Hey guys,

Got an unusual opportunity and I’m not sure how to feel. I have a converted 64gb to 512gb lcd deck. I have a friend who had a ROG ally and decided to grab a steam deck oled. However, he wanted to give a christmas gift to his brother.

He proposed to do a trade. He would give me his ROG ally and ask my deck in return. The ally is NOT in perfect condition. The SD card reader is unreliable (works 1 time out of 2) but everything looks perfect. Battery is top notch (100% capacity) while my deck is at 90% already and my case is a little cracked. The reason why he doesnt just give his ally is his bro wants a console with almost no config. Just out of the box experience.

Is this a good trade? I’m a windows power user and aint afraid of it. I play pirated game, not demanding titles and old game mostly. I use Yuzu and ryujinx frequently on the deck and trying PS3 when it works.

I heard battery life is not great on the ally but my deck can’t hold a charge more than 1h30 at max using the deck. If the ally is battery equivalent regarding an OG deck since I’m missing 10% of my battery already, it seems like an easy trade.

However, I’m worried about the buttons and ergonomics. The steam deck dpad is ok in my book and the device is in general comfortable to hold. He showed me VRR inaction and while nice, it doesn’t bother my eyes too much. It’s cool but not a deal breaker…

The LCD deck screen is MUCH better thanks to the 3.5 update and its decent for me?

I could also just wait for the next handheld gen.

So…what would you do?

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