want! 😅
The Ally is perfect for emulating newer games, I’m still using both devices, but I pick up the Ally more frequently now. Mainly, because the awesome PS3 and Switch emulator performance. I do hope that Valve is going to release a newer, more powerful Steam Deck later.
Docking the steam deck is not bad at all if youre using FSR scaling in the deck settings. You can upscale 720p render to 1080p or even 1440p with no perceivable performance impact and play with the sharpness slider a bit and it looks amazing.
As a Norwegian I'm so happy that the Asus ROG Ally actually releases here! I've wanted a Steam Deck for so long, but they don't sell then here... I've already pre-ordered a Ally!
Oh shit, did they comment on why not? I assumed EEA would be the same as us in the EU. They even included the UK. Is there an option to do mail forwarding from DK or SE? In Ireland we have a cheap option like that for the UK
You need some friends in the states man
Same
Asus is scumy
Getting one from Sweden was a really long and cumbersome process, but I finally got my Deck in the end 😇 I got the cheapest model (64GB) for $415 + shipping costs, which came up at about 4500kr ($420). I also bought a 512GB microSD card for 500kr ($50), making the total come at *5000kr,* or ~ *$470*. This just exceeded the upper limit of my affordability budget. As a comparison, the Z1 Extreme ROG Ally costs *9000kr* here in Norway *($840),* yielding a difference of 4000kr ($375 -- the price of another Deck), and there's no way I can afford that! So, to me, the Steam Deck is still the the more realistically obtainable and affordable product.
But it's great that you have the budget to pre-order the Ally, and I agree, having it avaialble for purchase _domestically_ was such great news 😇👍
This was a great comparison!! You covered everything I would consider. Thanks!! Hope others find it insightful as well.
A couple of things I think some fail to realize. First the steam deck launched a year ago and only within the last few months did it become freely available to the public. Second optimization is almost as important as the hardware itself. A device with great specs and poor support will never reach it's full potential. The ease of use the steam deck has created within PC gaming makes it really approachable to a lot of people for the very first time. The steam deck has really given people that switch like experience except with PC games. So where as the Asus ROG is a PC with controlles attached to it the steam deck is a game system that happens to be a PC. The steam deck doesn't really need to be the most powerful device out there so long as steam keeps optimizing it and updating it, I think we will be using the current steam deck for years to come, maybe we will see a pro version at some point. But the fact is the steam deck is still new and valve hasn't even come close to making enough to move on from the current version. The steam deck has steam and so long as steam keeps optimizing games to run well on the deck and so long as they keep improving the software the steam deck is really the winner here. With the steam deck you can tinker if you want or you can very easily jump right into a game without knowing basically anything about Linux. The Asus ROG is a PC, it's going to take tinkering and some knowledge to get things going. Unfortunately this is going to make that device not as approachable for many people who aren't looking for a PC but a game system.
That's what happened for me.. I wanted to game on pc but felt it was a whole new lane I have to learn.. steam deck made it easy for me
been looking at specs and reviews allday , with the summer sale split between the 2 but your right about the steam deck being easier to work on so many options for cases, switches , and has steam behind so support will be there, and if next version is better im sure some will come up with a way to upgrade the screen to a 120hz, so far theyve been able to upgrade the storage to 3 tb
Wow, what a Video! I cant remember the last time i wachted a 40+ min video and didnt skip any part. Thank you for this awesome video!!
The most brilliant, comprehensive, and even-handed assessment of these two devices on the internet, bar none. I’m so happy that you spent some time talking about the trustworthiness issues, and appreciate your candor around your own perspective and acknowledging that others may have differing needs. While I’m sticking to my Steam Deck as well, I wish nothing but the best to my Asus Ally brothers and sisters! Happy Gaming to us all! And also-I’m beginning to realize that your secret sauce is simply your diligence, your objectivity, and your willingness to always go the extra mile. Nowhere else on TH-cam is there a content creator that makes such extensive videos that are worth watching start to finish, every single time. So glad to be fan and to have watched from the early days to your continued rise. Excellent work, as always!
Thanks so much, Brian!
freaking love your intro man....gives me good old days vibe!
Thank you for everything you do in the handheld/retro community!
Fantastic Comparison ! Congratulations. You did a perfect job!
If money isn't a issue i would get the Ally. The docking features is supreme
Honestly, I tried both in store and the steam deck felt much better quality wise. It ended up making me get the deck. Waiting to see how the legion go feels
I bought a steam deck to play games like dead cells, terraria, do some basic emulation, and replay older titles like fallout 3, metro or Wolfenstein which look and play great on the deck, and can run for hours on end without having to constantly plug in which defeats the purpose of portable gaming to me. So the ergonomics, support, reliability and power of the SD keeps me content for now. Would a better screen or more power be nice? Sure but everything comes at a cost especially in battery life. However, a slightly smaller bodied, Oled screen, larger battery Steam deck 2 would have me absolutely throwing my money at valve!
For me Steam Deck is always the kind because of software and community support for all the games
Excellent video, thanks. For me, I am staying with the steam deck since I mostly use it only for emulation. I really don't think I need a rog ally for that purpose. Enudeck works fine for me. I will probably purchase a rog ally eventually, but only when it goes down in price or on sale.
Dude once u dive deep and u unlock the full potential of the deck, it's freakin amazing.. u can emulate off of anything, this is a pc in ur hands.. dual boot windows.. thank me later 👍💯
Horrible statement, many emulators arent compartible with steam deck while ally is, and steamfeck cant play many games like gow3 while ally can
WOW, I did not expect you to stick with the Steam Deck! Awesome video as always
RGC as you may know stands for "subscribe to Mr.Sujano!"
having no trackpacks on the Ally is a deal breaker for me. Im sorry, but the trackpads are SUPER useful on older games that only use mouse support.
And the trackpad does help with aiming too! Pair with gyro *chef kiss*
That’s cool personally I would rather all my games play that %25-%50 better, instead of just one type of input but I hear ya
@@xBonafidexProdigyfair enough. It all depends on what you intend to play. Personally, I could never give up StarCraft 2 in handheld. Those trackpads are a must for that game.
One note on the great on deck, is that those are certified by valve as meeting their internal metrics. I have played quite a few games that are technically unsupported and they worked excellently on deck.
Super happy with my deck, based on reviews I’m happy I bought the low end steam deck and upgraded storage. Suits all my needs so far from AAA to emulation.
The bad part is games that are on the verified list but don't work perfectly out the box, like missing cutscenes in samurai shodown story mode and others.
@@buhshmuh it’s definitely an imperfect process for their validation. They can only review a few minutes, and check whatever boxes are on their list….
@@buhshmuh Have you tried proton experimental?
@@buhshmuh Look up Proton-GE to fix your missing cutscene videos. Usually caused by video codecs that Valve is legally prevented from supplying in base Proton but Proton-GE is community maintained.
Honestly, I'm probably in the minority here, but the $400 steam deck was already pushing my budget. If a similar handheld doesn't starr at 400 or less I'm not gonna be hype for it 🤷
I don't think you are, no. I have a fairly good income, but still it's about risk/reward for me, I can afford to have a 400$ device stolen, or fail after 2/3 years, it will be painful but not the end of the world. A 800$ device would be really, really bitter for me.
Agreed. For a handheld gaming device, $400 is pushing my limits. I did buy the low end Steam Deck and spend $60 to upgrade the SSD. However when you are talking $600-700 thats out of my range. I am still waiting for that $150 device with a nice 4"+ screen that can play Gen6 without any issues. for the RP4+
Peasant
U gonna die waiting dude
nope. in my country the ally cost twice as much as the deck. complete deal breaker. even if it was better in every aspect, there's no way i'm paying that much for a handheld video game.
This was a great and informative video; thank you for taking the time to make it. I was one of the first to get a Steam Deck during the first wave of shipments. Love the device and have invested in many accessories like Valve's SD Dock and DBrand's Killswitch skin/case. Was wondering if I should sell it and get an Ally; your video has helped me decide to stick with the Deck at least for now.
Brilliantly vid as usual - so thorough 👌
"Great on deck" is not the best measurement for how many games will play on Steam Deck vs. the ROG Ally. That's because a huge portion of the game that are listed as "playable" rather than "great on deck" only have that distinction because of small text size - which would also be an issue on the ROG Ally. Sure there are some games that will have other problems, but it certainly isn't half like this video implies.
Even games that are tagged as non playable (or something, can’t remember) play well on Steam Deck like WWE 2k23.
I have 150 games in my library and I have yet to run into a game that I can’t play on my Deck. Granted, I only play singleplayer games so anti-cheat isn’t an issue for me
and i would imagine that any game with anti cheat like valorant or cod mw2 could be bypassed by just installing windows as a secondary OS right? so that would mean that compatibility isn’t really an issue, just takes more work. looking into both of these as a substitute for a gaming pc so pls lmk lol :)
@@logangagnier8937 Recently, running windows on the Steam Deck has gotten a heck of a lot more convenient due to new versions of Steam Deck Tools. I am 100% windows on it now and haven't looked back.
@@azku can confirm. arkham asylum says unplayable but with a small tweak it works flawlessly so "great on deck" vastly undersells how many games work
Where i live in Norway Valve refuse to sell their hardware. So if I'm going to buy a steamdeck on a used marked here (even if it's new) we're talking early ps5 scalping price! About 1000$ without any warrenty.
So 900$ wich the Asus rog ally cost in Norway i'm "happy" to buy. Sucks its so expensive compared to usa, but thats life. I at least gets a 5 year waranty wich is standard in Norway.I wanted a handheld pc for years now, and the rog ally seems like a good place to start😊
13:50 i might need to 3d print a cap for the USB/GPU connector on the Rog Ally. I dont like it all open like that ._. bread crumbs and sh!t
As a steam deck user, I think I'm gonna sit this one out. I don't really play aaa games on it (which I have my pc for). Having said that, it will very interesting in the next couple of years. For me, battery life improvements will attract me the most.
+1 I have my pc for AAA games
100% agree
Then why buy a steam deck over something like an odin? Better portability and size.
@@creaturecore13 to play pc games
@@creaturecore13 price for me :) got the 64gb version and upgraded the ssd
Meh, Steam Deck owner here. Preordered the Ally minutes after they opened preorders.
I want full speed Switch, PS3 emulation and more games running at 60fps with higher graphical settings with a much lower fan DB level. Plus, I won’t have to deal with a million versions of proton anymore, wine tricks, installing dependencies etc.
I love my deck, but they’re not updating the hardware for years so, yea for me worth it.
Curious if you plan to keep the Steam Deck once the Ally arrives, and if so, are you going to play different games on each device?
@@RetroGameCorpsI will probably sell it, providing the ally once in my hands is everything I expect it to be. At least I’ll be able to return it to my local Best Buy if it sucks which is like 15 minutes from my house. If that’s the case I’ll keep my SD.
@@michaeliovani4487 I am kinda in the same boat, I just want to play AAA without issues or compatibility. I only had the SD for a couple of days but I’m already tire of different protons and videos of how to do shit, specifically for Ubisoft games. Question, did you like the Ally Rog? Did you end up keeping it?
There's one minor point I might make pertaining to the Software section; it's mentioned that the Windows desktop experience on the Ally is difficult to navigate without an external keyboard and mouse.
I feel that the Steam Deck handles this very well with its trackpads, allowing a reasonable facsimile to a mouse and keyboard. Admittedly the built in solution is a little clunky, but does still work, especially regarding mouse control as the haptic feedback really helps to impart the cursor's momentum.
Ally owner here. I have had zero issues navigating windows. I’ve actually come to enjoy it with the touch screen aspect. I just use the joystick to move my cursor and it’s worked great.
thanks for letting me add facsimile to my vocabulary lol
Just popped in to say that we tested over 4600 games in 2 weeks on the ally and it played them all with no mods or 3rd party programs. The steam deck ran about 32% of that library.
The deck wins off of the UI. And it ran every game I tested so far.. if it don't just dual boot windows
This is really minor, bet I love every time you post a long video and say "grab a drink and your favorite snack." It just feels so cozy!
I'm surprised by how many people bring up Destiny 2 in their ROG Ally review, the game is much more popular than I realized.
A few months, but Gamers Nexus has a pretty good technical break down of ROG Ally with their new upgrades for their tools. Pretty cool possible addition to reference to put in description :)
Windows on SD is really good and its really not that hard to dual boot the SD with steam os and W11. This is why the SD wins for me because of the trackpads that are not on the ROG Ally, they make using windows (and linux for that matter) much more user friendly. I bought the SD base model for £315 when it was on sale and immediately swapped out the 64gb emmc ssd for a 512gb ssd for £50 totalling £365. In the UK, the 512gb model costs £569 so I saved £204 doing it this way.
Yup, I picked up a 512gb sd card for a windows boot so that I can play my gamepass/gog games on the go, while the internal nvme is used for my steam games and emulation. I feel like it's the best of both worlds.
I'm from Australia cannot get steam deck so going for Asus Ally comes out in July over here in Australia thanks for great video 😅
I'm happy with my steam deck. Upgraded to 1tb dual boot. On steam os, i got my steam games and emulator games (mostly switch games). On windows, i got my other non-steam games with steam deck tools installed. Now, i rarely play on my pc and my switch is forever collecting dust.
This video came out quick . Can't complain.
bro is the rizzler 11:29
I wes Waiting for a Video Like this. Thank You
I think optimising what you already have is more consumer friendly. It winds up being cheaper and it's more environmentally friendly.
Excellent and fair comparison. I feel that so many people are bandwagoning on either side big time so far, and spitting false information. Nice to have an unbiased actual comparison. Both devices are great machines and both have specific people they are better for. Not everyone needs trackpads or needs insane battery life. Not everyone plays 30 year old 2d console games. Some people value the power more. Some value the compatibility more. Some value Steam's ability to work well and no Windows. Nothing wrong with that. More options is better for everyone.
When the intro hits, my one year old starts dancing.
Always very detailed quality videos. Thanks.
Those handheld console PC's are like my past kid's dream come true. Glad I jumped on the Steam Deck when it came out. :)
Right!
trackpads are a MUST HAVE.
I was set on getting an Ally over a Deck until this comparison. The additional horsepower is great but I don’t think I have as much faith in ASUS as I do in Valve to properly support the device over time, and for what I want to use it for, I think the Deck will be fine.
Remember too, if you still feel the FOMO just wait a little while and an even newer toy will be out taking everyone’s attention
Idk bro Id much rather choose a more powerfull machine, especially the one as flexible as the Ally
Steam Deck is great for older games, Indie games and Emulating older consoles but for something like YUZU or CEMU the Ally is just plain better
Also Game Pass ❤️
In terms of outright performance 7840u with faster ram will beat the X1 extreme in the ally, and an H skew sometime in the next few months will probably beat that as well. And yeah don't trust asus to do more than give you a simple launcher and an ok tuning panel. Still, the ally is a lot of performance for "just" $700, considering comparable systems will probably all be $1k+ unless they come in barebones form. This chip really needs more than a 40wh battery though, it's more suited to a laptop where you can throw in a 75+wh battery and more cooling to push the TDP more consistently.
@RetroGameCorps Hi, man, love your work. Are you aware that @TH-cam seems to put commercials right in the middle of your sound test comparisons on some of your videos? Ticked me off at least 3 times that I noticed, it was completely disruptive to the actual test. Thank you for your service.
Im a huge Valve/Steam fan. And as much as i ADORE the Steam Deck, if i was to purchase one of the two I'd personally buy the ROG Ally. But they are both great nevertheless.
Thanks! Very good material :)
I was on the fence about this but now I am convinced, the steam deck deal is still unbeatable thank you so much for this amazing guide and everything else you do, keep up the great work sir
Another nice thing about steamdecks track pads is you can literally make a function wheel. Set a Few buttons and Slide your around on the touchpad to Do x this or that function with a corresponding overlay that'll show over it. It really shines in mmos or RTS games
Regarding the power usage with steam deck versus the Ally.
I'm not sure if the ally can get much better with games that are less demanding.
It has to power a lot more cores than the steam deck does. Twice the amount of cores actually, the cores need a minimum amount of power delivered to them in order to function, It would probably take something like disabling SMT or etc to get closer to the steamdeck. Which I'm not sure you can even do in Windows and might require changing in the BIOS.
Overall the 7840u is just more power hungry by its very nature
@@Dracossaint You are right. If you play lower setting game the Steam Deck double the Ally. I watched a whole video of someone testing it on multiple games; both high end and low end games.
I love watching the details of this stuff and I don’t even plan to buy either of these 😂 No wonder this channel is growing so fast
That’s because it is TH-cam content for grownups 🙂
That Asus button sound!! Uggh I want to say that's intentional cause it sounds so satisfying
I truly hate having a charging port at the bottom of the handheld, Steam did a great job having it at the top.
By having a bottom port you save two seconds of your life whenever you want to play docked, but get a life long frustration of awkward gaming while charging 😅
To be clear, the video also shows ROG ally charging port is on top.
@@Voxavs But it's much more comfortable to play it while you are laying on your bed, that top charging port is great for that.
I was so close to ordering the Ally. I don’t have a Deck either.
But, I feel that there’s something higher quality about Valve as a company. Steam OS, the updates etc.
I do want the powerful handheld and do want to play Xbox games but still think I’ll wait for the next Deck sale.
steam deck 2 is the way to go but they said they wont improve it for many many years. Steam deck will eventually be absolete. I am waiting on Rog Ally 2 or 1 with better update.
@@gambaownsus I think it might be years away though 😞
I’ve got that itch now.
@@dubonstin8676 could also just boot into windows on the steam deck, it requires more work since it isn’t the natively installed operating system, but it’s absolutely an option for games with anti cheat
@@gambaownsus that's a bad use of obsolete, out of date would be more fitting
@@gambaownsus nah, it won't be obsolete. The ROG proves that, with its jankiness and terrible battery, it shows windows hand helds arent ready yet either. The deck will serve me nicely as a companion to my ps5 and xbox until the deck 2 drops in end of 24 early 25 (hopefully)
Sold my steam deck yesterday for the rog ally. Im hyped for it. If worst comes to worst ill just return it and get anotber steam deck. Ngl it was hard to let it go lol. Both devices are fantastic and im sure the community will bring updates just like the steam deck.
Thank you for this. I was debating about buying a steam deck recently, and then this dropped and I've been so curious. Honestly the display itself is a huge selling point for me.
The handheld market is really cool now. So many options and the competition is great! I agree with your statement about longevity. Because at the end of the day. It doesn't matter what device you choose. Steam will ultimately be the winner. Which is why I went with the steamdeck to be honest. I didn't know if I would've liked it or not, but months later it's pretty much the only handheld I use now. And the support from Valve is amazing
S Tier comparison. What you said about Asus trying to refresh every year where Valve would more likely keep it around for years is exactly one of my big reasons for going with the Steam Deck!
while i do agree with you and i’m also likely gonna go for the steam deck as well, i don’t really see yearly upgrades as that big of a deal. you could still hold on to the rog ally 1 by the time the 3rd or 4th revision comes out. you’d be missing out on marginal performance increase year over year until the point it becomes actually worth upgrading (like a pc, which is speculation since i don’t own one lol just a ps5 and mac). it’s more a matter of how much windows, rog, and the community are willing to and able to support it
It's not a Sony or Xbox, the traditional gaming console, which mean even it will refresh annually or not, it does not matter at all.
Because you can still play games on it if the hardware can handle it.
So it is not the reason why pick deck or ally.
Yeah my Deck is AMAZING!! Steam games, emulations, web browsing, steaming sports etc, EVERYTHING I want to do, it does it, and it does it WELL!!
Thanks. These thorough reviews are very helpful. The Ally is 🔥 I’ll probably hold off until a SteamDeck 2 or Ally 2. I’ve never got any first gen products. I’m happy with my Switch currently… but always wished to have a Windows handheld.
I would actually buy it now (unless u wanna wait 2-3 yrs), the ROG Allt at least, combining it with game pass is a match made in heaven
"I’ve never got any first gen products."
"happy with my Switch currently"
Ok...
@@zeronim1965 Switch has many gens like the 2019 or the OLED version but yeah sure mate
@@Teilzeit02 lol they all represented one console - Switch, got same chip, same power... It's like to make new revision, but sell it as a new console :\ (well N-company like to do something like that)
Or we can say that Ally is just a new gen of portable PCs, there Asus collected everything from all to their pPC.
Main problem not "first gen" but that it's still a PC, not a console... Asus dont give a s if a game wont be playable on device, of we'll be optimizing games for Ally, they just jumped on hypetrain, while Valve is doing all work as a locomotive... Store, optimization, contacts with devs.
Steam Deck will probably go on sale during steam summer sale. It would be a great price point
Hands down the best comparison video. Exactly what I was looking for. I especially like your comments on the ergonomics and buttons. I’m a steam deck user (and ps5 user) and no matter how you look at it, steam deck feels better to hold then the ally. But I still preordered the ally because I really want to use windows right out of the box. (Don’t feel like dual booting windows on my deck.)
I've read some really frightening reviews on the Ally. It sounds way to buggy and very hard to use compared to the Steam Deck. I'm glad you talked a little bit about it.
Thanks for the heads up, not buying that piece of shit device when there's much better hand held out there called the Steam Deck!
I’m gay
wow the fact you can now find a rog ally for 400 bucks 2nd hand is insane i mean its quite literally the best price to performance handheld
I got my steam deck in like 3 days from the site.. Im loyal to valve they have a community with endless customer service and tips even beta tests. Its well worth it. Plus the steam UI and track pads are the deal breaker for me..
I just ordered mine yesterday😛😛😛 waiting like shit
U mean *lack of I think 😂
@jessica49arrow haha noooo..
Being "loyal" to massive corporations is insane.
My Base deck upgraded
WD 512gb drive. $55
SP 1TB Sd card. $68
Undervolted 50,50,50
MEM OC 6400Mhz
CPU OC 3900Mhz
GPU OC 2000MHz
PTM7950 thermal pad on cpu
Thermal pad mod On heatsink
TDP @ 24 watts (80C-85c)
TDP @ 20 watts (65C-70C)
Fantastic custom fan curve
And perfect vibrant deck settings 💪 I’m good
i do 100% believe if they would revise the steam deck this year or next year and just gave us a better screen with this chipset inside. It would once again be the biggest talking point.
That is my main draw back on why I want to sell my steam deck. That screen is borderline horrible, the contrast ratio is so bad.
@MyLazySundae take it from someone who has one bro, I honestly think it is the worst thing about the steam deck. I LOVE the idea of a handheld pc when I am away, but I often bring my switch instead as the screen is just horrible on the Steam deck. It doesn't have VRR and the frame time can be all over the place, the colors are horrible, not even that plug-in that can make it more vibrant is worth it as the colors are still very limited on screen, and the contrast ratio is..... well just horrible lol. I have the ASUS on pre order, and if that one sucks I am just going to return it and wait for more revisions to come out. But from what I've seen, the Asus is the one to get.
@@GrimAbstract This certainly swayed my decision towards the rog ally. Thank you for your honest review.
@@GrimAbstract the screen has never bothered me and i have a switch oled. I just like to chill and play something.
@@juleswinnfield1246 it’s fine if you are okay with that screen, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a horrible screen. It has a coverage of 67% sRGB and a 1200:1, aka a horrible screen and it’s facts bro.
The reason I love the Steam deck and am not considering the Ally is the touchpad ( a lot of my games are top-down games like Rimworld, RTS games, indie games which work better with a mouse like papers please, etc and it makes navigating menus in videos games like Terraria easier and of course FPS games), the community support ( the huge variety of community configs and support). The Steamdeck has great input support giving you a choice of inputs. The steam OS is also amazing and the valve has done amazing in support. However hardware-wise, I'll have to admit the Ally has great specs and performance, especially with the screen.
Those control configs can be used by any device, which is a nice benefit.
Yupp the track pads and the 4 back buttons make such a huge difference.
@Meow Wow I haven't experimented with gyro and the touch sensors at all. I tend to play in environments (like bed) where I don't get to be all that centered so gyro wasn't that great for me. I'm glad to hear it does work well though. I want to try it out for shooters.
Also the Ally's dpad is horrible for retro games compared to the Steam Deck's. I love my Steam Deck and play lots of old school games on it. Lol
@@ReviewArchiveUSA420 i love playing Deep rock galactic on mine, and man do those trackpads and back buttons make my life easy !
Even though tech TH-camrs are basically copying each other and milking a product for all it's worth for the $$$, I have come to appreciate yours more over others like that of ETA Prime. You go in depth with deep, methodical reviews. People will know exactly what they are up against down to a T.
Jup eta prime just doesnt invest much time, often in benchmarks he just uses old ones.
Look at his ally vs deck video, he tests them at different resolution
I was impressed at how he pretty much linked The Phawx and ETA prime. That already says a lot.
ETA Prime is the only one that is unbiased reviewing these devices and he isn't nitpicky.
Great video and comparison. Thanks for that!
I like that you do reviews and comparisons kind of more for the "average" viewer, those that don't know or care what frequency the ram is and just wants to know if it's good or not. Another awesome video!
Valve has also been consistently updating the steam deck since launch. It seems like every month at least I get a new update and the device has only gotten better. Very happy with my purchase thus far.
just like Asus, the ROG ally performance and support has been amazing and even improving everyday
@@patrocn35car that’s great to hear. I want everyone to be enjoying there purchase
I was set on buying the Ally….the idea of “more power” was enough for me…then I got to try them both….steam deck OS felt soooo much better and smoother….Windows just felt weird…laggy, hard to explain….the touch pads are also perfect…got my Steam Deck about a week ago
really great video! Go Ally!
Both are amazing handhelds. Im definetly gonna order one before or maybe on christmas. It will keep the steam deck me and my wife share company or we take turns but either way itll be a nice addition to our handheld collection.
The Steam Deck's control scheme does it for me. Highly recommend it, I love mine to all heck.
With ASUS’s terrible customer service, I’ll stick to my SteamDeck for now. As soon as Valve releases a new revision with better screen and battery life, I’ll upgrade then
Valve has terrible customer service as well.
29:35 that would be very interesting.
Especially if the external GPU is capable to allow the Alley to get to 4K Resolution, Ray tracing etc.
Ally (extreme edition) does support ray tracing without external gpu..
@@AlaaSalem I should have been more specific. Sure, the Ally support ray tracing, but how much power does it need for that? How much FPS do I have to give up or which graphic settings do I have to choose in order to still get a good performance?
Thank you Russ for giving us the first balanced review of the ROG Ally. All other outlets are gushing about performance while often paying very little respect to battery and the general experience, but this video actually give people an idea of what they can expect in order to make a informed purchasing decision 🙂 Really looking forward to The Phawx video as well. Equally confident in his review process as well.
11:30 best ASMR I've ever heard
Great and fair comparison video! The only thing I envy the Ally for in theory is the eGPU. In practice it's way too expensive anyways, but this should be the standard in future for mobile devices. Regarding the screens, videoglasses should be the most important addition to buy for any mobile device in the future, so I'm fine with any screen because I can expand it with glasses. And for trustworthyness, most people don't care at all about how bad companies are, but for me ASUS is a big red flag and it's great that you mentioned it.
Video glasses are what?
@@whwhywhywhywhywhywhy Things like the nreal air seems like the best accessory regarding these mobile gaming/entertainment devices. And if you have one you can still use them even if you upgrade, because after all it's only a display, so it seems like a good investment.
With glasses, resolution and refresh rate become even more important, which could to things to the higher performance chip?
No point buying a handheld and then tethering it to an eGPU anyway, defeats the whole purpose of getting a handheld device
@@little_fluffy_clouds I use the steamdeck docked a lot because it is as good as my old pc at 10% of power consumption, so it would be nice if I can save the money of parts I already have (CPU, RAM) and expand it with upgrades that are most important for gaming, which is the GPU. The same goes for people that use laptops as their main device, which often has comparable CPU performance of a PC but not GPU performance. And if you think about brands like GPD or Ayaneo which devices cost over 1k$ this would be even nicer money wise. From a technical standpoint we already have this option with Thunderbolt, it only must be integrated.
Thanks for that usefull review. Bravo...
Crazy how Steam Deck is well over a year into its launch and is still making tough competition for its competitors.
what competition ? literally every handheld released in the last 6 months blow the steamdeck out of the water , the only reason why it's compared it's because it is the first handheld this gen released :)
@@ofensatulthere's something called price and battery life. On low tdp the rog ally still cant beat It. But you look like the type of person that doesn't even buy the product, just becomes a cheerleader online lol
The software of everything released pales in comparison. Steam deck's software, stability and community support is really something
@@ofensatul i don’t think so. They all have good things but the overall package is not as compelling as is the steam deck.
I kind of like when machines sounds like machines
Great review and comparison! Good to see Captain America into gaming xD
I'll probably go with the middle tier steam deck as the extra $200 is not worth for me since I'll prefer gaming on PC whenever possible anyways.
Russ, I love the skin for your Steam Deck. Do you have the link for it, I’d like to purchase it myself.
I’m happy for ROG to push Valve into making SD 2 even better. For me the deck’s ergonomics, controls and overall ecosystem keep me happy for now.
does valve care? they aren't making profit on the hardware. they'd just let Asus, msi, gigabyte, aya etc fight it out.
There wont be steam deck 2, if then it will be at least 5 years away
@@danzmachinz2269jup they literally dont care, they dont even make money on the steam deck
thanks for you reviews, great quality content
I am really happy for the ROG Ally, the price is amazing and that’s the thing that calls my attention the most. Is going to make manufacturers more conscious es and stabling a market price. While there will still be a place for it, the other fellows like Aya are going to start looking at ways to compete at that price point and innovation will come out of that. I like my steam deck a lot more and don’t see any reason why to trade, but I love the pressure that it puts on Valve. Nothing like some competition to get engineers and designers fired up. I am really exited for the future of mobile gaming and emulation.
Yup this. Almost pulled trigger on a onexplayer X/ ayaneo2 and glad i held off now...ayaneo to me looks to be in trouble with the ally on the way now...
Nice try, ASUS fanboy. XD
Excellent video!
I think the steam deck is better. Better ergonomics, better controls, better user interface. And you can install windows and have the best of both worlds. Its also cheaper so when the new model comes out you don’t feel like you wasted money. If they sell the steam deck 2 at the same price its going to be a big win.
I agree with this. It's why I went with the deck. The ROG is just not ready yet, windows 11 is not ready for portable gaming and it shows hard. The deck has constant support and shows no signs of slowing down, and just offers a great experience overall. Plus asus may just drop another device next year. It's better to stick with the deck as it does what I want it to do for now, and just hold out for the deck 2 for my next handheld upgrade
And you can manually upgrade the deck in every way
Good video!!
90 mins battery life, and that is only on mid level games settings........they could have doubled that with ease by going with 60fps and a 720p screen as 1080p and 120 rps is wasted on such a screen that small.....and no touch pads means all your mouse required pc games are dead at the starting gate....this needed more optimisations and trimming.
Hey Russ, here's an offtopic - who does your beard? Looks slick.
Amazing video as always but simple summary imo. $400 deck + SD card is still by far the best value in gaming.
This is not about value I think
If I'm going to game on the go, I want the best experience, so it's all subjective
@@bootchoo96 there will be many 1500 handheld PCs to fit that void. So I agree to disagree.
Great informative review