Steam Deck vs ASUS ROG Ally – specs, price, & more

If you're considering either or, then there are some good reasons to consider both picks

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It’s now time to compare the Steam Deck vs ASUS ROG Ally. The specs, price, dimensions, design, and more are all worth discussing. Ever since the official event on May 11th officially revealed more about the ROG Ally, we can get a better comparison of the two. Now that the ROG Ally has been released on June 13th (and since the Steam Deck has been available for a long time now), you may be debating between choosing between one of these portable gaming PCs, which offer a good alternative to a gaming laptop.

What first might have seemed like an April Fool’s joke has now actually come to exist as a real product. With the announcement coming a few days later, it shows what we can expect from the upcoming handheld without the details. You can now find out where to buy the ROG Ally following it’s official announcement.

The ROG Ally specifications and release date are now known about in more detail, as the basic design and dimensions were only released early on. Now that we know a lot more about the ASUS ROG Ally, we can do a more comprehensive comparison.

Steam Deck vs ROG Ally dimensions and weight

One of the main differences between the two handheld consoles is the dimensions and weight of them. As one of the key things to consider with gaming on the go is if you can keep it up in your hands without wearing out yourself and making sure it’s comfortable.

The Steam Deck comes in at a bigger size and weight of 298 x 117 x 50.5mm and 669 grams. Whilst the ROG Ally improves upon that with the dimensions of 280 x 113 x 39mm and decreasing the weight down to 608 grams.

This should improve the usability of the console much more and should be able to be run for a longer period. Even with what seems like a small change, it will give plenty of respite for you having to hold up the console.

Steam Deck vs ROG Ally display and sound

Another improved feature of the new ROG Ally over the Steam Deck is the display utilized on the device. Both have a 7-inch screen, and at that size you don’t need anything too high resolution for a good experience. And they do alter, with the Valve choice going for a 16:10 aspect rations whilst the ASUS opting for a standard 16:9.

This means the Steam Deck has a resolution of 1280 x 800 compared to the higher resolution 1920 x 1080 screen that the ROG Ally has gone for. Which does bring the fidelity much higher and will make gaming on it much nicer.

And that is further promoted by the fact the ROG pick has gone for a higher refresh rate and brightness to improve the experience. With a 120 Hz refresh rate, it doubles what the Deck has and will make the visuals much smoother overall. Whilst the brightness also improves by 100 nits to 500 in total so it can improve the visuals in brighter environments.

The ROG console also suggests that the fan will be a lot quieter in it as well. Offering a 20dB rating compared to the 37 dB in the Deck. This will make it easier to hear the sounds of your game, without the whine of the small fan in the background.

Steam Deck vs ROG Ally price

We now know the pricing for the ASUS ROG Ally, so we can compare and contrast it with the Steam Deck. As predicted, the Ally will have a hard time competing with the Steam Deck’s price tag. As Valve can easily subsidize the cost of its console with the sale of games on its system, and so can justify a smaller cost like other consoles do. There are a few variants to compare, so see below:

Steam Deck price

• Steam Deck 64GB: $399
• Steam Deck 256GB: $529
• Steam Deck 512GB: $649

ASUS ROG Ally price

• ROG Ally Ryzen Z1 512GB: $599
• ROG Ally Ryzen Z1 Extreme 512GB: $699

Steam Deck vs ROG Ally specs and performance

We now have a better understanding of the ROG Ally specs, so it’s easier to compare with the Steam Deck. Most of us figured from the start that the ROG Ally would be using a Ryzen APU with Zen 4 and RDNA 3 architectures. Compared to the Steam Deck which features a Van Gogh AMD APU that is based on RDNA 2 architecture, it’s a newer more powerful option.

Here are some of the key specs of the ROG Ally just below:

• Display: 7″ FHD (1920×1080), 120HZ refresh rate, 500 nit brightness, Dolby Vision
• Processor: AMD Ryzen Z1 / AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme
• Memory: 16GB LPDDR5 Dual Channel Memory 6400Mhz
• Storage: 512GB PCIe Gen 4 SSD

Now let’s see what the Steam Deck has to offer:

• Display: 7″ 1280×800, 60Hz refresh rate, 400 nit brightness
• Processor: AMD APU (Zen 2 processor, 8 RDNA 2 CUs graphics card)
• Memory: 16GB LPDDR5 5500 MT/s
• Storage: 64GB eMMC / 256GB NVMe SSD / 512GB high-speed NVMe SSD

ASUS said the device would be more powerful ahead of launch. In another video hand, this time from LTT, Linus mentions the performance. With no specifics (as it was before launch), he mentions the console offers 50% more performance than the Steam Deck at 15W, whilst doubling it at 35W. So at even the same power level, it should be much better. The ROG Ally features a turbo mode for improved performance too, though this will understandably drain the battery faster.

The ASUS ROG Ally had previously been criticized for a worse battery life than the Steam Deck, though this is something that ASUS revised prior to launch. Regardless, the Steam Deck is still currently the better performer in terms of battery life, which shows the limitations of the Ally’s increased power and lightweight design.

One more thing to note is that the ROG Ally will be running on Windows 11. Contrast that with SteamOS on the Steam Deck – which is based on Linux. Windows machines have historically had an easier time being compatible with more games compared to Linux, but efforts to boost Linux support with Proton are definitely helping out the Steam Deck moving forward.

Steam Deck vs ROG Ally design & layout

Now with all the technical details out of the way, we can talk a little bit about the overall design of the two handheld gaming computers. You can draw a lot from the side-by-side comparisons already. Although there are many similarities on show, there are some key design differences, including the button layout.

First off, the contrast in color makes it easy to tell them apart, but this doesn’t mean too much in the grand scheme of things. The thumbsticks are also placed differently, akin to the difference we see in Xbox vs PlayStation controllers.

The Steam Deck has a massive range of buttons to bind actions to, with gyro controls being included in the device. We hope to see something similar for the ROG Ally beyond it’s prototype stage. It would appear that the ROG Ally is outclassed by the Steam Deck in this regard right now, especially due to it’s current lack of trackpads like we see on the Steam Deck.

Steam Deck vs ASUS ROG Ally games library

An important aspect for Steam Deck or ROG Ally users to consider is of course the choice of games. SteamOS is mainly designed around the Steam library, though there are workarounds to access other launchers such as the Epic Games Store. Since the ROG Ally is on the Windows 11 operating system, it’s much easier to access multiple platforms. In fact, multiple launchers are stored within the Armoury Crate for ease of access. Another important thing to note is that SteamOS is based on Linux, which limits access to some titles out there despite Valve’s Proton project to widen support. Big titles such as Destiny 2 still official lack support on the Deck and can even get you banned in-game.

Overall then, the ASUS ROG Ally comes out on top with it’s support for games. Windows 11 is one of the driving forces behind this compatibility – but the general navigation and access to different game platforms is much smoother on the ROG Ally. They even offered 3 months of Xbox Game Pass for free via a pre-order bonus. SteamOS separates desktop mode and game mode which requires a restart to switch between, while the ROG Ally isn’t held back by this detail.

Steam Deck vs ASUS ROG Ally peripherals & accessories

Next we can discuss the kind of peripherals you can hook up to your handheld gaming PC, as well as some of the accessories available to you. First of all, both the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally have support for docking, and both have official docking products. We made a guide for the best dock for ASUS ROG Ally, in case you want to check it out. Likewise, there are plenty of Steam Deck accessories out there, and the Ally is catching up, although many of the best cases for ROG Ally were initially designed with the Steam Deck in mind.

Docks, stands, and cases are one thing, but what attaching external devices? Well, both of these handhelds are Bluetooth compatible, which means they easily connect to most wireless devices like headphones, earbuds, game controllers, or your keyboard and mouse. In the case of the ROG Ally, the device itself even has ROG XG Mobile Interface for ASUS’s external GPU for added graphics power. Both of course have Wi-Fi connectivity and ports such as USB-C & headphone jack, but you’ll want a dock for a additional ports to connect to a TV or monitor.

ROG Ally vs Steam Deck – which is more powerful?

When it comes to sheer power, the ROG Ally is going to come out on top. This new gaming handheld looks to really pick up the slack for handheld gaming devices in terms of power and performance. This is required in order to back up it’s 120Hz refresh rate and full HD 1920×1080 screen resolution. Both of these aspects out-do the Steam Deck. The YouTuber Dave2D pointed out that ASUS claimed that the ROG Ally is to be approximately twice as powerful as the Steam Deck, and the early specifications seem to back it up.

We learnt more about the full list of specifications and other details such as price in an event on May 11th which showed off the ROG Ally’s capabilities. Now everything is revealed, we can have a better understanding of how it compares to Valve’s Steam Deck.

Steam Deck vs ROG Ally FAQs

How much smaller is the ROG Ally than the Steam Deck?

The ROG Ally is 3-6% shorter in length and height, whilst the depth is 23% smaller so it should be much easier to handle. As well as being 9% lighter in weight by a nearly 60g drop, which should also improve the handleability of the console.

How much better is display on the ROG Ally?

The ROG Ally has a better screen, in terms of resolution, refresh rate, and brightness. Increasing the resolution to 1920 x 1080, the refresh rate doubled to 120 Hz and the brightness by 100 nits to 500. This will improve the quality and feel of the experience on the console.

Steam Deck vs ASUS ROG Ally : Final word

The ASUS ROG Ally looks to be a worthy foe for the Steam Deck, and there are plenty of differences between them to consider. Others have struggled to knock the Steam Deck off it’s place as the best PC gaming handheld, so we’re excited to see how this rivalry develops moving forward.