In this episode of Tech Takedown, Tony and Paul argue over the best handheld console right now. Tony is championing the Steam Deck OLED including a 1080p 120Hz display and the new AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip. It can also play Windows-compatible games right out of the box.
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00:002024 has a lot of exciting handhelds on the horizon,
00:03including the MSI Claw and a few rumored ones.
00:06But before we get our hands on those,
00:07we're revisiting our favorites.
00:09This is Tech Takedown.
00:11All right, Tony, you know me.
00:13I've gone with the ASUS ROG Ally.
00:15What do you have today?
00:16All right, you know me,
00:17and I've gone with the Steam Deck OLED.
00:19Okay, so let's start this off.
00:21You've got 60 seconds.
00:22Tell me why you love this so much
00:23and why someone would want to get this console.
00:25All right, well, since you have the ROG Ally,
00:27you know that Windows 11 doesn't exactly play nice
00:30with all these handhelds, right?
00:32With Steam Deck, got a different story.
00:33The OS was specifically built for this handheld
00:37and the games.
00:38For example, you go to Valve's website.
00:40It actually has Steam verified games
00:42and even games that are not compatible,
00:44even though in some cases, some games are compatible.
00:46So basically when you start this up,
00:48you're right there in the launcher.
00:50You don't have to install Windows.
00:51You don't have to do any of this sign-in stuff
00:53that you have to do with the other handhelds,
00:54which is kind of annoying.
00:56And then this thing is, like I said,
00:58optimized for the actual hardware itself.
01:01So the games are always running well.
01:02Some games even have dedicated Steam Deck modes,
01:05like Cyberpunk, which is really, really cool.
01:07So you don't have to like fiddle around too much
01:08with the settings.
01:09The Ally and similar handhelds,
01:11they give you more, you have,
01:12there's more versatility there,
01:14but the games aren't optimized for that specific hardware.
01:17So you may not always know what you're getting.
01:20And also, I also feel that the actual performance
01:23isn't what it should be for those systems.
01:26All right, Tony, so you bring up some great points,
01:28simplicity and just being able to jump right into your game.
01:30And of course, the great optimization
01:32that comes with a Steam Deck.
01:34But I'm gonna take 30 seconds to tell you
01:36why none of that matters.
01:37To start off, I mean, you've got a great screen,
01:39but that's about it.
01:40I mean, it's ergonomic in your hand,
01:42but underneath the hood,
01:43you actually have very limited hardware.
01:46The fact that this year we're only seeing
01:47an upgraded screen and the CPU and GPU
01:49are still bound by old technology.
01:52I mean, it was already behind the ASUS ROG Ally
01:55and other similar competitors.
01:57And now they're just digging the trench even further here.
02:00I mean, I get that you have optimized games,
02:02but I also prefer higher frames per second.
02:05All right, those are some fair points.
02:06Although I don't completely agree,
02:08but I wanna give you time to convince me
02:10why the ASUS ROG Ally is better than the Steam Deck OLED.
02:14All right, easy.
02:14So I'm gonna start you off with three points.
02:16Value, size, performance.
02:19Okay, so for the hardware available
02:21and handhelds right now,
02:22this is some of the best performance that you can get.
02:24Not to mention, this is one of the most ergonomic,
02:26easy to hold handhelds right now.
02:29In addition to that, I mean, when it comes to gaming,
02:31yes, you're not gonna be getting the same performance
02:33as say a dedicated laptop and definitely not a desktop,
02:36but for something this size, it's absolutely incredible.
02:39And in some of my favorite games like Overwatch 2,
02:41I can get 100 to 100 frames per second
02:43at 1080p in low settings, so it's pretty awesome.
02:46And then as an entry point for a lot of gamers,
02:48if you want a Windows computer slash a gaming handheld,
02:52this does both.
02:53I can connect it to a dock,
02:54I've got a full Windows experience,
02:56and I can also take that same experience on the go.
02:58It's some awesome gaming.
03:01So I agree with you on form factor.
03:04That is a lot lighter than this guy,
03:06but the problem is, yes,
03:08that does have a more powerful processor,
03:10but it's wasted because if you wanna play games at 1080p,
03:14you're gonna suffer on performance.
03:15To get comparable performance on Steam Deck,
03:18you're gonna have to lower it to 720p,
03:20which kind of defeats the purpose of having a 1080p screen.
03:23As far as price is concerned,
03:26the Steam Deck's actually $50 less
03:27than the high-end version of that.
03:29Yes, you could get the lower-end version of the ROG Ally,
03:32but I wouldn't recommend that to anybody.
03:34So you do make some great points,
03:35but if I was to walk away with one of these right now,
03:37it's still gonna be the ASUS ROG Ally.
03:39That said, if I could get my perfect handheld right now,
03:42I think it would be some kind of combination
03:44between the two.
03:45You definitely have one of the best screens
03:46that you can get on any handheld right now,
03:48not to mention SteamOS, without a doubt,
03:50is better than Windows 11 when it comes to gaming.
03:53At the end of the day, software is what's holding that back,
03:55so if I could have that hardware
03:56with this level of game optimization,
03:58I think it would have a fantastic handheld.
04:00All right, but what do you guys think?
04:02Which team would you go with?
04:03Would you pick me and the ASUS ROG Ally,
04:05or would you go with Tony and his Steam Deck OLED?
04:08Let us know in the comments down below.
04:10You can also find the best deals linked below
04:11if you wanna check any of these out.
04:13Also, be sure to head over to TomSka.com
04:15to check out my review of both these systems.
04:18Of course, follow us on socials,
04:19it's at TomSka, you can also follow me,
04:21you can also follow Tony,
04:22and until the next one, we'll catch you later.