The 10w weirdness you experienced on the ROG Ally is due to the bad implementation of the Dolby Atmos features (yes, no joke). Disable Dolby sound optimisation in the Dolby app and 10w mode on the Ally will perform as expected. Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but it's a documented issue.
I am honestly happy that this competition space even exists tbh. I prefer steam deck but I can't believe this type of device isn't just a nintendo niche anymore.
Right after Valve release steam deck, I already predicted that many brand will create their own version, like Asus, MSI, Lenovo, and even Google in the near future. And I am right
Sony will reportedly have a ps5 handheld at some point in the next few years. Rog Alley and Steamdeck can already play pure ps5 games, so it will be cool to have a ps5 portable.
I hope for some reason Nintendo will be lost in irrelevance in the near future They showed their true nature often enough… they’re like Nestle but for gamers 😂
@@cinemapigeon4898for the ps5 handheld will probably not be a stand alone thing to take place of a ps5 but just a way to remote play on a ps5 you already have
What a time to be alive, it's still so insane to me that I can play my favourite games of all time in the palm of my hands and bring it with me literally anywhere.
I was just thinking that as I scrolled down the comments. I still remember how mindblown I was when PSP first came out, I was very young, but I do remember I was naive and wasn't sure how tech worked, and it just blew me away. We've come for far!
My Ally just came in and im so happy with it! I love this era of handheld gaming and i really pray this will be a long term thing and that these type of devices will from now always hold a space in the market.
@@SMGeezusOn behalf of people here I think I can safely say that we are all sentient beings and we know that there are more serious issues in the world than things like keeping the trend in the portable gaming market or which steam deck to buy but it doesn’t mean we don’t care about those more serious problems, it’s just that we want to enjoy life sometimes as much as it is possible and drift away from these problems.
I'm certain they will continue. There's been a massive boom in people switching from desktop PCs to handhelds, and with good reason. Think when the power of these devices are so good they can run console experiences in 4K via a dock/remote TV casting. In the perfect world, there would just be a few handhelds and every company (Sony, MS, etc) sold hardware agnostic games to these devices. Giving the users a choice to play any game on any device from day 1. Exclusives are going away by the looks of it and it will benefit everyone.
Same, I got the extreme model and it was on a massive sale for about $500 when it was $699 and I couldn't be more happy I mean this is the kind of stuff I dreamed about as a kid. It actually blows my mind everyday.
@@plaistowjames6792Definitely not true. If you’re looking to get into handhelds but still have a pretty good amount of power without breaking the bank, I think the base model is the way to go.
Lets be honest here unless you own both. The handheld you spent your your hard earned money on will be the best. Both systems are great. Get the one that suits your lifestyle the best and enjoy.
What is getting me is the comfort in the hand. I'm 6'3” with big hands. I'm wondering if the less comfortable Ally will eventually just come around and I'll get used to it. I do LOVE the feel of the stiffer more premium feel of the Deck tho
I do not have a stim deck, but based on experience with stim controller. I assume that in the control settings for the desktop, if necessary, you can set the scrolling with non-circular movements. This also applies to scrolling in games. In general, the steem deck has unlimited possibilities and flexibility to customize controls everywhere. Which is not even dreamed of by the manufacturers of other portable devices. I write through a translator.
I really wanted a Steam Deck but the ROG Ally has a way bigger game catalog running Windows. Yeah, the OS quirks are kind of a pain but having Game Pass, Steam and other launchers wherever I want is mind blowing. Plus the Ally is more powerful for more demanding games.
To be honest, 90hz is really usable on Steam Deck. It's giving system more fluid appearance and also I personally play a lot of roguelite - roguelike games (hades, enter the gungeon, dead cells, nuclear throne) and it feels a lot more snappier in that games, especially in dead cells, with fast-paced gameplay.
Can chip in as an Ally user. 120hz is great but you won't be hitting it often unless you use some form of frame generation or play lighter indie titles. I would happily trade out 120hz for OLED on the Ally but there's no VRR + OLED sadly.
Playing the Rog Ally with an Xbox controller and the XREAL Air 2 Pro AR Glasses feels like gaming in the future, such a cool experience. I admit that working with windows on the Rog Ally can have it's issues here and there... However, having a gaming PC with Steam, Xbox and PlayStation Remote Play at your fingertips is just uncontested in my opinion. Also, if you get the Ally and plan on playing while traveling, make sure you grab a portable 65 watt charger so you can game for more than an hour.
After my son claimed my Switch for himself I landed on the Ally. Mainly because I have a g14 laptop and I wanted to keep the theme going. While the battery life isnt great I got around that by streaming steam, currently Cyperpunk. I can play it for around 4 hours but tbh I only ever play an hour or two at a time. Now at bed time he has his Switch and I have my Ally. A gaming dads dream come true.
I think they both have a place. If someone doesn't have a gaming PC already, but wants to play PC games then the Ally is likely a better buy since you could use it as a windows desktop as well hooked up to a monitor, as well as native app support like you mentioned. If you already have a gaming PC I reckon the Steam Deck is preferable for easier pick up and play, and backlog busting.
@@spacedout4061 LoL 😆, in my place the SD OLED and Ally are at the same price so SD OLED is not a good investment when it has weaker APU the the Ally.
@@Molacules deck oled has a nicer screen, better battery life, better support, better software, and its easier to repair. Also its 550 and the ally is minimum 700 in like every place lol
@@Molacules Specs is not everything.. support is IMO much better and Valve is so much better in supporting games and the device than Asus will ever be.. dont think Asus gives a crap about game optimization.. but Valve does and its shows with the ever growing list of supported games and new features in SteamOS
@@Sinesterr meh, support is great but having a higher specs is also great, Deck is good but it's struggling on demanding games where's Ally can play nice plus AMD gives its frame generation tech called AMD Fluid Motion Frames support to their RDNA 3 graphics which is on Ally APU so the Ally is more better now than Deck on performance.
Steam deck all the way. Look if I wanted to EXCLUSIVELY play on a handheld, then maybe I'd pick the ally, but when I want performance, I'm gonna be playing on my desktop. For handheld I want it to be easy, customizable, and convenient, and the steam deck does that and WAY more.
I've had the Rog ally, I've not had any issues with windows 11. I love the fact it's a mini PC. I wanted to download two emulators cemu and yuzu. Someone who is not technically savvy, I managed to get both emulators working easily within 2 days after watching UA-cam tutorials. I have add blockers, VPN and great anti virus installed. Also easily installed some other emulators available for windows. So everything that I wanted and could have asked for. Only thing to be super careful is windows devices can get 'cooked'. When left in a enclosed space make 100% sure, it's shut down and not in sleep mode. When vents and fans are covered, if it wakes up on sleep mode it can cook the device (gets super super hot).
Having owned both the Deck and Ally, I really must say the steam deck is my personal favorite! It’s far more comfortable to play on and I absolutely love the huge community around the deck. I have a nice desktop PC, but I must say I’ve transitioned to just playing my steam deck about 90% of the time nowadays lol. Just something so nice about throwing my AirPods in and relaxing on the couch, instead of sitting upright at my desk. No hate to the Ally by the way! I still think it’s a phenomenal device, but I just love how simple and seamless the Deck is
I have all three, deck truely serve the purpose of handheld in terms of mobility .but for ppl don’t have a dedicated gaming pc or laptop, ally is a good substitute .
lol no. ROG Ally has some open box for around $430-$499 and that is already a Z1 Extreme. I have mine at best buy open box at their stores there's alot of them actually@@mathiaskildedal
I think the Deck is the better option in almost every scenario. Valve's support on it is what makes it. They update, patch and fix many things that may trouble their supported library in behalf of the devs. Its honestly really cool to see them work constantly on their product. The price is also lower, although it sacrifices performance. Suspend is a GAME CHANGER and honestly what sold me. Also it having its own OS is great. Makes it feel premium, and much easier to navigate and use with a controller. Both great systems, but the deck really is the best in the market.
I have both. Well, the OG Steam Deck. I like them both for different reasons. The Steam Deck is much easier to grab and go. No tweaking with settings. Games that work, work well. I find myself enjoying it more for emulation too. The cons are subpar battery life and the fact I can't play every game I own. I like the Ally for that reason. It supports EVERYTHING. It also feels better in the hands for prolonged usage. And the fact that it's Windows also has some perks if you're in need of a portable PC. It also has a better screen at 144 hz 1080p, upscaling and better hardware. I can't speak on behalf of the OLED version of Steam Deck and I don't plan on upgrading to it but I do think it boils down to personal use case. Are you someone who likes to tweak settings and play every game you own or are you someone who likes a simple and reliable gaming experience?
I am struggling to choose between these 2. I experienced changing from LcD to OLED for my switch and omg i cant tell how much happy i am to make such decision. It may sound insignificant but for someone that actually play mostly handheld, that OLED display really is the thing of beauty. I can no longer go back to play switch old model with LCD. But in this case, i love to have steam deck OLED but at the same time, i would focus on AAA game which i think rog ally is more capable to run these games. Hmmm
Depends on what you want to do with them. The ROG Ally is a better device if your gaming varies wildly. For example, if you want to play Gamepass, use trainers, play GOG, link your Xbox account to Xbox games on Steam, use mods, etc you will have a better experience on the Ally. On the Steam Deck, you will have to look for guides to get do some stuff that could be as easy as running an exe file on Windows. The Steam Deck is almost console like if all you are doing is playing Steam Deck verified games. For the screen, although I love the Steam Deck OLED screen, and think it looks better from a color saturation standpoint…the Ally screen is no slouch and has VRR 120Hz. So it depends on what you want to do. I think both of them have their quirks, but even Asus has been fantastic at supporting the Ally with updates. I heard that the sd card slot has been fixed in newer Ally units…but I don’t know if I can verify that. That said, I just put a 4TB SSD 2280 in mine with an adapter and it has been working great!
Anytime someone says "the ROG ally has better performance" you must realize that what matters is performance per watt. These are handhelds. Sure, maybe a handheld is as strong as a 4090 but if it runs for 11 minutes what would be the point? At 15 watts the OLED matches the ally and at 10 watts it smokes it. All while getting much better battery life
This depends on the usecase. I will mostly play this where I have an outlet nearby, so battery life isn't an issue. I also own a powerful powerbank for when I need to use it for extended periods of time without plugging it in.
@@derekfurst6233 For me it's for use when I'm on vacation visiting family, or when I just wan't to game when lying in bed. That's portability. The Ally is much better and more comfortable option than carrying with me a big ass laptop and controller. Handhelds aren't only for using when your out and about without an outlet nearby.
@@derekfurst6233 I use the Ally for when I'm on vacation visiting family, or for when I just feel like playing while lying in bed. The Ally is a much better option for that than a big ass laptop and controller. Portability isn't only a term for when your off grid. (This may be a double reply, doesn't look like my first one was published)
@@spacedout4061You know what's crazy? I have both and on their lowest TDP settings playing Hollow Knight, I've only ever managed to get 30 minutes of more power from my Steam Deck, so battery life on the ROG Ally isn't an issue at all
@@ScinDBad NEVER. buy an ROG Ally. why? if you think you want more performance then go for the ally. just know that you would get at least 20-50 minutes if you set it to the max watt. steam deck does 2 hours at 15W and ally does 1 hour on 15W. Steamdeck has trackpads which is very useful for games like starfield. if you want performance, just use/buy a laptop. the fuck is the point if youre just gonna charge the handheld at home for better performance? just get the steamdeck oled, shits better than 11 minutes on 120hz.
@@iqwansyahmi6886 battery doesnt drain in 30 minutes, steam deck does the same performance with the absurd battery life of 4 hours. if you pick rog because of the higher screen hertz, then you're just stupid af. steam deck (especially the oled) is superior because even with 90hz it looks like its running on 144. i own one so im kinda biased but im not joking when you get one you wont regret it.
7:18 You didn't do anything wrong here. Z1 Extreme is just less efficient than Steam Deck's Custom Van Gogh APU in the lower TDP spectrum. In other words: ROG Ally APU needs a little bit more juice to really spread it's wings. From what I remeber The Phawx has an excellent video on this subject.
I think the ally is better for my use case since I have the travel for work so I prefer the ability to have windows readily available for productivity and gaming.
I am on the steamdeck boat since my use case is pretty similar to yours. I have actually topped it up with a 1 tb SD card to fit even more games for when I fly or just to play @ home (slow internet that makes me less prone to be downloading and deleting) with emulators and other bits that may eat up in space. The note that you make in the anker powerbank is very interesting, which one did you end up buying? the 24k mAh 737 or the 27650?
Great video, time for an update comparing the ally x since you compared the second iteration of the steam deck. My issue lately with the deck Oled is the 16:10 aspect ratio as most games do not support it so the slightly bigger screen just becomes black bars. Also not being able to simply install epic and gog or gamepass is quite annoying as I have a ton of games in these as well. I thought I’d be good with just steam but I got a lot of great titles free from epic and then game pass. I may be leaning toward the ally x.
i got my ally fews day ago and love it, a bit tricky setting manual fan and bunch of tech stuff tdp something, but when you get over it. It's totally worth it. The feeling of freedom to use the pc, now in your hand, anywhere. Awesome feeling
The ally is a powerhouse, yes the battery do not last long if you are playing AAA games and there is the SD card issue, but for me the built in memory is enough and I usually play it plugged in or docked for the 30W performance. I'm in love with this console, been playing a lot more campaign games after I bought it.
Im planning on buying either rog ally or SD OLED.. but still can't make any choice.. i will mostly planning to bring the handheld anywhere, especially at work.. which one is the best pick? Im not planning to play demanding games though,just the normal ones, and probably emulator too
Steam deck has battery life..but if your ok with carrying a battery bank the ally can be great for gamepass and epic games. If everything you want is on steam the the deck is probably better. If you have collected a ton of epic games then Ally is the way to go.
@@MuhammadFirdaus-ol5tm no, for what I have seen the SD issue isn't a problem on newer models. R8 and R9 serial numbers...Asus never acknowledged the problem but it seems like the quietly resolved it.
Great video and quality of videos! I'm baffled how cheap the SD OLED is in the US. In Norway the 512 Oled is $950 ($1050 1TB), meanwhile Ally Z1 E is $799 (or $710 open box).
love the comparison bro. does the screen alone of the OLED makes it a better device? I don’t play fps games. I have the ally and I’m really curious about the screen of the SD OLED.
Yup. Once you use the SD OLED, you'll be surprised with the image quality that it provides. It will make the experience feel like the screen is a much higher reso
Just Bought the SteamDeck OLED. I was leaning towards the ROG Ally....but I do not like windows 11 on mobile platforms, SD-OLED 512GB was $550 vs $699 for ROG Ally. I have over 50 games on Steam games that I do not get top play due to always being busy and out on the go. Which is why I wanted the better battery life from the SD-OLED.....
Id rather have battery drain with better performance over better battery with lack in performance. I can manage the battery issue at least, not much you can really do about the lesser performing deck.
For me it's between the legion go and the steam deck. The legion go has a trackpad, but it's only one, doesn't click, and is in a less ergonomic area. So whenever I want to type something I would pretty much have to use the touchscreen which is a major loss. That's the main issue that I have and might get the steam deck which is $150 cheaper lol
Your video quality is top notch and your narration is chill and comfortable to listen to, content wise this is the laziest comparison between the 2 MOST famous and overly reviewed handhelds in the market, a lot of the things you mentioned or failed to mentioned have already been reported a million times, i felt like you could have made a better review by simply copying one of the hundreds of reviews already in youtube and probably would have been more detailed. Keep the good work and i hope your channel gets bigger and also hope you put much more effort on your testing and investigations. Best regards!
@@QtAsriel Well, we know which one will die first. Thinking that the Deck will be the one I take to work, and Rog for travel and home when I don't want to use my consoles.
If it was my only gaming device maybe I would prefer the ROG Ally, but if you already have a pc then I think steam deck is a no brainer. By far better battery life, doesn't need to be plugged in to fully utilize, steam os is much easier to use than windows, and valve is a much more trustworthy company that ASUS. Steam deck is a perfect complement to your main rig
Im stuck deciding which one for just a bedside handheld. I cant always get on thr PC and i like the idea of just layong in bed after the kids are all asleep and playing RPG's like skyrim, the Witcher or pillars of eternity. Just cant decide which to get. Think im leaning toward steam deck
The Steam Deck OLED display is nice and all but the missing VRR and low resolution compared to the Ally is a HUGE trade-off. VRR is a critical feature since they are all power starved and frames are heavily fluctuating. The Non-VRR display are horrible to look at. I know because I have the Steamdeck LCD 512GB matte display and the Lenovo Legion Go. They both lack VRR and it shows in many games...But the 7 inch display of the Ally is also a bit too small.
I only play FH4 & FH5 thru steam on pc. But I’m looking for a handheld when I travel. Would you suggest the 512 or 1TB Steam? ROG Ally Z1 or Z1 Extreme. Thank you- lost mom lol😂
If you're not playing any other game the 512 deck is going to be cheaper and will still run great. The ally being on sale at Best buy rn makes it a great deal but for travel I much prefer the deck.
Just don't really know how to choose tbh, I have a og steam deck and and I don't know. Should I upgrade to the OLED version or just pick the Asus rog ally, I do play my games on steam but I also play some League Of Legends
I had original SD and sold it. Then wanted to by Rog Ally or LGO, then I decided to wait for better chipset next year and realized one thing. Why am I even chasing for better performance since I can play on gaming pc? And now when I don't have SD I want it back just to play indie games peacefully from the sofa in comfy position. So I will probably buy SD OLED, slightly bigger screen and OLED for small games it should be fine and it cheapest one. How did you decide?
@@lincoln537 still holding on with the og SD, was super surprised that it can handle some of the recent games like spacemarine 2, but I decided to buy a ROG in the next couple of months
I just ordered a steam deck oled and I’m impatiently waiting for it. I had the rog ally for a couple of days and returned it. The Rog’s battery and unfriendly IU annoyed me and put me off. I mostly play ps5 games so I figure if I can’t play a game on the deck I will still have a ps5. I don’t know hopefully I made the right choice.
I wanted a portable machine that could play my computer games. I thought about it and found all the games I would have wanted to play were on Steam! That made choosing the Steam Deck OLED a no-brainer.
I have both, deck is more like a console, while ally is a mini-pc. The ally's hardware is super strong, they only have to put a larger battery in it the next time. And I think both of them are still a little heavy, maybe next time sub 600g?
"you hope that next time they put a bigger battery but make the device weigh less." How do you combine these two things in the same sentence? Batteries haven't learned how to make weightless air yet )
I really want a 1080 display handheld but i also want the better battery life i dont know which one to go with i dont mind running windows either i just sold my LCD Deck so im looking to get the Ally or OLED Deck
User experience i have to go for the deck. But since i only use it at home.. im using my rog way more! Love the 1080p and the power! And 120 fps on smaller games is awesome
The SD OLED looks nice! The sheer fact you can't play every Steam game on a steam device makes little sense to me. For a lot of people that won't matter too much. I'm happy with a bit of Windows jank and worse battery to have more of a fully fledged PC experience I can easily install what I want without looking up how to bypass Steam OS. I've used Windows 3.1 in the 90's. I'm ok with it :D
I think the deck is for me. Im usually really sensitive to framerate because ive played so many competive games but the only thing more annoying than low fps is bad battery. That and the deck has trackpads and i really dont want to deal with window's wonkyness
@@capnmoby9295 i actually did decide to get the Steam Deck OLED 1TB. because Valve owns the OS that it runs on and it's very streamlined and feels like a console. It's very easy to use even for me who knows nothing much about PC gaming. I really love my Steam deck and the OLED screen looks incredible
Hey, Rog Alley owner here. I wanted to comment on what you said regarding Rogs bricking SD cards. I spent last Saturday stress testing this with 4 different SD cards from 3 different companies. As long as you are using a SANDISK SD card PNY SD card or any big name SD card maker it shouldn't brick the games. That tends to happen when using smaller 3rd party SD cards. Moving games to the 3rd partt SDcard corrupted them automatically. It was a 'Moric 1tb' SD card with plenty of good reviews on amazon that would get perpetually bricked. When I decided I had enough of that I shelled out $140 for the Sandisk Ultra 1.5TB sd card and play games off of it with no issue.
You spent one day testing bro, it takes longer than one day for it to happen and i can pretty much guarantee you it will happen eventually no matter what brand of sd card you use
No that's not how it works. It has nothing to do with SD card brands. While yes, reputable brands are better because of their reliability, the issue lies within the design of the sdcard reader itself. Basically, heat is the primary cause of sdcard reader breaking. For example my Ally, despite never being used above 25W tdp (mostly playing at 18W), still had its sdcard reader broke after several months. At this point I'll just say to anyone owning or planning to own Ally, to just forget about the sdcard reader and stick with plain ssd upgrade.
@@MrCoffee0996 How are you going to tell me something I physically tested with 6 different cards is wrong? Just use your warranty if its only been months. you described a defect.
Im trying to see if i want the steam or rog. Ive been playing switch for awhile but been wanting to play more triple a games.....which one would be a greater experience. I mainly been wanting to play more mmos
The problem with Steam Deck is that i can’t play HSR or Wuthering Waves in it. Even if i downloaded windows into it, the system isn’t optimized for the Steam Deck, not to mention it’ll be laggy.
Fair review, i have all three handhelds. imo ally is for ones that don’t have a main gaming PC. U mainly have to play with plugged in, but why don’t ppl get a laptop or tablet then, bigger screen is better for ur eyes and is more suitable for more game types .
Laptop is heavier, bigger and needs a desk to play. Ally is lighter, smaller fits even in a small bag, can play anywhere without the need of desk, mouse or separate controller. In short it is more portable because it is smaller and lighter. Windows tablet needs a keyboard and mouse as well at the same time needs a desk to play your games. Gaming laptop is more expensive as well than the Ally
The problem, for me at least, is that the Steamdeck doesn't allow me to easily play any game from any store I have bought. Sometimes there are deals on different stores and I make use of them.
Yup that is intentional. The entire point of Steamdeck is to drive sales on Steam, and it's working pretty well so far as I've been filling out my Steam library for the first time in years after getting a 'Deck OLED.
@budthecyborg4575 Never said it wasn't intended, seeing as they sell these devices at a loss. That doesn't change the fact that it makes it a bad product in my eyes.
Great video. I thought about trading my deck oled for a rog ally but I'm kinda hesitant. I'm enjoying the deck so far and I have an Xbox series S so I really just want something more for on the go. I might stick with the deck oled
As a recent owner of an Rog ally i have nothing bad to says about thr handled exept for the battery and the Windows 11.. But its still pretty decent ny wife is playing hollow knight at maximum graphic in 4k... Coulbnt be happier
Well for the comfort the steam deck wins but ask performance that laptop will smash a steam deck. Or rog Ally. Personally if you don't need it as a normal computer get a steam deck. There's no way that these handhelds could beat the laptop.
Great comparison. I have a ROG Ally and it’s fantastic but the software can be a pain sometimes to the point where I wrestle with the thought of selling it for a Deck OLED. However when I do see the limitations of the Deck when it comes to certain games and the extra steps to put Launchers on it I question if the the trade off is worth it.
Personnely having owned both, the Steam Deck is generally better whenever you aren't actually playing the game, while the Ally is better while you are. TBH, both of them aren't perfect. Both have thier fair share of pro's and con's and that all depends on exactly what you are doing on it.
Thanks man, tbh I really don't plan to play much more than steam games on the deck. If there's ever a game I'm playing that won't run I'll probably just take the ally
@@ColeCaccamise That's the best thing with having both handhelds, you get all of the pros of both, without hardly any cons. The only real con's is of course the cost of buying both systems, neither of them are pocketable and the battery life on both isn't great. Which is why I've also been keeping an eye out on the retro handhelds recently. I'm tempted to invest in the new Retroid Pocket 4 Pro, next. Personnely my preferences are: A quick pickup n' play = Steam Deck A medium length session = Ally A long session = neither, it'll be on my Desktop PC Mouse driven game = Steam Deck or better still PC if available Steam game = Mostly Steam Deck Non Steam game = Ally Linking to a display = Ally Using Apps = Ally or PC Demanding game = Ally Moderately demanding game = Either Indie/low demanding game = Steam Deck Emulation = Either dependant on what. Short journey = Ally Long journey = Steam Deck At home relaxing = Either I'd honestly say I use the pair of them roughly 50/50. I love em both equally as much, TBH.
Hello everyone. I am not much of a gamer. I only enjoy playing fifa and I am only looking to buy one of this handheld device solely for this reason. Kind of confused which to go for. Ally, steam deck , legion go? Which is better for playing fifa23 and EA24?
This is a great comparison but Im so torn b/w the deck and ally 😢 Im traveling a lot and use a mac for most of my work, im also playing over xbox cloud sometime and now i want to switch over handheld 😭 . I play a lot of mmos and rpgs and racing.
cloud streaming on deck took a little extra setup but after tat it was fine. as long as all your games run on deck i think you'd appreciate the battery
I disagree with Comparing prices, not countries the Deck cost more than the ally as there aren't official importers, i can find the Ally cheaper the the decks 64gb variant.
Well I have both and Rogs my daily device. But it's good to have both even if I hardly use my decks. I put 2 terabytes SSD in my ROG and have the battery pack. I have 1 terabyte in my deck. Get both if you can.
What's the announced price? I think one of the best things about these devices is the affordability.. I think a $1000 handheld pc turns people off like me.
Playing PC Game Pass natively makes Ally the best machine, for me. Got the PS Remote Play working, and all the Windows game marketplaces. It's an "everything handheld".
I bought the rog ally z1 extreme and picked up a 2 tb western digital nvme ssd and put it in the second day I owned it battery life does suck so I grabbed a anker prime power bank 27k mah it has 100 watt charging and I get close to 3 hours with aaa games and can recharge the power bank in a hour with a 100 watt charger so it works out pretty well. Since I got it I have not used my Xbox series x which I am going to sell to cover some of the cost on grabbing a steam deck to have the best of both worlds
If you use hibernate mode instead of sleep mode, you can instantly go back to your games when you're ready by just pressing start, so it's better than the deck
With regards to the 10W FPS drop, it’s because the Z1E is more power hungry than the steam deck custom APU. You’ll see the frames even out at 12W then the ally starts to pull ahead at 15W. Personally still picked the OLED for battery life. That doubling of play time matters more to me than the extra 5+ fps at 15W.
I can definitely say not to steam deck I received my steam back and spring of 2022 and I recently got rid of it because it just couldn't perform so i upgraded to a GPD win mini and that thing is a beast that plays AAA games at 720p or 1080p at low to medium settings
Go with the Steam Deck. A lot more thought and care went into it. You’ll get updates, service and parts for years to come. Hopefully. I’ll sacrifice a few FPS for that. Plus 1080p and up feels pointless at this screen size. The OLED version is the best refresh I’ve seen in gaming. Stick with it because sequels are around the corner.
How many times do you move the camera around when filming? So many tech reviewers have the same style with doing something but there will be like 5 different angles before his done. Like unboxing
I use the steam deck oled as my personal handheld, but i have a great pc so i use the device to stream locally if i want the good frames and graphics along with that cool oled screen. Even with a budget pc combine with the 350 64gb, i recommend getting a budget pc and a lcd steam deck.
I don't get why people be crying about battery life.. just buy a powerbank. The fact that the rog ally can play steam, gog and gamepass games makes it a clear win for me.
Yeah people love to mention the shitty things about windows but don't mention the good... I guess having hundreds of games on gamepass is windows "bloat"
The 10w weirdness you experienced on the ROG Ally is due to the bad implementation of the Dolby Atmos features (yes, no joke). Disable Dolby sound optimisation in the Dolby app and 10w mode on the Ally will perform as expected. Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but it's a documented issue.
this needs more upvotes
wow did not know this. im over my ROG ally because of the updates and battery life. Already ordered my steam deck oled.
Is it Dolby Atmos effects for speakers and headphones? Otherwise I can't find it.
love u
So Dolby Atmos being on affects the entire system?
I am honestly happy that this competition space even exists tbh. I prefer steam deck but I can't believe this type of device isn't just a nintendo niche anymore.
Right after Valve release steam deck, I already predicted that many brand will create their own version, like Asus, MSI, Lenovo, and even Google in the near future. And I am right
Sony will reportedly have a ps5 handheld at some point in the next few years. Rog Alley and Steamdeck can already play pure ps5 games, so it will be cool to have a ps5 portable.
Its the valve standard
They release a single thing and it crashes and changes the whole gaming market haha
I hope for some reason Nintendo will be lost in irrelevance in the near future
They showed their true nature often enough… they’re like Nestle but for gamers 😂
@@cinemapigeon4898for the ps5 handheld will probably not be a stand alone thing to take place of a ps5 but just a way to remote play on a ps5 you already have
What a time to be alive, it's still so insane to me that I can play my favourite games of all time in the palm of my hands and bring it with me literally anywhere.
I felt that when I first got the PSP. It was mind-blowing at the time! I really want the Steam Deck.
As a 16 bit kid its like living in a surreal dream. I couldnt even make up the idea we can stream games over the internet in my hands.
Was literally just playing my games in my work truck while on hotspot. Surreal dude!
true, i still remember being blown away by the very first game boy 😂
I was just thinking that as I scrolled down the comments. I still remember how mindblown I was when PSP first came out, I was very young, but I do remember I was naive and wasn't sure how tech worked, and it just blew me away. We've come for far!
My Ally just came in and im so happy with it!
I love this era of handheld gaming and i really pray this will be a long term thing and that these type of devices will from now always hold a space in the market.
that’s what your praying for? seriously?
@@SMGeezussuck it nico
@@SMGeezusIt's just an expression, m8. Chill out.
@@SMGeezusOn behalf of people here I think I can safely say that we are all sentient beings and we know that there are more serious issues in the world than things like keeping the trend in the portable gaming market or which steam deck to buy but it doesn’t mean we don’t care about those more serious problems, it’s just that we want to enjoy life sometimes as much as it is possible and drift away from these problems.
I'm certain they will continue. There's been a massive boom in people switching from desktop PCs to handhelds, and with good reason. Think when the power of these devices are so good they can run console experiences in 4K via a dock/remote TV casting. In the perfect world, there would just be a few handhelds and every company (Sony, MS, etc) sold hardware agnostic games to these devices. Giving the users a choice to play any game on any device from day 1. Exclusives are going away by the looks of it and it will benefit everyone.
Rog ally for the last 4 months is absolutely amazing! I love this handheld market
Glad you’re liking it man!
Same, I got the extreme model and it was on a massive sale for about $500 when it was $699 and I couldn't be more happy I mean this is the kind of stuff I dreamed about as a kid. It actually blows my mind everyday.
I'll be getting the Rog Ally X as the original Ally is now obsolete.
@@plaistowjames6792Definitely not true. If you’re looking to get into handhelds but still have a pretty good amount of power without breaking the bank, I think the base model is the way to go.
@@plaistowjames6792What do you mean by obsolete?
Lets be honest here unless you own both. The handheld you spent your your hard earned money on will be the best. Both systems are great. Get the one that suits your lifestyle the best and enjoy.
What is getting me is the comfort in the hand. I'm 6'3” with big hands. I'm wondering if the less comfortable Ally will eventually just come around and I'll get used to it. I do LOVE the feel of the stiffer more premium feel of the Deck tho
I literally never knew that you're supposed to use a circular motion on the left stick to go up and down. So many frustrations make sense now lol
I do not have a stim deck, but based on experience with stim controller. I assume that in the control settings for the desktop, if necessary, you can set the scrolling with non-circular movements. This also applies to scrolling in games. In general, the steem deck has unlimited possibilities and flexibility to customize controls everywhere. Which is not even dreamed of by the manufacturers of other portable devices. I write through a translator.
@@Wolfen13cstim
@@derrorerstimpack
lmao same
I really wanted a Steam Deck but the ROG Ally has a way bigger game catalog running Windows. Yeah, the OS quirks are kind of a pain but having Game Pass, Steam and other launchers wherever I want is mind blowing. Plus the Ally is more powerful for more demanding games.
I have a steam deck running windows
It’s even better bc of the trackpads it’s like a gaming labtop for me
Windows is the worst so steam deck all the way
@@underleft get a laptop lol a rtx 4050/3060 14 inch laptop costs like 800-1000.
@@kaizel2264its not the same. Thats the whole reason the handheld market exists.
Rog Ally all the time. I'm a graphics designer and I always need Adobe Products. Thing is an absolute beast!
To be honest, 90hz is really usable on Steam Deck. It's giving system more fluid appearance and also I personally play a lot of roguelite - roguelike games (hades, enter the gungeon, dead cells, nuclear throne) and it feels a lot more snappier in that games, especially in dead cells, with fast-paced gameplay.
90hz is more than enough for a handheld tbh
I've been playing Just Cause 3 at 90fps and it's beautiful, you can even play that way at 7 watts if you set the screen to 1/4 res.
Can chip in as an Ally user. 120hz is great but you won't be hitting it often unless you use some form of frame generation or play lighter indie titles. I would happily trade out 120hz for OLED on the Ally but there's no VRR + OLED sadly.
Playing the Rog Ally with an Xbox controller and the XREAL Air 2 Pro AR Glasses feels like gaming in the future, such a cool experience. I admit that working with windows on the Rog Ally can have it's issues here and there... However, having a gaming PC with Steam, Xbox and PlayStation Remote Play at your fingertips is just uncontested in my opinion. Also, if you get the Ally and plan on playing while traveling, make sure you grab a portable 65 watt charger so you can game for more than an hour.
That's how I normally play. I use an Xbox Series X controller and it's freaking amazing.
Months later do you guys have any issues with them?
@@kllaskullz Nope, runs great. I've been using docked while connected to a gaming monitor recently as well. Great little machine.
After my son claimed my Switch for himself I landed on the Ally. Mainly because I have a g14 laptop and I wanted to keep the theme going. While the battery life isnt great I got around that by streaming steam, currently Cyperpunk. I can play it for around 4 hours but tbh I only ever play an hour or two at a time. Now at bed time he has his Switch and I have my Ally. A gaming dads dream come true.
I love this
you are an awesome dad
I think they both have a place. If someone doesn't have a gaming PC already, but wants to play PC games then the Ally is likely a better buy since you could use it as a windows desktop as well hooked up to a monitor, as well as native app support like you mentioned. If you already have a gaming PC I reckon the Steam Deck is preferable for easier pick up and play, and backlog busting.
The ally costs so much you might as well just buy a pc at that point. Deck is actual console pricing, plus is better in basically every way
@@spacedout4061 LoL 😆, in my place the SD OLED and Ally are at the same price so SD OLED is not a good investment when it has weaker APU the the Ally.
@@Molacules deck oled has a nicer screen, better battery life, better support, better software, and its easier to repair. Also its 550 and the ally is minimum 700 in like every place lol
@@Molacules Specs is not everything.. support is IMO much better and Valve is so much better in supporting games and the device than Asus will ever be.. dont think Asus gives a crap about game optimization.. but Valve does and its shows with the ever growing list of supported games and new features in SteamOS
@@Sinesterr meh, support is great but having a higher specs is also great, Deck is good but it's struggling on demanding games where's Ally can play nice plus AMD gives its frame generation tech called AMD Fluid Motion Frames support to their RDNA 3 graphics which is on Ally APU so the Ally is more better now than Deck on performance.
Steam deck all the way.
Look if I wanted to EXCLUSIVELY play on a handheld, then maybe I'd pick the ally, but when I want performance, I'm gonna be playing on my desktop. For handheld I want it to be easy, customizable, and convenient, and the steam deck does that and WAY more.
Agree with you 100%
This!
Man, lemme keep your opinion for my preference, I love the deck, and planning to get one
You got it wrong buddy, handheld the steam, ally is a pc with windows 11
I want to be very clear here, the deck feels like a console, and the ally a PC. The go a super gaming tablet.
Scrolling with left trackpad dont have to be just circular, you can set up up and down movement as well, like basically anything in steam os.
You’re right, should’ve clarified it’s just the default
Thank you both for enlightening me, I've been pissed off by my scroll direction changing every time I move my finger up /down on the left pad, LMAO.
I've had the Rog ally, I've not had any issues with windows 11. I love the fact it's a mini PC. I wanted to download two emulators cemu and yuzu. Someone who is not technically savvy, I managed to get both emulators working easily within 2 days after watching UA-cam tutorials. I have add blockers, VPN and great anti virus installed. Also easily installed some other emulators available for windows. So everything that I wanted and could have asked for. Only thing to be super careful is windows devices can get 'cooked'. When left in a enclosed space make 100% sure, it's shut down and not in sleep mode. When vents and fans are covered, if it wakes up on sleep mode it can cook the device (gets super super hot).
Are you using that without emudeck?
When you play games in the emulators how long the battery last on average? Also what emulators you usually use the most?
Having owned both the Deck and Ally, I really must say the steam deck is my personal favorite! It’s far more comfortable to play on and I absolutely love the huge community around the deck. I have a nice desktop PC, but I must say I’ve transitioned to just playing my steam deck about 90% of the time nowadays lol. Just something so nice about throwing my AirPods in and relaxing on the couch, instead of sitting upright at my desk. No hate to the Ally by the way! I still think it’s a phenomenal device, but I just love how simple and seamless the Deck is
I have all three, deck truely serve the purpose of handheld in terms of mobility .but for ppl don’t have a dedicated gaming pc or laptop, ally is a good substitute .
@@emerald85For they price you might as well get a pc instead of the Rog Ally. Its not that much more.
Yea the deck just makes pc gaming so seamless, these other handhelds can't compete with that, because of windows.
lol no. ROG Ally has some open box for around $430-$499 and that is already a Z1 Extreme. I have mine at best buy open box at their stores there's alot of them actually@@mathiaskildedal
@@mathiaskildedal yeah, buy one device (pc) instead of 2 in 1 (ally = pc+ handheld). Smart.
I think the Deck is the better option in almost every scenario. Valve's support on it is what makes it. They update, patch and fix many things that may trouble their supported library in behalf of the devs. Its honestly really cool to see them work constantly on their product. The price is also lower, although it sacrifices performance. Suspend is a GAME CHANGER and honestly what sold me. Also it having its own OS is great. Makes it feel premium, and much easier to navigate and use with a controller. Both great systems, but the deck really is the best in the market.
I have both but keep using the ally more primarily because fc24 isnt available
That’s a big factor in my decision making lol
Whats fc24??
@@IOG2K it is .
@@sixstab2967 the new fifa 24 .
I have both. Well, the OG Steam Deck. I like them both for different reasons. The Steam Deck is much easier to grab and go. No tweaking with settings. Games that work, work well. I find myself enjoying it more for emulation too. The cons are subpar battery life and the fact I can't play every game I own. I like the Ally for that reason. It supports EVERYTHING. It also feels better in the hands for prolonged usage. And the fact that it's Windows also has some perks if you're in need of a portable PC. It also has a better screen at 144 hz 1080p, upscaling and better hardware. I can't speak on behalf of the OLED version of Steam Deck and I don't plan on upgrading to it but I do think it boils down to personal use case. Are you someone who likes to tweak settings and play every game you own or are you someone who likes a simple and reliable gaming experience?
I’d like to have a reliable experience with no tweakings, also I’m planning to play old school games from the ps2/3 PC area, what would you recommend?
@@adrianfernandez1041 deck no brainer. Perfect console for emulation and indies
@@joaquincaceresguibovich3182 thank you !
Finally, someone answered my question before making a choice. I'll go for ally then. Thanks bud
Wonder how the deck will compare with the upcoming Ally X....
great video man! amazing shots and editing, you deserve more subs! keep it up
Thank you brother!
I am struggling to choose between these 2. I experienced changing from LcD to OLED for my switch and omg i cant tell how much happy i am to make such decision. It may sound insignificant but for someone that actually play mostly handheld, that OLED display really is the thing of beauty. I can no longer go back to play switch old model with LCD. But in this case, i love to have steam deck OLED but at the same time, i would focus on AAA game which i think rog ally is more capable to run these games. Hmmm
Depends on what you want to do with them. The ROG Ally is a better device if your gaming varies wildly. For example, if you want to play Gamepass, use trainers, play GOG, link your Xbox account to Xbox games on Steam, use mods, etc you will have a better experience on the Ally. On the Steam Deck, you will have to look for guides to get do some stuff that could be as easy as running an exe file on Windows. The Steam Deck is almost console like if all you are doing is playing Steam Deck verified games.
For the screen, although I love the Steam Deck OLED screen, and think it looks better from a color saturation standpoint…the Ally screen is no slouch and has VRR 120Hz.
So it depends on what you want to do. I think both of them have their quirks, but even Asus has been fantastic at supporting the Ally with updates. I heard that the sd card slot has been fixed in newer Ally units…but I don’t know if I can verify that. That said, I just put a 4TB SSD 2280 in mine with an adapter and it has been working great!
@@MithosDagon this is awesome advise and really help me. Thanks man
Anytime someone says "the ROG ally has better performance" you must realize that what matters is performance per watt. These are handhelds. Sure, maybe a handheld is as strong as a 4090 but if it runs for 11 minutes what would be the point? At 15 watts the OLED matches the ally and at 10 watts it smokes it. All while getting much better battery life
Very narrow minded view from you. Missing the point completely
This depends on the usecase. I will mostly play this where I have an outlet nearby, so battery life isn't an issue. I also own a powerful powerbank for when I need to use it for extended periods of time without plugging it in.
@@arctic-1878 if I have an outlet nearby all the time id just use a laptop. The point of a handheld is portability
@@derekfurst6233 For me it's for use when I'm on vacation visiting family, or when I just wan't to game when lying in bed. That's portability. The Ally is much better and more comfortable option than carrying with me a big ass laptop and controller. Handhelds aren't only for using when your out and about without an outlet nearby.
@@derekfurst6233 I use the Ally for when I'm on vacation visiting family, or for when I just feel like playing while lying in bed. The Ally is a much better option for that than a big ass laptop and controller.
Portability isn't only a term for when your off grid. (This may be a double reply, doesn't look like my first one was published)
Nice comparison. Which game are you playing at 11:00 ?
brothers tale of two sons
Your performance testing seems to be correct. The Steam Deck is basically designed to run with lower power.
Its made to run off battery, ally isnt made to be portable because its stupid
@@spacedout4061You know what's crazy? I have both and on their lowest TDP settings playing Hollow Knight, I've only ever managed to get 30 minutes of more power from my Steam Deck, so battery life on the ROG Ally isn't an issue at all
I had a ROG Ally. The Steam Deck is a much better gaming experience...
I'm thinking about buying one of these, could you explain why is steamdeck better? Thanks in advance
@@ScinDBad
NEVER. buy an ROG Ally.
why? if you think you want more performance then go for the ally. just know that you would get at least 20-50 minutes if you set it to the max watt. steam deck does 2 hours at 15W and ally does 1 hour on 15W. Steamdeck has trackpads which is very useful for games like starfield. if you want performance, just use/buy a laptop. the fuck is the point if youre just gonna charge the handheld at home for better performance? just get the steamdeck oled, shits better than 11 minutes on 120hz.
Same @@ScinDBad
can i also know why steam decl is better?
@@iqwansyahmi6886 battery doesnt drain in 30 minutes, steam deck does the same performance with the absurd battery life of 4 hours. if you pick rog because of the higher screen hertz, then you're just stupid af. steam deck (especially the oled) is superior because even with 90hz it looks like its running on 144. i own one so im kinda biased but im not joking when you get one you wont regret it.
7:18 You didn't do anything wrong here. Z1 Extreme is just less efficient than Steam Deck's Custom Van Gogh APU in the lower TDP spectrum. In other words: ROG Ally APU needs a little bit more juice to really spread it's wings. From what I remeber The Phawx has an excellent video on this subject.
thanks man!
It needs a lot more juice. The issue is that they didnt think before putting it in pol
I have both. I'm a happy boy
I'm going to be joining that club soon. I have the ROG Ally, but want the Deck too
Returned ally for steam deck best decision ever ally last 30 mins before dying
I think the ally is better for my use case since I have the travel for work so I prefer the ability to have windows readily available for productivity and gaming.
You are taking a real risk buying ASUS products. Just get a steam deck
I'll never buy Asus products again. I don't know if I bought a defective laptop but after 1 hr of gaming the fps drops below 20 fps.
Dude, a’SUS is a biggest scam
why?
Their warranty sucks. They will never admit their product is wrong. @@EmilianoKalafatic
I am on the steamdeck boat since my use case is pretty similar to yours. I have actually topped it up with a 1 tb SD card to fit even more games for when I fly or just to play @ home (slow internet that makes me less prone to be downloading and deleting) with emulators and other bits that may eat up in space. The note that you make in the anker powerbank is very interesting, which one did you end up buying? the 24k mAh 737 or the 27650?
The 24K
Great video, time for an update comparing the ally x since you compared the second iteration of the steam deck. My issue lately with the deck Oled is the 16:10 aspect ratio as most games do not support it so the slightly bigger screen just becomes black bars. Also not being able to simply install epic and gog or gamepass is quite annoying as I have a ton of games in these as well. I thought I’d be good with just steam but I got a lot of great titles free from epic and then game pass. I may be leaning toward the ally x.
i got my ally fews day ago and love it, a bit tricky setting manual fan and bunch of tech stuff tdp something, but when you get over it. It's totally worth it. The feeling of freedom to use the pc, now in your hand, anywhere. Awesome feeling
May i ask which is better for this 2 device? I'm planning to purchase 1 but i don't know which is better. Thank you for your response.
The ally is a powerhouse, yes the battery do not last long if you are playing AAA games and there is the SD card issue, but for me the built in memory is enough and I usually play it plugged in or docked for the 30W performance. I'm in love with this console, been playing a lot more campaign games after I bought it.
Im planning on buying either rog ally or SD OLED.. but still can't make any choice.. i will mostly planning to bring the handheld anywhere, especially at work.. which one is the best pick? Im not planning to play demanding games though,just the normal ones, and probably emulator too
Steam Deck bruh 😮😮
Steam deck has battery life..but if your ok with carrying a battery bank the ally can be great for gamepass and epic games. If everything you want is on steam the the deck is probably better. If you have collected a ton of epic games then Ally is the way to go.
@@chrisdsx6839 thanks for your opinion! I'll likely be taking the ally,but just to be sure.. is the sd card issues still ongoing?
@@MuhammadFirdaus-ol5tm no, for what I have seen the SD issue isn't a problem on newer models. R8 and R9 serial numbers...Asus never acknowledged the problem but it seems like the quietly resolved it.
Right know , in my country the difference price between oled and ally extreme is quite significant. Oled price is 130 usd more expensive than ally.
Great video and quality of videos!
I'm baffled how cheap the SD OLED is in the US. In Norway the 512 Oled is $950 ($1050 1TB), meanwhile Ally Z1 E is $799 (or $710 open box).
560 dollar in Belgium ...
I recently bought the Aly because the whole some games not working on the deck made me hesitate on the deck
love the comparison bro. does the screen alone of the OLED makes it a better device? I don’t play fps games. I have the ally and I’m really curious about the screen of the SD OLED.
Yup. Once you use the SD OLED, you'll be surprised with the image quality that it provides. It will make the experience feel like the screen is a much higher reso
Just Bought the SteamDeck OLED. I was leaning towards the ROG Ally....but I do not like windows 11 on mobile platforms, SD-OLED 512GB was $550 vs $699 for ROG Ally. I have over 50 games on Steam games that I do not get top play due to always being busy and out on the go. Which is why I wanted the better battery life from the SD-OLED.....
The rog ally X is gonna be sick. Can’t wait to get one
Id rather have battery drain with better performance over better battery with lack in performance. I can manage the battery issue at least, not much you can really do about the lesser performing deck.
Hi, can someone tell me what game he's playing at 11:00? Thanks!
Brothers tale of two sons
Was it the Ally with the Z1 or the Z1 EXTREME?
For me it's between the legion go and the steam deck. The legion go has a trackpad, but it's only one, doesn't click, and is in a less ergonomic area. So whenever I want to type something I would pretty much have to use the touchscreen which is a major loss. That's the main issue that I have and might get the steam deck which is $150 cheaper lol
I have 230+ free epic games that say I need to stay with a windows handheld. But that suspend mode on SD sure sounds nice.
Just bought the SD simply because of the suspend mode 😄 can’t do handheld gaming without it
Your video quality is top notch and your narration is chill and comfortable to listen to, content wise this is the laziest comparison between the 2 MOST famous and overly reviewed handhelds in the market, a lot of the things you mentioned or failed to mentioned have already been reported a million times, i felt like you could have made a better review by simply copying one of the hundreds of reviews already in youtube and probably would have been more detailed.
Keep the good work and i hope your channel gets bigger and also hope you put much more effort on your testing and investigations.
Best regards!
Now THAT'S how you do constructive criticism. Some positive feedback mixed with a bit of tough love.
Really appreciate it. Comments like these cause me to improve the most
Thanks for this i am trying to decide which is best for offline play? Can i have access to most steam games even if i am not connected to wifi?
Yes If you want offline play go with the steam deck I own both Rog ally Z and steam deck and steam deck is better for offline play
@@QtAsriel Why do you own both? Thinking of getting the Steam Deck OLED too. I have the ROG Ally Z
@@HarlemsFinest85 incase one dies
@@QtAsriel Well, we know which one will die first. Thinking that the Deck will be the one I take to work, and Rog for travel and home when I don't want to use my consoles.
If it was my only gaming device maybe I would prefer the ROG Ally, but if you already have a pc then I think steam deck is a no brainer. By far better battery life, doesn't need to be plugged in to fully utilize, steam os is much easier to use than windows, and valve is a much more trustworthy company that ASUS. Steam deck is a perfect complement to your main rig
Im stuck deciding which one for just a bedside handheld. I cant always get on thr PC and i like the idea of just layong in bed after the kids are all asleep and playing RPG's like skyrim, the Witcher or pillars of eternity. Just cant decide which to get. Think im leaning toward steam deck
The Steam Deck OLED display is nice and all but the missing VRR and low resolution compared to the Ally is a HUGE trade-off. VRR is a critical feature since they are all power starved and frames are heavily fluctuating. The Non-VRR display are horrible to look at. I know because I have the Steamdeck LCD 512GB matte display and the Lenovo Legion Go. They both lack VRR and it shows in many games...But the 7 inch display of the Ally is also a bit too small.
think i’m gonna go for the steam, great video ! also what which power bank is it exactly that you use, cheers :)
Here’s an affiliate link to it amzn.to/4aKDL9U
@@ColeCaccamise Thanks!
I only play FH4 & FH5 thru steam on pc. But I’m looking for a handheld when I travel. Would you suggest the 512 or 1TB Steam? ROG Ally Z1 or Z1 Extreme. Thank you- lost mom lol😂
If you're not playing any other game the 512 deck is going to be cheaper and will still run great. The ally being on sale at Best buy rn makes it a great deal but for travel I much prefer the deck.
I just bought the 512GB Oled! Im playing it for Forza as well. Great device for traveling imo
Enjoy it bro!
Just don't really know how to choose tbh, I have a og steam deck and and I don't know. Should I upgrade to the OLED version or just pick the Asus rog ally, I do play my games on steam but I also play some League Of Legends
I had original SD and sold it. Then wanted to by Rog Ally or LGO, then I decided to wait for better chipset next year and realized one thing. Why am I even chasing for better performance since I can play on gaming pc? And now when I don't have SD I want it back just to play indie games peacefully from the sofa in comfy position. So I will probably buy SD OLED, slightly bigger screen and OLED for small games it should be fine and it cheapest one. How did you decide?
@@lincoln537 still holding on with the og SD, was super surprised that it can handle some of the recent games like spacemarine 2, but I decided to buy a ROG in the next couple of months
I just ordered a steam deck oled and I’m impatiently waiting for it. I had the rog ally for a couple of days and returned it. The Rog’s battery and unfriendly IU annoyed me and put me off. I mostly play ps5 games so I figure if I can’t play a game on the deck I will still have a ps5. I don’t know hopefully I made the right choice.
1:20 This is just fake news... you can't get xbox gamepass on linux without cloud streaming... which is incomparable to native gaming
I wanted a portable machine that could play my computer games. I thought about it and found all the games I would have wanted to play were on Steam! That made choosing the Steam Deck OLED a no-brainer.
I have both, deck is more like a console, while ally is a mini-pc.
The ally's hardware is super strong, they only have to put a larger battery in it the next time.
And I think both of them are still a little heavy, maybe next time sub 600g?
The ally is more powerful but needs more watts to actually see any performance increase over the deck. The deck performs better on battery
"you hope that next time they put a bigger battery but make the device weigh less." How do you combine these two things in the same sentence? Batteries haven't learned how to make weightless air yet )
@@Wolfen13c lol yeah. Main issue is the inefficient cpu in the ally. Deck is better for actual portable play
@@spacedout4061inefficient cpu but performs better , has better res and higher htz , sure
@@spacedout4061if you wanna cheap out just say so no need for mental gymnastics
I really want a 1080 display handheld but i also want the better battery life i dont know which one to go with i dont mind running windows either i just sold my LCD Deck so im looking to get the Ally or OLED Deck
User experience i have to go for the deck. But since i only use it at home.. im using my rog way more! Love the 1080p and the power! And 120 fps on smaller games is awesome
The SD OLED looks nice! The sheer fact you can't play every Steam game on a steam device makes little sense to me. For a lot of people that won't matter too much. I'm happy with a bit of Windows jank and worse battery to have more of a fully fledged PC experience I can easily install what I want without looking up how to bypass Steam OS. I've used Windows 3.1 in the 90's. I'm ok with it :D
On the Ally, I get 200 plus FPS on Battlefield V and average around 80 FPS playing Spiderman Miles Morales
I think the deck is for me. Im usually really sensitive to framerate because ive played so many competive games but the only thing more annoying than low fps is bad battery. That and the deck has trackpads and i really dont want to deal with window's wonkyness
Great side-by-side comparison! Went with oled as I love the color contrast and better feel in my hands.
I'm conflicted and torn on what one to get between the two devices
Same
@@capnmoby9295 i actually did decide to get the Steam Deck OLED 1TB. because Valve owns the OS that it runs on and it's very streamlined and feels like a console. It's very easy to use even for me who knows nothing much about PC gaming. I really love my Steam deck and the OLED screen looks incredible
There are over 400 games that support HDR
Hey, Rog Alley owner here. I wanted to comment on what you said regarding Rogs bricking SD cards. I spent last Saturday stress testing this with 4 different SD cards from 3 different companies. As long as you are using a SANDISK SD card PNY SD card or any big name SD card maker it shouldn't brick the games. That tends to happen when using smaller 3rd party SD cards. Moving games to the 3rd partt SDcard corrupted them automatically. It was a 'Moric 1tb' SD card with plenty of good reviews on amazon that would get perpetually bricked. When I decided I had enough of that I shelled out $140 for the Sandisk Ultra 1.5TB sd card and play games off of it with no issue.
that makes sense, thanks a ton for the info!
You spent one day testing bro, it takes longer than one day for it to happen and i can pretty much guarantee you it will happen eventually no matter what brand of sd card you use
No that's not how it works. It has nothing to do with SD card brands. While yes, reputable brands are better because of their reliability, the issue lies within the design of the sdcard reader itself. Basically, heat is the primary cause of sdcard reader breaking. For example my Ally, despite never being used above 25W tdp (mostly playing at 18W), still had its sdcard reader broke after several months. At this point I'll just say to anyone owning or planning to own Ally, to just forget about the sdcard reader and stick with plain ssd upgrade.
@@BradShaw1690 still works fine play it every day
@@MrCoffee0996 How are you going to tell me something I physically tested with 6 different cards is wrong? Just use your warranty if its only been months. you described a defect.
Im trying to see if i want the steam or rog. Ive been playing switch for awhile but been wanting to play more triple a games.....which one would be a greater experience. I mainly been wanting to play more mmos
The ally will be much better, can play all triple a games, deck fails to play newer ones
@@MiggateNoGodku I think I'll grab that then thanks man
The problem with Steam Deck is that i can’t play HSR or Wuthering Waves in it.
Even if i downloaded windows into it, the system isn’t optimized for the Steam Deck, not to mention it’ll be laggy.
Fair review, i have all three handhelds. imo ally is for ones that don’t have a main gaming PC. U mainly have to play with plugged in, but why don’t ppl get a laptop or tablet then, bigger screen is better for ur eyes and is more suitable for more game types .
Price
Laptop is heavier, bigger and needs a desk to play. Ally is lighter, smaller fits even in a small bag, can play anywhere without the need of desk, mouse or separate controller. In short it is more portable because it is smaller and lighter. Windows tablet needs a keyboard and mouse as well at the same time needs a desk to play your games. Gaming laptop is more expensive as well than the Ally
@@nathanjuan6042 tablet doest need a keyboard and mouse , u can play with controller . but i see ur point.
The problem, for me at least, is that the Steamdeck doesn't allow me to easily play any game from any store I have bought. Sometimes there are deals on different stores and I make use of them.
Yup that is intentional.
The entire point of Steamdeck is to drive sales on Steam, and it's working pretty well so far as I've been filling out my Steam library for the first time in years after getting a 'Deck OLED.
@budthecyborg4575 Never said it wasn't intended, seeing as they sell these devices at a loss. That doesn't change the fact that it makes it a bad product in my eyes.
Great video. I thought about trading my deck oled for a rog ally but I'm kinda hesitant. I'm enjoying the deck so far and I have an Xbox series S so I really just want something more for on the go. I might stick with the deck oled
I want a steamdeck with the performance of the ally
As a recent owner of an Rog ally i have nothing bad to says about thr handled exept for the battery and the Windows 11.. But its still pretty decent ny wife is playing hollow knight at maximum graphic in 4k... Coulbnt be happier
Do think it is better than laptop with gtx 1060 6b, i7 8750h and 16gb ram in terms of performance?
Well for the comfort the steam deck wins but ask performance that laptop will smash a steam deck. Or rog Ally. Personally if you don't need it as a normal computer get a steam deck. There's no way that these handhelds could beat the laptop.
Great comparison. I have a ROG Ally and it’s fantastic but the software can be a pain sometimes to the point where I wrestle with the thought of selling it for a Deck OLED. However when I do see the limitations of the Deck when it comes to certain games and the extra steps to put Launchers on it I question if the the trade off is worth it.
Being able to play any game off any launcher is super convenient.. and you cant play a bunch of games on the deck to begin with
Use heroic launcher. Its totally easy.
Personnely having owned both, the Steam Deck is generally better whenever you aren't actually playing the game, while the Ally is better while you are. TBH, both of them aren't perfect. Both have thier fair share of pro's and con's and that all depends on exactly what you are doing on it.
Thanks man, tbh I really don't plan to play much more than steam games on the deck. If there's ever a game I'm playing that won't run I'll probably just take the ally
@@ColeCaccamise That's the best thing with having both handhelds, you get all of the pros of both, without hardly any cons.
The only real con's is of course the cost of buying both systems, neither of them are pocketable and the battery life on both isn't great. Which is why I've also been keeping an eye out on the retro handhelds recently. I'm tempted to invest in the new Retroid Pocket 4 Pro, next.
Personnely my preferences are:
A quick pickup n' play = Steam Deck
A medium length session = Ally
A long session = neither, it'll be on my Desktop PC
Mouse driven game = Steam Deck or better still PC if available
Steam game = Mostly Steam Deck
Non Steam game = Ally
Linking to a display = Ally
Using Apps = Ally or PC
Demanding game = Ally
Moderately demanding game = Either
Indie/low demanding game = Steam Deck
Emulation = Either dependant on what.
Short journey = Ally
Long journey = Steam Deck
At home relaxing = Either
I'd honestly say I use the pair of them roughly 50/50. I love em both equally as much, TBH.
As someone with a gaming PC and Laptop, the steam deck makes more sense.
Hey man, what camera do you use?
Hey brother, I use the sony a6400 with a 24-105mm lens
I have all my camera gear linked here - kit.co/ColeCaccamise/camera-gear
Hello everyone. I am not much of a gamer. I only enjoy playing fifa and I am only looking to buy one of this handheld device solely for this reason. Kind of confused which to go for. Ally, steam deck , legion go? Which is better for playing fifa23 and EA24?
steam is the cheapest, legion is double the price. its not worth it if its only for fifa. so i guess steam is the best option.
rog ally for fifa
This is a great comparison but Im so torn b/w the deck and ally 😢
Im traveling a lot and use a mac for most of my work, im also playing over xbox cloud sometime and now i want to switch over handheld 😭 .
I play a lot of mmos and rpgs and racing.
cloud streaming on deck took a little extra setup but after tat it was fine. as long as all your games run on deck i think you'd appreciate the battery
@@ColeCaccamise Thank you very much. Now it's 80% deck 20% ally 🙏🙋♂️
I disagree with Comparing prices, not countries the Deck cost more than the ally as there aren't official importers, i can find the Ally cheaper the the decks 64gb variant.
Well I have both and Rogs my daily device. But it's good to have both even if I hardly use my decks. I put 2 terabytes SSD in my ROG and have the battery pack. I have 1 terabyte in my deck. Get both if you can.
i cant undestand why someone would want both. Why do you need two handhelds?
Can anyone say if there’s still the sd card issue? Been wanting to pull the trigger on the ally but weary of the issue
yes on the z1 and z1e
What are your thoughts on the rumoured MSI claw?
What's the announced price? I think one of the best things about these devices is the affordability.. I think a $1000 handheld pc turns people off like me.
if it's really 1K i find it hard to recommend to most people. i might check it out for review tho
@@ColeCaccamise For sure. I only nabbed my RoG Ally because I got it for 580 bucks brand new. 1k is a big ask.
@@stephendoerrer4464 Same. It's why the Ayaneos and GPDs never really were worth a serious consideration, they were simply too expensive.
Playing PC Game Pass natively makes Ally the best machine, for me. Got the PS Remote Play working, and all the Windows game marketplaces. It's an "everything handheld".
I bought the rog ally z1 extreme and picked up a 2 tb western digital nvme ssd and put it in the second day I owned it battery life does suck so I grabbed a anker prime power bank 27k mah it has 100 watt charging and I get close to 3 hours with aaa games and can recharge the power bank in a hour with a 100 watt charger so it works out pretty well. Since I got it I have not used my Xbox series x which I am going to sell to cover some of the cost on grabbing a steam deck to have the best of both worlds
Sounds like ASUS put most of its budget into the CPU/GPU and Steam Deck balanced between power and function/quality of the components.
If you use hibernate mode instead of sleep mode, you can instantly go back to your games when you're ready by just pressing start, so it's better than the deck
With regards to the 10W FPS drop, it’s because the Z1E is more power hungry than the steam deck custom APU. You’ll see the frames even out at 12W then the ally starts to pull ahead at 15W. Personally still picked the OLED for battery life. That doubling of play time matters more to me than the extra 5+ fps at 15W.
I can definitely say not to steam deck I received my steam back and spring of 2022 and I recently got rid of it because it just couldn't perform so i upgraded to a GPD win mini and that thing is a beast that plays AAA games at 720p or 1080p at low to medium settings
Go with the Steam Deck. A lot more thought and care went into it. You’ll get updates, service and parts for years to come. Hopefully. I’ll sacrifice a few FPS for that. Plus 1080p and up feels pointless at this screen size. The OLED version is the best refresh I’ve seen in gaming. Stick with it because sequels are around the corner.
Despite ally continuing to get support I could see it being ditched way before steam deck
How many times do you move the camera around when filming? So many tech reviewers have the same style with doing something but there will be like 5 different angles before his done. Like unboxing
I use the steam deck oled as my personal handheld, but i have a great pc so i use the device to stream locally if i want the good frames and graphics along with that cool oled screen. Even with a budget pc combine with the 350 64gb, i recommend getting a budget pc and a lcd steam deck.
Alot of people still buying the steam deck and I'm one of them . Waiting for my this Friday steam deck olet 512gb
Does steamdeck has Microsoft word?
The Steam deck is a much more optimized experience over the windows handhelds but that's a windows problem not an ASUS problem.
Agreed
I don't get why people be crying about battery life.. just buy a powerbank. The fact that the rog ally can play steam, gog and gamepass games makes it a clear win for me.
Yeah people love to mention the shitty things about windows but don't mention the good... I guess having hundreds of games on gamepass is windows "bloat"