I love the Steam Deck. I reserved one the day it was first revealed and was fortunate enough to have mine shipped fairly early on. I've had it for two and a half years now, and it's still the handheld I would recommend to most people. It's just so easy to use, but it has limitations. One of those is that I can't play Black Ops 6 on it. With the ROG Ally at its lowest ever price on both sides of the Atlantic, I'm getting close to pulling the trigger.
I prefer Steam OS, but it can't play Black Ops 6 (or Game Pass titles)
I flat out prefer Steam OS. The UI is just so much better on a handheld than the current implementation of Windows 11 with custom apps from the likes of ASUS or Lenovo layered over the top. Most of my games are in Steam, too, and it's not a massive issue getting other launchers such as Battle.net or Epic Games on there, either. Linux is almost never the roadblock.
Until it is. And it's usually down to anticheat software, like Ricochet, used in Black Ops 6. Not all anticheat is blocked on Linux, but it's hardly something good, and it's only getting worse. Call of Duty flat out doesn't work on Steam Deck, neither does Fortnite, Destiny 2, and now Apex Legends, a game which had previously been Deck Verified. Mostly I've told myself I don't care, and until Black Ops 6 landed, I honestly didn't.
Black Ops 6 might be what's currently eating up all my gaming time, but it's also re-opened my eyes to how much I use Xbox Game Pass, both on PC and console. Something else I can't do on the Steam Deck unless I either install Windows, or use the cloud. The reason I'm playing Black Ops 6 at all is because it's in Game Pass. I didn't need to drop $70 to then not enjoy it. Maybe I'm getting tight-fisted in my old age, but if a new release isn't on Game Pass, I'm immediately less interested of late.
By all accounts, Black Ops 6 on the ROG Ally seems to be a pretty decent experience, too. It'll run at 60 FPS well enough, thanks to the performance offered by the AMD Z1 Extreme inside, which we already know is a step up from the AMD hardware the Steam Deck uses. It's unlikely to be my go-to for ranked play, but for a chilled out session in Zombies on the couch, I think it'd be ideal.
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The Windows 11 price premium has now gone away
Even for someone in this business, the ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go, have been hard to justify on price alone. That Windows 11 tax priced them both way above what I paid for my Steam Deck. Black Friday has equalized that, though, meaning I'm now close to pulling the trigger.
That makes the ROG Ally extremely tempting, because it'll be more powerful, have a better display, and have more storage out of the box than my current Steam Deck. I also prefer the stick layout on the ROG Ally, with the offset design used on Xbox controllers something I've come to absolutely need in my life whenever possible. I do with the Ally had touchpads, though, because they'd be more useful there than they are (to me) on the Steam Deck. Windows 11 isn't built for tiny touch displays at all.
I was all but convinced after my time with the ROG Ally X, but the price tag of the newer version was never something I'd be submitting to. Now I can get the original version for 399 in the UK, I don't think I'll be able to hold out for much longer.
My love for the Steam Deck will never go away, but at this price, I'd find it impossible not to recommend the ROG Ally instead. While Windows 11 is more frustrating to use on a handheld, the fact it'll support all the games without workarounds or anticheat related walls makes it a no-brainer.
