Steam Deck vs ROG Ally - 3 Months Later. 

i was just randomly fantasizing about getting the rog and searched for a recent review to see if the state of the device is better than it was at release , found you and i must say the production quality of this video is insane , like its actually linus tech level . its like i like everything about this video , the transitions , review format , sound/video quality , scripting , your well kept glistening hands , overall demeaner/disposition . its giving expertise top tier 2 mil subscriber entire production team , thank you for convincing me i need the rog .

I personally prefer my Steam Deck to my ROG Ally, I just gravitate towards picking up the deck for some reason, playing FPS on the trackpads is a FAR better experience than the ROG's thumbsticks, super excited for the Legion GO! *Update - Got the Legion GO & sold the ally and SD, love it!*

I think the Steam Deck has aged so well compared to Windows handhelds. The fact that Valve only seems to be updating it every few years shows that they're willing to stand by their hardware, not to mention their commitment to Linux as a platform. The fact that Valve has the ability to sell the base Steam Deck configuration at a loss because they own Steam and make the money back on game commissions. These other Windows handheld OEMs will probably abandon their hardware a year or two after the next model is released, becuase they make their money on hardware sales.

I bought a 2nd hand 64BG +512SD Steam Deck for a very cheap price and really couldn't be happier 😊 Especially after updating to Steam OS 3.5.1 Preview channel. It was on Stable release 3.4.11 and it was constantly freezing but after updating (after couple of attempt) it's like a completely different device. The display backlight bleed is gone as well. 🌟 A word of advice, go to your steam deck Settings --> System then scroll all the way down. And Turn off updated fan control. Your fan will run faster and Keep steam deck Cooler.

Few additions to the video: 1. Apart from better quality controllers with option to replace sticks to hall-effect sticks, there is also a built-in functionality to use community managed controller mappings or official controller mappings provided by game developers. This makes a huge difference in setting up controller for specific games. 2. Speaking about repairability we also should consider how much of the custom details you can get for your device and this is where SteamDeck is above anything else on the market. You can upgrade controllers, buttons, screen, backplate or even entire case choosing from not one but dozens different brands and suppliers. It also important to add still ongoing issue with microSD port on Ally. 3. For me the biggest difference between Windows and SteamOS - is that you don't need a touchscreen with SteamOS while on Ally you will be using touchscreen much more than you'd think. It also worth mentioning that the new SteamOS 3.5 (currently beta) is improving display colours and adding more screen settings while also boosting performance with the updated linux kernel 6.1

Have both, and I prefer the Ally. At the begging I was skeptical of windows 11 on a handheld but as a pc gamer I prefer windows OS by far. Is way easier to play all my library from different game apps. Steam OS is really a chore for playing non steam games. I love my Steam Deck but I will be using it for indie, retro and emulator games. My Ally is for more newer games.

Wow excellent sharp footage of the two devices being played, showing the difference in screen size and quality, buttons, interface etc - this is exactly what I was looking for THANK YOU, SPECTER!

Your content is always such high quality that I don’t understand how you don’t have millions of subscribers and a whole studio dedicated to your brand. Amazing work as always!

An excellent presentation, very even-handed. Good work young fella, happy new year to you.

The biggest turn off is where the ally placed the SD card reader. I mean who thought it was a good idea to stick it next to an exhaust port?

I think it’s just getting clearer that they went about accommodating completely different consumers here. If you want a hassle free psp like experience with limited performance buy the SD. If you want a portable gaming focused pc and don’t mind messing with windows and a better screen get the Ally

This is why I chose Steam Deck. The devices are similar, with different strengths, and overall pretty equal, but the Steam Deck is cheaper and it comes with a case. I saw the discounted Deck prices and it was the end of the debate.

Love your content. Hope your channel grows as the handhelds hopefully will do! Keep up the good work

Hot video quality. Hot RU-vidr. Hot electronics. What a place to be. Keep up the good work my dude. Get you a patreon going I will sign up day one!

I can’t believe you gave repairability to Asus! So just how easy is it to buy OG spares for the Rog Ally?

Good review, imma pick up my Ally tomorrow, hyped.

agreed with everything you said except the Repairability part. Third party ASUS part sites is nowhere NEAR a draw vs First party ifixit collab from Steam , Steam also has a far better customer support so if your unit is defective they can RMA it for you fast. where as ASUS is known to be a scumbag company that hates its customers and will void your warranty as much as if you use a beta BIOS on their hardware. (its documented here on RU-vid by Gamers Nexus and JaysTwoCentz) so i'd say in that regard Steam Deck takes the W completely. also i wished you talked about the community part as well because Steam Deck's community is insane. a lot of people got some game modding (like 7th Heaven Mod Manager for original Final Fantasy 7) working on Linux/SteamDeck just fine and they continue to tinker

Is this the z1 extreme or non extreme?

I just discovered your channel, you give off such “what if Peter Parker was a professional tech reviewer vibes” and I’m so down for it!

Community wise: Steam Deck Steam Deck oled is also a great upgrade.

what would you recommend for someone like me who wants to play world of warcraft vanilla classic?

The prices of new gaming PC's are still a grand for just an ok gaming pc/laptop and have not come down in price even a little even after 30 years+ of PC gaming development. That's why handhelds are going to be in because it's what the majority can afford.

Great video and editing man! And lighting! Do you do it all yourself? What camera are you using here for the talking head if you don’t mind

Very nice video, informative and smooth!

It’s a real shame that Valve’s not bothering to offer the Steam Deck in Australia, unlike Asus with the ROG Ally. Not worth the gamble to buy from overseas with this one. Great video on comparing the 2 devices though.

Didn't even mention which Ally variant this is: Z1 extreme of Z1 non-extreme.

I feel like the problem with the ally (except having a screen that eats half the battery) is that it uses windows

About 15 minutes ago is when I embarked on my journey to researching which handheld device I actually need. 15 minutes later and this video saved me from having to any more research for the rest of the day. Good video, well done.

What game is being played at 1:31? Just before the Display review.

Really really good video, a huge well done Sir 👏

The ally needs life support to reach potential. So if you're in the go the deck is the must have. I played diablo 4 on my ally with these config (720p, 15w, 50% brightness, 50% volume, capped to 45 fps) and i only got an hour and 15 mins. I dont have a reason to plug it coz when that happens i'm home with my 4090 rig. I dont have the deck yet but as per reviews looks like ill go down that route. The ally might be for people who wants to always have a power bank with them and those who dont have pc

The fact u dont have more subscribers is a sin

I have both of them I can’t say the Rog Ally is better then the Steam Deck I got the Rog Ally to play game pass since the Steam Deck couldn’t play game pass games

Is it okay if you also compare Lenovo Legion Go as well on your next video? Because I am currently stuck which one to get. My problem is, I have a very limited space now at home. Renting a room, and move places from time to time. So I minimalize myself from having a mITX gaming PC build because as soon as my landlord sees I bring along a display, a desktop PC. I will get charge for more towards electricity usage, I need help with choosing Steam Desk, Asus ROG Ally or Lenovo Legion Go now. Will get XREAL AR glasses to pair with it.

You should have added price as a tiebreaker. Steam Deck would've won any day because the base 64GB model is a huge deal for that price.

Can you somehow play PlayStation games on one of these?

If you have a big Steam collection, than Steam Deck is a no Brainerd. If you have Gamepass + Battlenet + EA PLAY, than Ally (or other Windows handheld ) will be a better choice.

Can you play starfield & dock the ally or steam deck via hdmi/usb C to a TV without any setbacks? Saw you had it on your homescreen. Thanks

I ended up with both. Ally was needed for the games I play the most (destiny/diablo ..workarounds annoyed me on deck) plus i like the lighter footprint. Both are used but ally used more these days.

From my point of view, Steam Deck could be identified as the best Handheld at the moment, based on Price/Performance. I had a 64gb SD, upgraded to 512gb, and it's amazing. You can not request a Handheld to go 300 FPS, max setting AAA games, whole day battery, and an amazing 240Hz display. However, you have got a device allowing you to play a triple A game on 45FPS, low setting, for 2/3 hours, or idle game, 60 FPS, for 5/6 hours, when you travel far from your PC or can not carry Laptop. It's really good device if you use it as Handheld gaming, not a high end PC. Moreover, I can confirm that SD display is very niche (reality/spec data), not bad at all compared to G24F or ProArt 24 monitors. Lastly, SD does not burn your micro SD card like Ally one.

I mean...Rog ally is £340 more so of course its going to be a bit better. I go for price on handhelds. I'm not spending over £400 on a handheld

This is the non-extreme version of the Ally?

Does any of these support "Charge & Terminate" like "Lenovo Go" and Switch? When 100% is charged, they act as PSU instead to no ruin the battery. Lenovo Go is suitable as Desktop PC for this reason.

Very good video. Very different devices, both are great

Next comparison with Steamdeck Oled ?!😮

I love my ally. I use it docked to my 65” or right next to me and it works great with a Xbox elite 2 so I don’t have to worry about “ holding it “

Microsoft is apparently planning on making their own console-like shell for Windows, but I wonder if it's going to be to late compared to all of the work gone into SteamOS and their existing userbase. As a desktop linux user I can only hope one day we really have the full software compatibility dream one day. But really I know Microsoft's stranglehold on the PC desktop is not going away any time soon. Who would want to develop for linux users? We're a bunch of pirates.

Good stuffs. Yes, global availability for the Steam Deck is not great at the moment. Meanwhile, I can already find tech stores in my area that already has the ROG Ally. It’s an easy choice for me, I won’t buy a device that I literally cant buy, it’s as simple as that (at least, for now).

What is better for Long battery life gaming on 60hz and fHD? I Can get asus or Steam Deck for 400 €

What game was the one you were fighting people in the bathroom?

What is the name of that game shown at 1:31 of the video?

What's that powerbank thing you have at the back of the SteamDeck?

Nice video, I'd like either one of those consoles, for that 300watt fast charger, how long does it take to charge either one of them from 0%to 100%?

i love the white look it’s so clean. I’m sick of black handhelds

Is the micro sd card reader still overheating and causing permanent damage?

I love the fact that you did a comparison, but you couldn’t even pick one

What game is being played at 1:33?

Should where I have my games affect my choice? I have games on steam, but also own xbox pass (some on epic games launcher), and would need to have the ability to play from those sources offline (cloud gaming would be useless for me). It's also really important for me to be able to emulate games from the 3ds, for example, so whatever facilitates that is prime, too.

Thanks for the vid man!

What kind of charger is that? 3:37 mark

couldnt get steam deck but then got rog ally on sale and i will want steam deck 2 but love the ally. and kids happy as i ignore the switch now

I'm on the fence either steamdeck oled or rog ally. Can you guys help me decide pls 😂

I’m still not convinced I need to upgrade from my Nomad.

What’s the game at 1:35 ?

Can someone tell me what game was being played at the 1:33 min mark???

I just recently purchased both of those

Lol I swapped to linux a month after I got my steam deck and it's been over a year

Can someone tell me what that game at 1:30 is? The top down fighter / shooter

game at 1:33?

I don't agree about the software, just because it's windows you can do much more, play more type of games from various other stores that not only steam and for me that's a game changer. It can be console and a PC and play all games just for less than $800,-. And you don't need high and gaming PC to play all your games.

I keep looking for alternatives to the Steam Deck but the support and game library and controls still makes me come back to wanting a Steam Deck. The only issue I have is the screen. I have an original Switch with huge bezels and don't wanna be stuck with that again.

I have both and i prefer the SD just for the ease of use. Ill probably resell my rog ally

What game are you playing at 1:30

Amazingly made video!

Thinking of selling my deck and get ally. I preferred windows overall. Yes i like to thinker, but not software. And spending way too long to make deck able to run non steam games on LINUX is just a chore. And second thing is, yes i agree deck has better spare parts support and repairs, all of those is meaningless if ifixit always out of stock ( i need new screen ) and you live in 3rd world country which ALLY available all over th place and nobody selling deck. (I had to buy UK variant deck and ship which cost even more). What worries me now is the inability to sell it because everyone here wanted to sell their deck and get ally or legion go lol

What is the game on the steam deck at 1:57?

Almost full score on battery life for the Ally?😂 is this a joke?

Such a nice intro

What I’m not clear on is for the Asus..can you only stream Xbox games via the cloud? Or can i actually download games to the Asus.

1:32 what game is this I need to know it looks so fun

The Ally (Z1 extreme) where I'm from is significantly cheaper than even the cheapest variant of the Deck so unfortunately, the deck is not picking up steam here...pardon the pun😂

Does anybody know what the game is at 1:29-1:31?

Nice Charger ad

for me windows is a deal breaker, Im not some anti Windows Linux jackass, but on a handheld Windows just feels awful where as steamOS feels made for gaming, the ROG ally, having windows, feels like it was made as a laptop, not a gaming device, the steam deck feels like a gaming console, it IS a gaming console, thats where I think it differs, the steam deck is a gaming console with some PC use cases, the ally is a laptop crammed into a controller with a screen attached

Is the deck's screen is abysmal, linux is unintuitive and finnicky, and both are also true of the touchpads. SteamOS UI is at times slow and unresponsive (the steam/peformance buttons rarely work on first press) and the constant shader downloads are killer if you have slow internet. The Deck wins in price which is obviously a huge win. If price isn't a consideration, Ally wins every time.

Windows 11 is the one thing that puts me off. Why did they drop tablet mode from windows is beyond me

Ive owned both and i have went back to the SD everytime. The software the Ally is just annoying every time I turn it on to get into palying its got some update. SD only updates are games. Ya not being able to play some of my epic games EA is a small price to pay for the software being better. I fell like the Ally is just a smaller gamming PC which i know tech it is but its annoying again to always have updates. That is really the only selling point to me. I played Ally at 900p 15w everytime and the battery still sucks more on the ally.

Had my eyes on the steam deck but found a non extreme rog ally for $200 couldn’t pass it up

my steam deck was so broken at launch but now its great!

I would have picked the Ally over the Steam Deck but I'm on budget 😢😢

not having vrr is a deal breaker for me at these frame rates

But can it run crisis 🤔

Put Steam Os on the ROG Ally and then re compare

I have a steam deck but rog ally plays steam games better than the deck

I think the Oled SD clearly wins in every single category now, making the ROG ally obsolete, lmfao

Sorry dude but this video seems very very lazy, especially in performance section. let me explain How do you think thoose devices age over time according to big titles, any aaa games did started to give bad performances, which devices optimization is better etc etc İ mean yes spesker and display quality is important but do they really as important as performance? What will i do with amazing speakers if i can not run a game next 2 years? İn overall i am between ally and steamdeck and this video does not help. Normally i like your content but sorry this aint it chief.

Steam Deck OLED!

ROG is winner as it has more games. Hardware is awesome and whatever runs on Windows runs on Rog, Steam Deck is a Linux box that still lacks any Xbox or other Windows games.

If only I could play Genshin Impact on a Steam Deck without getting banned or jumping through too many hoops. The decision would be so much easier.

ROG Ally for the win!