When the Steam Deck launched last year, it turned heads, showing gamers how well handheld PC gaming on the go could work. It didn't run Windows (unless you installed it yourself) and was limited to Steam games (again, unless you installed Windows). But it ran games well enough on low settings to turn heads, and Valve's hardware and software integration was well executed.
Now, Asus is fresh out of the gate with the first serious competitor to the Steam Deck in the Asus ROG Ally, a Windows 11-based gaming handheld using a new AMD chip, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme (starting with a lower-end Z1).
While neither are as powerful as the best gaming PCs, it's clear that the burgeoning handheld gaming market has struck a nerve. If you're looking to buy one of these devices, here's how they stacked up following our extensive benchmarking and reviews.
