Should I Buy Steam Deck OLED... Or Wait For Next-Gen ROG Ally?
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
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Im waiting for the Steam CRT.
Lol
Yep, OLED Deck made me fall in love with the Deck again after my LCD was collecting dust.
He’s right; it somehow unlocks the Deck potential.
Meanwhile here I am waiting for the next-gen Steam Deck
Enjoy your 3 year wait.
You'll be waiting a while. Might as well get an OLED in the meantime.
It's not $600 lol, you can get one for $300 and enjoy it for two years at less than 50cents/day.
Oled steam decks greatest use though is streaming your home PC. Using my PC remotely is NUTS, there's maybe 3-4ms of latency and for 90hz that is literally unnoticeable and clear
@@halo2bounceguymay as well use a Sony Portal 😂
@@halo2bounceguy the oled isn't 300 dollars, it is like $549 dollars before tax, so practically $600.
Even then the ebay resellers are so stingy, you can get a better deal with the rog ally than the steam deck oled on ebay in the UK. On ebay USA it looks like all of the resellers are selling them for almost the same price as msrp.
The Steam Deck OLED is one of my best purchases since a while.
Here in South Africa, the original Steam Deck (Unless you get the 64gb version) is significantly more expensive than than the ROG Ally (Roughly R4000 more which is more than $200 USD). I think it has something to do with import tax since Valve doesn't actually sell it here so local retailers buy it with the import tax and then they do a mark up for profit.
I would LOVE to see DF do a video on the ROG Ally with Steam OS. I know it is possible but dont know how good it will be in practice. The Steam Deck makes sense if you stay in countries like America but in countries like South Africa, prices do not directly translate. I got my Palit 4070 Super for the same price as the 7800 XT.
If prices translated 1:1 then I might have strongly considered the 7800 XT.
or travel to US (perhaps UK as well??) and ship to your friend house or something and pick it up
@@pencilcheck not everyone can just fly to another country just to buy something nor does everyone have friends that stay in other countries. If it was always that simple then most of us in this country wouldn't complain about the multitude of things that don't launch here or the things that get sold here with really high prices.
@@mercury4587 yea, I understand, just saying in case that is an option. since I know a ton of people who does that and even have facebook groups for it.
Got my rog ally for R13k in the last weeks of December and I've been rocking windows since then but I tried out ChimeraOS (like steamOS) late last month so I'll give you my thoughts. It's a fantastic Daily Driver (as long as you make sure to install the simpledeckytdp plugin).
Almost everything just works straight out of the box. Battery life is the same, if not better than windows. Same with game performance. The suspend/quick resume feature is absolutely amazing and just ties the whole console like experience together.
I only switched back to windows for 2 things that might not mean a lot to alot of people.
1. I play valorant/cod from time to time and their respective anti cheats don't work with Linux.
2. I use GeForce Now a lot. Yeah you can use it on linux through a web browser but it's limited to 60fps whereas on windows with the native app, i can do 1440p120.
Aside from these specific use cases, ChimeraOS is something I'd highly recommend if you end up getting a Rog ally. It truly is amazing
@@pencilcheck Yeah they should spend $850 flying to the US so they can save $200
Windows issues aside, I have doubts that the next iteration of the Rog Ally or other handheld PCs will be efficient enough to improve performance in a significant way, the Steam Deck already outperforms the windows handhelds at lower wattages and for the other handhelds to have a significant lead they have to crank up the wattage so much that battery life and heat output goes to hell.
The only way I can see a big improvement from a next gen handheld is via another custom SoC that's tuned for efficiency like Valve's Aerith was. The high core count and clocks on the current off-the-shelf SoCs are excessive and do nothing but limit wattage for the GPU and destroy battery life.
Yes, mobile chips simply aren't powerful enough yet. Maybe in another 3-5 years. Although teraflops are increasingly poor at measuring performance they can give a decent estimation. Right now in 2024, the best mobile chips are like 2-3 tflops and perform similarly to a base PS4. Yet in comparison, average gamer desktops are like 10tflops or more, so roughly on par with a PS5 or better. It's a world of difference between mobile and gpu, but now chips have a lot more than CPU cores. Apple A16 has six CPU cores, 5 GPU cores, and 16-core Neural Engine. so measuring performance is more difficult
With current drivers ROG Ally is already 50% faster than it was in June 2023. It will be even faster with new AMD drivers that will support frame generation in every game and DX12 Work Graphs. New Work Graphs will be biggest change on Windows handhelds because it was designed to lower CPU usage. This is very important on handhelds where you have 15 watt of energy divided between CPU and GPU. With DX12 Work Graphs CPU usage will be lower and handheld will use higher GPU frequency
I expect that DX12 Work Graphs will be huge game changer on handhelds
@@EhurtAfy Teraflops are still a good metric on same architecture, also teraflops are upper bound, your gpu won't ever be faster than its rated TFLOPs, but it will definately be slower, but how much slower? depends upon how good the architecture is i.e how much scheduler and memory bandwidth/cache can keep GPU busy all the time.
what shit are u talking about? Steam Deck is slower at less watts. just watch the benchmarks with newer driver for LegionGo or Ally. Iam Steam Deck User for 1 year and my New Handhelds is the Legion Go, it outperfomance the Deck in EVERY FU CKING CATEGORY, much better handheld and the screeen is just AMAZING. we just need a Windows Update for better Handheld UI, thats it. i dont want a handheld only with Steam anymore. i want my whole libary and thats also EA PLAY UBISOFT GOG OR EPIC. Steam Deck is just for STEAM and the games are not running native, the most games are running with proton (Emu),,,,,,,,blind deck fanboys
@@germanturkish1664show me these 10 tdp benchmarks where deck lose ?
Having used and owned both a Steam Deck and the ROG Ally, the issues with the Windows interface are being wayyyyy overblown. The Ally is worth it to me because of
1. PC Game Pass
and
2. No compatibility issues.
SteamOS is good, but I would still come across the occasional game that would crash under their compatibility layer vs. just working on the Ally, because it runs Windows.
Steam deck is the only handheld we have period
On the flip side the Steam Deck actually has better compatibility for older Windows/DOS games than Windows 11 itself.
A true old school PC gamer doesn't care about Game Pass, because it's the same sh it that MS tried to put into the PC gaming world when they wanted to make online play paid, because on console they got it.
@@shto4782misinformation
Agreed. I found the ROG to be much better than my previous steam deck.
I don't use gamepass, just steam, GOG and ubi.
Easier to run emulators.
Stream games from PlayStation, pc
it can play all games.
1080p display
RDNA 3
ZEN 4
Dolby Atmos
More power options
Better customizable control options
So overblown how much time people spend in OS? The only thing good about oled steam deck is just the oled screen and battery life. Just customize the two joysticks to mouse mode and you can navigate windows like a champ WITHOUT the trackpad.
it's not just the about navigating UI, it's the overall windows jank of pop ups, how things set up, not being able to instant suspend your games and just pick up (like how you can on a phone or tablet). I dont even really have to explain the windows jank for you to know what i'm talking about. I even don't like using desktop mode on steamOS but i love that it's there for tinkering when I need to, I would hate to have that be my sole UI to use as you would with windows because it always feels like you're using something that is haphazardly put together to work via brute force rather than being a polished optimized experience
Add another voice to the ROG Ally pile.
The OLED Deck is an amazing piece of tech, but with EGS games, GOG games, Game Pass games, I use my Ally orders of magnitude more often.
Running Windows on a handheld is fine. I have had zero problems with it, honestly, and it's literally just a computer, so you can install any Windows software on it.
Only thing deck needs is more games supporting larger interface and text scaling. Some games it's so hard to read the small text
I bought the Steam Deck OLED and loved it so much that it got me to buy the ROG Ally, since I was just too curious to see if it was better. I actually think the ROG Ally is an amazing device, but in the end I decided to return it because I feel that the Steam Deck OLED is simply the more balanced device. I have to agree with John's take here.
I will further explain my thinking. The ROG Ally's greater performance simply didn't matter to me as much as I might have hoped. The issue is that for the few games where I don't feel that the Steam Deck is giving me a satisfying experience I usually want to play those games on my desktop PC anyway. And the ROG Ally isn't great for those games either. The difference in the real world just isn't that massive.
I don't play many multiplayer games these days, but when I do I prefer to play on a powerful desktop PC with a high end controller to give myself the optimal odds.
So, in practice, there just wasn't that much that the Ally did better that I wouldn't rather be handled by my desktop.
A powerful desktop PC at home and a Steam Deck for away from home (or around the house) feels like the perfect setup for me.
I prefer the steam deck due to the increased battery life and higher comfort. I also really like both of the trackpads
I prefer the battery life and user experience on the deck tbh
@@cyberedge881
For around the house?
Isn't Switch then the best option?
The OLED version perhaps?
@@GameslordXY The Switch is ancient hardware now. Maybe the Switch 2 soon but still it can’t not even do half of the things the SD can. Access to a Steam library that will work on the next Steamdeck/PC while the Switch 2 will not not have bc so you can buy everything again. Steam has much better sales, can stream from my PC, Xbox series X, PS5 and Xcloud(gamepass) and free emulation. My Switch is done and dusted since I bought the SD at release and that thing will never leave my house 😅
I have the ally and I think it’s great. Good enough to hold me over til the 3rd variant or something. Btw the UI is not a problem in the slightest. Windows with debloat. I’ve always had pc/windows tho
Have you tried SteamOS on a handheld though? I've used both and the difference is huge.
@@gotenks157Yes and for my games they don’t launch either due to proton incompatibility, Anti cheat denial, or they’re on Gamepass which happens to be a significant amount of my library.
A lot of us want to just pack up our Gaming windows machines into a tiny powerful package. We are not in the market for a new console that comes ofcourse with its pros like Xbox and PS5 do, but also its own cons specifically unique to it.
For others, there’s a market for it though, especially its many peoples first entry into “PC gamin”
We know steam os is coming desktop pc and other devices. We just don’t know when. Valve said it will be coming. We just wish we knew when.
It's available already, just opt for Bazzite or any other optimised bistro with SteamOS frontend.
@@deckverse
I want official one from Valve. Not like haloiso. Last time tried haloISO it was very buggy. specially on my GTX 1080ti. Game mode would constantly crash. And just trying reboot desktop mode was pain in the butt.
@@SireDragonChester Honestly, Nvidia in Linux is always hit or miss. it works sure, but its always got some kind of issue. I have a 4090 and have tried Linux on this machine a few times and I always get some kind of video issue.
porting anticheat to only Valve Steam OS will be great too to solve many config problem of Linux, hope valve provide some anticheat framework for Steam Deck/OS
@@BeyondImaginationzz maybe not steamos but to the steam deck specifically. Otherwise you would still have the issue of it being Linux on endless amounts of hardware configurations.
No idea if you'll see this, but I cant help but remember that when I had my old psp, you could play certain games by removing and replacing the UMD when loading a a level and then continue playing with the UMD removed. I did this on battlefront 2 when I had one copy to play adhoc multiplayer with my brother. Any explanations on how this worked on a really underpowered handheld?
The game loads the data from the level into RAM, and won’t check if a disc is present till it needs to load more data. This lets you put the disc in and load it to ram on multiple systems, and since it never realises you removed the disc, it thinks you have two copies.
I get recently broken Steam Deck LCD 512GB model total cost with spare screen cost me $235 I managed repair myself :)
That's a steal man.
Good on you!
Ma man!
Great deal
Nice
Bought an LCD deck a month before the OLED dropped 🥲. They’re not officially sold in my country so I had to wait for some to pop up on the used market. I would love to upgrade but at this point might as well wait for deck 2
You’ll be waiting years for the next Deck.
Quick suspend and quick resume are HUGE. Unless Microsoft implements those features into Windows, I won't ever even consider a Windows handheld.
I think Johns not quite right. I owned a Steam Deck. Now I own a ROG Ally. I get, that the Deck has a more console like feeling and that it works great on good supported titles. But the ROG Ally is so much more flexible. Yes, Windows 11 is a bit more clunky than SteamOS of course, but nowhere near that I might have stopped having fun with it or that something did not work.
The power of the ROG is unmatched. The only gripe I have is the battery life, allthough I play plugged in most of the time.
Unmatched power? If you have to play cyberpunk at 720p with low settings to achieve above 60fps I don’t think power is a great argument. If the device has to remained plugged in to fully enjoy you’re better off getting a 14” gaming laptop with a dedicated gpu and a Xbox controller. It would be a far greater benefit than anything the Ally can offer.
I found that I've had to do more tinkering on my Steam Deck to get my favorite games (Call of Duty, WWE 2K) to run than I've ever had on my Ally. Haven't had to do any tinkering on my Ally actually.
Yeah. It depends on the games you want to play. For me, the first 2 games i installed on a friends steamdeck, to try it, before I buy it, did just not work when I wanted to start them. (One game was even on steam, but not listed as supported). Got a ROG ally, and it works flawless... first time set up takes a while though.
Also, the Steam Deck is a TRUE handheld with a custom APU designed and optimized for peak gaming performance at 3-10W TDP. All other handheld PCs use off-the-shelf laptop APUs with massively performant CPUs that perform the best at around ~15-25W. This has a MASSIVE implication on battery life. Heck, when running the Steam Deck at 10W, it outperforms the competition. And looking at the original Steam Deck (the only device I have experience with) 10W will give you about 2.5h) If you get into the 20W territory it's more of a modern Game Gear that always need to be plugged in. When running fixed scenarios like gamecube emulation, the Steam Deck will yield almost 2x the battery life of a ROG Ally, and with the OLED, that gap widens with another 20-30%...
There are niche use cases for other handhelds (like high-end emulation, and external GPU setups). But for the best handheld companion device, nothing can beat the Steam Deck right now.
Also the ally will probably just get better bigger battery and an Sd card that works. I don't expect a massive improvement unless they ad a 60+ watt hour battery. They will probably add a 50 watt one, hopefully they add a 65 watt hour battery.
Steam deck is too limited for me, tried one but ultimately ended up going with a rog ally as it does everything my desktop does & it has vrr.
Straight to the point. Steam OS is the killer feature.
Yeah but you can't play every game. Some games can't be played online either.
Eventually you can install Steam OS on anything though
@@justswitched8841every game 😂 why do we need to play every game? Have you seen how many there are on Steam?!
@@justswitched8841 I'd rather have Steam OS and be able to play 99.9% of games (my experience over 1.5 years) vs have Windows and have a drastically inferior experience 100% of the time, but being able to run that 0.1% of games that won't run on Steam.
@@justswitched8841 nor can you play every game on Windows 11. It's a moot point.
Steam is an amazing product.
The Rog though can:
-Have full windows compatibility
- Xbox Game Pass
- Lossless Scaling frame gen (huge for handheld)
yep sold my SD to get the ROG Lossless Scaling ,frame gen game changer
@@AndyBarber1981 it's honestly incredible. Even with its artifacting it's a worthy sacrifice for mobile performance.
Gamepass works on streaming too via dual booting
Never thought I'd hear John say "Ah, yeah, that's tight!" 😂
LOL experience.. I couldnt possibly care less. I already game on Windows and the Ally has a touchscreen which works surprisingly great for dealing with Windows. I cant play my back catalog on the Steam Deck.
So many of yall act like windows is so damn hard to navigate 😂 jesus i dont get it
Windows randomly wakes up from sleep and when in sleep the battery drains fast because windows doesn't have a proper sleep mode. From a gaming standpoint windows sucks. I had an aya neo and it kept turning on in the case and over heating. Only way to stop it was to completely shut it down. Windows has much more issues than just navigation. I switched to the deck from a more powerful device because it was to unreliable. That's from my experience anyway
While I absolutely adore the Deck, the fact that Game Pass alone works on the ROG Ally makes that device leagues ahead of the Steam Deck.
Its DF mate, they are always anti Microsoft. I bought both, the Deck non OLED and the Legion Go (new) and the Legion Go is just the better Handheld in every way. of course windows need a better UI for Handhelds but its no problem to navigate and lenovo is updating his own GUI for better experience.dont for get, with windows handhelds u get all launcher not only steam, u get the whole packet.....
@@fachasaurus Exactly this. Game Pass capability keeps my ROG Ally my main handheld.
@@bribair1278I’ve gotten around this with hibernate. Takes longer to startup but it’s been properly resuming my games and there’s no random wake issues.
I can’t believe Digital Foundry talk bad on the Ally. While windows isn’t the best for handhelds it’s not impossible to work and play games. The Windows hate is overblown.
I have both and love my Steam Deck. While SD is console like experience it’s only with your steam library.
There’s also more performance on the Ally that makes a difference in a lot of games like NFS Unbound. At the cost of battery but no one is forcing you to go beyond 15watts. It’s great to have the option.
everything I can on the Ally I can do on the SD. And vice versa except for incompatible Linux games.
Also no one talks about less down time with the Ally charging a lot faster.
There’s a 100% bias here.
Also while Ally had growing pains it’s improved a lot. SD also had growing issues too.
Rog ally is awesome ... Steam deck is a no for newer games
I used the steamdeck and the ROG ally... for me, the ROG ally is the 10 times better handheld. But the steamdeck is the easier to use handheld. As soon as you want to mod your games, play non-steam games or want to use programs which are only on windows, the steamdeck gives you issues. I was not able to play games like Omikron: the nomad soul, using my usb-dvd drive to play black & white 2 for example did not work for me either. But the first set-up for the ROG ally takes longer and is more complicated then for the steamdeck. It's like iPhone vs Samsung Galaxy.
lol not being able to play half the games you want to play... is also bad. If you want Steam, use big picture mode. You can even replace it as the shell... if you want. I own both and don't agree with any of this, at all. I'm putting my SDOled up for sale. Whoever @Dark1x is doesn't appear to have used the Ally much, or doesn't understand how the features work. You can pause and resume on Ally - use Hibernate, not sleep. SD will lose it's battery if you "sleep" it for multiple days. I can hook the Ally up to a TV with an XGMobile and it's faster than my PS5. Once AFMF comes out, it's going to be even further ahead in smoothness. SDOled does get an extra hr of battery in my tests.
If you want an appliance, get a switch. You're going to have to tweak either. SD requires side loading and tweaking for things like battery protection, streaming, basically anything other than Steam. So you should have some knowledge of how to get around PC's.
A frame generation update would be nice.
i prefer rog ally over steamdeck oled. no issue with battery life. more performance more power also vrr are game changer than vivid display.
How long does a person need to interact with the OS?
I buy my device to play games, not fiddle with Windows or Linux (SteamOS).
Exactly. Click game and play it
Yeah im the same way. I have enough issues with windows on my laptop i can only imagine it on a hand held. I didnt even think that what the steam deck is doing in terms of experience was even possible on a computer.
I’m watching and waiting to pull the trigger on a new console but no option is ideal. I’m using an Xbox 360 Slim after buying and selling a XB1 and then a Series S. A Steam Deck is a much more appealing option than the consoles right now but I don’t want to get left behind at the point of purchase.
I have a Switch Oled and a Steam Deck lcd. If I had the chance to replace my lcd SD with a Oled I would. The difference is huge. I would not consider a windows handheld for now as the sleep feature is a must for me (coming from the switch).
The only reason why people are even considering other HHPC's are different stores. The only reliable way of having a decent experience is rebuying games and at that point, people just go for the Allys and so forth if their library isn't exclusive Stream. If Valve would open up to GoG and Epic, they would get most of their competitors sales.
I would get rog ally. Steam deck is cool but still not every game is compatible plus still a lot of games cant be played online . Also the steam deck is big asf and heavier compared to the ally. Ally performance wise crushes the steam deck even at 1080p after adding in frame generation. SteamOS is better for handhelds yes but its not perfect.
Ally wins in every regard, there is nothing SD does better than it and yes even the Oled screen is inferior as you get burn in after about 40 hours of usage
The rog ally has been updated a lot since launch. Window's 11 functions a heck of a lot better now. I love my rog ally its now my only gaming console my switch is collecting dust
How about installing ChimeraOS on the Ally?
Where I live, the Ally is cheaper, so I would like to understand if we can make the Ally better by going Linux (specially those frametimes)
Plenty of videos of people putting ChimeraOS on the Ally, none of them show any signficant improvement over Windows.
@@conchobarBut what about usability? Chimera is supposed to be a more console like experience, right?
@@GabrielCarvalho-gd8op There are plenty of videos on youtube to help you make your decision. I would link one here, but most youtubers delete any comments with links. ETA Prime has a good video
@@GabrielCarvalho-gd8opit's basically the Steam Deck OS on different hardware.
I don't mind the LCD screen on the OG deck. The OLED doesn't justify the upgrade for existing LCD owners.
I mostly play older PC games on my Deck, plus the occassional heavy hitter like Elden Ring
For me trackpads are a MUST i wont even consider any of there portable PC that dont offer control options atleast on par with a dualshock 4, namely, gamepad controls + gyro and touchpad, for me thats the MINIMUM
In most countries other than US, the steam deck OLED is equal in price to the sale prices of the Legion Go and ROG ally. I like the ROG ally due to the docking feature where it can double as a pc. And because I prefer to play **ALL** my steam games and more instead of a few.
As a user of botb the Rog Ally and the Ayaneo Air 1s i thibk the dibwoa issues are blown out of proportion. But i wjshed companies stopped making such large handhelds. I like my Ally but down sizing to the Air 1s was a gsme changer.
Interface? Really? It is sufficient enough for launching games and changing basic settings (tdp, resolution, refresh rate). That is all you need from gaming handheld interface.
Depends on support. Asus will release a new version yearly. How long will they support this version? 1 year? 3 years? A console is not something you want to rebuy so often
16GB of Total RAM is the big hold up for all of them. The only one that can really get away with it, is the SD. 2nd gen of these devices will truly be something to watch.
Microsoft could transform the PC handheld by developing it alongside the next Xbox. Instead of a “Series S” they should develop a handheld alongside the main console. Less powerful, but dockable. They can call it “Series H”. Xbox OS is Windows Kernel based, so they could adapt it so that it runs primarily, with an option to enter a desktop mode, similar to Steam Deck. MS would need to produce a solid OS/build, and develop a strategy for ongoing optimisation, but it would be possible. As they build Windows, and with it being closed-source, MS are the best-placed company who could really nail this.
There are rumors the next Xbox will be portable as it’s being worked on by the Surface team.
@@briengakaplan-b1550 They really need to make it PC-based though, allow Steam integration. If they can build a “consolised” version of Windows (which admittedly Xbox is), whilst still allowing full Desktop OS access on the fly, then it could rival the steam deck. At present Windows handhelds are far too cumbersome for mass-market appeal.
the whole point of pc handhelds is the option to play most games on the market. a handheld from microsoft and xbox would just have its own ecosystem and probably charge you to play online tbh
@@ayovenom9906 that’s why I said it should be Windows-based, with the option to boot into the full OS, but primarily use a bespoke-build, where games can be optimised for the specs. Gives you the flexibility.
Bought a steam deck oled day one. Runs all my games maxed out 60-90fps easily as I use it as a indie game handheld console and get between 4-9hrs of battery life depending on the game.
I play all my more intensive games on my 14900k/4090 gaming pc with my qd-oled monitor.
All handhelds need oled hdr or no buy.
If the next Rog All has a 7.5 inch Oled display with VRR and slightly improved performance/battery life I wouldn't want to be stuck with a SD Oled
In the end, what are you playing? Steam OS is awesome, but some games don't like it. Especially ones that require different launchers. For me, i love my Ally. I haven't had any issues navigating Windows at all. (However, i did buy a cheap, folding Bluetooth keyboard to help for $30) The Steamdeck is great for a more console like experience, and the OLED is amazing. It comes down to how you want to use it.
Im looking to sell my legion Go to get the OLED , I had the steamdeck before hand and ya until you use the steamdeck for its full potential , you all have no idea how good / casual gaming experience it is , its truly an amazing experience
I prefer my Ally over my Steam deck because of its windows os. VRR too is massive for the Ally. I guess if I want a console like experience then Steam deck all day long.
Alright that’s it, buying an OLED NOW!
I had an Ally and using Windows in such a small device drove me insane. I switched to SD OLED and I love it. Don’t see myself switching over to a Windows handheld device unless they create some sort of Windows Gaming OS.
I have a Rog ally however I have decades of experience using windows. I can see how the average consumer who is used to owning consoles will have a hard time adapting to windows based handheld devices. I feel for the mass market the windows devices are not there yet. If they introduce a more streamlined os for handhelds then I can see them gaining a lot more traction. The steam deck is a great device and with the new version sporting a OLED display it makes it that more attractive along with a console like experience. I chose the ally so that I can play more demanding games that the steam deck just can't run well since it's capped at 15watts. I say buy what you think will be the best experience for you.
I have used all Windows versions in the past 28-ish years since I own a pc.
I'm a web developer, so I'm definitely more into fiddling around with stuff compared to the "average consumer".
Steam OS feels like a breath of fresh air and I'm very grateful to be able to get away from Windows.
Having decades of experience in Windows does not a convenient gamepad compatible interface make.
I've been building my own gaming PCs since the late-90s and the user experience of the Ally and other PC handhelds is inexcusable. Windows is not suited for this form factor and band-aids like Armory Crate don't cut it right now.
I've owned the Ally and the Deck and its clear how Valve went above and beyond with Steam OS. Just as important, the performance increase with the Deck really isn't there at 15W and its actually worse at 10W. It is only there at 25W and 30W power profile but then it is useless as a mobile device since it rips through battery in about 90 minutes.
Most of all, 30% performance isn't enough of a selling point in practical use, the Deck still plays newer games with terrific framerates. Its just a much more balanced device.
I live in India, and I've been having this exact confusion, as there are no service centres near me and I don't know if I'll be able to tinker or fix if anything happens to difficult parts of steam deck like the screen getting burn in or anything. On the other hand Asus has a huge amount of service centres here. And the other thing for me is I mainly want a handheld for games from 2010 to 2020 and I like to mod them, is the steamdeck going to be hard for modding as well? I even made a pros and cons list for both of them and still can't decide. Any advice will be appreciated.
I'm decided. But now i have another dilemma, should i wait for Asus ROG Ally 2, or buy Ally Z1 Extreme instead right now? So tough choice. I will definitely mod Fallout 3, NV, Oblvion and Morrowind. Windows seems like more compatible choice for modding.
@@MakedoneCD so you too think modding will be better and easy on ally right? And I too am having the same dilemma about rog ally 2 or 1 extreme. Coz if ally 2 comes with an OLED panel then ohh my God.
I think so. Same here man, it's so hard choice I'll be so mad, if I buy Rog Ally 1 and second console will come in just few months after 🤯😬😅... I'm totally fked, i don't know what to do. I can't get any answer even from tons of recently watched videos with this topic on YT.
I have both a steam deck lcd and a ROG Ally. I don’t see why you have to exaggerate so much on windows being inferior as a gaming OS compares to that of the steam OS. I guess majority PC gamers are using windows. I play all sorts of games on these devices as well as on my PS4 and 5 consoles. I never thought for one second that one of these gaming devices is “drastically superior” to another in terms of gaming experiences just because of one has a particular OS or UI that the others don’t. In fact, I have encountered all kinds of weird issues on all of those systems, and somehow, I managed to overcome them and be able to enjoy my games. Maybe I’m wrong but saying there is no point of having non steam OS handheld is real bold statement. Especially from a tech channel dedicated on gaming hardwares.
I would, almost, abandon windows for a steam OS if it ran as well on my PC as the steamdeck.
I just wish it had better support for other game stores.
@@SlyNine As long as Steam OS Desktop mode continues to looks and feel like Windows XP, it will remain No Bueno!!!!
As someone who also tried the Ally for about 2 months before returning it, John said it really well. It cannot be stressed enough how much work Valve put into the Deck to make PC gaming on a handheld viable and enjoyable. Most of the things that make the Steam Deck great are things that could only be done on Linux, due to how restrictive Windows is. So no matter what ASUS or Lenovo or whoever else does with a Windows handheld, they will always be playing catchup and using workarounds because they can't make a custom Windows "handheld OS" like Valve has with the Steam Deck. Also, as Alex said, being able to suspend and resume games in seconds is HUGE for a handheld. Since I've recently been very busy with school, I've been using my 3DS a lot, simply because it has one of the best suspend/resume mechanics; you just flip it closed to take a break, then flip it back open to resume. Windows just doesn't have a good suspend resume feature. Sleep is often broken and hibernate takes WAY more time than suspend/resume does on the Deck. Physically making a device in a handheld form factor is such a small part of what makes something a good handheld. A handheld has to be a seamless and enjoyable experience to use, and Windows is the opposite of that.
The OLED deck most underrated upgrade is the battery. Increasing it another 25% really allows it to play games anywhere from 2 1/2 hrs for modern AAA games to 4+ hrs on PS4 era UE4 games.
The legion go is one of the best. The huge beautiful screen makes gaming feel completely different over the deck or ally
Just ordered my steam deck oled yesterday morning
ASUS ROG Ally + Chimera OS = Powerful Steam Deck.
My lcd SD is perfect for me. Growing up in the early 2000s and only having my first pc that was a laptop at 2006, a intel pentium with a integrated gpu, it was a pain in the ass, and i got used to play low spec games. Just enjoy the game fellas, stop worrying about specs and hardware, just get what can play the games you want, if you worry too much about hardware you will be changing and buying a new “console” pc every year.. Game devs need to optimize better their games. Remember ps3 specs and what it could run.
I agree with John on the whole about the differences about usability between the Deck and Ally. But I love my Ally too, and if you have knowledge about Windows and don’t mind fiddling it’s great.
I got a Steamdeck lcd a few months after it first launched. I hardly ever used it. I got a Legion go a few months back and I find the experience so much better. I know the oled has an upgraded screen but damn does that 8.8 inch screen on the Legion go bring it to another level.
I have two Steam Decks yet I've been eyeing the ROG Ally for awhile. I really like ROG and have several ROG pc components including RTX 3090. I think in general I want to wait another 5+ years before purchasing another handheld because the jump in performance and visuals should be enormous by then
There will always be something better on the horizon 5 years down the road
@@stephenmcgauley What I mean is Steam Deck wasn't even possible 5-10 years ago. Even 2-3 years ago, Steam Deck was cutting edge for it's form factor and power. In the eyes of casual people, the Deck still has loud fans and looks bulky. Steam Deck looks and feels more like a laptop than a handheld gaming device like Switch or PS Vita. In 5-10 years it will be perfected, probably a little smaller, sleeker, and more powerful. The Deck is very ergonomic and has higher quality joysticks than those handhelds I mentioned, so not too much smaller
I love my Decks to death, the OLED stays home while the LCD travels with me
@@EhurtAfy Devices like the Steam Deck, Ally, and Legion Go, seem to really appeal to older gamers with families. That demographic is only growing. So in 5 years, there will be so many options available, but issues of battery life are just a way of life. A new gaming laptop performs much better today than those from 2014, but they don't have much better battery life. Battery technology never advance as fast as CPUs/GPUs, so as performance increases, battery life decreases.
honestly most hand helds are better on release, cuz it feels like due to how games are released , get weaker over time
I disagree with this. They need some time for the software to be polish for a better experience.
I don't play a handhold for OS, I think the gaming part is more important.ROG 4tw
For real tho.. People are so gay for SteamOS. Enable big picture mode on any PC and you essentially have a better Steam Deck
No it is not, unlike windows handhelds that have a crap customization because of Microsoft OS.
@@nempk1817 can you elaborate?
@@dirkwood4544 Its hilarious how people imply that Steam OS is somehow better than the native Windows version of Steam.
@@conchobar the Steam Deck is the 15watt champ.. but I mean, that's the only area that's objectively better. It can't go 30watts
To me the only alternatives to the Steam Deck are the GPD Win4 and the Ayaneo Flip (Keyboard or Dual Screen depending on if you'd rather have a true usable PC or the ultimate DS/3DS emulation platform).
Why do all the UA-camrs never seem to mention the legion go? I returned the ally for the go and it solved so many problems for windows. Having the trackpad is so nice. I only use it when I have to, and it’s a big problem solver. Also, having the bigger screen makes touching the screen a lot easier. Another nice thing about the go is the ability to detach controllers, you can then use it for streaming content or docking to monitor to use like a regular pc. I believe with that feature, it will outlast the deck and ally when they all become obsolete for gaming.
The rog ally has a gorgeous screen. I seriously don't see why everyone complains abou windows on the rog. It has worked flawlessly for me. I do agree I'd like a light version of windows on it but wi does is fine
Well I’m currently waiting for my OLED Steam Deck and I’ve been completely reassured of my purchase. Thanks lads. Can’t wait!
It’s basically the Steam Deck LCD with a lot of quality of life improvements.
Why wait for next-gen Ally? Current ROG Ally is already much better device than Steam Deck. Much faster, support Game Pass and multiplayer games like Fortnite, Call of Duty, Valorant which is not possible on Steam Deck. Steam Deck will never be able to compete with Windows handhelds. Linux don't support modern APU from AMD, game pass, anti-cheats...
ROG Ally:
- 8 TFLOPS RDNA 3 (4nm chip)
- 8 core CPU
- VRR
- 120 Hz screen
- Game Pass
Steam Deck / Steam Deck OLED
- 1.6 TFLOPS RDNA 2 (7nm chip)
- 4 core CPU
- no support of VRR
- no support of Game Pass
lol this is exactly what I just said before I saw Your comment but you said it in a better way. These people are paid by valve I’m convinced at this point
Steamdeck feels like magic when you're using it. It's just an extremely polished user experience.
I loved the original Steam Deck, with its crappy LCD screen, and I the OLED Steam Deck even more. It gives you console-like experience, with its simplicity, but you can also get into the details and customization of a PC. It has 4 back buttons, which I always use. The analog sticks are great, and I prefer the symmetrical stick placement. The screen is amazing! If you want to target 30 - 45 FPS, you can set the graphics of many PS4-era games to be even better than what the equivalent PS4 settings would be, besides resolutions of course. On a smaller screen, 1280 x 800 is pretty good.
Meanwhile I use ROG Ally every single day and love every moment with it. Experience with windows is a regular windows experience. Being able to play all games that I want without jumping hoops or connect unusual controllers that lack of entirely kills any usefulness of steam deck for me.
I've got a oled deck, I totally agree it's a great device.... I've been on the fence contemplating getting a Rog I see a seller on eBay literally over the last day or two had been selling used devices that were like new for a great deal of £360. But I just couldn't justify it despite it being a great device.
The ROG Ally is available in my country and so will the next one when launched, the steamdeck isn't, unless you are willing to buy from importers and pay 15% more than the current Ally without warranty. Easy choice here, hehe 😅
Their response here was no surprise. They made it crystal clear from the start that they prefer Steam Deck. Which is quite interesting coming from a group of individuals who constantly obsess over performance metrics. Interesting indeed.
They are paid shills
Look how many steam deck videos theyve been shitting out these past few months, free marketing
It's a fantastic device. Other things beyond pure performance matter a lot on a handheld.
If I didn't have a powerful desktop PC at home and I was trying to do all my gaming on a handheld PC I would probably rank performance more highly than I do now. But given that I do have a powerful desktop PC for when I want that higher end experience I don't really care about relatively marginal differences in performance compared to other very important attributes like battery life, ergonomics, ease of use, pick up and play nature, and the overall user experience.
They obsess over the complete picture more than anything. They'll regularly dismiss issues of lower resolution or visual settings if it means smoother framerates, etc. I've owned both and the case of the Ally vs Deck the problem is that the Ally only really pulls ahead at 25W or 30W. At 15W or below it is actually slower than the Deck.
The Deck is much better balanced towards battery life and performance. Add Steam OS to the mix and there's a lot of reasons why I sold my ROG Ally when the Deck OLED came out.
I too owned both and the Ally is no longer slower at 15watts. Asus updates the Ally as often as Valve does with the Deck. Part of the whole package is game selection and way too many popular games simply can't be played on SD, partly due to proton and partly due to its performance cap. My Ally boots into Steam Big Screen so I essentially get a Steam OS experience.
I prefer the rog ally since its easier to install some othem bios like xbox OG and what nott❤ and it seems to have all the great point of the steam deck! I dont reslly care about battery since its most of the time plugged in or with a battery pack
I bought the Steam Deck OLED, screw the ROG Ally, i love the Steam OS, i'd rather stick with the Steam ecosystem rather than trying to mess about with Windows on a Portable PC, the Steam OS makes these Portable PC's, simple, intuitive and easy to use and the OLED Screen is gorgeous to boot
Bazzite works great on the Ally and Legion Go for that Steam OS experience. I bought the Ally for the specs but couldn't stand Windows on a portable either. Bazzite made it much more enjoyable. It's even available for the Deck itself if you'd like more freedom to mess around with the OS (install external packages permanently, etc).
Current gen ROG Ally now... VRR is the bee's knees!
Meh. Deck having shader cache means it drops frames less often anyway
@@halo2bounceguy Shader cache means the storage gets eaten up in 5 seconds. I gave up when the redistributal stuff filled up my 64gb steam deck, and there wasn't really any clear straightforward way to manage it. I dunno why steam hadn't made something to manage that yet.
I gave it to my younger brother but he ended up selling it lol.
@@halo2bounceguy whatever VRR is a no turning back point in gaming history for me. Add to that the revolutionary ability of having an arbitrary frame rate for dead cycle accurate emulation, i.e. 60.09Hz NES/SNES, 59.28Hz Neo Geo, 57.somethingHz DoDonPachi… no, there’s no fixed refresh rate turning back for me…
VRR and the ability to cap at any framerate and have the VRR take care of any drops below that is indeed the thing I liked best about the ROG Ally. I also like the fact that it has a 120Hz panel, which allows for BFI at 60Hz.
Overall, I still prefer the Steam Deck, though. I hope that the next Steam Deck has 120Hz and VRR. I don't care about higher resolutions, however.
@@cyberedge881 and I hope the next Ally is OLED (and still VRR) 😜
John couldn't be more wrong in my opinion. Windows not being on the Steam Deck was my very reason for not buying one! I want to be able to load all the other game launchers (Epic, EA, Ubisoft, Game pass etc....) not to mention any other windows app you want to throw on it (and Emulators or old DOS legacy games). The hardcore PC people that are buying it know the ins and outs of Windows just as they do on a desktop gaming rig! I love my Ally and all the power and Windows glory that comes with it.
not even a hard question
oled steam deck will be a better experience than any generation windows handheld
Yeah until you find out your favorite game doesn't work or you can't play online 😆
If you like raw power, just buy an Ally (in sale price and vouchers, sometimes its more cheaper than SD OLED) and wait around nov-dec 2025 and Steam deck will release a next gen more powerful chip and I think will hands down destroy all competition.
I bought a refurbished 512GB Steam Deck LCD when the OLED came out, at a significant discount. Really enjoy it, even though I think it’s a bit too bulky.
The Deck is a bit of a gateway drug to PC gaming for me, my last ‘gaming PC’ was decades ago, powered by a Pentium.
I love my Deck. Its so awesome! I will say that I have Windows Dual Boot on it, and if you install Steam Deck tools on it, it works seamlessly when you boot up a game. When on the desktop, you use the touchpad to move the mouse and the triggers for mouse buttons. It automatically changes controls to the gamepad when the game is in the foreground. I think it works amazingly! That being said, when I don't need to use Windows, I choose SteamOS. I am happy with it for now, but I hope after Switch 2, we get a Deck 2.
Are you guys worried about burn in on the steamdeck oled?
IF Switch OLED is anything to go by and assuming Deck OLED is same or better,there is nothing to worry about.
Some crazy people (good crazy😂)left Switch OLED turned on for a year.
2 years even.
24h a day .
There was some burn-in , but nothing too extreme given the circumstances.
Translation:
Responsible usage where you turn it off occasionaly during a day should secure you many years of joy.
Otherwise there is a warranty .
Depending on a country and merchant that can be anywhere from 1 to 2+ years.
@@GameslordXYit seems the deck has no burn in mitigation and burns in quite quickly with how bright the screen can get
the pc hardware and handheld may change and advance over the years... but hopefully by next year or near future that the overall performance for pc handhelds will be 1080p up to 60 fps while keeping less than 60w...
If you care about battery and screen get oled deck if you want max fps go for ally easy.i been playing my oled deck triple a games and I get bit over 4 hours of play time on a single charge while ally could barely do 2 hours
i have both the steam deck oled and rog ally. what would make steam deck the perfect device would it to finally be able to play games with anti-cheat like mw3, valorant, etc etc. i dont want to do any workarounds or dual boot windows just to get at those games. my main gaming rig is a pc so i'm missing out on a lot of games that my deck can't play out of the box. once they sort that out ill ditch my rog ally.
I love the Ally - once you’re in the game you don’t care about about consolization.
Should link this response to anybody wondering about deck vs other handhelds honestly. 100% agree, unless a game doesn’t run on the steam deck there is no point in playing it on any other handheld PC. Haven’t used my Ally in months since the Deck OLED released
Could have ended the video after the first few minutes. Right on the money. Unless you live somewhere where the Steam Deck isn’t sold and you can’t get it via the grey market, there’s no reason to get anything else for exactly the reasons outlined in the video.
I think there's stuff about all of these handhelds that make them really good. The steam deck is the best out of all of them in terms of software and button layout. It's the weakest of the three performance wise, no AFMF, no high refreshrate, VRR, etc.
My issue with the deck is the size is too small also not a fan of the controller but the biggest issue its outdated windows may be a pain but if i can game at 60fps vs 30/40fps thats a huge win
Necroing this video comment section, but I've used them all and I couldn't agree more. I bought a Steam Deck at launch, and bought an ROG Ally at launch. I moved to the Ally because I struggled with some issues with connecting to external displays reliably and wanting to play a bit higher-end games...and I moved back to the Steam Deck OLED because of the absolutely horrible Windows experience on the Ally.
Windows is just a bad gaming OS. Not even just the implementation on the Ally, or others, but the way Windows handles everything from Controls, to external connections (display, audio, network), to overlays and customization, to reliability, to *SUSPEND*...it's all objectively better in SteamOS, for gaming purposes. Connecting multiple external controllers to the Ally and trying to play a multiplayer game puts *all* of the onus of how those controllers function to the game. There's no way to force a controller to be Player 1/2/3/etc... and even doing customization to the controls in Armoury Crate or Steam just doesn't reliably handle the controls at all.
It's just a bad experience, and I'm tired of Windows existing in the state that it does. The Steam Deck OLED is a fantastically more purpose-built device, and it just works.
I think what the Windows-based handhelds need to have now is a graphics optimization implemented in its companion app. You know, like GeForce Experience, but better. Steam Deck has this, isn't it?
most of these devices are first gen so there is no need to get them (unless u are a tinkerer). The only one of note would be the Steam deck OLED since it is an improvement on the original steam deck but considering steam deck 2 is apparently 2 years away might be best to wait.