The Best Handheld Is… Steam Deck OLED Vs ROG Ally Vs Legion Go
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 พ.ค. 2024
- In this video take the Steamdeck OLED The ASUS ROG Ally and the Lenovo Legion GO, 3 of the most popular handheld gaming PC and face them off against each other to find out which handheld gaming PC is The Best! We take a look at performance by running some benchmarks and testing AA Games, Price, Battery Life, Specs and more.
Buy The ASUS ROG Ally Here: howl.me/ck11EfW57uj
Buy The Lenovo Legion Go Here: howl.me/ckSiubN06LV
Get The Steam Deck OLED Here: www.steamdeck.com/en/oled
Follow Me On Twitter: / theetaprime
Follow Me On Instagram: / etaprime
Discount Code for software: ETA
Windows 10 Pro OEM Key($15): biitt.ly/KpEmf
Windows 11 Pro Key($21): biitt.ly/RUZiX
Windows10 Home Key($14): biitt.ly/2tPi1
Office 2019 pro key($46): biitt.ly/o0OQT
Office 2021 pro key($59): biitt.ly/iDMHc
Equipment I Use:
Monitor: Pixio 277 Pro On Amazon: amzn.to/3PGUBwe
Elgato HD60 X Screen Capture Device: amzn.to/3GkP2AL
Tool Kit: amzn.to/3Wo8bpX
Camera: amzn.to/3XJfFoI
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you!
Under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research.
No Games Are Included Or Added
This video and Channel and Video are for viewers 14 years older and up. This video is not made for viewers under the age of 14.
Want to send me something?
ETAPRIME
12400 Wake Union Church Rd PMB 239
Wake Forest, NC 27587 US
THIS VIDEO IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY!
00:00 Introduction
00:39 Pricing
02:09 Steam Deck OLED Geekbench
03:23 Spec Overview and Differences
07:40 Gaming Benchmark Steam Deck Oled VS ROG ALLY VS LEGION GO
10:47 STEAM DECK OLED ROG ALLY LEGION GO BATTERY LIFE
12:31 So hat Handheld Is The Best?
#steamdeck #rogally #legiongo - เกม
I love how such a niche market has evolved into a full variety of specs that cater to the different priorities of different types of users. These 3 cover just about everything you’ll ever need. For me it’s the OLED SD
Barf ... Go or go home!
Agreed but I'm going with the Legion Go due to it's increased potential over the other 2. But not gonna lie that OLED screen looks good :)
All thanks to Valve showing how to do it properly from the start.
Dude plays indie games GASSED!. LeGo or GO HOME
@@rodriguezkev Whenever Valve get round to releasing the steam operating system to the public, we might see even more Portable pcs.
Went for the ROG Ally as Desktop and light Gaming replacement (docking station). Edited the BIOS (smokeless) to 35W TDP, which will give me a little more headroom in gaming. The Ally can hit over 16000 points in Cinebench R23 when tweaked correctly, which is just insane for a handheld.
How is the temperature?
Can't you get exactly the same performance with the Legion Go?
@@keaixiaomeinv probably not since they have different bios and different architecture of motherboard/components. There is also software that is probably the biggest factor. Asus has been fine tuning their bios to work better with AMD drivers. I assume in time the legion go will get even closer to the ally but it is pretty close already.
@@TheFunesk fair points, but having different components is not the same as having better components. The only performance different that I am aware of is faster RAM on the Go. But I don't know how much that matters in the end. Software optimization is probably equally important, and the Ally has had more time to improve it. I just hope Lenovo will do the same.
@@keaixiaomeinvalso take to consideration ally have vrr freesync screen, legion does not so expect some games to look more stuttery/screen tear on legion go if that game have bad fps consistency, vrr screen makes those games look smooth
@eta prime Ty so much for the benchmark comparisons, I've been asking for this type of comparison for years and I am glad you finally delivered!
I'm going to choose the Steam Deck Oled for better battery life. It's no longer a portable device if you have to plug it in constantly. I mind as well get a gaming laptop from a pawn shop if I want to have it plugged in all the time.
for real. I think everyone suggesting the "beefier screens" over what makes it portable are nuts. Not only, in every demo he showed, either the ROG or Go fucking stuttered. idc if it gets 60 fps if it's gonna stutter every 20-30 seconds. the Steam deck in all instances was smooth without a stutter. Not to mention, at that size, you're not going to really notice the difference.
@vmethod I haven't had studdering issues on my Ally. Battery life is pretty crap, but I keep a batter bank or charger nearby.
The Decks OLED is stunning though.
All are good but I have the Ally and been loving it and it has gotten better with updates. I also have a rig with an RTX 3080 and at least on the weekdays, I tend to use my ally more in quick bursts. I'm going to hold out to the 2-year anniversary of ownership before I consider upgrading because next jump I want to be at 50 to 100% performance and battery increase.
This is great. I wish no one ends up dominating the handheld market for years to come, so we get to see more tech innovations and exciting devices. Make it like the Android phone scene around the time when Google was still making Nexus devices. So much innovation around that time. The Steam Deck can kinda serve as the Nexus for handheld gaming PCs, and also fill the "long time support" role, whereas the other devices from various manufacturers try to push the boundary in different directions and offer things to be excited about every year.
I have the original Steam Deck (Y1 purchase) and the ROG Ally.
I like the Steam Deck’s interface, battery life and how intuitive the experience is. Not the biggest fan of Linux but it works perfectly with the SD. Also like the SD’s joysticks and control pad - they are sturdy and console like. I use my SD mostly as an emulation device and for traveling.
The ROG Ally’s display is fantastic but Windows sometimes is laggy. I’m not also a fan of the battery life or the quality of the joysticks/control pad. They don’t feel as high-end. I have a gorgeous Asus gaming monitor so I use my Ally mostly in docked mode for playing AAA or demanding titles and as a PC.
I was initially torn over whether I should sell the Ally and coo the Legion Go but decided against it as though I like the large screen size of the Go, it would be of no benefit if it was mostly in docked mode which is how I use my Ally.
I will definitely be upgrading my Steam Deck to the Oled version. Im waiting a bit to see if Valve decides to roll out from trade in program or if refurbished SD Oleds become available at a discounted price. I’m also waiting to see what other tech companies decide to do in the coming months as the bar has been set a bit higher - whoever is releasing a handheld now has to offer HDR , 1TB storage and Oled as standard. Maybe Microsoft, Sony, Dell, HP, Samsung, Google, Amazon or LG may be tempted to push the button further with a release.
Not the biggest fan of linux ? Windows is just bloatware and spyware , windows owns you , you dont own him.
Thank you for this video, really was clear, and gave all the best pro and cons of each device, gave me a lot of considerations to think about such as games that require a high FPS to be playable like fighting games, never thought about that until now.
I went from Steam deck to ROG ally and back to steam deck with the OLED update. ROG Ally is great for a lot of reasons, but for a handheld, I have realized what the steamdeck offers is more important to me. I will be keeping both with the ally for streaming my PC via Moonlight, but for a stand alone gaming experience the steamdeck + Xreal glasses (if I want a bigger screen) is perfect for me.
What was the steamdeck features that got you back rather than the Ally?
@@yeleoh probably the battery life. the ROG has a laughable battery. 87 minutes of game play vs 130 minutes? LOL it's not portable if you have to have it plugged in all the time or connected to a fat battery bank.
The Review we've been waiting for!
best comparison video of all the handhelds! thank you!
Great comparison!
Thanks for the video!
I upgraded from the Deck LCD to the Ally and enjoyed it for a while but I never played high end games on it because I preferred to play those at higher resolutions with maxed out settings on my Desktop. I gave the Ally to my wife and ordered an OLED because older steam games and Indie games is what I mostly play on it. If one of these devices will be your only PC then a Ally or Legion Go might be a better choice. The OLED is a no brainer for me because of the battery life alone, battery life is essential for a handheld in my opinion unless you only use it near a wall outlet. I found with car rides I only used my Ally for 30-45 minutes before the battery warning went off.
Battery life and regardless of whether it can go to higher settings, that OLED screen makes a huge difference to how your games look. With the PPI the Deck already has, assuming you’re using it for games primarily in handheld mode, it’s no contest for me.
yes OLED is good and stuff, but 2.5k Legion GO with that huge screen is superior to what deck can offer in terms of picture quality that you mentioned, it`s just incomparable, SD is just a good allrounder for smaller buck, but if you wanna go that high-end, it`s obviously legion GO, just the price of 799 is a bit too much, 650-700 would be perfect IMO@@cyberspacedweller637
Personally I adore my Steam Deck OLED. Most of the games I like to play on the go run great at 5W which means I get 10 hours on a charge. It's really in a league of its own in that regard. But if you're primarily playing docked or on the couch, the Ally is probably the best pick overall. I could see the Legion Go making a lot of sense for games that really benefit from a larger screen, like those with text that would be hard to read otherwise. And there's compatibility to consider. It seems like damn near everything runs on the Steam Deck thanks to the incredible effort that Valve has put into Proton, but even if your favorite games only run on Windows you still have two great options. Hooray for competition!
you can get 10 hours ? I don't have a steamdeck but was looking to potentially get one. I was thinking of playing mainly indie games like turn based RPGs or I guess you could say more retro style games (sea of stars, octopath traveler, visual novels stuff like that) nothing really demanding like Elden Ring or anything. I was worried of the battery life but if I can run those at 5W and get over 3-4 hours then that's quite a selling point I must say.
5W TDP or 5W APU? Big difference here. If the TDP is 5W, then the APU is pulling less than 5W. If the APU is pulling 5W, then the TDP will always be higher. Getting 10 hours of battery life on a 5W TDP seems doable, but 10 hours of battery life on 5W APU is likely a lie.
Great video! Very informative. This is exactly the kind of comparison I was looking for.
Steam Deck has a 3rd antenna dedicated only to Bluetooth. Which is pretty overkill for controller stability
Steam deck also has software problems with Bluetooth that still affect audio devices today but that's just realtec drivers being ass
@@itsquiwi8780
And the Ally and Legion Go have Windows drivers, which basically means it randomly powers on while in sleep mode and kill the battery life and performance.
I'm pretty sure that Bluetooth controller support is not where it needs to be on the steam deck. If more than one controller or device is active, the latency starts becoming exponentially worse.
Three controllers connected to Bluetooth at the same time was not platformable to many.
I wonder if the most recent update has changed this.
They shared antenna on first steam deck, which means it needs to switch from bluetooth to wifi and back. Not good. You need a 2.4ghz a 5ghz and a 2.4ghz bt antenna for best performance
The steam deck OLED has a dedicated Bluetooth antenna. The steam deck LCD does not have a dedicated Bluetooth antenna.
Truly appreciate this head-to-head comparison as we close in on the holidays. I personally cannot wait to pit these 3 against each other as well. If Lenovo continues to put in the work on the Software side and delivers non-FPS mode focused controllers, It could end up being a game changer. But even so, the Deck OLED looks fantastic all around, and that VRR beast that goes by ROG Ally is amazing in its own right.
I feel like, long term, the go has a bit more room to change significantly because lenovo (or heck, even 3rd parties) can develop alternative controllers to slot in which could really grant a lot more options without having to lug around an extra controller to do it.
one thing most don't talk about is user/noob friendly. I had a rog ally and the user experience and constant needing to update bios just didn't feel like good experience. I sold mine and ordered OLED because it's not using windows 11(in my opinion a bi pro) and the mouse pads are much needed on handheld and not having them on the rog made navigating that much more difficult
@@dilwalecricket jump into either of the legiongo or rogally subreddits and like 75% of the posts are primarily about set up issues, bios problems, etc.. etc... no thanks. OLED it is
Consider using each devices as a thin-client and leverage your desktop to do all the heavy lifting. With that, the Steam Deck gains the ability to play every Windows game and all devices end up with the same performance, different screens. Additionally to mention is that the Steam Deck is the only devices that consumers can buy that doesn't support Microsoft's monopoly without sacrificing anything or using the government's anti-trust laws to help, so long as your home. If people want to compare them for handheld gaming, Nintendo set the standards and all these devices run circles around them so that's a moot point.
@dilwalecricket it's touch screen.. or you use the right stick.. that track pad is useless. Honestly it's a non issue.
I already have a Release Year 1 SD (Waited a whole year worth of preorder to get one, bummer).
I love the huge upgrades to match ROG Ally Base Z1 (not extreme) And still exceeds its expectations. HDR on a handheld is a huge move to Steam Deck. Dedicated Bluetooth 3rd antenna is an innovation to WiFi chips, where I never seen this before after my 200th disassembled laptops. Now needs VRR on its OLED panel and RDNA3 or RDNA4 GPU. And it will be a perfect handheld.
Valve keeps nailing the 15W, best performance so far.
Its secret sauce is the OS cache shader optimizations.
It think the Steam OLED refresh is exactly what it needed to be.
The new APU will come with the Steam Deck 2. And VRR isn't that important, but USB 4 and eGPU support will be.
@@user-ds8rj2vc4vyou only say that VRR is not that important because you haven't seen with your own eyes the huge difference that it makes.
Conversely, eGPU support only matters to people without a dedicated gaming desktop. The vast majority of people use these handhelds as handhelds and nothing else, which is why the Steam Deck has been so incredibly successful without the slightest support for eGPUs
@@fighterguard
My laptop has VRR, and it's not that big a deal. I'll just use V sync.
And eGPU support would be a big deal because it would remove the need entirely for a desktop gaming PC. Which would be huge.
@@fighterguard ROG Ally users be like: anyone that doesn't like the device clearly never used Windows or has seen VRR. Definitely the only explanation.
@@mechanicalmonk2020🤣🤣🤣🤣 Windows and the SD cards melting are the biggest drawbacks. The screen is great. Best part of the device. That said I find best perf you have to run at 720p and it just looks a bit fuzzier on the 1080P panel. Been experimenting with 1600x900 that looks better but 60fps+ is off the table in quite a lot of newer titles.....
However I use my deck more🤷.
Thank you for the review been looking into these for about a month now. Decided on the steam deck oled. The price and performance works for me.
this is best comparison videos of these 3 pc portable machine. GREAT JOB ETA!
I’m actually surprised how well the steam deck keeps up with both of these devices paired with better battery life oled screen and valve support and optimization def made me pick up the steam deck oled and I’m coming from a ally. Sometimes power isn’t everything.
Very true, coming from a Go. 40hz is the sweet spot on sd
I've said that from the beginning. The Ally and pretty much all of these Windows handhelds are missing a lot of what makes a handheld/console good. Speed, ease of use, and battery life. I want to get into a game quickly and easily, and I want the controls to work. Steam Deck is unrivaled in these categories. From boot to gaming, it's only a few button presses. The quick resume feature makes getting back to a game nearly instant. Community button layouts and incredibly customizable trackpads makes anything playable, no matter if it wasn't specifically designed for a controller, and with minimal fiddling.
@@sirdinkus6537 very much agreed
I strongly recommend trying streaming with Moonlight if you haven't. If you have a decent gaming PC and good internet connection/WiFi, it basically eliminates any performance differences if you're playing at home (or anywhere else with a good internet connection). It really blew my mind how seamless the experience is - it's wild running some AAA game with maxed out settings on a handheld, and you can't even tell it's streaming if the internet is fast enough.
Exactly, the spec sheet isn't everything. The PS5 is actually slower than the XBox Series X, but no one cares about that, and both of these consoles are slower than PC and also no one cares. Same goes for iPhone, which is slower than Android phones. It's the complete experience that matters, not the spec sheet.
I own a Steam Deck and a ROG Ally, and owned a Legion Go for a few days before I returned it.
The Steam Deck, especially now that it has an OLED screen, is the best overall device for most users.
If you're experienced at tinkering with Windows, play plugged in most of the time and want much more performance and better game compatibility (basically all apply to me. I play in bed most of the time, plugged in, or at hotel rooms or on planes, also plugged in), the Ally is worth considering. And unlike the Legion Go, the screen has VRR so you don't have to worry about adjusting the refresh rate or framerate caps. I love mine and use it a ton. The screen won't match the colors, black levels, and contrast of an OLED, but it's still a phenomenal LCD with good resolution and super accurate color reproduction, and some of the best viewing angles of any IPS I've ever seen.
Well made comparison , thank you !
I have an LCD 512 SD, the Ally and the Legion Go now for about a week and I enjoy the LLG by far the most, once you get this huge screen in front of you and experience the FPS mode ( I'd rather call it RTS mode) you really can't go back imo. It's an awesome device, the devs are actually participating in the subreddit and giving us updates on what is about to drop and what they are working on like custom controllers, TDP issues, button remapping etc. + a BIG misconception here, the LLG performs as well and even better on higher TDP's, the custom W TDP is just having issues atm.
Once I read RTS mode I knew it was the one. Thank you sir.
@@latexroach it really is a gamechanger to me, so easy to play RTS on this.
This FPS mode is really confuses me. On the one hand you have handheld device which meant to be played on a couch or a bed like in comfort pose. But on the other hand you can't use this FPS mode laying on a bed or a couch you need a desk for it with a good surface. But why do I need to sit on a desk looking at small screen when i can do the same with gaming PC. So my concern is they combine two opposite things in one device. Which is strange to me
@@Scatner instead of hauling a desktop pc you can just bring this relatively small pc anywhere, that's the beauty of a pc you're missing, you can do whatever with it.
@@Scatnerit's niche basically. Really the Legion Go is for people without a desktop, I feel the Ally is the same. Then Windows is a bonus and eGPU is in play. For anyone with a proper gaming rig already the Steam Deck is a better pickup and go companion proposition.
I ordered my oled last Thursday and I can’t wait to get it
Hopefully getting mine tomorrow!
I do feel like capping the frame rate and seeing which one sticks to the capped rate most consistently would be a more accurate test as frame time graphs are more stable at capped speeds.
Love the comparison video and comparing them capped AND uncapped. Clean up the graphics typos and you'd bump the quality of the video a lot. Thanks for the video
You sir, are doing Gods work, thank you for this video. I havnt been able to find a comparison video that includes the new OLED steam deck. I just bought the ally thinking whatever ill just return it in like a week but after updating and tweaking some settings i think im keeping it untill the steam deck 2 comes out.
Dang, the Deck is pretty much neck and neck with the Ally at 15W. I don't know what type of wizardry valve is using, but it's working!
Lower res display and developers optimizing for the steamdeck helps a lot
A few months ago the deck was much better at 15w than Ally. But the past few months, Asus been pushing these drivers that just raise performance between 12-22w. It makes 15w and 18w power profiles amazing for a great mix of graphics, frame rate, and battery
@@toxicavenger6172 I'm guessing being on Linux also helps. I know the lower res screen helps, but they were all tested at 720p in this video
@@mistamaog steamOS might help some but I would imagine developers doing specific optimizing for the steamdeck helps so much more.
Yeahh, that Windows overhead the Ally and the Go need to carry isn't helping.
Steam Deck is a really great device. Curious how things will work out if Valve releases Steam OS for other devices as well.
Love this channel.❤
Doing good work per usual ETA! Love your content, keep it up!
Cheers for this mate, much appreciated.
I am a 1st gen 512gb steam deck owner and I own the Rog Ally as well. Honestly I feel the same way. I love my steam deck for emulation and playing older AAA games. I love the Ally for the cross-platform gamepass games. I've really been enjoying forza motorsport at 900p 60 fps on the Ally
I wish they had all the Xbox games on gamepass, fight night champ I Wana play!
First time buyer, I like to play overwatch, which out of the two would you recommend with ally and sd oled
@@lilstewy5091i would recommend the ally as it has more power and is fun to play overwatch on it
there is no better handheld other than Legion go for FPS games, from my perspective steam deck is the worst in terms of fast paced FPS shooters, where you need a lot of power to get those sweet 165hz FPS gameplay which both Ally and Legion Go can provide@@lilstewy5091
So if you are choosing between SD or Ally - it`s ally obviously, but my rating for fps games would be:
1. legion go
2. ally
3. Steam deck
@lilstewy5091 Overwatch isn't officially supported on the Steam Deck, afaik you have to got through some hoops to get it installed and running, on that note I'd go with the ally
For me the Steam Deck is the best handheld. For mostly tethered /docked the Legion is more interesting. And the Ally is a pretty good compromise with some advantage for heavier games. Overall, all are very good products and deliver a lot for the price.
Shared with the Legion Go FB group. Many are torn with these 3 so thank you!
One unique thing with the Steam deck hardware is that the memory runs in Quad channel while in the other two it's dual channel like on most cpus that arent high end workstation platforms or servers.
It's still quad channel on the OLED, just fewer discrete chips
Since I already got a desktop with a 280Hz monitor I bought the Steam deck OLED just to have for singleplayer storymode games felt like that was the smart buy since if I need more power I will just use my PC
You can also stream from youre pc with moonlight /sunshine.
@@martindescoteaux9288 Exactly, and I think most people who haven't tried it don't realize how good streaming is with Moonlight. It's basically indistinguishable from playing locally if you have a good internet connection. This is why the OLED Deck alternatives lose out for most use cases IMO. Their extra power is only really valuable if you can't stream, but that's usually going to be the case when using them on the go - and that's where their super low battery life is a problem! So the Deck alternatives are best when used at home (or some other place that likely has decent WiFi) but if you're at home you can just stream with the Deck and effectively get equivalent/better performance.
Prior to the OLED, the ROG Ally/Legion Go having a 120/144hz display was a pretty significant advantage to the Deck, but a 90hz OLED is absolutely a better overall experience just due to the huge upgrade in image quality from OLED vs LCD.
@@martindescoteaux9288Came to say the same thing
with a touch of lag, although i have fond memories of my steam ling working really well@@martindescoteaux9288
That's where I'm at. I built a beast PC to play beastly games. My deck handles everything else.
I hope with a few more weeks of soak, the Legion Go gets some updates and is more in line with the Aly, I don't see why it wouldn't be. I want the Go because of the trackpads but the Aly is tempting because it performs a little better right now.
Like the ROG, I doubt they will release any updates for it.
I love my go!!
@@ingueferroquewdym? Ally has been updated back to back and look at it now, same will happen with the legion.
I have the ally and like it a lot, it took a while after launch before they started getting bios and drivers right. So I'm sure the legion will be the same. If I had neither right now and was going to get one I'd be a tough decision. If the legion had vrr I'd def go with that
@@martindescoteaux9288 the go is awesome most of all the reviews ive seen didnt add up to me when i got mine as i had no problem once i got everything set up, once i did the manual drivers update my shi is mad smooth never had a problem i play mainly at 20-25w no problems
I really like these head to head video hope to see some for the mini pc's. Cant wait for strix family of apu's to hit, If they perform as well as what leakers are saying i will probably start looking into getting one.
Great video! I'd consider a SD OLED but only if my Ally died.. I'm glad I bought it before so many options were available. It'd have been so hard to decide otherwise.
This is a great comparison and thanks for doing the work and with such detail. That said, I still think two of Steam Deck's biggest advantages no one is talking about are the track pads and gyroscopic aiming. In terms of the track pads, this is their third iteration of them with the first being on the Steam Controller and second being on the Index. They bring more versatility to the table as a handheld both in terms of gaming and usage on the desktop and are severely underutilized by the community.
I am the owner of the 512 GB LCD Steam Deck, but I did order the 1 TB OLED Steam Deck. The comfort of SteamOS I would never trade for anything.
Hows the game support? The biggest concern for me is the linux support for games.
I respect your channel and content I watch your stuff alot. Just proof your written stuff little closer there is good amount of typos.
Appreciate your video, good comparison.
Great video! If you do all follow up video it would be great to se a comparison of the user interfaces. Both the default and with different OS:s or Linux distributions installed. Some possible distributions that should work on one or more of them: Nobara, Bazzite, ChimeraOS, Batocera, etc.
Steam Deck OLED🎉
This is a portable device so I’m going with the one that provides objectivity the most balanced experience between power, ease of use, and battery life.
Although a docked mode that could access higher watts would be awesome
I think 15W is the sweet spot for a handheld gaming device so Valve definitely got that aspect right. I hope with the inevitable Steam Deck 2 though that they add VRR support (it is the only disappointment of the OLED model in my opinion) and also improve the dock so that games can run on a higher 25/30W profile due to being plugged in. This would then make it better suited for when you want to use it on a TV.
I think it’d be pointless to go over 15w with that cpu. That’s what I keep hearing anyway so I’m not sure.
It's very good video. I have some doubts about Steam Deck after I purchased it last week and you have answered some of my questions about the device.
and also 9:13 Noice
Thanks for this handhelds video. It was really interesting.👍😄
I wished if you also compared the OS on those three. Particularly, the UI addon that the ROG and the Legion added on top of Windows 11 and how that compares to SteamOS in terms of usability and stability.
I can't tell you right now, Steam OS is better. That's not to say that the other two are bad, but Steam OS is on another level. It's just a better overall experience.
For me the legion Go with a 3d printed controller connector is the way to go, I had an absolute blast playing titanfall 2 with my little brother at my dads house using the controllers with the screen on the table.
Recently snagged a ROG Ally Extreme for 300$ usd semi new on Facebook market, sd card doesn’t work but it’s an amazing machine for the deal I got
@@urgayifyoureaddis I like the ally, but it got uncomfortable pretty quick.
I got the ROG Ally on a black friday deal at best buy with an open box total being $540. Gotta say I couldn't pass that up. It definitely has its drawbacks like being picky about chargers and locking you out of most updates without plugging it into power. ( I ordered a anker 100W charger so i wont have this issue anymore but still worth noting) This thing is faster than my gaming laptop from 2019 that was double the price of this thing. Being able to play VR on it and all the other stuff is awesome for this little device. IF I had to choose again and they were all the same price I would've went for the Legion GO just for a bigger screen. I use my Ally for more of a laptop replacement so the Steamdeck currently wouldn't be in the running, I know you can dual boot but I just want it to just work. For the price tag I got mine for I'm glad I have it but I would've waited for a second or 3rd generation of these but I will definitely be investing in future products in this market as long as they dont just skyrocket in price(fingers crossed).
At 1:50 it started sounding like a different language. I’m not good with technology but I’m watching you for that. Your vid’s help, thanks.
I think it's important for anyone comparing these devices is to look at the performance levels more practically... You could potentially use 15W with all devices. But I would still consider 15W being "docked mode" for a handheld device.... Preferably you want to be somewhere between 1-10W to achieve proper battery life. The Legion Go can justify a 15W TDP due to the larger battery. But looking 10W or below gaming, with a locked framerate, the Steam Deck is absolutely crushing the competition both in terms of performance and battery life. And with the OLED this allow for 3.5h+ of battery life. Another thing to keep in mind is sleep mode. Windows sleep mode is buggy and can crash your game, Steam Deck sleep mode works perfectly. So if you are a busy individual that wants to conveniently pause your game. The Steam Deck is the better device.... If you want to use the device as your only computer, or you will stay tethered to the wall then I would argue that Z1 Extreme devices would make sense as their performance is getting REALLY good at 20W.
I use my handheld mostly at home with a USB-C charger next to me, so for me it was the Legion Go. I agree though, the Steam Deck is the one with true portability at those below 15W points. Though the Legion Go still works for bathroom breaks. For me at least. Don't know how long you stay in there 😉. I wish I could justify owning all of them 🙂. I'm a desktop gamer too, but the exciting place is definitely portables now.
Just get a laptop if it’s your only computer.
Really goes to show how impressive the custom chip tuning is on the Deck vs the Z1 Extreme
@@Phil_529 👍🔥👍🔥😂😂🤷
I considered Ally n LG for the next handheld to my steam deck LCD. Finally, I ordered a LG for a larger screen and wider compatibility of the controller. Hope this is the right decision. A larger screen is always preferred as I am getting aged vision..
I love mine. I think you made the right decision.
Games are so much more immersive.
ROG Ally + 4TB 990 Pro SSD Mod owner here. I'm crazy in love with it. (overcompensated for SD card reader dying)
Got the LCD steam deck and love it, it's a master piece what it can do for steam, however the faffery of trying to run other things has led me to the Legion Go. The bigger screen and ability to use my Gamepass Ultimate + a couple of other games that don't work on the deck due to anti-cheat means I'll use them for different purposes. I love the idea of the OLED deck, but I can't justify it right now over the LCD. I would have bought the limited edition just because, smokey black and orange bits,, but in the UK so can't
OLED was just an overall upgrade for those who never had any handheld, ofc if you have LCD SD there is absolutely zero need to pay another 550 for that
Having had the Ally since launch, I can attest to the software improvements that Asus brought to it over time. Currently trying to get most games to run at 12W TDP with at least 45 FPS or higher. I can easily squeeze a little over 2 hours of game time doing so.
Hey Gabilleta, I can currently reach 60fps at 12W in most games, other than poorly optimized ones (like Resident Evil 4 Remake for example). 12W is what I use the most and can net 2 hours to 2 hours and a half. If it helps, I don't use RSR (fps penalty) or any of the AMD features. All I use RIS at 90% which sharpens the image at no fps cost. I play at 720p lowest settings, everything off, and no FSR (makes the games look like garbage). And very important, cap fps at 60fps in the Armory Create Menu, and run games without Vertical Sync (Vsync off). Only game I have that needs a bump to 17W for 60fps is Resident Evil 4 remake.
Lmao😂
@@darkangel9090xresident evil 4 is not unoptimized at all lmao
@@findgod... The remake runs like crap man, maybe because I have the launch build, but yeah, heavy on the Ally, need 17W for a constant 60fps. Maybe there's a more polished build now, but launch build has the transitional stutter where fps drops heavily when changing different sections in the game. On the contrary, RE2 and RE3 run butter smooth at 12W (DX12 version)
I want to love my steam deck so badly but the versatility in games I can play on my ally has me grabbing it every time. The second the steam deck supports native game pass and other launchers without annoying workarounds, I think I will have a tougher time deciding between the two.
You can always install Windows in the Steam Deck and those launchers wouldn't be an issue anymore.
Obviously though you'd lose Steam OS, unless you do a dual boot.
Not much Valve can do about Gamepass, it uses so much proprietary nonsense only Microsoft would be able to port it, and they have very little incentive to do so
@@lazarushernandez5827yeah may as well use whatever 1TB SD card with windows installed for dual boot
I don't see gamepass being natively supported like any other new games, they're avoiding the linux ecosystem.
@@mrman6035that'll defeat the purposes of having an SD, might as well go for the ally or go, the included drivers just to run dual boot is a pain in the ass everytime steam do an update it messes with the drivers/dual boot settings.
I'm watching this video because my Best Buy has an open box Rog with the Extreme processor for $549 right now. And with my experience with open box deals, you can typically get another 10% off of what they have open boxes marked. So, with this review I think I may just go get that 😊
Good informative review that gave users the information to decide what’s best for themselves.
I’ve always trusted Lenovo so I decided to go with the Legion go but this video made me realize how important personal preference is.
Keep in mind, the Legion Go is the NEWEST of the group. Give it time.
@@SusanWSucks Yes! I definitely took that into consideration. I liked the steam deck and Asus Ally almost more than the legion go. But I decided to go with the Legion Go because of the amount of trust I have built over time with their products. The competition in this space has been great for consumers!
Asus Rog has been beyond amazing for me.
Same. Love mine.
Same!! I love being able to cross-device play new gamepass games when they come out, like Persona Tactica!!!
I think its great...but I've had 2 with sdcard issues I just slapped a 2tb ssd in it and called it a day.
Just bought one yesterday. The screen is really sharp!
@@mustafabransfield340just use manual curve my dude keep your temps nice and cool mine stay below 60c at 18w its the sweet spot for 1080p
Thanks for this review that truly shows that the Legion Go is better than the Steam Deck! It has a bigger screen than the steam deck, 144hz to the steam deck's measly 90, 4 more cores and 8 more threads, RDNA3 instead of 2 and a higher MHz, 7500 MHz ram instead of 6400, detachable controllers, built-in stand, and it uses Windows for more compatibility. Appreciate the video! 👋
Perfect timing I was just about to buy one today for my birthday 😂 thanks
Hi nice video. One correction the Legion Go uses a 2242 NVME drive not a 2280.
Still trying to decide if I want to pick one of these up. I'm leaning towards the SD because of how awesome Valve has been, and I feel like it's probably the simplest to setup for emulation. (I could be wrong). The larger screen of the Legion Go might be nice, but the major thing that's tempting me is the ability to turn one of the Joy-cons into a Joystick. Something about playing MechWarrior on the go with a Joystick just sounds like more fun than my brain can handle. Lol
If you want emulation there are cheaper options than the steamdeck.
It's not a joystick. It's a mouse that you hold kinda like a joystick.
The ally not having a track pad is pretty bad if you’ve used any of these devices a lot you’ll use the track pad a lot as it’s a much better mouse than a joystick. Glad the Go Has one it’s pretty impossible to use desktop or play non controller supported games without it.
I remember the nvme chip mod where we can add a 2280 nvme module the Asus rog Ally. That makes it more of a great buy for this device. I'd avoid the SD card extension anyway. However, I learned a good fix for the sd card slot: add a thermal pad on the sd slot when adding the nvme drive.
I really want a rog ally but I cannot justify paying so much knowing that part of the device doesn’t work. I don’t feel comfortable opening it up, but to those that are, I think it’s a solid buy.
Same here I’d of bought one but that sd slot issue is a no go
I love your work keep it up❤🎉
I have a top of the line pc with the 4090 and 7800x3d, so when it comes to my handheld it’s mostly about playing older titles like madmax, mafia, mafia 2 classic and some of the amazing new games like Dave the diver, etc. I had the z1 extreme ally that I returned due to it simply not feeling comfortable in my hands and the windows being a bit annoying on that small screen. As soon as the new SD came out, I knew that is the way. The comfort of this thing is its biggest accomplishment in my opinion, it just feels so finished and well built. SD OLED limited edition did the trick for me, but all three platforms deserve the hype
Emulation for me.
Ordered the SD OLED. Only consideration was the GO but SD won on the screen, battery and price. Im a newbie to Linux but the community out there for SD seems really good. Im planning to stream things like Gamepass so specs between the 3 became a bit irrelevant. I'm also looking at Geforce Now. If it's library keeps expanding, I might give it a go.
Are you going to use remote play from your pc? I haven’t seen many people mention this but I would do this often personally if the latency isn’t bad
@@Chyllbaccaeither PC or Xbox. You can also stream from Xbox cloud. I get no noticeable latency on my phone doing it. I haven't tried GForce now yet but it's the equivalent of having a 4090. It all comes down to how good your internet speed is and how good your WiFi is. I get 500 mbs down, 15 ms ping and it works fine
I feel like the deck has the best ease of use but the legion go has a beast of a screen and sometimes a bigger screen and the option to run older games at 1200 or even 1600p is pretty cool
But it’s too bulky feels like playing game in ipad
Nice comparison. Quick question, the games used in the comparisons, were they running at each devices native screen res? Or did you run them all at the same resolution, letting those portables with larger resolution screens scale the image to fit?
720p they were running
I switched to the Ally about a month ago. For me, it was me being sick of trying to figure out Linux outside of the Steam library. With all of the other launchers, you had to jump through hoops to try to run games on them.
I think what's needed to mention - is that Lenovo Legion go by it's nature not only a handheld, but a Windows tablet, and actually their base concept was to inherit their own Y700 tablet stuff (like screen and etc.), so you buy 2 devices in one. And it makes sense as a PC experience, because in other hand on Ally you have windows 11, but no actual ability to use it as PC without docking. But SD in that case is more a console. I think ability to use Legion Go as a PC tablet is really worth to mention.
What? It functions exactly the same?
@loganfenton8765 exactly the same as what? Please tell more about what you wanted to get as an answer, bc I did not get it.
@@rudemption The ally functions the same as a windows tablet, Its a touch screen tablet
I love my SD, had it since Feb/Mar '22, Recently got the GO, it is def a nice upgrade, I do wish windows was better suited for the smaller touch screen, but it works. I still use by SD for verified and retro gaming. The GO is my go to for more needed Steam games and being able to use other game stores, Gamepass, and streaming. Biggest negative is the battery life, but the inclusion of (2) USB-C ports helps mitigate this.
I heard that fan noise of GO is pretty loud with high pitch. Is it true? I am thinking of GO as well.
They are all amazing!It's all Depend of what we are looking for.
I have a 512 GB steam deck LCD
I didn't get the compatibility with things I wanted to do in the steam OS, support for running Windows has improved since Linus tech tech tips did a review!
Definitely worth looking at installing windows 10 or 11 to it if you don't want the stock steam OS but anyway it is going to impact you in terms of the fact that I believe it does impact performance (but I haven't personally noticed yet!)
If I could get a do over knowing what was in front, the legion Go would be better for me!
I would love a Steam Deck OLED with something like a Z1. The Deck by far is the most comfortable and the dual thumb pads are a game changer for me.
Why so you can get 35 minutes of battery life
But then you would negate the battery life benefit of the Deck? Valve weren't wrong when they said there's no hardware upgrade path currently, maybe with 8000 gen APUs.
@@The_MEMEphis so a 15W Z1 drains the battery faster than a 15W custom chip with old architectures?
ScIeNcE!
The Z1 is the same performance as the Steam Deck OLED at 15W (Digital Foundry).
So it's already there. It just doesn't automatically overclocked to 25W like the Ally, but you could do some of that yourself.
Keep in mind, it has a superior screen and battery life, Wifi etc, coming in at 35% less than the Ally, it's still an amazing unit.
@@MGK195No but the Steam Deck APU runs games way better at 3 to 11W which is a huge benefit for indie games and older AAA games in terms of battery life. The Z1E is often unplayable at those lower TDPs.
People that dont have a laptop or pc, get the Legion go or rog ally, if you have a pc already then get the steam deck simple as that
the video i needed right now.
Ally is the best honestly, and the legion go is a nice first try but it needs way more to offer for what it is.
I had the steam deck and switched to the Rog in may … and it’s been amazing ever since other then bios 3.19 lol but that was short lived 🙌🙌
OLED model steam deck ?
Good SD is overhype by TH-camrs and their community.
@@funkyflightsnah it was the standard, I got it back in early February of last year and got the Rog ally early in may
I already got the ROG Ally wit hthe Z1 Extreme but i Couldnt say no to the OLED Steam Deck :D So i will see which one is going to be my new favorite :D
This could be my favorite comparison video of this channel 😍
Wish they show us cats too😻
Was looking at all 3 but went with the Legion Go (arrives tomorrow as of writing) as that has the most potential imo. I'm planning to use mine as a dedicated Emulation / Retro gaming system actually and this ticks all the boxes for that and with this nice 12 in 1 dock i bought for it I can use it on either my monitor or its own screen.
Once the software matures, legion go should simply be a better ROG ally, should it not?
@@CaptnYestrday I concur.
Bro the steam deck is by far the best for emulation check out emudeck I've had the oled for a day and my emulated games look AMAZING.
@@CaptnYestrday yep, that's it. That's why i ordered the Go, should be here tomorrow. Already heard there is a major update out this week with performance upgrades by increasing VRAM usage.
@@Matt-or9bj where have you heard that ? :0
- Deck OLED if you want the overall best experience and display
- Ally if you like to tinker a bit more but also get a superior gaming experience fps wise, and you can play anything with Windows, GamePass included. Also has VRR, which is huge.
- The Legion Go is the only one I would not recommend. Chunky, display is excessively high resolution so you will always have to downsscale resolution, which looks worse than native. Unless you only plan to play really old games and indies.
If you use half resolution there is no penalty to clarity. And that still leaves you with the same resolution as the steam deck. And you have the option of the full QHD for older games that can handle it. I really think that is a non-argument. When it comes to your decision on what to get you do you. But stating the higher res is a downside I cannot fathom for the life of me.
Doesn't the Ally overheat?
God I got so tired of pointing out the silly resolution on the Lenovo only to be gaslighted by parrots on the internet who actually believe integer scaling is just as good as native. Absolute nonsense.
You need to understand one thing the Ally has been constantly updated I know because I still have one I'm glad that it's doing great it's reaching the potential that I wish it did when I first bought it with that said Lenovo is making some huge updates pretty soon especially to the bios so don't be surprised if a week or two from now the test results are a lot different also because adrenaline doesn't even work on the legion go yet you can't even use fsr yet
@@advolf not that I've experienced or herd of
ROG ally is the perfect handheld companion device to my desktop, have a pretty high end desktop so i soley use it as a handheld, but definitely see myself going with the ally going forward to be a handheld companion to take my pc games on the go and my desktop for at home gaming
Im going with the Lego,read that updates to the system, audio,fan options and amongst other improvements. Hopefully you'll be able to switch out the controllers
ROG Ally FTW have tried all and the only one I’ve kept and enjoyed is both SD and Ally but I like the power more so Ally is the only one I kept it’s the reason for upgrading in the first place from SD
i have an ally and deck too, its nice to have the extra power but over the last 6 months ive come to realize that none of these handhelds are really any good for AAA games, indies are really where they shine and the truth is indies shine more on the deck but i chose to play on ally because its a more immersive experience, better display, nicer sound, VRR all that shiz, just a better experience... that all changed with the OLED deck though, they literally changed the one huge flaw about it and improved everything else along the way... The ally really is all about power, thats its party trick like most windows handhelds but we all know windows on handheld is bad, everytime i bring up the keyboard on ally it obscures the box im typing in, sometimes armory crate crashes, sometimes it freezes, some SD cards work in the damn thing and some dont (obviously i have a defective reader it seems), the analogue sticks sometimes click so i had to take it apart and put tape around the stem of the sticks so the caps fit on tighter and dont move around, we cant install hall effect sticks on ally because it interferes with the triggers and the workarounds are fishy at best, stupid things like hibernate dont work well at all so need to log back into windows on wakeup and then the game in progress just crashes... its all just unrefined.
The deck i have honestly had no issues with, its just boringly flawless, no hardware issues at all, sleep function works perfect, the software is so damn polished, custom community created controller schemes just for deck make playing most games great, nothing like that on ally, ally is missing some features in software, the on screen analytics are next level on deck and so bland on ally while interfering with games, click on the area of the screen the stats are in and you start moving the stat box around lol its just so messy.
Still like the ally but its going man, as soon as my oled deck arrives stuff the ''power'' of the ally, its totally not worth it, ill stick to the indie bangers and play AAA's on my pc.
it has only 1 fan and is excruciatingly loud, the apu / cpu throttles a lot compared to rog or steam deck, the rog with 2 fan design is the most quiet and it has VRR, wich is very noticeable that it lacks on the legion , performance is also abysmal due to screen resolution on a lot of games on the legion go, and when reduced resolution, the screen of the legion is way too big and doesn't look as crisp and sharp as on the steam deck nor the rog ally. You'll notice how much noise the fan does even at idle, barely playable at max load with the noise it makes.
The Steam Deck OLED has the best price-to-performance, as well as the best battery life and screen of all the devices.
It's the one to go for at the moment.
I won't disagree with your statement, but the Steam Deck OLED does come with some caveats. Its limited to just steam games (Out of the Box), and even many of them don't work properly. AAA games moving forward probably won't run well on it as well. So spending $500+ on a handheld, you will have to make some compromises with whatever choice you make.
If that's all you care about then yeah
@@conchobar
It's not limited to just Steam games. It can play games from other clients too.
Not to mention, the 100,000 games on Steam is probably enough for the lifetime of most people.
@@undyingsonars
What else is there to care about except performance, battery life and visual fidelity in a handheld ?
Might as well get an odin 2 best for emulation + batt performance+ android the best and easiest ecosystem because we use it everyday. SD is a pain in the ass, having the verified to play icon does not guarantee good user experience for a $500 device.
Thank you so much mate
The more competition the better, and the nice part is valve has already said that they're working on getting steamos to work on as many of these devices as well as desktops as possible.
My takeaway from this is the ROG Ally and Legion Go are more like gaming laptops in a bad way. They consume more power per watt than the Steam Deck and barely perform better or sometimes worse at 15watts. You can up the wattage and get more performance out of them at 30 watts but then you're pretty much gonna have to be plugged in to a wall the whole time you play like a gaming laptop. I'm all about the battery life so I would go with the Steam Deck Oled over the others. The only aception to this is if you need windows for some reason and are ok with all of the cons that brings.
It's actually what I'm looking for. A smaller gaming laptop. That legion go with better display that I could pack in my luggage everywhere I go. I even considered getting the GPD G1 egpu for added boost in performance.
I bought the Go... And I also have owned an Ally. Personally, the large screen just takes it to another level for immersion, and the performance is right there alongside it, only trailing behind in insignificant amounts.
I have no regrets and I actually feel like it will improve even more in the coming months. Ergonomically it just feels great playing with the controllers detached in tabletop mode, too!
Playing Alan Wake 2 on the Legion Go is a MUCH more intense experience than on the Ally, solely because of the screen!
I’m sold😮💨
@2:00 Sums up the video. Z1 Extreme runs laps around SD Oled. If you listen closely, Legion Go is the only way to go. Terrible dead zones are intentional to give Ally and SD a chance to make a few more sales before software updates.
I had the ally and loved it. Got the LeGo and love it even more, because a bigger screen was really essential for me. Its _just_ a little too fiddly for me on the ally, which otherwise feels great
Recently sold original Deck. Now have Ally, Go and PS Portal. My favourite handheld would be the Rog Ally with an 8" OLED screen and Portal haptics.
Today the Ally could be a good purchase, but Valve has demonstrated how important it's the community for them, they want to improve the Steam Deck within the users reviews and comments, The OLED version was just a test of that, I'm pretty sure the next Steam Deck will be the king of all the devices, for now my money is with them and this project totally!
Sounds like small company bias to me.
@@dj4monie how are any of these 3 companies small?
@@dj4monie rofl WHAT!? Valve..., small?..
@dj4monie did you seriously just call valve small?
They literally just copied what Nintendo did with the Switch with these improvements let's not act like they did anything innovative here or are "listening to the community" 😭 Also after seeing that the Legion Go has a bigger screen than the steam deck, 144hz to the steam deck's measly 90, 4 more cores and 8 more threads, RDNA3 instead of 2 and a higher MHz, 7500 MHz ram instead of 6400, detachable controllers, and Windows for more compatibility and still choosing the steam deck it either means 1 of 2 things. You're either biased towards Valve or simple can't or don't want to pay the premium for the Legion Go.
No one ever mentions it but the main reason I own a steamdeck is for the Suspend and resume feature. I couldnt even consider another option even if it was desktop power in a handheld. If it didnt have this, maybe they do? Its the most used feature for me. I love playing 15-20 minutes at a time or before bed and being able to pick right back up when im ready.
I use Windows 11 hibernate feature on my Rog Ally and it resumes my game I was playing. I have set the power button to hibernate when I press it so it's convenient to do it quickly.
I have a Steam Deck as well and that is a feature it did well on release I'll give it that.
Can’t wait for my deck oled. It’s also great that you can undervolt it, and potentially get even better power consumption
I wanna see a video with all ETA prime handhelds on a display table. Even if he didn't do a performance test for each device. Just seeing them all together would be really cool.