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00:00Just buy a Steam Deck OLED, right?
00:02I mean, beautiful OLED screen, you get a terabyte of storage in the higher-end model,
00:06easy to use, good value, and it just works.
00:09So is the Steam Deck OLED the best gaming handheld?
00:11Or should you go for one of these guys?
00:14We've got the MSI Claw, we've got the Lenovo Legion Go,
00:16the new ROG Ally X, as well as the original Ally,
00:20and also the original Steam Deck here.
00:22Four, five of the main gaming handheld options.
00:26And I'm going to run you through the pros and cons of each
00:28to hopefully help you figure out which one you should buy.
00:31And if you do find this video useful, a cheeky like and subscribe would be fantastic.
00:34And also leave links to all these in the description below.
00:37Let's kick off with the Steam Deck.
00:39And it's less of a question of why buy a Steam Deck and more why not.
00:43Because there are three big reasons why the Deck is still top of my list for most gamers out there.
00:48And that's the gorgeous OLED screen,
00:49the usability of running SteamOS rather than Windows 11,
00:53and also the price.
00:54Because this base model, the original LCD version of the Steam Deck OLED,
00:58you could pick this up for £350 for a full gaming PC.
01:03Although I would argue the new Steam Deck OLED with 1TB of storage
01:07is actually the best value for what you get.
01:09So essentially this Steam Deck OLED was a mid-life update,
01:12which brought a ton of upgrades like faster RAM, faster Wi-Fi,
01:16the OLED screen with HDR, much higher brightness, and also slimmer bezels,
01:19a jump from 60 to 90Hz, and also a much longer battery life.
01:24But what it has kept is the same 800p display,
01:27which does feel a little bit low resolution next to the competition.
01:31And while performance is impressive and a good match for the resolution,
01:34you will get a higher FPS in most games and more performance options on its rivals.
01:38The design is a bit boring.
01:40It's got this sort of prototype-y industrial aesthetic,
01:43all very plastic, but basically they're all plastic.
01:46What I do appreciate though is these quite chunky grips,
01:49much more comfortable to hold.
01:50And it does also come with a case if you buy the 1TB model.
01:53So not the flashiest design in the world, but it does the job.
01:57It's quite functional.
01:58But we do get a pair of touchpads, which really helps in games which favour mouse controls,
02:02plus we get extra buttons on the back and also a microSD card slot.
02:06There's also tons of accessories out there, like larger grips, external batteries,
02:10and docks for turning this into more of a desktop gaming PC.
02:13In a way, it's hard not to compare the Steam Deck with the Switch,
02:16because like Nintendo, Valve's combined control of hardware and software in the Game Store
02:21mean it all just works.
02:23SteamOS is fast and easy to use, with plenty of settings to customise it,
02:27and you can boot up and begin your games fast.
02:29We also get the Deck Verified system,
02:31that lets you know how well games will run before you actually buy or launch them,
02:34plus there's a control layer which maps the deck's controls to each game.
02:38And you can customise this yourself, or find alternatives made by the community.
02:41The whole thing is just awesome, and it takes a lot of the guesswork out of running games,
02:45and the best bit is you don't have to jump into Windows to switch games or adjust OS settings.
02:50Although, some games with launchers or anti-cheat apps can have issues launching on the Deck.
02:55Because rather than Windows, this runs LinuxOS,
02:58which also has a desktop you can access via the power button,
03:00and from here you can install apps like non-Steam launchers.
03:03And it's a good way to get your existing libraries onto the Deck,
03:06so you don't feel quite so tied into your Steam library in the Steam Store.
03:10The downside is that Linux doesn't have quite the same widespread app compatibility that Windows does.
03:15Although definitely give Emudeck a try,
03:17as it turns your Steam Deck into the perfect retro console emulator.
03:21So altogether, and also factoring in the price,
03:24the Steam Deck OLED is hard to argue with as being the best gaming handheld.
03:28But what about its closest rival, which I think right now is the brand new Ally X?
03:34This is also very much a mid-life refresh,
03:36like the OLED was to the original Deck over the original Ally.
03:40And while the processor and the screen hasn't changed, nearly everything else has.
03:44And the refinements add up to make it a far better experience.
03:47We're talking double the battery size, now 80 watt-hours,
03:50double the storage at a terabyte, 24 gigs of faster RAM,
03:54a full-size PCIe 4 SSD for cheaper and also larger drive upgrades,
03:58quieter fans, a new USB 4 port so you can connect it to external GPUs,
04:02louder speakers, and also faster 100 watt charging.
04:05Plus the controls and the grips have been improved for better comfort,
04:08and I would probably say the speakers on the Ally X are the best among all these handhelds.
04:12The downsides, though, of the Ally X are that it's a little bit thicker,
04:15a little bit heavier compared to the original,
04:17and also a little bit more expensive.
04:19But there are two main reasons why you should consider buying the Ally X,
04:22and that is the battery life.
04:24It is by far the best on test,
04:25and we'll come to some benchmarks in a second and side-by-side comparisons,
04:28but also the fact that this is the only gaming handheld that offers a variable refresh screen
04:33to smooth out your choppier frame rates, and it can make a big difference.
04:36But most importantly, it's that battery.
04:38The Ally X lasted over twice as long as the original Ally in my tests,
04:42and in less demanding games with a capped frame rate,
04:45you can comfortably get four to five hours.
04:47But it also gives you the option of cranking the performance up to the 25 watt turbo mode
04:51without worrying that it'll kill your battery life in, you know, 45 minutes.
04:55Now you'll get maybe an hour and a half, but still, it's like twice as long as the old one.
04:59And that's just kind of shifted my expectation of what we should expect
05:02for gaming handheld battery life.
05:04These all now need to catch up to the Ally X.
05:07Also the fact that we have more and faster RAM results in slightly higher frame rates,
05:11or at least smoother frame rates across the board.
05:13Plus the Armory Crate UI is pretty straightforward to use,
05:16and you've got tons of customization options.
05:18And so far, it's been relatively crash-free, actually.
05:21I think they've ironed out a lot of the bugs with the original Ally.
05:23Also a big update came to Armory Crate, which also went to the old one.
05:26So I would say it's probably the smoothest,
05:29least buggy experience that you'll get on a Windows handheld.
05:32Downsides?
05:32Well, it is more expensive.
05:34This will cost you 800 pounds.
05:36Same in dollars.
05:37Although I suspect if it's anything like the original Ally,
05:39over the next few months we might see some good deals.
05:41Also still an LCD screen.
05:43No OLED in sight.
05:44And for better or worse, it does still run Windows.
05:47Now Windows on handhelds gets a bad rap,
05:49but it does give you the option of easily installing other game launchers
05:52or any of the millions of compatible apps on Windows.
05:55I mean, this can be a full desktop PC if you plug in a dock.
05:58The trouble is navigating Windows on a screen this small
06:01without a touchpad like the Deck and Legion Go,
06:03it's fiddly.
06:04It's unintuitive.
06:05It's just rubbish.
06:07Still, all Windows handhelds are awkward,
06:09and I've probably had the fewest issues with the Ally X.
06:11Also with a big boost in battery life,
06:13the overall refinements,
06:14it's hard to argue that this actually isn't the best choice now,
06:18especially among the Windows competitors.
06:20But I wouldn't go as far as to say that the Ally X is a Steam Deck killer
06:23because there's just too many advantages of this.
06:25It's cheaper.
06:26We have the OLED screen.
06:27You get a case with it.
06:28A lot of people just prefer this Linux and SteamOS setup.
06:31It's much simpler to use and far fewer crashes and bugs.
06:34It's more of the iPhone of gaming handhelds
06:37versus a technically higher-end Android phone.
06:40Just a quick note on the original Ally.
06:42If you were thinking about maybe getting a discounted one,
06:44because you can get this for about 500 quid now,
06:47300 less than the Ally X,
06:48and it shares the same Z1 Extreme processor,
06:50same screen,
06:52and a very similar design,
06:53including the UI as well.
06:55So there are some reasons to buy it,
06:56but I probably wouldn't.
06:57For around this price,
06:58I would go with the Steam Deck OLED.
07:00And also there were some issues with earlier models,
07:02so perhaps avoid getting a pre-owned one or a used one
07:05because there were some microSD frying issues
07:08with early units coming out on this.
07:10They did resolve that eventually.
07:11It's not an issue so far on the Ally X.
07:13But my biggest issue with this
07:14is just the battery life kind of sucks.
07:16So yeah, for that kind of money, go for an OLED.
07:18If you've got a bit more to spend, get the Ally X.
07:20So it's fair to say that ASUS had a bit of a hard time,
07:23especially at launch with the original Ally.
07:25But also MSI,
07:26they've had a bit of a tough time with this Claw,
07:29especially at launch,
07:30because there were just tons of driver issues.
07:32And the problem with most original reviews for this guy
07:35is that like a week or two later,
07:36a big driver update came out,
07:38which quite significantly improved performance, actually.
07:40I've seen anything from 7% up to 30% increase in performance
07:44just through updates.
07:46It's clawing its way back, shall we say.
07:48And actually, this is the only gaming handheld
07:51that runs Windows 11 as well
07:52to not use the AMD Z1 Extreme processor.
07:55This uses an Intel chip,
07:56either the Core Ultra 5 135H with 512 gigs of storage,
08:00or the one I have here, the faster Ultra 7 155H
08:04with one terabyte of storage.
08:06So MSI have definitely caught up,
08:08but the frame rates are still generally lower than its rivals,
08:12especially in more demanding games,
08:14and especially the 1% loads.
08:16And a lot of the problem seems to stem
08:18from the graphics driver compatibility with each game,
08:21which is why Shadow of the Tomb Raider
08:22and a couple of other games
08:23were within one or two FPS of the other devices,
08:26yet Fortnite was half what I got on the other devices.
08:30And it is interesting that sometimes
08:31I'm not seeing any performance difference
08:33between balanced and performance modes,
08:35which suggests we're just having optimization issues.
08:38It's the Intel chip that just isn't that well optimized
08:40in this kind of hardware.
08:41It was a brave choice from MSI,
08:43and I would love to see an MSI Claw 2
08:46with one of Intel's upcoming Lunar Lake chips,
08:48which is supposed to boost the graphics,
08:50the Intel Arc graphics by like 50%.
08:52So I would love to see that.
08:53But for now, the performance, the stabilization,
08:57the optimization on the Claw does hold it back.
09:00It's still Windows 11 though,
09:01and we get MSI's Center M app,
09:03which is pretty good now,
09:04even if it's not quite as slick as the others.
09:07And the design has been pretty good as well.
09:08And one advantage of this huge vent on the back here,
09:12pretty much the whole back of it is a vent,
09:13is that it does run cool and very quietly.
09:16Even on higher power modes,
09:17the overall audio experience is actually really polished.
09:23Like the Ally X, we're also getting a TTP 120 hertz screen,
09:26although it doesn't support variable refresh rates
09:29like the Ally does.
09:30But I like what MSI has done,
09:32and I think over time, this will keep getting better.
09:34So it is still worth considering the MSI Claw.
09:37Ally X on the end, then the MSI Claw,
09:40Steam Deck OLED, original Ally,
09:42which means we now get to talk about the Legion Go.
09:45This is by far the most unique gaming handheld,
09:48and I kind of love it actually.
09:50By far the biggest with an 8.8 inch 16 by 10,
09:53so a little bit taller IPS display,
09:56meaning an almost 50% bigger screen area than the Steam Deck,
09:59and 66% larger than the Claw, Ally, and Ally X,
10:02which just makes your games feel so much more immersive.
10:05Plus it has the highest resolution, 1600p,
10:07and also the highest refresh rate at 144 hertz.
10:10But then it does still use the same Z1 Extreme processor
10:13as the original Ally and also the Ally X,
10:15and actually I think with the boost in RAM
10:17and the faster RAM on there,
10:18you'll get a slightly smoother performance out of the Ally X.
10:21And also as nice as this screen is,
10:23it is still LCD, doesn't have the benefit of OLED,
10:25and also it doesn't have VRR like we get on the Allies.
10:28But I have to say, using Windows on this bigger,
10:31high-res screen is much nicer.
10:33The touchpad makes all the difference for navigating around.
10:35We get two fast USB 4 ports,
10:37one on the top, one on the bottom for flexibility.
10:40But like the first gen of all of these basically,
10:42the Legion Go did have some issues at launch,
10:45again with drivers, bugs, crashes,
10:47performance not being where it should be.
10:49These are all basically first gen devices
10:51in an entirely new category.
10:52Only now are we seeing like 1.5 versions of a couple of them.
10:56But now the Legion Go is light years better,
10:59it's quieter, the UI is great,
11:00with plenty of tweaking options and power profiles.
11:03Although I did get games going into weird-shaped windows
11:06sometimes when changing resolution.
11:07The grips are nice and comfortable,
11:09the buttons feel good.
11:10And of course, Legion Go's party trick
11:12is its Switch-style detachable controllers.
11:14Although possibly my favourite feature is
11:17just the simple kickstand.
11:18It's the only one with a kickstand.
11:20It's very nice, especially when you have the detached controllers
11:23and you can use them remotely.
11:24What I don't like so much is that the extra size,
11:27the extra weight,
11:27means it does become less comfortable to hold
11:29for longer sessions
11:31and also a little bit awkward to carry around.
11:33It also needs a 1TB option as well.
11:35The 512GB storage filled up in no time in my testing,
11:38plus the SSD isn't the standard 2280 size,
11:41so upgrades are a little bit pricier
11:43with fewer high-capacity options.
11:45I also don't think the sound quality
11:46is quite as good as the others,
11:48thanks to the speakers being on the top
11:49rather than facing towards you.
11:51And the battery life was,
11:52well, second from bottom here.
11:54Only beating the original Ally.
11:56Still though, I really like the Legion Go.
11:58It just offers something a little bit different
12:00that you don't get on the rivals.
12:01The detachable controllers, the flip stand,
12:03just the sheer size and beauty of this screen.
12:06Although as I say again, it's not OLED or VRR.
12:09So I really like the Legion Go.
12:10Genuinely do.
12:11I think with the detachable controllers,
12:12the kickstand,
12:13the size of that screen,
12:15having a touchpad here,
12:17the UI,
12:18it's a much nicer experience than when it was at launch.
12:20Really, really good all-rounder.
12:22The problem is, among all of these,
12:23is that I'm just now a bit spoiled
12:25by the battery life on the LAX.
12:27Now, while I do have six gaming handhelds
12:29on the table in front of me here,
12:31there are other options.
12:33For example, the AONEO Kun is an absolute beast
12:36with its 8.4-inch screen,
12:37dual trackpads,
12:39and it kind of feels like a Steam Deck XL,
12:41only much, much more expensive.
12:44Still, it looks great
12:45and I'd love to get my hands on one,
12:46but I can't actually buy it here in the UK.
12:48Alternatively, there's the Logitech G Cloud.
12:51Although this is more designed for streaming
12:53than gaming on it locally.
12:55And if you want handheld gaming on a tight budget,
12:57then maybe grab a controller for your phone,
12:59like a Backbone or a Razer Kishi.
13:01Although that's not really the same thing, is it?
13:02I don't want to play mobile games.
13:04Speaking of gaming, though,
13:05while I have these here,
13:06how do these compare in terms of performance
13:09and real-world gaming?
13:10Well, except for the Steam Deck,
13:11the processors in these guys
13:13all have very similar levels of performance,
13:15on paper at least.
13:16And I tested each game
13:17using the 15 to 17-watt kind of balance mode
13:19and also the circa 25-watt performance preset modes.
13:23And most of the time,
13:24frame rate difference comes down to the power limit
13:26or the RAM speed
13:27or the cooling systems
13:28and the fan curves.
13:29Overall, the Li-X comes out on top by a few frames
13:32with the OG Li,
13:33a couple of frames behind that on average,
13:35and then the Legion Go behind that.
13:37Although the differences aren't significant,
13:39but a few extra frames here and there
13:41does make the experience feel more polished.
13:43The Steam Deck OLED is very well-optimized,
13:45being able to hit similar frame rates
13:47with its lower default TDP
13:49as the others at much higher power limits.
13:51And it's consistent.
13:52You're not seeing as many big frame drops.
13:54And also support for FSR 2 and 3
13:56and XDSS in some games
13:58means even though the Steam Deck OLED
14:00is technically the least powerful,
14:02it's still a great gaming experience.
14:04As for battery life,
14:05while I ran a looped F1 24 race
14:08at 720p and 50% brightness
14:10using mid-power modes,
14:11the first to drop was the Ally
14:13at just one hour and 20 minutes.
14:14Then the Legion Go at an hour 45,
14:16followed by the MSI Claw at two hours,
14:19then the Steam Deck OLED at two hours 15,
14:21while the ROG Ally X
14:22achieved a heroic three hours.
14:25So the Ally X not only lasts longest,
14:27but is on average the fastest as well.
14:30I mean, obviously this is a mid-life refresh.
14:32We haven't had the benefit of that
14:33on the Legion Go or the MSI Claw yet.
14:35The Ally X is a very tempting option.
14:39We're nearly done, I promise.
14:40But just a few quick tips before I wrap up.
14:42Number one,
14:43go for the biggest storage option you possibly can,
14:45because after you've got
14:46three or four games installed,
14:48you will easily fill up an internal
14:49512 gig storage drive.
14:51So either expand it with micro SD,
14:53which you can,
14:54that is certainly the cheapest way of doing it.
14:55And it's kind of like having cartridges
14:57where you can have a bunch of games
14:58installed on different SD cards
14:59and switch them out.
15:00You will get slightly lower performance,
15:02slightly longer battery times,
15:03because obviously the read and write
15:04is slower than internal drive.
15:06But try and get the biggest storage option possible
15:08or expand it yourself afterwards.
15:10Tip number two,
15:11and your battery life can be significantly improved
15:13if you cap the frame rate
15:15to either 30, 45, or 60 FPS.
15:17And if you are playing older or less intensive games,
15:20then use the lowest power setting.
15:21Tip number three,
15:22get yourself a big external power bank
15:24so you can plug in and use these for much, much longer.
15:28And also then you can take it out,
15:29charge it separately,
15:30and you don't always have to carry it around with you.
15:31But an external battery can give these guys
15:33a big boost to their battery.
15:35Tip number four,
15:36have a look at getting a dock.
15:38This can help prop up your handheld
15:39and also provides extra ports
15:40so you can drop it in and use it like a desktop PC.
15:43And it opens up a whole new way of using it.
15:45Tip number five,
15:46and while you can, of course,
15:47play all your games locally on these devices,
15:49don't forget you can also stream your games
15:51from GeForce Now or Xbox Cloud Gaming.
15:53It is a little bit harder to access this on the Steam Deck OLED.
15:56Definitely an advantage of going for a Windows-based device,
15:58having the different game stores
16:00and access to streaming apps.
16:01And because you're streaming it,
16:02it's not using the entire processor nearly as much,
16:04so you'll get much longer battery life.
16:06But of course,
16:06you will need a fast and reliable internet connection.
16:08And also these services are subscription-based,
16:11so you'll have to pay for them.
16:12Tip number six,
16:13use upscaling and also frame generation tech
16:15where possible.
16:16Because more and more games are implementing AMD's FSR2
16:19or FSR3 with frame gen
16:21or Intel's XCSS.
16:23Upscaling tech basically gives you more performance for free.
16:26Tip number seven,
16:27and if you're playing a game through the Steam library
16:29on any of these guys,
16:30then use Steam's big picture mode
16:31because that puts you in basically the same UI interface
16:35as you get with a Steam Deck
16:36and is much nicer to use.
16:37Number eight,
16:38and handhelds are great for emulating old consoles.
16:41It can take a bit of time to set up,
16:43but it opens up a whole world of older games.
16:46And breathe,
16:47that was a lot to take in.
16:48Now, in terms of whether you should buy one now
16:50or wait a little bit longer,
16:51well, I think now's as good a time as any.
16:54I suspect we won't see new devices
16:56from any of these companies
16:57until maybe the second half,
17:00second quarter of next year
17:01because we still need a new chip to come
17:03from either Intel with Lunar Lake
17:04or more likely AMD with,
17:06say, their Z2 Extreme processor.
17:08That's not even been confirmed yet.
17:09So as soon as that's available,
17:10then we'll have to build the units.
17:12So there's no problem with buying one now.
17:14But I can't finish this video
17:15without telling you which one I would buy.
17:17I think if I didn't own any of these,
17:18I was going to jump into my first gaming handheld,
17:21I would buy the Steam Deck OLED.
17:23It's much cheaper.
17:24It's a really simple and nice UI.
17:26Lovely OLED screen.
17:27But if battery life is incredibly important
17:29and you do often play games
17:30from other game launchers
17:32and you just want that versatility of Windows
17:34as buggy and slightly awkward to use as it is,
17:36then I think the AliEx is an equally good option.
17:38I don't think either is better than the other.
17:41They just give you slightly different things.
17:42But what do you think?
17:43Which one would you go for?
17:44And if you do own one of these,
17:45let me know in the comments below
17:46what your experience has been like
17:48and whether you'd recommend it to someone else.
17:50Thank you so much for watching, guys.
17:51If you enjoyed the video,
17:52a like and subscribe would be fantastic.
17:53And I'll see you next time right here on The Tech Chat.