What keeps steam deck on top personally, is the fact you have a actual dedicated team focusing on improving the experience of the deck and not already pushing to make another. That and private company, Only need to please gabe
Doesnt really put it at the top lmao you keep telling yourselves these things to make yourself feel better for buying the weakest product. Same as the guy in the video.
@Shaunymac10 brah you haven't been in the market long. New crap comes out all the time? And compared to what was available when the deck came out, it was the best.
@@Shaunymac10 The Deck will be supported far longer and has far less issues to work out on the end user's side, yes the Deck is on top regardless of the weaker hardware.
I get the need to compare these... Like everyone compared the switch to the deck BUT comparing longer more refined systems to something that just came out doesn't make sense. But I agree the deck is better value if you get the entry one though, can't beat that price. Sold my deck pro for $600 to get the Ally.... Took the Ally back to get that basic deck lol
@@posterboi87 The point is, it's more obvious with Asus, because they aren't as transparent or quick about addressing these issues as Valve was. Valve was pushing updates nearly everyday in the beginning. How many weeks did it take for Asus to address the microsd card issue?
@@posterboi87 in that case I may buy the ally again in six months time when all these problems are resolved but at the moment i think this device is not fit for market.
I've had my SD for over a year and bought it new on eBay 512GB model and just a couple of months ago had the courage to upgrade it to 2TB Sabrent Rocket for $300 - through new egg - and I will say this - the SD has put back in my life something I was missing for years now ever since being a teenager ( in my late 30's now ) it's being able to switch off my mind and enjoy life and stories again like I used to growing up - it's made me find my inner gamer again and love the time I get to just play an hour or 2 a day and even made me excited again about computers with learning linux - may the heavens bless valve in its journey to dominate gaming handhelds ❤
Mannn I feel you on this Josh. I’m 33 now and tbh, as much as I wanna build a PC, most of the time I just wanna lay down on a bed or couch and game. I spend ten hours a day sitting down in a cubicle so the last time I wanna do when I get home is sit down in front of another screen and keyboard.
I was telling people it would ALWAYS come down to support and community. Steam is a MASSIVE giant in the game. Valve crushed it. ROG Ally is just a PC in that Form Factor. What we're dealing with now is NEW form factor for PC gaming. That's about all it is. The ROG Ally is a great step forward for Handheld PC gaming. The Steam Deck and Switch are the Console version of that.
To be honest, the Valve SteamDeck was WORSE than the ROG Ally upon release. They've had about 2 Years of updates since. It's a completely different console now then it was upon launch. The ASUS ROG Ally has many advantages. More efficient and faster processor, better screen, way more game compatibility, and lastly a retail presence. So it is just premature to call shots yet. We might see the ROG Ally get many hardware and software improvements in the coming future. It might become the DEFINITIVE handheld to own. Only qualms I have with either device is the release date. The ROG Ally is pretty decent, it would've been a bit better if earlier, and perhaps if it was released by MS and they didn't release the Xbox Series S. Meanwhile, the Valve SteamDeck was rumoured and supposed to be announced back in 2019 and launched in 2020. Which would've meant it was late competing with PS4 level hardware. Yet it was released later in 2022, putting it square against PS5. Not that hardware determines good games, but this is Valve we're talking about, they rely more on third-party titles, they are not the juggernaut that is Nintendo (Pokemon, Zelda, Mario Kart, Kirby, Metroid, Super Mario, etc etc).
@@ekintekoYeah, the time difference is too big. Too early to judge when things could improve upon 2 years; however, all of the evaluations are welcomed. It’s free feedback and it’s up to Asus if they want to build on them.
That's because Steam caters to Steam customers. They've already done it with Valve Index. All these years the main focus of Valve was to get Steam customers access to their games be it Valve Index, Valve Steam Link or Valve Steam Deck. To gain more steam players. Valve has been doing this for years they've created the game that started online FPS games. Counter Strike. Valve has taken this industry to be their own. Just like Nintendo and portability which is so much different from what Valve has going on. If Nintendo gave its fans access to all Nintendo titles for a cheaper price on the Nintendo switch and if they had done it a long time ago they'd have conquered this platform. ASUS had only focused on hardware. they don't have the knowledge that Valve has on how to provide gaming satisfaction for it's customers.
@@ekinteko The problem with ASUS is their software department is way weaker than Valve with their Steam/SteamOS. The software development lifecycle on ASUS is much more like classic enterprise company that may release software semester or annually (unless it was urgent like Ally initial release), while Valve is pretty much Scrum/Agile based SDLC, which can release things almost weekly.
ROG Ally checks a lot of boxes, but I'd much prefer tbolt instead of the proprietary connector. Also not having touch pads was a big miss for my personal use case. We're too fixated in general on powerful hardware, I think Valve has the right idea with turning the screws on devs / publishers to improve game optimization and performance instead of expecting consumers to just throw faster hardware at their games. Looking forward to more handheld gaming computers coming out, loving this form factor.
You're right that optimization can make a big difference. I remember when the load times for Breath of the Wild were improved post launch. It made a big difference. Looking at it another way, you can have a super computer, but if a game is a buggy unoptimized mess, it will still run terrible.
I have an AMD powered laptop, and I can say this: the problem with Steam Deck using AMD chips is the battery life. Less than 4 hours on a handheld in 2023 is absurd... same thing with my laptop, both on windows or linux, never more than 3 hours battery life, even with Wifi off etc. Unacceptable
@@FeelingShred AMD typically has better power efficiency than Intel. My personal gaming laptop with an AMD CPU and Nvidia GPU can easily get over 4 hours of battery life with wifi on. Gotten about 6-8 hours of use out of it
I think I never really appreciated the extra buttons on a controller more than I have when owning a deck. I do think that the ROG ally could be a good contender for people who just want games to work and a portable experience to their games... but honestly, the Deck made me play more games that I previously shrugged off because "Why would I run this or that game on my big computer?" And the touch screen and touch pads added so much more flexibility for strategy games, card games, and the like.
I agree. I play Telltale games, indie games, and clearing my backlog of older, shorter, and less powerful games since I have owned my deck. I never wanted to sit at my desk and play those games on my PC.
This!! Although it is convenient being able to map the 4 Deck back buttons to any key through steam controller configs as opposed to only being able to remap controller buttons to other buttons on the device
Yep, I’ve completed games like Insighted, cloudpunk, Dredge, and other indies on my steam deck. I tried playing Dredge on my desktop and I just couldn’t get into to it initially. Steam Deck is my indie/older gaming system, I leave the big titles to my pc.
It IS a great contender. It runs windows 11 and has beefier internals, the screen is also significantly better There is a place for both but they each have ups and downs imo
Another important point is that the list of games supported on the Deck is actually much bigger than you think. I run tons of games listed as "incompatible" on my deck without making any adjustments or modifications, just launch and it works.
I never looked at the Ally because it lacks the trackpad. Some people said you can use mouse, keyboard, etc2. But actually, I don't use the trackpad as mouse, but for unlimited key/button mapping. With the trackpad I can set radial menu and something like that and I can get quick access to every key and can map it to every key. This is a very underrated feature and not a lot of people use or at least aware that steam deck is capable of doing this. This works for game like Skyrim, Witcher 3, and all other games that require you to use number key 1-9 or F1-F9 on PC, steam deck can handle it flawlessly.
Underrated for sure, I used to do a similar thing with the Steam Controller, if I was playing Skyrim I’d have a load of shortcuts on the left trackpad for the map, inventory, etc. It’s a game-changer.
Track Pads make ALL the Diffence for Genuine PC gaming! For my money the Ally is just an action and adventure games console and the Steam Deck is the TRUE PC Games handheld!
I like my Ally and it has become my primary handheld but there really is no doubt that the Deck is overall the better product. Yes the ally can run stuff really well but the Steamdeck can run things well enough and it can run all the lower end stuff at low power. Its also just really easy to use, has way better support, has way more accessories, is cheaper, more thoughtfully designed, the list goes on. I think if the Ally reaches its full potential it will be as good as the Deck but not necessarily better.
If I could run Fifa on the steam deck it would be my primary device. But unfortunately it’s impossible to get it working smoothly and Fifa is literally the only reason I want a handheld PC. Deck is still ahead of the ally in build quality. But I do believe that the steam deck will fall behind pretty quickly when next gen ally comes out. Specially with windows gaming handheld OS possibly coming out soon.
@@MV-go3pk maybe if windows does make a handheld version of windows otherwise I’m not expecting a sequel to the Ally anytime soon considering the launch. But I get it, nothing you can do outside of installing windows.
@@MV-go3pkwhich is why the ally is superior lmao. Dude can beat around the bush and people can bash the ally all they want but if you're good with windows, fan curves, and setting up custom setups.....the steamdeck just can't compete. I sold mine and can't go back
@@robertsmith20022I prefer a good batttery life and a console experience instead of a buggy windows laptop with its two primary input methods cut off (keyboard and mouse) and replaced with an xbox controller. No thanks.
Well said. I just picked up a 64 GB Steam Deck from the Steam Summer Sale and since I have been using Steam for so long I have many games that I could play on the system right out of the box. I also was able to pick up a high-quality 1 TB SanDisk micro SD card for my Steam Deck for under $100 from the Amazon Prime sale. The timing was perfect. The Steam Deck has actually allowed me to rediscover old games I never got around to playing as well as enjoying some Sony exclusives I was not able to play since I do not have a PS4 or PS5. The dock also works perfectly to play on my TV. Have to give credit to Valve for all the hard work they put into the Steam Deck. It is really an amazing gaming device and an amazing value for what you are getting.
Dude the Steam sale + the Prime sale was legit a sign from God. I got a Deck, SSD, SD, dock, skin/thumbstick covers ect, and like 5 entire game collections that were all on sale for around 90% off. All in all I saved around 500 bucks, it was magnificent
@@ZyklonBeast12 Agreed! You made out bro! The savings I got on games I bought were insane, especially seeing what the prices are now. Some games that I already had on my Xbox I bought again because of the portability of playing them on the Deck and I am really loving the short time I was able to put into Spiderman Remastered. Those 2 sales back to back were a HUGE blessing! I also was able to get the official Steam Dock on sale and on Amazon I was able to get another 3rd party dock for sale to set up in another room. Soon I will be getting some time off from work and if I do nothing more than spend some quality time with these games, I am set. Enjoy bro!
@@stevenjohnson8736 Congrats. For me, the price savings I got between the 64 GB and 256 GB systems allowed me to pick up a ton of new games and the 1 TB San Disk Extreme micro SD card I got from Amazon is working perfectly. I already downloaded a bunch of games including some big titles like Doom, Spiderman Remastered, and Sonic Frontiers and I still have a bunch of space on my micro SD card. The limiting factor is the 64 GB internal memory because a portion of the games still save on internal memory even when you save them on the micro SD. Eventually, I will add an SSD to my Steam Deck but with the 64 GB Steam I will already have the 64 GB internal storage for Steam OS, I already have the 1 TB micro SD card and I will be able to add an additional 1 TB or more of SSD internal memory. The flexibility Steam gave us with the Deck is amazing. Enjoy your Deck and those games.
I too bought the Deck due to both the Steam Summer Sale and the Amazon Prime Day where I picked up a 1TB SSD over the ROG Ally and my thought process was identical to your analysis.
A steam deck tip for you: when you have a game like the one on screen that usually hovers a bit above 30 fps, you'll have a lot better of an experience if you cap your framerate at 30 on the quick access menu (the three dots one), as well as a bit of a battery life boost. Our eyes tend to favor consistency a lot when judging smoothness, once the fps is capped, you not only will get a mostly consistent experience because the fps is the same, you'll also get the advantage of forcing the in-game time between two frames to always be the same, which aids with the illusion of motion
I really enjoyed the video, very informative! Ive always wanted to get into PC gaming but sadly my life doesnt afford me the time to sit and play very long :/ but I always saw the steam deck and I was scared it was “too good to be true” but this has honestly pushed me more into getting a steam deck! Before I fully commit, can you guys tell me your experiences with it? Also I was wondering am I able to run other game launchers on there as well or is it just steam only? (Also hows the emulation scene on the steam deck?)
Indeed. How many folks complained about the Deck because their $400, 15 watt, battery powered handheld can't stand toe to toe in performance with their high end desktop? Unrealistic expectations abound, and anyone who did even the bare minimum of research on the product they bought came away satisfied.
@@The8bitbeardfor real lol. I've seen so many people be like "lol 40 fps for spiderman bro unplayable just use a desktop PC" and it's like well yeah but desktop gaming PCs cost like $2000 and the steam deck costs like $400 plus I can play it while I take a sh*t, you guys do know that's the point of the thing right? People neglect the fact that a modern handhelds can play brand new triple a PC games and will just say "lul battery life sucks switch runs for 10 hours" well, the Gameboy in 1989 ran for 48 hours in 2 triple aa's but I don't see you suggesting j use one of those anymore
@@CarlBraun3 then the ally? yea, but is that extra performance worth putting up with ASUS? a company that has shown themselves to be amazing at making hardware but awful with software? I'd say no, Valve is a software company, they know how to make software, and IMO as long as games run on the SD, its the better device
@@DIYOrDieTrying As much as I love my Steam Deck, I outright hate Linux and prefer Windows better. Most of the games i have or play have a kernel level anti cheat so most new multiplayer games outright don't support the Deck. Seamless in my eyes is usually how long it takes to set up a device and understand the main concept of the device, with the Deck all you have to do is start up the device, login, and start installing games as long as it 1) Supports the Deck or 2) the Deck is powerful enough to play it. I believe that people say that the Deck is a seamless device because of how easy it is to get up and running just to play games. Now on the other hand, games that are not in Steam and require you to use the desktop mode is a nightmare. Lutris outright in my experience sucks. Too much Error 256, too much of needing me to mess with file systems or Konsole. Hell having to input a command to allow chrome to play copyrighted videos from things like Netflix to Crunchyroll is too much. Tho I understand why Windows wouldn't be such a good idea with the amount of bloat and background processes it always has, Windows in my eyes is just overall easier than any Linux platform to understand since you don't need to use any console command most if not all the time. Most of the people I know or see either in person or reddit don't really play triple A games with their Deck and choose to play Indie ones instead so they might not have the same experience as I have.
I enjoyed the rog for the 3 days I had it. But I’m a console gamer. It was a little too much effort for me. I have a steamdeck now and love it, definitely more in line with what I want. But I’m not saying buy one over the other. I hope they both do well and this handheld market just keeps growing.
I agree. When I come back home from work that last thing I want to deal with is Windows. With the Steam Deck I just turn it on and play. Rog Ally has great hardware but Steam Deck has a better user experience.
One usecase that I ran across recently is modded terraria. Mods will absolutely push the amount of keybinds you use, and having the trackpads to act as quick access radial menus felt like the biggest win. Steam input with the trackpads really is a godsend.
Hell, it's viable to play slow-paced / pausable RTS games on the Deck because of the dual trackpad. I play Impression Games city-builders and Football Manager. 8/10 experience, I'll say. The "All Your Games. Anytime. Anywhere" tagline is disingenuous. It just plays your rootkit-anticheat games and there's sleep mode that may or may not work.
@@ChillCollins616 I don't mean to over-hype it but you are really missing out. I use my left trackpad as a number line and it really is incredibly intuitive and convenient.
Never cared to even try PC gaming but, after trying the Steam Deck, I'm okay with the idea of them releasing a home console. The Deck is already my "Go To" gaming device after 4 decades strictly on consoles.
I bought a 512 SteamDeck during summer sale. Shipped and arrived pretty quickly but came with a bad right stick. While Valve support is great and all over it, it's a 15 day RMA process. Should of just returned it and bought another one.
I recently found myself in the market for a portable PC gaming device so I decided to go with the ROG Ally. I’ve grown tired of the cumbersomeness of it. I can never just fire it up and play. Something is always locking up or something that was smooth yesterday is glitchy today. It’s beautiful when the games are running but to me the 5 or 10 minutes that I have to finagle with it every time to get a game up and running is wasting too much precious time. So I decided to order a Steam Deck during the summer sale. I haven’t gotten it yet but I’m pretty sure I’m gonna prefer it over the ROG. I’ll take the decline in visual fidelity in order to have a less frustrating experience where I can just fire it up an play.
Have you tried SteamOS on the Ally? It's not the same as on the deck (GP variant is still debian based 😒), but it might deliver a better experience than Michael$oft Binbows
I have both. The Ally performs better, looks better, and plays anything I want without having to go through loopholes. Fans make noise when they’re doing their job. They’re there for a reason sir.
Couldn’t agree more. I had two Allys. One couldn’t get Bluetooth to pair with any controller. Returned it and the second one I had for a week, and didn’t play one game. Spent the whole time updating, logging in, configuring. Returned it. Got a Steamdeck yesterday and it’s such a pleasure to use. EVERYTHING WORKS!
what sells me about the ally is the availability in my country, if i wanna buy a steam deck i have to pay the equivalent of 1500$. however i think i will wait on the ally for them to update the hardware a bit better and get rid of all these initial issues by the end of the year
The deck just has so many more software conveniences and developers working for it just way better in general. Not to mention the additional buttons, touchpads, and hardware/software features. Insane value with the price of PC games.
I like that summary, steamdeck is more competing with the consoles than it is with the Ally. Because it’s got strong pc like functionality we think of it more like a pc, it’s far more open than a traditional console. But if you think about it, it’s got it’s own store that companies publish games to, it’s got a loose quality control system in place, games are being optimized specifically for it. When you think of it like that it’s kinda pointless to compare the two.
Good to hear this. Valve worked so hard to create this product and optimise it in terms of hardware and software and Asus thinks they can just stroll in and create their own handheld that’ll perform to the same level as the Steam Deck. Love my Steam Deck, it’s one of the best things I’ve ever bought.
You could say the same thing with Steamdeck vs the Switch. Companies gotta shoot their shots. The fact that people have a hard time choosing between the ROG Ally and steamdeck despite the massive price difference speaks volumes to how well Asus did on their first try. All it needs is time and updates, then it will be more than a matchup for the steamdeck. The fact that its basically a handheld laptop is amazing.
@@allarian8726 doubtful. Ally is always going to be hampered because it is running Windows. There are very limited amount of things that manufacturers can do to optimise Windows for a handheld gaming device. If this category of device becomes popular, Microsoft could just swoop in, release it with some sort of XBox Portable branding, and take the market, and it'll be a much better device than anything that ASUS can build as they control the OS. And there's nothing ASUS can do about it. For ASUS to have a chance, they'll essentially need to go closer to Valve and essentially build a version of Steam Deck of their own, running optimised Linux like the Steam Deck OS. ASUS will always be second-class players in that market as Valve's Steam Deck will always be the most popular device. Another possibility is to build their own ecosystem, like Switch. But as many pointed out, consoles are a very difficult market to get into if you're not already a major game store like Valve. Maybe they can do some sort of GOG console, but that seems to be a niche within a niche.
@@allarian8726 Well, of course Asus were going to do well on their first try. They have a long history of making laptops and PC parts like motherboards and GPUs. Nintendo has a long history of building their own gaming hardware as well. My point was that Valve is different because they started out with small projects; e.g. Steam controller, Steam Link, Valve Index etc. and they've used all their learnings from those past projects to build a handheld gaming PC. Valve started out making video games, then Steam, then hardware. That kind of hard work and perseverance IMO deserves to be praised and rewarded.
@@robertluong3024 Did I say competition was bad? My point was that Asus can't expect to come into the handheld PC market and expect to just steal all of Valve's thunder. As you can see in the video the point isn’t just to make a laptop that’s handheld, it’s to make a product that is seamless and that requires close synergy between hardware and software which Valve has nailed in the Steam Deck. You can make the ROG as powerful as you want but if you’re just going to slap Windows on it that doesn’t mean it will automatically be a good product.
Owning both, I love the screen of the Ally but the playing experience on the SD is better it’s hard to deny. But man a 16:9 - 1080p IPS screen on steam deck would be incredible.
They sell upgraded screens now for about 100- w better color gamut too, but you need to flash your own firmware to run it. So install at your own risk. Price was about 100 for the 1080p SteamDeck screen I saw.
New to handheld PC so I went with Ally, no issues on my end! Since Ally is Windows it was pretty easy for me to setup and get non steam games, emulators and even work apps natively. But I will keep an eye for the next Steam Deck version!
I cannot speak for the Ally because I haven't used it, but I will say just my experience from a complete Linux virgin and lifelong windows users.... goint to a linux OS with the steam deck for the first time was the most painless transition to an OS I've ever had. I got the deck thinking I would for sure at some point set it up to side load windows and it only took me about 2 weeks to realize I absolutely do not want to do that. Ever.
Right, I don't get these people acting like windows is all of a sudden hard to use? You can also put steam ON the ally, a lot of deck people seem to not to want people to know that for some reason
@@ChillCollins616 I don't think anyone is saying it's harder or easier, just that Linux is generally more efficient, less bloated and not controlled by a third party mega corp that has pretty much access to everything you do. This is in general terms though I have absolutely no idea what the user experience is on the Ally, so I'm not commenting on that specifically.
The next version of Steam Deck will take a lot of years to happen, Valve doesn't launch new versions of their products every few years but only when they have substantially good reasons to do that, think about gen leaps every 6/8 years, it has been like this for their VR headsets and will probably be the case for the Deck as well.
I had both...while I loved the 1080p/120hz screen and powerful CPU of the Ally (Modern Warfare 2 ran way better on Ally than on the Deck)...the SD card issue really grinded my gears...I didn't pay $700+ for a device that has a known flaw. Got a Deck on sale an immediately loved the sticks better and after reading how great the track pads are, I have to now agree. Jumping back to the Ally I would be disappointed I didn't have pads to move my mouse around. Returned the Ally today on my last day to return but I'll keep an eye on it...if it gets fixed I may add to my collection.
Yep. I was so hyped for the Ally, and that screen is gorgeous. Sticks were god awful though and my SD reader and LB button failed within a week lol. Returned it, and if anything it made me appreciate my Deck even more
Steam Deck actually replaced my gaming PC as my full time set up. I dual boot it so I can use Windows when it's in Desktop mode and then SteamOS when it's in handheld. Sure it won't run everything on ultra, but I use GFN for the that and it works perfectly on the deck too. My energy bill has tanked because of the swap too!
People really shouldn't compare the deck to the ally right now because the deck has because out for like almost 2 years wait until the ally is out for that long and see which one had more support
Apparently old games sometimes don't work out of the box on new Windows, and games that rely heavily on a mouse don't work without a good mouse substitute. I'd hazard a guess that thete may be also games that rely on a ridiculous number of keyboard inputs that won't work well with only the number of buttons available on a controller. So it's not quite as simple as "Ally plays more games".
Do you have an Ally? Because there's custom controls you can hot swap to if you want to use a gamepad for anything. Hell, I even set one up for guild wars 2 which doesn't even have controller support.
@darkdagon6 well the touch screen on my steam deck is hardly usable, and the Ally's touch screen is very responsive. And the ally has remappable buttons on the back, which I personally don't even use aside from windows macros. I don't like the sticks too much on the ally though, but it's really not a big deal compared to a switch.
I bought the ally and returned it. Picked up a deck during the summer sale and was worried i would have the same issues.... but the deck has been INCREDIBLE
@@BstizzyBelieves Yeah... It really sucks being able to play (GTA IV, GTA V, Elden Ring, Dark Souls 2 and 3,Witcher 3, Division 2, Cyberpunk, MGS V, MK11, Jedi Fallen Order, Sekiro, Hitman 1-3, Metro Exodus, Monster Hunter World, Wo Long Fallen Dynasty, Shadow of Morridor, Grim Dawn, Grounded, Ghost Runner, Fallout 4, Skyrim, Mass Effect 1-3 and Hades) on a handheld.
i was in love with it until i realized theres no trackpads. was the personal deal breaker for me. Steam deck is just my first love so im gonna keep it just for the sake of it. I cant even believe i am living in a time where even the deck exists. i use windows 11 @70hz and still get good battery life. flawless experience at current.
You can only optimize so far with out good hardware people have ask how do I want to use steam deck or rog ally if you have power all time battery life is not important when compan come out with updates on system the try fix a problem are didn't fix In the first place how updates a company come out doesn't mean good or bad rog ally needs fix sd card reader buy movie it some place where it be cool and fix windows updates issue buy giving cheap sd with some of the to make easier steam deck 2 need to make like rog ally on sdd replacement just to bios to recover os with out going through all this exter steps remember you pc people and above sony ponys and xbox console wars
Here's the thing I don't get. The good and bad thing with the Rog Ally is it is so flexible like a PC. So if you know how to set up a PC you can set it for you to make it easier for you to operate when it is in handheld mode. On the Ally, you can just load armory crate which will take you to the steam big picture mode launch, limit it to 15 TDP, limit the screen refresh to 60hrtz and 720p, and just play steam certified games, it will be very much like a Steam Deck. Since it is Windows, you can't just pause and quick resume. If you want ease of use and battery life but limited game library, get the steam deck. If you want more power and have the ability to plug it in or connect to portable battery and play all Windows 11 games, get the Ally. The Ally is the right choice for me.
What you dont seem to get, is some people know how to set up a PC but would rather save themselves the hassle because they have more important things to do. And as wonderful as ultimate compatibility on Windows sounds, Windows is an atrocious OS for handheld systems. And while armory crate makes this somewhat better, its far from a close experience. Not to mention Valve has done an incredible job with frequent software updates since launch week that quickly fixed and added new features. Unlike Asus with their horrible track record with software updates and quality control. Hell, the way they are handling the SD card issues with a bandaid "boost fan speed" that only delays the inevitable instead of extending warranty or a full RMA tells us all we need to know about how little Ally owners matter to Asus compared to Valve.
Bought an Ally on launch and it’s been just great. Playing AAA titles on the go (even if that means plugged in to a socket), with good graphics and frame rates is so satisfying. I don’t mind having to start WIN first and loading a game…this is what I would do on my PC as well. Plus the screen is one of the best my eyes have seen (and we have been spoiled by several OLED TVs ).
I agree! I have a steam deck and ally and there is no comparison. Ally is everything I wanted the steam deck to be. So many games i couldn't play on steam deck. The screen is so much better as well!
you can quick resume with the ally if you put it in hibernation with the ally button on the left side of the screen. Its equivalent to the steam decks quick resume. just don't use the power button to turn it off and you should be good. I'm not sure why this hasn't been mentioned more; it makes gaming on the ally in quick sessions a lot quicker
All good points. I find myself gravitating towards the Ally more in my day to day usage, but I like tinkering. I wouldn't give my 6 year old a ROG Ally though. He has a Switch as that is the easiest to use. AMD hasn't even released direct drivers for the Z1 or the 7840u. The performance gap will widen over time after bios and AMD driver releases. My deck performance increased by nearly 20% since day 1 via updates. There will still always be Windows jank.
As appealing as the Ally sounds with all that additional horsepower, it seems more like a laptop substitute than a properly feature complete handheld console. If I needed a device that I could game and work on I'd probably go with the Ally just for the 8 core cpu. If easy gaming is my primary concern, I'd go with the deck. Features like the track pads and the easy Gyro implementation make a biiiiig difference.
My 1 year Steam Deck anniversary is next week, Sept 2023. Love it. It's a great device and got me into PC games, which I previously was a home console/portable only. As an aside, the Lenovo Legion Go is very compelling to someone like me who loves the Switch form factor.
Your criticism is undeniable, but I'm also glad that I got an Ally and not the SD. It's funny how the Ally's biggest weakness is also it's biggest strength: Windows. For the majority of people, the SD will be the right choice. But damn, for the people that don't mind/enjoy tinkering, the Ally is a blessing. I made it extremely easy to stream games from my pc using moonlight. High res, high framerate, no lag, almost no battery usage (can run on silent profile and it consumes 6W max). Not to mention that because it's still a PC, I can plug in a monitor, mouse and keyboard and play overwatch with my friends when I go visit them in Brazil. And if I only have an hour to play or if I'm close to an outlet, I can still run AAA games with good image quality/performance. If you're on the fence between the SD and the Ally, choose the SD. People who will get more out of the Ally (or the legion go now) already know it is the right choice.
The steam deck uses a fully custom SoC made BY Valve using AMD's IP and guidance. It does not physically waste transistors and die space on stuff like ray tracing, every type of I/O, etc. the Ally is just a 7840 laptop APU with the AI cores disabled. Steam Deck's chip is painstakingly optimized to deliver actual performance at 5w. The OS is much better than Windows for battery life and also sleep/hybernate. When you suspend your deck, the battery drains like 1% per 48 hours. I've had my deck suspended with a movie on since thursday and it's lost 2% on the battery. The ally is just every other windows handheld PC with a lower price, worse quality control and a bigger brand name. The suspend feature on Windows is awful, usually doesn't work right and doesn't allow the device to wake up, and still has your device using significant CPU resources hence the Ally overheating in the case or your bag when you put it to sleep.
I almost got an ally today just because it’s in the stores…. But I held off and just bought the deck instead and I am truly excited to get it! Awesome review big dog
I love my rog Ally and am so stoked with how well it runs Starfield! My friend has a steamdeck and i couldn't get over the difference in screen quality - Ally screen seems way better and touch response is better too. Steamdeck is ok and I'm glad it exists but Ally is for me. Plus being a PC gamer I'm used to windows troubleshooting and customizing anyways. Now its basically flawless after some tweaking
We all must remember that their was a time when steam deck had its issues 🤷🏾♂️ it took them almost o year of the kinks. I personally have both of them right now cause I know they each have their pros and cons.
Yea, the problem is most the allys problems can't be fixed, it's windows, only Microsoft can fixe OS issues, the only thing you can rely on for the ally is just apps....
@@JDabz96 I wouldn't claim it couldn't be fixed if Asus put as much work in Armor as Valve did with SteamOS. Note Valve knew using Linux requires a lot more work on the software side while all other PC handhelds goes with Windows because it requires less work.
This must be one of the most oft repeated attempts to justify the Ally jank, two things ; the Deck had issues because it was aiming to build what it is today and Valve responded with sometimes daily updates and at the very least communication cf with Asus silence for 3wks on serious issues such as the SD Card. Secondly Valve using an open source OS as the base, arch linux has full control over any and all issues and this is a fundamental reason the Deck is where it is today. Asus, no matter how much they do will only be providing a sticky plaster on-top of fundamental and underlying Windows issues, quick resume , power management being just two of a very long list. Because of the Deck, the needle has moved, it was the first to in the end provide the experience we have today, it is no longer 'good enough' to be where the Ally is
@@TheOmenXXXMicrosoft is developing a handheld mode, I’d count that as some kind of plan and fix. Windows 11 is really not that bad, I think your just talking out of your butt because you had some issues with past windows Os’s. I fully tested Windows 11 on the Ally over the course of a month and it’s had far less issues than Steam OS in its first 2 weeks. I do admit if you’re not using a keyboard, the experience could get annoying if docked. But besides that, the Ally is probably the scariest contender to the Steam Deck. And you Deck heads can definitely feel it. It’s obvious yur scared 😂
You guys forget early days of new hardware launches are always met with buyers regret initially but once AMD gets the driver updates flowing the ROG Ally will work much better to use for harder to run games. Also many newer games have anti cheat and that is less problematic on windows. If I was going to buy the ROG now I would suggest investing in Bestbuys protection program so you can switch out of a bad situation down the road. Just like the steamdeck there will be hardware revisions. So if you can wait, insure it. The point is to have fun. Also at some point you will be able to run SteamOS on the Ally, just have to wait on the updates. Both machines have pros and cons. You can't go wrong depending on the budget.
Speaking of anticheat systems and weird launchers, I hope game companies are starting to cotton on to Steam Deck support with their new games. I'm see more Deck Supported titles than there used to be in my wishlist, so I hope that trend continues.
Steam deck with Emudeck, Heroic Launcher and my Steam library covers pretty much every game I have ever wanted to play, no brainer for me to pick the Deck over the Rog.
this is why i didnt get the ROG Ally. everyone said it had better hardware but at the end of the day steam is always patching glitch's and getting things to run better so even with worst hardware it runs better. and they will do it better and for longer and still sell it cheaper for a lost because of the backing of the rest of the company
Valve's Steam Deck > Asus ROG Ally and any other overseas companies like Ayaneo, GPD, OneXPlayer because of: Customer Service, Support, Ease of Use and overall just a joy to use and game. Returned my Ally because of overheating of SD card reader, Windows 11 and Armoury Crate jankiness. Plus Steam Deck has so much more in terms of after market accessories like cases, skins, etc.
I think there can be advantages and disadvantages to both that extent to a great deal. With the Steam Deck, I'm a little disappointed that I can't seem to get my Pygame games to work. But with Ally, I'm guessing that work work because of Windows.
I just got my unit yesterday now is time to unboxing got 1tb micro on sales and screen protector plus all the sales games I’m more than happy thanks Valve my next upgrade is a 2 tb ssd transparent back plate and face skin and a nice $379 air glasses uufff that rig will b sick
I wish I could have a Deck, but apparently it's too hard for Dave to figure out how to ship to non-continental US. Meanwhile the Ally has been great so far, I mostly have indie stuff on Steam and a crap ton of VNs from non-steam stores which I just created a profile for 1 and practically applied it to all the others lol. 😅
Not only that, I don't know why Valve doesn't do a wider retail shop release either. It has a genuinely good popular product, and I have seen really inflated prices for the Steam Deck in second hand stores like CEX. Something like Argos or Walmart shouldn't be too hard for Valve, and they'll take a new small share of the chunk of the Nintendo Switch market.
@@skycloud4802 so far only Asia specifically Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have steam deck you can buy in stores, but not yet for Europe and America :/
@Jaxv3r I live in Europe, and I ordered a Steam Deck from their website and it has arrived in 8 days. How can't you guys manage to buy one on Europe ? LoL !
@@MrFloryn88 "in stores" I said, you can buy one on their website, but if your planning to sell an electronic device to many people as possible, then yeah retail stores are the way to go.
Everything you said about the Rog Ally is true, but for me it does not stop me from buying the Rog Ally instead, Its smaller, lighter, quieter and better performance. Great video, you earned a sub & like
Get the steam deck if you don't have either and are low on cash. If you already have the steam deck, then the ally is complimentary but won't replace it. Gyro on the deck is seamless and there's only so many games you can fit into one console.
I've used the crap out of my deck for the last year. The typical console experience makes the deck what it is. All the games I play run really well with the Steam Deck hardware. Including Diablo 4. Because of the Quick Resume feature, I now finish games where I once never would. Honestly I don't need a Steam Deck 2. Better hardware would be a nice bonus. If I was someone who played more of the Triple A titles, and would benefit from a hardware bump, I would not hesitate to buy the Steam Deck 2. With that said, I'm going to save some money every month so that I can be the first to buy a Steam Deck 2. The experience has been so smooth and seamless. Valve really has the opportunity to join the PS XBox Console wars. No shade to Nintendo, they have their own market where they just print money and laugh at everybody else, haha.
Which one is better depends entirely on what the user needs, whoever says one is better than the other is just wrong. I have both, the SD is better optimized for handheld play for sure, but it shows its weaker hardware in many games. The Ally can play more demanding games, plain and simple. The Ally is a better choice for ME for one huge reason, docked mode. I was planning on building a second PC for my wife or when a friend comes over. The Ally can fill that role easily, friend of mine came over recently and we played COD for 3hrs and Rust for 5 and the Ally did great.... It also plays handheld mode great, it has the occasional hiccup like many have reported but overall it's a better choice for ME.
I just got my Steam Deck a week ago and I love it. It's got that console aesthetic to it that makes it easy to navigate and use. I actually have struggled to get one because Valve can't ship to my location and the Japanese online retailer wouldnt take my address either. Luckily on our last trip to Tokyo they were selling them at a pop up store on the airport. They also have a few shops in Tokyo and Osaka that sell Steam Decks but since I was already in the airport i figured eh WTH let's do it. Glad I did because on the way home people were buying them in bulk. One dude purchased 8. Ended up with the 1TB version with Oled screen. Worth. Every. Penny.
Idk, man. I haven't had any issues with my Ally, and the only gripes I have are software side, and windows. Not too difficult to rectify. The big thing for me is the versatility of the Ally.
this was great to see. very much looking forward to the gen 2 or 3 versions of the steam deck that will address the fan issues and improve on everything else.
I had Deck. Sold it. Bought Ally... and sold Ally (with profit actually) after 3-4 days 🤷♂ You need to configure a lot of stuff before even playing. Starting game takes more time... Everything takes a lot of time etc. Finally bought Steam Deck again and in my opinion its the best console available, since it costs HALF of what is on market, does have good components, can run games offline and its not some streaming-device (which is a joke in handheld!). Love Steam Deck and for now it stays with me, without even thinking about selling it!
Solid review. I bought my Steam Deck the week after the Ally was announced. I had some Summer travel coming up and didn't want to wait for the Ally. Very glad I didn't. Love the Deck, use it almost every day... to the point where my desktop has been gathering dust. And don't be fooled by the "unsupported" label on some games. Even if Valve hasn't put in the work to certify a game; there's a good chance the Steam community has stepped up. Example: Elite Dangerous is officially unsupported but I play it on my Deck regularly because the community uploaded the Xbox console version controls.
Rog Ally have a native w11. You can play ALL games with best screen, best audio and very best performance compared to SD. I’m glad to you with the SD but i’m sorry: Ally is the best portable machine in the market
Great video! One of the biggest drawbacks of the Ally is that it's relying on Windows for it's operating system. If Microsoft were to come out with a gaming handheld mode or OS derivative, that would be a huge boon to the Ally and other WIndows-based handhelds.
@@ZyklonBeast12 yeah, that would be the only thing I think would truly rival the Steamdeck. I don’t think it would be hard for Microsoft to convert windows into an optimized handheld OS, they already built it specifically with games as a key component. They already have their own gaming eco system with none of these other handhelds can claim, plus gamepass is still one of the best values in gaming today. Starfield is going to be one of those games I think people will always want to be playing and I think it’s going to be a perfect game to have on a handheld platform.
Steamdeck isn't available in many countries. Some of these countries are in the top 5 of steam's user base list. Whereas Ally is available worldwide. Lot of games I want to play coming from Playstation can't be played on the deck. And the 512gb version is just 50 dollars less than the ally. For me ally was a no brainer and I don't regret it
The PlayStation games that can't be played on the Deck also doesn't run well on the Ally either like Returnal. What I find interesting the PC games recently released that runs decent of the Deck runs well on the PC and games that can't run on the Deck runs awful on the PC. Returnal is one of the exceptions. I do agree it's good the Ally is in more countries at the price of the most expense Deck.
I have both. I personally love the ROG Ally and use it way more often than my Steam Deck. The Steam Deck is mainly used for EmuDeck and older games, while the Ally has become both my main gaming device and main tablet. Having said that, I would agree that the Steam Deck is the better buy for most people. It’s a much better “pick up and play”-experience and SteamOS has really matured over the past year to the point where it offers arguably the best console experience you could expect from a handheld PC. Its ergonomics are fantastic, it’s powerful enough to play pretty much everything on Steam, and the corners Valve cut are only noticeable in direct comparisons. In my opinion, the Steam Deck hits the perfect middle ground between power and versatility, bang for buck and sensible trade-offs. The ROG Ally is geared more towards enthusiasts that don’t mind tinkering, or people that want a small Windows tablet that can also game. I love it, but while its high are higher than the Steam Deck’s, it also has way more lows.
I would like to see this conversation in a year from now. The Ally has quite a ways to go software wise but I do believe it can close the gap to the Deck in terms of stability and features. Hardware is great, but it’s gonna take some time for the user experiences to get to an acceptable level.
honestly, i can understand the console vs pc feel of handhelds. I feel similar sentiments with Android vs Linux retro-handhelds. something about a device's ui being DEDICATED to gaming makes a world of difference for the overall experience of using the device.
Who woulda thunk that the steams price performance point was better when all the ROG ally does is have more screen in the same form factor with more power but less battery life, also being windows slave?
Ally is awesome.I play all my games at 13watts and still get 40-60 fps on everything I play.I don’t have a steam deck and even I think the steam sounds better…for now,but just like the deck once the ally has time to bake I do think it will be the go to handheld to get above all else.
Most of the QoL issues the Deck had and have been fixed were related to the OS which has gotten more and more polished over time. Most of the issues with the Ally lie with Windows, not whatever software is running on top of it. And only Microsoft can actually update Windows to make it a better handheld experience.
After having the Ally I cannot go back to the crap screen, bugs, and game incompatibility of the Deck. Maybe when they have good hardware I will try it again. I recommend the Ally to my friends as they already know how to use a PC. To friends that don't however I say you can get a Deck but keep in mind that you are best sticking to games on Steam and dont require a launcher as that can break from time to time.
I returned my Ally today. I had alot of little issues from the ram usage, temps being high even just web browsing, fans ramping up. Games not always launching, the controller stopped working outside of games. These didn't break the Ally, but it felt like it wasn't worth the cost. My Deck works more fluently, even in desktop mode. The best buy had 4 other Ally's that had been returned. Which makes me wonder if people were having a similar experience
For me ally is much better option. All my AAA games running really smoothly. Actually this is was the main concern to steam deck. SD couldn’t run like 50% of my games. And even that if it could, the “look” of the game was a nightmare. The was just not enough power. I just used my laptop. And when I was running indi/platformer games, I was choosing switch. The were now place for SD. Ally is just perfect for portable PC gaming. Games looks very nice on that screen.
Yeah…lots of people don’t realize that it takes patience and support to get to where the Steam deck is at. Being there since the begining, there were the same exact types of problems with the system overheating, analog sticks and sd card. It’s kind of not fair that lots of people are being ccompletely closed minded about technology and software engineering in general.
@@ChristopherToro I always called the ROG Ally a Steam Deck from wish. My choice of getting the deck for 543 euro instead of 679 because of its biggest sale is so nice to see
Haven’t used a steam deck yet but I just got the ALLY and love it so far. The fact it runs windows is what did it for me because I can easily mod all of my favorite steam games. I have no need for the touch sensors whatsoever either. Performance is out of this world. I’d like to see a windows handheld mode though but the current gestures make it doable. If you want a handheld gaming PC experience - ALLYs the way to go. If you want a handheld console experience it seems like Deck is the one.
I just don't really understand how all these people who daily drive PCs are acting like the Ally is terrible because of the feature set that they literally use on a daily bases. So far, my Ally has been seemless, but every issue I have had on the Ally I have had on my pc as well. If "convenience" is valued more than a better screen, more powerful hardware, better speakers, quiter fan, and a lighter weight package then all these people are hypocrites for having PCs and not consoles lol.
The *even less* battery life and lack of trackpads turned me off to it before it released, but it was cool to see Asus making the effort. The deck has just knocked shit out of the park so thoroughly that I'm more interested in what its next iteration will be more than chasing whatever extra performance is out there now. Perhaps a game will come along that changes my mind, but for now, I guess I'm on the Valve train till it derails lol
Solid review, never owned an ROG but it definitely caught my eye. Your explanation of owning a Steam Deck was sheer perfection! I love my Steam Deck, and at the price point I feel like it is a good option especially if you have an already sizeable steam library so you will not have to purchase titles multiple times like other platforms.
I just can’t, it’s mainly the screen with its 100% srgb and freesync premium. Without those on the steam deck I’m always worried about my fps. And the ally is just so much lighter. But if you prefer the steam deck go for it, it’s a great device for what it is!
agree and the steam deck has a sudo VRR screen. I love the ability to lock frames to 40-45 fps and then match the v-sync. for example D4 at higher details looks and plays better at 45fps then ally. stutter fest. Once software gets ironed out and the chimera OS gets better, the ally I think will be allowed to shine. I will say when I have a 1440p beast of a desktop I don't really need the best details or fps in a mobile system. I want consistent and smooth experience where I can just in play on the couch and be comfy. Deck does this hands down way better then I expected
@@JFlogerzioh yeah 100% love how you can change the refresh rate like that. I can’t wait for chimeraos to get smoothed out cause steamos + the ally is the absolute best combo
Theres a good reason why the Steam Deck has better power management, because Valve custom designed the APU, and they also wrote the power management driver that Linux now uses as part of the kernel for all Zen 2+ CPUs. They also wrote gamescope which does the frame limiting + resolution scaling. They also did the half rate shading and other stuff to work with all games. These other companies like ASUS, they don;t really do software or contribute to the operating system itself, Valve contributes to Linux directly, fixes things in the kernel and the drivers and hires the people who make the API translation layers which in some cases runs better than DirectX naively, especially for DX11 and older.
Did valve really custom build the apu? I'm sure I remember reading that the apu was custom designed for Microsoft but they decided they didn't want it so valve got a good deal on them. Could be completely misremembering though, it was a while ago
@@Skett It has "Valve" in big letters printed on it with "powered by AMD" is small letters. What other device do you know have the Deck's chip? I assume AMD actually designed the chip. If Microsoft did paid for AMD to design the chip I'm sure it still cost Valve to claim the chip for themselves.
I’ve had the steam deck for an entire year and let me tell you the RBG Ally, just blow it out of the water. The screen is amazing, yes, the battery life is garbage but we know that if you are running AAA games and of course get a power brick it’s not that hard. The steam deck is best for those with a Consol mindset. however, if you know PCs then go with the ROG Ally. I’ve had my ROG Ally for two months now, and my steam deck is literally collecting dust. and also remember the steam deck was horrible at launch. Also the RGL I will get fixed with all the little bugs.
![BEST Gaming Handheld in 2024!? [Steam Deck OLED | Ally X | Legion Go | Claw]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/czoKrKcgHaY/mqdefault.jpg)
![[UA] Team Vitality проти NAVI | IEM Cologne 2024](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wttO1zVRTC0/mqdefault.jpg)
What keeps steam deck on top personally, is the fact you have a actual dedicated team focusing on improving the experience of the deck and not already pushing to make another. That and private company, Only need to please gabe
yea, but you can't improve the hardware. so ROG ally for me
Sadly so we have to wait for a 2nd Gen@@JacquiPenar
Doesnt really put it at the top lmao you keep telling yourselves these things to make yourself feel better for buying the weakest product. Same as the guy in the video.
@Shaunymac10 brah you haven't been in the market long. New crap comes out all the time? And compared to what was available when the deck came out, it was the best.
@@Shaunymac10 The Deck will be supported far longer and has far less issues to work out on the end user's side, yes the Deck is on top regardless of the weaker hardware.
After all the problems I had with my ally (bricked sd cards,loose thumb sticks etc)it made me appreciate my steam deck a whole lot more.
.... But the deck had that same issue... So did the Switch🤔
I get the need to compare these... Like everyone compared the switch to the deck BUT comparing longer more refined systems to something that just came out doesn't make sense. But I agree the deck is better value if you get the entry one though, can't beat that price. Sold my deck pro for $600 to get the Ally.... Took the Ally back to get that basic deck lol
@@posterboi87 The point is, it's more obvious with Asus, because they aren't as transparent or quick about addressing these issues as Valve was. Valve was pushing updates nearly everyday in the beginning. How many weeks did it take for Asus to address the microsd card issue?
@@posterboi87 in that case I may buy the ally again in six months time when all these problems are resolved but at the moment i think this device is not fit for market.
Would you give rhe rog away or sell it?
I've had my SD for over a year and bought it new on eBay 512GB model and just a couple of months ago had the courage to upgrade it to 2TB Sabrent Rocket for $300 - through new egg - and I will say this - the SD has put back in my life something I was missing for years now ever since being a teenager ( in my late 30's now ) it's being able to switch off my mind and enjoy life and stories again like I used to growing up - it's made me find my inner gamer again and love the time I get to just play an hour or 2 a day and even made me excited again about computers with learning linux - may the heavens bless valve in its journey to dominate gaming handhelds ❤
Mannn I feel you on this Josh. I’m 33 now and tbh, as much as I wanna build a PC, most of the time I just wanna lay down on a bed or couch and game. I spend ten hours a day sitting down in a cubicle so the last time I wanna do when I get home is sit down in front of another screen and keyboard.
Same. I'm 36 and without the switch and the deck I likely wouldn't really play games anymore
Same but I need OLED so bad. I get more engrossed with games with an OLED. It's that good. I will buy as soon as SD has one.
lol imagine paying 300 dollars for 2tb lol got fucking robbed
@@lisamemeson SDs use m.2 right? (Ik they can use microsd cards)
I knew this would be the case for many users....Asus releases way too many products to commit to the ally the same way valve does the steam deck
I was telling people it would ALWAYS come down to support and community. Steam is a MASSIVE giant in the game.
Valve crushed it. ROG Ally is just a PC in that Form Factor.
What we're dealing with now is NEW form factor for PC gaming. That's about all it is.
The ROG Ally is a great step forward for Handheld PC gaming.
The Steam Deck and Switch are the Console version of that.
To be honest, the Valve SteamDeck was WORSE than the ROG Ally upon release. They've had about 2 Years of updates since. It's a completely different console now then it was upon launch.
The ASUS ROG Ally has many advantages. More efficient and faster processor, better screen, way more game compatibility, and lastly a retail presence.
So it is just premature to call shots yet. We might see the ROG Ally get many hardware and software improvements in the coming future. It might become the DEFINITIVE handheld to own.
Only qualms I have with either device is the release date. The ROG Ally is pretty decent, it would've been a bit better if earlier, and perhaps if it was released by MS and they didn't release the Xbox Series S. Meanwhile, the Valve SteamDeck was rumoured and supposed to be announced back in 2019 and launched in 2020. Which would've meant it was late competing with PS4 level hardware. Yet it was released later in 2022, putting it square against PS5. Not that hardware determines good games, but this is Valve we're talking about, they rely more on third-party titles, they are not the juggernaut that is Nintendo (Pokemon, Zelda, Mario Kart, Kirby, Metroid, Super Mario, etc etc).
@@ekintekoYeah, the time difference is too big. Too early to judge when things could improve upon 2 years; however, all of the evaluations are welcomed. It’s free feedback and it’s up to Asus if they want to build on them.
That's because Steam caters to Steam customers. They've already done it with Valve Index. All these years the main focus of Valve was to get Steam customers access to their games be it Valve Index, Valve Steam Link or Valve Steam Deck. To gain more steam players. Valve has been doing this for years they've created the game that started online FPS games. Counter Strike. Valve has taken this industry to be their own. Just like Nintendo and portability which is so much different from what Valve has going on. If Nintendo gave its fans access to all Nintendo titles for a cheaper price on the Nintendo switch and if they had done it a long time ago they'd have conquered this platform. ASUS had only focused on hardware. they don't have the knowledge that Valve has on how to provide gaming satisfaction for it's customers.
@@ekinteko The problem with ASUS is their software department is way weaker than Valve with their Steam/SteamOS. The software development lifecycle on ASUS is much more like classic enterprise company that may release software semester or annually (unless it was urgent like Ally initial release), while Valve is pretty much Scrum/Agile based SDLC, which can release things almost weekly.
ROG Ally checks a lot of boxes, but I'd much prefer tbolt instead of the proprietary connector. Also not having touch pads was a big miss for my personal use case. We're too fixated in general on powerful hardware, I think Valve has the right idea with turning the screws on devs / publishers to improve game optimization and performance instead of expecting consumers to just throw faster hardware at their games. Looking forward to more handheld gaming computers coming out, loving this form factor.
You're right that optimization can make a big difference. I remember when the load times for Breath of the Wild were improved post launch.
It made a big difference.
Looking at it another way, you can have a super computer, but if a game is a buggy unoptimized mess, it will still run terrible.
It has tbolt right there where the proprietary connector is
I have an AMD powered laptop, and I can say this: the problem with Steam Deck using AMD chips is the battery life. Less than 4 hours on a handheld in 2023 is absurd... same thing with my laptop, both on windows or linux, never more than 3 hours battery life, even with Wifi off etc. Unacceptable
That's one thing i love about the deck. I never use the left one. Hoping the left becomes a fingerprint scanner in the deck 2
@@FeelingShred AMD typically has better power efficiency than Intel. My personal gaming laptop with an AMD CPU and Nvidia GPU can easily get over 4 hours of battery life with wifi on. Gotten about 6-8 hours of use out of it
I think I never really appreciated the extra buttons on a controller more than I have when owning a deck. I do think that the ROG ally could be a good contender for people who just want games to work and a portable experience to their games... but honestly, the Deck made me play more games that I previously shrugged off because "Why would I run this or that game on my big computer?" And the touch screen and touch pads added so much more flexibility for strategy games, card games, and the like.
I agree. I play Telltale games, indie games, and clearing my backlog of older, shorter, and less powerful games since I have owned my deck. I never wanted to sit at my desk and play those games on my PC.
This!! Although it is convenient being able to map the 4 Deck back buttons to any key through steam controller configs as opposed to only being able to remap controller buttons to other buttons on the device
Yep, I’ve completed games like Insighted, cloudpunk, Dredge, and other indies on my steam deck. I tried playing Dredge on my desktop and I just couldn’t get into to it initially. Steam Deck is my indie/older gaming system, I leave the big titles to my pc.
It IS a great contender. It runs windows 11 and has beefier internals, the screen is also significantly better
There is a place for both but they each have ups and downs imo
im not to buy steam deck and aly illi wait the aya neo nun 8.4 inch 75wh battery this coming this yr
Another important point is that the list of games supported on the Deck is actually much bigger than you think. I run tons of games listed as "incompatible" on my deck without making any adjustments or modifications, just launch and it works.
I never looked at the Ally because it lacks the trackpad. Some people said you can use mouse, keyboard, etc2. But actually, I don't use the trackpad as mouse, but for unlimited key/button mapping. With the trackpad I can set radial menu and something like that and I can get quick access to every key and can map it to every key. This is a very underrated feature and not a lot of people use or at least aware that steam deck is capable of doing this.
This works for game like Skyrim, Witcher 3, and all other games that require you to use number key 1-9 or F1-F9 on PC, steam deck can handle it flawlessly.
💯!
never once used a track pad
Underrated for sure, I used to do a similar thing with the Steam Controller, if I was playing Skyrim I’d have a load of shortcuts on the left trackpad for the map, inventory, etc. It’s a game-changer.
Track Pads make ALL the Diffence for Genuine PC gaming! For my money the Ally is just an action and adventure games console and the Steam Deck is the TRUE PC Games handheld!
@@ChannelerMG pffft. never touched the track pads when I used the deck, and now that I. have an ally and a onex eva, I'll never touch em lol
I like my Ally and it has become my primary handheld but there really is no doubt that the Deck is overall the better product. Yes the ally can run stuff really well but the Steamdeck can run things well enough and it can run all the lower end stuff at low power. Its also just really easy to use, has way better support, has way more accessories, is cheaper, more thoughtfully designed, the list goes on.
I think if the Ally reaches its full potential it will be as good as the Deck but not necessarily better.
If I could run Fifa on the steam deck it would be my primary device. But unfortunately it’s impossible to get it working smoothly and Fifa is literally the only reason I want a handheld PC.
Deck is still ahead of the ally in build quality. But I do believe that the steam deck will fall behind pretty quickly when next gen ally comes out. Specially with windows gaming handheld OS possibly coming out soon.
@@MV-go3pk maybe if windows does make a handheld version of windows otherwise I’m not expecting a sequel to the Ally anytime soon considering the launch.
But I get it, nothing you can do outside of installing windows.
@@MV-go3pkwhich is why the ally is superior lmao. Dude can beat around the bush and people can bash the ally all they want but if you're good with windows, fan curves, and setting up custom setups.....the steamdeck just can't compete. I sold mine and can't go back
@@robertsmith20022I prefer a good batttery life and a console experience instead of a buggy windows laptop with its two primary input methods cut off (keyboard and mouse) and replaced with an xbox controller. No thanks.
Lmfao on my ally at 7watts keep telling yourself that. Ally ftw
Well said. I just picked up a 64 GB Steam Deck from the Steam Summer Sale and since I have been using Steam for so long I have many games that I could play on the system right out of the box. I also was able to pick up a high-quality 1 TB SanDisk micro SD card for my Steam Deck for under $100 from the Amazon Prime sale. The timing was perfect. The Steam Deck has actually allowed me to rediscover old games I never got around to playing as well as enjoying some Sony exclusives I was not able to play since I do not have a PS4 or PS5. The dock also works perfectly to play on my TV. Have to give credit to Valve for all the hard work they put into the Steam Deck. It is really an amazing gaming device and an amazing value for what you are getting.
Yep. People can buy the cheapest steam deck for roughly £200 less than the 512gb model.
That money can be used to buy a 2 tb nvme to replace the 64gb
Dude the Steam sale + the Prime sale was legit a sign from God. I got a Deck, SSD, SD, dock, skin/thumbstick covers ect, and like 5 entire game collections that were all on sale for around 90% off. All in all I saved around 500 bucks, it was magnificent
u should’ve get yourself a 256GB instead that’s what I got
@@ZyklonBeast12 Agreed! You made out bro! The savings I got on games I bought were insane, especially seeing what the prices are now. Some games that I already had on my Xbox I bought again because of the portability of playing them on the Deck and I am really loving the short time I was able to put into Spiderman Remastered. Those 2 sales back to back were a HUGE blessing! I also was able to get the official Steam Dock on sale and on Amazon I was able to get another 3rd party dock for sale to set up in another room. Soon I will be getting some time off from work and if I do nothing more than spend some quality time with these games, I am set. Enjoy bro!
@@stevenjohnson8736 Congrats. For me, the price savings I got between the 64 GB and 256 GB systems allowed me to pick up a ton of new games and the 1 TB San Disk Extreme micro SD card I got from Amazon is working perfectly. I already downloaded a bunch of games including some big titles like Doom, Spiderman Remastered, and Sonic Frontiers and I still have a bunch of space on my micro SD card. The limiting factor is the 64 GB internal memory because a portion of the games still save on internal memory even when you save them on the micro SD. Eventually, I will add an SSD to my Steam Deck but with the 64 GB Steam I will already have the 64 GB internal storage for Steam OS, I already have the 1 TB micro SD card and I will be able to add an additional 1 TB or more of SSD internal memory. The flexibility Steam gave us with the Deck is amazing. Enjoy your Deck and those games.
I too bought the Deck due to both the Steam Summer Sale and the Amazon Prime Day where I picked up a 1TB SSD over the ROG Ally and my thought process was identical to your analysis.
A steam deck tip for you: when you have a game like the one on screen that usually hovers a bit above 30 fps, you'll have a lot better of an experience if you cap your framerate at 30 on the quick access menu (the three dots one), as well as a bit of a battery life boost.
Our eyes tend to favor consistency a lot when judging smoothness, once the fps is capped, you not only will get a mostly consistent experience because the fps is the same, you'll also get the advantage of forcing the in-game time between two frames to always be the same, which aids with the illusion of motion
Cap the refresh rate to 40hz and then set your fps limit to 40. Looks smooth like 60fps but doesn't require as much juice
I really enjoyed the video, very informative! Ive always wanted to get into PC gaming but sadly my life doesnt afford me the time to sit and play very long :/ but I always saw the steam deck and I was scared it was “too good to be true” but this has honestly pushed me more into getting a steam deck! Before I fully commit, can you guys tell me your experiences with it? Also I was wondering am I able to run other game launchers on there as well or is it just steam only? (Also hows the emulation scene on the steam deck?)
I like both devices. I had realistic expectations for both and I have not been disappointed.
Indeed. How many folks complained about the Deck because their $400, 15 watt, battery powered handheld can't stand toe to toe in performance with their high end desktop? Unrealistic expectations abound, and anyone who did even the bare minimum of research on the product they bought came away satisfied.
just got the z1 extreme today. I like it is far
@@The8bitbeardfor real lol. I've seen so many people be like "lol 40 fps for spiderman bro unplayable just use a desktop PC" and it's like well yeah but desktop gaming PCs cost like $2000 and the steam deck costs like $400 plus I can play it while I take a sh*t, you guys do know that's the point of the thing right? People neglect the fact that a modern handhelds can play brand new triple a PC games and will just say "lul battery life sucks switch runs for 10 hours" well, the Gameboy in 1989 ran for 48 hours in 2 triple aa's but I don't see you suggesting j use one of those anymore
I tried the Ally, love the design and screen, but the SD has the more seamless experience. Sticking with the SD for now.
no one has better performance+battery rn
@@CarlBraun3 then the ally? yea, but is that extra performance worth putting up with ASUS? a company that has shown themselves to be amazing at making hardware but awful with software? I'd say no, Valve is a software company, they know how to make software, and IMO as long as games run on the SD, its the better device
@@flamingscar5263 I'm pretty sure the dude was talking about how the Deck has a better performance to battery ratio. Little miscommunication there.
@@DIYOrDieTrying switching it off and going back at the game within 2 seconds of booting it up again is seamless.
@@DIYOrDieTrying As much as I love my Steam Deck, I outright hate Linux and prefer Windows better. Most of the games i have or play have a kernel level anti cheat so most new multiplayer games outright don't support the Deck. Seamless in my eyes is usually how long it takes to set up a device and understand the main concept of the device, with the Deck all you have to do is start up the device, login, and start installing games as long as it 1) Supports the Deck or 2) the Deck is powerful enough to play it. I believe that people say that the Deck is a seamless device because of how easy it is to get up and running just to play games. Now on the other hand, games that are not in Steam and require you to use the desktop mode is a nightmare. Lutris outright in my experience sucks. Too much Error 256, too much of needing me to mess with file systems or Konsole. Hell having to input a command to allow chrome to play copyrighted videos from things like Netflix to Crunchyroll is too much. Tho I understand why Windows wouldn't be such a good idea with the amount of bloat and background processes it always has, Windows in my eyes is just overall easier than any Linux platform to understand since you don't need to use any console command most if not all the time. Most of the people I know or see either in person or reddit don't really play triple A games with their Deck and choose to play Indie ones instead so they might not have the same experience as I have.
I enjoyed the rog for the 3 days I had it. But I’m a console gamer. It was a little too much effort for me. I have a steamdeck now and love it, definitely more in line with what I want. But I’m not saying buy one over the other. I hope they both do well and this handheld market just keeps growing.
you get you can put steam on the ally?
@@ChillCollins616did you read what he said 😮 he said too much effort he wants a console like experience out of the box rather than tinkering
I agree. When I come back home from work that last thing I want to deal with is Windows. With the Steam Deck I just turn it on and play. Rog Ally has great hardware but Steam Deck has a better user experience.
on top of that, i can play playstation store and xbox cloud on the deck now… we big chillin
@@Majiinboo213 playstation store? Can you clarify that a bit, are you talking about Playstation games on Steam?
@@Jaxv3rChiaki allows for remote play
One usecase that I ran across recently is modded terraria. Mods will absolutely push the amount of keybinds you use, and having the trackpads to act as quick access radial menus felt like the biggest win. Steam input with the trackpads really is a godsend.
Hell, it's viable to play slow-paced / pausable RTS games on the Deck because of the dual trackpad. I play Impression Games city-builders and Football Manager. 8/10 experience, I'll say.
The "All Your Games. Anytime. Anywhere" tagline is disingenuous. It just plays your rootkit-anticheat games and there's sleep mode that may or may not work.
Never once used the track pads
@@ChillCollins616 I don't mean to over-hype it but you are really missing out. I use my left trackpad as a number line and it really is incredibly intuitive and convenient.
Love hearing someone speak about it from a relatable perspective, stuff like the console versus computer competition and the slow boot up
Never cared to even try PC gaming but, after trying the Steam Deck, I'm okay with the idea of them releasing a home console. The Deck is already my "Go To" gaming device after 4 decades strictly on consoles.
I bought a 512 SteamDeck during summer sale. Shipped and arrived pretty quickly but came with a bad right stick. While Valve support is great and all over it, it's a 15 day RMA process. Should of just returned it and bought another one.
Their rma is great tho and support theirs a reason I'll stick with em
I recently found myself in the market for a portable PC gaming device so I decided to go with the ROG Ally. I’ve grown tired of the cumbersomeness of it. I can never just fire it up and play. Something is always locking up or something that was smooth yesterday is glitchy today. It’s beautiful when the games are running but to me the 5 or 10 minutes that I have to finagle with it every time to get a game up and running is wasting too much precious time. So I decided to order a Steam Deck during the summer sale. I haven’t gotten it yet but I’m pretty sure I’m gonna prefer it over the ROG. I’ll take the decline in visual fidelity in order to have a less frustrating experience where I can just fire it up an play.
Have you tried SteamOS on the Ally?
It's not the same as on the deck (GP variant is still debian based 😒), but it might deliver a better experience than Michael$oft Binbows
I have both. The Ally performs better, looks better, and plays anything I want without having to go through loopholes. Fans make noise when they’re doing their job. They’re there for a reason sir.
Dealing with protons and launchers on the deck is more work than setting up the ROG Ally
@@jasondwimes8612fr 😂
Couldn’t agree more. I had two Allys. One couldn’t get Bluetooth to pair with any controller. Returned it and the second one I had for a week, and didn’t play one game. Spent the whole time updating, logging in, configuring. Returned it. Got a Steamdeck yesterday and it’s such a pleasure to use. EVERYTHING WORKS!
You can get a little bit of performance with the cryo utilities is easy to install.
what sells me about the ally is the availability in my country, if i wanna buy a steam deck i have to pay the equivalent of 1500$. however i think i will wait on the ally for them to update the hardware a bit better and get rid of all these initial issues by the end of the year
The deck just has so many more software conveniences and developers working for it just way better in general. Not to mention the additional buttons, touchpads, and hardware/software features. Insane value with the price of PC games.
I like that summary, steamdeck is more competing with the consoles than it is with the Ally. Because it’s got strong pc like functionality we think of it more like a pc, it’s far more open than a traditional console. But if you think about it, it’s got it’s own store that companies publish games to, it’s got a loose quality control system in place, games are being optimized specifically for it. When you think of it like that it’s kinda pointless to compare the two.
Good to hear this. Valve worked so hard to create this product and optimise it in terms of hardware and software and Asus thinks they can just stroll in and create their own handheld that’ll perform to the same level as the Steam Deck. Love my Steam Deck, it’s one of the best things I’ve ever bought.
You could say the same thing with Steamdeck vs the Switch. Companies gotta shoot their shots. The fact that people have a hard time choosing between the ROG Ally and steamdeck despite the massive price difference speaks volumes to how well Asus did on their first try. All it needs is time and updates, then it will be more than a matchup for the steamdeck. The fact that its basically a handheld laptop is amazing.
@@allarian8726 doubtful. Ally is always going to be hampered because it is running Windows. There are very limited amount of things that manufacturers can do to optimise Windows for a handheld gaming device.
If this category of device becomes popular, Microsoft could just swoop in, release it with some sort of XBox Portable branding, and take the market, and it'll be a much better device than anything that ASUS can build as they control the OS. And there's nothing ASUS can do about it.
For ASUS to have a chance, they'll essentially need to go closer to Valve and essentially build a version of Steam Deck of their own, running optimised Linux like the Steam Deck OS. ASUS will always be second-class players in that market as Valve's Steam Deck will always be the most popular device.
Another possibility is to build their own ecosystem, like Switch. But as many pointed out, consoles are a very difficult market to get into if you're not already a major game store like Valve. Maybe they can do some sort of GOG console, but that seems to be a niche within a niche.
I think competition is a good thing
@@allarian8726 Well, of course Asus were going to do well on their first try. They have a long history of making laptops and PC parts like motherboards and GPUs. Nintendo has a long history of building their own gaming hardware as well. My point was that Valve is different because they started out with small projects; e.g. Steam controller, Steam Link, Valve Index etc. and they've used all their learnings from those past projects to build a handheld gaming PC. Valve started out making video games, then Steam, then hardware. That kind of hard work and perseverance IMO deserves to be praised and rewarded.
@@robertluong3024 Did I say competition was bad? My point was that Asus can't expect to come into the handheld PC market and expect to just steal all of Valve's thunder.
As you can see in the video the point isn’t just to make a laptop that’s handheld, it’s to make a product that is seamless and that requires close synergy between hardware and software which Valve has nailed in the Steam Deck. You can make the ROG as powerful as you want but if you’re just going to slap Windows on it that doesn’t mean it will automatically be a good product.
Owning both, I love the screen of the Ally but the playing experience on the SD is better it’s hard to deny. But man a 16:9 - 1080p IPS screen on steam deck would be incredible.
They sell upgraded screens now for about 100- w better color gamut too, but you need to flash your own firmware to run it. So install at your own risk. Price was about 100 for the 1080p SteamDeck screen I saw.
@@StReborn311It’s 1200p and steam deck already struggles at 800p.
nobody talks about a touchpads i think they makes a huge difference
SD2 will come out for sure. It's valve, they have to make the second one just so they can not make the third one.
New to handheld PC so I went with Ally, no issues on my end!
Since Ally is Windows it was pretty easy for me to setup and get non steam games, emulators and even work apps natively.
But I will keep an eye for the next Steam Deck version!
I cannot speak for the Ally because I haven't used it, but I will say just my experience from a complete Linux virgin and lifelong windows users.... goint to a linux OS with the steam deck for the first time was the most painless transition to an OS I've ever had. I got the deck thinking I would for sure at some point set it up to side load windows and it only took me about 2 weeks to realize I absolutely do not want to do that. Ever.
Right, I don't get these people acting like windows is all of a sudden hard to use? You can also put steam ON the ally, a lot of deck people seem to not to want people to know that for some reason
@@ChillCollins616 I don't think anyone is saying it's harder or easier, just that Linux is generally more efficient, less bloated and not controlled by a third party mega corp that has pretty much access to everything you do. This is in general terms though I have absolutely no idea what the user experience is on the Ally, so I'm not commenting on that specifically.
The next version of Steam Deck will take a lot of years to happen, Valve doesn't launch new versions of their products every few years but only when they have substantially good reasons to do that, think about gen leaps every 6/8 years, it has been like this for their VR headsets and will probably be the case for the Deck as well.
I had both...while I loved the 1080p/120hz screen and powerful CPU of the Ally (Modern Warfare 2 ran way better on Ally than on the Deck)...the SD card issue really grinded my gears...I didn't pay $700+ for a device that has a known flaw. Got a Deck on sale an immediately loved the sticks better and after reading how great the track pads are, I have to now agree. Jumping back to the Ally I would be disappointed I didn't have pads to move my mouse around. Returned the Ally today on my last day to return but I'll keep an eye on it...if it gets fixed I may add to my collection.
Yep. I was so hyped for the Ally, and that screen is gorgeous. Sticks were god awful though and my SD reader and LB button failed within a week lol. Returned it, and if anything it made me appreciate my Deck even more
Steam Deck actually replaced my gaming PC as my full time set up. I dual boot it so I can use Windows when it's in Desktop mode and then SteamOS when it's in handheld. Sure it won't run everything on ultra, but I use GFN for the that and it works perfectly on the deck too. My energy bill has tanked because of the swap too!
When you are out performing your PC friend in the latest AAA game while still in battery mode. I kid you not this is OP.
People really shouldn't compare the deck to the ally right now because the deck has because out for like almost 2 years wait until the ally is out for that long and see which one had more support
The steam deck maintained the same high standard ever since launch, this waiting does not make any sense.
Apparently old games sometimes don't work out of the box on new Windows, and games that rely heavily on a mouse don't work without a good mouse substitute. I'd hazard a guess that thete may be also games that rely on a ridiculous number of keyboard inputs that won't work well with only the number of buttons available on a controller.
So it's not quite as simple as "Ally plays more games".
Do you have an Ally?
Because there's custom controls you can hot swap to if you want to use a gamepad for anything.
Hell, I even set one up for guild wars 2 which doesn't even have controller support.
@@anthonyweston5588not going to substitute trackpads and four mappable buttons
@darkdagon6 well the touch screen on my steam deck is hardly usable, and the Ally's touch screen is very responsive.
And the ally has remappable buttons on the back, which I personally don't even use aside from windows macros.
I don't like the sticks too much on the ally though, but it's really not a big deal compared to a switch.
I bought the ally and returned it. Picked up a deck during the summer sale and was worried i would have the same issues.... but the deck has been INCREDIBLE
steamdeck is poop
Well, considering he returned the Ally, got the "poop" and said it was incredible...what's that make the Ally? Dog shit?
@@BstizzyBelieves Yeah... It really sucks being able to play (GTA IV, GTA V, Elden Ring, Dark Souls 2 and 3,Witcher 3, Division 2, Cyberpunk, MGS V, MK11, Jedi Fallen Order, Sekiro, Hitman 1-3, Metro Exodus, Monster Hunter World, Wo Long Fallen Dynasty, Shadow of Morridor, Grim Dawn, Grounded, Ghost Runner, Fallout 4, Skyrim, Mass Effect 1-3 and Hades) on a handheld.
I returned my Asus Rog Ally to BestBuy.The biggest flop in PC handheld gaming history.
i was in love with it until i realized theres no trackpads. was the personal deal breaker for me. Steam deck is just my first love so im gonna keep it just for the sake of it. I cant even believe i am living in a time where even the deck exists. i use windows 11 @70hz and still get good battery life. flawless experience at current.
The display with VRR and cooling solutions on Ally are really appealing... And access to Gamepass
this is a good video. i remember you from 2nd grade Ryan.
At the end of the day, Software triumphs hardware if optimised properly
You can only optimize so far with out good hardware people have ask how do I want to use steam deck or rog ally if you have power all time battery life is not important when compan come out with updates on system the try fix a problem are didn't fix In the first place how updates a company come out doesn't mean good or bad rog ally needs fix sd card reader buy movie it some place where it be cool and fix windows updates issue buy giving cheap sd with some of the to make easier steam deck 2 need to make like rog ally on sdd replacement just to bios to recover os with out going through all this exter steps remember you pc people and above sony ponys and xbox console wars
Here's the thing I don't get. The good and bad thing with the Rog Ally is it is so flexible like a PC. So if you know how to set up a PC you can set it for you to make it easier for you to operate when it is in handheld mode. On the Ally, you can just load armory crate which will take you to the steam big picture mode launch, limit it to 15 TDP, limit the screen refresh to 60hrtz and 720p, and just play steam certified games, it will be very much like a Steam Deck. Since it is Windows, you can't just pause and quick resume. If you want ease of use and battery life but limited game library, get the steam deck. If you want more power and have the ability to plug it in or connect to portable battery and play all Windows 11 games, get the Ally. The Ally is the right choice for me.
What you dont seem to get, is some people know how to set up a PC but would rather save themselves the hassle because they have more important things to do.
And as wonderful as ultimate compatibility on Windows sounds, Windows is an atrocious OS for handheld systems. And while armory crate makes this somewhat better, its far from a close experience.
Not to mention Valve has done an incredible job with frequent software updates since launch week that quickly fixed and added new features. Unlike Asus with their horrible track record with software updates and quality control. Hell, the way they are handling the SD card issues with a bandaid "boost fan speed" that only delays the inevitable instead of extending warranty or a full RMA tells us all we need to know about how little Ally owners matter to Asus compared to Valve.
Touchpads
Bought an Ally on launch and it’s been just great. Playing AAA titles on the go (even if that means plugged in to a socket), with good graphics and frame rates is so satisfying.
I don’t mind having to start WIN first and loading a game…this is what I would do on my PC as well.
Plus the screen is one of the best my eyes have seen (and we have been spoiled by several OLED TVs ).
I agree! I have a steam deck and ally and there is no comparison. Ally is everything I wanted the steam deck to be. So many games i couldn't play on steam deck. The screen is so much better as well!
you can quick resume with the ally if you put it in hibernation with the ally button on the left side of the screen. Its equivalent to the steam decks quick resume. just don't use the power button to turn it off and you should be good. I'm not sure why this hasn't been mentioned more; it makes gaming on the ally in quick sessions a lot quicker
@@badomen8262You can tell the power button to hibernate instead of sleep. I advise doing that.
All good points. I find myself gravitating towards the Ally more in my day to day usage, but I like tinkering. I wouldn't give my 6 year old a ROG Ally though. He has a Switch as that is the easiest to use. AMD hasn't even released direct drivers for the Z1 or the 7840u. The performance gap will widen over time after bios and AMD driver releases. My deck performance increased by nearly 20% since day 1 via updates. There will still always be Windows jank.
Bought mine on sale and it runs soooo polished... Super happy with it. Thanks for this video.
Hell yeah, excellent choice dude.
The Deck just works!
As appealing as the Ally sounds with all that additional horsepower, it seems more like a laptop substitute than a properly feature complete handheld console.
If I needed a device that I could game and work on I'd probably go with the Ally just for the 8 core cpu. If easy gaming is my primary concern, I'd go with the deck. Features like the track pads and the easy Gyro implementation make a biiiiig difference.
My 1 year Steam Deck anniversary is next week, Sept 2023. Love it. It's a great device and got me into PC games, which I previously was a home console/portable only. As an aside, the Lenovo Legion Go is very compelling to someone like me who loves the Switch form factor.
Your criticism is undeniable, but I'm also glad that I got an Ally and not the SD. It's funny how the Ally's biggest weakness is also it's biggest strength: Windows. For the majority of people, the SD will be the right choice. But damn, for the people that don't mind/enjoy tinkering, the Ally is a blessing. I made it extremely easy to stream games from my pc using moonlight. High res, high framerate, no lag, almost no battery usage (can run on silent profile and it consumes 6W max). Not to mention that because it's still a PC, I can plug in a monitor, mouse and keyboard and play overwatch with my friends when I go visit them in Brazil. And if I only have an hour to play or if I'm close to an outlet, I can still run AAA games with good image quality/performance.
If you're on the fence between the SD and the Ally, choose the SD. People who will get more out of the Ally (or the legion go now) already know it is the right choice.
The steam deck uses a fully custom SoC made BY Valve using AMD's IP and guidance. It does not physically waste transistors and die space on stuff like ray tracing, every type of I/O, etc. the Ally is just a 7840 laptop APU with the AI cores disabled. Steam Deck's chip is painstakingly optimized to deliver actual performance at 5w. The OS is much better than Windows for battery life and also sleep/hybernate. When you suspend your deck, the battery drains like 1% per 48 hours.
I've had my deck suspended with a movie on since thursday and it's lost 2% on the battery. The ally is just every other windows handheld PC with a lower price, worse quality control and a bigger brand name. The suspend feature on Windows is awful, usually doesn't work right and doesn't allow the device to wake up, and still has your device using significant CPU resources hence the Ally overheating in the case or your bag when you put it to sleep.
I almost got an ally today just because it’s in the stores…. But I held off and just bought the deck instead and I am truly excited to get it! Awesome review big dog
Hope you enjoy it!
I got my steam deck just last week and could not bê happier with it. Also on the steam sale.
I love my rog Ally and am so stoked with how well it runs Starfield! My friend has a steamdeck and i couldn't get over the difference in screen quality - Ally screen seems way better and touch response is better too. Steamdeck is ok and I'm glad it exists but Ally is for me. Plus being a PC gamer I'm used to windows troubleshooting and customizing anyways. Now its basically flawless after some tweaking
That's awesome
We all must remember that their was a time when steam deck had its issues 🤷🏾♂️ it took them almost o year of the kinks. I personally have both of them right now cause I know they each have their pros and cons.
You must remember just how often Valve updated SteamOS in the first month compared to Asus with the Ally.
Yea, the problem is most the allys problems can't be fixed, it's windows, only Microsoft can fixe OS issues, the only thing you can rely on for the ally is just apps....
@@JDabz96 I wouldn't claim it couldn't be fixed if Asus put as much work in Armor as Valve did with SteamOS. Note Valve knew using Linux requires a lot more work on the software side while all other PC handhelds goes with Windows because it requires less work.
This must be one of the most oft repeated attempts to justify the Ally jank, two things ; the Deck had issues because it was aiming to build what it is today and Valve responded with sometimes daily updates and at the very least communication cf with Asus silence for 3wks on serious issues such as the SD Card. Secondly Valve using an open source OS as the base, arch linux has full control over any and all issues and this is a fundamental reason the Deck is where it is today. Asus, no matter how much they do will only be providing a sticky plaster on-top of fundamental and underlying Windows issues, quick resume , power management being just two of a very long list. Because of the Deck, the needle has moved, it was the first to in the end provide the experience we have today, it is no longer 'good enough' to be where the Ally is
@@TheOmenXXXMicrosoft is developing a handheld mode, I’d count that as some kind of plan and fix. Windows 11 is really not that bad, I think your just talking out of your butt because you had some issues with past windows Os’s. I fully tested Windows 11 on the Ally over the course of a month and it’s had far less issues than Steam OS in its first 2 weeks.
I do admit if you’re not using a keyboard, the experience could get annoying if docked. But besides that, the Ally is probably the scariest contender to the Steam Deck. And you Deck heads can definitely feel it. It’s obvious yur scared 😂
You guys forget early days of new hardware launches are always met with buyers regret initially but once AMD gets the driver updates flowing the ROG Ally will work much better to use for harder to run games. Also many newer games have anti cheat and that is less problematic on windows. If I was going to buy the ROG now I would suggest investing in Bestbuys protection program so you can switch out of a bad situation down the road. Just like the steamdeck there will be hardware revisions. So if you can wait, insure it. The point is to have fun. Also at some point you will be able to run SteamOS on the Ally, just have to wait on the updates. Both machines have pros and cons. You can't go wrong depending on the budget.
Speaking of anticheat systems and weird launchers, I hope game companies are starting to cotton on to Steam Deck support with their new games. I'm see more Deck Supported titles than there used to be in my wishlist, so I hope that trend continues.
AMD does not support the Ally, it is up to ASUS.
Steam deck with Emudeck, Heroic Launcher and my Steam library covers pretty much every game I have ever wanted to play, no brainer for me to pick the Deck over the Rog.
this is why i didnt get the ROG Ally. everyone said it had better hardware but at the end of the day steam is always patching glitch's and getting things to run better so even with worst hardware it runs better. and they will do it better and for longer and still sell it cheaper for a lost because of the backing of the rest of the company
Valve's Steam Deck > Asus ROG Ally and any other overseas companies like Ayaneo, GPD, OneXPlayer because of: Customer Service, Support, Ease of Use and overall just a joy to use and game. Returned my Ally because of overheating of SD card reader, Windows 11 and Armoury Crate jankiness. Plus Steam Deck has so much more in terms of after market accessories like cases, skins, etc.
I have both, and they're good in their own way.
I think there can be advantages and disadvantages to both that extent to a great deal. With the Steam Deck, I'm a little disappointed that I can't seem to get my Pygame games to work. But with Ally, I'm guessing that work work because of Windows.
Same. I would still recommend the Ally over the Steam deck
I just got my unit yesterday now is time to unboxing got 1tb micro on sales and screen protector plus all the sales games I’m more than happy thanks Valve my next upgrade is a 2 tb ssd transparent back plate and face skin and a nice $379 air glasses uufff that rig will b sick
Nice thing about deck as well is you can fill your steam wallet over time instead of having to drop that kind of cash all at once if you want.
I wish I could have a Deck, but apparently it's too hard for Dave to figure out how to ship to non-continental US. Meanwhile the Ally has been great so far, I mostly have indie stuff on Steam and a crap ton of VNs from non-steam stores which I just created a profile for 1 and practically applied it to all the others lol. 😅
Not only that, I don't know why Valve doesn't do a wider retail shop release either. It has a genuinely good popular product, and I have seen really inflated prices for the Steam Deck in second hand stores like CEX. Something like Argos or Walmart shouldn't be too hard for Valve, and they'll take a new small share of the chunk of the Nintendo Switch market.
@@skycloud4802 so far only Asia specifically Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have steam deck you can buy in stores, but not yet for Europe and America :/
They are smart. They are going step by step. Unlike Rog ally because even they are coming to more countries it will fail.
@Jaxv3r I live in Europe, and I ordered a Steam Deck from their website and it has arrived in 8 days. How can't you guys manage to buy one on Europe ? LoL !
@@MrFloryn88 "in stores" I said, you can buy one on their website, but if your planning to sell an electronic device to many people as possible, then yeah retail stores are the way to go.
Everything you said about the Rog Ally is true, but for me it does not stop me from buying the Rog Ally instead, Its smaller, lighter, quieter and better performance.
Great video, you earned a sub & like
Get the steam deck if you don't have either and are low on cash.
If you already have the steam deck, then the ally is complimentary but won't replace it. Gyro on the deck is seamless and there's only so many games you can fit into one console.
SteamOS alone is all the reason anyone needs, once I realized what it was capable of I was more than satisfied.
I've used the crap out of my deck for the last year. The typical console experience makes the deck what it is. All the games I play run really well with the Steam Deck hardware. Including Diablo 4. Because of the Quick Resume feature, I now finish games where I once never would. Honestly I don't need a Steam Deck 2. Better hardware would be a nice bonus. If I was someone who played more of the Triple A titles, and would benefit from a hardware bump, I would not hesitate to buy the Steam Deck 2. With that said, I'm going to save some money every month so that I can be the first to buy a Steam Deck 2. The experience has been so smooth and seamless. Valve really has the opportunity to join the PS XBox Console wars. No shade to Nintendo, they have their own market where they just print money and laugh at everybody else, haha.
Which one is better depends entirely on what the user needs, whoever says one is better than the other is just wrong. I have both, the SD is better optimized for handheld play for sure, but it shows its weaker hardware in many games. The Ally can play more demanding games, plain and simple. The Ally is a better choice for ME for one huge reason, docked mode. I was planning on building a second PC for my wife or when a friend comes over. The Ally can fill that role easily, friend of mine came over recently and we played COD for 3hrs and Rust for 5 and the Ally did great.... It also plays handheld mode great, it has the occasional hiccup like many have reported but overall it's a better choice for ME.
Steam deck are like Toyota
you may like other cars
But you’ll always appreciate Toyota reliability
I just got my Steam Deck a week ago and I love it. It's got that console aesthetic to it that makes it easy to navigate and use. I actually have struggled to get one because Valve can't ship to my location and the Japanese online retailer wouldnt take my address either. Luckily on our last trip to Tokyo they were selling them at a pop up store on the airport. They also have a few shops in Tokyo and Osaka that sell Steam Decks but since I was already in the airport i figured eh WTH let's do it. Glad I did because on the way home people were buying them in bulk. One dude purchased 8. Ended up with the 1TB version with Oled screen. Worth. Every. Penny.
Idk, man. I haven't had any issues with my Ally, and the only gripes I have are software side, and windows.
Not too difficult to rectify.
The big thing for me is the versatility of the Ally.
this was great to see. very much looking forward to the gen 2 or 3 versions of the steam deck that will address the fan issues and improve on everything else.
I had Deck. Sold it. Bought Ally... and sold Ally (with profit actually) after 3-4 days 🤷♂ You need to configure a lot of stuff before even playing. Starting game takes more time... Everything takes a lot of time etc.
Finally bought Steam Deck again and in my opinion its the best console available, since it costs HALF of what is on market, does have good components, can run games offline and its not some streaming-device (which is a joke in handheld!). Love Steam Deck and for now it stays with me, without even thinking about selling it!
Solid review. I bought my Steam Deck the week after the Ally was announced. I had some Summer travel coming up and didn't want to wait for the Ally. Very glad I didn't. Love the Deck, use it almost every day... to the point where my desktop has been gathering dust. And don't be fooled by the "unsupported" label on some games. Even if Valve hasn't put in the work to certify a game; there's a good chance the Steam community has stepped up. Example: Elite Dangerous is officially unsupported but I play it on my Deck regularly because the community uploaded the Xbox console version controls.
Rog Ally have a native w11. You can play ALL games with best screen, best audio and very best performance compared to SD. I’m glad to you with the SD but i’m sorry: Ally is the best portable machine in the market
@@tonypv9303lack of touch pads means it’s ass for all strategy games.
Great video! One of the biggest drawbacks of the Ally is that it's relying on Windows for it's operating system. If Microsoft were to come out with a gaming handheld mode or OS derivative, that would be a huge boon to the Ally and other WIndows-based handhelds.
If they did that they might as well just go all the way and make essentially what would be their own Xbox portable
Both good ideas tbh. And with the xbox game pass, they could really do something with that.
@@ZyklonBeast12 yeah, that would be the only thing I think would truly rival the Steamdeck. I don’t think it would be hard for Microsoft to convert windows into an optimized handheld OS, they already built it specifically with games as a key component. They already have their own gaming eco system with none of these other handhelds can claim, plus gamepass is still one of the best values in gaming today. Starfield is going to be one of those games I think people will always want to be playing and I think it’s going to be a perfect game to have on a handheld platform.
Steamdeck isn't available in many countries. Some of these countries are in the top 5 of steam's user base list.
Whereas Ally is available worldwide. Lot of games I want to play coming from Playstation can't be played on the deck. And the 512gb version is just 50 dollars less than the ally. For me ally was a no brainer and I don't regret it
The PlayStation games that can't be played on the Deck also doesn't run well on the Ally either like Returnal. What I find interesting the PC games recently released that runs decent of the Deck runs well on the PC and games that can't run on the Deck runs awful on the PC. Returnal is one of the exceptions.
I do agree it's good the Ally is in more countries at the price of the most expense Deck.
Rog ally made me appreciate my steam deck so much more
My steam deck Epstien’d itself while playing D4. Sent it in to Valve and they sent me back a brand new Deck. Great customer support from Valve
I have both. I personally love the ROG Ally and use it way more often than my Steam Deck. The Steam Deck is mainly used for EmuDeck and older games, while the Ally has become both my main gaming device and main tablet.
Having said that, I would agree that the Steam Deck is the better buy for most people. It’s a much better “pick up and play”-experience and SteamOS has really matured over the past year to the point where it offers arguably the best console experience you could expect from a handheld PC. Its ergonomics are fantastic, it’s powerful enough to play pretty much everything on Steam, and the corners Valve cut are only noticeable in direct comparisons.
In my opinion, the Steam Deck hits the perfect middle ground between power and versatility, bang for buck and sensible trade-offs.
The ROG Ally is geared more towards enthusiasts that don’t mind tinkering, or people that want a small Windows tablet that can also game. I love it, but while its high are higher than the Steam Deck’s, it also has way more lows.
Same
I would like to see this conversation in a year from now. The Ally has quite a ways to go software wise but I do believe it can close the gap to the Deck in terms of stability and features. Hardware is great, but it’s gonna take some time for the user experiences to get to an acceptable level.
honestly, i can understand the console vs pc feel of handhelds.
I feel similar sentiments with Android vs Linux retro-handhelds. something about a device's ui being DEDICATED to gaming makes a world of difference for the overall experience of using the device.
Quick Resume is like one of my favourite features, but sometimes audio breaks for me but its rare.
Who woulda thunk that the steams price performance point was better when all the ROG ally does is have more screen in the same form factor with more power but less battery life, also being windows slave?
But being a "windows slave" also means being able to play any game you want. Both devices have positives and negatives.
@@xHIGHBALLERx If you wait for sales to happen anyway then it doesn't really matter.
Ally is awesome.I play all my games at 13watts and still get 40-60 fps on everything I play.I don’t have a steam deck and even I think the steam sounds better…for now,but just like the deck once the ally has time to bake I do think it will be the go to handheld to get above all else.
Most of the QoL issues the Deck had and have been fixed were related to the OS which has gotten more and more polished over time.
Most of the issues with the Ally lie with Windows, not whatever software is running on top of it. And only Microsoft can actually update Windows to make it a better handheld experience.
After having the Ally I cannot go back to the crap screen, bugs, and game incompatibility of the Deck. Maybe when they have good hardware I will try it again.
I recommend the Ally to my friends as they already know how to use a PC. To friends that don't however I say you can get a Deck but keep in mind that you are best sticking to games on Steam and dont require a launcher as that can break from time to time.
The biggest thing that hurts the deck to me is the lack of native game pass.
I returned my Ally today. I had alot of little issues from the ram usage, temps being high even just web browsing, fans ramping up. Games not always launching, the controller stopped working outside of games. These didn't break the Ally, but it felt like it wasn't worth the cost. My Deck works more fluently, even in desktop mode. The best buy had 4 other Ally's that had been returned. Which makes me wonder if people were having a similar experience
People don't remember or realize how buggy the deck was for months after launch
@ChadKenova the difference is SteamOS is an a distro developed by Valve. ASUS, doesnt have this control over windows
I guess thats good to know. I have a Deck but was considering the Ally. Either Im going to save that money or buy a PS5.
get a PS5!!! dont even think about it!
@@DonaldHendleyBklynvexRecords the gaming combo, steam deck/desktop PC and a PS5 and Switch.
@@Jaxv3r FACTS!!!.....and PSVR lol
@@DonaldHendleyBklynvexRecords VR is still too niche,I could live without VR for now.
@@Jaxv3r I felt same until I got 1 myself ...Its only Niche because most ppl haven't actually tried it
For me ally is much better option. All my AAA games running really smoothly. Actually this is was the main concern to steam deck. SD couldn’t run like 50% of my games. And even that if it could, the “look” of the game was a nightmare. The was just not enough power. I just used my laptop.
And when I was running indi/platformer games, I was choosing switch. The were now place for SD.
Ally is just perfect for portable PC gaming. Games looks very nice on that screen.
I really liked it when you said the steam deck is the 4th console and I can 100% agree.
Yeah... Because console trash is open ended like the deck, runs Linux or Windows, has no fee to play online... Yeah very console trash like 😂
I'm guessing we're going to see a lot of these videos over the next couple of months.
Yeah…lots of people don’t realize that it takes patience and support to get to where the Steam deck is at. Being there since the begining, there were the same exact types of problems with the system overheating, analog sticks and sd card. It’s kind of not fair that lots of people are being ccompletely closed minded about technology and software engineering in general.
@@ChristopherToro I always called the ROG Ally a Steam Deck from wish. My choice of getting the deck for 543 euro instead of 679 because of its biggest sale is so nice to see
Haven’t used a steam deck yet but I just got the ALLY and love it so far. The fact it runs windows is what did it for me because I can easily mod all of my favorite steam games. I have no need for the touch sensors whatsoever either. Performance is out of this world. I’d like to see a windows handheld mode though but the current gestures make it doable. If you want a handheld gaming PC experience - ALLYs the way to go. If you want a handheld console experience it seems like Deck is the one.
I just don't really understand how all these people who daily drive PCs are acting like the Ally is terrible because of the feature set that they literally use on a daily bases. So far, my Ally has been seemless, but every issue I have had on the Ally I have had on my pc as well. If "convenience" is valued more than a better screen, more powerful hardware, better speakers, quiter fan, and a lighter weight package then all these people are hypocrites for having PCs and not consoles lol.
Those 8.4" r7 7040hs look much more appealing
The *even less* battery life and lack of trackpads turned me off to it before it released, but it was cool to see Asus making the effort. The deck has just knocked shit out of the park so thoroughly that I'm more interested in what its next iteration will be more than chasing whatever extra performance is out there now. Perhaps a game will come along that changes my mind, but for now, I guess I'm on the Valve train till it derails lol
Solid review, never owned an ROG but it definitely caught my eye. Your explanation of owning a Steam Deck was sheer perfection! I love my Steam Deck, and at the price point I feel like it is a good option especially if you have an already sizeable steam library so you will not have to purchase titles multiple times like other platforms.
I just can’t, it’s mainly the screen with its 100% srgb and freesync premium. Without those on the steam deck I’m always worried about my fps. And the ally is just so much lighter. But if you prefer the steam deck go for it, it’s a great device for what it is!
bro I stopped looking at my FPS on my desktop PC and it made my life easier xd
agree and the steam deck has a sudo VRR screen. I love the ability to lock frames to 40-45 fps and then match the v-sync. for example D4 at higher details looks and plays better at 45fps then ally. stutter fest. Once software gets ironed out and the chimera OS gets better, the ally I think will be allowed to shine. I will say when I have a 1440p beast of a desktop I don't really need the best details or fps in a mobile system. I want consistent and smooth experience where I can just in play on the couch and be comfy. Deck does this hands down way better then I expected
@@Jaxv3ryeah I’m doing that now but it’s the fact it has vrr that means I don’t have to worry about fps
@@JFlogerzioh yeah 100% love how you can change the refresh rate like that. I can’t wait for chimeraos to get smoothed out cause steamos + the ally is the absolute best combo
@@robbiemcnair9963 also why do you worry so much about the color not 100% sRGB
Theres a good reason why the Steam Deck has better power management, because Valve custom designed the APU, and they also wrote the power management driver that Linux now uses as part of the kernel for all Zen 2+ CPUs.
They also wrote gamescope which does the frame limiting + resolution scaling. They also did the half rate shading and other stuff to work with all games.
These other companies like ASUS, they don;t really do software or contribute to the operating system itself, Valve contributes to Linux directly, fixes things in the kernel and the drivers and hires the people who make the API translation layers which in some cases runs better than DirectX naively, especially for DX11 and older.
Did valve really custom build the apu? I'm sure I remember reading that the apu was custom designed for Microsoft but they decided they didn't want it so valve got a good deal on them. Could be completely misremembering though, it was a while ago
@@Skett It has "Valve" in big letters printed on it with "powered by AMD" is small letters. What other device do you know have the Deck's chip?
I assume AMD actually designed the chip. If Microsoft did paid for AMD to design the chip I'm sure it still cost Valve to claim the chip for themselves.
@@Skettyes they did
now with the oled version and the nvme ssd being in the lowest price point makes this so much better too
I’ve had the steam deck for an entire year and let me tell you the RBG Ally, just blow it out of the water. The screen is amazing, yes, the battery life is garbage but we know that if you are running AAA games and of course get a power brick it’s not that hard. The steam deck is best for those with a Consol mindset. however, if you know PCs then go with the ROG Ally. I’ve had my ROG Ally for two months now, and my steam deck is literally collecting dust. and also remember the steam deck was horrible at launch. Also the RGL I will get fixed with all the little bugs.