ROG Ally

[J4MES OX4D 9,821]

A new handheld device to rival the Steam Deck

 

They originally revealed this as an April fool but it was clear it wasn't and is the real deal

 

[phil bottle 9,618]

I saw the Linus preview on it, the display and fps look great.

I'm looking forward to more and more of these handhelds being created, hopefully a SteamDeck 2 in future too. 

 

[Greboth 2,705]

It’s a tricky one to compare to the SteamDeck in my opinion.  Yes it’s a handheld gaming device but for the performance I’m expecting it to be, at minimum, twice the price maybe even 3x.  At that price point the competition then stops being the SteamDeck and becomes gaming laptops.

 

Still it’s good to have more options and i’ll be keeping an eye on its development.

[GazzaGarratt 10,899]

Prices are potentially...

• 512GB – $649
• 1TB – $899

Good to get more competition in the market as @phil bottle says, however I would expect ASUS needs to find some creative ways to get more people on board to even attempt to take some of the market share off of Steam.

[J4MES OX4D 9,821]

Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC review | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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The first in line for the Steam Deck's throne.

 

[phil bottle 9,618]

On 5/11/2023 at 5:39 PM, J4MES OX4D said:

Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC review | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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The first in line for the Steam Deck's throne.

 

 

The only thing they can't compete with the SteamDeck is with regards track pads. They're essential for quite a few games and work remarkably well. Yeah you can attach a kb & m but then it's no longer a hand held 🙃

[Greboth 2,705]

Overall it's not the beating of the Steam Deck that the marketing material made out (shocking I know!).  Still the Ally has some pros against the Steam Deck though most of the Deck's positives stem from it being a more mature product with a large community supporting it (coming up with controller maps, for example).  It will be interesting to see the uptake of the Ally and how it develops over the next year.

 

Though as Phil mentioned, there's somethings the Ally just can't get around like the lack of track pads.  I'd imagine the low wattage performance is also baked in as it seems it's just a limitation of the chip being used which is why the Ally wins at higher TDP's.

[Luseth 1,769]

So I let my Steamdeck go, it had an issue with one of the trigger buttons (I think after dropping it) and I managed to sell it and recoup most of my funds still ^_^ 

 

I opted to go for one of these instead of rebuying the Steamdeck, I think the big draw for me was having Windows straight off and not having to faff about trying to install it manually on the Steamdeck, playing with drivers etc. So I feel after having it for a week I can somewhat compare the 2 and I think as I was chatting to Greboth the other night there is a market for each of them and I don't necessarily feel like they are stepping too much on each others shoes.

 

Power / Grunt of the consoles -

The ROG wins this hands down, I can play Baldurs Gate 3 on high settings, it's also capable of running outer wilds and such which the Steam Deck somewhat struggles with. The ROG is definately the more powerful console. You are able to change the power settings so you can run at I think 5W, 15W & 25W (or 30 if plugged in), so you can adjust the power draw depending on the game you are playing, however it is worth noting that on more demanding games and running at a higher power draw the machine can run quite hot (something I will get onto later)

 

Audio -

I don't think there is much in this, the ROG has Dolby Atmos I believe but it does not make too much of a difference, I will note that playing Baldurs Gate 3 I seem to get some crackling in the speakers sometimes, I haven't had this with other games so I am not sure if it's the demand of the game on the chipset. On the whole I would say they are pretty even on this one.

 

Screen -

I think the ROG just edges it, it's a higher refresh rate and just looks a little bit sharper, that said, is it enough to justify buying it over the steam deck for the screen alone? Nope I wouldn't say so.

 

Portability / battery - 

I think this is a point where the steamdeck may just win out, I find myself charging the ROG more, this might be due to the more demanding games I am playing mind. But due to this I have mostly been playing whilst plugged in and this obviously detracts from the portability. For me that is not an issue as I am using it in place of my Playstation when the kids are about at home (they tend to stand in front of the tv a lot when playing) but if you want a true handheld then I probably would not recommend the ROG over the steamdeck.

 

Controls -

The ROG does not have the trackpad admittedly, that said I think this boils down to the games you play. The ROG controls are basically like using an XBOX controller, so mainstream games tend work pretty well with it. I can navigate the OS with the gamepad fine or use touchscreen. Obviously the Steamdeck has the trackpad, which if you are comfortable with it is great and obviously for RTS games and such it is brilliant. I think the Steamdeck just pinches this one just by having more options of controls.

 

OS - 

For me the ROG wins this one, I am a fan of the current Windows and it being installed by default there is no messing around, I can install anything and it all runs simply. Yes it can be a little fuddly on a smaller screen but on the whole the fact that it has a wider compatibility for me is great. For most people Windows is the problem with this handheld as it is not great for touchscreen etc, that said I tend to control it with the sticks fine. The console also has what is called Armoury Crate I think which is a layer over the top which allows you to easily access games or game launchers all from one menu (similar to how the Steamdeck works). Steam OS is great in itself in that it has been designed and adapted specifically for the Steam deck, it works fairly flawlessly and the obvious benefit of having such a good community behind it does help. Being able to access control schemes others have set up and such.

 

Other notes -

Going back to heat, the ROG get's quite hot and there have reportedly been issues around the SD card slot location, the exhaust vents are right next to the slot and some users have reported it burning out SD cards, certainly not great considering the device only comes with 512gb storage, a SD card for most people is a must. It has not happened to me yet, but so far I have only used the SD slot to transfer things between my tablet and my ROG and not to game from. I do plan to upgrade the internal storage at some point.

 

Pricing, the ROG has only one price point and it is pretty steep! The Steam deck has options with the bottom rung being much more available and affordable for people (I would not write off getting one again).

 

On the whole I think it is pretty 50/50, yeah the ROG wins out on power, screen and compatibility but the Steam deck is the better designed product. I think it will largely come down to your preference and the sort of games you want to play on it. If you want a handheld that can play great indie games and every now and again you might push it to play the Witcher 3 or something akin to that then the Steam Deck is perfect, if you want something with more grunt but you don't mind being tethered in place or lumping round a big power bank, being able to play current release Triple A titles then the ROG is the way to go 🙂 

[phil bottle 9,618]

Great review and comparison @Luseth

I think there will be more innovation in this field, and it can only be a good thing for gamers. 

Interested to see what Nintendo come up with too, as I hear rumours about their next handheld starting to pick up lately.

[Luseth 1,769]

12 hours ago, phil bottle said:

Great review and comparison @Luseth

I think there will be more innovation in this field, and it can only be a good thing for gamers. 

Interested to see what Nintendo come up with too, as I hear rumours about their next handheld starting to pick up lately.

 

Yeah a steamdeck 2 or ultra could be a brilliant machine, the Switch with a bit more power, I have also seen a Lenovo handheld thing that has detachable controllers so there is a lot of potential at the moment. I think with the ROG, at least for the time being I am starting to use it more than my PS5 and it serves the purpose I wanted it for brilliantly.

[phil bottle 9,618]

9 hours ago, Luseth said:

 

Yeah a steamdeck 2 or ultra could be a brilliant machine, the Switch with a bit more power, I have also seen a Lenovo handheld thing that has detachable controllers so there is a lot of potential at the moment. I think with the ROG, at least for the time being I am starting to use it more than my PS5 and it serves the purpose I wanted it for brilliantly.

 

Do you ever take your handheld out of the house?

 

I think my SteamDeck has only been out in the wild once.

I'm in Hackney Downs park writing this, like a lot of sunny days after work, and I brought a book (and phone of course)...I tend to use the SD more late at night.

[Luseth 1,769]

15 hours ago, phil bottle said:

 

Do you ever take your handheld out of the house?

 

I think my SteamDeck has only been out in the wild once.

I'm in Hackney Downs park writing this, like a lot of sunny days after work, and I brought a book (and phone of course)...I tend to use the SD more late at night.

 

I am probably much like you, the SD was mostly used round the house and I suspect this will be too, I have a trip to Liverpool in a few weeks where I am contemplating taking it on the train but then my Switch is probably a less expensive gadget to take in case someone decides they want to do something stupid or something ^_^

[GazzaGarratt 10,899]

Superb review @Luseth, really enjoyed reading that. I think I'm lucky I have my PC in a place where I don't feel I need an alternative to just sit on the couch with. They do interest me though if I ever felt like I wanted to play a certain game on holidays, etc.

 

I think Nintendos offering just is in a different space, mainly due to the unique games they create. They have a market that people will tap into alongside the PC and console market, which is a great space to be in. Its a shame their Labo stuff didn't take off.