Don't wanna be rude but this is a pretty misleading take. This article makes up the Steam Deck to be this ultra limited device with a locked down OS with only a small selection of games being playable. Neither is true. It's a PC, it runs Linux. There's no imposed limitations and the only gaming related service you're locked out of is Xbox Game Pass, literally everything else is accessible. Same applies to the games, you can attempt to install and run every single game be it on Steam, Epic, GOG, whatever. The Verified program is just a certification done by Valve per game that guarantees compatibility, that's it. Doesn't mean non verified games aren't compatible. The vast majority of games I personally play on my Deck are unverified and even all out unsupported, and every single one works flawlessly. Not a single game has been unplayable (nor in anyway worse than Windows) in my experience, only issues you may come across is a very few specific selection of games with certain unique anti cheat implementations. Let's be honest too: Windows is just not a good handheld experience. SteamOS is.
But wait, there's more. The argument made here to choose the Ally is freedom and performance. If we humor my perspective here, then we've established that freedom in this case is literally only having access to Game Pass, so that can be disregarded by most people (and if it's valuable to you, you can install Windows on the Deck). Imo then the only relevant and true point left here then throughout the entire article is perf. Yes, Ally is considerably faster than the Deck... When running at double the TDP with sub hour battery life. So yeah, if you're looking for a desktop PC the Ally isn't too bad
These devices are handheld, they're meant to be portable. You need significant battery life and efficiency for that. Steam Deck is pretty much the only PC handheld that does this while still providing significant performance per watt with a sizeable battery. Since the Ally can't compete with this even at identical TDP, then the performance point becomes fairly meaningless since it negates the entire handheld capability of the device. So in my eyes, all combined I can't see an argument here that really holds up for why the Ally would be the best handheld device.
And this is despite it actively ignoring all the pros of the Deck such as the software experience, ergonomics, efficiency, perf per watt, accessibility, customizability, value, display, audio, QC, customer support, community, mods, repairability etc. which are all miles ahead of the competition including the Ally. The Ally isn't a bad device and it's a good fit for some people, and if someone thinks it's better than anything else then that's great for them. The Deck also has its own flaws of course that are equally important to highlight. But this article to me just felt kinda biased and imo misleading. For some, the Ally is best. Meanwhile for some (I'd argue most but whatever) the Deck is best. But please try to cover both as completely, equally and accurately as possible before making purchasing suggestions.