How They Compare: Steam Deck OLED And ASUS ROG Ally Handheld Consoles
In this episode of Tech Takedown, Tony and Paul argue over the best handheld console right now. Tony is championing the Steam Deck OLED including a 1080p 120Hz display and the new AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip. It can also play Windows-compatible games right out of the box.
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TechTranscript
00:002024 has a lot of exciting handhelds on the horizon,
00:03including the MSI Claw and a few rumored ones.
00:06But before we get our hands on those,
00:07we're revisiting our favorites.
00:09This is Tech Takedown.
00:11All right, Tony, you know me.
00:13I've gone with the ASUS ROG Ally.
00:15What do you have today?
00:16All right, you know me,
00:17and I've gone with the Steam Deck OLED.
00:19Okay, so let's start this off.
00:21You've got 60 seconds.
00:22Tell me why you love this so much
00:23and why someone would want to get this console.
00:25All right, well, since you have the ROG Ally,
00:27you know that Windows 11 doesn't exactly play nice
00:30with all these handhelds, right?
00:32With Steam Deck, got a different story.
00:33The OS was specifically built for this handheld
00:37and the games.
00:38For example, you go to Valve's website.
00:40It actually has Steam verified games
00:42and even games that are not compatible,
00:44even though in some cases, some games are compatible.
00:46So basically when you start this up,
00:48you're right there in the launcher.
00:50You don't have to install Windows.
00:51You don't have to do any of this sign-in stuff
00:53that you have to do with the other handhelds,
00:54which is kind of annoying.
00:56And then this thing is, like I said,
00:58optimized for the actual hardware itself.
01:01So the games are always running well.
01:02Some games even have dedicated Steam Deck modes,
01:05like Cyberpunk, which is really, really cool.
01:07So you don't have to like fiddle around too much
01:08with the settings.
01:09The Ally and similar handhelds,
01:11they give you more, you have,
01:12there's more versatility there,
01:14but the games aren't optimized for that specific hardware.
01:17So you may not always know what you're getting.
01:20And also, I also feel that the actual performance
01:23isn't what it should be for those systems.
01:26All right, Tony, so you bring up some great points,
01:28simplicity and just being able to jump right into your game.
01:30And of course, the great optimization
01:32that comes with a Steam Deck.
01:34But I'm gonna take 30 seconds to tell you
01:36why none of that matters.
01:37To start off, I mean, you've got a great screen,
01:39but that's about it.
01:40I mean, it's ergonomic in your hand,
01:42but underneath the hood,
01:43you actually have very limited hardware.
01:46The fact that this year we're only seeing
01:47an upgraded screen and the CPU and GPU
01:49are still bound by old technology.
01:52I mean, it was already behind the ASUS ROG Ally
01:55and other similar competitors.
01:57And now they're just digging the trench even further here.
02:00I mean, I get that you have optimized games,
02:02but I also prefer higher frames per second.
02:05All right, those are some fair points.
02:06Although I don't completely agree,
02:08but I wanna give you time to convince me
02:10why the ASUS ROG Ally is better than the Steam Deck OLED.
02:14All right, easy.
02:14So I'm gonna start you off with three points.
02:16Value, size, performance.
02:19Okay, so for the hardware available
02:21and handhelds right now,
02:22this is some of the best performance that you can get.
02:24Not to mention, this is one of the most ergonomic,
02:26easy to hold handhelds right now.
02:29In addition to that, I mean, when it comes to gaming,
02:31yes, you're not gonna be getting the same performance
02:33as say a dedicated laptop and definitely not a desktop,
02:36but for something this size, it's absolutely incredible.
02:39And in some of my favorite games like Overwatch 2,
02:41I can get 100 to 100 frames per second
02:43at 1080p in low settings, so it's pretty awesome.
02:46And then as an entry point for a lot of gamers,
02:48if you want a Windows computer slash a gaming handheld,
02:52this does both.
02:53I can connect it to a dock,
02:54I've got a full Windows experience,
02:56and I can also take that same experience on the go.
02:58It's some awesome gaming.
03:01So I agree with you on form factor.
03:04That is a lot lighter than this guy,
03:06but the problem is, yes,
03:08that does have a more powerful processor,
03:10but it's wasted because if you wanna play games at 1080p,
03:14you're gonna suffer on performance.
03:15To get comparable performance on Steam Deck,
03:18you're gonna have to lower it to 720p,
03:20which kind of defeats the purpose of having a 1080p screen.
03:23As far as price is concerned,
03:26the Steam Deck's actually $50 less
03:27than the high-end version of that.
03:29Yes, you could get the lower-end version of the ROG Ally,
03:32but I wouldn't recommend that to anybody.
03:34So you do make some great points,
03:35but if I was to walk away with one of these right now,
03:37it's still gonna be the ASUS ROG Ally.
03:39That said, if I could get my perfect handheld right now,
03:42I think it would be some kind of combination
03:44between the two.
03:45You definitely have one of the best screens
03:46that you can get on any handheld right now,
03:48not to mention SteamOS, without a doubt,
03:50is better than Windows 11 when it comes to gaming.
03:53At the end of the day, software is what's holding that back,
03:55so if I could have that hardware
03:56with this level of game optimization,
03:58I think it would have a fantastic handheld.
04:00All right, but what do you guys think?
04:02Which team would you go with?
04:03Would you pick me and the ASUS ROG Ally,
04:05or would you go with Tony and his Steam Deck OLED?
04:08Let us know in the comments down below.
04:10You can also find the best deals linked below
04:11if you wanna check any of these out.
04:13Also, be sure to head over to TomSka.com
04:15to check out my review of both these systems.
04:18Of course, follow us on socials,
04:19it's at TomSka, you can also follow me,
04:21you can also follow Tony,
04:22and until the next one, we'll catch you later.