Looking for a handheld gaming PC but not sure which one to go for ? You ’ve issue forth to the right place .
We ’ve retrospect both the Steam Deck OLED , which received a 4.5 - star rating , and theROG Ally , which we awarded four - stars , and have compare our hands - on experiences with the two below .
Keep read to see which handheld gambling personal computer issue forth out on top .
Specs comparison table
Price and availability
TheSteam Deck OLEDis the more affordable of the two , with a starting RRP of £ 479 for the 512 GB simulation . Its RRP rises to £ 569 for the more substantial 1 TB console table .
On the other paw , the RRP of the Asus ROG Ally is £ 599 for 512 GB of storehouse . Although more expensive than the 1 TB Steam Deck OLED , it ’s worth noting that it ’s possible to find a deal on the ROG Ally .
Design
weigh just 608 gigabyte , the ROG Ally is lighter than the Steam Deck OLED which touchstone in at 640 g. Although the departure may seem negligible , for a hand-held equipment every g counts .
Despite being lighter than its predecessor , the Steam Deck OLED retains theSteam Deck ’s overall design and dimensions , which we found to be more on the bulky side . In comparison , we praise the ROG Ally as it “ front lovely ” and makes the “ Steam Deck bet outdated . ”
The Steam Deck OLED also boast a larger display at 7.4 - inch compared to the ROG Ally ’s 7 - inches .
While both handheld console are made from plastic , the ROG Ally is specially comfortable to hold thanks to the rough-textured clasp on both side of meat . We also treasure Asus ’ level of item with the ROG Ally ’s overall design and hailed it as a “ more polished product ” to the Steam Deck .
Otherwise , the two are fitted with a headphone seaman , microSD slot for boom storage and a USB - C power port wine too . The ROG Ally also sports a ROG XG Mobile Connector which allow you to connect it to an outside graphics result . Although a nice addition , this does require you to purchase a ROG Mobile accessory which is a hefty price to believe .
Winner : ROG Ally
Controls
The Steam Deck OLED sports a few thoughtful updates from its predecessor , including deeper groove in the analogue stick to prevent your fingers slipping off and improvements to the haptics and preciseness of the trackpads too .
Although the trackpads “ pale in comparison to a keyboard and mouse ” , we still hailed them as the undecomposed relief you’re able to hope for on a portable . However , trackpads on hand-held consoles is still far from the norm with Asus forgoing the feature entirely on the ROG Ally .
Otherwise , much like the Steam Deck OLED , the ROG Ally ’s triggers and bumper also have rut finish to keep off any accidental slips .
While we institute the tactual feedback of the ROG Ally to be admirable , providing a tactical bombilation when pressed down , we did have some take with the front - buttons as they require firm pressure to cross-file stimulant .
The ROG Ally also boasts a sort of customisation options and even includes Macro Florida key which act as redundant buttons that can have any desired input assigned to them . There ’s also a shortcut button the Armoury Crate SE app which acts as a landing place page for access Steam , Game Pass and configurations shortcuts too .
Winner : Steam Deck OLED
Display
As the name give away , the Steam Deck OLED boasts an OLED display which results in more vibrant colours and truer blacks . We were impressed with the deviation on offer here , with colouring material appearing much more striking in games when compared to its forerunner .
In comparison , the ROG Ally ’s LCD presentation has a line ratio of just 1000:1 which intend it is n’t the best at display darker shades . However , it ’s worth noting that the Ally does boast a Full HD display whereas the Steam Deck OLED caps out at 1280×800 .
We do n’t guess this makes a particularly huge difference , especially considering the size of the exhibit , however some will favour a crisper goal . There are also other handhelds usable , such as theLenovo Legion Go , which vaunt a thumping QHD panel .
The Steam Deck OLED can also give a summit smartness of 600 nits for SDR content and a whopping 1000 nits for HDR , which trumps the ROG Ally ’s peak of 400 nit .
Finally , the ROG Ally support a refresh rate of up to 120Hz which , despite sounding more impressive than the Steam Deck OLED ’s charge per unit of 90Hz , in drill this is only useful when a game is go at a frame rate above 60fps , which is not a uncouth happening .
Performance
The Steam Deck OLED runs on a 6 nm AMD APU while continue the Zen 2 processor and RDNA 2 GPU find out in its herald , which results in a lack of significant boost to its performance . Although a solid performing artist with an telling caloric operation , the Steam Deck OLED is n’t capable to make for demanding titles .
On the other hand , the ROG Ally is powered by theRyzen Z1 Extremeprocessor with integrated RDNA 3 graphics that offer support for FidelityFX Super Resolution . The Ally also boasts Turbo mode which ekes out special power when enable .
While there are drawback , as it reduces shelling life and cause the fans to get louder , Turbo musical mode makes the Ally ’s gaming performance quicker and more powerful .
Plus , as it has a higher resolution display than the Steam Deck OLED , the ROG Ally can hunt game at 1080p .
Games and Software
In this arena , there are pot of pros and gyp to both the Steam Deck OLED and the ROG Ally . In lieu ofWindows 11 , which the ROG Ally runs on , the Steam Deck OLED instead boots upSteamOS .
While SteamOS is a bare and sly operating organisation , it make well when you desire to toy Steam games , especially as the digital store is build into the OS .
Although it is possible to set up other apps , we do wish it were easier to get at third - company storefronts . Anyone with programming knowledge can reach the Linux desktop to download extra storefronts to run games outside of the Steam ecosystem , however those unfamiliar will find this quite fiddly to navigate .
The ROG Ally instead loads up to a Windows background , akin to a standardWindows laptopwould , which grant you to access third - party apps with informality . Although it should appear conversant to Windows users , we did witness it fiddly and inapt to navigate the screen background on such a small touchscreen equipment .
Unlike the Steam Deck OLED , the ROG Ally does n’t proffer any indication to which games are playable on the gimmick which means you ’ll have to do your own research before download a title .
Battery life
Before we start , it ’s worth remember that stamp battery life will depend on the game you ’re playing and your enabled scope . For lesson , we witness the Steam Deck OLED could manage Football Manager with full - screen brightness and maxed - out performance preferences for just under five hours , while Horizon Zero Dawn lasted two hours .
Even so , the Steam Deck OLED consistently outperformed the ROG Ally as it was able to reach the three - hour mark , whereas the latter could only manage up to 90 minutes of gameplay .
Enable Turbo mode on the Ally and we found that battery life will diminish even further , dropping to just one time of day .
Verdict
While both the Steam Deck OLED and ROG Ally represent majuscule handheld gambling PCs , the Steam Deck OLED is the success here . Thanks to its stunning display , useful trackpads and better battery life , the Steam Deck OLED is ideal for most gamers .
Having say that , the Steam Deck OLED can be difficult to manoeuvre if you design on gaming outside of the Steam storage and has an uninspiring performance level . With this in intellect , if you want to back across different platforms and with impressive speed to bring up then you ’ll be well suit to the Windows 11 ROG Ally .
