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Since then, we’ve seen various Chinese companies putting out micro handheld PCs, such as Aya Neo or OneXplayer or GPD Win, but they were very expensive, and has to be imported from China.
When the Steam Deck entered the handheld gaming market in July 2021, it changed everything. For only $399 (for the entry Steam Deck model), you can get a handheld to play all your Steam games! It was (and is) an unbeatable value.
Now, there’s a new kid in town: ASUS’ ROG Ally, a Windows 11 handheld that can play Steam games, but also every other Window-based games. The ROG Ally beats the Steam Deck in every way: Windows 11, faster hardware, double the fans (and quieter), full HD display at 120Hz, a smaller and lighter device… and at a competitive price of $699 (if you compare that to the highest Steam Deck etched screen of $649).
I will spotlight some of the ROG Ally’s key features:
WINDOWS 11
So let’s start with the ROG Ally’s advantage: it runs Windows 11 by default. This has a huge advantage; in that it opens up a whole new avenue of gaming. However, that’s also a disadvantage, running Windows 11. You see, Windows wasn’t built for handheld, and you can tell, with all its services, “bloat ware”, performance, and terrible hibernation options. So, you need to view the ROG Ally as a tiny laptop computer, and not as a gaming only device. Sure, it can game, but it’s certainly designed to do a lot more.
Unfortunately, since it’s Windows, you basically want or need a mouse and keyboard. The touch screen and pop-up keyboard is fine, but is limited (for example there is no F4 key).
To make the handheld more useable, ASUS implemented their Armoury Crate SE software and ROG Command Center that runs in the background and can be pulled up anytime using the two dedicated buttons on the side of the screen. While it works, for the most part, it’s not an ideal solution. The true solution is to have MicroSoft or ASUS to build a special OS for ROG Ally… otherwise, it’s basically a laptop with special Armoury Crate software overlay.
Since Windows 11 was intended to be run on a laptop or desktop, it has various software and background services that are unneeded for a gaming device. For example, they pre-install Office and the Amazon video streaming services.
The other added bonus of running Windows is that you can now run games that uses anti-cheat software, for example, Destiny 2 will run on Windows but not the Steam Deck. You can also run any Xbox PC Games, meaning you now have access to hundred of games via the Windows-only app. In fact, MicroSoft is bundling a free three months of Game Pass Ultimate to any ROG Ally user. This is a $45 added value. I did take advantage of the free Game Pass… but I suspect I will be cancelling it after my three month trial as I don’t use the service enough (especially after they got rid of the free Xbox 360 games) to justify continuing my subscription. If there is a game I want to play, I don’t mind buying it, knowing I always have access to the game (sometime a game will leave the Game Pass service).
This is the area where the ROG Ally shines over the Steam Deck. The touch screen functionality on the ROG Ally, running Windows 11, works flawlessly. It’s fast and responsive, especially the touch screen… it works like a nice modern phone. To me, the touch screen on the Steam Deck is almost unusable.
The best part is the full 1080p HD display on the ROG Ally. This a huge upgrade, and you can clearly see the differences if you compare the same game side by side. For example, Fallout 4 on the ROG Ally there are more details, with blooming effects, and it’s brighter and cleaner.
Plus the game runs smoother at 60-120 frames a second (it mostly averages around 60 but I have seen it go up to 120). You simply can’t achieve that on the Steam Deck, because of the hardware limitations (their display is only 800p and can’t go over 60), but also because the Steam Deck has a cap of 15w TDP… which means it’s not capable of running that game at the highest settings.
The ROG Ally has several preset profiles: 9w (Silent Mode), 15w (Performance), and 25w (Turbo). I mostly only run the ROG Ally in Turbo Mode because I simply want to see games at their best. Unfortunately, running at 25w comes at a cost, the battery is depleted in about 30 minutes. I don’t mind that so much, as I have very little time to enjoy gaming, and if I want a longer gaming session, I can always plug in the device. If that isn’t an option, I can always change the profile to Performance or Silent and try to extend the battery life.
User Benchmark |
The 16GB Generic Ram is only average… however my own DIY installation of the Sabrent Rocket Q4 2TB transferred a whopping 600 mb/s, ranking it 131% of average user benchmarks. This is because we’re in the 4th generation of NVMe storage, and it can only get faster.
The battery is a big weakness in the ROG Ally, I hope that when the ROG Ally 2 comes out, that they double the battery or sell a variant version. If it means that the double battery variant costs more money (and it will make the device heavier), I will always take the cheaper/lighter version all day. Again, I don’t mind plugging in the device. Charging the handheld, at 65 Watt, will take the battery from 0 to 50 in a matter of minutes! I’ve seen super fast charging in action, it’s amazing! As far as I am aware, the Steam Deck does not have fast charging.
SIZE AND WEIGHT
When I first opened my Steam Deck, I was surprised just how BIG it was. I’ve seen photos of it, but nothing prepared me at just the massive size and weight of the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck as just so ungodly monstrous compared to the Nintendo Switch. While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it’s my opinion that the Steam Deck does not look good. I hate the two touchpads (this is the reason why the Steam Deck is so wide), but I know many people who swears by it. For me, I always touch the touchpad by accident. I also think there’s no need for two touchpads, I never use the one touchpad, let alone use both of them. Personally speaking, I think the ROG Ally going without the touchpad is the right move. This made the ROG Ally smaller and lighter, and, to me, it looks more appealing with its design.
I like the white color, I like the angles and ROG design language. The two RGB lighting screams “gamer”, this looks like it is a fun gaming device. Looking at the Steam Deck, it’s basically a black rectangle block. It looks so simple and bland. I know it’s just a matter of opinion, but I just do not like the look of the Steam Deck. To me, the Steam Deck is just plain looking.
AVAILABILITY
You can walk into any Best Buy and buy a ROG Ally. If you don’t live near a Best Buy, you can order it online. This generally takes one or two days, but you basically can get the ROG Ally right away, from a major retailer. At the moment, it seems like Best Buy has an exclusive on the ROG Ally… but perhaps after their exclusive contract runs out, that you can buy it anywhere. Imagine seeing the ROG Ally at Target or Walmart, right next to the Xbox or PlayStation. With the Steam Deck, you have to buy it directly from them… and they take up to 2 weeks to fulfill the order. They’re not a retailer, so it takes them much longer to get the Steam Deck from their warehouse and then send it to FedEx ground. It takes another few days for the delivery. It’s not a fast operation.
I love that Best Buy literally only took two days for delivery of my ROG Ally with free shipping. In fact, it arrived two days earlier than expected. While the Best Buy shipping was great, I wouldn’t have minded driving to a nearby city to visit their store and physically picking up the gaming device.
If you have a problem with a bad ROG Ally or maybe unhappy with it, you can return it back to the retailer, with little issues. With the Steam Deck, you need to contact their customer support and mail it back and wait another two weeks for a new device or whatever the issues may be. It’s not as convenient as simply driving to Best Buy.
FUTURE PROOF
One of the most interesting thing about the ROG Ally is the ability to connect an external GPU, using Asus’ XG mobile interface connect. Basically, you can turn the ROG Ally to a beefy gaming device using a mobile version of a 3080 NVIDIA card. At the moment, I cannot recommend this option, because pricing is as much as $2,000 and you can only use it on certain ASUS devices. But I like the idea of expanding the ROG Ally’s power.
I am somewhat interested in the external GPU, simply because I want to treat the ROG Ally as both a portable gaming handheld… but when I am at home, I can dock it with the external GPU to use it as a productivity desktop (with the ability to play games on a 4k monitor).
I think if Asus design a special dock (with the external GPU) specifically for the the ROG Ally, and price it aggressively…. I will be on board! Right now, the XG Mobile GPU is a general design for Asus small notebooks and tablets (which needs the power boost).
NEGATIVE
I do have some criticisms about the device. I don’t love the fact that they announced it on April 1st. It seems to me, that Asus had no idea it was April Fools Day, because they aren’t from a Western country… and they probably will not understand the Western gaming market. So, it’s concerning.
I also do not love the analog sticks; they feel slippery to me. You can buy some caps/grips for it, so the problem can easily be solved for me.
When you are running a big game, the system can blow really, really, really hot air on its top. The problem is that the SD card is located near the vents and have been known to cause problems. In fact, this happened to me: it got so hot that the SD card reader EJECTED my microSD card! I could not get it to seat until the device was cooler. Asus has announced that you can manually make the fans spin faster to reduce heat, but it seems like it was a bad design from the start.
I also do not love the Armoury Crate software. It works. It doesn’t. It sort of works. No, it doesn’t work…. It’s a clunky software that does not work that well. I’ve abandon/ignored the software in favor of running alternative software launchers, such as PlayNite or GOG Galaxy.
SUMMARY
The ROG Ally is not perfect, but at the moment, to me, this is the best handheld gaming device on the market.
Asus took the AMD Ryzen Z Extreme chip, which was designed for a laptop and put it in a tiny handheld. So of course, the chip would demand for more power (and will draw more power). Anyone with a gaming laptop would know that you always need to bring a power cable, as you can’t do a full day of gaming on a laptop. If you approach the ROG Ally with that mentality, then you can forgive the ROG Ally for all of its flaws.
The other thing to consider is that the PC handheld gaming market is still very new. The Steam Deck is Linux-based (but plays PC games thanks to their translations) and that only came out last year. The ROG Ally can make improvements with updates over time, or perhaps will address them in a new hardware revision. We’re still in early days, it can only get better.
I think pricing is the biggest hurdle for the ROG Ally right now. It’s the most expensive on the market, most gamers are going to be happy with an Xbox Series S for $300 or a Nintendo Switch Lite for $199. The ROG Ally, at $699 is just a lot to ask. However, if you compare that price to a full gaming laptop, $700 looks reasonable.
In fact, how I am using the ROG Ally is that I will take the device with me and when I have the time, I play a quick gaming session. When I get home, I put it in a dock that is hooked up to a full-sized mechanical keyboard, a mouse, and a 32-inch monitor. Suddenly the ROG Ally is a tiny world class Windows 11 computer.
Note: the ROG Ally will have a cheaper version coming out later this year at $599… but that price is still not appealing for casual gamers. Most critics won’t even recommend the cheaper version as it uses a much slower CPU. I somewhat agree with them, even though we haven’t seen the slower Z1 chip in action, but knowing that you can’t just upgrade the CPU, you don’t want to regret that $100 mistake.
Fallout 4 Side by Side Comparison |
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