DF Weekly: Hands-on with the Asus ROG Ally – Is It a Real Competitor to the Steam Deck?
DF Direct Weekly #101 is here, and this week’s episode is packed with exciting news. In this episode, our hosts, John Linneman, Alex Battaglia and Rich Leadbetter share their thoughts on the recently launched Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Sharp’s new unannounced console display, and A Plague Tale: Requiem’s new 60fps performance mode.
The main focus of this blog post is the Asus ROG Ally – a hot topic in the gaming world. Many are wondering if it’s a real competitor to the Steam Deck. Rich Leadbetter, Digital Foundry’s Technology Editor, had the opportunity to test the Asus ROG Ally. At first, he encountered an issue where the unit couldn’t run on a 15W performance mode while plugged into the mains. After removing the power cable, he got 18-20% frame-rate boost, making the results much more plausible and requiring a full re-test of the 15W performance preset.
However, the issue didn’t stop Rich from comparing the Asus ROG Ally against one of the hottest handheld gaming PCs on the market: the Steam Deck. The results were interesting, and he found a significant increase in performance of up to 33% in Forza Horizon 5’s high TAA settings. Though there are bugs to resolve on the Asus ROG Ally, it has an extra level of performance that can take games that are ‘too big for Steam Deck’ back into the realms of playability.
Of course, the main question is whether the Asus ROG Ally is a real competitor to the Steam Deck. While it comes with a 1080p 120Hz VRR screen that is undoubtedly better than the Steam Deck’s equivalent, accessing its full potential will require a massive hit to battery life. It is a reminder that the core architecture of the Asus ROG Ally was designed for laptops, and Valve is content with the Steam Deck’s APU’s performance profile. Still, based on the benchmark above, this is a force to be reckoned with, and more information about the Asus ROG Ally will undoubtedly surface soon.
DF Direct Weekly #101 was exciting, and it had more topics worth mentioning. John Linneman shared his recent acquisition of an old Bang and Olufsen CRT, which comes with a motorised rotating base that adds to the back-breaking mass. Additionally, they received numerous requests to revisit all of the PC ports that arrived in such a rough state this year, while they took issue with social media from publishers looking to apply some of the blame for poor performance to users’ hardware.
In conclusion, the Asus ROG Ally’s performance and battery life indicate that it could be a real competitor to the Steam Deck. Nonetheless, more information and reviews are needed before any definitive conclusion can be reached. Stay tuned for further updates.
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The material in this article is written on the basis of another article.
Ink Alchemist