I bought myself the Deck OLED for Christmas, and I've been super happy with it since. The other companies' handhelds were never even a consideration for me; I have a Steam Controller and *love* using Steam Input for controller configs, so the Steam Deck with all of its inputs was a no-brainer. Performance has been good enough for my needs, too
I bought a steam deck simply because it's got a better community, longer life span, much better support from third party developers. Developers can't do that when companies release a new product every week.
Aye if you want you should use Cryo utility's decky loader and slight over clock under volt I got an extra 18 fps in pretty much all games some games as far as 24 fps more and it's stable
I have always been a console player ( PS or Xbox), so I know nothing about the steam deck, can you answer all these questions? Can you hook the Steam deck to a 4k tv or gaming monitor and play or is it strictly a handheld? Can you keep the Steam Deck plugged in and charging as you play on it? I have a gaming laptop and have to have it plugged in all the time since battery life is non existent on a laptop lol. Does Steam Deck have a web browser, access to yuoutube, netflix and more? Can you get PC Game Pass on a steam deck? is the new Steam Deck Oled worth $900 or so at Best Buy? Also , what happens IF the joysticks break, do you have to get a whole new steam deck or can they be replaced easy?
@@Johnny_Ohio I will try to answer these: "Can you hook the Steam deck to a 4k tv or gaming monitor and play or is it strictly a handheld?" You can hook up the Steam Deck to a TV or monitor to use. The easiest way to do this is with a dock, and there are third party docks which are not too expensive and work well. However, be aware that at 4K resolutions performance of the Steam Deck will not be that good on newer AAA games. You can output the games at 1080p to mitigate this to an extent. "Can you keep the Steam Deck plugged in and charging as you play on it?" Yes. "Does Steam Deck have a web browser, access to yuoutube, netflix and more?" Technically, yes, but you will have to either use desktop mode for this or at least go into desktop mode long enough to set up your browser as a non-Steam app in gaming mode. I believe Netflix will be limited to 720p on the Steam Deck even if you dock it, unless Netflix has changed their policy about non-Android Linux based devices. "Can you get PC Game Pass on a steam deck?" No, with the exception that you can use Game Pass's streaming feature through a Web browser. "is the new Steam Deck Oled worth $900 or so at Best Buy?" I can't answer that for you. I can get it from Valve for significantly less, and that's what I did. "Also , what happens IF the joysticks break, do you have to get a whole new steam deck or can they be replaced easy?" The joysticks can be replaced relatively easily. Third party hall effect joysticks are a thing for the Steam Deck.
I'd say I'm a person comfortable with tech, but using a good OS is a rewarding factor in itself. It inspires passion, appreciation etc. I think that's why so many steamdeck owners rave about it. There's something satisfying about how it works, compared to something like windows that requires a lot of finicking around with, even on a desktop. It brings me right back to those feelings of gaming on a psp as a kid, but with a lot more to sink my teeth into.
I like how you go into the actual real life implications of both, makes understanding the hardware and performance differences a lot easier to understand as the audience. Great video!!
After watching numerous videos and reviews, I can confidently say this one stands out as one of the best. I particularly appreciated the side-by-side comparisons shown in the video. Overall, I am even more convinced that the Steam Deck OLED offers the perfect balance of quality, performance, and ease of use. While some suggest installing Bazzite or waiting for upcoming SteamOS support, those steps are unnecessary since the Steam Deck OLED comes with the best interface and user experience. Additionally, GeForce Now has confirmed that we will receive official support for the Steam Deck.
Having both ROG ALLY x, and Steam Deck OLED - I use my steam deck a lot more. I love navigating the steam deck, I personalized its aesthetics - I organize my library for my emulated games. Navigating the desktop using touch pads. It’s an amazing handheld. The Screen is just a huge bonus on top of it. I favor ROG Ally X for more demanding games, but I still don’t notice that much of a difference as it’s advertised.
I view my Steam deck to be my Nintendo Switch to my PC. I play my multiplayer and graphically demanding games at my desk, then I play my steam deck fully reclined on my couch or bed. At a cheaper price point and an amazing experience, I am happy with my purchase. I do come back to these Ally X videos though wishing I could try one out.
I was looking into the steam deck but then was tempted by the Ally. Ultimately, I already have a good PC, I rather just have an easy to use, popular handheld. & the SD honestly runs great. & the track pad is HUGE. Just for moving the cursor sometimes more precisely or programming the track pad to bring up 12 KEYS on a keyboard in a little menu on the fly, is just a game changer for certain games that have different hot keys.
I still have my launch lcd 512 gb steam deck and I won’t lie, I could never go back to not having those touchpads. And I also think the ergonomics and back buttons are perfect.
@ I play my Steam Deck more. I prefer the larger Oled screen and think it is more comfortable to hold. 7.4 inch vs 7 inch may not seem like a huge difference but It actually is. The Ally X’s screen has VRR and higher resolution so it also looks great. I do tend to bring my Ally X with me more when I’m not at home because it’s smaller, I installed a 4gb ssd, and it plays everything. They’re both great so it really depends on the games you play. If you play COD or want Gamepass then the Ally X is the right choice. I play a lot of rpgs and older games that I emulate and they look great on the Steam Deck. The Ally X is arguably more future proof. If I could only choose one I would lean toward the Ally X. That was longer than I intended to type, sorry!
While it is tempting to grab one of these newer handhelds, my Steam Deck OLED is perfect for what I need right now. It plays all the games I want perfectly fine and it will keep me happy for a long time until the Steam Deck 2 comes out. I still think it holds many advantages over the newer handhelds such as the OLED screen, good price, good hardware quality, and phenomenal customer service from Valve.
The only solution to your sleep problem is to use hibernate instead, it writes RAM to disk and essential shuts down the device. Makes it slower to boot but it'll never wake up randomly - a fair tradeoff in my opinion.
The lack of track pads really hurt, that's why I chose Steam Deck. And I hope the Legion Go S also has trackpads since that also is gonna have SteamOS.
I had the OLED deck for a year since launch and I’m so much happier with my Z1E ally in the first couple days I had it than in that entire year. The graphics and performance are significantly better. The deck just isn’t powerful enough for the games I play and the lack of compatibility with many popular multiplayer games that have anticheat was a huge deal breaker. It’s a shame bc I do love steamOS. Looking forward to Ally 2 and praying it has an OLED screen
I have the etched glass steam deck and the z1e Ally and I agree I prefer my Ally but feel like I get more battery out of the steam deck with certain games...these handheld are blowing my mind.
Same here, sold my Deck after around a year, because the games I play would run like shit and I am very sensitive to extreme frame drops due to Vertigo. Thinking of picking up an Ally X now.
Thank you for this video and also the previous ones 🙂. I'm French and thanks to your advice I'm currently the owner of the Steam Deck OLED and I'm rediscovering the pleasure of playing video games with it.
no, it would be a waste, you basically spend double the money for the slightly better performance than the OLED. Why? Because Bazzite or Steam Os in general can not use the features of the AMD chipset such as RSR, AFMF, RIS, ... even VRR. So no, definitely no.
@@namduonghoang2931 I'm running bazzite and VRR works without a hitch. Performance in a lot of cases is substantial, for example my SD OLED struggles to maintain 40fps on The Devision 2 where the Ally X can easily maintain 60fps at 900p at ~15w. In very much depends on the game but those extra 15-30fps do make a big difference. Both devices are great in their own rights but without bazzite the Ally wouldn't be an option for me.
@@namduonghoang2931 it can use VRR and AFMF is basically general version of FSR, if you don't like frame generation you won't miss it that much so i'd take that trade anyday
What I did to help alleviate the absolute shit sleep settings was change all of it to hibernate. Makes it perform much closer to what you’d expect the sleep button to work. How is such a basic function still so broken for such an established OS
I have the steam deck oled but would not mind the ally x to complete my inbed gaming. Still have a pc with a 2080Super and laptop with a 3070 , still working on streaming those to my deck lag free. Honestly sometimes I wonder if I did the wrong choice, the ally x was not around when I got my deck, if it was I think I would of gotten the ally x.
I bought a Steam deck oled due to the battery. Discounted the Ally. But then the Ally X dropped. For me it was a game changer. I loved learning Linux on the deck. But I prefer windows. Plus the extra ram and vram.
I love both my SD and original Ally. Been using suspend since day 1 on the ally and mostly trouble-free. Will be interesting to see later this year what QOL updates Windows is cooking up. Great video Sam.
Whilst I prefer the SD OLED, in the Ally’s defence, most of the games worked out of the box for me? The games that didn’t work o the Deck mainly due to anti cheat required tweaking.
the ally keeps turning on because while yes windows turns off the pc, the cpu usually is always on and will wake the computer to complete its tasks while in sleep mode. the only counter of that is to completely turn off the device (which sucks) there’s a way to turn that off in control panel in windows but i can’t remember where. Also it would be the wifi adapter waking the device
MS Engineer here and I have to say that your Pros/ Cons helped with my decision in purchasing a gaming handheld for my nephew. He is pretty tech savvy as well, but how savvy do you want to be after a long day at school, finished your homework and just want to play a game. Or worse (lol), he IMs me for help in the twilight hours just as I finish a project. And as he has a little sister too (niece-zilla ;) )... #MoneyWellSpent. Thank you. Subscribed.
thats exactly how i feel, i'm pretty tech savvy but after a long day most of the time i dont want to spend time fixing my device, i just wanna plop down and play some games. basically what i'm saying is time is valuable and we need to remember that :)
What you should also consider is that the rog ally x has a thunderbolt 4 connector, so you can easily attach an egpu to it which is a huge pro. That’s the only thing i think is sad for the original ally. I have the original ally and love it even if it doesn’t have that, but maybe modders will do some magic :)
Ugh I know and I used to have an egpu set up but it ended up being more of a hassle than I wanted at the time with bugs and such, that was a few years ago maybe things have changed tho
I built my gaming PC almost four years ago. Almost all the parts are from Asus ROG. I still prefer the Steam Deck OLED because I know Windows on handheld would give me lots of trouble.
that's weird because when I put my rog ally to sleep it'll last 9 days before battery dies, one thing iv noticed lately though is when i turn it on it will auto log me in without using my fingerprint
Not sure why your ally isn’t going to sleep, but I usually just quit the game that Immplaying prior to hitting the power button. Stays off and no battery drain. About 1 month experience at this point.
I'm not sure about the AllyX, but I have a Lenovo Legion 5i Pro. When I need to step away, I just close the lid to put it in sleep mode. When I come back, I notice I lose a little bit of battery, but not much. However, sometimes it seems to turn off completely.
Props to you Sam. Great video! You basically helped me decide what handheld device to get. This video deserves more views and likes. Subbed! 👍 I guess companies like Asus need to polish their offerings somehow.
I'm on the fence between the SD and Ally X, although im leaning towards the SD. How are the trackpads? I mainly play sim games like Anno 1800, Rim world, total war Warhammer, and curious how games like these play, controller wise, on the SD and Ally X.
you forgot that the steam deck has 2 spot were it takes updates, the second ond is in desktop mode and is about the flat pacs (some things do not work well after a steam update if you do not update them as well) a small work around is tnx to a decky plugin that allow to uptate them from desktop mode. Nice review and it wasniceto properly see some of the differences from a gamer perspective!
I finally just now decided to buy the sd oled. Had a hard time deciding but I'm a casual gamer and just want a "grown up" version of the switch...play for like 30 min, put it to sleep and keep playing a day later or every time my wife isn't around ;) Great video thank you 👍
Do people forget that you can open Steam in Big Picture Mode on the Ally?!? Nine out of Ten people are familiar with Windows and it uses full Windows 11 while the Deck uses a Linux OS, which is more difficult to natively run non-Steam optimized games on. All the people complaining about how "difficult" Windows 11 is while they have pcs running it while I'd bet almost NONE have pcs running Linux.
Still preferred Ally X to Steam Deck OLED in PC handhelds. But for handheld gaming devices as a whole, I'm preferred Switch 2 more than all these PC handhelds 👍
I think a 800p oled is better than 1080p lcd... Steamdeck is user servicable as well. These will most likely replace low end gaming laptops so there will always be something better around the corner... it's best to plan any upgrades or purchases around what game your interested in.
Hey bro. I'm torn. I want to play games like sons of the forest, ark, also racing games. Would you recommend which one you might think would be better for me?
I have always been a console player ( PS or Xbox), so I know nothing about the steam deck, can you answer all these questions? Can you hook the Steam deck to a 4k tv or gaming monitor and play or is it strictly a handheld? Can you keep the Steam Deck plugged in and charging as you play on it? I have a gaming laptop and have to have it plugged in all the time since battery life is non existent on a laptop lol. Does Steam Deck have a web browser, access to yuoutube, netflix and more? Can you get PC Game Pass on a steam deck? is the new Steam Deck Oled worth $900 or so at Best Buy? Also , what happens IF the joysticks break, do you have to get a whole new steam deck or can they be replaced easy?
Controller- I use a Dualsense Edge. It has a trackpad so you CAN use Windows very easily with that controller (or any PS5 DS). I just sold my Steam Deck OLED and bought a Rog Ally (Extreme). Came up $110 too. So happy about it. Rog Ally is for me since it runs Windows and you can play Gamepass and Epic games without a workaround. Linux sucks. I hate the limitations on Steam Deck. I feel so free on the Rog Ally. It pairs well with my XR glasses too. I have 2 extra batteries, so no big deal about the short battery life.
Mine comes Thursday. Already have a 2tb 990 Evo plus, bazzite flashed to a thumb drive and my spare 3080 12gb and psu hooked to an egpu dock for a system in living room without moving 4080 right or streaming latency
Steamdeck oled is the best overall handheld and will be for a while, imma proud owner and enjoying it a lot, i think steamdeck 2 should come out around GTA 6 pc release which will be around 3-4 years from now cuz that will be the biggest factor to buy it in first place and this much gap between release of new steamdeck will have substantial performance and features
Yeah, VRR very often has microstutters or even larger stutters when there's a large frame time spike. It's why I stopped using VRR, despite being one of the earliest adopters of gsync many years ago. Yes, it's smoother than just running with an uncapped framerate on a non-VRR display, but I'm very sensitive to inconsistencies in framerate so I still prefer fixed, consistent framerates.
Great video. I have the 1Tb steam deck oled. Would get Rog Ally X as I really want to play Black Myth wukong. Don't think it would be a great experience on deck. Your points about constant updates, and sleep mode are really off putting. And fans kicking it. Steamdeck way it feels in hand is unmatched in my opinion. Thanks again keep the good work up. 👍
uhgh i know black myth is just such a tufffffff game to run and yes, wiindows sleep settings are just horrible, idk how microsoft hasn't dont something about it
Once all these handhelds get steam os. It won’t surprise me if steam take a back seat in hardware and just reap the benefits of everyone using their os. It’s a perfect business strategy
I really enjoyed the video. One small critique: the transition effect you used to go between one scene to another is hard to watch - especially because it is so frequent. It really affects my eyes and is almost headache inducing for me. I know I’m probably a minority here, but I can imagine it could be really problematic for some people. I recommend using something less jarring. Otherwise, very good video.
This is very interesting! Though I just wanted to chime in with the Lenovo legion go. While most of what goes for the ally X goes for the go, better performance (though not as big a jump as the deck to the ally X), the better screen (The go has a damn nice IPS panel along with very good specs, though usually overkill) and an God awful battery live. One thing that I really like about the legion go is the ergonomics. While I haven't held either a steam deck or ally x (I live in Latin America, getting multiple handhelds is just not it) the Go is really comfortable. It's 654 grams but it really doesn't feel like it, and the back buttons are perfect. Not in the way but easy to reach (mind you I'm big handed) and while the joystick in FPS mode is mildly annoying, once you get proper posture it's really not that bad. And since it's a vertical grab instead of a horizontal grab, it's far less stressful on the hand (though if you're used to a normal mouse then it won't be that big of a difference)
Hold on the X trumps it in hardware and supports linux with Bazzite. Why would anyone want worse performance, no VRR, worst battery, less compability? You guys are wild.
@@FierroSevOLED. Performance isn’t everything , as someone with a 3080 pc, I could play all my games on my pc; but still have played games like gta on my steamdeck because of how good oled looks
The tech/gaming community might be the only consumer community I’m aware of that blames users for design flaws. Can you imagine if car owners had a complaint about their vehicles and a frequent response was “wow, you don’t know how to work on your own vehicle?” I shouldn’t have to be tech savvy to use or enjoy a consumer product.
One drawback for me in all those handheld PC's they are terrible while you want play strategy games and the PC is just a temple of strategy games so they are just misshardware for me. Are those trackpad works well as mouse thou?
i play a few with the trackpads, but all turn based or at least slow paced, i tried to play starcraft 2 just for fun and i just cant manage on trackpads
@@sam.alexander.reviews Yep i know so for me all those handhelds PC's are not exactly Handheld pc's but rather handheld for console ports :D Cause of only one control scheme gamepad, pc have gamepad, mouse and keyboard.
I got the steamdeck oled version. But sometime i wish more performance when pmaying AAAs. If you like to play such games, go with rog, u need to stay powered anyways
I own the sd oled. But after today's announcement of valve that they will open the beta version of steamOS to any devices. Things will be different I think since you'll be able to install it on the rog ally x already (even though we have bazzite already)
My wife bought me the X for my birthday last year. I have a oled deck and had the chance to try both back to back. I appreciate the extra power but windows on a handheld gets old… really old. I can’t stress how annoying windows gets on a handheld being used on the go can be. I think I’d prefer carrying a laptop if I’m going to deal with those issues. Allot of tinkering and bugs to deal with when I just want to play a game. The steam deck makes it so I say to grab and go. Literally one press of a button and I can jump right back in where I left off. Steam OS is underrated. Steam support is second to none. Ended up returning the X and keeping the steam deck. The power of the Rog Ally X combined with steam os would be near perfect for me. I want to love the Ally X but living with it is allot different than the brochure specs and comment section debates. Edit: I also would like to see a Oled screen for the X. I prefer the 800p oled screen over the 1080p lcd. The colors are just soooo much better. Makes the X look dull when compared side by side.
The value proposed by the ROG ally X is really hard to swallow at 900€ in Europe. For that price you can get a nice little machine with a 4060 that would have better performances in a small form factor case. The Steam Deck, at the cheapest cost half the price of the ROG ally X and still perform good enough for the vast majority of the games, it would be even better if you are like me and left the big AAA games and play a lot of indie games instead.
Then theres me with my steam deck with Geforce Now on it, it runs all the games you say wont work. And it runs it at max settings and games like Marvel Rivals at max settings gets me 7-8hours on a 100% charge
love the ally rog X. definitely not for beginners or folks who dont understand thats its literally a handheld computer. you can do (pretty much) anything on the ally rog x vs. the steam deck. and performance wise it handles high-end games extremely well. if it has higher performance/specs than steam oled i dare say i'd rather not go to a steam deck lol.
I bought myself the Deck OLED for Christmas, and I've been super happy with it since. The other companies' handhelds were never even a consideration for me; I have a Steam Controller and *love* using Steam Input for controller configs, so the Steam Deck with all of its inputs was a no-brainer. Performance has been good enough for my needs, too
I bought a steam deck simply because it's got a better community, longer life span, much better support from third party developers. Developers can't do that when companies release a new product every week.
I decided to buy a steam deck because of your videos, and it’s safe to say that this was the best purchase i made this year!
No way! That's awesome to hear. 😊
Aye if you want you should use Cryo utility's decky loader and slight over clock under volt I got an extra 18 fps in pretty much all games some games as far as 24 fps more and it's stable
I have always been a console player ( PS or Xbox), so I know nothing about the steam deck, can you answer all these questions?
Can you hook the Steam deck to a 4k tv or gaming monitor and play or is it strictly a handheld? Can you keep the Steam Deck plugged in and charging as you play on it? I have a gaming laptop and have to have it plugged in all the time since battery life is non existent on a laptop lol. Does Steam Deck have a web browser, access to yuoutube, netflix and more? Can you get PC Game Pass on a steam deck? is the new Steam Deck Oled worth $900 or so at Best Buy? Also , what happens IF the joysticks break, do you have to get a whole new steam deck or can they be replaced easy?
@@Johnny_Ohio I will try to answer these:
"Can you hook the Steam deck to a 4k tv or gaming monitor and play or is it strictly a handheld?"
You can hook up the Steam Deck to a TV or monitor to use. The easiest way to do this is with a dock, and there are third party docks which are not too expensive and work well. However, be aware that at 4K resolutions performance of the Steam Deck will not be that good on newer AAA games. You can output the games at 1080p to mitigate this to an extent.
"Can you keep the Steam Deck plugged in and charging as you play on it?"
Yes.
"Does Steam Deck have a web browser, access to yuoutube, netflix and more?"
Technically, yes, but you will have to either use desktop mode for this or at least go into desktop mode long enough to set up your browser as a non-Steam app in gaming mode. I believe Netflix will be limited to 720p on the Steam Deck even if you dock it, unless Netflix has changed their policy about non-Android Linux based devices.
"Can you get PC Game Pass on a steam deck?"
No, with the exception that you can use Game Pass's streaming feature through a Web browser.
"is the new Steam Deck Oled worth $900 or so at Best Buy?"
I can't answer that for you. I can get it from Valve for significantly less, and that's what I did.
"Also , what happens IF the joysticks break, do you have to get a whole new steam deck or can they be replaced easy?"
The joysticks can be replaced relatively easily. Third party hall effect joysticks are a thing for the Steam Deck.
@@Johnny_OhioAlso, if you are getting a Steamdeck, you'd probably want to get yourself a PC one day too instead of the ps6 or Xbox whatever
I'd say I'm a person comfortable with tech, but using a good OS is a rewarding factor in itself. It inspires passion, appreciation etc. I think that's why so many steamdeck owners rave about it. There's something satisfying about how it works, compared to something like windows that requires a lot of finicking around with, even on a desktop.
It brings me right back to those feelings of gaming on a psp as a kid, but with a lot more to sink my teeth into.
Totally agree, that feeling of simplicity is something special!
Funnily enough steamos requires a lot more finnicking around than windows will ever need.
@@Kaylas1821how so?
The oled is such a huge difference. I’ll take fewer frames for that sweet oled picture.
I like how you go into the actual real life implications of both, makes understanding the hardware and performance differences a lot easier to understand as the audience. Great video!!
That was the goal! Glad it helped. 😊
After watching numerous videos and reviews, I can confidently say this one stands out as one of the best. I particularly appreciated the side-by-side comparisons shown in the video.
Overall, I am even more convinced that the Steam Deck OLED offers the perfect balance of quality, performance, and ease of use.
While some suggest installing Bazzite or waiting for upcoming SteamOS support, those steps are unnecessary since the Steam Deck OLED comes with the best interface and user experience. Additionally, GeForce Now has confirmed that we will receive official support for the Steam Deck.
thank you so much! i thought the side by sides would be useful so i'm glad they worked as such :)
Having both ROG ALLY x, and Steam Deck OLED - I use my steam deck a lot more. I love navigating the steam deck, I personalized its aesthetics - I organize my library for my emulated games. Navigating the desktop using touch pads. It’s an amazing handheld. The Screen is just a huge bonus on top of it. I favor ROG Ally X for more demanding games, but I still don’t notice that much of a difference as it’s advertised.
I view my Steam deck to be my Nintendo Switch to my PC. I play my multiplayer and graphically demanding games at my desk, then I play my steam deck fully reclined on my couch or bed. At a cheaper price point and an amazing experience, I am happy with my purchase. I do come back to these Ally X videos though wishing I could try one out.
I was looking into the steam deck but then was tempted by the Ally. Ultimately, I already have a good PC, I rather just have an easy to use, popular handheld. & the SD honestly runs great.
& the track pad is HUGE. Just for moving the cursor sometimes more precisely or programming the track pad to bring up 12 KEYS on a keyboard in a little menu on the fly, is just a game changer for certain games that have different hot keys.
I still have my launch lcd 512 gb steam deck and I won’t lie, I could never go back to not having those touchpads. And I also think the ergonomics and back buttons are perfect.
Nice bro I got the oled too. Did you get the one terabyte? If not, you should up to the one terabyte or two.
I own both of these handhelds and this is one of the best comparisons I’ve seen on UA-cam.
Which one do you play more?
@ I play my Steam Deck more. I prefer the larger Oled screen and think it is more comfortable to hold. 7.4 inch vs 7 inch may not seem like a huge difference but It actually is. The Ally X’s screen has VRR and higher resolution so it also looks great. I do tend to bring my Ally X with me more when I’m not at home because it’s smaller, I installed a 4gb ssd, and it plays everything. They’re both great so it really depends on the games you play. If you play COD or want Gamepass then the Ally X is the right choice. I play a lot of rpgs and older games that I emulate and they look great on the Steam Deck. The Ally X is arguably more future proof. If I could only choose one I would lean toward the Ally X. That was longer than I intended to type, sorry!
@bobrobadob lol no problem at all this is exactly the kind of detail I want to hear from people who've tried both! Thank you.
While it is tempting to grab one of these newer handhelds, my Steam Deck OLED is perfect for what I need right now. It plays all the games I want perfectly fine and it will keep me happy for a long time until the Steam Deck 2 comes out. I still think it holds many advantages over the newer handhelds such as the OLED screen, good price, good hardware quality, and phenomenal customer service from Valve.
The only solution to your sleep problem is to use hibernate instead, it writes RAM to disk and essential shuts down the device. Makes it slower to boot but it'll never wake up randomly - a fair tradeoff in my opinion.
My girl brought me the rog ally x the day after Christmas & I been loving it‼️
The lack of track pads really hurt, that's why I chose Steam Deck. And I hope the Legion Go S also has trackpads since that also is gonna have SteamOS.
True, underrated feature. All handhelds should have at least one. There are exceptions, of course, if you want a more compact handheld.
Yeah, i have an sd oled too, and i would not buy a handheld without trackpads anymore. Nr. 1 feature i use.
I had the OLED deck for a year since launch and I’m so much happier with my Z1E ally in the first couple days I had it than in that entire year. The graphics and performance are significantly better. The deck just isn’t powerful enough for the games I play and the lack of compatibility with many popular multiplayer games that have anticheat was a huge deal breaker. It’s a shame bc I do love steamOS. Looking forward to Ally 2 and praying it has an OLED screen
I have the etched glass steam deck and the z1e Ally and I agree I prefer my Ally but feel like I get more battery out of the steam deck with certain games...these handheld are blowing my mind.
Same here, sold my Deck after around a year, because the games I play would run like shit and I am very sensitive to extreme frame drops due to Vertigo.
Thinking of picking up an Ally X now.
Really like the look of the OLED screen
same, its gorgeous
Thank you for this video and also the previous ones 🙂.
I'm French and thanks to your advice I'm currently the owner of the Steam Deck OLED and I'm rediscovering the pleasure of playing video games with it.
Best of luck!
Tu joues à quoi dessus frérot ? Il me sera livré demain et j'aimerai savoir ce qui tourne bien dessus etc
@@someonepassionate Perso, je me suis lancé dans "Control" en medium à 30fps (locké) et à Dishonored 2 en élevé à 40fps. 👍
What abut the Ally with Bazzite tho?
no, it would be a waste, you basically spend double the money for the slightly better performance than the OLED. Why? Because Bazzite or Steam Os in general can not use the features of the AMD chipset such as RSR, AFMF, RIS, ... even VRR. So no, definitely no.
@@namduonghoang2931 I'm running bazzite and VRR works without a hitch. Performance in a lot of cases is substantial, for example my SD OLED struggles to maintain 40fps on The Devision 2 where the Ally X can easily maintain 60fps at 900p at ~15w. In very much depends on the game but those extra 15-30fps do make a big difference. Both devices are great in their own rights but without bazzite the Ally wouldn't be an option for me.
@@namduonghoang2931bazzite supports everything except afmf, RSR, and RIS. Bazzite supports vrr on the Ally.
@@namduonghoang2931 bazzite has most of those, including vrr.
@@namduonghoang2931 it can use VRR and AFMF is basically general version of FSR, if you don't like frame generation you won't miss it that much so i'd take that trade anyday
Getting right to the overall point in the first few minutes earned my thumbs up 👍 nice work!
Thanks for the feedback, appreciate it!
I really appreciate your synopsis at the beginning.
Glad you found it useful :)
Just in case you don’t have time to watch the whole vid
im a tech head and a "tinkerer" Ally x all the way for me. the performace is incredible.
What I did to help alleviate the absolute shit sleep settings was change all of it to hibernate. Makes it perform much closer to what you’d expect the sleep button to work. How is such a basic function still so broken for such an established OS
I have the steam deck oled but would not mind the ally x to complete my inbed gaming. Still have a pc with a 2080Super and laptop with a 3070 , still working on streaming those to my deck lag free. Honestly sometimes I wonder if I did the wrong choice, the ally x was not around when I got my deck, if it was I think I would of gotten the ally x.
Just use sunlight and moonlight when your at home. Then you can play whatever you want on max settings.
@joshuakhan8099 for whatever reason I get stuttering and screan tearing when I do that
I bought a Steam deck oled due to the battery. Discounted the Ally. But then the Ally X dropped. For me it was a game changer. I loved learning Linux on the deck. But I prefer windows. Plus the extra ram and vram.
20:08 that is very concerning...if you have this device tucked away inside a bag and it starts doing something that might generate heat...yikes.
My thoughts exactly
I love both my SD and original Ally. Been using suspend since day 1 on the ally and mostly trouble-free. Will be interesting to see later this year what QOL updates Windows is cooking up. Great video Sam.
Raw performance, ally x. Everything else, customization, modding, ui, no windows etc. SD is the king.
Both are awesome ! Have the og ally and still love it .
The OG is still a champ! 💪
Yeah, they're both awesome. I think they're the two best handhelds.
Whilst I prefer the SD OLED, in the Ally’s defence, most of the games worked out of the box for me? The games that didn’t work o the Deck mainly due to anti cheat required tweaking.
only games that dont work on the deck are mainly online pvp games, which i prefer to play on my PS5
So you can bypass the anticipated on the deck ?
the ally keeps turning on because while yes windows turns off the pc, the cpu usually is always on and will wake the computer to complete its tasks while in sleep mode. the only counter of that is to completely turn off the device (which sucks)
there’s a way to turn that off in control panel in windows but i can’t remember where.
Also it would be the wifi adapter waking the device
If you install Bazzite or SteamOS on the Ally, does it sleep and quick resume in the middle of gameplay?
Steamdeck can also stream PS, Xbox and PC via Moonlight for demanding games
I subscribed and liked cause yiu got right to the point! Im still watching the rest to see the differences and see whats best for me
Much appreciated homie ☺️
Silent hill 2 was unplayable on the steam deck. It now amazingly on my rog ally x
You're not lying about the bugs. I get freezes and bugs almost every day on the ally x. It makes me appreciate steamdeck/nintendo switch more.
MS Engineer here and I have to say that your Pros/ Cons helped with my decision in purchasing a gaming handheld for my nephew. He is pretty tech savvy as well, but how savvy do you want to be after a long day at school, finished your homework and just want to play a game. Or worse (lol), he IMs me for help in the twilight hours just as I finish a project. And as he has a little sister too (niece-zilla ;) )... #MoneyWellSpent. Thank you. Subscribed.
thats exactly how i feel, i'm pretty tech savvy but after a long day most of the time i dont want to spend time fixing my device, i just wanna plop down and play some games. basically what i'm saying is time is valuable and we need to remember that :)
What you should also consider is that the rog ally x has a thunderbolt 4 connector, so you can easily attach an egpu to it which is a huge pro.
That’s the only thing i think is sad for the original ally. I have the original ally and love it even if it doesn’t have that, but maybe modders will do some magic :)
Ugh I know and I used to have an egpu set up but it ended up being more of a hassle than I wanted at the time with bugs and such, that was a few years ago maybe things have changed tho
I built my gaming PC almost four years ago.
Almost all the parts are from Asus ROG.
I still prefer the Steam Deck OLED because I know Windows on handheld would give me lots of trouble.
I own proudly a SD OLED but what happens when SteamOS is optimized for ROG Ally X since Valve’s release.
that's weird because when I put my rog ally to sleep it'll last 9 days before battery dies, one thing iv noticed lately though is when i turn it on it will auto log me in without using my fingerprint
Not sure why your ally isn’t going to sleep, but I usually just quit the game that Immplaying prior to hitting the power button. Stays off and no battery drain. About 1 month experience at this point.
I'm not sure about the AllyX, but I have a Lenovo Legion 5i Pro. When I need to step away, I just close the lid to put it in sleep mode. When I come back, I notice I lose a little bit of battery, but not much. However, sometimes it seems to turn off completely.
Props to you Sam. Great video! You basically helped me decide what handheld device to get. This video deserves more views and likes. Subbed! 👍
I guess companies like Asus need to polish their offerings somehow.
Appreciate that, thanks for the support! 👍
I'm on the fence between the SD and Ally X, although im leaning towards the SD.
How are the trackpads? I mainly play sim games like Anno 1800, Rim world, total war Warhammer, and curious how games like these play, controller wise, on the SD and Ally X.
Absolutely get an SD if you play RTS games, those track pads are ESSENTIAL
I had the Ally X and had to return it. I got annoyed with constantly messing with the settings. I would probably pick up the future updated steamdeck.
you forgot that the steam deck has 2 spot were it takes updates, the second ond is in desktop mode and is about the flat pacs (some things do not work well after a steam update if you do not update them as well) a small work around is tnx to a decky plugin that allow to uptate them from desktop mode. Nice review and it wasniceto properly see some of the differences from a gamer perspective!
Hello I know this might be super late but on zomboid on Mac I just get stuck at the terms and service screen and I don’t know how to fix it any help
I finally just now decided to buy the sd oled. Had a hard time deciding but I'm a casual gamer and just want a "grown up" version of the switch...play for like 30 min, put it to sleep and keep playing a day later or every time my wife isn't around ;)
Great video thank you 👍
eGPU is why I enjoy the ROG Ally X
Do people forget that you can open Steam in Big Picture Mode on the Ally?!? Nine out of Ten people are familiar with Windows and it uses full Windows 11 while the Deck uses a Linux OS, which is more difficult to natively run non-Steam optimized games on. All the people complaining about how "difficult" Windows 11 is while they have pcs running it while I'd bet almost NONE have pcs running Linux.
Still preferred Ally X to Steam Deck OLED in PC handhelds. But for handheld gaming devices as a whole, I'm preferred Switch 2 more than all these PC handhelds 👍
I think a 800p oled is better than 1080p lcd... Steamdeck is user servicable as well. These will most likely replace low end gaming laptops so there will always be something better around the corner... it's best to plan any upgrades or purchases around what game your interested in.
Hey bro. I'm torn. I want to play games like sons of the forest, ark, also racing games. Would you recommend which one you might think would be better for me?
I only wonder what the Steam Deck 2, or even Switch 2 will offer.
Both steam deck and ally extreme can be bought for less than 400 bucks used which is crazy
I have always been a console player ( PS or Xbox), so I know nothing about the steam deck, can you answer all these questions?
Can you hook the Steam deck to a 4k tv or gaming monitor and play or is it strictly a handheld? Can you keep the Steam Deck plugged in and charging as you play on it? I have a gaming laptop and have to have it plugged in all the time since battery life is non existent on a laptop lol. Does Steam Deck have a web browser, access to yuoutube, netflix and more? Can you get PC Game Pass on a steam deck? is the new Steam Deck Oled worth $900 or so at Best Buy? Also , what happens IF the joysticks break, do you have to get a whole new steam deck or can they be replaced easy?
Controller- I use a Dualsense Edge. It has a trackpad so you CAN use Windows very easily with that controller (or any PS5 DS). I just sold my Steam Deck OLED and bought a Rog Ally (Extreme). Came up $110 too. So happy about it. Rog Ally is for me since it runs Windows and you can play Gamepass and Epic games without a workaround. Linux sucks. I hate the limitations on Steam Deck. I feel so free on the Rog Ally. It pairs well with my XR glasses too. I have 2 extra batteries, so no big deal about the short battery life.
Mine comes Thursday. Already have a 2tb 990 Evo plus, bazzite flashed to a thumb drive and my spare 3080 12gb and psu hooked to an egpu dock for a system in living room without moving 4080 right or streaming latency
He ran it in turbo mode thats the main issue also hibernate settings fix "sleep issues"
Funny my experience with the steamdeck was constantly trying to fix and mess around to get mods to work.
Steamdeck oled is the best overall handheld and will be for a while, imma proud owner and enjoying it a lot, i think steamdeck 2 should come out around GTA 6 pc release which will be around 3-4 years from now cuz that will be the biggest factor to buy it in first place and this much gap between release of new steamdeck will have substantial performance and features
Was having a hard time deciding on the two but now I'm definitely sure the steam deck is a better choice thanks..
Also turn off cpu boost and stay in preformance mode or slient if your running low intensive game
have you had some kind of accident regarding you left hand thumb?
Can get apps on the steamdeck to watch movies and tv shows like xbmc or ip tv?
You noticed more stutters with vrr?
yeah, obvi vrr helps hide them, but having single digit 1% lows makes for a stuttery experience even with VRR
Yeah, VRR very often has microstutters or even larger stutters when there's a large frame time spike. It's why I stopped using VRR, despite being one of the earliest adopters of gsync many years ago. Yes, it's smoother than just running with an uncapped framerate on a non-VRR display, but I'm very sensitive to inconsistencies in framerate so I still prefer fixed, consistent framerates.
@ I prefer both.
Just bought a 256 STEAM DECK and I’ve been messing with it , kinda falling in love with it but I also kinda want a ALLY X
Great video. I have the 1Tb steam deck oled. Would get Rog Ally X as I really want to play Black Myth wukong. Don't think it would be a great experience on deck. Your points about constant updates, and sleep mode are really off putting. And fans kicking it. Steamdeck way it feels in hand is unmatched in my opinion. Thanks again keep the good work up. 👍
uhgh i know black myth is just such a tufffffff game to run
and yes, wiindows sleep settings are just horrible, idk how microsoft hasn't dont something about it
Solid video, was leaning towards the steam deck anyways, but this absolutely sold me. Steam deck is just too seamless.
Had an Ally X that broke, using a Z1E now, but just ordered an SD OLED… cause i need to see the hype
ROG Ally X I like to play red dead redemption two on it. But the graphics look strange. Also for other games, I’m getting screen tearing any advice?
I really can't get onto these handhelds... A new ones comes out like every 4 months and I'm someone that wants the best one... Ugh
Why would you test both at different resolutions when the Deck supports 720p???
great question! because i think most people using the deck will play it at 800p and not 720p, so i was trying to make it more real world realistic
Once all these handhelds get steam os. It won’t surprise me if steam take a back seat in hardware and just reap the benefits of everyone using their os. It’s a perfect business strategy
still happy with SD Lcd
I really enjoyed the video. One small critique: the transition effect you used to go between one scene to another is hard to watch - especially because it is so frequent. It really affects my eyes and is almost headache inducing for me. I know I’m probably a minority here, but I can imagine it could be really problematic for some people. I recommend using something less jarring. Otherwise, very good video.
This is very interesting! Though I just wanted to chime in with the Lenovo legion go. While most of what goes for the ally X goes for the go, better performance (though not as big a jump as the deck to the ally X), the better screen (The go has a damn nice IPS panel along with very good specs, though usually overkill) and an God awful battery live. One thing that I really like about the legion go is the ergonomics. While I haven't held either a steam deck or ally x (I live in Latin America, getting multiple handhelds is just not it) the Go is really comfortable. It's 654 grams but it really doesn't feel like it, and the back buttons are perfect. Not in the way but easy to reach (mind you I'm big handed) and while the joystick in FPS mode is mildly annoying, once you get proper posture it's really not that bad. And since it's a vertical grab instead of a horizontal grab, it's far less stressful on the hand (though if you're used to a normal mouse then it won't be that big of a difference)
I love my Steam Deck oled. But aesthetically, I like the RAX better. The rgb thumbs are cool and the design remind me of the Lynx model 2.
I always shut down my rog ally but one time I forgot and left it in sleep then I woke up to an rgb party because they turned on by themselves haha
Stream OS is now available for all 😅
ROG ALLY X resolution is FULLHD. You should test the games in fullhd for ally
I think SD is better!💪
I agree
Weakling 😂
Hold on the X trumps it in hardware and supports linux with Bazzite. Why would anyone want worse performance, no VRR, worst battery, less compability? You guys are wild.
@@FierroSevOLED. Performance isn’t everything , as someone with a 3080 pc, I could play all my games on my pc; but still have played games like gta on my steamdeck because of how good oled looks
@MidnightMonitor steam OS sux. All my games didn't work or the online parts didn't work.
SD versus Legion go s steam deck os when it drops?
The tech/gaming community might be the only consumer community I’m aware of that blames users for design flaws. Can you imagine if car owners had a complaint about their vehicles and a frequent response was “wow, you don’t know how to work on your own vehicle?” I shouldn’t have to be tech savvy to use or enjoy a consumer product.
I have an rog ally extreme. I think I would of been disappointed if I bought the sd instead
One drawback for me in all those handheld PC's they are terrible while you want play strategy games and the PC is just a temple of strategy games so they are just misshardware for me.
Are those trackpad works well as mouse thou?
i play a few with the trackpads, but all turn based or at least slow paced, i tried to play starcraft 2 just for fun and i just cant manage on trackpads
@@sam.alexander.reviews Yep i know so for me all those handhelds PC's are not exactly Handheld pc's but rather handheld for console ports :D Cause of only one control scheme gamepad, pc have gamepad, mouse and keyboard.
I got the steamdeck oled version. But sometime i wish more performance when pmaying AAAs. If you like to play such games, go with rog, u need to stay powered anyways
I own the sd oled. But after today's announcement of valve that they will open the beta version of steamOS to any devices. Things will be different I think since you'll be able to install it on the rog ally x already (even though we have bazzite already)
So basically we need the better chip in the steam deck for the perfect device
lol basically
in the nicest way possible what's wrong with your thumb I'm curious
I love my Steam Deck Oled 1TB, but it just need more power. Not as the Ally X but 5%-10% lower would be okay.
My wife bought me the X for my birthday last year. I have a oled deck and had the chance to try both back to back. I appreciate the extra power but windows on a handheld gets old… really old. I can’t stress how annoying windows gets on a handheld being used on the go can be. I think I’d prefer carrying a laptop if I’m going to deal with those issues. Allot of tinkering and bugs to deal with when I just want to play a game. The steam deck makes it so I say to grab and go. Literally one press of a button and I can jump right back in where I left off. Steam OS is underrated. Steam support is second to none. Ended up returning the X and keeping the steam deck.
The power of the Rog Ally X combined with steam os would be near perfect for me. I want to love the Ally X but living with it is allot different than the brochure specs and comment section debates.
Edit: I also would like to see a Oled screen for the X. I prefer the 800p oled screen over the 1080p lcd. The colors are just soooo much better. Makes the X look dull when compared side by side.
Isn't steam deck the only one that continue play from sleep mode
nah the ally x can do that too, it just isn't very reliable in my experience
@sam.alexander.reviews ahh okay cool . I have steam probably going to update to oled . Do you think switch 2 will finally compete with any of these ?
The value proposed by the ROG ally X is really hard to swallow at 900€ in Europe. For that price you can get a nice little machine with a 4060 that would have better performances in a small form factor case.
The Steam Deck, at the cheapest cost half the price of the ROG ally X and still perform good enough for the vast majority of the games, it would be even better if you are like me and left the big AAA games and play a lot of indie games instead.
yeah the price is rough, especially if you dont NEED to be portable
clickbait, steamdeck was not dethroned in video boom saved yall some time
Thanks mate
Then theres me with my steam deck with Geforce Now on it, it runs all the games you say wont work. And it runs it at max settings and games like Marvel Rivals at max settings gets me 7-8hours on a 100% charge
love the ally rog X. definitely not for beginners or folks who dont understand thats its literally a handheld computer. you can do (pretty much) anything on the ally rog x vs. the steam deck. and performance wise it handles high-end games extremely well. if it has higher performance/specs than steam oled i dare say i'd rather not go to a steam deck lol.
Just with the steam deck community alone is a no brainer for me