Personally i feel that if you already have a killer pc set up that has alot steam games get a deck. It turns your library completely portable and it's very seemless, a good alternative then buying a gaming laptop for portability imo.just to play while in the comfort of your living room or laying down in your bed. If you don't have a killer pc set up get an ally because it can potentially be a good alternative to a PC as well
I prefer the steam deck because it has the touchpads, the long battery life is nice too. It took some getting used to using Linux because I've always used windows, but it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.
Agreed! It's super nice :) you can use windows on it tho. But I suggest the windeck . No joke.. it's a debloated version of Windows, that it runs super light, and comes with the drivers already. Steam os is great! But... They need to be able to run every program, for me to comeback. But yeah! Recommended:)
As for me, I generally play beamng, alien isolation, and halo so I think the ally is right for me. But if I don’t like it I’ll get the sd oled because I think it will hold up long term better
If youre only using steam, get the deck, for console like experience. If you want to use anything else, get the ally. Thats the way i view it, less hassle than hacking the deck, and newer hardware.
The Steam Deck is definitely easier to use as a console. But it's a VERY serviceable (though inferior to Windows IMHO) PC when it's in Desktop mode. The Ally is a vastly better experience if you play most of your games via Gamepass or game ecosystems other than Steam.
I have both and the Ally is what I carry in my bag now but I don’t plan on getting rid of my Deck and 9 times out of 10 I recommend the Deck. It’s just easier for most people.
That's an objective lie. The ally is significantly more user friendly. It's fucking windows. Everyone knows how to use windows. Steam os is buggy, and has compatibility issues. And you need to do numerous work arounds for online games. Half the people install windows anyway. Which is another 100+ dollars, which makes the steam deck more expansive than the ally. The ally is superior across the board.
Love them both but I keep leaning towards my Steam Deck. The Ally still feels like a work in progress, but it’s obvious that given more time it’s gonna get better and better….. just keep those updates coming Asus🤞🤞
And the deck isn't? We still can't natively use gamepass, a lot of games dont support proton, and we still have anti cheat issues. But let's ignore that because?...
I just bought a deck and it very much feels like a work in progress. Half of my library is unsupported, linux anything is hell, the touchpads are weird, the haptics are confusing and crap, etc
Was going to get a steam deck at first then found out about the ROG Ally and been having great emulation experience as well as started my steam library with the past sale this week. I agree the battery life is sub par on the Ally.
I went with the Steam Deck for the community mods and support. Emu deck was a breeze, themes were easy install, and every game I play has a guide on YT for max performance.
The ROG is 5x better than the steam deck when it’s plugged in but that kinda takes a big part of the portable handheld out. If you just home and playing I recommend the ROG but if you travel I recommend the Steam Deck.
Yeah ASUS just admitted their SD CARD reader running into thermal issues. I got 1 sd card fried after a long session. Returned mine after 2 weeks, dont need the stress from Win 11 too .
My experience too! Fried my 512GB Sandisk. I don't think it was thermal issues. Mine was run on custom curves and never exceeded 75'C. Something is wrong for sure...it's just a pile of crap right now.
I've already made my decision in the first 2 minutes. The steam deck comes with a case and even when getting the highest speced steam deck it's still cheaper than the other one!!
After a lot of back and forth I went for the Steam Deck, basically it came down to battery life and what I saved I bought a dock , power bank, and a 1tb nvme drive. That said it wasn't an easy decision, the screen on the Ally side by side with the entry level Deck looks even more superior and it was that more than anything that made it a tough decision, maybe in the future I'll look at the Ally when it's been around the block like the Deck. Either way two superb devices. That screen though...
I too went back and forth a lot but ultimately went with the Ally. To me, better performance, full Windows, eGPU capability were big important factors. But, what a time we're in where we have such great choices to appeal to everyone.
They have officially confirmed they are not looking into making a second deck anytime soon. They plan to continue supporting this one the best they can, which makes sense.
@@w.7474 I'm saved because I live in Sweden. However my Indian friend suffered a lot because it's not even available there. Importing that thing is crazy.
Returned Ally and bought Deck, and its best decision i did. Ally is just mess, FreeSync doesnt work, TDP settings are broken, SD card you can only dream about, no cases, no parts for repair device, updates are just annoying (not starting, but those which block your display and asking about plug charger.. when you just dot wanna downloadit and cannot be closed.......).
After watching your video, I decided to cancel my order for the Rog Ally and place one for the Steam Deck instead. Your insights really helped me make the best choice. Thanks a lot!
I ordered a steam deck yesterday. I just think it’s more polished overall from everything I’ve read and from what all my gaming buddies have said who have tried both.
I bought the deck OLED 2 weeks ago and honestly it's so much better if you mainly play steam games. Even "Playable" games like Assassin's creed origins and Mirrors edge catalyst played perfectly at 40fps lock with 3+ hours of battery (after some proton setting in steam itself) I tried the Ally and I barely got 2 hours, even locked to 40fps. Silent mode is useless for the Ally, no game I tried actually plays well on that mode, while the steam deck can play RocketLeague on a 10 Watt TDP, 90fps lmao.
This dude has no clue what he's doing. He's over his head and it's obvious... He should go to the "Libary" and do some research on the topic of PC's...
I am a newbie when it comes to these handheld systems and have been having pure hell trying to decide which direction to go, especially considering the price tags on these setups. I have a few questions, first off do you have to pay for each game you add to these devices or are their emulators that have a majority of the games for free? I don't have high speed internet access at home but still have the ability to use high speed on occasion when I stay at hotels or go to families house that have high speed service. I live in the woods and just dont have the ability to get high speed unfortunately, but having said that I really want a handheld system that is capable of running the majority of older systems (such as n64, ps2, Xbox 360, dream cast, 3ds, and even some of the newer game systems if possible RELIABLY without bugs and lagging etc) and preferably for free through emulators if that's possible. I'm dying to play the new Stanfield game but unfortunately i dont own a newer xbox and am having a hard time justifying buying a new xbox for that one game, so i figured maybe itd be possible to play on a high tier handheld like these. Like i said im pretty much clueless when it comes to these emulators so id be forever grateful and appreciative for any advice that might point me in the right direction for what I need, also I'd appreciate any information on which specific emulators I'd need to download in order to get the best gaming experience and how to go about getting them onto whichever device i end up purchasing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for the awesome video! I've been seriously considering the steam deck but I'm not sure if there may be better options for someone in my particular situation and needs when it comes to what seems like a billion options out there when it comes to these handheld pc's/systems. Any help deciding would mean alot to this emulator newbie! New sub here! You earned it!
7:20 that is incorrect, it is not emulation, it is translation. ...and yes that is a big difference. Emulation is very costly in terms of performance. While I don't know the exact performance costs of Proton compared to native, it's negligible in comparison to emulation.
Review should have more emphasis on easy integration of PC Gamepass on Asus Rog Ally. At only 12$ monthly being able to play Starfield, Forza Motorsport, etc with cross save cross progression easily is a huge advantage over the steam deck
3th option... Steam deck with 1tb SSD plus windeck (debloated windows 11) absolutely killer! Oh and steam deck tools. I'm using the deck for... Everything I do.
Im so mad i bought the steam deck right before i heard of the ally bc the steam deck doesnt let me play any games i like so i had to switch to windows and its super slow and a shitty experience
The SD Reader issue us a design flaw. That said, It's not a deal breaker for me. most flagship smartphones done even have an SD card reader. I can do without
@@GammaFn. Yeah but you'll be paying around £200 for that. Not to mention, I'd take a guess that most people don't want to take apart their expensive devices to install an nvme. An SD card is far more convenient
I'm happy I got a Deck about nine months ago and am not tempted to get an Ally. From what I've read it seems the Deck will remain a more polished device, even when Asus catch up with updates. I don't play that many big AAA games and the extra battery life the Deck has is more important to me than the Ally's performance edge. Also, I'm no Microsoft hater, but I believe they could do with some more competition, so happy to do a bit to support Linux by buying a Deck. I might even install Steam OS 3.x on my spare laptop when it is made officially available for laptops/desktops.
I have deck too love it but it's been having a lot of issues lately running even AA new games. Remnant from the ashes 2 is running like garbage on it and looks like garbage. I also really want to use nexus mods and suck for fallout skyrim etc. I think long term the ally is going to last where the steam deck has maybe a year before it just cant play any new games. also I know the deck will never be able to run starfield which really sucks
@@Unknown-kf3ef I think the ally needed a few more months of cooking. To be fair the steam deck wasn’t good when it was released either but I don’t see ASUS supporting it like valve supports their system.
@@TheRedSully that's the only thing if the smart they will keep supporting it and updating it then year or so down the line release a new one it'll have buyers since people would see they actually care and polished out the ally issues and also made the next ine better if they don't keep up the support the they will lose buyers bc if u don't have good support and customer service it's no point in having a product
As a previous Deck owner currently playing on Ally, Just save tons of headache and grab yourself a 64GB Deck and $70 2230 SSD. Update: I didn’t return my Ally although my SD card reader is fried at this point. Got myself a refurbished Deck, upgraded to 2TB and planning to get myself a DeckHD & whole shell replacement.
And don't think about other window handhelds, they are same experience as Ally can offer with much bigger price tag. Looking at you AYA NEO & Aok. GPD is a bit better than Ally but still the price tag is too too big.
As an Ally owner and lover. Get the Ally. I absolutely love mine and have had zero issues since day 1 purchase. Can play Fortnite Overwatch and COD in Performance mode for 2.5 hours 80-120FPS! Very impressed and in love 😩❤️
Bro come on I wouldn’t recommen the average person try and upgrade the steam deck 64gb. I tried and I ended up stripping the screws. Painful experience wouldn’t recommend. The main issue with the 64gb steam deck is the shader cache I’ve got 50 mb left on my steam deck. 50 megabytes due to the shader crap.
@@oo--7714 my man, it’s just popping out the back plate & metal part. I even pull out the fan and replace thermal paste. It’s still surprising no one has replaced the RAM yet.
The ally has a slient mode too which is suitable for low-demanding games, and makes the and llyids completely slient. Wouldn't recommend this mode for high demanding games tho as the frame rates drop to about 15 for games like cyberpunk 2077
I see some people on the internet complaining about Windows on a handheld but I think having Windows on a handheld is amazing because you can do more than gaming like run Photoshop or any Adobe app, and edit videos, I tested it and you can even run Maya, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, finish your homework 😂 and more.
with these systems its safe to say PC gaming is becoming more accesible to the users than before, man I love to see those, I'll definitely be buying both after studies offcourse :D till them I'm going with my PSVITA.
Why cant you do that on the deck you mean? Just install windows and play whatever you want, i did that early 🙂. Dont get me wrong i love linux and have used it for a long time on my pc, but in the end win is moore bug free and a lot moore user friendly, and on the deck i have had 0 issues..you still get steam big picture mode on windows.
There was a recent update to Steam. They added Proton EasyAntiCheat. A lot of games that weren't playable online are now. It was developed between Epic and Valve. Some of the games are: 7 Days to Die, Albion, Halo MCC, New World, Battlefield 2042, Both Dragonball titles, Star Wars Squadrons Dying Light Bad Blood, Friday the 13th, Gears of War 5, Apex Legends, Predator Hunting Grounds, RUST, Vermintide II, SCUMM, Dead Before Daylight, Sniper Contracts, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Division 2, Warhammer Eternal Crusade, Watchdogs 2 and Smite to name a few.
@@nickgehr5853 my ally doesn’t have it but it’s a well know issue acknowledged by Asus as well. I put a 2tb SSD in my Ally because the sd reader is unreliable
The Steam Deck wins for me for the OS alone. Yes, Windows games are meant for Windows, but there is many problems with Windows that get even worse with handhelds. The bloat and borderline spyware makes Windows a terrible choice for a battery powered portable device. Compatibility be damned, the amount of effort being put into Linux to allow it to play games is seriously impressive, and some of the things being pulled off is borderline black magic. Linux also allows the Steam Deck to do a few neat things that a Windows system simply can't do, such as putting the system into sleep while a game is running and instantly waking and returning to it, and allows Valve to squeeze each and every bit of power and battery life through the deck. Windows doesn't allow this level of control. As of compatibility, right now it's not the fault of Linux itself, it's the AAA developers that completely refuse to support the platform for one dumb reason or another. It's been proven that it's literally down to enabling a setting in EAC or Battleye to support Proton. As of single-player and non-anticheat multiplayer games, we are getting very close to having full compatibility, and it gets better every day.
had the ally. eventually sold it and got the steam deck. My friend had the legion Go and he eventually did the same. The steam deck is by far much better than any of these handhelds. the fact that it has its own O.S and has games optimized for it just makes it so much better. Yes these other handhelds have some features that the Deck does not have. But in the grand scheme of things. When it comes to simply owning a handheld and playing games. The Deck is 10x better. IF and i say IF these other handhelds also came with Steam OS it would have made things better. But youre forced to deal with windows. and my lord, just try and use them you'll understand over time why having the steam OS is better. No one is buying a handheld to use as a computer. i dont need windows. Steam OS does everything i need it to and is perfectly optimized to give my games all the resources they need. The deck is a console that plays PC games lol. its just better
I’m really leaning towards the deck for its simple console experience and affordability, but there i things I’d like to do with a handheld computer that would just be shore to do on the deck like modding certain games that don’t have a steam workshop. I might pick up both if I have money to throw but I like the asus being more compact and familiar to use with windows
I think the Steam Deck slightly more user friendly, but I slightly prefer the Ally. The biggest problem with the Ally is Windows. Sometimes it randomly forgets I’m using the controller and defaults to the touch screen. In all these years it’s crazy that windows hasn’t built a completely new version of windows optimized for gaming machines only.
It's not quiet anymore lol. You have to mention the SD Card Failures. Its a hardware/design issue. Love mine - but people need to understand you may not be able to use your SD card (or have to RMA it).
is it worse now in turbo than the steamdeck? and in a 20w mode? what is noisier? and about the sd card failures... seem that will not fail if not feeded while used in turbo or using less performance... what do you think?
@@betomacias9515 They are pretty similar in noise in my opinion. The Ally can be quieter but I have my fans cranked up to run cooler and avoid thermal throttle. And to hopefully save the SD Drive since it died on my first one. Not currently using an SD card on my replacement unit.
@@julianp.2840 Thanks Julian! Have you used intensively in dock mode 30w for more than 30 minutes in the previous unit? I know that is not fair for us as they didnt mention those issues from the beginning but ok if we accept do you think that could be safe to use in 22 wats if configured and with these high fan profiles? thanks in advance i think i will buy but i feel worried with this matter
I own both. While I use my Ally way more than my Steam Deck, the Steam Deck is the better handheld console. I use my Ally more like an small Surface Pro that’s also great for gaming, while the Steam Deck is exclusively used for gaming. Both are among the best devices I’ve purchased in the past few years.
If only would exist a version of windows lighter and tailored for handheld.... Definetly the Ally is the best option hardware wise, but the software limitation are abit of a tradeoff.
I'm looking into getting my wife one of the two. She's not a hardcore gamer, and mainly plays Harvest Moon/Animal crossing style games. Chill, Cozy games and doesn't need much to be happy. I also like being able to dock both and be a "portable" desktop, but I'm unsure which I'll end up going with. Her current switch just doesn't have the same versatility when it comes to being able to play PC games, but she loves to be able to be on the chilling in bed on handheld, or on tv with me in the living room on my PC. lol.
@@samanthavalerin7558 Nothing yet since theres been so many other releases of handheld PC's lol. OLED Steam Deck coming soon too so good thing I didn't order anything!
The Steam Deck might not be as powerful, but I feel that it is better focused on the things that are important for handheld gaming. If all I needed was power, I have a desktop PC with an R9 7950X3D and an RTX 4090 in it, the Ally is still not cutting it in that regard and all it's "advantages" over the Deck are not worth what it sacrifices to get them.
Steam deck all the way! I have one coming in the mail along with the steam dock, going to buy a 20 000 power core and 512 sd. Also need to add windows to the steam deck so I can run warzone. Small prices to pay for a reliant user friendly device also steam has been around for a while and their customer service is unlike no other 🎉
This comparison review is REALLY helpful and informative. The reviewer REALLY knows what he's talking about and has put significant time and effort to test both devices, and it shows. Having said that, I'm REALLY leaning more into the Steamdeck
People complaining that it's "difficult" to install non-Steam games on the *Steam Deck* are really missing the point. Valve never advertised the Steam Deck as anything other than a portal to your Steam games, but they included the *option* to install non-Steam games if you don't mind jumping through hoops. Meanwhile Asus saddled the Ally with Windows 11 whether you want to use it or not. I don't think the complexity of installing something like Heroic Launcher should count against the Steam Deck since that's a "nice to have" and not the device's main function.
Im glad I went with the steamdeck, because in all honesty the rog ally isnt worth the higher pricetag, especially if Im running games on windows 11 which is full of bloatware and non-optional features I cant disable. Whereas with the steamdeck you have decky loader for any extra things it doesnt have out of the box, as well as a linux operating system which I find makes it easy to dualboot for anything that cant run natively on the deck.
Steam Deck is the easy pick. Price, buttons, and software experience of gaming. You talk about the no fan sound on Ally, but you don't show a video listening to it but you do for the steam deck. If you are going to compare then actually compare it.
The optimization of the Steam OS with the Deck is on a whole another level. Better hardware and a little better display is not enough to take down the SD as the king of handhelds. Not to mention the future support of all these other handhelds is gonna drop really really fast compared to the SD.
Hasn't the technically inferior system usually won their gen? NES over SMS, PS1 over N64, PS2, Wii, Game Boy, DS, and 3DS. So more power doesn't matter.
Im not really into handheld pc gaming as i prefer play my consoles games on playstation and switch i have. If i had to choose between the two i might lean towards the steamdeck as i have few friends who have it and is bit user friendly much like a console.
You guys can you help so I originally bought a steam deck but I got to the middle of the process of modding it to add windows but it became too hard and eventually worked but I couldn’t switch between steam and windows and all the games where running slow . Is it easier to play and set up on this or the steam deck ???and should I buy this one ?
yes but it wont be able to run anything new because of what's inside of it. I think its got a year at most before it cant play AA or AAA games anymore. apparently remnant from the ashes 2 an AA game runs like garbage on it. def no starfield and who knows about phantom liberty. I have the deck. Love it but might be switching over
I agree somewhat. I believe this is more of an entry point for console gamers. I've never owned a PC I love the portability of this, I look at these as ps4 pro's. you shouldn't need a $1500 gaming pc to play more serious gaming. it's ridiculous and childish and tbh makes me think you're bad with money if you own a computer that costs that much that also isn't meant for work or a business lol @@murder00redrum
If you want a pure windows-like experience, I think the ASUS Rog might be your best option if you are relying it to be more of a PC. Plug up to dock, do work, then game. It should work well there. But if gaming is the immediate go to, just stick with the Deck due to budgetary reasons. Steam Sales aplenty with so many Verified titles from this year to 2 decades ago, along with third party (or first party if you desire) peripherals made for the Deck. But! It's great to have options, and that's what makes PC gaming great in the first place.
What’s the difference between just using the steam launcher or whatever on the asus ally? Keep in mind I know very little about steam and never used it or gamed on pc
Battery life is always a easy fix and that is a proper battery pack that supports high recharge yes it’s a extra charge but great to have with any device
I use both everyday, I feel it’s getting similar. Ally can use Steam’s suspended function too. So not too big a difference here if you only play steam games. But steam deck is overall much more streamlined since the steam OS is designed for it.
For me... 120hz on a handheld makes no f** sense. The battery will drain faster, and if you switch to 60hz... You lose precision with the mouse. At least in my case. Yes I would like to see old deck with 1200x800, but! The seam deck screen is actually not bad at all. It can improve it with vivid option on deck tools, or vibrant deck Linux. No complaints here. I really dislike Asus on their mind in this ralm...
I have motion parsing issues. 120hz is the the bare minimum for many games to even be remotely playable by me. Its the Ally's biggest feature as far as Im concerned. That, and that alone is why I just bought it over the steam deck.
Held one at bestbuy, sticks felt better than expected, back humps were not. Like a switch with an attempt at grips that aren’t very comfy, small, and don’t seem to sit strategically. Almost would have been better to not have them.
Ally for me. Better performance is #1 for PC gaming as the Deck is already showing struggles to play new games, if at all. Full Windows and eGPU for future proofing were also important to me. Plus, you can run Steam in Big Picture which is basically Steam Deck software so best of both worlds. Deck wins in battery life and price for sure tho, but has too many compromises otherwise for me.
Take your PC away from you for being too loud? Why does she do that? My wife doesn't do that. She might complain but she wouldn't do anything like that.
Both devices have cheaper out on the most important thing storage and display 120hz display is not that wow , and it's there you have your battery drain, no qled display no 450hz technology imagine those devices are intended for games and realty os that games are huge in size for windows a decent drive would be at least 2 tb realty 512 gb sorry but that standard has been 10 years ago
Tried the Ally at a store. It feels incredibly cheap imo, also not digging the lack of color choices with only option being white (the one at the store was already discolored).
I don't feel confident enough to own an Ally as I don't think asus is going to support it in the long term. I think they will just drop it for new and improved.
Does the ROG Ally come in black? And how does movie and TV watching and anime streaming do well on it? Can I play Kingdom Hearts on it and Fallout 4 with mods? and Skyrim Special Edition too? And does the ROG have Bluetooth support for Bluetooth headphones? Thanks. Especially if your watching TV or playing online games or shooters etc.
The deciding factor depends on this one question, i have palworld on gamepass and i want to transfer my saved data onto steam, can i do that on both handheld pc? Also which one runs better with no risk of palworld crashing? That is all i need to know to decide
I have onexplayer 2, I prefer the big screen. I get eye strain playing on the little screens for hours. I have the Rog Ally for my son and it has bad battery life and the screen is very small. But games run amazingly on it.
