Review Asus ROG Ally hands-on: The Steam Deck is in trouble

[admin]

The Asus ROG Ally has the makings of being a legitimate Steam Deck rival thanks to its crisp 1080p 120Hz display and powerful custom AMD Ryzen APU. Here's what we think of it so far.

Asus ROG Ally hands-on: The Steam Deck is in trouble : Read more

 

[Lokomalo]

Not sure I fully agree with the conclusion. Certainly, statements like this are a bit puzzling:

Let’s cut to the chase: the ROG Ally doesn’t have great battery life.

Based on your table, the Ally beat the SteamDeck pretty handily in the browsing test. So, that doesn't say much about the SteamDeck battery. And they have the same 40WHr battery. None of these machines are going to give you all day gaming on battery power, but I see that as less of an issue (for me) because I'll usually use this device near a power source. Plus, for under $50 USD you can get a power bank that will give you double the battery life.

As for the benchmark comparisons, I think your table is a bit misleading. When running the Ally at 720p, it consistently outperforms the SteamDeck. It has a much brighter screen which raises the question of playing the SteamDeck outside in the sun.

I think the main points in favor of the SteamDeck are (subjectively) better "grip", track pads, and (maybe) SteamOS. For the Ally, better performance, lighter, better screen, ability to dock with external GPU, Windows apps/games work, other game launchers work without extra effort. Additionally, you have double CPU cores (extreme version), 50% more GPU compute units (extreme version), and faster GPU and CPU clocks.

The Amory Crate software "could" be improved, though only time will tell if Asus does improve it. But, you cannot improve the hardware in the SteamDeck (without getting a new model). I would say, if you have a SteamDeck, there's no reason to upgrade, but if you don't I would (and did) choose the Ally over the SteamDeck.

 

[Haggelpuff]

Just an FYI, the ASUS ally is having a lot of issues with the left joystick's x-axis inputs cutting out for no reason and there is no fix other than returning it or paying to have them replaced. There are lot of reports and no one is talking about it, so i figured I'd mention it.