1st Ally - Portable, light weight, good screen, performance 2nd SD Oled - Easy to use and longer battery life, Screen Oled 3rd GO - For me this one is not a handheld since I have to constantly set it down on a table to play for longer than thirty minutes because it is too hefty for me. If you prefer this I suggest just buy a gaming desktop since you will just stock on your computer table and chair most of the time or a gaming laptop instead as you can purchase a good one for $700.
Got a 64gb Steam Deck last year, put a 1tb ssd in it as soon as I pulled it out of the box. I love it. Unbelievably I played it more then my pc over the last year.
I have a 64gb lcd on the way. I’m considering doing the same and other upgrades to “deck” it out but I want to wait and see how I like it first. I was tempted to go for the higher end handhelds but $282 with a dock was too good a bargain. The money saved seemed worth the sacrifice in performance.
@@wolveslands6701 eBay. Sent a guy an offer, expecting him to decline and surprisingly he accepted. You’ll likely have to hunt around a bit but you should be able to get a good price on a used lcd version.
@@wolveslands6701 don’t know if my last replay went through. Yt seems to be meddling with my comments lately... but eBay was my answer. You’ll have to shop around and likely either take a chance at winning an auction or find someone that accepts offers. I sent someone an offer mostly expecting for it to be declined and surprisingly they accepted.
@@kimbo9643 what games are missing on steam deck? I’m a console guy (so I don’t have a clue about pc games) and also must choose between these 3 devices
I grabbed a Legion Go-performance and battery life works well for my use case. And the screen is amazing, couldn’t go to the smaller lower resolution options. Your conclusion is well balanced. I think in 6-12 months, a comparison would be good, especially as the Go matures. Great video, thank you!
I love my Steam Deck, I got the 64GB at launch Q1, and got the Limited Edition when it was announced. I am a long time PC gamer, and I am someone who does value performance but man the stuff the Deck can run never ceases to amaze me. But I am also not trying to play my really competitive games on it like Apex. It is really my casual gaming COOP machine or story mode box. I go to my desktop to sweat.
I have the Legion go and Lenovo is really pushing some good updates on it, they fixed the dead zone issue on mid December update, and they have improved their app a lot for just two months, and it becomes even better as I set up Steam big picture as my main launcher for games, really improved the experience
I agree, I absolutely love mine. The christmas eve updates were especially fantastic. I snagged my 1tb legion go for $636. If people want to return them, so be it. It just means huge discounts for people like me who are ok with an open box device. Mine is flawless too. Absolutely no dings or scratches whatsoever. Just be sure to check the rating of the box before buying. If you are shopping at best buy look for open boxes marked "excellent". Don't settle for a box marked "fair". The only minor issues ive had with mine would be that i sometimes have to re-open a game window for blutooth headphones to work. If they arent connected before i start playing, the sound reverts back to using the speakers when i go back to the game window. Kind of odd but not a dealbreaker at all. I'm sure a software update can fix it. Also, one time, my touch screen stopped working. I simply restarted the device and it worked again. Its never happened since. I honestly had more issues with the series x at launch than ive had with this device. People just have unrealistic expectations for brand new devices. Give it 3-6 more months and people will be raving over the Legion Go. On paper its over 5 times more powerful than a steamdeck. The legion go is closer in specs to a PS5 than a steamdeck. Its actually right between the Series S and Series X in benchmarks. This thing is a BEAST!
If you're sensitive to framdrops, the VRR on the Ally can be a huge factor. The others can work around that by setting an appropriate fps cap, but the fact it's not a concern on the Ally is a huge bonus
VRR is for removing tearing. It also reduce input lag. It does not stop framedrops. Just opposite. It allows fluctuating framepacing. This is good thing if fps is high enough. +90fps... On lower frames ~ 30-60 it is useless because frametime differences are too big.
I stream from my pc 4k 144hz, the tearing on legion go Is very bad compared RoG ally with overlclocked display at 144 hz.. if you are used to play with gsync or freesync Is difficult to pass over
@@retro_ed746 I didn't say VRR stops framedrops. What I mean is that VRR makes them a lot less noticeable compared to vsync. Even at lower framerates (compared to the refresh rate) some people notice the frametime fluctuations.
You guys have to understand that the Go has a portrait display so tearing isn't so noticeable. This is why Lenovo just dropped having VRR in the first place. They just hope people will use vsync and call it a day. This might be great if your games can run at a constant 60, 72, or 144fps. If your games are running around 45fps then vsync can't help you to smooth out that drop in framerate. This is where VRR is needed for games that don't perform that well on lower end specs. This is very important for a chip like the Z1E and it's unfortunate that the Go doesn't have it. This is what makes the Ally a better product overall even tho it has the smaller screen which some people don't mind or prefer. If you're ok with using vsync and want a larger screen then go with the Go. It's a similar experience minus the VRR screen. Remember you could always use an external monitor and get VRR so it shouldn't be deal breaker imo. As for the SD OLED, it's for people that don't mind playing games at 30, 45, 60, and now 90fps. If you're ok with that and want a console like experience then go with that. If you're into high frame gaming on older titles you will need a Z1E chip, it's just a matter if you want to go with the Ally or Go. Edit. I meant to say portrait display.
I've had all 3 and prefer the Legion Go. The screen is just amazing in person and if you have a beefy desktop/laptop you could use moonlight and really push the screen to its full potential
After watching countless videos and reading so many articles comparing the 3 devices, I went ahead and ordered the SD OLED 512. Honestly, I was very tempted to get the OG SD 256 or the RA Z1, both available now for $400. But, in the end I forked-out the extra $150 and got what I believe is the most refined and proven device. I get it in a few days and am super excited!
I have the steam deck oled and the rog ally and the one thing i despite about the ally is its battery life. At 15 watts its okay i guess. But at 25watts the battery life drains so quickly. Also now having the oled with 90hz the thing just looks fantastic and 90hz makes everything more fluid. Ally has its 120hz but most games wont take advantage of it. On top of that its 1080p screen will eat the battery life quickly. At this point im just considering selling my rog ally. The steam deck is superior imo.
Don't forget the steam deck design includes a track pad with tactile feedback and great customizability for hybrid joystick/mouse control. There are games which would be unplayable with just a controller but run beautifully on stream deck with hybrid controller/mouse control.
@@inbracedefeatone of the first games that I've played once I got my original model about a year ago were Torchlight 1 and 2 - trackpads are really useful there, since you can customize it by separating the surface area to support up to 9 additional inputs. This is basically 9 additional buttons for a single trackpad, which you can bind for spell or potion usage in these or similar kinds of games. I also quite enjoy Point&Click adventure games which also play great using the trackpad inputs. For example, I have also completed entire Broken Sword series between the two Torchlight games. So yeah, I do find them extremely useful
@@celestial_froggy genuinely never heard of any of those games till that comment haha. I love my deck but I don’t think the trackpads are useful for my gaming library. Thanks for the insight tho!
I was always a console gamer but last year I decided I wanted to experience PC gaming. I didn't want a full on gaming PC for my lack of space in house but a handheld was such a good decision. Plus the game prices on PC damn did I ever miss out...aha. I ended up buying a Steam Deck as my only gaming option and I LOVE it! Best thing I bought for gaming in a long time. Maybe later down the line I wouldn't mond upgrading to a higher end handheld bit for now this will do
I’m bout in the same boat as you but can’t decide on which one to get I’ve been an Xbox player for as long I can remember always wanted to do pc but like you said them prices 😬. How’s the steam deck treating you?
First of all I can't stress how nice it is to see larger screens popping up. Second, it's also really nice that the answer to which is best is pretty much a "well, that depends". The coming years are going to be wild with what each maker will help push out from the other.
what's the point of big screens if no matter how big battery you put into a device it always will be not enough. 720p always will be the best option for a HANDHELD. I hope SD2 will stick to it.
Ally for me. Loved my LCD SD but can’t play titles unless you add windows then you lose the efficiency. The Ally blew through games like I couldn’t believe. The Go is beautiful and more useful but it’s too huge to use as a handheld IMO.
@@yourkingorginal3286 Anything outside purchased on Steam was jumping through hoops. I switched to a Go recently and have no issues with Windows again.
Please don't get angry🙂, but do you have an old gaming device you can give me(no matter how old) , I'm very interested in gaming, but haven't played any. Sorry to beg but just trying my luck🤞🏼, got nothing to lose
Steam deck all the way. I don't want my handheld to have to be plugged in all the time in order to fully utilize the thing. Steam/proton are really good at optimizing games for the deck too. Maybe if this was my only gaming device I would prefer the Ally. But as a handheld sidekick to my main rig this is exactly what i want. Plus oled hdr is pretty great when implemented properly
I sold my original Steam Deck last year I picked up an Ally before Christmas mega cheap off eBay for just over £200 because it had a faulty SD card and although its a great device I just preferred the Steam Deck especially for emulation and ease of use. I ended up selling it and going for a Steam Deck OLED just before Christmas and I love it! Well worth it over the LCD model due to loads of upgrades such as the OLED screen and 90hz refresh rate not to mention all the other upgrades. For me personally...the deck just feels like a more polished & premium device over the ROG ALLY. I can't speak for the Legion Go as I have never owned one but I have actually been very surprised on how well most games perform on the Steam Deck & for me the battery life is a huge factor and the SD-OLED blows the others out of the water in terms of battery life and usability. All this is subjective though as I see the Steam Deck OLED as a Handheld console rather than a Handheld PC/Laptop like the the ROG ALLY and GO. It would be very interesting to see how well the ROG ALLY and Legion GO perform and last for in terms of battery life with the official Steam OS installed although I can't see Steam doing that anytime soon!
Please don't get angry🙂, but do you have an old gaming device you can give me(no matter how old) , I'm very interested in gaming, but haven't played any. Sorry to beg but just trying my luck🤞🏼, got nothing to lose
I got the Z1 ROG Ally for 400 bucks and I'm very happy with it. Everyone always says to avoid this one, but its 200 bucks less, and honestly for any big AAA games, I'd rather just play them on my desktop gaming PC to take advantage of all the graphics instead of a small screen. As mostly an emulation/indie/jrpg device, the Z1 is great.
I got a ROG ALLY Extreme Open box at Best Buy for about $500 (price was $491 but with tax ended up being a little over $500). The previous owner had a vanilla Windows 11 install on it so setup didn't see the ROG's wifi card. Had to boot the ROG into the bios and do a Asus Cloud recovery. Ended up putting a 2Tb drive in it. System is an absolute beast. Have 0 regrets and would do it again. The ROG Ally is especially awesome with the RayNeo AR glasses I have.... a personal virtual 200 inch screen projected in front of you through the glasses.
The base Z1 actually sports comparable performance in silent mode. And I always use my handheld in silent mode. So, I could've gotten a base Z1 rather than Z1E, but the price difference was very small, so I ended up with the senior model.
I went with oled steam deck 1tb very nice but still learning …game play is really addictive This puppy is hard to put down makes you want to play all your games Again ❤
I bought Lenovo Go because it's a combination of a Laptop and a Switch. I have seen a lot of people using the Legion go as desktop PC, doing video editing and other non gaming things as a bonus.
This ^ being able to remove the controllers + the bigger screen is a deal for someone who wants to game just as much as they want a computer. (and the kickstand 🙏)
I feel like Gen 2's will add a bit better perf, bit longer battery - but probably won't be a wholly different experience. If you want to get into handheld PC gaming I think now is a good time (especially if you can pick one up on a deal)
I have both the ally extreme and the steam oled and i only play handheld most of the time since the Nintendo switch release, And let me tell you something, you cant go wrong with the ally neither the steam deck oled , If you dont mind limited memory and a little tweak and work before you start most of the games the ally is a better option if the 10% performance worth it with the high battery consumption otherwise the steam deck with the oled display is more easy to use and more convenient specially if you are someone who is not much into gaming pcs and just want to play and jump directly to the games and spend much time on.right now i see myself more with the steam deck side.
I got the Steam Deck OG, Steam Deck OLED and the ROG Ally with a 3080 *and* 4090 XG Mobile Dock. I’ve sold my desktop pc. This new era is my dream of decades coming true in 2023
Granted I’m an it chap, but tweaking and smoothing out the Lenovo has made it my primary go to device for gaming. It’s awesome for quick MP CoD MWIII matches for the grind, a quick run of Horizon Zero Dawn or a quick race in Grind at 1200p (not 1080p). With a portable battery I already carry for my camera, laptop, or phones on the go, it goes for long enough. 20w on the Go is the butter zone for batt and perf. Not doubting my purchase. Had a steam deck, but the screen in comparison is a blurry mess to me. Text is near unreadable and it locked me into only steam. I have Game Pass…which wasn’t even mentioned in depth. While you CAN Microsoft your deck, it’s not native or easy. With the Go it’s just…awesome…and super light on the battery. I think the expandability on the Go (who wants to bet that there’s going to be premium controllers offered with Hall effect everything and different stick layouts) is also very overlooked. I mean, what’s stopping them from making a battery pack pass through? Remember the controllers are powered from the device so the ports are already there… There’s a lot to love…now if Microsoft would just relent and basically make a stripped version of Windows for gaming mode…then we’d have something. I don’t need Office to run CoD…
I loved my OG Steam Deck! I’d happily recommend the Steam Deck to most people coming from a console just purely for its pick up and play ability. It’s not quite console level easy but it’s as close as a PC will get I recon. I moved to the Legion Go, and agree the screen is beautiful! The only thing missing although niche, the Go does work with eGPU’s. Adding a 3070 into an eGPU over Thunderbolt 3/USB4 boosts this thing no end. I also love the ability to swap between tablet and handheld mode, then add a lapdock and essentially you have a decent allrounder that’s a handheld/desktop/laptop/tablet combo
Im coming from console and just ordered the 1TB OLED version Do you have advice on how to get MW3 running on the Steam Deck? I’m a total noob when it comes to PC and heard I need windows 11, buy the game on Steam and then possibly more steps to play it ?
@@ShotgunGuenni From what i've heard if you want to primarily play call of duty you are better off with the ally or go because of windows os. Sure you can install windows on the steam deck and dual boot it but that takes away one of the big advantages of the steam deck which is its streamlined os.
@@draecath5953 thanks for the reply Seems like this really would be the better decision for me Do you know the process/steps on how it works with the Ally or the Go in terms of playing MW3 So what I mean is, would it literally just be, downloading Steam on the device , purchasing the game on Steam, download it and start playing or are there multiple more steps even on a windows device like the Ally/Go?
@@ShotgunGuenni Since its windows it should work like it would on any pc. I haven't played call of duty in several years because I hate slamming my face into the brick wall that is extreme sbmm but as far as I know it should be pretty straight forward.
I have a massive gaming collection with 7 TVs hooked up in my game room. Even with all that stuff, the OLED Steam Deck is my favorite gaming device ever.
Excellent video! It's exciting that we're getting closer to the day where I could swap my gaming laptop (my main PC) for a handheld PC and feel good about it. As it stands, I don't think we're quite there yet. Maybe if the Deck OLED played nicer with Windows.
I have the LCD 512GB steam deck and have had it since launch, loved it for what it is. But I play a lot of non-steam games and wasn't happy with the performance on newer or AAA titles on the deck so I just picked up the legion go a week or two ago and am absolutely loving it. Windows 11 certainly has its problems as it's not made to be a console-like experience like the deck, but the initial hoops you have to jump through for the setup is far worth it for how amazing the gaming experience is on this device. I could not recommend it enough for those who are already familiar with PC gaming and Windows 11
Here in the Philippines, Ally Z1 Extreme is currently around $700 while SD oled is at $800 thats why i ordered the ROG Ally. Hoping to receeve it before new year
I got myself a 512 GB steam deck LCD with the etched glass for 350€ brand new just 3 weeks ago . That thing is amazing and soooo comfortable… i use it to play Battlefield 4 multiplayer and offers 3,5 hours of online goodness !
As an ex-Windows gaming handheld owner (original Ayaneo Air) - Windows really needs to come out with a handheld optimized OS, rather than rely on third party (ASUS, Ayaneo, Lenovo, etc.) SteamOS shines for this and I like its implementation where it has a dedicated gaming front end and then you have the option to load into a dedicated Linux desktop OS mode. For the price of the Lenovo, you're probably better off getting a entry level gaming laptop and get better performance and versatility there.
People like you really need to stop comparing a handheld to a laptop (for the price of this, you can get bla bla bla). They both have two different target audiences.
SteamOS is the difference for me. It's so optimised and has pretty much made me ditch my PC/Laptop. Laptop comparison is fair enough seeing as you can plug the SD into a dock and it's a PC. Brillant.
Have you actually looked up laptops that are the price of these three handhelds? The performance gains will be very slight, and you'll have to always have a place to set it.
When the gaming performance is so close between devices, the most important thing is battery life. Steam Deck OLED literally destroys the other two in that regard, unless you have tiny commutes or use the handheld plugged in, there’s really no question which is best.
Wdym the gaming performance is so close ? Rog ally and legion go blow steam deck out of the water in terms of performance, especially in newer games like alan wake 2 / baldur's gate 3
@@simoneritucci5928 haven’t had a game on my deck I wanted to play that couldn’t. I agree though that you should buy the device that plays the games you want, that’s exactly why you buy a handheld gaming device. My point about battery life still stands though imho, because what’s the point of being able to play a game you want if it lasts 1 hour, vs playing the same game at lower settings for 3-4
@@inmypaants your point was that the performance was effectively the same so battey was the only deciding factor, but performance isn’t the same. You can make the argument that battery is more important than performance, but that isn’t your original point.
I think He forget to mention that the Ally is the only one that has a native VRR screen. That alone is one of the biggest reason to choose the Ally, because it will make all your games will feel buttery smooth, even at lower fps. I think steam deck now have VRR if you use a external screen that supports VRR.
@@kalista37 I dont use sd card and I got my ally 5 months ago. I mean it is bad I agree but 512gb is enough to have like 8 games installed and play. you can avoid this problem.
I very recently sold my original LCD 512GB Steam Deck in favour of the ASUS ROG Ally now it’s gone down in price in the UK. I don’t regret the decision at all and the Ally feels clearly the best for me personally… but I do agree with this review. For most people, the Deck really is going to be the best choice. SteamOS is fantastic now compared to how it was at launch and there’s very little that won’t run well on it. Windows is a pain on the Ally. But I do like the flexibility of using other launchers (especially MS Game Pass) and the extra power it has. Plus the screen is incredible compared to the LCD. The battery life is much worse though - worse even than my old launch LCD Deck.
How do you feel about using the Ally for Game Pass? It's honestly the primary reason I want an Ally as I already have a Steam Deck for all my other games but I'm a huge Xbox guy
@@tsam3676 I have the original Ally, not the Ally X and it varies. If I play something in the 25W turbo mode, I’m honestly looking at between 45 mins - 1 hour absolute maximum battery life. So I just don’t play anything like that, instead I use an 18W custom profile for most stuff and that will last at least 1 and a half hours. If you play retro/older games or stream your games, you can get around 3 hours out of it. But that’s the absolute limit. You’ll want to consider buying a battery pack alongside if you’re looking to buy one to travel with.
@@V3Valhalla it works great on it! At the end of the day, it’s a Windows PC, essentially a small laptop with a built-in Xbox controller, so anything that runs in Windows will run on this with no compatibility issues. You’ll be able to install and play basically anything in Game Pass. I’ve played a lot of Starfield and Forza Motorsport installed on my Ally through Game Pass.
Bought Ally last week. Very happy with it. And I really do feel it’s coming down to personal choice at this point. What extra features do you want and what will you be happy not having?
The Asus is crap. It’s like a Range Rover. Nice until the hardware fails, which is super common. Had mine less that a year and my ssd drive went out in a month and I got he the black screen of death a few months after that. The ROG Alley is the most unreliable piece of tech I’ve ever owned.
I have the ROG Ally and it would be a perfect device except for the issue with the SD card reader, mine just broke and there is alot of complaints about it online. I have been having a good time using it and it runs AAA games good enough and emulation is great. I know there are alot of people that would say to just upgrade the internal memory, but there are also many people going into this space that would prefer to just pop in the SD card and call it a day, especially at the price point of these devices. This is something that people need to keep in mind when picking one of these up.
The Asus is crap. It’s like a Range Rover. Nice until the hardware fails, which is super common. Had mine less that a year and my ssd drive went out in a month and I got he the black screen of death a few months after that. The ROG Alley is the most unreliable piece of tech I’ve ever owned.
it's unlikely you have to look at and for better efficiency for AAA performance, if you want to play lower TDP games then Steam Deck has tit beat thanks to bespoke soc and the os.
@@NoradNoxtusthey could easily manage a 25% bigger battery from 40 to 50 WH. That alone would help. They didn't really push the boundaries with first iteration, no one does. That's why it's always a bad idea to purchase first gen products (SD card dying)
I have the Steam Deck for some time now but since I got the Legion Go i hardly came back to the Steam Deck. I still love it but it is much more limited performance wise and with multiplayer games than the Legion Go. And the Legion Go screen is just amazing.
I got an OG Steam Deck and it is great for what it is but I'm currently enjoying the Ally. Battery is crap on both devices, bought and returned the legion go. Really liked the dual thunderbolt ports but the controls didn't do it for me. The legion is only worth it if you're really into FPS mode. Really looking forward to a proper sequel to the steam deck.
I got a steam deck at the beginning of 2023 and I fell in love with the ease and vast amount of games to play. I just recently bought a ROG Ally extreme this week and while it was a little harder to get running, playing Persona 3 Reloaded ROG’s beautiful 1080p on the go, with game pass, was eye opening!
@@LoneSch0larX probably not, the steam deck was so easy to use that I felt comfortable in modding and discovering different ways to mess around with the system, while the Ally would probably spit in my face if I even dared to change some things around.
Great video! I personally prefer the Legion go, the performance is impressive, you can actually play any game, great battery life and the screen is amazing!
I just bought a legion go 2 days ago and I absolutely love it. Coming from a steam deck I thought it was going to be a waste of money but it's far and away a better handheld for me use
@natehughey6432 so it had nothing to do with wasting anything. You went in with the intention of renting it until you decided it WASN'T wasted money. Sorry, your choice of wording was weird.
You can get more fps out of the deck with a little bit of tweaking by using cryo tools and looking up settings the community tested to be the best balanced.
After watching a lot of videos and comparing different option, I got myself a steam deck oled. Power is not everything, and in the end of the day it is the best device for the games I want to play.
If you’re a person who prefers First Person Shooters, the Lenovo Legion GO is the way to go. The visibility and high refresh rate with the bigger screen is a great combo. You will regret not getting the GO The moment you open up your Tac Map on the Ally or Steam Deck in games like WarZone, Pub G, Fortnight etc. Nothing is legible, even when you zoom.
Steam Deck 2 needs performance bump (at same TDP) but more importantly the USB5 port for an eGPU. So you can take it on the go and then dock it when you get home.
Surprised no one is talking about the VRR of the Ally. For me this has been the biggest deciding factor. WoW on it has been amazing. Especially the VRR.
Ally has huge hardware issues, the sd card reader stops working in few months, due to the heat generated in the device. My friend had his card slot replaced twice in 6 months😢, he is concerned what will happen after the warrenty period.
I just bought the asus rog ally z1 Extreme and i absolutely love it! Now of course i had to deal with some headaches tweaking settings and everything but when i played call of duty modern warfare 3 with 1080 resolution at 100 to 110 fps, i fell in love! Yes it drains the battery fast but thats why i bought a 65w 50000mAh power bank. If you buy one, make sure you change the fan speeds to 100 percent at 80C and above cause at around 90 and up, mw3 shows packet loss and gpu overheating but with 100 percent fan speed youre good to go. By the way, if youre gunna play mw3 on the ally, change the settings to reset to recommended and performance and that will get you the best fps
Great video. I feel the video needs to stress the VRR capability of the Ally screen. It's a HUGE game changer. I had the Steam Deck for almost a year. Just bought the ROG Ally Xtreme for $600 and I can't go back to the Deck. I hate screen tearing and I hate PWM (Steam Deck OLED). I haven't played the Legion GO but, with that high resolution screen, there's no way its frame rate is consistent without screen tearing. Very happy with the Ally, even with its "Windows" quirks sometimes.
From day one of launch, I have owned the LCD version of the Steam Deck, and I thought it was the coolest thing that I could play AAA games while on the go. However, I just bought the Asus Rog Ally and have been downloading games and its been dead silent compared to the Steam deck. However I have not played anything yet, but I am in the middle of downloading my last game of the night and we will see :)
I have the OG deck and then ordered the oled and a Legion go. The Go arrived within 2 days and the deck oled is here next week. I booted up the GO and spent 2 hours updating it and downloading world war z and ori from gamepass. The GO felt so similar to my gaming laptop that I began not seeing a need for it. If I wanted to mess with windows I'd do it on a laptop/desktop. So I reformatted the GO after an hour of gaming and put it back in the box. I think Valve has nailed the idea of a console in your hands. Whereas the Go was fiddly and was over-speced for its hardware, having to lower resolution to play games, just felt wrong on such a nice display.
Late to the conversation, but I have both a first generation Steam Deck and ROG Ally. They're both fantastic. Benefit of the Steam Deck: verified titles that just work and the touch pads. Benefit of the Ally: there's a lot of stuff that won't run on the Deck, either due to anti-cheat software or because they're not on Steam. The Ally can generally handle those. You can't go wrong with either.
I game on series x at home. I work nights with a lot of down time so I got a steam deck a few months ago and enjoyed the console simplicity feel. Then sold it and bought the Legion Go 2 weeks ago and loving that. I was bit wary due to not playing on PC and having to mess around with settings, driver updates etc but it's a lot less hassle than i thought. Edit: Also, the 8.8 inch screen makes a big difference.
@jfez1206 Yeah. For the most part. Watch any of the "set up" guide videos and you'll be good to go. Not too much messing about. I thought it would be worse.
Bought the ROG, spent more time trying to fix it than playing it, when it did work it's an amazing device tho. The charging broke and bricked the device 28 days in so returned it and hopefully the Lenovo Go will be better....
I never tried the SD OLED, but the original didn't have the best performance. I bought the Legion go, but besides the beautiful screen it fell short of my expectations. I bought an open Box Ally and have had an awesome time gaming on it. Just finished playing horizon zero dawn 50+ hours and it was an extremely enjoyable/comfortable experience.
I bought the SD OLED. But, yes... Horizon Zero Dawn is one of my favorites. I recently finished Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores in PS5....It's fantastic. I put 160 into it. I imagine it's coming to PC soon. Did you play Days Gone yet? It's also amazing.
I added Forbiden West to my steam wishlist, I don't think it's got an actual release date. I haven't played days gone. I need to finish RDR2 before i start a new game.@@bigbri4090
Honestly there is no wrong answer here. They're all fantastic, but I tried all three and the Ally works best for me. It's too easy to pick up and play the games I Play.@@victoriagomez9009
As a long haul truck driver these things are fantastic, I've been using a switch but played through all the games on switch i was interested in, finally got a steam deck recently, definitely nice to be able to play the 200+ steam games I've accumulated over the years.
We prolly gonna see the upgrade next year or this winter I guess, finger crossed. Plus, Im hoping they re-invent the steam deck same as Legion Go with portable mouse option.
I have the rog ally works like a beast been using it for 3-4 months no issues at all but battery is the only problem but it doesn't matter much to me since i have powerbank
I'd recommend the Steam Deck to most people hands down. Unbeatable for the price. I have the non-oled Steam Deck and it's just great. The Ally's battery is a real bummer for me (I can't say anything about the overheating micro sd card slot) and the legion didn't convince me either at it's price point. The Legion and Ally have advantages over the Deck but at a "much" higher price point.
What if my gaming library is on GOG Galaxy, Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Connect, EA Origins, and Xbox PC. And I have fewer games on Steam. Do you still recommend the steam Deck?
@@Respectfully10 I very much disagree. ROG ally is far better in almost every aspect. The only one letting it down is the battery life, I would say. It hasn't been a problem for me though. I tried SD and I never liked the OS. Windows is much better imo. Much more choices, supports every game pretty much. Not to speak of the "original" SDs screen. It is quite bad. Blurry image and very low resolution.
@MaxDrougge I was being rhetorical with my question. Your statements also show: owner bias / buyers' remorse. Legion Go is the best for someone who doesn't have a steam library because it has no hardware issues, better battery life, and recent updates are actually doing the rounds. Price point wise; for $699 CAD, I'd take the ROG Ally instead of the Steam Deck for obvious reasons (my library). No matter the device you take. You need a $30 USD, 100W power brick to run turbo mode on the go. I like to use it on the train/subway to work & back. That's a good session for the day.
@@Respectfully10 If anything, owners bias. But my comment is pretty objective if you have looked at some reviews of the 2. I wouldn't say the LG doesn't have any hardware problems. Also, having removable joycons is asking for trouble in the longer run. With the Ally you get a power brick sufficient for turbo in the box.
The lenovo legion go is way to big and I really like windows but what I wished the Asus ROG Ally had was track pads but in the end I ordered the Asus ROG Ally. Can't wait for it to arrive next week
I just got my LLG 2 days ago, let me tell u, i had the sd and rog before. The LLG is by far the best, been running my AAA games on high settings all the time with frame rates about 60-70 fps. This device is a beast and im so happy
A tip for the windows machines. You can configure windows to boot into steam big picture mode. This gives you a very similar experience as steam os on the steam deck.
It pains me to say it but as someone that's owned all of them, you're spot on by saying it's hard to go back to the Deck after using and seeing the other screens. The Steam Deck screen could have some form of futuristic OLED and it still doesn't change the fact it's 720p and will always be objectively worse. Not to mention playing 1080p at the frame rates the Deck gives you in 720p. It sucks because despite being huge it has the best feel in hand and it's the most comfortable. Those grips just remind me of a Canon camera, so deep and chunky and secure - but that screen just isn't doing it with or without OLED.
I ended up sticking with the Ally. I want to like the Legion Go, but the fans are way to loud and after going through 4 of them, they all had a whine noise.
9:49 "Where as the Deck OLED's performance (at 15w) is fixed, so games will run the same no matter what." Incorrect, you can customize the GPU's frequency independent of the max TDP you set on the Steam Deck, which can run much lower than that in games that are less demanding. I presume these are similar to the options in the other machines, but I don't have one to test. You can also limit the FPS of games and refresh rate of the Deck's display, which also impacts performance and battery life.
The Legion is big and powerful, but way too expensive and the battery life is terrible. The Steam Deck has great software, great support and battery life, but it's the least powerful by a big margin. The ROG Ally is the middle ground, not stupidly expensive, decent internals, but bad battery life. I ordered an OLED Steam Deck and sadly ended up sending it back because it just couldn't do what I wanted it to... such a shame because it was a lovely piece of design, those trackpads were so cool. Got an Ally and what I wanted the SD to do, it just did, no messing around with coding or faffing, just install a program and away you go.
The thing that kept me away from ally is the battery life, heat issue, scared of deffect unit. I bought rog laptop before. When brand new it works fine. But after a long gaming session its to heat up and turn off. Do u think ally will suffered the same issue?
@@endrancemackenzie6168 If you are concern about the battery life, get a Power Bank. If you're concern of the heat issue, stop using Turbo mode, you can run any triple A games on performance. (there are tons of tweaks online that you can do it have better gameplay while keeping it cool). There is no defect unit and if there is, that's 1 out of 100 and you can return it to get it fix or replaced.
@@endrancemackenzie6168i havent heard of Ally overheating causing the board to burn but I do heard a lot of Ally unit overheating at the SD card slot area melting the SD card
I have SD 512 oled and I don’t regret it knowing fully well that ROG ally is a beast.but why is it called a handheld when the ba3 can’t even last 2hrs. Also why I chose SD was becos of the community easy to repair and parts etc. compared to ally consider all this before getting ROG.both are great machines IMO
got the oled one but i had the lcd deck too. love this device half the time i play on this more than my 3090 gaming pc or ps5 or xbox series x. which ever deck you buy they are well worth the money
I have the rog ally Z1X and it’s a great device. I love the 120hz freesync display. Never seen a PC this small run games this buttery smooth before. I made a custom 18 watt profile, since 18 watts seems to be the best FPS per Watt efficiency
@@ij6708 yep CPU boost is disabled, I’d say it lasts about an hour and 40 minutes at 18 watts. But I have it set to only charge to 80% for battery longevity health reasons. If you disable Dolby atmos (which works shockingly well btw) you can also get some extra battery life and 1-2 extra FPS. But I leave it on since it turns good speakers into great speakers, at least for gaming.
I have all three and the ally is the one I use the most, if not all the time. Without VRR, the legion go just doesn't run as smoothly as the ally and it becomes very noticeable switching between them. The steam oled is just not powerful to run the games I want.. maybe if I want to play some third party game then I'll use the steam oled. I've already added a 4TB on the ally and got a power bank so storage, sd card, or the battery life is not even a concern for me anymore.
@@agumon1605 i have an R9 (date from manufacturer in September) and runs like heaven. Also put on it a 2TB NVME. Put BatoGo with a lot of roms and customized for ally and legion go and is just amazing. The design and everything for the ally and the most important the screen for me is the best right now on the market and VRR is a must!
@@agumon1605 I've never used a SD card since I've installed a 4TB SSD on my ally. I believe as long as you run your system on performance mode instead of turbo and reduce the resolution to 720p or 800p, the temp should run around 40 to 60C, the SD card should be fine. I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, and Horizon Zero Dawn. The games ran much smoother on the ally than the legion go because of VRR. Both the legion go and ally have a higher frame rate than the steam deck. For baldur's gate 3, I would get around 30ish fps on the steam deck oled and around 50fps on the ally, cyberpunk is about 50ish fps on steam deck and 60ish fps on the ally. I also play dozen of emulators and they are all much faster and have a higher FPS on the ally since my ally's cpu is the Z1 extreme. My ally runs at 720p in performance mode, highest temp I got was 62C.
@@DamnitMan88 damn thats a lot of perf difference for AAA games, been wanting to play cyberpunk on SD because of the supposedly longer battery life but idk anymore if i would sacrifice my eyes for a bit longer juice to play it lol... anyways thanks for the info 🙌
If anyone wants to stand their Steam Deck up Skull and Co do a really cool grip case that looks great and stands the deck up. IV bought all 3 colours purple, coyote grey and black
My biggest issue with handhelds has always been the feel of the controllers. So difficult adjusting to them after being used to Xbox/PlayStation controllers.
Ally feels the most premium. Its also the best. Also there is no bottle neck with the XG Mobile. Thats not how bottle necks work. You need to go beyond 1080P on the monitor, or 240 refresh rate on 1080P. You want the graphics card to do the work, not CPU. Also lets not forget about repairability with the Ally.
Give it 6 months the Legion may be the best bet. Once they work out the bugs that Legion is gonna rock. I'm also a die hard valve fan lol. So it'll be a super hard choice when I have the money.
They may look like a bunch of Nintendo Switch doppelgangers, but the longevity of these handhelds could go shorter than expected, especially as more handhelds with stronger specifications release time after time.
Definitely the ROG Ally. Its the only handheld PC that has a native landscape panel, native 16:9, VRR, Freesync, Dolby Atmos Front Firing speakers. Its also the sleekest design and better ergonomics overall. Glad I ordered one when ir had a huge price drop after Legion Go's launch
I went with Switch! And sold it after 2 years since I played like 6 hours total 😂 Today I'd pick between legion go and steam deck, leaning towards deck because I want plug and play experience (I do enough troubleshooting in my line of work).
I hope next year for Asus ROG ALLY 2 , they make the screen 8' OLED + VRR 120HZ, 50+WHR, better software plus better low watt usage in games, double USB4 port and finally a carrying case. then we have the best handheld. Then for SD2, better processor and they will be the king of handheld.
The Ally is definitely the one to get at the moment, I sold my steam deck and I'm not regretting it. Armoury crate on The Ally is great,plus it runs all my ps3 game well, I could not get God of war 3 to run on the steam deck, the Lenovo is too big and bulky, I can't travel with it, so Ally all the way.
As a windows 8 hater, hearing people this many years later ask for a handheld mode is hilarious. We may have hated it, but Win8 was ahead of its time in some areas
@@buckroger6456 oh yeah win8 had issues beyond its ui design but just saying, today that UI would probably be more welcomed with the more varied devices using windows. The UI was ahead of its time by only a generation or so
@mineman2002 looking at win8 through today's eye's, I say yes, it was ahead of its time. Oddly Microsoft loves coming up with something cool only to drop it before it takes off.
Great review of all three, I have the first Steam Deck and the Legion GO. Windows has its issues, but I'm all for the Legion Go for the screen size and the fact that I'm not restricted by Linux.
@@nandonandouze169 The obvious fact that linux isnt supported in many large games that use EAC, and no way to get them to work if you are a fine of those games
@@bigbay1159 You're absolutely right. Never encountered the issue tho. No, I'm lying...I wanted to play Destiny 2 on it but wasn't able to. Except of that one, all is good.
512gb Steam Deck OLED, mainly because the etched glass kind of ruins the whole point of the oled aspect since the colours will look muted on the 1TB model vs the 512gb model which has a glossy screen.
I have a Steam Deck. I have had it before the Ally or the Go came out, and I love it. Admittedly I've been tempted by the other devices, but I don't get to use my Deck as much as I would like so I'm not going to look at getting another anything till that changes. Also, I would like the devices to get a little smaller. The size of the Go and the Ally don't do much to convince me to give up the Deck. We're probably a ways off, but I look forward to having something as light and comfortable as the Switch. In the meantime the Deck plays everything I need to. I've upgraded mine with a 2TB SSD and put a 1TB MicroSD in it, and I have a dock for it I use regularly, so I should be good for quite some time. But videos like this make me really, really excited for the future of these devices.
At this point, the ally. It's gotten much better! And people seem to only talk about oled.. but vrr is far more important. I do believe valve has a better future focusing on ease of use.. but right now, the ally is arguably the best. Price, quality, features. The go.. personally, I think it's beating the purpose of a handheld.. it's too big for a handheld and is lacking either vrr or Oled.. also using gimmicks from other devices 😅.. be creative yourself.
@Coliflower185 you damn well know what I'm talking about... and you know its not about the sensor 😉 and I'm saying using.. not stolen.. maybe read before you open your mouth
![BEST Gaming Handheld in 2024!? [Steam Deck OLED | Ally X | Legion Go | Claw]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/czoKrKcgHaY/mqdefault.jpg)
![BEST Gaming Handheld in 2024!? [Steam Deck OLED | Ally X | Legion Go | Claw]](/img/tr.png)
Hey chaps! Which would you pick?
(also BONUS points to Ally for supporting VRR. -smoothing our frame rates. I just. wishthe battery was better)
Steam Deck
I want the deck, but what ear buds you using
Ally!
Steam Deck OLED
1st Ally - Portable, light weight, good screen, performance
2nd SD Oled - Easy to use and longer battery life, Screen Oled
3rd GO - For me this one is not a handheld since I have to constantly set it down on a table to play for longer than thirty minutes because it is too hefty for me. If you prefer this I suggest just buy a gaming desktop since you will just stock on your computer table and chair most of the time or a gaming laptop instead as you can purchase a good one for $700.
This era of proper portable gaming devices is what i've wanted for a long time. I've had my steamdeck for well over a year and it's brilliant.
in the 80s and 90s (Steam Deck = Gameboy), (ROG Ally = Sega Game Gear) and (Legion Go = Atari Lynx). History repeats
it was hard for me to go back to Gameboy when the Game Gear was discontinued and no new games were made for it :(@@lastxp
@@lastxpall of those are from the 90s lol just fyi
This. Handhelds are so convenient and when devs accommodate for them, it's definitely something magical that consoles and a PC just don't have.
@@14CODFTWThe MSI Claw is also coming out. I like the competition.
Got a 64gb Steam Deck last year, put a 1tb ssd in it as soon as I pulled it out of the box. I love it. Unbelievably I played it more then my pc over the last year.
Love that!
I have a 64gb lcd on the way. I’m considering doing the same and other upgrades to “deck” it out but I want to wait and see how I like it first. I was tempted to go for the higher end handhelds but $282 with a dock was too good a bargain. The money saved seemed worth the sacrifice in performance.
@@pastiesandagstringWhere did you get it for that price brother?
@@wolveslands6701 eBay. Sent a guy an offer, expecting him to decline and surprisingly he accepted. You’ll likely have to hunt around a bit but you should be able to get a good price on a used lcd version.
@@wolveslands6701 don’t know if my last replay went through. Yt seems to be meddling with my comments lately... but eBay was my answer. You’ll have to shop around and likely either take a chance at winning an auction or find someone that accepts offers. I sent someone an offer mostly expecting for it to be declined and surprisingly they accepted.
Watch like 30 of these videos, still can't decide.
Believe me go with Ally. Run anything you want with high end performance. Currently owning now from about a month . And it’s a beast
Me too I sold my steam deck to ally mainly because I can play pretty much any games compared to steam deck.
@@kimbo9643 what games are missing on steam deck?
I’m a console guy (so I don’t have a clue about pc games) and also must choose between these 3 devices
Ally 2 seems to be on course for release this year
@@kaimmjattzz what games you play on the ally that you can't on the deck
I grabbed a Legion Go-performance and battery life works well for my use case. And the screen is amazing, couldn’t go to the smaller lower resolution options. Your conclusion is well balanced. I think in 6-12 months, a comparison would be good, especially as the Go matures. Great video, thank you!
Yep definitely worth a revisit in a few months - also hoping or Rog Ally 2 in the summer!
I think the real benefit of the Legion Go is that you can dock it like a Switch with an eGPU to have a home PC / console like experience.
Are you worried about lenovo not supporting it with updates like steam does for steam deck?
@@Thetechchapally 2 in the summer. I doubt it
Can u watch movie on the legion go?
I love my Steam Deck, I got the 64GB at launch Q1, and got the Limited Edition when it was announced. I am a long time PC gamer, and I am someone who does value performance but man the stuff the Deck can run never ceases to amaze me. But I am also not trying to play my really competitive games on it like Apex. It is really my casual gaming COOP machine or story mode box. I go to my desktop to sweat.
I'm a boomer and I'm still in love with the PS Vita
I'm a millennial and I still dream about the PSP.
Im Adam and i think the vita is ahead of its time.
@@arisuaozorait truly is. Sony was something else back then
Same. Haha. Henkaku really brought life back to the Vita. I have 2 of them and a PSP 1000.
I'm Patrick and i like tomato 😊
I have the Legion go and Lenovo is really pushing some good updates on it, they fixed the dead zone issue on mid December update, and they have improved their app a lot for just two months, and it becomes even better as I set up Steam big picture as my main launcher for games, really improved the experience
I agree, I absolutely love mine. The christmas eve updates were especially fantastic. I snagged my 1tb legion go for $636. If people want to return them, so be it. It just means huge discounts for people like me who are ok with an open box device. Mine is flawless too. Absolutely no dings or scratches whatsoever. Just be sure to check the rating of the box before buying. If you are shopping at best buy look for open boxes marked "excellent". Don't settle for a box marked "fair".
The only minor issues ive had with mine would be that i sometimes have to re-open a game window for blutooth headphones to work. If they arent connected before i start playing, the sound reverts back to using the speakers when i go back to the game window. Kind of odd but not a dealbreaker at all. I'm sure a software update can fix it. Also, one time, my touch screen stopped working. I simply restarted the device and it worked again. Its never happened since. I honestly had more issues with the series x at launch than ive had with this device. People just have unrealistic expectations for brand new devices. Give it 3-6 more months and people will be raving over the Legion Go. On paper its over 5 times more powerful than a steamdeck. The legion go is closer in specs to a PS5 than a steamdeck. Its actually right between the Series S and Series X in benchmarks. This thing is a BEAST!
Does the Legion work off windows?
@@weakbruteforce Yes Legion is a Windows 11 device.
I've been waiting for a handheld PC since the Newton and Axim.
I bet it can run Linux pretty easily as well. For example Batocera for emulation.
I have the Ally extreme and I love this little beast! No issues so far! Even have fruity loops on it for producing and recording on the go
@coolcat9624 i don't think the battery is amazing especially when using high TDPs. If battery is an issue get a fast charging power bank
im trying to decide out of the 3. its so difficult 😳
@@Dboss74 Me too. Yet I've taken the Ally off my list of choices, since I heard it breaks SD cards.
They fixed it@@Dirt_heart
@@Dirt_heart supposedly they fixed that with a update
If you're sensitive to framdrops, the VRR on the Ally can be a huge factor. The others can work around that by setting an appropriate fps cap, but the fact it's not a concern on the Ally is a huge bonus
sold today the legion go, awful display without vrr..
VRR is for removing tearing. It also reduce input lag.
It does not stop framedrops.
Just opposite. It allows fluctuating framepacing.
This is good thing if fps is high enough.
+90fps...
On lower frames ~ 30-60 it is useless because frametime differences are too big.
I stream from my pc 4k 144hz, the tearing on legion go Is very bad compared RoG ally with overlclocked display at 144 hz.. if you are used to play with gsync or freesync Is difficult to pass over
@@retro_ed746 I didn't say VRR stops framedrops. What I mean is that VRR makes them a lot less noticeable compared to vsync. Even at lower framerates (compared to the refresh rate) some people notice the frametime fluctuations.
You guys have to understand that the Go has a portrait display so tearing isn't so noticeable. This is why Lenovo just dropped having VRR in the first place. They just hope people will use vsync and call it a day. This might be great if your games can run at a constant 60, 72, or 144fps. If your games are running around 45fps then vsync can't help you to smooth out that drop in framerate. This is where VRR is needed for games that don't perform that well on lower end specs. This is very important for a chip like the Z1E and it's unfortunate that the Go doesn't have it. This is what makes the Ally a better product overall even tho it has the smaller screen which some people don't mind or prefer.
If you're ok with using vsync and want a larger screen then go with the Go. It's a similar experience minus the VRR screen. Remember you could always use an external monitor and get VRR so it shouldn't be deal breaker imo. As for the SD OLED, it's for people that don't mind playing games at 30, 45, 60, and now 90fps. If you're ok with that and want a console like experience then go with that. If you're into high frame gaming on older titles you will need a Z1E chip, it's just a matter if you want to go with the Ally or Go.
Edit. I meant to say portrait display.
I've had all 3 and prefer the Legion Go. The screen is just amazing in person and if you have a beefy desktop/laptop you could use moonlight and really push the screen to its full potential
Hey could you explain a bit about what is moonlight?
Moonlight basically let's you stream from your PC if it is Gamestream/Nvidia GPU-enabled.
I have the steam deck and sometimes I feel like I gotta get my face really close to the screen cus I can't see a damn thing lol
@@oOoZilverwarrioroOo 😂😂😂😂😂😂🤣😭😭😭🤣🤣😂😂😂
legion go is too heavy and seems clumsy i choose rog ally
After watching countless videos and reading so many articles comparing the 3 devices, I went ahead and ordered the SD OLED 512. Honestly, I was very tempted to get the OG SD 256 or the RA Z1, both available now for $400. But, in the end I forked-out the extra $150 and got what I believe is the most refined and proven device. I get it in a few days and am super excited!
good choice as what I got the SD 512 oled slapped it with a 1tb sd card also thinking of changing the SSD to 1tb endless games bro lol
But the steam deck is very limited to games while the other too can play all games that's not???
I have the steam deck oled and the rog ally and the one thing i despite about the ally is its battery life. At 15 watts its okay i guess. But at 25watts the battery life drains so quickly. Also now having the oled with 90hz the thing just looks fantastic and 90hz makes everything more fluid. Ally has its 120hz but most games wont take advantage of it. On top of that its 1080p screen will eat the battery life quickly. At this point im just considering selling my rog ally. The steam deck is superior imo.
@@hollowprincegaming7547 valid . Dunno Why is it called a handheld when it can’t even last as a handheld game
I honestly think that's the right move!
Don't forget the steam deck design includes a track pad with tactile feedback and great customizability for hybrid joystick/mouse control. There are games which would be unplayable with just a controller but run beautifully on stream deck with hybrid controller/mouse control.
He mentioned this as a pro for steam deck.
Can you give me an example game that is true for this? Been playing on my OLED for a while and basically never use the trackpad
@@inbracedefeatone of the first games that I've played once I got my original model about a year ago were Torchlight 1 and 2 - trackpads are really useful there, since you can customize it by separating the surface area to support up to 9 additional inputs. This is basically 9 additional buttons for a single trackpad, which you can bind for spell or potion usage in these or similar kinds of games. I also quite enjoy Point&Click adventure games which also play great using the trackpad inputs. For example, I have also completed entire Broken Sword series between the two Torchlight games. So yeah, I do find them extremely useful
@@celestial_froggy genuinely never heard of any of those games till that comment haha. I love my deck but I don’t think the trackpads are useful for my gaming library.
Thanks for the insight tho!
You do know the Legion Go controller can turn into a mouse lol
I was always a console gamer but last year I decided I wanted to experience PC gaming. I didn't want a full on gaming PC for my lack of space in house but a handheld was such a good decision. Plus the game prices on PC damn did I ever miss out...aha. I ended up buying a Steam Deck as my only gaming option and I LOVE it! Best thing I bought for gaming in a long time. Maybe later down the line I wouldn't mond upgrading to a higher end handheld bit for now this will do
Welcome to the PC gaming clan (quiet chanting in the background "one of us, one of us, one of us")
I too am sick of consoles and want to join the PC Master Race lol. Steam’s return policy + game prices + free online = the best gaming experience
@@Amber-jb8su Don't forget Epic gives away free games every week. Just got Marvel's Midnight Sun from them last week
I’m bout in the same boat as you but can’t decide on which one to get I’ve been an Xbox player for as long I can remember always wanted to do pc but like you said them prices 😬.
How’s the steam deck treating you?
First of all I can't stress how nice it is to see larger screens popping up.
Second, it's also really nice that the answer to which is best is pretty much a "well, that depends". The coming years are going to be wild with what each maker will help push out from the other.
Very excited to see what we get in 2024!
what's the point of big screens if no matter how big battery you put into a device it always will be not enough. 720p always will be the best option for a HANDHELD. I hope SD2 will stick to it.
Ally for me. Loved my LCD SD but can’t play titles unless you add windows then you lose the efficiency. The Ally blew through games like I couldn’t believe. The Go is beautiful and more useful but it’s too huge to use as a handheld IMO.
SD can play almost all games with proton what issues you had with it?
@@yourkingorginal3286 Anything outside purchased on Steam was jumping through hoops. I switched to a Go recently and have no issues with Windows again.
Please don't get angry🙂, but do you have an old gaming device you can give me(no matter how old) , I'm very interested in gaming, but haven't played any. Sorry to beg but just trying my luck🤞🏼, got nothing to lose
Steam deck all the way. I don't want my handheld to have to be plugged in all the time in order to fully utilize the thing. Steam/proton are really good at optimizing games for the deck too. Maybe if this was my only gaming device I would prefer the Ally. But as a handheld sidekick to my main rig this is exactly what i want. Plus oled hdr is pretty great when implemented properly
Have fun playing AAA games on low settings
@@xFTTBx have my 4090 for that
@@xFTTBxAs opposed to what? Medium?
rather have legion go for low settings WITH smooth experience instead choppy and laggy compare to steam deck.@@grantmitchel2810
what a douche @@xFTTBx
I sold my original Steam Deck last year I picked up an Ally before Christmas mega cheap off eBay for just over £200 because it had a faulty SD card and although its a great device I just preferred the Steam Deck especially for emulation and ease of use. I ended up selling it and going for a Steam Deck OLED just before Christmas and I love it! Well worth it over the LCD model due to loads of upgrades such as the OLED screen and 90hz refresh rate not to mention all the other upgrades.
For me personally...the deck just feels like a more polished & premium device over the ROG ALLY. I can't speak for the Legion Go as I have never owned one but I have actually been very surprised on how well most games perform on the Steam Deck & for me the battery life is a huge factor and the SD-OLED blows the others out of the water in terms of battery life and usability. All this is subjective though as I see the Steam Deck OLED as a Handheld console rather than a Handheld PC/Laptop like the the ROG ALLY and GO.
It would be very interesting to see how well the ROG ALLY and Legion GO perform and last for in terms of battery life with the official Steam OS installed although I can't see Steam doing that anytime soon!
Please don't get angry🙂, but do you have an old gaming device you can give me(no matter how old) , I'm very interested in gaming, but haven't played any. Sorry to beg but just trying my luck🤞🏼, got nothing to lose
I got the Z1 ROG Ally for 400 bucks and I'm very happy with it. Everyone always says to avoid this one, but its 200 bucks less, and honestly for any big AAA games, I'd rather just play them on my desktop gaming PC to take advantage of all the graphics instead of a small screen. As mostly an emulation/indie/jrpg device, the Z1 is great.
I got a ROG ALLY Extreme Open box at Best Buy for about $500 (price was $491 but with tax ended up being a little over $500).
The previous owner had a vanilla Windows 11 install on it so setup didn't see the ROG's wifi card. Had to boot the ROG into the bios and do a Asus Cloud recovery.
Ended up putting a 2Tb drive in it. System is an absolute beast. Have 0 regrets and would do it again.
The ROG Ally is especially awesome with the RayNeo AR glasses I have.... a personal virtual 200 inch screen projected in front of you through the glasses.
I've also been considering a open box. For $450
U buy it used?
The base Z1 actually sports comparable performance in silent mode. And I always use my handheld in silent mode. So, I could've gotten a base Z1 rather than Z1E, but the price difference was very small, so I ended up with the senior model.
I went with oled steam deck 1tb very nice but still learning …game play is really addictive This puppy is hard to put down makes you want to play all your games Again ❤
I bought Lenovo Go because it's a combination of a Laptop and a Switch.
I have seen a lot of people using the Legion go as desktop PC, doing video editing and other non gaming things as a bonus.
This ^ being able to remove the controllers + the bigger screen is a deal for someone who wants to game just as much as they want a computer. (and the kickstand 🙏)
Is it comfortable to actually use handheld though?
How’s ur user experience?I was planning to buy one too
Its like a PC? Like see movies and stuff like that?? Have USB in? Or what in for connect other advices have??
@@andreguerreiro44 yes it literally is a pc. it runs windows 11
I'll wait for the gen 2 versions. But I have to say the bigger screen on the Legion Go would make it my pick right now.
I feel like Gen 2's will add a bit better perf, bit longer battery - but probably won't be a wholly different experience. If you want to get into handheld PC gaming I think now is a good time (especially if you can pick one up on a deal)
I’m waiting for Gen 2 too 👍🏻
Just buy now. Later sell it to buy the gen 2.
@@zerolifez if they had 32GB so we could get 8GB-12GB vram then yes, as it is now no way. Gen 2 it is.
I’ll wait for gen 2. Battery life is abysmal
I have both the ally extreme and the steam oled and i only play handheld most of the time since the Nintendo switch release, And let me tell you something, you cant go wrong with the ally neither the steam deck oled , If you dont mind limited memory and a little tweak and work before you start most of the games the ally is a better option if the 10% performance worth it with the high battery consumption otherwise the steam deck with the oled display is more easy to use and more convenient specially if you are someone who is not much into gaming pcs and just want to play and jump directly to the games and spend much time on.right now i see myself more with the steam deck side.
I got the Steam Deck OG, Steam Deck OLED and the ROG Ally with a 3080 *and* 4090 XG Mobile Dock. I’ve sold my desktop pc. This new era is my dream of decades coming true in 2023
Granted I’m an it chap, but tweaking and smoothing out the Lenovo has made it my primary go to device for gaming. It’s awesome for quick MP CoD MWIII matches for the grind, a quick run of Horizon Zero Dawn or a quick race in Grind at 1200p (not 1080p). With a portable battery I already carry for my camera, laptop, or phones on the go, it goes for long enough. 20w on the Go is the butter zone for batt and perf. Not doubting my purchase. Had a steam deck, but the screen in comparison is a blurry mess to me. Text is near unreadable and it locked me into only steam. I have Game Pass…which wasn’t even mentioned in depth. While you CAN Microsoft your deck, it’s not native or easy. With the Go it’s just…awesome…and super light on the battery. I think the expandability on the Go (who wants to bet that there’s going to be premium controllers offered with Hall effect everything and different stick layouts) is also very overlooked. I mean, what’s stopping them from making a battery pack pass through? Remember the controllers are powered from the device so the ports are already there…
There’s a lot to love…now if Microsoft would just relent and basically make a stripped version of Windows for gaming mode…then we’d have something. I don’t need Office to run CoD…
How much fps on cod? Debating purchasing one
@@eddieking_gaming.4790 solid 60 after tweaking settings but latency is a thing….
I loved my OG Steam Deck! I’d happily recommend the Steam Deck to most people coming from a console just purely for its pick up and play ability. It’s not quite console level easy but it’s as close as a PC will get I recon.
I moved to the Legion Go, and agree the screen is beautiful! The only thing missing although niche, the Go does work with eGPU’s. Adding a 3070 into an eGPU over Thunderbolt 3/USB4 boosts this thing no end. I also love the ability to swap between tablet and handheld mode, then add a lapdock and essentially you have a decent allrounder that’s a handheld/desktop/laptop/tablet combo
Im coming from console and just ordered the 1TB OLED version
Do you have advice on how to get MW3 running on the Steam Deck?
I’m a total noob when it comes to PC and heard I need windows 11, buy the game on Steam and then possibly more steps to play it ?
@@ShotgunGuenni From what i've heard if you want to primarily play call of duty you are better off with the ally or go because of windows os. Sure you can install windows on the steam deck and dual boot it but that takes away one of the big advantages of the steam deck which is its streamlined os.
@@draecath5953 thanks for the reply
Seems like this really would be the better decision for me
Do you know the process/steps on how it works with the Ally or the Go in terms of playing MW3
So what I mean is, would it literally just be, downloading Steam on the device , purchasing the game on Steam, download it and start playing or are there multiple more steps even on a windows device like the Ally/Go?
@@ShotgunGuenni Since its windows it should work like it would on any pc. I haven't played call of duty in several years because I hate slamming my face into the brick wall that is extreme sbmm but as far as I know it should be pretty straight forward.
@@draecath5953 haha, I can feel you on that reason
Thanks man, appreciated
I have a massive gaming collection with 7 TVs hooked up in my game room. Even with all that stuff, the OLED Steam Deck is my favorite gaming device ever.
Excellent video! It's exciting that we're getting closer to the day where I could swap my gaming laptop (my main PC) for a handheld PC and feel good about it. As it stands, I don't think we're quite there yet. Maybe if the Deck OLED played nicer with Windows.
I just hope Linux support will be better in the Future wirh games like Valorant etc. And also creativity apps like all the adobe stuff
I have the LCD 512GB steam deck and have had it since launch, loved it for what it is. But I play a lot of non-steam games and wasn't happy with the performance on newer or AAA titles on the deck so I just picked up the legion go a week or two ago and am absolutely loving it. Windows 11 certainly has its problems as it's not made to be a console-like experience like the deck, but the initial hoops you have to jump through for the setup is far worth it for how amazing the gaming experience is on this device. I could not recommend it enough for those who are already familiar with PC gaming and Windows 11
How do you feel about the comfort level compared to the Deck? I love how the Deck feels.
Here in the Philippines, Ally Z1 Extreme is currently around $700 while SD oled is at $800 thats why i ordered the ROG Ally. Hoping to receeve it before new year
Here in Thailand ...
ROG Ally is 599$full / 549 on sell
SD oled 256 is 729$ and 528 799$
It was on sale at Gamextreme for P34,750 or around $630
I got myself a 512 GB steam deck LCD with the etched glass for 350€ brand new just 3 weeks ago . That thing is amazing and soooo comfortable… i use it to play Battlefield 4 multiplayer and offers 3,5 hours of online goodness !
I turn my back for a second we got all this groundbreaking stuff now and I don't even know where to begin 😮
As an ex-Windows gaming handheld owner (original Ayaneo Air) - Windows really needs to come out with a handheld optimized OS, rather than rely on third party (ASUS, Ayaneo, Lenovo, etc.) SteamOS shines for this and I like its implementation where it has a dedicated gaming front end and then you have the option to load into a dedicated Linux desktop OS mode. For the price of the Lenovo, you're probably better off getting a entry level gaming laptop and get better performance and versatility there.
People like you really need to stop comparing a handheld to a laptop (for the price of this, you can get bla bla bla).
They both have two different target audiences.
SteamOS is the difference for me. It's so optimised and has pretty much made me ditch my PC/Laptop. Laptop comparison is fair enough seeing as you can plug the SD into a dock and it's a PC. Brillant.
Have you actually looked up laptops that are the price of these three handhelds? The performance gains will be very slight, and you'll have to always have a place to set it.
When the gaming performance is so close between devices, the most important thing is battery life. Steam Deck OLED literally destroys the other two in that regard, unless you have tiny commutes or use the handheld plugged in, there’s really no question which is best.
Wdym the gaming performance is so close ? Rog ally and legion go blow steam deck out of the water in terms of performance, especially in newer games like alan wake 2 / baldur's gate 3
@@barozzbaro3283 enjoy playing both those games for an hour before needing an outlet ;)
The most important thing is the compatibility with games, cause you buy this devices in order to play, not to cook
@@simoneritucci5928 haven’t had a game on my deck I wanted to play that couldn’t. I agree though that you should buy the device that plays the games you want, that’s exactly why you buy a handheld gaming device. My point about battery life still stands though imho, because what’s the point of being able to play a game you want if it lasts 1 hour, vs playing the same game at lower settings for 3-4
@@inmypaants your point was that the performance was effectively the same so battey was the only deciding factor, but performance isn’t the same. You can make the argument that battery is more important than performance, but that isn’t your original point.
I think He forget to mention that the Ally is the only one that has a native VRR screen. That alone is one of the biggest reason to choose the Ally, because it will make all your games will feel buttery smooth, even at lower fps. I think steam deck now have VRR if you use a external screen that supports VRR.
He's also forgotten to mention the ally completely fries SD cards! Quite a big over sight don't u think?
@@kalista37 I dont use sd card and I got my ally 5 months ago. I mean it is bad I agree but 512gb is enough to have like 8 games installed and play. you can avoid this problem.
Yea the ally also last 35 mins
Great point
@@peacefulmindFFXVyou shouldn’t have to “avoid” something on a device that costs $700, get off the copium!
I very recently sold my original LCD 512GB Steam Deck in favour of the ASUS ROG Ally now it’s gone down in price in the UK. I don’t regret the decision at all and the Ally feels clearly the best for me personally… but I do agree with this review. For most people, the Deck really is going to be the best choice. SteamOS is fantastic now compared to how it was at launch and there’s very little that won’t run well on it. Windows is a pain on the Ally. But I do like the flexibility of using other launchers (especially MS Game Pass) and the extra power it has. Plus the screen is incredible compared to the LCD. The battery life is much worse though - worse even than my old launch LCD Deck.
Tell me how bad it really is cause I'm leaning heavily to the rog ally
How do you feel about using the Ally for Game Pass? It's honestly the primary reason I want an Ally as I already have a Steam Deck for all my other games but I'm a huge Xbox guy
@@tsam3676 I have the original Ally, not the Ally X and it varies. If I play something in the 25W turbo mode, I’m honestly looking at between 45 mins - 1 hour absolute maximum battery life. So I just don’t play anything like that, instead I use an 18W custom profile for most stuff and that will last at least 1 and a half hours.
If you play retro/older games or stream your games, you can get around 3 hours out of it. But that’s the absolute limit. You’ll want to consider buying a battery pack alongside if you’re looking to buy one to travel with.
@@V3Valhalla it works great on it! At the end of the day, it’s a Windows PC, essentially a small laptop with a built-in Xbox controller, so anything that runs in Windows will run on this with no compatibility issues. You’ll be able to install and play basically anything in Game Pass. I’ve played a lot of Starfield and Forza Motorsport installed on my Ally through Game Pass.
@@Zio360 what do uthink of the ally x? I never did get the rog ally at least not yet.
Bought Ally last week. Very happy with it. And I really do feel it’s coming down to personal choice at this point. What extra features do you want and what will you be happy not having?
The Asus is crap. It’s like a Range Rover. Nice until the hardware fails, which is super common. Had mine less that a year and my ssd drive went out in a month and I got he the black screen of death a few months after that. The ROG Alley is the most unreliable piece of tech I’ve ever owned.
I have the ROG Ally and it would be a perfect device except for the issue with the SD card reader, mine just broke and there is alot of complaints about it online. I have been having a good time using it and it runs AAA games good enough and emulation is great. I know there are alot of people that would say to just upgrade the internal memory, but there are also many people going into this space that would prefer to just pop in the SD card and call it a day, especially at the price point of these devices. This is something that people need to keep in mind when picking one of these up.
The Asus is crap. It’s like a Range Rover. Nice until the hardware fails, which is super common. Had mine less that a year and my ssd drive went out in a month and I got he the black screen of death a few months after that. The ROG Alley is the most unreliable piece of tech I’ve ever owned.
I like the ROG ALLY, hopefully new ROG ALLY 2 or OLED editions with improved battery life is out in near future. I saved my money
it's unlikely you have to look at and for better efficiency for AAA performance, if you want to play lower TDP games then Steam Deck has tit beat thanks to bespoke soc and the os.
@@NoradNoxtusthey could easily manage a 25% bigger battery from 40 to 50 WH. That alone would help. They didn't really push the boundaries with first iteration, no one does. That's why it's always a bad idea to purchase first gen products (SD card dying)
@@ij6708Funny thing is I got the Ally on day 1 and my SD card is still good.
@@ij6708yup ima wait for an oled version
I have the Steam Deck for some time now but since I got the Legion Go i hardly came back to the Steam Deck. I still love it but it is much more limited performance wise and with multiplayer games than the Legion Go. And the Legion Go screen is just amazing.
For it's price point I would hope so, out of the windows handhelds it's definitely the best, it atleast makes using windows more bearable
I got an OG Steam Deck and it is great for what it is but I'm currently enjoying the Ally. Battery is crap on both devices, bought and returned the legion go. Really liked the dual thunderbolt ports but the controls didn't do it for me. The legion is only worth it if you're really into FPS mode. Really looking forward to a proper sequel to the steam deck.
I got a steam deck at the beginning of 2023 and I fell in love with the ease and vast amount of games to play. I just recently bought a ROG Ally extreme this week and while it was a little harder to get running, playing Persona 3 Reloaded ROG’s beautiful 1080p on the go, with game pass, was eye opening!
So you would have bought the ally from the beginning if you had to do it over?
@@LoneSch0larX probably not, the steam deck was so easy to use that I felt comfortable in modding and discovering different ways to mess around with the system, while the Ally would probably spit in my face if I even dared to change some things around.
@@takskid lol i hear you
Great video! I personally prefer the Legion go, the performance is impressive, you can actually play any game, great battery life and the screen is amazing!
I just bought a legion go 2 days ago and I absolutely love it. Coming from a steam deck I thought it was going to be a waste of money but it's far and away a better handheld for me use
is it nice as a computer as well?
@deepstrokes it's amazing, it's more of a computer than a console
Why did you spend almost a thousand dollars on something you thought would be a "waste of money"?
@Draegon86 because there's a magical thing called returns, where if you don't like a product you can return it and get a refund ✨️
@natehughey6432 so it had nothing to do with wasting anything. You went in with the intention of renting it until you decided it WASN'T wasted money. Sorry, your choice of wording was weird.
You can get more fps out of the deck with a little bit of tweaking by using cryo tools and looking up settings the community tested to be the best balanced.
I've never heard about it. I'm googling it now, I'm waiting for my 1TB Oled to arrive. Cryo Utilities, right? Any sample on how much it improves?
After watching a lot of videos and comparing different option, I got myself a steam deck oled. Power is not everything, and in the end of the day it is the best device for the games I want to play.
Damn isnt lubricant a better choice?
Steam oiled. 🥰🥰🥰
If you’re a person who prefers First Person Shooters, the Lenovo Legion GO is the way to go. The visibility and high refresh rate with the bigger screen is a great combo. You will regret not getting the GO The moment you open up your Tac Map on the Ally or Steam Deck in games like WarZone, Pub G, Fortnight etc. Nothing is legible, even when you zoom.
ye, this is the only case why you should buy GO - if you play fps shooters more. Otherwise it's just bad
Imagine playing fps games with a controller attached to a small screen.
@@danielring8060 as opposed to the other two with even smaller screens
@@danielring8060imagine hating on someone else's preferences
@@NarutoUzumaki71069true that
Steam Deck 2 needs a huge performance bump without sacrificing battery of course
True - but you can play the Ally/Go on lower settings/lower resolutions (matching the steam deck's perf) and get similarly long battery
Steam Deck 2 needs performance bump (at same TDP) but more importantly the USB5 port for an eGPU. So you can take it on the go and then dock it when you get home.
Surprised no one is talking about the VRR of the Ally. For me this has been the biggest deciding factor. WoW on it has been amazing. Especially the VRR.
What is VRR?
@@Brelicity Variable refresh rate. You don't have to worry about tearing or keeping a locked FPS. It's a huge feature.
Concerning the Steam Deck Oled: I would *not* go for the 1tb version. The anti-glare coating dulls the OLED screen quite a bit.
Yo tengo la de 1TB y se ve perfectamente brillante la pantalla, con el extra de que no se ven reflejos
Good to know @@StevenSite I've just bought one and comments like this worry me
I have the 1tb version and the screen protector overrides the antiglare screen.
Ally has huge hardware issues, the sd card reader stops working in few months, due to the heat generated in the device. My friend had his card slot replaced twice in 6 months😢, he is concerned what will happen after the warrenty period.
I just bought the asus rog ally z1 Extreme and i absolutely love it! Now of course i had to deal with some headaches tweaking settings and everything but when i played call of duty modern warfare 3 with 1080 resolution at 100 to 110 fps, i fell in love! Yes it drains the battery fast but thats why i bought a 65w 50000mAh power bank. If you buy one, make sure you change the fan speeds to 100 percent at 80C and above cause at around 90 and up, mw3 shows packet loss and gpu overheating but with 100 percent fan speed youre good to go. By the way, if youre gunna play mw3 on the ally, change the settings to reset to recommended and performance and that will get you the best fps
Great video. I feel the video needs to stress the VRR capability of the Ally screen. It's a HUGE game changer. I had the Steam Deck for almost a year. Just bought the ROG Ally Xtreme for $600 and I can't go back to the Deck. I hate screen tearing and I hate PWM (Steam Deck OLED). I haven't played the Legion GO but, with that high resolution screen, there's no way its frame rate is consistent without screen tearing. Very happy with the Ally, even with its "Windows" quirks sometimes.
Hey man, my bad for the late reply. But how to turn on VRR on a Ally? Thanks.
From day one of launch, I have owned the LCD version of the Steam Deck, and I thought it was the coolest thing that I could play AAA games while on the go. However, I just bought the Asus Rog Ally and have been downloading games and its been dead silent compared to the Steam deck. However I have not played anything yet, but I am in the middle of downloading my last game of the night and we will see :)
I have the OG deck and then ordered the oled and a Legion go. The Go arrived within 2 days and the deck oled is here next week.
I booted up the GO and spent 2 hours updating it and downloading world war z and ori from gamepass.
The GO felt so similar to my gaming laptop that I began not seeing a need for it. If I wanted to mess with windows I'd do it on a laptop/desktop.
So I reformatted the GO after an hour of gaming and put it back in the box.
I think Valve has nailed the idea of a console in your hands. Whereas the Go was fiddly and was over-speced for its hardware, having to lower resolution to play games, just felt wrong on such a nice display.
Late to the conversation, but I have both a first generation Steam Deck and ROG Ally. They're both fantastic. Benefit of the Steam Deck: verified titles that just work and the touch pads. Benefit of the Ally: there's a lot of stuff that won't run on the Deck, either due to anti-cheat software or because they're not on Steam. The Ally can generally handle those. You can't go wrong with either.
I game on series x at home. I work nights with a lot of down time so I got a steam deck a few months ago and enjoyed the console simplicity feel. Then sold it and bought the Legion Go 2 weeks ago and loving that. I was bit wary due to not playing on PC and having to mess around with settings, driver updates etc but it's a lot less hassle than i thought.
Edit: Also, the 8.8 inch screen makes a big difference.
Can you just pick up and play the legion? You think that's the best portable gaming right now?
@jfez1206 Yeah. For the most part. Watch any of the "set up" guide videos and you'll be good to go. Not too much messing about. I thought it would be worse.
Bought the ROG, spent more time trying to fix it than playing it, when it did work it's an amazing device tho. The charging broke and bricked the device 28 days in so returned it and hopefully the Lenovo Go will be better....
I never tried the SD OLED, but the original didn't have the best performance. I bought the Legion go, but besides the beautiful screen it fell short of my expectations. I bought an open Box Ally and have had an awesome time gaming on it. Just finished playing horizon zero dawn 50+ hours and it was an extremely enjoyable/comfortable experience.
So ally is the best way to go?
I bought the SD OLED. But, yes... Horizon Zero Dawn is one of my favorites. I recently finished Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores in PS5....It's fantastic. I put 160 into it. I imagine it's coming to PC soon.
Did you play Days Gone yet? It's also amazing.
I added Forbiden West to my steam wishlist, I don't think it's got an actual release date. I haven't played days gone. I need to finish RDR2 before i start a new game.@@bigbri4090
Honestly there is no wrong answer here. They're all fantastic, but I tried all three and the Ally works best for me. It's too easy to pick up and play the games I Play.@@victoriagomez9009
@@bigbri4090in february actually
As a long haul truck driver these things are fantastic, I've been using a switch but played through all the games on switch i was interested in, finally got a steam deck recently, definitely nice to be able to play the 200+ steam games I've accumulated over the years.
Super tempted by the Legion Go. If only the steam deck would have also upgraded to the Z1 extreme along with the Oled screen.
We prolly gonna see the upgrade next year or this winter I guess, finger crossed. Plus, Im hoping they re-invent the steam deck same as Legion Go with portable mouse option.
Would the community be OK with them releasing another upgraded version in a few months?
@@jerredhammonds nah, 10 month or 1 year at least should be fine
I have the rog ally works like a beast been using it for 3-4 months no issues at all but battery is the only problem but it doesn't matter much to me since i have powerbank
I'd recommend the Steam Deck to most people hands down. Unbeatable for the price. I have the non-oled Steam Deck and it's just great. The Ally's battery is a real bummer for me (I can't say anything about the overheating micro sd card slot) and the legion didn't convince me either at it's price point. The Legion and Ally have advantages over the Deck but at a "much" higher price point.
How's the battery life?
What if my gaming library is on GOG Galaxy, Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Connect, EA Origins, and Xbox PC. And I have fewer games on Steam.
Do you still recommend the steam Deck?
@@Respectfully10 I very much disagree. ROG ally is far better in almost every aspect. The only one letting it down is the battery life, I would say. It hasn't been a problem for me though.
I tried SD and I never liked the OS. Windows is much better imo. Much more choices, supports every game pretty much. Not to speak of the "original" SDs screen. It is quite bad. Blurry image and very low resolution.
@MaxDrougge I was being rhetorical with my question. Your statements also show: owner bias / buyers' remorse.
Legion Go is the best for someone who doesn't have a steam library because it has no hardware issues, better battery life, and recent updates are actually doing the rounds. Price point wise; for $699 CAD, I'd take the ROG Ally instead of the Steam Deck for obvious reasons (my library). No matter the device you take. You need a $30 USD, 100W power brick to run turbo mode on the go. I like to use it on the train/subway to work & back. That's a good session for the day.
@@Respectfully10 If anything, owners bias. But my comment is pretty objective if you have looked at some reviews of the 2. I wouldn't say the LG doesn't have any hardware problems. Also, having removable joycons is asking for trouble in the longer run.
With the Ally you get a power brick sufficient for turbo in the box.
The lenovo legion go is way to big and I really like windows but what I wished the Asus ROG Ally had was track pads but in the end I ordered the Asus ROG Ally. Can't wait for it to arrive next week
I just got my LLG 2 days ago, let me tell u, i had the sd and rog before. The LLG is by far the best, been running my AAA games on high settings all the time with frame rates about 60-70 fps. This device is a beast and im so happy
Cap 😂
@@kysierkevinnaa i aint joking, but forget to mention only when plugged in, when not the fps will drop about 20fps approximately.
Truth is u got non of them, and ure coping hard cuz u broke af
Are you confused by the soap in games on the big screen and the lack of vrr?
A tip for the windows machines. You can configure windows to boot into steam big picture mode. This gives you a very similar experience as steam os on the steam deck.
The oled panel is a game changer, Steam Deck all the way!
ROG Ally + WoW is my childhood dream finally being a reality. It’s such a good combo.
It pains me to say it but as someone that's owned all of them, you're spot on by saying it's hard to go back to the Deck after using and seeing the other screens. The Steam Deck screen could have some form of futuristic OLED and it still doesn't change the fact it's 720p and will always be objectively worse. Not to mention playing 1080p at the frame rates the Deck gives you in 720p. It sucks because despite being huge it has the best feel in hand and it's the most comfortable. Those grips just remind me of a Canon camera, so deep and chunky and secure - but that screen just isn't doing it with or without OLED.
So which one would u say , the rog ally or the go because I'm saving up money rn
I ended up sticking with the Ally. I want to like the Legion Go, but the fans are way to loud and after going through 4 of them, they all had a whine noise.
9:49 "Where as the Deck OLED's performance (at 15w) is fixed, so games will run the same no matter what."
Incorrect, you can customize the GPU's frequency independent of the max TDP you set on the Steam Deck, which can run much lower than that in games that are less demanding. I presume these are similar to the options in the other machines, but I don't have one to test. You can also limit the FPS of games and refresh rate of the Deck's display, which also impacts performance and battery life.
The Legion is big and powerful, but way too expensive and the battery life is terrible.
The Steam Deck has great software, great support and battery life, but it's the least powerful by a big margin.
The ROG Ally is the middle ground, not stupidly expensive, decent internals, but bad battery life.
I ordered an OLED Steam Deck and sadly ended up sending it back because it just couldn't do what I wanted it to... such a shame because it was a lovely piece of design, those trackpads were so cool.
Got an Ally and what I wanted the SD to do, it just did, no messing around with coding or faffing, just install a program and away you go.
The thing that kept me away from ally is the battery life, heat issue, scared of deffect unit. I bought rog laptop before. When brand new it works fine. But after a long gaming session its to heat up and turn off. Do u think ally will suffered the same issue?
ally is too small
@@endrancemackenzie6168 it has been reported that it did suffer from that, but I believe there's been a slight tweaking and the newer models seem OK.
@@endrancemackenzie6168 If you are concern about the battery life, get a Power Bank. If you're concern of the heat issue, stop using Turbo mode, you can run any triple A games on performance. (there are tons of tweaks online that you can do it have better gameplay while keeping it cool).
There is no defect unit and if there is, that's 1 out of 100 and you can return it to get it fix or replaced.
@@endrancemackenzie6168i havent heard of Ally overheating causing the board to burn but I do heard a lot of Ally unit overheating at the SD card slot area melting the SD card
I have SD 512 oled and I don’t regret it knowing fully well that ROG ally is a beast.but why is it called a handheld when the ba3 can’t even last 2hrs. Also why I chose SD was becos of the community easy to repair and parts etc. compared to ally consider all this before getting ROG.both are great machines IMO
got the oled one but i had the lcd deck too. love this device half the time i play on this more than my 3090 gaming pc or ps5 or xbox series x. which ever deck you buy they are well worth the money
Legion dropped 100 quid and i'm really tempted, the bigger screen is a huge plus for me
I have the rog ally Z1X and it’s a great device. I love the 120hz freesync display. Never seen a PC this small run games this buttery smooth before.
I made a custom 18 watt profile, since 18 watts seems to be the best FPS per Watt efficiency
How long does it last at @18W? Did you try to disable CPU boost? and how much battery life does that add.
Still debating the Ally
@@ij6708 yep CPU boost is disabled, I’d say it lasts about an hour and 40 minutes at 18 watts. But I have it set to only charge to 80% for battery longevity health reasons. If you disable Dolby atmos (which works shockingly well btw) you can also get some extra battery life and 1-2 extra FPS. But I leave it on since it turns good speakers into great speakers, at least for gaming.
Steam Deck is a King of my heart 👑
Had LCD version, perfect, and still want a OLED
I have all three and the ally is the one I use the most, if not all the time. Without VRR, the legion go just doesn't run as smoothly as the ally and it becomes very noticeable switching between them. The steam oled is just not powerful to run the games I want.. maybe if I want to play some third party game then I'll use the steam oled. I've already added a 4TB on the ally and got a power bank so storage, sd card, or the battery life is not even a concern for me anymore.
Any sd card issues?
And wondering what AAA games were you playing on both Ally and SD? Im still considering between these two (non OLED SD)
@@agumon1605 i have an R9 (date from manufacturer in September) and runs like heaven. Also put on it a 2TB NVME. Put BatoGo with a lot of roms and customized for ally and legion go and is just amazing. The design and everything for the ally and the most important the screen for me is the best right now on the market and VRR is a must!
@@agumon1605 I've never used a SD card since I've installed a 4TB SSD on my ally. I believe as long as you run your system on performance mode instead of turbo and reduce the resolution to 720p or 800p, the temp should run around 40 to 60C, the SD card should be fine.
I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, and Horizon Zero Dawn. The games ran much smoother on the ally than the legion go because of VRR. Both the legion go and ally have a higher frame rate than the steam deck. For baldur's gate 3, I would get around 30ish fps on the steam deck oled and around 50fps on the ally, cyberpunk is about 50ish fps on steam deck and 60ish fps on the ally. I also play dozen of emulators and they are all much faster and have a higher FPS on the ally since my ally's cpu is the Z1 extreme. My ally runs at 720p in performance mode, highest temp I got was 62C.
@@DamnitMan88 damn thats a lot of perf difference for AAA games, been wanting to play cyberpunk on SD because of the supposedly longer battery life but idk anymore if i would sacrifice my eyes for a bit longer juice to play it lol... anyways thanks for the info 🙌
If anyone wants to stand their Steam Deck up Skull and Co do a really cool grip case that looks great and stands the deck up. IV bought all 3 colours purple, coyote grey and black
Legion Go for me, I been enjoying the Go like a child with a new toy!
My biggest issue with handhelds has always been the feel of the controllers. So difficult adjusting to them after being used to Xbox/PlayStation controllers.
I have all the three of them. I end up picking up Legion Go pretty much 90% of the time. Rog Ally is also super but Legion Go is a beast.
What are your thoughts about the Ayaneo Kun?
@@cefrio never heard of it. 🙄
I'm thinking between the rog ally or the go and I'm so stuck between the two because both of them looks amazing
@@Funtime77x youtube it if you have a sec, its a beast
@@Techguy104 go with Legion Go. Trust me. I have both of them.
Ally feels the most premium. Its also the best. Also there is no bottle neck with the XG Mobile. Thats not how bottle necks work. You need to go beyond 1080P on the monitor, or 240 refresh rate on 1080P. You want the graphics card to do the work, not CPU.
Also lets not forget about repairability with the Ally.
Give it 6 months the Legion may be the best bet. Once they work out the bugs that Legion is gonna rock. I'm also a die hard valve fan lol. So it'll be a super hard choice when I have the money.
They may look like a bunch of Nintendo Switch doppelgangers, but the longevity of these handhelds could go shorter than expected, especially as more handhelds with stronger specifications release time after time.
Definitely the ROG Ally. Its the only handheld PC that has a native landscape panel, native 16:9, VRR, Freesync, Dolby Atmos Front Firing speakers. Its also the sleekest design and better ergonomics overall. Glad I ordered one when ir had a huge price drop after Legion Go's launch
The legion go is a better device overall
@@mikejames6588that some dog shit take
Rog & Lenovo are good systems.
And those are even better after installing ChimeraOS on it.
ergonomics are pretty bad on the Ally unless you have children like hands lol.
I went with Switch! And sold it after 2 years since I played like 6 hours total 😂
Today I'd pick between legion go and steam deck, leaning towards deck because I want plug and play experience (I do enough troubleshooting in my line of work).
I hope next year for Asus ROG ALLY 2 , they make the screen 8' OLED + VRR 120HZ, 50+WHR, better software plus better low watt usage in games, double USB4 port and finally a carrying case. then we have the best handheld. Then for SD2, better processor and they will be the king of handheld.
Not likely have to wait atleast a few years more to get the rog ally 2
U pretty much described the legion go lol
@@1upJeCK No OLED, Not HDR capable, No VRR, software still needs improvement and that big of a device should be able to hold an even bigger battery
@@ij6708 wahh
10 months later... I'm fixing to decide which one to get... I'm hearing so much good about the legion..& now the legion is on sale for $499 USD
The Ally is definitely the one to get at the moment, I sold my steam deck and I'm not regretting it. Armoury crate on The Ally is great,plus it runs all my ps3 game well, I could not get God of war 3 to run on the steam deck, the Lenovo is too big and bulky, I can't travel with it, so Ally all the way.
You are right sold my legion go with 6 days of Life, really nothing that i like
@tokyoblues4095I’d rather have bad battery life than bad performance
@@dudeman6480get a desktop instead
@tokyoblues4095 Bad battery life can has a solution thru power bank however bad performance won't be fixed due to weaker hardware
@@dimyz7435bruh why?i was planing to buy one
As a windows 8 hater, hearing people this many years later ask for a handheld mode is hilarious. We may have hated it, but Win8 was ahead of its time in some areas
Still have windows 8 on my laptop 😅 still hate it too. Had a windows phone and loved it though.
@@buckroger6456 oh yeah win8 had issues beyond its ui design but just saying, today that UI would probably be more welcomed with the more varied devices using windows. The UI was ahead of its time by only a generation or so
@mineman2002 looking at win8 through today's eye's, I say yes, it was ahead of its time. Oddly Microsoft loves coming up with something cool only to drop it before it takes off.
Great review of all three, I have the first Steam Deck and the Legion GO. Windows has its issues, but I'm all for the Legion Go for the screen size and the fact that I'm not restricted by Linux.
How's Linux restricted ?
@@nandonandouze169 The obvious fact that linux isnt supported in many large games that use EAC, and no way to get them to work if you are a fine of those games
@@bigbay1159 You're absolutely right. Never encountered the issue tho. No, I'm lying...I wanted to play Destiny 2 on it but wasn't able to. Except of that one, all is good.
Just got the ROG it’s fantastic everything I have always wanted on a handheld
Good choice! When I first got it I was amazed you could run stuff like Cyberpunk 2077 on something this size at actually pretty decent settings
512gb Steam Deck OLED, mainly because the etched glass kind of ruins the whole point of the oled aspect since the colours will look muted on the 1TB model vs the 512gb model which has a glossy screen.
Tengo la version de 1TB y los colores se ven increiblemente bien, lo de que se ven mas apagados, es un mito, te lo aseguro
My current setup:
Switch OLED + Lenovo Legion Go.
Quite literally everything I need for work and play.
Dead zone issues as well as other issues have been fixed in most recent legion space updates
Finally!
I have a Steam Deck. I have had it before the Ally or the Go came out, and I love it. Admittedly I've been tempted by the other devices, but I don't get to use my Deck as much as I would like so I'm not going to look at getting another anything till that changes. Also, I would like the devices to get a little smaller. The size of the Go and the Ally don't do much to convince me to give up the Deck. We're probably a ways off, but I look forward to having something as light and comfortable as the Switch. In the meantime the Deck plays everything I need to. I've upgraded mine with a 2TB SSD and put a 1TB MicroSD in it, and I have a dock for it I use regularly, so I should be good for quite some time. But videos like this make me really, really excited for the future of these devices.
At this point, the ally. It's gotten much better! And people seem to only talk about oled.. but vrr is far more important. I do believe valve has a better future focusing on ease of use.. but right now, the ally is arguably the best. Price, quality, features. The go.. personally, I think it's beating the purpose of a handheld.. it's too big for a handheld and is lacking either vrr or Oled.. also using gimmicks from other devices 😅.. be creative yourself.
WDYM gimmick stolen from other people? Who the hell else was crazy enough to put a mouse sensor in a controller?
@Coliflower185 you damn well know what I'm talking about... and you know its not about the sensor 😉 and I'm saying using.. not stolen.. maybe read before you open your mouth
I’ve always been a console gamer. I bought the ROG Ally Z1 about a month ago and I absolutely love it. It’s perfect for me.
The Ally really needs to fix three things to be the best one out there:
1) Burnt SD cards
2) horrible battery life
3) typical windows related jank
yep fair