The ROG Ally vs Steam Deck - Which is better？

Hello, welcome back to a new video. So

today we're going to be comparing the ROG

Ally to the Steam Deck and explaining why

the ROG Ally completely destroys the Steam

Deck in almost every single way. So I

don't actually have my Steam Deck anymore.

I had one last year and I used it for a

while. You can check out my older videos

to see me using the Steam Deck, but for

today I'll just have my hands on the ROG

Ally. So the design of the Steam Deck and

the ROG Ally are kind of similar but also

very different. I think the ROG Ally looks

way better with this nice white and black

design, kind of like Stormtrooper colors.

And I really like how the thumbsticks are

diagonal in their placement, so it's

really comfortable to move characters

around in games when they're diagonally

placed like this, unlike the Steam Deck

which have the thumbsticks exactly

horizontal in a straight line like that.

I'm not really a big fan of that. And then

you've got the back paddles. So the ROG

Ally only has 2 back paddles, 1, 2,

whereas the Steam Deck has 4. Which you

might think, well, it's nice to have more

back paddles, but honestly I didn't really

use the back paddles that much, and having

4 of them was kind of over the top, and I

didn't really know what to assign them to,

and I didn't really use them much anyway.

So I'm not really too bothered about the

lack of 2 back paddles. I think it's fine

just having the ones that you get. And the

operating system on the ROG Ally is

obviously Windows 11. You get a full-blown

Windows operating system just like on your

laptop or on your computer. It's exactly

the same. It's exactly what you would

expect from a Windows device, and Steam

Deck is running Linux. Like, Linux-based

version of the SteamOS is running on the

Steam Deck, and it's okay for just like

casual browsing and gaming. But if you

want to do anything that you can do on a

Windows device, obviously some things you

can't do on a Linux device, and there are

some programs that are harder to use on

Linux compared to Windows. I just prefer

Windows much more. Like, I've got

Streamlabs if I want to do a live stream.

On my ROG Ally, I can do that. But there's

only OBS on SteamOS from the Linux App

Store, and it's just very limited and

restrictive only being able to use Linux.

Now I know you can sideboot Windows onto

the Steam Deck, but for those of you who

are too lazy like me and are not really

technically gifted, then trying to figure

out how to sideboot Windows onto the Steam

Deck is kind of annoying, and I didn't

even try to do that. For example, you can

download Xbox Gaming Pass and you can play

games that are on Xbox Gaming Pass, and

you can't really do that on the Steam Deck

unless, like I said earlier, you side boot

Windows. So to open Xbox Gaming Pass,

just download it from the internet and

then open it, and look, I got all my games

on Xbox Gaming Pass from my Gaming Pass

accounts all ready to be downloaded and

played on my ROG Ally. Now there's so many

games on this and it's only £10 a month,

so for only £10 a month you get access to

all games that you might have to pay if

you're gonna play it on Steam. A lot of

these games are on Steam, most of them are

on Steam actually, and you gotta pay for

them like £30, £20. Well, I don't have to

pay for any of them because I'm just

paying £10 a month. So I feel like Xbox

Game Pass has massive value compared to

Steam. And the fact that number one,

Microsoft haven't made their own Windows

handheld gaming device where they could be

like a direct competitor to the Steam Deck

is kind of disappointing. And which is why

things like the ROG Ally and the upcoming

Lenovo Legion handheld, uh, really game

changers and blow the Steam Deck out of

the water. Why would you want the Steam

Deck, which focuses only on being able to

play games on Steam, when you could get

something like this which can play Steam

games, can play Xbox games, can play

emulators, I guess, and also other stores

like the Epic Games Store download

Fortnite, you can download Blizzard games

and get Diablo, or even play World of

Warcraft on this. I don't know how you're

going to play World of Warcraft on the

Steam Deck. Look at all these games. I got

Halo Infinite, I got Battlefield 2042.

What's that? Uh, Crusader Kings,

Assassin's Creed Odyssey. And I don't have

to pay for these because I'm already a

gaming Xbox Game Pass member. So just that

alone, I think, destroys the Steam Deck in

terms of value. Just that you get a

Windows operating system, and you can

treat it like a proper gaming computer,

not just, not just something that can only

play games off of Steam. You also get this

thing called the Command Center. By

pressing this button, it brings up this

display of different buttons and commands

that you can choose from, and it's really

useful. So you got the different operating

modes, you've got silent mode, and then

you've got turbo mode, which really boosts

the performance of the entire thing, and

then you've got desktop mode and for the

controllers, or you can change it to auto

or to gamepad mode depending on what

you're doing. And you've got different

game profiles. You've got the on-screen

keyboard by pressing this, which is— well,

it's making my camera flicker for some

reason. Hold on, that was weird. Bringing

up the on-screen keyboard made my camera

flip out. Uh, what was I saying? Yeah,

you got the on-screen real-time monitor,

which is really cool. You got this FPS

limiter. Hold on. So I want to show you

the on-screen real-time monitor. So you

can press this to go back to the desktop,

and then this will just hover above games.

I'll show you. And you get different kind

of information like the usage of the CPU

and the GPU. Right now we're using the GPU

0% because we're not playing games. And

then it's got the battery, the temperature

49 degrees Celsius, the FPS. When you play

games, it'll show the FPS there. So that's

really useful that this is baked into the

actual ROG Ally, and you don't have to

download something. When I had the Steam

Deck, it didn't have anything like this.

You've got this button as well which

records the screen and then saves the

video. And then if you press this button

here, you go into the Armory Crate, and

then you can add more buttons to that

command center. See, I can add another 5

buttons, and it lets you choose from a

whole list of functions and commands that

you can easily press, like microphone,

take a screenshot, airplane mode. That

will come up when you press this button,

and then you can easily choose that

option. So it is really good to have this

button here and this button there. Didn't

really have things like this on the Steam

Deck, and it really just makes using these

quick shortcuts very enjoyable, and you

can control the machine much more

efficiently and quickly than you could

with things like the Steam Deck. And last

but not least, the gaming performance on

this just completely destroys the Steam

Deck. I'm going to show you some Rainbow

Six gameplay And I'll show you my graphics

settings. I'm actually playing this on

ultra. Everything is on ultra. Look at

this. Go on to options and graphics.

Look, custom ultra, very high ultra.

Everything is set to the maximum settings.

See? And we're getting an FPS

of 115. Look at that,

120 FPS on ultra settings.

And someone's shooting me. I don't know,

I think that's my teammate shooting me for

being AFK. Whoops. I don't know why they

think shooting you is gonna help the

situation. Obviously I'm busy doing

something. Anyway, I mean, look how good

the game looks. This game looks amazingly

good and runs really smoothly,

and it plays even better when you're using

keyboard and mouse when you've got those

plugged into the game. But I've got 100

FPS right now on ultra settings.

I don't think the Steam Deck can do that.

Now I know this is a slightly older game

and, um, it's not really that taxing on

the performance, but still it's pretty

impressive. And I remember playing this

game, Rainbow Six, on Steam Deck and it

wouldn't let me play it at these settings

on such good FPS, with such good FPS.

Though I've got 120 FPS right now.

My team is not doing so well,

but I did try Elden Ring, and that's a

fairly newer game, came out last year,

and I was able to play that on ultra

settings as well.

But it's kind of annoying having to open

games. It takes, takes a bit of time to

open a game, like a minute maybe.

So we're not really getting much action

here. I think there's someone here.

Oh, excuse me, I'm still sick.

I don't know what that beeping was.

But yeah, anyway, the gaming performance

on the ROG Ally, I feel like it's so much

better than the Steam Deck.

Ah, stupid drone thing.

It's kind of amazing you can play a PC

game like Rainbow Six as if it's— oh, I

saw someone crouching down there and then

that person just appeared in the doorway.

Anyway, I don't usually play using the

controls like this. I use keyboard and

mouse, which is how you're supposed to

play the game. But I think you see my

point. I can play games on ultra settings,

120 FPS. Amazing. Even my gaming laptop

couldn't play at these high settings, and

the Steam Deck definitely couldn't. So in

conclusion, I think the ROG Ally is better

than the Steam Deck in pretty much every

single way. Design, comfort, looks,

operating system. Why would you want to

play using Linux when you've got Windows

11? Come on. So yeah, I'd give this a 9.2

out of 10. I'd give Steam Deck like 6.2

out of 10.