Windows allows the ROG Ally to be some SERIOUS competition to the Steam Deck, and that CHEAP PRICE POINT makes it even more enticing...
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Bob, I'm going to need to see some sort of bar graph or infograph showing the spectrum of jank with each of these handhelds.
I will do this for you.
@@WulffDen Please include an X axis (or Y if you’re nasty and do it sideways) made up of all the most popular emulation handhelds.
@@WulffDen I have some free Steam Deck jank for you: Getting the virtual keyboard takes severl seconds for no good reason. Mouse controls in Desktop are radically different depending on Steam running in the background or not. Returning from desktop to game mode wile being docked causes a black screen that is fixed be disconnecting and recommending the official steam deck dock.
How could you say no to Russ? What a guy. See bob immediately "I will do this for you"
@@krux02 You mean you can't Dual-boot SteamOS and Windows on steam decks?
I love how the EA app BS prevents you from playing your EA games, regardless of which OS your device is running.
Crack em.
Idk why shitty proprietary apps that ‘update’ and fuck everything up quarterly are a necessity for these companies
EA really is a garbage company in every way imaginable. I gave up trying to install EA app on my Steam Deck because it was a pain in the
It works fine for me. But the issue is it doesn't unanimously work for everyone. Which makes it terrible since it's launcher is required to legally play it
EA will prevent you from playing EA games regardless of circumstances. I will never forget buying Crysis like 10 years ago on Origin and then trying to run it legitimately with a cool tech support bro on the line for like half an hour until he just apologized, laughed it off and sent me a link to a cracked executable. It was an awesome site, I've used it multiple times since, good guy.
Picked up the Z1 for $470 and i don't regret it. Don't need to pay extra $200 for extra teraflops. Its good as is.
Timestamps for those who want em: 00:00 - Intro 01:54 - Price 02:56 - Size/Build 03:38 - Screen 04:27 - y not buy stem dek? 05:21 - UI 07:17 - Michaelsoft Binbows 10:03 - XG Mobile External GPU 11:01 - Performance 12:14 - Battery woes 13:27 - More Windows nonsense 13:52 - Games that don't play on Deck 14:46 - Emulation 17:01 - Console-like experience on Windows? 18:26 - Final thoughts 19:16 - Bob stop yelling at us
Thx 🙏
lol, binbows are still a thing even now
Gods work
Thanks
You the real MVP
Got it open box with a 516gb micro SD card for $600, and didn't even look like the box had ever been opened. My use case, as a parent who wants to spend more time with his son, has been a gamechanger. He has a wireless mechanical keyboard and mouse next to the dock on his nightstand so he can play on his TV at 90mhz, or pop it off, and bring it downstairs so we can spend some quality time on the living room tv or just playing in the same room. I can hop on the steamdeck and he brings his Ally down and we hang out a couple hours he normally would have spent in his room. Being a Windows device instead of SteamOS made all the difference in the world.
Hi I just stumbled upon this subject and am very ignorant about everything. Why does the Windows OS VS Steam OS matter?
Fantastic comparison! Looking forward to the Ally. Thanks Bob! - Stubbs
Video starts here 8:25
Thank you sir, how I hate stupid senseless speech to artificially increase the video
Thanks man
I found the stuff prior to 8:25 useful personally but to each their own
@@anemite2 you know it's a joke right?
Thank you so much.
This is why I like wolf. Nobody else is talking about the setup experience. Or how it was staged for review.
Because a lot of the reviews are done my tech channels with a higher rate of tech savvy people. Not every channel will focus on the same stuff. Not every channel targets the same audience.
Yeah when I was a kid and single I had all the time to setup anything as long as it can be done. Now with a lot less time I don’t need stuff totally streamlined but my patience and time is a lot shorter.
@@soarlozer2808 slowly it gets boring to just set it up
Because the setup isn't really that difficult for for example me. I work in IT so even if not everything goes quite as it is supposed to it's still quite trivial. It's probably going to be a lot more difficult for someone that doesn't constantly have to deal with fixing IT issues. That's why different channels target different audiences, most tech channels have a focus on tech savy people.
Tbf Wolf didn't mention low power draw (TDP) gaming (so for indies, emulation and pre-2014 AAA) performance is trash just like every PC gaming handheld, except... the Deck. You have to really increase the power envelope on the Ally, and therefore battery draw. That's huge, because what that translates to is a max battery life of 3.5-4h whereas the Deck is over 7h. Also, I'd love to see how instant suspend/resume works because again, that's kinda huge in a handheld. Referring to Windows sleep feature, some have said it doesn't work for games, whereas others have said it works on some games, and yet others have said it works on the same games as the Deck.
Best thing about this is that it’s giving SteamDeck competition which is gonna be great for them to improve their own hardware still saving up to get my SteamDeck! 😌
It's pc hardware…it's not any different than what is been for the last 20 years
@Maria Flores gonna guess Valve isn't scared of their competitions because they know their playerbase/customers will be loyal to Valve. Or maybe the are happy that there is competition and they can see what the competition is doing (good/bad) and take that as a learning lesson for them to make improvements for themselves.
@@ryuno2097 Valve isn't afraid because they have fuck-you levels of cash that lets them sell all of their hardware at a huge loss and still be financially stable. That's literally the only reason the Steam Deck is able to undercut all of its competition. whether or not that's sustainable in the long-term is up in the air.
I still love my SD..
@@warbossgegguz679 it's more that they can have the steam deck at a low price for the same reason consoles are so cheap, the razor and blades model, they lose money on the "console" but gain it back from the games
Why no mention of freesync/vrr? I feel like its a pretty killer feature for these low end gaming pcs. Dont have to perfectly optimize the game to get that solid 40 or 50 or 60 fps, or whatever you decide. Can get it around whatever you are comfortable with and then let the display handle any dips. Solid review though!
This device can't do 40, but it goes to 45, I believe it's 15-30-45-60-120
@@JDabz96 naw it's 30-120hz with this panel.
Second video I watched of yours. Very straight forward and in depth. Definitely subscribing brother. Great review.
Little biased as I already have a steamdeck but the software experience is king its gonna be hard to topple the deck with that.
I am a huge Destiny player and seeing you play Destiny on this device I will go preorder now. Thanks!
Can do the same on steam deck for much cheaper lol and can guaranteed undocked it wouldn’t perform much better then the deck
I love touchpads at Steam Deck and possibility to set controls in my way. For example, at rpg games I am using left touchpad as mulni button for my I, J, U or M what really rejects me of the most RPG like games at switch. Or circle menu for weapons at Borderlands or The Outer World. Or that back buttons which made for me fighting in Hogwarts Legacy less annoying. No performance can replace it. It's the best gamepad ever made and I often prefer it than mouse and keyboard
Excited for this review but want to say that I loved that little intro edit, good shit
Love your work! By chance, given that it is Windows, do you know if the Surface Pen works with it ? would be good as it would make the navigation of "janky"Windows a bit more bearable. I am looking at getting the Extreme version as I am lucky enough to have an ROG laptop that came with the XG Mobile (3080). Should be good and the Surface Pen does work with the X13 laptop as well.
Stylus pens require specific hardware on the device screen you're using it on in order to work. The surface pen being compatible with ROG ally is an unlikely scenario
I think absolute price point is most important for people as it doesn't replace an actual desktop PC. And you can't beat the steam deck in that regard (I don't have one). Also, it feels like we entered the Car Telephone era of handheld PCs, still these just appear super cranky and primitive. In a few years I hope we're talking about them more like smart phones.
I am perfectly happy with my Steam Deck, but pretty happy to see some competition with different features. I don't like ASUS' disingenuous marketing, but the device looks pretty decent. I'm sticking with the Deck, since I have been able to get everything I want out of it - games I wouldn't play otherwise, emulation, 3rd party launchers after tinkering, and have plenty of my Steam backlog to catch up on! I prefer to play Destiny 2 on my main PC with mouse/keyboard, and no Game Pass, so my use case isn't begging for the Ally right now.
With the stream deck track pads, i can play project zomboid on a handheld. This is what other companies are not getting. Valve knows that the trackpads are the closest substitute for a mouse. Also, Playing with the trackpad on fps games coming from a mouse and keyboard is an easy adjustment. The trackpads is just a beast of a feature as you can set a ton of shortcuts with it. Plus!!!! We have a 4 grip buttons while others are just 2
@Popcorn I completely agree about trackpads. I actually enjoy playing Civ and 4X games, and other genres just not possible or worse on other devices.
@@salitz91 🧢, I'll decimate you in age of empires 2 with my keyboard and mouse, while you fiddle with the trackpads 😂
@@SWOTHDRA haha fair, mostly just done turn based. At least I can map the back hotkeys for wolololol
@@SWOTHDRA decimate me senpai
Besides the many other reasons, one considerable pleasantry of Wulff Den videos is discovering new (g)old OSTs through the intros.
Hey thanks for the video mate! First time viewer on your channel and subbed too, super useful, looking at buying one
Think it's a bit of a stretch to call Asus reputable after their last week.
😂😂😂 I thought the exact same thing as soon as I heard him say that. "This is a windows handheld, but, keep in mind, if you use windows on it, it will void your warranty." -Asus
Dumbass drama that nobody cares about. I couldnt care less about some random motherboard issues. Asus has been making quality products for more than 20 years. I trust them
That's why at this point, I'm not afraid anymore to go with one of these other Chinese companies like AYANEO or AOKZOE. You'll get horror stories about support from every brand.
To be fair, he’s comparing to those other Chinese knockoff handhelds lol
Yeah that does have everyone nervous👀
In Europe: Steam Deck 512GB Comparison: Price difference US: +50$ ✅ Price difference EU: +120€🤯 (130$) Of course the price-performance ratio is still good but €799 is €799. SD 512GB 679€ vs ROG Ally 799€
Yeah similar in UK, a £130 difference (approx 160USD). Steam Deck 512GB is £569 vs £699 (SD 64GB is £349, so 1/2 the price).
Is there a reason as to why is it so much more here in Europe?
400€ SD performance is same as premium one. So... SD 400€ vs ROG Ally 800€. Price to performance ratio is still good?
Loving the cheeky jungle rinseout at the start!
Thank you for the vid. This was awesome. I'm struggling with figuring out the best handheld emulator for gamecube/ps2. I'm thinking about the ayn odin pro, but the steamdeck looks promising. But... the price of the odin though, thats what has me! Any other recommendations?
Since i use the steam deck.. i only want my sticks like that! When i first saw the deck i was really skeptical! But now I can’t imagine a controller stick lay out on a handheld. Also the windows thing is something i dont care about.. the deck does a great job making stuff compatible. My deck is perfect for the games i play on it! Yes a better screen would be great.. but i can live with it. i also believe the market for devices you use longer than a year should get bigger! We live in a world where we buy stuff and a year later its old news and it needs to be newer newer newest.
I dont have the money to buy these handhelds but its still fun watching these kind of videos
That makes two of us
Steam deck is a pretty budget option
@@lankylemon8555 I have xbox series s for my main gaming system and retroid pocket 3 plus for handheld. Both of them are budget and great for the price
Are you old enough to work? What's your situation?
@@KennyMaximum third world country my friend, in my country its too expensive, 5x more expensive
Really nice review. Good job man!
Love the vids! Thank you for your hard work! ❤️❤️❤️
I think the hardware is awesome and creates the potential. The software and user interface experience just needs to catch up. I’m very confident it will via updates.
Have you ever owned an Asus product? Or used Windows for that matter? Meaningful updates are a foreign concept to both of them.
@@sirdinkus6537 My Asus laptop had plenty of meaningful updates. Windows computers aren't rocket science to figure out...
@@brandont7214Your laptop, not everyone elses laptops
Hopefully the community gets a SteamOS image working for the Ally. For a handheld gaming PC, Windows just won't be a good experience no matter how hard manufacturers try to make it work. Yea there will be issues with anti-cheat (I'm a bit biased anyway because I don't care for multiplayer games), but a SteamOS image optimized for the Ally will be a much better experience.
@@bionic-beaver we get it…you don't know how to use a pc
Something to keep in mind about the price difference is the location. The Ally vs Deck is 700$ vs 650$ making it more appealing in America, but here in Portugal for example (and i assume most of Europe is similar) it's actually 800€ vs 680€, so 120€ difference instead of 50$. Still good for the price, but a harder sell, even more so if you consider we can get the 64gb Deck and swap the ssd for a 512gb one for 480€ (420€ + 60€), making it a 320€. At that point i'm not sure if the Ally really is worth 60~70% more.
Those look expensive
Don't forget they have to pay state taxes depending on each state. That makes the total cost almost the same for everyone,
@@UnderOurOath Cost me $1,006 here in Ontario Canada. I bought the 256 GB Steam Deck when it first launched and it cost me around $700. Yeah, there is more tech in the Ally, but the 1080p screen is useless, same with the 120hz refresh rate. I have to drop most AAA games that came out in the last 5 years to 720p and low to maybe, possibly get 60hz. Granted Asus ruined the performance with the latest bios update, but until they fix it I have officially paid more for less with the Ally.
@@guerillatactix3834 Yeah I do actually feel the same way about it, I paid €660 for it, but right now, my steam deck fairs better in a lot of ways, I hope that Asus fixes this issues fast..
Digging the late 90s jungle mix intro.
Happy 10 year anniversary Mr. Wolf Den!!
For me is the trackpad that does it. It lets me play tons of diferent games on my steamdeck that are not gamepad friendly
So true that's the one area that keeps me from upgrading tbh. There are so many use cases for them I think it's a really under appreciated feature. It's great for emulator hot keys and certain games like dragon age I was able to map a number pad to the track pad which makes it pretty playable. On gta 4 I was able to make a weapon wheel with the track pads.
Likewise.
That was one of the big sellers for me as I liked the Steam Controller. But something about the Steam Deck pads seemed off and I dont like using them. I think its because the Steam Deck itself is too big.
@@TylerMBuller12 dang this is was also thinking on guildwars 2 and other mmorpg in steam, because it use alot of hotkeys to function and trackpad is a big help for me, i can use a trackpad for inventories and other settings or even quest logs and missions, deck is something different and a few extra fps performance will not convince me upgrade., since i have main pc my only purpose to deck is my portability to play gw2 and ff14 even im away in my pc.. other than that will play AAA in may main with Ultra preset and high res for better gaming experience
@@rommelchristophermanicad4389 how does ffxiv Performs on steam deck? Or how is the Overall experience? Going to work away from home soon and thinking about getting one.
I'm just hoping that ASUS will do continual support and updates for the ROG Ally. I'll probably end up picking up one later on after it gets a few updates just to have an extra handheld to play around with.
alot of time they i have to say what asus or anything else tells them to say just to make there stuff look good but i have a to say this is a shitty system/pc mini
It's soooo cool that your playing jungle in your intro
This is such a cool device! I don’t think I’ll be getting either due to my huge backlog of switch games that will likely take years to clear 😅 regardless, great video Bob!!! Always love your content ❤
The magic of ASUS price becomes completely obsolete in EU countries where after taxes you get a price of like over 900 USD.
If it had touchpads, I'd buy it in a heartbeat, but without them I don't think I can justify the price because 9 times out of 10 I'd be grabbing the Steam Deck. We just started playing Necesse and man are the touchpads useful in that game which also integrates them perfectly with native Steam Input. Other games like Dwarf Fortress would be basically impossible. And yeah I could play graphically demanding games on the Ally but those also tend to benefit a lot from touchpads which are simply more accurate than analog sticks in most cases and also provide ample room for hotkeys
If if if if.. cope 😂
@@chumlee9562 If bought something for 730 bucks and didn't use it then I'd need to cope. Don't be a chump
@@chumlee9562You're the one coping. The ally is only slightly more powerful with awful battery life for way more money. And the original comment is right, not having touchpads is a massive drawback
Honestly with it missing the two back buttons and the touchpad be making it feel like it’s missing more than 10 buttons compared to the deck
IF there are touchpads 😂
happy 10 year anniversary bob! How is the switch OLED burn-in test looking? would love to see a short or something soon.
That info is hard af. Love that jungle is still getting some love!
120hz is very useful, because instead of locking at say 40hz for 40fps you can keep it at 120hz. A single frame drop at 40hz is really jarring and really long (25ms), whilst that same frame drop at 120hz is only 8ms long
That's exactly how I run mine. Everything is smooth as butter.
I'm a trucker and this thing is pretty much exactly what I want. I don't like gaming on laptop, so this with an EGPU is perfect. I could use it in the terminal standalone, then when I get back to my truck I can dick it to the EGPU,use it on my monitor and have a full PC experience
i subscribed, i hope you get 1 million followers soon dude, cool video review
I'm so glad I follow you, pretty sweet stuff.
Sold my steam deck And got the rog ally
Asus is watching all these reviews and I hope they are getting all good new ideas and projects they are thinking to roll out new updates and content for the ROG Ally -- it's only going to get better and better
Only if they get rid of Windows 🤣🤣🤣
That's not what ASUS is known for.
@@jeanhazen2578Windows is literally the best in terms of comparability and customizability. What a horrible take
Looooove the drum and bass intro!!
I can't wait to get wait to get mine very soon im so excited❤🔥🎮
I hope they will make a battery upgrade pack in the future.
As silly as a reason to check this out and maybe sell my Steam Deck as it is, I'm curious what the experience booting up OBS and using a remote app to start/stop recording is. I basically use my Odin to record emulators for videos and love it for that but the idea of squashing my use case for an Odin with a Steam Deck together? Sure, why not lol. I'd probably pay for most of it by selling both of those devices anyway.
that intro gives me LIFE!!!! WHAT!! Love it
You did not just play 1080 snowboarding music in the beginning. I love you.
I'll wait until the second iteration if ASUS decides to get a better D pad and face buttons. Every single person is saying they stick.
They sell button wax to help with this.
I've only heard Linus this dude and one other person mention buttons sticking.
@@MrMagicAmmoimagine giving a big reviewer a product that has sticky buttons. Smh if they didn't have allies with sticky buttons, why would they send the reviewer a sticky button console?
Can't recall which, but one of the reviewers mentioned that this issue had been caught prior to the retail production (theres are early review units) and will be fixed by the time consumers get them.
@@seitanmcnuggets5638 you’ll pre order a product that’s reviewed as broken in hopes they’ll repair it in the future? Tbh I wouldn’t unless I had stock in the company. As a consumer, you can only blame yourself when you get burnt. You knew.
You know what, this would be a beast if only they partnered up with valve.. Valve wanted other manufacturers to use their SteamOS.. This specs + steamOS will be awesome.
Yoooo the intro is sooo cool i like it 👍🤝💪 Hope the Device will work well with steam os
Really nice review. I just wanted to point out that i had the same Steam Log In problem on the Steam Deck. I ended up using the qr code from the mobile app , but for logging in with the usual username and password was impossible.
Software can be improved over time, and this will help the Ally succeed or not. But for now, it's Steam Deck all the way baby.
Asus - Improve software? Sure.... I really wish all those Alley users the best, but my next purchase is the Steam Deck and not the Alley. Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against the Alley, but the Steam Deck is just my choice for several reasons: SteamOS, so no vendor lock-in but open source. Huge community, so problems are tackled soon. Constant software improvements by Valve/Steam, so the device is always up-to-date. And the price does help a lot. I already have a fast 512Gb 30 mm SSD laying around, so for me the Steam Deck is €419. As the ROG Alley is almost €400 more expensive (almost double the price of the Steam Deck) it's not very attractive to buy one, even if it has better hardware specs. I rather add that €400 to the buy of my next GPU. Of course someone else can have a different view, but for me buying a Steam Deck is simply the best option...
The steam deck is miserably underpowered, very overpriced for what you get.
@@drunkhusband6257 what should this $400 mobile computer be then?
@@drunkhusband6257 💀💀💀
My big issue is also its biggest advantage: It runs Windows. It'll have better game compatibility, but also means it's subject to Microsoft bloat. So this could easily end up running worse over time thanks to OS updates.
Also that compatibility difference is getting tinier and tinier over time. Still, Windows probably will keep its advantage, but if 90-95% games run on Steamdeck, then it's already great news. From my personal experience, as a Linux Mint user and Steam gamer, all of my most played games run smoothly, and about 85% of my library works fine, so it's not that far from good gaming experience on non-Windows computers.
@@RooiGevaar19 You make it sound like comparability is 95%. It's still A WAYS to go. Comparability on Windows is km and km ahead of Steam Deck, and I own a Deck and a GPD. I can play significantly more things on my GPD than my Deck with better specks, but the ease of use with my Deck is what makes me enjoy it. It's also better value for the dollar one spends on it.
really good review. you mention a lot of stuff other reviewers didnt and i like that you are unbias and cover both good and the bad. i own a steam deck and the switch but was on the fence about getting something better like the aya neo 2 but i cant justify the higher $1500+ price tag. the rog ally at $700 is still pricey but i think its worth it especially if you are a handheld enthusiast/ console gamer. PC gamers will probably stick with their gaming pc or laptops for most of their gaming needs unless they need a handheld.
i like the hardware specs and the boost the Ally gets when plugged in but Asus not who i wanna depend on software updates from so ill wait for the Deck 2
I understand why people have been comparing this to top priced Steamdeck, but you could upgrade storage on Steamdeck to match the top spec for a lot cheaper
I upgraded my Asus ALLY ROG from default 512GB to 2TB using a $180 WD 2TB 2230 SSD from Amazon. Not sure where you're getting this "for a lot cheaper" from... 🤔🤔
@@UptownNYC base Steamdeck is 64GB, $400. To upgrade to a 512GB steam deck, you could either buy the top spec at $650 (similar price to ROG ally) or buy a $60 512GB 2230 SSD. So now comparing a $460 Steam deck to an ROG ally has less to do with storage and more about the spec differences mentioned in the video
One of the biggest aspects of a handheld pc/console was skipped, the fact that you can turn off and resume the Deck during games way better than any windows pc handheld can.
Isn't that more of a windows feature. My pc does that
@@tykendrick800 It's not on the same level Linux has it on the Steam Deck.
Pre-ordered the one with more flops, excited to take it on work trips/plane flights.
Important to note that most (likely all) of the games that 'don't work' on the Steam Deck, actually do - The problem is the anti-cheat not whitelisting the Steam Deck SKU, possibly due to it running Linux. Many games with anti-cheat have either added support or whitelisted the Deck, and run great. Those that do not are tied to corporate decisions, not hardware or even OS limitations. As an example, Destiny 2 runs perfectly on the Deck, until the the AC kicks/bans the player. This was found some time ago when the AC didn't have an immediate check on boot-up which it does now/last I checked.
This is by far the most honest and detailed review I’ve ever seen on not only the ally but any handheld. Bro you rock. I subscribed for this. I’m Ssooo glad KZhead suggested this today on my home page. You have my full support if this is the content and quality and format I can see in the future. I’ll also browse the rest of your other videos and watch some. I really like your video style and the honesty !!! Honesty for me IS EVERYTHING! you seem to be a realist and very clear with everything. I really really appreciate it man ! ❤
I kinda wish it traded the 120hz screen for better buttons. Then, if there's a 120hz version, I'd think that one would come with better specs to fascilitate it. This seems like an odd flaw on an otherwise great competitor, how did they manage to keep the price this low? Personally, I think I'm still leaning towards Steam Deck by quite a bit, especially because you COULD put windows on it if you end up wanting a game not on steam after all. (Well, I'd assume there's still differences, if the Ally turns out more versatile even with that taken into account, that can be a strong benefit over the Steam Deck besides x or y being more convenient)
Asus is Chinese. Most tech companies utilize sweatshops but Chinese companies can outcompete sweatshops by using concentration camp slave labor. Slaves are cheaper than minimum wage workers.
Yeh the hardware company dealing with hardware a lot longer than valve totally not capable of offering an competitive price
@@xMRxLAMAx The thing is, Valve is selling them at a loss. Got a snarky comeback for that one or did you not miss the point this time?
I'm one of the few folks who owns more games on GoG than on Steam and plays more on Xbox app due to Game Pass than on Steam, so this could be the pc handhled I've been waiting for. I was dissapointed by that CLD screen from Steam Deck and to see a full 1080p oled screen aside from the Switch is mindblowing. I'm a little worried about battery life and the UI silliness of using Windows 11. I wonder if there's a way to build an UI for it like maybe GoG Galaxy can have a patch for that since that can open up every other game from a different platform...
Man i'm a college student doing inbetween jobs from time to time, the Steam Deck is a blessing to me not only i am able to play most games i missed years ago and also newer games. Plus i also dualboot with Windows 10 so now i use it as a weird looking laptop. Surely the other portable pcs are more powerful than the Deck, but this one is more than enough for me. Let's not forget the touchpads are a gamechanger.
I feel like all that power is wasted on it, especially since it has the same battery as the Deck. It's no doubt impressive hardware, but unless you want to play connected to a charger the entire time it would seem a bit beside the point of being handheld. Now, I could see this thing being a great laptop replacement with a decent dock. And i feel like heat and noise would get annoying if you want to get all those high settings
I'm probably a small section of gamers when it comes to this, but I'm genuinely curious, does it have Gyro like the Steam Deck? And can you map it to any FPS game, or any game that could use it like the steam deck? If it can be mapped outside of 'Steam Deck Input', and gyro can be used in other launchers/natively that could be insanely cool.
The answer to all your questions here is no
@@InvalidUser_ That's pretty close to a deal breaker for me. It not having the trackpads is MY deal breaker, but not having gyro just edged it out of consideration.
@@InvalidUser_ Ah, that's pretty dissapointing all things considered. However, thank you for the answer, it was much appreciated 👍🏾
I heard it has gyro it's just not supported in the review units software just yet, so who knows if it will be there by launch. People also forget you can add non-steam games to steam and use steam input like that. That's a very useful feature for playing non-steam games on the deck and will probably work fine on the ally
It says has gyro on Ally BB page. So maybe.
I ended up pre-ordering the Ally but one thing I am actually worried about it the OS. Using windows is a plus for me, but I am hoping the launcher gets some updates from what we have seen. Also, the guality. If you order this and you get it from best buy it might be worth forking over for the best buy warranty. I know I did.
Side note: I'm wondering if we will get custom launchers from modders.
Custom launchers? It's a windows desktop pc you can replace the launcher with playnite if you want too.
Hey wolf, i know that this comment is unrelated to the video. However do you know if a homebrewed 3ds can trade online. As i forgot to download poketransporter and i am thinking of homebrewing
im keepin my steam deck. if i wanted more power id just use my actual desktop pc
Glad more players are entering the space and hope they sell enough to keep it going and not bail. Will stick with the Steam deck for another year or so but want to see what comes out. Want a seamless handheld to dock+eGPU experience, using an eGPU docking bay where we provide our own gpu that is upgradeable, and not a $1500 converted laptop gpu or whatever. I still play a lot of Switch because of the OLED and easy handheld/dock experience.
Can I ask a question please, is the battery life improved when using xbox game pass and cloud services?
Already have a Steam Deck, pre ordered the Ally too!
I hope all who are purchasing the ROG will be pleased with its performance. My self will be sticking with my SD because the community has been a pleasure to learn from.
Your not supposed to buy every new thing every year. Guess what next year another handheld will come on. It's like the cellphone trap. If you bought the deck you got at least 3+ years if your in to newest high end games. But indies will play forever. My next handheld may be in 2025 or later. The tech is advancing so fast for handhelds.
@@NatsumeKonno Honestly I hope Steam releases a Steam Deck 2. I'd rather upgrade to a better version of the Steam Deck in like 4 years rather than worrying about what other company has some new handheld to try.
I sold my SD and used a promo code for 10% off from having a Best Buy Card and then got 5% back in gift cards. That has me at about a $150 dollar difference, so for that I felt like it was worth it
@@thequeen901 most likely they will but not for a very long time. To most people 10 years is the normal cycle now. To me I think they just wanted to push a handheld to promote there new steamos. Even on windows the gaming mode UI is there now. No matter what handheld you buy steam will always make money. Thats why you don't see valve making games anymore.
@@NatsumeKonno Their last games they made were for VR. But I think they work on with many studios on the Steam store to help them with problems and Steam has been worked on and continuously has been improved. Counter Strike 2 is coming out this year! Counter Strike is one of the biggest FPS shooters to date without major problems that COD suffers from.
The downgrades to touch screen use on Windows 11 compared to Windows 10 are insane. At the same time though, you can do WiFi setup in Steam Big Picture Mode which is kinda funny.
This guy's content fills the void that classic game room left. I can't explain it, maybe it's the laid back vibe
You can slide up from the bottom to show the taskbar to see the battery level
I'd argue that the Ally supports even less games than the Deck due to the fact that it lacks touchpads. Those things are a must for mouse heavy games.
Depends more on how you play what games…
Fewer. And that makes no sense, controller support and control mapping are pretty great
@@dumkopf Good luck trying to play any strategy games without a mouse or a touchpad.
@@unibu1534D pad is fine.
@@sirlimen333 For MOUSE heavy or mouse only games? Are you sure about that?
I hope the come out with some type of battery like the deck with a case to try to get at least 2 or 3 hours game time I still play my steam deck mostly at home we’ll relax on the bed or couch that I’m actually ok with but when I receive my Asus ROG ally only time will tell but I know I’ll enjoy both for what they are 💪
I'm sure they will just give companies a few months
You should post more videos about this handheld and do an updated review.
Always appreciate the blunt honesty.
Other Windows handhelds existed before the Steam Deck came out, but I got the SD because of the price point and SteamOS. Oh and the fact that they made it so easy to fix and maintain. Like how cool is it that you can buy the base model for $400 and then upgrade the storage and controls for not that much more time/money?
The steam deck will still make a good door stop…
I'd be careful with the upgrades. There's been a rash of Sabrent and WD 2230s that have been failing in the Deck on Reddit. Some have even fried the motherboard and killed the Deck too. While I'm not sure the ROG Ally is upgrade friendly either, please remember you own your risk. Valve will not fix it if you upgraded drive fries it.
I bought the 512 and I love mine I spent 725.00 I got the highest model and that beautiful case was legit! 700 and you get no case!? 🤣🤣🤣 I hate windows so for me the steam deck is king I have my Xbox game pass and all the games I love are emulators. I have quite a few pc games I love them too. I saw reports the rog ally overheated for a few testers so I will probably wait until maybe Christmas because to be honest I game on my ps5 and I have remote play setup through my steamdeck so I don’t bother my wife. I have not regretted my purchase and regardless of how fast the rog ally is I’m just not going to buy the launch version. Also what if this gets a bios update that bricks it? Asus isn’t going to replace it. Valve goes above and beyond for their customers.
@@progxdt This is true. But they won't fix it anyways at this point because I'm out of warranty. So I'm just happy that I can buy replacement parts and upgrades in the first place. If everything dies and there's nothing I can do $400 isn't going to hurt nearly as much as $700+ like the windows handhelds available.
while the rog ally is better on paper, the steam deck just has a proper console experience. the software is far more polished, the community support is there for those who want it, and the company has an excellent track record of supporting the product through updates.
Mhm that’s why I bought the steam deck instead 😂 enjoying the hell out of this thing
You can use the Armory Crate overlay to display battery percentage.
What thunderbolt dock do you have? I have a caldigit thunderbolt 3 I use with my M1 air that wasnt working with my ally
The good thing about the rog ally is it will push valve to make a better device.
Not necessarily. Look at Nintendo. They could care less about being top of the line and are doing just fine. There’s more that goes into being a successful device.
i don't think valve needs asus for that, if they wanted to put the highest specs into a handheld without considering anything like asus they would've, they made steamOS for a reason.
Valve doesn't react based on what other companies do. Before the ROG Ally even came out, Valve said in a interview they plan to improve the screen and battery life on their next hardware / revision.
they're not making a new one anytime soon lol
I get a bit sad when I see what AMD does... in 2018 Intel made a APU for their NUC computers that had a AMD RX Vega gpu integrated, which made its graphics a little bit faster than a GTX1060.. and now 5 years later AMD makes this APU which sits around GTX1060. and since the Intel was on 14nm, I am sure they (AMD) could fit a way better gpu than they do now in the AMD.
To me I still lean toward the steam deck. Software support and usability > specs for me. Some big features missing from the Ally like no wake games from sleep state is a dealbreaker for handheld. I also trust Valves long term support and development for Steam deck over Asus and Microsoft's. Atm I feel like owning an Ally is going to be a constant jank fest, having to find work arounds, Windows updates breaking things, lack of support from Asus in long term.
So… you mean like how the steam deck was at launch… ultra lol
@@xMRxLAMAx Valves dev team released 100 updates in the first year alone for steamdeck, with constant improvements and bug fixes. The difference between now and release is huge. They can do that because their revenue comes from the game store not the hardware, they are incentivised to keep people engaged on their platform. In contrast, Asus makes all of its money on the hardware, and past the point of you buying the device has no incentive to improve on or develop anything. "Ultra lol" lol
Great insight and review 👍🏻
Love this review, no BS! - thank you!
Yes hardware is great but it has too many compromises compared to the Steam Deck, which is a lot more polished experience overall
The hardware is the most important part, more fps is always better.
@@drunkhusband6257 hardware is indeed important and that includes input, without any alternative to the deck's trackpads present on the Ally i haven't even considered the upgrade
@@drunkhusband6257 This mentality is why the Ally is gonna be the Game Gear of handheld PCs. On paper it all looks good, but while it has great specs it's failing at being what it's designed to be. An on the go device.
@@sirdinkus6537 What makes it any less on the go that an underpowered steam deck?
Yeah but steam deck been out longer, it had massive issues at launch but steam kept the updates coming and fans helped out alot too. If ROG updates the software for this and game updates support this product it’ll beat out the steam deck in the 10 watt mode.
While I'm for sure going to wait until the XG Mobile stuff comes down in price, it does make sense for someone like me. (I'm a Tech Enthusiast & fall into a super niche category) As I have a Flow Z13 Gaming tablet that can also benefit from that XG Mobile, there are some extra benefits, especially when traveling with this ecosystem of devices, etc. However, for the average person, I agree, the XG Mobile stuff just doesn't make any sense. Just build a really nice PC for that price.
So I'mma tell you this now. The XG mobile stuff will never come down in price
Oh, you'd be surprised. I don't pay full price for anything, even for really high-end tech. If what you say is true, I get around that by buying refurbished, used, or some kind of credit or coupon I've earned with a store rewards, etc. Actually, just a day or two ago, I literally just bought the ROG Ally and got money off with my BestBuy Rewards, so I didn't even pay full price for a pre-ordered brand new high-performance handheld.
@@JakeSulinjr . Believe me I'm the same way LOL I canceled my pre-order when I found out that I can get 10% off if I use my best buy credit card lol.
I'm glad my Deck isn't loud like everyone elses. I normally change my Refresh to 40hz , currently playing NMS and running great, getting ~4 Hr battery
I like how one of the games in the thumbnail is playable on steam deck
Want? Need? No monies... 😢
Get your CDL, become a mixer driver. You'll have monies but no time to play....😢
Make a Onlyfans
The deck is pretty solid for windows use. I keep a windows 10 boot sd card for windows only stuff like gamepass.
Me too I have dual both with steam is and windows 11 btw the steam deck is better too me than his new console and cheaper lol
@@theradgamerx it's hard to let go of quality of life features like the touch pads, gyro functionality, and just the streamlined quality of steam OS.
I don't doubt you. For me it'd defeat the whole point. I mostly play my Deck at home during breaks or before bed. If I want to spend the effort to boot into something as inconvenient as Windows, I can just use my desktop PC. And yeah that makes the Ally pointless for me.
Windows gave me shit performance on my steam deck. No idea why. And even if the performance was good, it still isn’t nearly as good as it should be.
@@maxiynacho I played gta v and fortnite mortal kombat and destiny blacks ops 2 on windows cause I have a lot free games with epic games it’s better tbh u need get software for the controller and u can get software Lower screen to 40hz to save battery 120 ghz I don’t is gonna be worth it cause handle aren’t even gonna hit fps bench marks pass 60 but that’s ok
After having days after launch, after 2 months of having it. I got rid of the fluff of not needed software, replaced Armory crate with playnite and optimized the battery life with manual mode,auto tdp and 720p; I got it to the point where the battery life is very close to the steam deck. I love this more than the steam deck due to windows because of mods for my VN, Elden RIng and a few others. It will take a min to setup but you can customize it the way you want in the long run. If you like tinkering get the ALLY if you dont get the steam deck. Both are good options.
it has loads of pre configured shortcuts, like back left button and right on the dpad switches apps. or dpad up opens task manager