I was an early adopter Steam deckand I love it for how it changed the way I think about playing through my Steam library. Part of it was to detach myself from the desk, where I spend most of my waking hours, but also because liquid uses SteamOS. I love it so much that I’ve tried to get it to work on my other AMD-powered handsets in the past, and always reverted to Windows after being disappointed that one feature or another didn’t work.
Until now. SteamOS now fully supports every AMD-based handheld, which means I can use it ROG Ally X. It gives me significantly more processing power, a better screen, and a bigger battery than the Steam Deck, making my couch gaming even more enjoyable. Of course, I lost the touchpads, but I rarely use them anyway. I’ve barely touched Steam Deck since then, and probably won’t use it much again.
Steam Deck caught my attention
But it was SteamOS that kept me playing
I have an LCD Steam deck it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to play games for short periods of time when I’ve had the chance, and I’ve finished a dozen or so of the games I’ve left behind. When it first came out, it was very different from anything else in PC gaming and was closer to the integrated experience of the Nintendo Switch.
And I was hooked. I installed tweaks, apps and add-ons. I looked for ways to escape Minecraft and other games that are not native to Steam. As a kid, I installed emulators to play retro games I never finished and generally went wild with all the possibilities on the handheld.
Then the rest of the industry rushed to market Windows-based handhelds, and I stuck with them because of Game Pass and the large library of non-Steam games I owned. It was a way to separate my gaming with Steam on one device and Windows on the other, but the Windows experience always left me wishing it was more frictionless, and I spent more time updating various apps than playing games.
Then SteamOS became available for other handheld devices
As soon as I put SteamOS on the ROG Ally X’s more capable hardware, I was hooked again. Thanks to 24 GB of RAM and with better visuals on a 1080p screen, I was able to play games that had previously run poorly. There were a few features that were missing then, viz local TDP controlVariable Refresh Rate and the ability to use the back buttons and two extra face buttons, but these have now been added and I find myself looking at the Steam Deck less and less.
9/10
- Dimensions
-
290.8×121.5×50.7mm
- Weight
-
715 g
ROG Ally X has the power to spare for portable gaming
It beats Steam Deck everywhere
Let’s face it, Steam Deck isn’t built with powerful hardware to begin with. Valve wanted to push the needle between usability and affordability, and it did, but every PC game since then has come with more power and battery capacity.
Sure, the ROG Ally X isn’t as power-hungry as the Steam Deck’s APU, but I’m still getting similar battery life thanks to the 80Whr battery. I currently have a 2TB SSD, but I really need to upgrade to 4TB, which the Steam Deck can’t do due to the small SSD format it uses.
But there are other things. The Wi-Fi chip in the ROG Ally X is much better than the Steam Deck, and the joysticks feel better to use (at least to me, who’s been glued to Xbox-style controllers for years). In desktop mode, SteamOS feels faster and games run better. I find the thicker design of the ROG Ally X better for long gaming sessions, even if it’s a few grams heavier.
The only thing that doesn’t work is the fingerprint sensor
I have to admit, it was fun to be able to unlock the ROG Ally X with the fingerprint sensor on the power button. I hate entering PINs or passwords on a touchscreen device and this took the friction away. Other than that, there’s no friction in SteamOS because it jumps right into game mode. If for whatever reason I decide to go back to Windows, the cloud setup from the BIOS works like a charm. Other than that, I don’t think I’ll go back because it works better with SteamOS.
SteamOS is fantastic, but even better on more powerful hardware
With SteamOS fully supporting the ROG Ally Xi, I can use my preferred operating system on handheld devices. on the device of my choicebut also without compromise. That’s a big deal, especially since the 1080p display on the Ally X has VRR for smooth frames even if it drops below a 120Hz refresh rate, since it’s still a low-power mobile chip. Should Valve even make a Steam Deck 2 since the OS runs on any other AMD-based hardware? Or can they continue to add support for Intel and Nvidia hardware and then we can choose to use SteamOS on our hardware of choice? Only time will tell, but until then I have close to 1200 games to play on the updated ROG Ally X.
