Steam Deck OLED Alternatives
Not sold on the Steam Deck OLED? These are the alternatives we would consider instead, with the specific reason to prefer each.
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If the Steam Deck OLED is not quite right, these are the Gaming we would look at instead, and the specific reason you might prefer each one.
Why you might look elsewhere
The most common reason people move on from the Steam Deck OLED is straightforward: raw performance now trails the Windows handhelds. If that is a problem for how you work, one of the alternatives below will suit you better.
The alternatives
| Model | Price | Score | Why choose it instead |
|---|---|---|---|
| ROG Ally X | £799 | 4 / 5 | The fastest handheld we have measured |
| Switch OLED | £309 | 4 / 5 | The lightest console here by a clear margin |
| PlayStation 5 Slim | £479 | 4 / 5 | The DualSense haptics are still the best controller feedback in gaming |
| Xbox Series X | £479 | 4 / 5 | Game Pass is the best value in gaming and nothing is close |
| Xbox Series S | £249 | 4 / 5 | The cheapest route into current-generation gaming by a wide margin |
If you want to spend less
The Switch OLED at £309 saves you £170. You give up some capability, but it delivers the lightest console here by a clear margin.
If you can stretch further
The ROG Ally X at £799 costs £320 more and adds the fastest handheld we have measured.
On the numbers that actually differ
Two devices in the same bracket usually share most of their specification sheet. These are the entries where they genuinely diverge, which is the only part of the comparison worth your time.
| Specification | Steam Deck OLED | ROG Ally X |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £479 | £799 |
| Our score | 5 / 5 | 4 / 5 |
| Released | 2023 | 2024 |
| Display | 7.4in OLED, 90Hz, 1000 nits HDR | 7in IPS, 120Hz, 500 nits |
| Chip | Custom AMD Zen 2 / RDNA 2 | AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme |
| RAM | 16GB LPDDR5 | 24GB LPDDR5X |
| Storage | 512GB NVMe | 1TB NVMe |
| Weight | 640g | 678g |
| Battery | 50Wh | 80Wh |
| Play time | 3h 40m in demanding titles | 3h 10m in demanding titles |
The cost of switching
Changing manufacturer is rarely just the price difference. Budget for the accessories that will not carry over, an afternoon of migration, and a fortnight of not knowing where anything is. On Valve hardware specifically, the things that transfer least well are the settings you configured once and forgot about — they are invisible until they are missing. None of that is a reason to stay put, but it is a reason not to switch over a specification you would struggle to explain to someone else.
When to stay with the Steam Deck OLED
It remains the right choice if you are anyone with a large Steam library who wants it to just work. Nothing in this list beats it on that specific point.
Behind this page
This reference page is written from the same testing notes as the reviews it supports, and it is revised whenever the hardware or the software underneath it changes. Where a figure appears here it has been measured rather than quoted from a specification sheet.
If something on this page no longer matches what you are seeing, it is out of date rather than disputed — tell us and it gets checked again.
Related reading
The reviews this page supports go into the measurements behind these figures, and the knowledge base collects every reference page we keep.
Elsewhere in alternatives: Surface Pro 11 Alternatives, Switch OLED Alternatives and TP-Link Deco XE75 Alternatives.