About four months ago, I ditched my Steam Deck for Asus’ ROG Ally. But with some distance, I’m going back to Valve’s handheld. Here’s why.
By nearly all objective measures, the ROG Ally is better than the Steam Deck. It has solid battery life, a nicer screen, more power, and Windows 11, allowing it to access a much wider library of games than the Steam Deck offers. After four months of using both devices, though, I’m fine keeping my Steam Deck.
That might surprise you, especially if you caught my ROG Ally review when I first took a look at the device nearly four months ago. I even tried replacing my desktop with the device on the strength of Asus’ impressive XG Mobile. But after using the ROG Ally for just about every purpose possible, I’ve been picking up my Steam Deck to play games.What you want, what you need
Let’s get this out of the way upfront: In you don’t have a PC, and you don’t already own a Steam Deck, the ROG Ally is your best bet. It’s faster, supports Windows, so on and so forth. But if you already have a gaming device you’re satisfied with, be it a PC or a current-gen console, the Steam Deck is ideal.
This really comes down to performance. The ROG Ally may be able to run Cyberpunk 2077 faster than the Steam Deck, but the strength of both devices doesn’t lie in those massive, AAA experiences that are best suited for a TV or monitor. There are reasons games like Vampire Survivors, Dead Cells, Hades, and Dredge top the list of the most played Steam Deck games.
Those AAA experiences still have their place — titles like Elden Ring and The Witcher 3 are among the best Steam Deck games you can play — but it’s the smaller, less expansive titles where the Steam Deck shines. It’s not all about raw power, and the Steam Deck offers enough performance to play those massive games when you want to burn through your battery in an hour or two.
The ROG Ally certainly runs them better, but it’s hard to base any performance conclusions solely around the most demanding titles these devices can run.
