Alright, this guy is the brand new ASUS ROG ally and I have to say I'm quite impressed what ASUS has brought to the table. This is a portable Windows gaming device and this is also a competitor to this Steam Deck. So in this video as I get my first look at it, I've only had it for basically two days guys. So I'm going to be doing a first look comparison against the Steam Deck. Now if you join us for the first time, this is Thunder E here at Border Work and we do videos like this where we cover a lot of gaming, gaming devices and audio and if you want to watch more videos like this, hit the subscribe button and notification icon. So let's take a closer look at the ROG ally and here we have this device that has a very very cool layout, a 7 inch display, 120 hertz. You can see the layout there, it's got the split joysticks like the Xbox. The deep pad is one of concern because it's more of a solid block which I'm not a big fan of. We do have of course some action buttons here on the side there for in total. X, Y, B, A, your speakers are here. We'll get to the screen back in a second. Now at the very top here of the device, you do have your micro SDX for expansion. This version is the 512 version with the Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor and I'll tell you about the pricing in the second. So we have micro SD expansion which is going to be necessary for PC games because they're super huge. Headphone jack, volume toggle, this is the USB port as well as also the AeroG external GPU port which you can connect it to which is pretty cool. Power button with SD card reader. You've got of course your right bumpers, left bumpers, your shoulder buttons here for each one. And then you've got two adaptable buttons at the back here and you've got basically a fan that sucks in air and then you've got air that pumps out right here. So basically none of the heat at the back of the device for you but actually the heat pushes out in front which is great. Now on the downside, I wish it had two USB ports. I wish it had one at the bottom and I wish she also had one at the top which it does. So let's talk about the price. This is priced at a lovely $700 for the highest version which I have here with the Ryzen Z1 Extreme while the regular Ryzen Z1 is 650. So what do you think about that price set and how does that compare of course to the Steam Deck. Now with the Steam Deck which I have right here, our Steam Deck here comes in, starts at a much lower price point and goes all the way to 650 dollars. It's only 50 dollars cheaper than the Steam Deck. Now before we get into that main comparison, let's take a look at some of the software features that we have here because software is really important. As I mentioned, this is running off Windows 11. As you can clearly see it's a full Windows based system. And the main benefit of this device is that you can install any of your other game services on here. That is something you cannot do on your Steam Deck or Steam Deck and run Steam and games that are compatible on that version of Steam. Here this is full Windows gaming as you expect. So I can go in and I can show you all the different services that I have. You can see it right here. We have of course Xbox Game Pass. We have EA Play Store Steam, Epic Games Ubisoft. So you can install as many of the platforms as you want and you can play your games directly. That is a huge benefit. But it's just has also done a really good job with the AmoCreat software. So you can see I can go in and look at System here and I can see my system here. It says 1080p and here's the funny thing. If I go ahead and quickly switch this to 720, this here will switch over to 720. So it basically represents what I'm actually doing on the device at this point in time. Now your refresh rate can toggle between 60 to 120. And as you can see how quickly it is for me to navigate the software, that is one of the biggest selling points I do like about this. Quickly easy to jump in and jump out with whatever game you're playing and also customize it as much as you want. Your edit command center to edit your quick action buttons. And of course you have your game library. And this allows you to play any of the games you want to play quite effectively. So whether you're playing you know you're playing Warzone and playing Warzone 2 on BattleNet, you can actually do that. And that's actually great or even in jumping into a game like Halo Infinite or your playing Fortress Horizon. You can really get into those games. Now how does this stack against the Steam Deck? You have something that's quite interesting. In terms of size, the Steam Deck is slightly larger. And the same Steam Deck also has more buttons in control. So we look at it here. We have more of a PlayStation style analog setup with the buttons higher up. And then we have a 7-inch display, but it is 60 hertz and 720 hertz you have there. We do also have the track pads here at the bottom. And we have a deep pad that I feel is much better. X, Y, B button. We do have of course bumpers here, which are kind of flats. I do prefer the Asus's bumpers, triggers of the back, and then we have four customizable buttons at the back here. So we do have that USB port at the very top and a micro SD card for expansion at the bottom. So in terms of hardware, they are kind of similar with the Steam Deck being larger. When it comes to temperature, I feel like both of them run at really good temperatures. Though the Steam Deck feels a little bit warmer at the bottom because that's what you get most of the heat. While of course the Asus pushes the air out from the very top here. So that is actually pretty nice to see that you don't feel that at the bottom. Now what about game performance? This is where it gets really interesting in just what you get. So I decided to look at two Steam games that you can actually play on both because of course both can run Steam. And yes, for those who are going to say that yes, you can also play install Windows on there. Yes, you can. But of course that is something you have to look, learn, and do if you want to. So that's the separation there. But we go into our Steam library, we're going to check out Tomb Raider and we're going to check out Doom Eternal. So I'm with the Steam Deck. Steam Deck does a solid performance. It's under 50 frames per second. It's 720p as you know with the display. While the ally does higher at 720p and the display is also locked to 60 frames per second. Now when we go to a game like Doom Eternal, we find something a little bit different where Steam Deck is just locked to 60 frames per second, 720p, and with the settings, doesn't matter if I go from low or ultra nightmare, it's still at 60 frames per second. The ally on the other hand, running at 720p and between low to ultra nightmare, you're going to see the frame rate dip lower than 60 frames per second but also goes higher than 60 frames per second as well. So that's something to take note. When you go to 1080p, you're getting a performance somewhere roughly around 35 to 40 frames per second. So that's something to take note. Now you're wondering, okay, what about 120 hertz gaming? Now this is where of course it depends on your performance and your settings and depends on the game you're playing. I know my buddy SuperSaf played Red Dead Redemption and that ran pretty well on there. The one thing I'll mention is just that performance wise, this actually does a very, very good job. Look, I'm not discounting the Steam Deck and I think the Steam Deck is a solid device. For people who are looking to game and on the go as a PC game and also have a slightly smaller budget because you can go on a cheaper level with a $450 price range but if you want your best bang for your buck, this is it right here. That's what this actually brings to the table because you've got something that allows you to play on any of the game stores you want to and again, you have full fledged windows which means you can do more with it. Yes, you can side-load windows on the Steam Deck but it's something you have to do as an extra step which you don't have to do here on this device. Performance wise, playing games like Halo and Fortesah Horizon, I was able to get solid 60 frames per second. If you're gaming with the refresh rate at 120 hertz, you're going to notice a huge power drain with this. It's much faster on this device at that range. In terms of battery life, I was gaining about an hour 30 minutes or hour 45 in terms of just gameplay with some of the heavier games I played, whether it was, you know, Doom Eternal, whether it was shot of the Tomb Raider. So you get the idea of what this actually brings to the table. Overall, I love the performance of this device and I like the price scene especially for the Z1 Extreme which is what I would recommend to anyone. Definitely go ahead and pick that up. It's only $700. Here's the link for you guys down below. If you have any questions or any comments or you think overall, the Steam Deck is better, leave your thoughts down below. I want to know exactly why I still think Steam has done a really good job but I'm glad to see competition. Now some of you ask me what about the A&NEO Plus? I do have that but I ran into some issues with my device which is why I did not include it in this video but once I do, I will do another video and I will actually bring that to the table and see how you guys feel about it. So yeah, again, thank you and always enjoy your entertainment.