Thanks for your video. I appreciate that you were honest about what you care about. That makes a huge difference with this comparison. I have never said, “I don’t want / need all that” regarding features or power. If a person really wants to lock themselves into retro or last gen then the Steamdeck has less downsides. If however, you are a tinkerer who likes options. If you appreciate that Windows will let you do almost anything that an OS can give you. If you perk up when you hear dockable desktop, then you need the ROG Ally. I have mine running through an Annapro dock with a 1080p 24” touch Dell monitor. Keyboard, mouse, network cable into a Gig Switch. I do my bills with my Ally. I watched you on TH-cam and I shop online. I typed this comment in Word because I use Microsoft 365. I also use MS Gamepass and I stream my Playstation 5 to it too, but the Remote Play app requires I use their controller, its plugged in my dock. This is versatility you don’t dream of with Linux. Lastly in a couple years, when all these current handhelds are old news, I will buy a used e-gpu for a fraction of what they are now. Then my Ally will play what’s current in 2026 when docked. Very few reviewers have expressed my stance on this device, its lonely here. Hopefully somebody that gets what I’m saying reads this.
thanks so much for the thoughtful comment fam and i agree with you. to each their own! i guess it is easy to get caught up in what is best, what can play more, what is the best optimized etc etc that it is easy to forget that the point is to get what works for you. I'm more of the latter. a tinkerer by nature. while Arief(this video presenter) is more of the first category. like yourself he also uses his Deck to stream his PlayStation, play indie games and just a well rounded contained experience - and i love that for him! I'm really glad to have read your thoughts, stay awesome!
I have a gaming tower running windows for modern games with real hardware and a nice ultrawide. I do my bills on a MacBook Pro. My steam deck is for portable games. Don’t try to make one thing do too much. The processor will be a bottleneck when you go EGPU in 2026.
As someone probably said before, for me the Steam Deck OLED feels like a good middle ground. With a gaming laptop, the OLED has made experiencing games on the go amazing. Miles Morales has been a lot of fun and replaying Hi-Fi Rush is amazing as well.
It seems you can now play Genshin on the Steam Deck and not worry about getting your account banned. Not officially supported through Steam but it's possible to install it several ways and not that difficult. I've been playing it on the deck for a couple weeks now, with no issues. I have had a Steam Deck for almost a year now. I love it but I am interested in getting a windows handheld if the price is right.
ah thanks for sharing fam. I've told Arief(the presenter) that too but he prefers a more plug and play option instead of hacks and workouts. which windows hand-held would you get for a right price?
Something you never mentioned that is a huge upside is being able to use the AMD adrenaline software on the Ally. Being able to enable frame gen or upscalers for games that never supported FSR is huge. The 120hz screen is another upside, though triple A games will never hit that mark.
The big problem with those other PC handhelds is that they give up reasonable pricing and battery life for power and as a result we get a repeat of the game boy versus neo Geo pocket.
I see you're well informed :), in my opinion: the ally is a great device and probably better than the first launched Steam Deck, but the Steam Deck OLED has got a lot of updates, especially when we're talking about the OLED screen and battery life, at the end the SD OLED is probably better than the ally and all other handhelds, considered their main matter is being a handheld, it's because, in my opinion, the Steam Deck OLED is the most well balanced handheld pc and thought out device that is available right now.
@@thepirateswirled Exactly. Valve knows and understands the necessary balance of a handheld. They deliberately didn't put 1080p or 120/144hz. They didn't just slap in a mobile CPU. They have their own custom made one and the power efficiency of it is superior to any other handheld's power efficiency. Rivaling Nintendo Erry other PC handheld ever just boasted super high specs and got REALLY hot. Only to last like an hour. And the next PC handheld just tries to 1-up the other. The ROG Ally and LeGo are literally no difference from erry other PC handheld ever. They're just popular/known bcuz of the fad and the handheld market that Valve blew up Oh, and the older PC handhelds were like $1200 average. ValvE brought the price down a lot, which is good
so you choose oled steam deck because it feels better as a handheld as opposed to power and capabilities thats bs lol because if the oled could do what the z1 extreme could people would still choose the steam deck you probably had your steam deck before your ally if you have one so what i want to know is why limit the games you can play and performance for the second version of the same thing that was already out for oled? @@thepirateswirled
put that lil boy up {steam deck} cant do what the z1 extreme can 2 steam decks and not one could fck with rog imagine i buy a steam deck and buy the upgrade but they perform damn near the same with a pretty screen meanwhile the 1st version to drop of the rog ally was the z1 extreme version if im not mistaken then the the non extreme version drops for a lower price if you choose a steam deck over the z1 extreme you probably couldn't afford it my boy and itdoesnt get really hot lol 😑😑@@theamethystslime5978
I've been running linux on my ROG Ally thanks to Nobara steam deck edition. Its identical to the steam deck and everything including sleep works. I really fail to see whats so great about steamOS. Not all games work, performance is less than Windows, other launchers are a pain to get working, Linux desktop is worse than windows, battery life is the same, Linux uses way more vram which cancels out the ram savings and more. Dont get me wrong, windows is a pain to get setup initially, but once it is its easier than steamOS. Armoury crate gets the job done, you can use steam big picture mode which is like steamOS or things like playnite. We now have emudeck as well. If the deck had decent windows support and drivers then more would use it on there as well. I agree, if all your games are on steam and work on linux then the deck is a good choice. But most PC gamers have games on various launchers and just want things to work. Obviously I'm only talking software as you already mentioned the hardware differences. Valve are also bringing SteamOS to the ally this year as they said to PC gamer. So when that happens the ally will have the choice of steamOS and a fully working Windows without dealing with bad drivers and open source inferior software the deck has to use on Windows. Kinda funny that a windows device will give you better freedom. The only clear win the deck has is battery and it's impressive under low tdp.
thanks for articulating your thoughts. I consider SteamOS like a console i.e. for people who want to play without having to figure out any extra things. and you know what? fair enough. oh I did not know that Valve is bringing SteamOS to the Ally. let me read up about it
I own both & love both for different reasons like on Deck I can just pick up & play most of my Steam Library & with the Ally I can play games that won't play on Deck like Destiny 2 & it's also alot easier to mod games on Ally cause of Windows
I'm with you here. I have my launch SD for most of my old games and emulating (except some games that just run better on steam deck like Hogwarts legacy Wich is riddled with stutters on windows) and I use my ally for apex and any game using anti cheats or on storefronts other than steam
In my opinion: > The Asus ROG Ally is a great device and probably the better choice when it comes to the first launched Steam Deck, but the Steam Deck "OLED" has got updated, especially when we're talking about OLED screen and battery life, which is often underestimated, while there is more that many people don't know, the chip shrink for example, a bigger battery, a better and bigger fan and a lot of other improvements. At the end, I think the SD OLED is probably the better overall handheld than all the competition currently, considered that their main usage is being a handheld, but I also have to say that it also depends on each person's use cases and preferences, there is no such thing like a "everyones" device, that is never going to exist as I would think of. It's because, in my opinion: The Steam Deck OLED is the most well balanced and thought out handheld pc device at this time, it may not be the strongest or sharpest, but for example: We don't really need 1080p, 4k or 144 hz in a handheld or 30 Watts. It will most likely reduce battery life, by so much that the improvement in visual quality is probably not going to be worth it, the trade off that comes necessarily with it, time that you can spend without being plugged in by a lot, which is the core aspect of a handheld, in most cases it will be a relatively small screen. Using a lower res on a > high resolution screen won't really fix it as the screen is going to still consume the same power, and valve probably know that, another aspect is, if we're plugged in most of the time, maybe a gaming laptop could be the better choice to some. Whether you can speak of subjective or objective is up to you at this part, but after a lot of research, most people seem to find to have prefered the "800p" OLED screen over the 1080p screen that can be found in the Asus, futhermore; The SD OLED is also cheaper by a lot compared to the competition, by about 100-300, depending on where you live and comparing to the same size (512GB). I should also mention that at 15 Watts, the Steam Deck OLED will offer at least the same performance as the other handhelds and sometimes even more (1-3 fps at 15 Watts, example: Search for "Steam Deck OLED vs ASUS ROG Ally - Which is Best in 2024?"), which can be found in some reviews, it will last way longer on its battery at 15 watt usage at the same time. The ROG Ally has still its benefits, it's also good that there is competition. I can understand why other people love and prefer it over the Steam Deck, but to me the Steam Deck OLED is the best choice that makes use of being a true handheld as in portability right now, one shouldn't forget, that the Steam Deck OLED has got updated, while the Asus ROG ally is still in its first gen by that company. We should also think about this, which can be found more often lately, that it's also kinda like a repeat of the game boy versus neo Geo pocket war, and the game boy survived because portability mattered the most for the people at that time.
FINALLY. Someone with critical thinking skills! That's what people don't get. Handhelds have batteries. If they can't last longer than 45m-90m, WTF is the point? They're just trash handhelds that can't even do what they're meant to do Unfortunately, people don't buy these handhelds for portable gaming, they buy it for the fad and for budget PC gaming. They've never heard of Mini PCs. They're in the wrong market, buying handhelds for the wrong reasons. These handhelds can't handle these demanding AAA games, and the normies buying the Ally don't know anything BUT whatever the latest trendy AAA game is. People view Handhelds in the same light as gaming Desktops/Laptops. They have severely misplaced expectations The reality is: Handhelds will NEVER be on par with gaming laptops, and especially not gaming Desktops. Not even Mini PCs with the same price! --- 1. Power efficiency is what makes a handheld superior, not better/fancier specs Steam Deck/OLED set the standard. The only thing Ally and LeGo have brought to the table, was 'muh power' and specs that they cannot handle. They do errything else the SD/OLED does, but worse and less efficiently All they've done is try to 1-up each other, but they just get more extreme and laughable bcuz they clearly have NO idea what they're doing lol. As if having HIGHER res and HIGHER refresh rate will make it a better HANDHELD/PORTABLE device. It's one thing if the batteries can handle it, but battery tech isn't that impressive. And if it is, it's expensive AF and/or to big --- 2. Anything above '1280p' is just pure greed. A device that's biting off more than it can chew. Handhelds are portable-first. They have standards, they have batteries. That's what makes them handhelds, portable devices 1080p draws more power, taking away from BOTH performance and power efficiency, rendering the handheld LESS capable as a portable gaming device It's not about personal preferences or boasting higher/fancier specs, it's about performance and power efficiency. 720p will ALWAYS be the minimum and maximum standard for handhelds. Even if we had good batteries that can handle 720p for up to 12h minimum in any game, I'd rather take higher refresh rate over higher resolution anyways Handhelds need a balance between power and battery. You cannot neglect one in favor of the other. The battery will ALWAYS be the bottleneck of a handheld. Higher resolution will always take away from performance, battery/playtime, and in game graphical quality/settings. It's just a pointless trade off. Especially for 7" displays Just bcuz a handheld can handle up to 4k, doesn't mean it should. Just bcuz a handheld can handle games up to 144fps, doesn't mean it should. Y'know? What isn't going into performance, goes into battery --- 3. Steam Deck/OLED's power efficiency puts erry other PC handheld to shame The ROG Ally and LeGo CANNOT handle the same games with the same settings as Steam Deck/OLED at 15W or less. That alone just gives you an idea of how well designed and under-appreciated the Steam Deck/OLED is. Power Efficiency will always be superior --- 4. Steam Deck made Linux gaming possible. That's a MASSIVE achievement. It'll only get better from here on What has the Ally/LeGo achieved? The same goal that erry other PC in existence goes for: muh power
Did a week of research before buying a handheld and ended up with the SD OLED. no regrets! Performance is overrated on handhelds. Why would you need a handheld that has a 7inch or 8.8inch screen running at 1080p or 1600p. Pointless!
You need to try the legion go. I got all 3 this xmas. I ended up returning the steam deck and gave my daughter the ally. The screen on the go just does it for me. The future for this little mechines is interesting. No matter what you get, most will be happy. They are all incredible little machines
yeah, after I tried the trackpad it was a bummer going back to the ally. with windows on the deck, how is the driver situation? does it perform as good or better than on SteamOS?
@@Geekception despite what the Steam Deck fanboys will tell you, the performance is better in Windows 11 (more graphics options, all games work - no tweaking). Battery life is similar on AAA titles 1-2h playtime (don't know about indies). Edit: Windows drivers work without issues. But you need to install from their steam deck drivers pages.
I have both but i mainly use my ally since I'm mainly home. I wish Asus would add, a track pad, bigger battery and better ergonomic design. Holding the ally long term is uncomfortable.
The Rog ally is for people who dont have a dedicated gaming machine that don't mind being plugged in to an AC outlet.. The battery and the quick resume is the whole point of getting a handheld.. it's the steam deck for me.. more demanding games can be streamed over the network at 90fps maxed.. if you already have a dedicated gaming pc.
I agree 100% correct for me. I don't have a dedicated gaming pc so the ally works out really well. Arief on the other hand has a PS5 and a gaming PC so the deck works out well for him too.
I disagree with this sentiment. I have a banging rig outfitted with a 3080ti. Haven't touched it in months. With the Ally.. I kinda feel like I don't need it anymore tbh.. When I only had the Steam Deck.. it definitely felt needed
Well I have both and hardly turn my steamdecks on. There's no comparison. steamdeck just has easier controller customisation and a better looking OS but having windows to do things like install mods etc is a game changer. Plus starfield 1080p ultra on ROG made better with a mod 30 to 60 fps is so much better than 800p low 15 fps. And Elden ring 1080p high or maximum is so much better than 800p low with dodgy textures i see on the steamdeck. It's loads quieter as well.
It's the same argument, the only argument available. 'Muh power'. AAA games 1.None of these handhelds can handle them. If you're looking for AAA gaming, you're better off buying a Mini PC for $700 and getting so much more out of it. You'll be tethered to the wall anyways, might as well get superior performance for the same price 2. You can still install mods on Linux. TBH, it's not that different from Windows. Just different files in different names in different locations 3. ROG Ally can't handle AAA games. Even if you're doing 1080p, you're never gonna touch 120, let alone 60. Higher resolution comes at the cost of performance, power efficiency, and higher ingame graphical settings. Not a worthwhile trade off. Even if it still can, the battery can't. As a handheld, it can't handle these games. It's too much for the Ally in some way or another, rendering it less capable as a handheld/portable device FSR3 is a godscend for Handhelds tho. Regardless, still better off on lower resolutions with battery powered gaming devices 4.Also, Starfield runs better than 15fps at 800pon the Deck. And with FSR3, it remains over 30fps in erry area now. But playing AAA games on handhelds is retarded 5. Elden Ring can technically play at maximum settings on the Steam Deck, but lowering unimportant settings like AA and Shadows will make it mostly remain over 30fps and ultimately stabalize it 6. It's not like the Ally is touching 60fps, let alone 120fps, at 1080p, especially not higher than lowest settings. Not without FSR3. And even if it can, you're looking at like 30m-45m of playtime. Not much of a handheld. Just a subpar Mini PC people buy only for the fad
Team Deck here. I had an LCD model and sold it to upgrade to an OLED. I think it's the best decision I've ever made and I couldn't be happier. I also just started playing games on Game Pass because I had a free trial. The one thing I wish is to be able to play and download games natively like on Windows, but I'm surprised with how well Xbox Cloud service is with the extremely simple work around on the deck. The option to dual boot into Windows is also there, but idk if it's worth the hassle. Either way, the Deck is easily my favorite gaming device of all time.
thanks for sharing your experience Brandon. sadly we don't get cloud service here in Malaysia but happy you're able to use it. what games are you currently playing on gamepass?
Yeah I was not a big fan with the Ally’s battery life. Also I’m a sucker for symmetrical joysticks and trackpads really helped me on desktop AND in games too when necessary, so I sold my Ally so I can use whatever I got towards the OLED Deck.
ah i hear you. as an Ally owner I'm always plugged in. partly because i always want the best performance and as you said the battery life is quite bad. for me it's nkt a deal breaker bit i can see why. let me know what you think when you get the deck oled!
@@Geekception my first handheld is lcd SD and after the ally announce and released i sold my sd for an ally. i used only for 3 months. its just too much of software and tweaking even tho i have high end pc i understand how the things need to work for a certain games to run in windows.. i like vrr and the speaker is phenomenal in ally hands down with that.. however the longer i use it the more things get annoy the fact i need to plug in everytime i play AAA games like an gaming laptop, which is doesnt make any sense for me since i own a pc (i could just sit in front of it and throw all Games in ultra preset with high frame rates) then the oled SD introduced i sold my ally and went back to Steam OS. more on straight forward since all my games is in steam. i dont need to sacrifice setting just to get a decent fps like i did in my ally.. i also play stardew valley i mean as of now im grinding with it. SD OLED battery is phenomenal i charged my OLED SD for 90% and play the stardew valley for about 8.5hrs-9hrs without recharging.. and also damn i missed the ergonomics feel of the SD the most comfortable handheld to hold in a long hours of playtime. The division 2 - low with mix of medium in 800p i can play 3hrs straight without pluggin in same as diablo 4 IMHO and real experienced. the New SD OLED is the true handheld and battery king
I'm using my ally mostly without power supply in bed/couch and battery life forces me to play at 15W. So yeah it isn't good enough for max power and at 15W it's like using half of the device. The most annoying thing about Ally is Windows :) As much as it has benefits like XGP it's also super frustrating most of the time so I'm thinking of buying SD and deciding after that which one to keep :)
Gamepass is nice, but owning the games is better Windows is a bad OS, especially 11. If you're gonna use Windows for gaming, I'd highly recommend LTSC. A de-bloated Windows. Windows is known for how bloated it is If you're looking for a new handheld, the main selling point of a handheld is typically the portability aspect. In this case, it's Battery/Power efficiency with performance (Deck/OLED) vs just even more performance at the cost of errything else (Ally) If you want to play games for longer than 45m-90m, go for the Steam Deck/OLED. If you just want to play AAA games, buy a Mini PC for $700 and get more out of it. You'll be tethered to the wall anyways
@@ManomiiFox It's a handheld with good performance and battery that'll last up to 5h+ minimum. Up to 24h straight with some settings -OR A handheld that can play AAA games only a lil better at the cost of portability, rendering it useless/pointless as a handheld Ally only has 'muh power'. It's worse and less efficient than the Steam Deck/OLED in erry other category This is the handheld market, not the laptop/desktop market. Batteries are a factor, and Ally completely neglects the whole point of it being a handheld
@@theamethystslime5978well with that argument, you might as well use a dumb phone that can only call and play mp3 player in 2024 with battery up for a week. otherwise, there's landline.
@@ManomiiFox That makes no sense Steam Deck/OLED and ROG Ally are capable of play the same games SD/OLED has a better battery bcuz it focuses on balance The Ally focuses on performance, compeltely neglecting the battery, hence 30-45m long playtime The Ally is literally no different than any other PC handheld in the past 10 years. The only real difference is that it's not $1200. The only reason its even known, is bcuz of the PC handheld fad, the market Valve blew up
@thystslime5978so ur saying the Ps Vita which was released in 2011 is the same as a Rog Ally? LMAO, what a clown. you can't be taken seriously if you're spouting garbage.
Interesting video. I was very sceptical about Ally, but since I got an used one, I'm using it way more than my old Deck. One big pro, for my tastes, is that playing mostly in the bed, laying on the back, with the Deck I used to have wrist cramps after 20-30 mins. With Ally this doesn't happen.
Two great units, if the ROG comes in black and has the ability to disable the RGB then it means I can actually use it in everyday life. So far only Steam Deck has battlechip compatibility too, depicted at 3:20
I was gonna get steam deck but went with the ally as I'm a long time windows 11 but i have the ally boot to Steam's BIG PICTURE mode mode at startup so now it's just like the deck it logins to my steam account and i get to play right away
SD/OLED can play almost erry game. With the exception of bad games that use Anti Cheat spyware, like Call of Doody and Destiny 2. But that's just multiplayer on a portable device SteamOS is what made Linux gaming possible. That's a MASSIVE achievement and the average normie probably won't understand how important that is. It'll only get better from here Besides, you're not stuck with SteamOS. You can still play on Blaotware 11. At the cost of performance, privacy, security, and battery tho
Love my steam deck, granted….all I play is balls of torment and vampire survivors. Sure I could play for free on my Xbox or phone….I play shadow of war sometimes so I feel great about my purchase.
You pay more, for less control customization options, a far worse interface software from a company that can't even get it right on laptops (and has been known to abandon it's users iin this regard), an OS that kind of hates controller input, a white shelled hand held device (cuz that's not going to look ugly after a few months of heavy use), BUT you get slightly better power that still isn't 60fps without drops on something like elden ring. I resold my ally really fast and stuck with steam deck. The only value I saw was if you're big into game pass, which I am not.
Gamepass still available on Steam Deck, so it's no real loss Ally's hardware can't handle its own specs, and its battery cannot handle its hardware. It's a poorly designed handheld that can't even sustain itself, not for long And apart from overall performance, it really brings nothing else over the Steam Deck/OLED. It neglects the whole point of it being a handheld: its battery. What's the point in a handheld if it's only gonna last 45-90m? Over the SD/OLED which can last up to 12h and even 24h straight
You can always do a dual boot windows set-up if you really want to play games of other platforms. Steam Deck is very popular that its just a matter of time that you can also play other platforms in SD OS.
I have a ROG Ally and it while it’s awesome I find the inconsistency with the software frustrating, one day it’s fine the next day it’s not. I love Steam OS’ straightforwardness for gaming, I’m really wrestling with this thought of selling the Ally for a Deck OLED.
ah i hear you Justin. what inconsistencies have you noticed mostly? and yeah, i agree that its very nice to have an all in one OS like Steam OS. it is why Arief likes the deck too
@@Geekception it’s funny you brought up Jusant because it was giving me trouble earlier this week on game pass, it was struggling and I even had it plugged in! Closed it opened Arkham Origins on Steam and it ran perfect, also worth noting it was the opposite when first got the Ally Steam ran poorly and the Xbox app ran great. And the gamepad can randomly switch to keyboard and I struggle getting it back to gamepad. I love it even when it does remote play off my Xbox Series S it’s flawless but sometimes it makes me wanna tear my hair out lol
@@V1CT1MIZEDfacts…Ally has been more consistent for me IMO. For Steam Deck, I lost my Morrowind mod build when Luxtorpeda just randomly stopped working right and I was getting lik 15-20fps in the game (was a known issue), and when my New Vegas mod build also just stopped working. But those have been running great on Ally. Even with the UI, as sometimes I also have issues…granted I use deck plug in an a couple of other mods to the UI, etc.
ROG ALLY: Play games on medium to high on AAA games STEAM DECK: Play games on Low settings and only games from steam and emulators (jeah you can do other stuff, but its not as great as on the ally)
@@Geekception Same here. And the VRR on the Ally is just epic smooth! Another tip: i hook it up in docked mode to my TV, there is a new dock coming with VRR and HDR support from jsaux.
I play my games on ultra settings thanks to FSR 3 mod by guy that goes by lukefz or luketz not sure but his mod gave my games 60 fps above like dead space remake, forza horizon 5, cry far 6, ghost recon wild lands etc
@@Geekception Well, when I get a Deck, I'll be using it mainly for JRPGs, platformers, 2D, visual novels, and older 3D games, and anything that can run very easily on it that isn't pushing the limits of the hardware and battery too much. I'll keep those large games for a desktop PC I really wanna play Octopath 2, Persona 3, Etrian Odyssey, Sea of Stars, chained echoes, Bravely Default 2, Ace Attorney, silksong, hades 2, Windblown, etc, but I refuse to play them anywhere else unless it's on a handheld So many games I would've never heard of or care to play if it weren't for the handheld. Like Slay the Spire, Star Ocean, Chrono Trigger, The Messenger, Celeste, and many others. And someday, if they come to Steam, I'd love to play Diablo 2 and 3. I enjoyed 3 on the Switch, but would rather have 90fps and/or free online play IDC for spyware like Epic Games or MS store. I don't buy from Xbox pass thing. I get my games exclusively from Steam with the exception of Meincruff and Roblox and Android Emulators. Plus, I REALLY like SteamOS and the ergonomics of the Deck
@@Geekception I plan on getting the OLED model, since it's basically just better than the LCD in almost erry way. That 90hz, 50% battery improvement, and overall better game performance/stability renders the OG Deck obsolete RN, all I got is a Switch and a modded 2DSXL. I'm so close to getting the SD OLED
The reasons I got the ROG Ally: XBOX Gamepass, it's a full PC so it can do far more, and the Ally picks up the slack of my PS Portal. I play PlayStation Plus (streaming) games on the Ally because the PS Portal can not stream lol
The reason i got the ally is because the z1 extreme gives me pretty good performance and i can directly boot to Steam BIG PICTURE mode just like the Steam Deck I het to play right away and the suspend mode works really well for a windows 11 device my other handhelds gpd win 4 and aokzoe a1 have trouble with it
I was sold on SD… then I was interested in the Ally.. but found out Ally 2 will be coming out in 2024 so buying an Ally right now seems sort of… Pointless? I’m looking now at the Legion Go. It sort of intimidates me because I haven’t played on PC in 10 years.. so tinkering worries me a bit lol, but.. being able to run Xbox Game Pass.. and then be able to download and run Steam.. at what seems to be much better resolutions.. I feel like getting the Steam Deck now may be pointless… still unsure what to go with but for right now the LeGo is leading the pack…
i picked up the rog ally for xg mobile, sure it's very expensive, but it's the only handheld at the time that utilizes an egpu. I have moved between homes a lot and being able to just throw my whole setup in my backpack like that helps the moving process. I don't recall if those offbrand companies handhelds use egpus, but even if they did, their handheld performance doesn't match the rog ally especially for price
ah nice! The Legion Go and MSI Claw also support egpus, albeit not in the same way the ally does. for your use case it really makes sense. I'd love to get the xgmobile someday, for now though I cannot justify the cost haha
I have the Steam Deck OLED & the Rog Ally and can't decide which one is "better". They're both sooooo good😭🙌 but I'm using the Deck more atm it's so great for Indie games.
The SD/OLED has better battery and the best power efficiency. You can play games for up to 24h with the right settings. 5h+ minimum average It certainly beats 45m playtime with an over spec'd handheld that sucks at being portable
20+ ROG Ally X Tips in 10 Minutes th-cam.com/video/J9dUvYf3fII/w-d-xo.html
For #teamally - What's on My Ally? (Ally Tips and Tricks) th-cam.com/video/RPWwOP42r4s/w-d-xo.html
MSI Made a Better ROG Ally?...MSI Claw Thoughts! th-cam.com/video/xLtnT5WU4po/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for your video. I appreciate that you were honest about what you care about. That makes a huge difference with this comparison. I have never said, “I don’t want / need all that” regarding features or power. If a person really wants to lock themselves into retro or last gen then the Steamdeck has less downsides.
If however, you are a tinkerer who likes options. If you appreciate that Windows will let you do almost anything that an OS can give you. If you perk up when you hear dockable desktop, then you need the ROG Ally. I have mine running through an Annapro dock with a 1080p 24” touch Dell monitor. Keyboard, mouse, network cable into a Gig Switch. I do my bills with my Ally. I watched you on TH-cam and I shop online. I typed this comment in Word because I use Microsoft 365. I also use MS Gamepass and I stream my Playstation 5 to it too, but the Remote Play app requires I use their controller, its plugged in my dock. This is versatility you don’t dream of with Linux. Lastly in a couple years, when all these current handhelds are old news, I will buy a used e-gpu for a fraction of what they are now. Then my Ally will play what’s current in 2026 when docked. Very few reviewers have expressed my stance on this device, its lonely here. Hopefully somebody that gets what I’m saying reads this.
thanks so much for the thoughtful comment fam and i agree with you.
to each their own! i guess it is easy to get caught up in what is best, what can play more, what is the best optimized etc etc that it is easy to forget that the point is to get what works for you.
I'm more of the latter. a tinkerer by nature. while Arief(this video presenter) is more of the first category. like yourself he also uses his Deck to stream his PlayStation, play indie games and just a well rounded contained experience - and i love that for him!
I'm really glad to have read your thoughts, stay awesome!
I have a gaming tower running windows for modern games with real hardware and a nice ultrawide. I do my bills on a MacBook Pro. My steam deck is for portable games. Don’t try to make one thing do too much.
The processor will be a bottleneck when you go EGPU in 2026.
exactly. Just build a sick PC like i did and just use the ROG and deck as handhelds as they were designed. Like I do. @@harryh1146
As someone probably said before, for me the Steam Deck OLED feels like a good middle ground. With a gaming laptop, the OLED has made experiencing games on the go amazing. Miles Morales has been a lot of fun and replaying Hi-Fi Rush is amazing as well.
yeah i can imagine! i enjoyed the oled screen of my switch, i bet it's similar on the deck as well!
I had the original steam deck and I sold it because of the fan noise.
It seems you can now play Genshin on the Steam Deck and not worry about getting your account banned. Not officially supported through Steam but it's possible to install it several ways and not that difficult. I've been playing it on the deck for a couple weeks now, with no issues. I have had a Steam Deck for almost a year now. I love it but I am interested in getting a windows handheld if the price is right.
ah thanks for sharing fam. I've told Arief(the presenter) that too but he prefers a more plug and play option instead of hacks and workouts. which windows hand-held would you get for a right price?
Something you never mentioned that is a huge upside is being able to use the AMD adrenaline software on the Ally.
Being able to enable frame gen or upscalers for games that never supported FSR is huge.
The 120hz screen is another upside, though triple A games will never hit that mark.
Key word "Indie games" for steam deck.I love my Rog Ally every triple A games im throwing at it runs great.
yup. once you understand the kind of games that work then it's smooth sailing!
The big problem with those other PC handhelds is that they give up reasonable pricing and battery life for power and as a result we get a repeat of the game boy versus neo Geo pocket.
I see you're well informed :), in my opinion: the ally is a great device and probably better than the first launched Steam Deck, but the Steam Deck OLED has got a lot of updates, especially when we're talking about the OLED screen and battery life, at the end the SD OLED is probably better than the ally and all other handhelds, considered their main matter is being a handheld, it's because, in my opinion, the Steam Deck OLED is the most well balanced handheld pc and thought out device that is available right now.
@@thepirateswirled Exactly. Valve knows and understands the necessary balance of a handheld. They deliberately didn't put 1080p or 120/144hz. They didn't just slap in a mobile CPU. They have their own custom made one and the power efficiency of it is superior to any other handheld's power efficiency. Rivaling Nintendo
Erry other PC handheld ever just boasted super high specs and got REALLY hot. Only to last like an hour. And the next PC handheld just tries to 1-up the other. The ROG Ally and LeGo are literally no difference from erry other PC handheld ever. They're just popular/known bcuz of the fad and the handheld market that Valve blew up
Oh, and the older PC handhelds were like $1200 average. ValvE brought the price down a lot, which is good
so you choose oled steam deck because it feels better as a handheld as opposed to power and capabilities thats bs lol because if the oled could do what the z1 extreme could people would still choose the steam deck you probably had your steam deck before your ally if you have one so what i want to know is why limit the games you can play and performance for the second version of the same thing that was already out for oled? @@thepirateswirled
put that lil boy up {steam deck} cant do what the z1 extreme can 2 steam decks and not one could fck with rog imagine i buy a steam deck and buy the upgrade but they perform damn near the same with a pretty screen meanwhile the 1st version to drop of the rog ally was the z1 extreme version if im not mistaken then the the non extreme version drops for a lower price if you choose a steam deck over the z1 extreme you probably couldn't afford it my boy and itdoesnt get really hot lol 😑😑@@theamethystslime5978
You can dual boot Windows on your Steam Deck LCD. Beware, if you have an OLED Steam Deck, the Windows drivers for Bluetooth and Audio don't exist yet.
ah I see, very good info to know for deck owners
I've been running linux on my ROG Ally thanks to Nobara steam deck edition. Its identical to the steam deck and everything including sleep works.
I really fail to see whats so great about steamOS. Not all games work, performance is less than Windows, other launchers are a pain to get working, Linux desktop is worse than windows, battery life is the same, Linux uses way more vram which cancels out the ram savings and more. Dont get me wrong, windows is a pain to get setup initially, but once it is its easier than steamOS. Armoury crate gets the job done, you can use steam big picture mode which is like steamOS or things like playnite. We now have emudeck as well. If the deck had decent windows support and drivers then more would use it on there as well. I agree, if all your games are on steam and work on linux then the deck is a good choice. But most PC gamers have games on various launchers and just want things to work. Obviously I'm only talking software as you already mentioned the hardware differences.
Valve are also bringing SteamOS to the ally this year as they said to PC gamer. So when that happens the ally will have the choice of steamOS and a fully working Windows without dealing with bad drivers and open source inferior software the deck has to use on Windows. Kinda funny that a windows device will give you better freedom. The only clear win the deck has is battery and it's impressive under low tdp.
thanks for articulating your thoughts. I consider SteamOS like a console i.e. for people who want to play without having to figure out any extra things. and you know what? fair enough.
oh I did not know that Valve is bringing SteamOS to the Ally. let me read up about it
Your video helped me decide to purchase an OLED Steam Deck in addition to my ROG Ally that I have had for two weeks 😅
glad to help haha. lmk what you think about the SD oled
I own both & love both for different reasons like on Deck I can just pick up & play most of my Steam Library & with the Ally I can play games that won't play on Deck like Destiny 2 & it's also alot easier to mod games on Ally cause of Windows
best of both worlds!
I'm with you here. I have my launch SD for most of my old games and emulating (except some games that just run better on steam deck like Hogwarts legacy Wich is riddled with stutters on windows) and I use my ally for apex and any game using anti cheats or on storefronts other than steam
In my opinion: > The Asus ROG Ally is a great device and probably the better choice when it comes to the first launched Steam Deck, but the Steam Deck "OLED" has got updated, especially when we're talking about OLED screen and battery life, which is often underestimated, while there is more that many people don't know, the chip shrink for example, a bigger battery, a better and bigger fan and a lot of other improvements.
At the end, I think the SD OLED is probably the better overall handheld than all the competition currently, considered that their main usage is being a handheld, but I also have to say that it also depends on each person's use cases and preferences, there is no such thing like a "everyones" device, that is never going to exist as I would think of.
It's because, in my opinion: The Steam Deck OLED is the most well balanced and thought out handheld pc device at this time, it may not be the strongest or sharpest, but for example: We don't really need 1080p, 4k or 144 hz in a handheld or 30 Watts.
It will most likely reduce battery life, by so much that the improvement in visual quality is probably not going to be worth it, the trade off that comes necessarily with it, time that you can spend without being plugged in by a lot, which is the core aspect of a handheld, in most cases it will be a relatively small screen. Using a lower res on a > high resolution screen won't really fix it as the screen is going to still consume the same power, and valve probably know that, another aspect is, if we're plugged in most of the time, maybe a gaming laptop could be the better choice to some.
Whether you can speak of subjective or objective is up to you at this part, but after a lot of research, most people seem to find to have prefered the "800p" OLED screen over the 1080p screen that can be found in the Asus, futhermore; The SD OLED is also cheaper by a lot compared to the competition, by about 100-300, depending on where you live and comparing to the same size (512GB).
I should also mention that at 15 Watts, the Steam Deck OLED will offer at least the same performance as the other handhelds and sometimes even more (1-3 fps at 15 Watts, example: Search for "Steam Deck OLED vs ASUS ROG Ally - Which is Best in 2024?"), which can be found in some reviews, it will last way longer on its battery at 15 watt usage at the same time. The ROG Ally has still its benefits, it's also good that there is competition.
I can understand why other people love and prefer it over the Steam Deck, but to me the Steam Deck OLED is the best choice that makes use of being a true handheld as in portability right now, one shouldn't forget, that the Steam Deck OLED has got updated, while the Asus ROG ally is still in its first gen by that company. We should also think about this, which can be found more often lately, that it's also kinda like a repeat of the game boy versus neo Geo pocket war, and the game boy survived because portability mattered the most for the people at that time.
FINALLY. Someone with critical thinking skills!
That's what people don't get. Handhelds have batteries. If they can't last longer than 45m-90m, WTF is the point? They're just trash handhelds that can't even do what they're meant to do
Unfortunately, people don't buy these handhelds for portable gaming, they buy it for the fad and for budget PC gaming. They've never heard of Mini PCs. They're in the wrong market, buying handhelds for the wrong reasons. These handhelds can't handle these demanding AAA games, and the normies buying the Ally don't know anything BUT whatever the latest trendy AAA game is. People view Handhelds in the same light as gaming Desktops/Laptops. They have severely misplaced expectations
The reality is: Handhelds will NEVER be on par with gaming laptops, and especially not gaming Desktops. Not even Mini PCs with the same price!
---
1. Power efficiency is what makes a handheld superior, not better/fancier specs
Steam Deck/OLED set the standard. The only thing Ally and LeGo have brought to the table, was 'muh power' and specs that they cannot handle. They do errything else the SD/OLED does, but worse and less efficiently
All they've done is try to 1-up each other, but they just get more extreme and laughable bcuz they clearly have NO idea what they're doing lol. As if having HIGHER res and HIGHER refresh rate will make it a better HANDHELD/PORTABLE device. It's one thing if the batteries can handle it, but battery tech isn't that impressive. And if it is, it's expensive AF and/or to big
---
2. Anything above '1280p' is just pure greed. A device that's biting off more than it can chew. Handhelds are portable-first. They have standards, they have batteries. That's what makes them handhelds, portable devices
1080p draws more power, taking away from BOTH performance and power efficiency, rendering the handheld LESS capable as a portable gaming device
It's not about personal preferences or boasting higher/fancier specs, it's about performance and power efficiency. 720p will ALWAYS be the minimum and maximum standard for handhelds. Even if we had good batteries that can handle 720p for up to 12h minimum in any game, I'd rather take higher refresh rate over higher resolution anyways
Handhelds need a balance between power and battery. You cannot neglect one in favor of the other. The battery will ALWAYS be the bottleneck of a handheld. Higher resolution will always take away from performance, battery/playtime, and in game graphical quality/settings. It's just a pointless trade off. Especially for 7" displays
Just bcuz a handheld can handle up to 4k, doesn't mean it should. Just bcuz a handheld can handle games up to 144fps, doesn't mean it should. Y'know? What isn't going into performance, goes into battery
---
3. Steam Deck/OLED's power efficiency puts erry other PC handheld to shame
The ROG Ally and LeGo CANNOT handle the same games with the same settings as Steam Deck/OLED at 15W or less. That alone just gives you an idea of how well designed and under-appreciated the Steam Deck/OLED is. Power Efficiency will always be superior
---
4. Steam Deck made Linux gaming possible. That's a MASSIVE achievement. It'll only get better from here on
What has the Ally/LeGo achieved? The same goal that erry other PC in existence goes for: muh power
@@theamethystslime5978found the yapping steam deck fanboy 🗿 + people can buy whatever makes them happy
Did a week of research before buying a handheld and ended up with the SD OLED. no regrets!
Performance is overrated on handhelds. Why would you need a handheld that has a 7inch or 8.8inch screen running at 1080p or 1600p. Pointless!
You need to try the legion go. I got all 3 this xmas. I ended up returning the steam deck and gave my daughter the ally. The screen on the go just does it for me. The future for this little mechines is interesting. No matter what you get, most will be happy. They are all incredible little machines
yeah i've requested for a review unit from Lenovo. Hopefully I get it so i can try it out, then share my thoughts about it
Honestly i cant live without the 2 trackpads. Also i dual booted into Windows and havent played on Steam OS even once.
yeah, after I tried the trackpad it was a bummer going back to the ally. with windows on the deck, how is the driver situation? does it perform as good or better than on SteamOS?
@@Geekception despite what the Steam Deck fanboys will tell you, the performance is better in Windows 11 (more graphics options, all games work - no tweaking). Battery life is similar on AAA titles 1-2h playtime (don't know about indies).
Edit: Windows drivers work without issues. But you need to install from their steam deck drivers pages.
oh that's nice to hear actually. I can imagine myself picking up a Deck OLED with windows. I think that would be a great combo really
So your a fanboy on one handheld system, got it! 👏🏻
I personally prefer the ROG, you know... it's simply the better system :)
fair
Hiya, really good comparison. What UI are you using on your ROG Ally? The way your games are displayed looks good.
Playnite!
@@Geekception Thank you
I have both but i mainly use my ally since I'm mainly home. I wish Asus would add, a track pad, bigger battery and better ergonomic design. Holding the ally long term is uncomfortable.
yeah, I have that on my wishlist too for the next model
The Rog ally is for people who dont have a dedicated gaming machine that don't mind being plugged in to an AC outlet.. The battery and the quick resume is the whole point of getting a handheld.. it's the steam deck for me.. more demanding games can be streamed over the network at 90fps maxed.. if you already have a dedicated gaming pc.
I agree 100% correct for me. I don't have a dedicated gaming pc so the ally works out really well. Arief on the other hand has a PS5 and a gaming PC so the deck works out well for him too.
I disagree with this sentiment. I have a banging rig outfitted with a 3080ti. Haven't touched it in months.
With the Ally.. I kinda feel like I don't need it anymore tbh..
When I only had the Steam Deck.. it definitely felt needed
Well I have both and hardly turn my steamdecks on. There's no comparison. steamdeck just has easier controller customisation and a better looking OS but having windows to do things like install mods etc is a game changer. Plus starfield 1080p ultra on ROG made better with a mod 30 to 60 fps is so much better than 800p low 15 fps. And Elden ring 1080p high or maximum is so much better than 800p low with dodgy textures i see on the steamdeck. It's loads quieter as well.
It's the same argument, the only argument available. 'Muh power'. AAA games
1.None of these handhelds can handle them. If you're looking for AAA gaming, you're better off buying a Mini PC for $700 and getting so much more out of it. You'll be tethered to the wall anyways, might as well get superior performance for the same price
2. You can still install mods on Linux. TBH, it's not that different from Windows. Just different files in different names in different locations
3. ROG Ally can't handle AAA games. Even if you're doing 1080p, you're never gonna touch 120, let alone 60. Higher resolution comes at the cost of performance, power efficiency, and higher ingame graphical settings. Not a worthwhile trade off. Even if it still can, the battery can't. As a handheld, it can't handle these games. It's too much for the Ally in some way or another, rendering it less capable as a handheld/portable device
FSR3 is a godscend for Handhelds tho. Regardless, still better off on lower resolutions with battery powered gaming devices
4.Also, Starfield runs better than 15fps at 800pon the Deck. And with FSR3, it remains over 30fps in erry area now. But playing AAA games on handhelds is retarded
5. Elden Ring can technically play at maximum settings on the Steam Deck, but lowering unimportant settings like AA and Shadows will make it mostly remain over 30fps and ultimately stabalize it
6. It's not like the Ally is touching 60fps, let alone 120fps, at 1080p, especially not higher than lowest settings. Not without FSR3. And even if it can, you're looking at like 30m-45m of playtime. Not much of a handheld. Just a subpar Mini PC people buy only for the fad
😂fan boy crying here@@theamethystslime5978
Team Deck here. I had an LCD model and sold it to upgrade to an OLED. I think it's the best decision I've ever made and I couldn't be happier. I also just started playing games on Game Pass because I had a free trial. The one thing I wish is to be able to play and download games natively like on Windows, but I'm surprised with how well Xbox Cloud service is with the extremely simple work around on the deck. The option to dual boot into Windows is also there, but idk if it's worth the hassle.
Either way, the Deck is easily my favorite gaming device of all time.
thanks for sharing your experience Brandon. sadly we don't get cloud service here in Malaysia but happy you're able to use it. what games are you currently playing on gamepass?
you didnt talk about battery life.
correct. Arief talks about the things he cared about in regards to the Deck vs Ally. how is your battery life experience so far?
Yeah I was not a big fan with the Ally’s battery life. Also I’m a sucker for symmetrical joysticks and trackpads really helped me on desktop AND in games too when necessary, so I sold my Ally so I can use whatever I got towards the OLED Deck.
ah i hear you. as an Ally owner I'm always plugged in. partly because i always want the best performance and as you said the battery life is quite bad. for me it's nkt a deal breaker bit i can see why. let me know what you think when you get the deck oled!
@@Geekception my first handheld is lcd SD and after the ally announce and released i sold my sd for an ally. i used only for 3 months. its just too much of software and tweaking even tho i have high end pc i understand how the things need to work for a certain games to run in windows.. i like vrr and the speaker is phenomenal in ally hands down with that.. however the longer i use it the more things get annoy the fact i need to plug in everytime i play AAA games like an gaming laptop, which is doesnt make any sense for me since i own a pc (i could just sit in front of it and throw all Games in ultra preset with high frame rates)
then the oled SD introduced i sold my ally and went back to Steam OS. more on straight forward since all my games is in steam. i dont need to sacrifice setting just to get a decent fps like i did in my ally.. i also play stardew valley i mean as of now im grinding with it. SD OLED battery is phenomenal i charged my OLED SD for 90% and play the stardew valley for about 8.5hrs-9hrs without recharging.. and also damn i missed the ergonomics feel of the SD the most comfortable handheld to hold in a long hours of playtime.
The division 2 - low with mix of medium in 800p i can play 3hrs straight without pluggin in same as diablo 4
IMHO and real experienced. the New SD OLED is the true handheld and battery king
I'm using my ally mostly without power supply in bed/couch and battery life forces me to play at 15W. So yeah it isn't good enough for max power and at 15W it's like using half of the device. The most annoying thing about Ally is Windows :) As much as it has benefits like XGP it's also super frustrating most of the time so I'm thinking of buying SD and deciding after that which one to keep :)
On the Ally, is it better to play games from gamepass, windows, or steam store? Right now I just play switch so I’m new.
yes correct!
@@Geekception This wasn’t meant as a yes or no question!
@@switchunboxing ah I hear you fam, alright
Gamepass is nice, but owning the games is better
Windows is a bad OS, especially 11. If you're gonna use Windows for gaming, I'd highly recommend LTSC. A de-bloated Windows. Windows is known for how bloated it is
If you're looking for a new handheld, the main selling point of a handheld is typically the portability aspect. In this case, it's Battery/Power efficiency with performance (Deck/OLED) vs just even more performance at the cost of errything else (Ally)
If you want to play games for longer than 45m-90m, go for the Steam Deck/OLED. If you just want to play AAA games, buy a Mini PC for $700 and get more out of it. You'll be tethered to the wall anyways
lol that bot response cracked me up
Steam deck for the win. Also Kali works wonderful on it.
you're in denial.
@@ManomiiFox
It's a handheld with good performance and battery that'll last up to 5h+ minimum. Up to 24h straight with some settings
-OR
A handheld that can play AAA games only a lil better at the cost of portability, rendering it useless/pointless as a handheld
Ally only has 'muh power'. It's worse and less efficient than the Steam Deck/OLED in erry other category
This is the handheld market, not the laptop/desktop market. Batteries are a factor, and Ally completely neglects the whole point of it being a handheld
@@theamethystslime5978well with that argument, you might as well use a dumb phone that can only call and play mp3 player in 2024 with battery up for a week. otherwise, there's landline.
@@ManomiiFox That makes no sense
Steam Deck/OLED and ROG Ally are capable of play the same games
SD/OLED has a better battery bcuz it focuses on balance
The Ally focuses on performance, compeltely neglecting the battery, hence 30-45m long playtime
The Ally is literally no different than any other PC handheld in the past 10 years. The only real difference is that it's not $1200.
The only reason its even known, is bcuz of the PC handheld fad, the market Valve blew up
@thystslime5978so ur saying the Ps Vita which was released in 2011 is the same as a Rog Ally? LMAO, what a clown. you can't be taken seriously if you're spouting garbage.
I'm team 'both' got the steamdeck oled and the z1 extreme ally and truly love them both. I can't wait to see what comes next tbh, happy days.
right? I'm really excited that we get to experience all these!
Interesting video. I was very sceptical about Ally, but since I got an used one, I'm using it way more than my old Deck.
One big pro, for my tastes, is that playing mostly in the bed, laying on the back, with the Deck I used to have wrist cramps after 20-30 mins. With Ally this doesn't happen.
Oh wow interesting. For Arief it's the opposite lol
Skull & Co grip case for ROG Ally will solve your issue
yeah, i saw that. i've been on the fence about it for a while though
Wait until he finds out about the Legion Go!
woah woah woah, one console at a time! hahaha
Steam deck oled is the sweet spot not great not wack just right love it 😍
I bet! love that for you! what games are you currently playing?
@@Geekception mostly ps4 games like Rachet , god of war , horizon for now 👍🏼
oh nice, enjoy!
I'm scared to get a PC handheld because of the fact that I know it will ruin my sleep in bed. 😅
same fam, same 😭😭😭😂
Don't sleep with your handheld then. Or at least use some protection
Two great units, if the ROG comes in black and has the ability to disable the RGB then it means I can actually use it in everyday life.
So far only Steam Deck has battlechip compatibility too, depicted at 3:20
yeah no doubt they are both great devices. the most important thing is picking one that fits your gaming style
You can already disable the rgb lights.
no black sadly haha.
Always bet on black.
@@leekohuncho3912 Yep, I leave my RGB turned off. And dbrand is making a killswitch case with the skin.
I was gonna get steam deck but went with the ally as I'm a long time windows 11 but i have the ally boot to Steam's BIG PICTURE mode mode at startup so now it's just like the deck it logins to my steam account and i get to play right away
oh nice, that's a nice little way to get the best of both worlds!
Yeah same here.. stopped Armoury Crate from opening on Start up and surprisingly all of my control figs still work
me too! I have it launch Playnite on boot instead!
I got the ally extreme from lcd deck
what made you switch?
Steam deck players must have fun playing only certain amount of games
and i love that for them honestly
SD/OLED can play almost erry game. With the exception of bad games that use Anti Cheat spyware, like Call of Doody and Destiny 2. But that's just multiplayer on a portable device
SteamOS is what made Linux gaming possible. That's a MASSIVE achievement and the average normie probably won't understand how important that is. It'll only get better from here
Besides, you're not stuck with SteamOS. You can still play on Blaotware 11. At the cost of performance, privacy, security, and battery tho
Love my steam deck, granted….all I play is balls of torment and vampire survivors. Sure I could play for free on my Xbox or phone….I play shadow of war sometimes so I feel great about my purchase.
nice nice, thanks for sharing fam!
You pay more, for less control customization options, a far worse interface software from a company that can't even get it right on laptops (and has been known to abandon it's users iin this regard), an OS that kind of hates controller input, a white shelled hand held device (cuz that's not going to look ugly after a few months of heavy use), BUT you get slightly better power that still isn't 60fps without drops on something like elden ring.
I resold my ally really fast and stuck with steam deck. The only value I saw was if you're big into game pass, which I am not.
glad you found what works for you
Gamepass still available on Steam Deck, so it's no real loss
Ally's hardware can't handle its own specs, and its battery cannot handle its hardware. It's a poorly designed handheld that can't even sustain itself, not for long
And apart from overall performance, it really brings nothing else over the Steam Deck/OLED. It neglects the whole point of it being a handheld: its battery. What's the point in a handheld if it's only gonna last 45-90m? Over the SD/OLED which can last up to 12h and even 24h straight
I dont own ps5 or computer will prefer asus rolly
yup, same here!
You can always do a dual boot windows set-up if you really want to play games of other platforms. Steam Deck is very popular that its just a matter of time that you can also play other platforms in SD OS.
yeah very true! Arief here just doesn't want to have to mess with all of that. he's more of a plug and play kinda guy
IT's a bad experience on the deck though I heard. Plus running 2 os on one SSD you'll soon fill it up.
The Steamdeck is a trash Linux backend
I have a ROG Ally and it while it’s awesome I find the inconsistency with the software frustrating, one day it’s fine the next day it’s not. I love Steam OS’ straightforwardness for gaming, I’m really wrestling with this thought of selling the Ally for a Deck OLED.
ah i hear you Justin. what inconsistencies have you noticed mostly?
and yeah, i agree that its very nice to have an all in one OS like Steam OS. it is why Arief likes the deck too
@@Geekception it’s funny you brought up Jusant because it was giving me trouble earlier this week on game pass, it was struggling and I even had it plugged in! Closed it opened Arkham Origins on Steam and it ran perfect, also worth noting it was the opposite when first got the Ally Steam ran poorly and the Xbox app ran great. And the gamepad can randomly switch to keyboard and I struggle getting it back to gamepad.
I love it even when it does remote play off my Xbox Series S it’s flawless but sometimes it makes me wanna tear my hair out lol
SteamOS is straight forward if the game works and it's not on a different launcher. Then the illusion quickly fades.
@@V1CT1MIZEDfacts…Ally has been more consistent for me IMO. For Steam Deck, I lost my Morrowind mod build when Luxtorpeda just randomly stopped working right and I was getting lik 15-20fps in the game (was a known issue), and when my New Vegas mod build also just stopped working. But those have been running great on Ally. Even with the UI, as sometimes I also have issues…granted I use deck plug in an a couple of other mods to the UI, etc.
Epic games are super simple to install on Deck... Almost like steam :)
ah okays, thanks for letting me know
You can play Honkai and genshin on the steam deck
yeah, i know! Arief (the presenter) just doesn't have to go through all the steps to get it working
Would have been funny if the Rog Ally died while he was talking about it
hahahaha ikr? battery life in the mud lmao!
ur not a steam deck oled enjoyer so not a true steam deck fan jk great vid
hahahaha, had me in the first half! thanks fam
Haha this guy has a lcd model.
what model do you have?
ROG ALLY: Play games on medium to high on AAA games
STEAM DECK: Play games on Low settings and only games from steam and emulators (jeah you can do other stuff, but its not as great as on the ally)
yup, spot on. at least, that's my experience with the ally so far!
@@Geekception Same here. And the VRR on the Ally is just epic smooth! Another tip: i hook it up in docked mode to my TV, there is a new dock coming with VRR and HDR support from jsaux.
oh wow, I gotta check that out! thanks for the tip fam!
I play my games on ultra settings thanks to FSR 3 mod by guy that goes by lukefz or luketz not sure but his mod gave my games 60 fps above like dead space remake, forza horizon 5, cry far 6, ghost recon wild lands etc
yeah i read something about the mod of rogallylife but i also heard its unstable?
Steam Deck is Good!
Asus ROG ally is Better!
My Microwave is 🏆
😊✌️
Microwave gang!!!
A geek annoyed by button presses. Get out of here
okay i guess *gets out*
Xbox game pass crashes like mad
you mean the xbox app? no crashes for me so far though
The only thing the Ally has over the Deck is overall performance. Errything else is inferior or irrelevant
i hear you. how do you generally use your Deck?
@@Geekception Well, when I get a Deck, I'll be using it mainly for JRPGs, platformers, 2D, visual novels, and older 3D games, and anything that can run very easily on it that isn't pushing the limits of the hardware and battery too much. I'll keep those large games for a desktop PC
I really wanna play Octopath 2, Persona 3, Etrian Odyssey, Sea of Stars, chained echoes, Bravely Default 2, Ace Attorney, silksong, hades 2, Windblown, etc, but I refuse to play them anywhere else unless it's on a handheld
So many games I would've never heard of or care to play if it weren't for the handheld. Like Slay the Spire, Star Ocean, Chrono Trigger, The Messenger, Celeste, and many others. And someday, if they come to Steam, I'd love to play Diablo 2 and 3. I enjoyed 3 on the Switch, but would rather have 90fps and/or free online play
IDC for spyware like Epic Games or MS store. I don't buy from Xbox pass thing. I get my games exclusively from Steam with the exception of Meincruff and Roblox and Android Emulators. Plus, I REALLY like SteamOS and the ergonomics of the Deck
thanks for sharing. for your use case the steam deck seems like a perfect device. i love that for you honestly. do you have the lcd or oled deck?
@@Geekception I plan on getting the OLED model, since it's basically just better than the LCD in almost erry way. That 90hz, 50% battery improvement, and overall better game performance/stability renders the OG Deck obsolete
RN, all I got is a Switch and a modded 2DSXL. I'm so close to getting the SD OLED
Performance is nearly everything to me. I really miss the trackpads though, but that's it.
The reasons I got the ROG Ally: XBOX Gamepass, it's a full PC so it can do far more, and the Ally picks up the slack of my PS Portal. I play PlayStation Plus (streaming) games on the Ally because the PS Portal can not stream lol
The reason i got the ally is because the z1 extreme gives me pretty good performance and i can directly boot to Steam BIG PICTURE mode just like the Steam Deck I het to play right away and the suspend mode works really well for a windows 11 device my other handhelds gpd win 4 and aokzoe a1 have trouble with it
yeah these reasons are pretty much Arief's reasons as well! how are you finding it so far and which device do you use more?
yeah as a Ally user i can relate to the good performance of the z1 extreme on the ally!
I was sold on SD… then I was interested in the Ally.. but found out Ally 2 will be coming out in 2024 so buying an Ally right now seems sort of… Pointless?
I’m looking now at the Legion Go. It sort of intimidates me because I haven’t played on PC in 10 years.. so tinkering worries me a bit lol, but.. being able to run Xbox Game Pass.. and then be able to download and run Steam.. at what seems to be much better resolutions.. I feel like getting the Steam Deck now may be pointless… still unsure what to go with but for right now the LeGo is leading the pack…
Steam Deck
nice! what games are you currently playing?
@@Geekception getting back into hogwarts. Also diablo 4, sea of thieves, and starfield 🙌
oh nice! thanks for sharing
i picked up the rog ally for xg mobile, sure it's very expensive, but it's the only handheld at the time that utilizes an egpu. I have moved between homes a lot and being able to just throw my whole setup in my backpack like that helps the moving process. I don't recall if those offbrand companies handhelds use egpus, but even if they did, their handheld performance doesn't match the rog ally especially for price
ah nice! The Legion Go and MSI Claw also support egpus, albeit not in the same way the ally does. for your use case it really makes sense. I'd love to get the xgmobile someday, for now though I cannot justify the cost haha
Are you comparing LED or OLED steam deck? I have OLED and the screen blows everything away
this is the LED version. i have the Switch OLED and i can agree that that display just looks so nice!
Only 800p though
@@justswitched8841 have you seen it tho. Looks great.
Are you #TeamAlly or #TeamSteamDeck ?
#teamally
#TeamAlly
#teamally
#TeamAlly
#TeamSteamDeck
I have the Steam Deck OLED & the Rog Ally and can't decide which one is "better". They're both sooooo good😭🙌 but I'm using the Deck more atm it's so great for Indie games.
a very good problem to have. enjoy fam!
I use my ROG more though. I have 2 steamdecks but hardly use one.
The SD/OLED has better battery and the best power efficiency. You can play games for up to 24h with the right settings. 5h+ minimum average
It certainly beats 45m playtime with an over spec'd handheld that sucks at being portable
Yup I sold the Ally and kept the SD OLED. It was the right decision☺️