ASUS ROG Ally vs. Steam Deck: A Side-By-Side View

The ROG Ally from Asus dropped back in July to a lot of fanfare. Billed as a Steam Deck killer, the ROG Ally certainly looked to be the part – at least on paper. Now that we’ve had a few months with the device, it’s time to decide: does the ROG Ally live up to the hype? Or is the Steam Deck still the undisputed king of handheld gaming PCs?

ROG Ally vs. Steam Deck: Technical Specifications

Asus didn’t pull any punches out of the gate, opting for a “go big or go home” mentality. This is an appropriate strategy given the Steam Deck’s market dominance. When you take a shot at the king, you better not miss. With AMD’s Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip, the ROG Ally comfortably takes the throne as the new handheld performance juggernaut.

This is thanks to the impressive eight Zen 4 CPU cores and a staggering 12 RDNA3 GPU cores. Comparatively, the Steam Deck is running an eight-core AMD Zen 2 chip combined with eight RDNA2 GPU cores. We don’t want to get lost in the technobabble weeds, but the ROG Ally boasts newer, superior processing power compared to the Steam Deck. As a result, the ROG Ally can run pretty much anything you throw at it, from AAA games to the most demanding emulators.

That said, it’s important to note that the ROG Ally also comes in a slightly cheaper variant. For about $100 less, you can get the ROG Ally that utilizes the vanilla AMD Ryzen Z1 CPU. Despite the savings, it’s not really worth it. The performance of the ROG Ally takes a significant hit. In tests, the Steam Deck outpaces the stock, non-Extreme Z1, even though it uses an older architecture.

Both devices utilize 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. That said, both the Steam Deck and the ROG Ally’s RAM is soldered onto the motherboard. Unfortunately, this means that it is not possible to upgrade the RAM. That is, unless you’re really handy with a soldering iron and willing to void your warranty.

Winner: ROG Ally (Z1 Extreme variant)

FYI: try these free Steam Deck mods.

ROG Ally vs. Steam Deck: The Screen

The display of the ROG Ally is a 7-inch 1080p IPS touchscreen. Some folks would say that the advantage of 1080p on such a small screen is negligible. However, this is largely a subjective claim. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There is legitimate concern surrounding how much juice the screen draws from the battery. Naturally, more pixels on screen means more horsepower is needed. This results in more power being drawn, negatively impacting battery life.

On various forums, ROG Ally owners claim that the screen resolution sweet spot is 900p – but there is a catch. The ROG Ally only has two resolution settings: 1080p and 720p. However, it is possible to set 900p as the default screen resolution using mods and other workarounds.

Comparatively, the Steam Deck comes with a 7-inch, 1280 x 800p IPS touch display. As mentioned earlier, screen resolution is subjective. However, the DeckHD, an aftermarket Steam Deck screen replacement that boasts a 1200p resolution, has been selling like hotcakes. Interpret that however you would like, but it seems folks would prefer a higher screen resolution.

While the resolution debate can go either way, almost everyone will agree that a higher screen refresh rate is absolutely necessary when gaming. In that arena, the Rog Ally’s 120 Hz refresh rate trumps the Steam Deck’s 60 Hz screen.

Winner: ROG Ally

ROG Ally vs. Steam Deck: Storage

Having a powerful handheld PC allows you to play more demanding AAA titles. Unfortunately, these games often chew up a ton of storage space. Therefore, you’ll want to make sure that you have enough storage to take your game library on the go.

The Steam Deck utilizes a compact 2230 M.2 NVMe SSD, which is available in three flavors: 64, 256 and 512 GB. While you’ll save a bit of cash when you opt for a smaller storage drive, it isn’t recommended, as Valve doesn’t officially endorse end users swapping out the SSD. Yet, it is possible, as there are a number of how-to guides on the Internet that will walk you through the process. Be aware that while it’s fairly easy to replace the drive, you’ll need to reinstall the OS to get everything up and running. Since Valve did not intend for users to do this, it requires a bit of extra effort.

The ROG Ally ships with a compact 2230 M.2 NVMe 512 GB SSD. There are no other storage options at the time of this writing, yet the ROG Ally’s internal SSD is easily replaceable. In fact, unlike the Steam Deck, ASUS encourages users to replace the SSD if they wish and even provides an official guide on how to do it. Furthermore, ASUS has a handy cloud recovery tool that reinstalls Windows and all the ROG Ally software that can be launched from within the device’s BIOS. This makes upgrading the SSD relatively painless.

Both the Steam Deck and the ROG Ally have micro SD card slots. This is an easy and relatively inexpensive way to expand your storage. However, micro SD cards are not nearly as fast as the internal SSD, so you may have to deal with extended loading times. In addition, there have been numerous reports that the ROG Ally corrupts micro SD cards.

It is assumed that the device’s thermals are too high and fry the micro SD. ASUS has tried to rectify the issue with software updates, but it hasn’t fixed the problem. At this point, ASUS acknowledges that it’s a design flaw, but they’ve responded with a shrug of the shoulders, so don’t expect the problem to go away any time soon.

Winner: ROG Ally

ROG Ally vs. Steam Deck: Battery Life

Having a handheld gaming PC is great, but without decent battery life, you’ll be tethered to a power outlet. Battery life depends on a variety of factors. This includes things like screen resolution, brightness, frame rate and how hard you’re pushing the hardware. Since so many things can impact the longevity of a battery, we’re going to keep things simple and deal with reported battery life averages.

Power consumption is expressed in watts (W). Simply put, more wattage means better performance; however, it also means faster battery drain. The ROG Ally has three settings that determine the performance of the device as well as the power consumption. Quiet equates to 10W, Performance is 15W and Ultra is 30W. Users have reported that running the ROG Ally at 30W will give you about an hour of play time – not great for anything more than the morning commute. Depending on how you tweak your gaming experience, it is possible to squeeze about four hours of playtime.

Valve has ensured that the Steam Deck system is optimized on low wattages. This allows it to conserve power while still delivering the goods – provided you’re willing to make some concessions. Some users claim to be able to squeeze a whopping eight hours of play time, but these claims can be misleading. As we mentioned above, battery life depends on a wide variety of factors, but the general consensus is that the ROG Ally has pretty crummy battery life compared to the Steam Deck. This is probably due to ASUS wanting to outperform the Steam Deck in terms of sheer power. Unfortunately, this means that they overlooked battery optimization.

Winner: Steam Deck

ROG Ally vs. Steam Deck: Operating System

The Steam Deck runs a custom version of Linux called SteamOS. This has been designed from the ground up for the Steam Deck and incorporates the Steam storefront. Since SteamOS is Linux-based, it also utilizes Valve’s Proton. This is a piece of software that allows Windows games to run on the Linux-based OS without any end-user tweaking. The Steam Deck can also be used as a traditional PC in desktop mode. SteamOS is based on Arch Linux and uses KDE Plasma for its desktop environment.

The ROG Ally runs Windows 11 out of the box, along with a suite of ROG Ally-centric software that basically runs on top. This includes a game library manager dubbed “Armoury Crate,” that ties together all of the major game platforms, including Steam, GOG Galaxy, Epic, and Xbox Game Pass, on one screen. It works well but is only a piece of software that Windows runs, as opposed to being a dedicated platform tailor-made for the ROG Ally.

The biggest advantage here is that most games are designed with Windows in mind, so you won’t be running into any compatibility issues. Even anti-cheat software won’t be a problem, as it’s mostly made to play nice with Windows, but the same can’t be said for Linux. That said, Windows is definitely more resource-hungry, so you may want to consider optimizing Windows on your ROG Ally for gaming.

Like the Steam Deck, the ROG Ally is a PC and can be used like one. Because of the ubiquitous nature of Windows, using the ROG Ally as a PC is a bit easier. You don’t need to be familiar with Linux or the command line to get up and running. With the ROG Ally running a patchwork of software, you’re going to have to deal with various updates, both ROG Ally and Windows.

To do so, you’ll need to periodically check the MyASUS app to see if there are any new driver updates, and you’ll also need to check the Armoury Crate app for any relevant updates. Updating the Steam Deck is a more streamlined experience. Simply check for any updates within the Steam Deck’s Settings, apply them, and restart if necessary.

Winner: Steam Deck

ROG Ally vs. Steam Deck: Look & Feel

Both the ROG Ally and the Steam Deck sport a similar look. Analog sticks, face buttons, shoulder buttons and mappable back buttons are present on both devices. There are slight variations in terms of connectivity, but in a side-by-side comparison, the Steam Deck is quite a bit larger. Granted, the larger size is partly due to the Steam Deck having integrated touchpads situated on the left and right of the screen. When you consider the main selling point of either device that it’s portable, size and weight are going to make a difference.

The Steam Deck measures 11.7 inches across, 4.6 inches from top to bottom and is 1.9 inches thick (298 x 117 x 49mm). Furthermore, it weighs about 1.5 pounds (669 grams). On the other hand, the ROG Ally measures 11 inches across, 4.3 inches vertically, and less than .83 inches deep (280 x 111 x 49mm). The ROG Ally weighs roughly 1.3 pounds (608 grams). On paper, these differences don’t seem like much, but when you’re lugging around a portable PC, it matters.

This is especially true for folks with smaller hands, but anyone who is planning on extended gaming sessions can expect to experience some hand fatigue. Bigger and heavier is only going to exacerbate this.

Winner: ROG Ally

ASUS ROG Ally vs. Steam Deck – Which to Choose?

Although both the ROG Ally and the Steam Deck are handheld gaming PCs, and powerful ones at that, they do differ in key areas. Both are good at what they do and deliver when they claim they can handle AAA gaming on the go. That said, each device is not without its flaws. Unfortunately, this means that you can’t get everything in one package. You’ll have to make concessions.

Buy the ROG Ally if …

• You must have the best performance.
• You want a 1080p screen at 120 Hz.
• You want a more portable device.

Buy the Steam Deck if…

• You’re looking for a user-friendly operating system.
• Longer battery life is a priority.
• You want a more affordable option.

Now that you have your hands on a super powerful handheld gaming PC, you’re ready to jump into some actual gameplay. Given the price tags of these impressive little machines, you may be a little strapped for cash. Thankfully, there are some excellent free-to-play games that won’t cost you a cent.

If neither one of these handhelds is what you’re looking for, try one of these Steam Deck alternatives.

Image by Ryan Lynch