Pick ASUS ROG Flow X13 Instead of Steam Deck OLED： Here's Why

Hello, welcome back to a new video. So if

you're looking for a portable gaming

device, then the recent Windows handheld

devices and the Steam Deck and the Steam

Deck OLED are pretty good options to

choose for lightweight portability with

good gaming performance. But if you're

like me and you kind of find the screens

on these handheld devices kind of limiting

and small, you might want to go for

something like this instead. So I recently

just picked up this brand new ROG Flow

X13, which is a 13.4-inch display

convertible laptop with some pretty beefy

specs. It has an RTX 4050, a Ryzen

R9 7940HS, which is basically the

equivalent of an Intel i9 13th generation.

And I have to say, after trying out

several handheld devices— I tried out the

Steam Deck, I tried out the ROG Ally, and

the Switch OLED— and I have to say, this

is probably my favorite portable gaming

device so far. And I would definitely

recommend getting one of these over the

Steam Deck OLED and I'll talk about why in

today's video. So as some of you may know,

I'm going to Japan very soon in March this

year, and I'm going to be leaving

Thailand, and I need a very portable,

lightweight backpack setup that can meet

my gaming needs. And I came to Thailand

with a very heavy backpack which weighed

over 14 kg because I had this big 17-inch

Razer Blade Pro gaming laptop with RTX

3060 graphics card, and it was so heavy

with the big power brick. It weighed

almost 5 kg in total, plus all my other

tech. My backpack was just insanely heavy.

And I needed to rethink my entire backpack

situation. So I think this is going to be

the answer to all of my problems. Now,

the main problem with these portable

handheld gaming devices like the Steam

Deck OLED is mainly that although they are

good for gaming and they are extremely

light and portable, the screen is so tiny.

7 inches usually is the average screen

size for these gaming devices, with the

Legion Go being on the bigger side. Even

that, at 8.8 inches, the screen is kind of

small. Now, when you're doing handheld

gaming, it's fine you can hold it up close

to your face. But when you do want to do

anything that is not gaming, like using it

as a desktop replacement, because you

might not have a bigger laptop or desktop

when you're traveling and moving about a

lot, and your handheld gaming device might

be your only desktop replacement kind of

machine, and then you add an external

keyboard and a mouse, and yet you can use

it as a desktop. And I tried using my ROG

Ally as a desktop and it was fine, but

there was one big problem: the screen was

so small And you can't really fix that

unless you move up to a laptop. There were

some other handheld devices like the GDP

Win Max 2 had kind of like a laptop form

factor with a 10-inch screen with pretty

good specs, but even 10 inches is still on

the small side. This thing just completely

destroys the Steam Deck in almost every

single way. It's way more powerful. Okay,

to be fair, it is more expensive. This

costs $1,700 and the Steam Deck is

probably like $500 or $600. So yeah, is

nearly triple the cost, but for the amount

of money you pay, you get a lot in return.

So because it's got an RTX 4050 and an

Intel i9 equivalent AMD Ryzen processor,

this thing is so powerful. I can play all

my games on ultra mode. I can play Red

Dead Redemption 2 on ultra, Diablo 4 on

ultra. I probably can play Starfield on

very high. Everything I've thrown at it,

it can just play at ultra. So the graphics

on it are amazing. It destroys anything

any handheld gaming device can do. I mean,

even the ROG Ally, which I had before

this, was considered to be one of the most

powerful handheld devices. But even on

that, I could barely play games like Red

Dead Redemption 2 on medium settings. I

had to put it down to low settings with

FSR sharpening mode on and all that kind

of stuff to make it play smoothly. And

going from that to now going to this where

I can play on ultra mode almost 60 FPS. I

get like 45-50 FPS on Ultra mode. If I

turn it down to like medium-high, I can

get 60 FPS easy. Going from ROG Ally

handheld gaming device performance to this

performance has just been amazing. And not

only is the performance amazing, the body

and the form factor is great as well. So

let me just turn it on. So we've got this

amazing looking 13.4-inch display with

165Hz refresh rate,

and it's really nice. It's also

touchscreen, by the way. So this is a

convertible kind of laptop, which is

pretty interesting. So you can do things

like this— you can do flat mode,

you can do tent mode, and you can also do

tablet mode if you want, like a tablet.

Then yeah, you can turn it into a portrait

mode tablet, horizontal mode tablet, If

you want to do some artwork, you can get a

pen and use it like an iPad Pro or

Microsoft Surface. So it's very versatile,

and you wouldn't think that a convertible

would be a gaming device because usually

convertible devices, um,

they're usually for note-taking and taking

to class and just doing productive

creative stuff like drawing, and they're

not really known for gaming. And this is

probably the only convertible gaming

device that exists in the market. I think

there's also a Lenovo convertible that's

kind of like for gaming, but this has the

convertible ultrabook kind of form factor

but with gaming specs packed inside. And

it's so light, I think it's about 1.1 kg,

so it's like a couple hundred grams more

heavier than a gaming handheld device like

Steam Deck or ROG Ally, Legion Go. They

usually weigh about 600 grams, so it's

almost double on those, but it still feels

really lightweight. And because it's made

out of plastic, it's not made out of

metal, so it's really lightweight and

portable. And it's great for desktop mode

because it's got the bigger screen, it's

got built-in keyboard. You don't need to

add things like an external monitor or an

external keyboard. It's got everything

built in. Everything you need is built in

right into the body. I don't even know why

anyone would choose a handheld gaming

device over one of these when something

like this exists with this kind of

portability and lightweightedness. Why

would you want a handheld gaming device

unless all you want to do is handheld

gaming? I don't really see any time when

you would choose handheld gaming over

desktop and keyboard and mouse kind of

gaming. Keyboard and mouse gaming is

superior to any other kind of gaming.

Console gaming sucks, handheld gaming

sucks compared to keyboard and mouse. I

guess the only game that is better with a

controller kind of gameplay would be

racing games. I would argue that racing

games usually are better with a controller

because it's weird trying to race a car

with keyboard and mouse. But I don't like

racing games. I like FPSs and I like RPGs

and I like games that have inventory

management. Trying to do inventory

management on Diablo 4 with a controller

is a nightmare. You need a mouse.

And if you want to do keyboard and mouse

gaming, then trying to do that on one of

those tiny little handheld devices just

really sucks. And I know the Legion Go has

like a special little controller that can

turn into a mouse, That still sucks

because it's like a weird vertical mouse

and the screen is still tiny. It's like

this big, 8 inches, 8.8 inches. It's still

really tiny. And even the Win Max, GDP Win

Max 2, with a 10-inch display, although it

has a laptop form factor, it's still tiny.

10 inches is small. 13 inches, I think

that is really the sweet spot. It's not

too big and it's not too small. 16-inch,

17-inch gaming laptops They're too big.

I've had a 17-inch Razer Blade gaming

laptop before, and yeah, it's nice to have

the big display, but trying to carry it

around in your backpack when you travel a

lot and you move around a lot because you

can't get a visa in the countries you're

going to is a real pain in the backside,

literally and metaphorically. I really

don't want to ever travel with a 16 or

17-inch gaming laptop in my backpack ever

again. 14 inches, also pretty good. I've

got this 14-inch MacBook Pro here as well.

Oh crap. Oh my God, nearly scratched it.

I need to refund this. No, I think it's

fine. But I got this 14-inch MacBook Pro

and it's slightly bigger than the ROG Flow

X13, if you can see,

but it is noticeably heavier. It's like

400 or 500 grams heavier. This is 1.6 kg

and this is 1.1 kg, so you do You

do, do kind of feel the difference in the

weight. There's a difference of about 400

or 500 grams here, and you do notice the

weight difference a little bit. So in

conclusion, I would advise, yeah,

definitely spend the extra money to get

something nice like this with a much

bigger screen and keyboard and mouse kind

of gameplay that's not really tiny screen.

And maybe ditch your big laptop and sell

your desktop to get the extra money. Just

ditch everything because this can replace

everything. You don't need to have like a

specific device to fit in each gap of your

gaming needs. Like, you don't need a big

desktop for powerful stuff and then a

little handheld for portable stuff and

then a little notebook for portable

desktopping. You can just get rid of

everything and replace it with this. This

covers all your bases. It can be a desktop

because it's powerful, it can be a

portable gaming device because it's

lightweight and small, and you don't

sacrifice on the screen size because it's

got a 13.4-inch display, which is a very

nice display. And yeah, it's just like a

great all-rounder that can basically do

almost everything. So I definitely

recommend this over Steam Deck OLED and

any other handheld Windows gaming device.