Hi friends! If you're interested in purchasing anything that I mentioned in the video then here are some affiliate links: 🔥ASUS ROG Ally X: howl.link/kz1tegfbg48jo 🔥ASUS ROG Ally (Old Model): howl.link/jizal5p51k98t 🔥ASUS ROG Ally (Old Model) (Amazon): amzn.to/48NY6c4 🔥Lenovo Legion Go: howl.link/kz1tegfbg48jo 3rd Party Docks: 🔥JSAUX Docking Station: amzn.to/3EyFAIJ 🔥JSAUX Omnicase 2: amzn.to/3JksBMW 🔥iVoler Docking Station: amzn.to/3khmRKN SSD: 🔥SABRENT Rocket 2230 NVMe 4.0 1TB: amzn.to/3JnQQtH 🔥Samsung - 990 PRO 4TB: howl.me/cmyJy2SS9S5 microSD Cards: 🔥Samsung 512 GB A2: amzn.to/3KFXXPs 🔥SanDisk 1TB A2: amzn.to/3lXjx7Y Handheld Wireless Keyboards: 🔥Rii K06 Mini Bluetooth Keyboard: amzn.to/468HKuH 🔥Gimibox Mini Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard: amzn.to/46p0JRZ 🔥Rii X8 Portable 2.4GHz Wireless Keyboard: amzn.to/3PgQ5GJ 65W Power Banks: 🔥Baseus Power Bank 20000mAh: amzn.to/3CBfByL 🔥UGREEN Power Bank 25000mAh: amzn.to/3qQyMSG 🔥Anker Portable Charger 24,000mAh: amzn.to/3Pmej2m If you use these links to purchase anything, I may get a commission from the sale. It helps support the channel at no extra cost to you, so thank you!
I remember playing tekken dark tournament on the psp and was so blown by how much was going in the screen! To play a game like tekken 8 on a handheld like this is insane to me how far gaming on handhelds has come in 10+ years.
For the issue of touching the screen while using the right stick, I've had that problem with my Ally. I was hoping ASUS would add a small dead zone approx 200 pixels wide on the edges of the screen while using the joysticks to prevent this from happening.
Ah, my old friend Asus! I have the original Rog Ally and for the most part it worked very well save for the micro sd slot. Sent it in for repair under warranty and had it fixed and thereafter, it never worked properly again. As much as I liked the unit, I learned my lesson. The consumer shouldn't need to spend hours troubleshooting products like this that cost so much money. I was tempted to buy the Rog Ally X but something told me to just cool my jets. For the time being, I'm stuck using my Steamdeck as that simply works with no issue. I purchased the Rog Ally because I could also play Uplay, GOG, Steam, EA, Epic games whereas Steam is designed for Steam games primarily. Also, don't get me started on Armoury Crate SE!!!! Loads of fun launching Armoury Crate SE to a blank screen requiring a hard restart. For now, I'll enjoy watching these videos where at least the units being shown seem to work as advertised. Asus needs to get it together!
I love my ally x so much. I’ve been using it since last Friday and I have not had a single issue with it. Already upgrade it to a 4tb 990 pro. The only issue I have is the accidental touch on the screen. I pray they add an option to disable it in the menu because i see a few people who want this also.
Yes! I'm glad I'm not the only one that's had that issue with the touchscreen. I hope they add a toggle to turn it off in the Command Center. Congrats on the purchase!
It should be easy. You just backup your data and turn it off, remove the back, swap the drive, and there's a ASUS Cloud backup that you can do in the BIOS. From there you should be good to go. www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-replace-rog-ally-x-ssd/
Got mine yesterday and the SD card won’t show up when I plug it in, and today for some reason when navigating Starfield and Armoury Crate using both the D-pad and Joystick it would glitch and I would end up in different places on the UI sometimes missing certain options and leaping over them. Battery is amazing though
I’ve been loving the OG ally but I do prefer the desktop experience for now. The battery is just too annoying to me. I’m excited for the Switch 2 though for sure. If you need more copyright free music that’s what we do man. Great vid keep it up.
Man I think I got stung by the Asus lottery. at 1080p low I'm seeing similar numbers in Elden Ring, I'm quite sad about that. Would Asus even replace the unit for underperforming?
Been eagerly awaiting your video review, sorry you had a bad unit. Baldur's Gate 3 is one of my favorite games, what should we expect you think with our unit? Mine came yesterday and I just want to make sure I didn't get a dud either 😅.
Thanks! I appreciate that. If you get better frames than what I showed, then you'll have a good unit. The difference between the sample unit and the production unit is so vast. You'll see a much better experience, I think anyways. I'm in the middle of Act 3. It's such a sense and vast area.
I've been super curious about this one, it's just a bit out of my price range at the moment.. Hopefully by the time I have some money, there will be a "Lite" version that stands up to the X in performance! ^_^ 💚
@baldlyrudy One can only hope, dream, and beg!! 😆 Currently in a thread on Twitter trying to get news on if Retroid is dropping a Flip 2 this year or not, speaking of.. 💚
I'm super excited for the Ally X. Will be using it as a desktop replacement. Selling off a yoga 7 pro. Code, design and game on the same device. Either run Linux with bazzite and Windows via VM, or dual boot. Former probably the best solution.
The ONE thing that I wish the Ally X had was an OLED screen. The screen, even without VRR, looks so much better on the Steam Deck OLED. But in terms of performance, it's better. If you want an average of 10-15fps more on the games that you play, then the Ally X is worth it. But for light weight games, I prefer the Steam Deck OLED. It's just a better handheld as a whole. Now...if you install Bazzite on the Ally X, then it's a whole different conversation.
I would get one of these windows handhelds if they release an optimised version of windows…untill then i’ll keep rocking my SDO😊 it runs fantastic so far
It's been near impossible to get my hands on one, with no stores having any inventory even on launch day. Yesterday after visiting 3 stores, I finally got one. Looking forward to when you get the replacement, wondering what the actual issue is, possibly just lost the silicon lottery and ended up with a poorly performing Z1E APU. I've got my original ally out getting things replaced in it because of the SD card reader issue, looking forward to getting it back so I can run it against my new X and see the numbers, and see how I faired in the lottery of parts.
This may sound cynical but when I first heard about the difference between the test unit and the retail unit, my instinct was that they sent more powerful test units to TH-camrs and tech people than they were actually producing. I'm probably definitely wrong but that's just where my mind went lol
For my first handheld device should i get the ally x 🤔 i wanna play red redemption 2 and the last of us and gta and game pass stuff . I'm not sure what to get
Hmmm... technically you can play all those games on the Steam Deck, but you'd have to do some workarounds for some games. If you want an experience similar to PC, then I'd go with an Ally X since it runs Windows and that's what a good chunk of people are used to.
Ima wait about 2/4 months I heard alot of people had many issues with the triggers n thimbstick hopefully asus can iron out a few things and hopefully get a open box unit for 150 bucks less
I already have 2 squeaky triggers and a squeaky dpad. I just ordered a second Ally X and will be sending back the worse one since I have a 60 day return. Hell I might just keep swapping them until I get one without the issue but I'm sure eventually most of them will have it. Not what you want to get for $800.
oh man, I'm glad you mentioned that "crackling" that comes from the speakers... thought my unit was a dud. Picked up the X over the weekend and wow, the battery and performance towers over the previous Z1 Extreme version. No chugging in the games I emulate, no random drops in frames, no random crashes. Personally, my only con with the X is that it's $799--granted, it starts with more storage. My old Z1 Extreme, I was able to pick up for $300 locally. Didn't lose any money, but it hurt to let an amazing deal go lol.
@@enrique9925 I'll never be able to share numbers on the pre-production unit. It's an engineering sample and not what's being sold. When I talked to the Phawx, he said both his units were 1:1. I'm hoping that's the same with that next unit that they send...that they'll both be 1:1.
Just picked up a X. I have the original ally but I've been plagued by sd card reader failure 4x times now so asus is going to buy my original back. Those same sd cards that don't work in og ally pop up perfectly fine in the X. Og ally seems to hate sandisk cards the most as my lexar "mostly" works but sometimes in a game I'll be taken to Armoury Crate asking if I want to change media save location to sd card because it disconnected for a moment and got detected as I just put it in.
I got mine yesterday, and saddy my battery wound not take a charg and only live on the charger, and when it on it was stuck in a boot loop return it and ordered a new one hopefully with better luck
One thing i see no streamer talk about when reviewing is the awful downloading speeds of this thing. My first one i bought downloaded alright but lwft analog didn't go up or down was just stuck on down even recalibration didn't help. Now my new one seems to have turtle speed downloads speeds and from what i see from looking around, seems like there's a lot more people having the same issue
Any idea how to get the micro sd card to work? I put a 1tb in and i can see it in the windows explorer but it wont give me an option to use it in steam or anything to install games to it.
You mention the review unit was performing way better than the production unit. Definitely cannot wait to hear what you have to say once they send a replacement, but have you also talked to other tech review youtubers to see if their results are the same between their review units and production? or even between your review unit? Makes me a little worried about their quality control.
Tbh there shouldn't be a huge performance boost as its the same processor but faster and more ram, the main pros are double battery double storage fixed SD card and minor design tweaks also better fans.
So the sample unit performs better than the production units imagine someone received your production unit and didn’t realise they had a worse performing unit, this is very bad for ASUS and has put me off buying one so thanks
For sure. Just keep in mind that you're going to see a drop in highly dense areas. Usually it'll hit a 1% low and then stabilize after a bit, but still...it's pretty awesome!
For some it is not that steam deck is not good but it handicapped itself by putting a limit of 15 watt. Valve shouldnt limit how people want to play their machine and their product distribution is not wide only some first world countries.
All they have to do is get rid of the black bezels on the top and bottom and throw in a OLED screen and I will happily drop $800. Hell, maybe even $900.
@@baldlyrudy If you do Auto it works allot better from my experience with my ROG the default 4 or 8 isn't enough with auto it just uses whatever whenever and performance is very night and day.
Sold my OLED Deck to buy this and now I’m looking at the Legion Go because of all of these issues. Also, the deck revealed that I don’t take my handheld PC anywhere beyond my home. Can’t justify a battery upgrade for a home unit.
Understandable. And the use case is really dependent on the individual. Like I said, if you usually play games attached to an outlet, then it's hard to say that it's necessary. It's a nice to have, but not a must have, if that makes sense.
@@kisigma1011 on paper, the Zotac Zone will be interesting, because it won't be reinventing the wheel. It's going to be closer to an ROG Ally with track pads. I'm curious to see how that will all turn out.
@@baldlyrudy zotact zone modded with a 64 gb ram will blow the competition out the water no doubt just one modification and it elite but i get what you're saying
Dude…if you needed asus support to turn on your ally…the problem is you and you alone. Mine was exactly like that I didint dean anighin or call no one I just plug it five is 25 minutes and turned it on. Work wonderful
*sigh* Not support, but the Marketing rep at ASUS. I literally did the same thing that I did with the sample unit. I just got the replacement unit because the performance was way under what they quoted users. And like I said, in some instances it was worse than the OG Ally.
Just got mine today I also could not turn on the ally x until i plugged it into the charger first i found it odd i hope i didn't get a similar batch that's not up to specs
@@LifeIn-nq1pu that’s normal behaviour because manufacturers do this until the end user turns on the unit for the first time with a charger 🔌 it even shows you a picture of it with the cardboard insert on top of the ally x
@@baldlyrudy ran time spy on pd power as well Time spy score 3 475 Grphics score 3 174 Cpu score 7 540 Id be very eager to know the sample model scores
Well the reviews Are not gonna match if you are getting The product from the company directly. Having a consumer level product like something that was bought at best buy is the review that should be Made not of one that was sent from the company that might be different that what us consumers get. Thanks for letting us know
Thats crazy man because i preordered from best buy and when i powered it on th screen was unusable had a noticable crack in it major discoloration. Luckily getting a replacement was easy but i was so excited to play it so the first impression was lame unfortunately.
Mine was the opposite. The first impression with the sample unit was amazing. But the production unit was lackluster. I'm hoping the third unit will be better.
Rog ally is much better than the steam deck on every level, so i expect the ally x to further prove that point. The only issue i had with the og white edition rog wss the terrible battery life and the faulty sdcard slot. The battery was my only really major concern. Thr fecat that its using an 80nwatt battery is a game changer. I've seen a youtube video where simebody got 3hr and 25 min more than the deck.
The battery alone is insanely good. I'm so surprised at how well this unit performed, but the sample unit was better. Can't wait for the next unit to arrive to run it through the ringer with benchmarks.
If you’re shopping for a pc handheld, it’s worth looking into the customer support and community pages. Think it’s fair to say you’ll be shocked at how poor asus compares to valve or lenovo
Lenovo customer support isn't anything to praise depending on your region. Valve is probably the only company that has decent to good customer service. They rest leave a lot to be desired.
@@baldlyrudy All do respect, whataboutism isn't fair to protentional PC handheld buyers. One is factually the worst by a large margin. I think it's very fair for buyers to be aware of that and what to expect.
I've been testing both the SD OLED and Ally X head-to-head and I think I'm keeping the SD OLED and returning the Ally X. I don't think yours is a dud, I'm not seeing enough performance either. The Ally X either performs the same as the SD or maybe 10-20% more FPS, but it's usually in a circumstance where the SD is already getting 100fps and the Ally X is getting 110-120fps (i.e., it's not noticeable). The Ally X screen is also noticeably smaller when bouncing back and forth, and the screen gets very hot where the SD doesn't at all. The bezel is so large on the Ally X and just makes you wish it had a larger 16:10 screen. Overall, Ally X thermals are good but SD are phenomenal, and I think the SD is just a better all around handheld. If you really want a Windows handheld then Ally X is the best you can get. But I think the SD is the better experience as a whole. I'm also having a lot of consistent bugs and annoying glitches that I had with the original Ally too, so it's frustrating that some basic things still aren't fixed.
Had og ally and lts way too small for me.got legion go lastweek and i love it the screen is so nice and bigger and fits perfect for my big hands .at 30w ally is perfomy only 5 fps more so not really worrh it unless you really need that battery
I’m brand new to gaming handhelds and got the X now for 3/4 days and I LOVE it. I’ve nothing to compare it too so how do I know it’s not a crappy one like this 😂😂
@@baldlyrudy that’s unbelievable really. I am sorry for you. Hope the other one comes soon and will you do a new review did you say. (Sorry had to pause to join a mtg) 😂😂
I’m honestly thinking about returning mine. It might just be me but games like 7 days to die studders to the point it’s unplayable on the lowest settings, fallout 76 runs but on the lowest settings around 26fps average. I actually got war thunder to run around 70-80 fps. But it’s just too hard to use the controls, so if I gotta use mouse and keyboard I might as well use my gaming laptop. But apart from mine just not running games that well, I don’t think it’s a good fit for me because I find my self just wanting to play on my gaming laptop because the performance is soo lack luster and I’d just rather use mouse and keyboard.
What’s with the updates and bench marking and add ons and CONSTANT PC shananagans that these PC SYSTEMS have? The reason we want to buy these things is to game not be a computer tech. Seriously.
Battery life can't be understated. So to get the performance with the best battery life is simply amazing. Also, windows gets a lot of shade thrown its way, but it is the best option for a handheld. Being 40 yrs old, i get it that i might not play the most popular games but having that option is a huge plus. The SD just can't compete because developers just dont see linux as a viable option.
I sold my ally and upgraded to the ally x because im a nerd and had to have it. I should get it today finally. The original allys battery was absolute garbage. All the upgrades were worth it to me. 2280 and more ram is nice too.
@baldlyrudy that's the issue its inherently a bad handheld for that exact reason. You cant trust A SuS for their Quality Control, the vast majority of users might get a perfectly working devices but thousands will get a terrible one like yours. Same thing happened to me with a Asus g14 laptop, bought one terrible QA issues, no RMA would fix said issues, 13 months out and I was with a dead laptop and no money to buy a new one. That is why I cant trust ASUS ever again with my money because they have terrible QA and customer service, if the issue is inherently their fault product wise they should honor that and fix it, I'm fine with paying out of pocket for dumb user stuff like me dropping my laptop or damaging the screen but when a device is purchased new and fails because of their terrible QA, that is where I have to draw the line. I'm sad seeing all these reviewers posting rog ally reviews and not even failing to mention their review unit had issues because "it was a review unit not a final product"
You’re acting like this is every single unit. Most reviewers have not had this issue and if it were an issue you would have heard about it. I get it you hate Asus however that doesn’t mean every single product is bad
I don't know, my dude. I talked to the Phawx, Cyber Dopamine, and Stubbs at Retro Handhelds. All of their units were 1:1 with their sample units. I really think I got a dud.
I can deal with ally if it's had oled and bigger screen not 7n with big black box on the screen i don't care about ram bigger than 16gb and the bettery life in x not that longer than sd oled ,this gives feel ally x is just fan mod vr of ally z1 with different color
@soul3lixir you received a lemon? I looked around my local Best Buy reviews and there is multiple ppl saying they got a unit that the right trigger doesn't work.
@@topgunndunne9815My unit is actually sitting outside of my house right now lmao. I've been at work since it was delivered yesterday. I'll know later today
It's so refreshing to hear someone pronounce ASUS correctly. I don't know how he pronounced it before this video but considering he visited the headquarters, I would have been really really sad if he came back and pronounced it incorrectly. LOL Just sayin'. Anyway, it has nothing to do with the handheld BUT I just had to get that off my chest. Good video. I haven't bought my handheld yet I'm waiting for Christmas sales before I decide what I'm finally getting. As of right now I'm leaning towards the steam deck OLED.
Actually anyone should buy whatever suit their need and budget I dont get why there is a war between these handheld gamers Cleary the market started to mature and soon we will get a device which has oled with dual booting and best cpu
"The war" is basically self justification. From the handhelds that I have used, objectively the best handheld is the ROG Ally X. That being said, when you throw in budget, I believe the Steam Deck is the best bang for your buck right now. I do agree with you though. Everyone's situation is unique. And the best handheld is the one you have.
@@baldlyrudy how is the rog ally x screen in real life? all my smartphones are oled and the current one i have is iphone 15 pro max my eyes kinda spoiled with oled i feel any ips lcd screen is holding back the hight ghraphic fedilty of pc games
@abcdoooabcd OLED is better, IMO. I wish it had an OLED screen. The VRR does help create a smooth experience with its frame rate though. The screen isn't bad either. But I miss those inky blacks.
@@baldlyrudy we are in 2024 OLED screens should not be that expensive i dont know why these handheld companies still stingy about it lcd screens should vanish at this point of time its an old screen technology we should move on and just improve OLED to avoid its flaws thank you for replaying though subscribed ❤️
@@thegamer9595 for sure. Which is why I was confused with the numbers when I ran tests. I talked with the Phawx, Stubbs at Retro Handhelds, and Cyber Dopamine and they all had units that were 1:1 with the samples. I really think I just got a dud.
Hi friends! If you're interested in purchasing anything that I mentioned in the video then here are some affiliate links:
🔥ASUS ROG Ally X: howl.link/kz1tegfbg48jo
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microSD Cards:
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If you use these links to purchase anything, I may get a commission from the sale. It helps support the channel at no extra cost to you, so thank you!
Very odd
@@X862go fairly odd
@@baldlyrudy Hopefully not more QC issues come on ASUS.
@X862go yeah. That's the hope. I'll post a video when the new unit gets here.
@baldlyrudy I get a retail unit tomorrow. Probably won't make a video, but I'll message you back here if it's worse than my OG ally.
I can feel this Ally X is getting much better recipes as my local best buy is out of stock and in back order now!
Appreciate Asus and yourself for keeping it real with these initial issues
Of course man. Trust is a delicate thing, and I'd never want to destroy that.
I remember playing tekken dark tournament on the psp and was so blown by how much was going in the screen! To play a game like tekken 8 on a handheld like this is insane to me how far gaming on handhelds has come in 10+ years.
That's what I'm saying!
For the issue of touching the screen while using the right stick, I've had that problem with my Ally. I was hoping ASUS would add a small dead zone approx 200 pixels wide on the edges of the screen while using the joysticks to prevent this from happening.
Ah, my old friend Asus! I have the original Rog Ally and for the most part it worked very well save for the micro sd slot. Sent it in for repair under warranty and had it fixed and thereafter, it never worked properly again. As much as I liked the unit, I learned my lesson. The consumer shouldn't need to spend hours troubleshooting products like this that cost so much money. I was tempted to buy the Rog Ally X but something told me to just cool my jets. For the time being, I'm stuck using my Steamdeck as that simply works with no issue. I purchased the Rog Ally because I could also play Uplay, GOG, Steam, EA, Epic games whereas Steam is designed for Steam games primarily. Also, don't get me started on Armoury Crate SE!!!! Loads of fun launching Armoury Crate SE to a blank screen requiring a hard restart. For now, I'll enjoy watching these videos where at least the units being shown seem to work as advertised. Asus needs to get it together!
I love my ally x so much. I’ve been using it since last Friday and I have not had a single issue with it. Already upgrade it to a 4tb 990 pro. The only issue I have is the accidental touch on the screen. I pray they add an option to disable it in the menu because i see a few people who want this also.
Yes! I'm glad I'm not the only one that's had that issue with the touchscreen. I hope they add a toggle to turn it off in the Command Center. Congrats on the purchase!
Did you get it with heat sync or not for the 4TB SSD?
Was installing the SSD pretty easy? I've never done that before.
It should be easy. You just backup your data and turn it off, remove the back, swap the drive, and there's a ASUS Cloud backup that you can do in the BIOS. From there you should be good to go.
www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-replace-rog-ally-x-ssd/
@@cppctek my guyyyyy
Got mine yesterday and the SD card won’t show up when I plug it in, and today for some reason when navigating Starfield and Armoury Crate using both the D-pad and Joystick it would glitch and I would end up in different places on the UI sometimes missing certain options and leaping over them. Battery is amazing though
@@Hunnan1012 same exact thing for me and not claimed performance from review units …..
@@MattTheClutch I think it's a software issue, hopefully they fix it soon
Played Helldivers 2 yesterday ran like a dream no issues thus far.
I’ve been loving the OG ally but I do prefer the desktop experience for now. The battery is just too annoying to me. I’m excited for the Switch 2 though for sure. If you need more copyright free music that’s what we do man. Great vid keep it up.
Got myself an iced latte with oat milk and honey as well as a granola bar for this video. Freaking love the vibe dude
Chillin'. Good vibes.
Bro went all out lol
Mine came on Tuesday DOA. My Ally X wouldn’t charge or turn on. A replacement is supposed to show later today.
Let me know what happens. I'm curious.
Will do
@@baldlyrudy Got the rreplacement in yesterday and it seems to be working fine now.
@@JoGero Hey! That's good to hear!
Upgraded from the original Ally and have no regrets
6 degrees is a huge difference. Definitely can be the different between safe temps and thermal throttling
Whats the point of a 120hz 1080p screen with a GPU thats barely coping with 720p 60?
That's funny.
I love my ally x. Been mapping in POE this league on my lunch at work. Looks and plays amazing.
Niiiiice! Congrats.
Man I think I got stung by the Asus lottery. at 1080p low I'm seeing similar numbers in Elden Ring, I'm quite sad about that. Would Asus even replace the unit for underperforming?
Got mine yesterday, I played the first descendant and for my surprise it look better then on my ps5
@@meliodasx3482 cap
@@makaiokalahama probably not cap since it's still 1080p but on a smaller screen wich makes what's on the screen look better
@dxrkhartduellinks690 you get it.
@@dxrkhartduellinks690 yea I think that’s why but fr I not laying it looks nice im really happy
To each their own but I know that the PS5 is running the game at much more difficult to run settings and at a better framerate.
Been eagerly awaiting your video review, sorry you had a bad unit. Baldur's Gate 3 is one of my favorite games, what should we expect you think with our unit? Mine came yesterday and I just want to make sure I didn't get a dud either 😅.
Thanks! I appreciate that. If you get better frames than what I showed, then you'll have a good unit. The difference between the sample unit and the production unit is so vast. You'll see a much better experience, I think anyways.
I'm in the middle of Act 3. It's such a sense and vast area.
I've been super curious about this one, it's just a bit out of my price range at the moment.. Hopefully by the time I have some money, there will be a "Lite" version that stands up to the X in performance! ^_^ 💚
Haha! I know what you mean. I thought that would be out by now. Lol
@baldlyrudy One can only hope, dream, and beg!! 😆 Currently in a thread on Twitter trying to get news on if Retroid is dropping a Flip 2 this year or not, speaking of.. 💚
I wonder if it was the SSD drive I swapped to a Samsung 2tb 990 with factory heatsink and saw a +0.9% improvement on bench mark scores
Possibly! But I also now know that I had a dud. They sent me a third Ally X and it's SO much better. Going to make an updated review.
I'm super excited for the Ally X. Will be using it as a desktop replacement. Selling off a yoga 7 pro. Code, design and game on the same device. Either run Linux with bazzite and Windows via VM, or dual boot. Former probably the best solution.
I just received mine. It causes one hell of a first impression. He just feels great
How are things running on it?
Are the performance benchmarks from the production unit with a grey sticker or the one with a yellow sticker?
Production Unit. The one with the yellow sticker is an engineering sample and I can't show numbers on it. 🫠
Edit: Fixing my autocorrect.
Question, is there games the ally x plays better than legion go or no?
Mainly games that require more memory because you can allocate more to the iGPU.
@@baldlyrudy so the ally x is better?
@@loitersquadX right now, yes.
I have a 1TB oled steam deck is it worth the upgrade to the ally X? Honest opinion does it look and and run considerably better?
The ONE thing that I wish the Ally X had was an OLED screen. The screen, even without VRR, looks so much better on the Steam Deck OLED. But in terms of performance, it's better. If you want an average of 10-15fps more on the games that you play, then the Ally X is worth it. But for light weight games, I prefer the Steam Deck OLED. It's just a better handheld as a whole.
Now...if you install Bazzite on the Ally X, then it's a whole different conversation.
I just ordered the 512 Steam Deck OLED. 😬😬 I’m super excited. Asus Rog looks sick.
Enjoy the OLED! It's a heck of a handheld!
I would get one of these windows handhelds if they release an optimised version of windows…untill then i’ll keep rocking my SDO😊 it runs fantastic so far
nice honest review. dont go further than that
It's been near impossible to get my hands on one, with no stores having any inventory even on launch day. Yesterday after visiting 3 stores, I finally got one. Looking forward to when you get the replacement, wondering what the actual issue is, possibly just lost the silicon lottery and ended up with a poorly performing Z1E APU. I've got my original ally out getting things replaced in it because of the SD card reader issue, looking forward to getting it back so I can run it against my new X and see the numbers, and see how I faired in the lottery of parts.
Sadly, both my thumbs are the same length. So i find the right thumbstick quite uncomfortable to use.
Great video, Rudy!
Thanks! I appreciate that. 🙌
This may sound cynical but when I first heard about the difference between the test unit and the retail unit, my instinct was that they sent more powerful test units to TH-camrs and tech people than they were actually producing. I'm probably definitely wrong but that's just where my mind went lol
Haha! Not cynical at all and completely understandable.
Console wars in 2024: Valve VS Asus. Who'd have guessed it
@@shingetsu10 right sony and xbox really got their butts handed by valve and nintendo the last 5 years
For my first handheld device should i get the ally x 🤔 i wanna play red redemption 2 and the last of us and gta and game pass stuff . I'm not sure what to get
Hmmm... technically you can play all those games on the Steam Deck, but you'd have to do some workarounds for some games.
If you want an experience similar to PC, then I'd go with an Ally X since it runs Windows and that's what a good chunk of people are used to.
@@baldlyrudy yes my desktop and laptop is windows so ally x probably the way to go
@@pierrefitch yup. That's how I'd go about it.
Just ordered it dam 1240$ in canada lol hopefully I'm happy with first handheld. I did have ps vita years ago @baldlyrudy
@pierrefitch haha! Nice! Congrats! Let me know what you think when you get it.
Ima wait about 2/4 months I heard alot of people had many issues with the triggers n thimbstick hopefully asus can iron out a few things and hopefully get a open box unit for 150 bucks less
@@antwanowens4013 Quality control seems to be off right now
@@antwanowens4013 open box for 150 💀
I already have 2 squeaky triggers and a squeaky dpad. I just ordered a second Ally X and will be sending back the worse one since I have a 60 day return. Hell I might just keep swapping them until I get one without the issue but I'm sure eventually most of them will have it. Not what you want to get for $800.
@@Holyblades1982 damn that is bad for 800usd price tag...
Sorry this is fist time I buy a handheld, how I can make sure that ROG ally X is good or bad cz I not have a sample like you?
oh man, I'm glad you mentioned that "crackling" that comes from the speakers... thought my unit was a dud.
Picked up the X over the weekend and wow, the battery and performance towers over the previous Z1 Extreme version. No chugging in the games I emulate, no random drops in frames, no random crashes.
Personally, my only con with the X is that it's $799--granted, it starts with more storage.
My old Z1 Extreme, I was able to pick up for $300 locally. Didn't lose any money, but it hurt to let an amazing deal go lol.
Oh yeah man. That crackling was an issue with the original Ally that eventually got patched. I'm hoping ASUS does the same and addresses the issue.
BIOS 304 does not crackle for me. I was getting a ton of crackling on 305 but when I flashed back to 304 it all went away.
Oh - will you let us know what the reason was with the perf. difference?
For sure, but I can't share any specific numbers. What I can say is that there was more frames, better battery life, and overall better performance.
@@baldlyrudy Can't share rn or would never be able to share?
@@enrique9925 I'll never be able to share numbers on the pre-production unit. It's an engineering sample and not what's being sold. When I talked to the Phawx, he said both his units were 1:1. I'm hoping that's the same with that next unit that they send...that they'll both be 1:1.
@@baldlyrudythe funny thing is all TH-camrs has already shared their benchmarks from the marketing units
@@mamoruhikari9414 yup
Just picked up a X. I have the original ally but I've been plagued by sd card reader failure 4x times now so asus is going to buy my original back. Those same sd cards that don't work in og ally pop up perfectly fine in the X. Og ally seems to hate sandisk cards the most as my lexar "mostly" works but sometimes in a game I'll be taken to Armoury Crate asking if I want to change media save location to sd card because it disconnected for a moment and got detected as I just put it in.
I got mine yesterday, and saddy my battery wound not take a charg and only live on the charger, and when it on it was stuck in a boot loop return it and ordered a new one hopefully with better luck
Similar issue with mine
One thing i see no streamer talk about when reviewing is the awful downloading speeds of this thing. My first one i bought downloaded alright but lwft analog didn't go up or down was just stuck on down even recalibration didn't help. Now my new one seems to have turtle speed downloads speeds and from what i see from looking around, seems like there's a lot more people having the same issue
Hmmm...that's odd. But definitely something that's worth bringing up.
The download speeds on both units I have are on par.
Any idea how to get the micro sd card to work? I put a 1tb in and i can see it in the windows explorer but it wont give me an option to use it in steam or anything to install games to it.
@@Ninjaplease636 format it first fat 32
Gotta add the drive from steam settings
Ally doesn't come with a case?
Nope. Neither does the Ally X.
do you have any FPS graphs for the Steam Deck OLED performance with Elden Ring as well? would love to compare the two.
No more glitching ? No more getting booted out of games? No more 45 min battery life ?
So far no, no, and definitely no.
@@baldlyrudy I think I’ll get one hahaha
Haha! Enjoy. 🙌
I just bought one from best buy and it wont power on 😢😢
Did you try what I did and hold the power button as you plugged it in?
I also noticed that I was touching the screen more often; thought I was crazy.
We're not.
Nintendo Switch emulation on the ALLY X is awesome
Why is nobody talking about how the Z1 can’t render UE5 games properly? Great video!
You mention the review unit was performing way better than the production unit. Definitely cannot wait to hear what you have to say once they send a replacement, but have you also talked to other tech review youtubers to see if their results are the same between their review units and production? or even between your review unit? Makes me a little worried about their quality control.
Agreed. It does bring up some concern. I talked with The Phawx, Stubbs at Retro Handhelds, and Cyber Dopamine. All of their units seemed fine.
@@baldlyrudy sweet so if i get one, I'll compare performance to theirs to make sure all is well, thanks heaps for the response
@grimzreapersunage you're welcome. I hope you enjoy the Ally X. If it's anything like my sample unit, you'll have a blast.
Tbh there shouldn't be a huge performance boost as its the same processor but faster and more ram, the main pros are double battery double storage fixed SD card and minor design tweaks also better fans.
you can disable mouse keyboard in baldurs gate 3 so you don't have to deal with the switching of input devices
That's true! My point is that it happens with almost every game. If there was an option to turn it off system wide in Armoury Crate, then we'd be set.
@@baldlyrudy I have a registry file on my desktop to enable disable touch screen at will
@@baldlyrudy I also find quality thumb stick grips add just enough extra spacing for my thumb to not hit the screen anymore
That's also true. That would extend the height of the thumb sticks and prevent that. Thanks!
If it wasn’t made by Asus I would love this thing my first ally had issues I don’t wanna gamble 800 on this
If it's was by valve it will had better screen size and oled which it's a nice touch if we imagined it
So the sample unit performs better than the production units imagine someone received your production unit and didn’t realise they had a worse performing unit, this is very bad for ASUS and has put me off buying one so thanks
You're welcome. That's why I had to mention it in the video. I still personally believe that I just got a bad unit. The team at ASUS was also stumped.
What do you expect from a company like Asus?
Track record
@thewipshow4141 They did people bad with the guarantee on the last one, so it's hard to trust them.
Starfield at 30 handheld and 60 with higher TDP is incredible.
For sure. Just keep in mind that you're going to see a drop in highly dense areas. Usually it'll hit a 1% low and then stabilize after a bit, but still...it's pretty awesome!
For some it is not that steam deck is not good but it handicapped itself by putting a limit of 15 watt. Valve shouldnt limit how people want to play their machine and their product distribution is not wide only some first world countries.
Problably because the battery.
All they have to do is get rid of the black bezels on the top and bottom and throw in a OLED screen and I will happily drop $800. Hell, maybe even $900.
If i wasn’t watching this video I would’ve thought you was Jake from gameranx
Ha! Never heard that one, but sure.
Damn your story telling got me hooked
Did u set the ram to auto in armory crate that WILL make a massive difference
I had it set to 8GB for each one.
@@baldlyrudy If you do Auto it works allot better from my experience with my ROG the default 4 or 8 isn't enough with auto it just uses whatever whenever and performance is very night and day.
@@OutlawSeraphrim that's definitely worth giving it a go.
Sold my OLED Deck to buy this and now I’m looking at the Legion Go because of all of these issues. Also, the deck revealed that I don’t take my handheld PC anywhere beyond my home. Can’t justify a battery upgrade for a home unit.
Understandable. And the use case is really dependent on the individual. Like I said, if you usually play games attached to an outlet, then it's hard to say that it's necessary. It's a nice to have, but not a must have, if that makes sense.
Bruh go for the gpd win 4 or onexplayer or wait for the zotact zone which will be better then all of them
@@kisigma1011 on paper, the Zotac Zone will be interesting, because it won't be reinventing the wheel. It's going to be closer to an ROG Ally with track pads. I'm curious to see how that will all turn out.
@@baldlyrudy zotact zone modded with a 64 gb ram will blow the competition out the water no doubt just one modification and it elite but i get what you're saying
@@kisigma1011 oh yeah. You mod something and it can become greater than it is. Just gotta wait and see at this point.
getting a production unit like that makes me dodge the bullet even more
I get that.
i feel like its a actual competitor to sd in every way except pricing
Agreed.
How come the term DOA is thrown around so much?
@@MitchellTheMitch clicks
Dude…if you needed asus support to turn on your ally…the problem is you and you alone. Mine was exactly like that I didint dean anighin or call no one I just plug it five is 25 minutes and turned it on. Work wonderful
*sigh* Not support, but the Marketing rep at ASUS. I literally did the same thing that I did with the sample unit. I just got the replacement unit because the performance was way under what they quoted users. And like I said, in some instances it was worse than the OG Ally.
Nope...I will keep my Legion Go. 😊
🙌
@baldlyrudy please apologize, I forgot to say "thank you" for this and other great reviews & uploads. 😀 Thanks a lot...
@@chinodigitalbath all I care about is that everyone has a good time gaming. I appreciate your comment.
Sounds like asus...
"Yeah something is wrong but... oh well"
Just got mine today I also could not turn on the ally x until i plugged it into the charger first i found it odd i hope i didn't get a similar batch that's not up to specs
I hope so too. Run FireStrike through 3D Mark if you can. Compare it to the numbers at 10:14.
@@LifeIn-nq1pu that’s normal behaviour because manufacturers do this until the end user turns on the unit for the first time with a charger 🔌 it even shows you a picture of it with the cardboard insert on top of the ally x
@baldlyrudy ran fire strike on PD power got
Fire strike score 7 935
graphics score 8 539
Physics score 22 745
Combine score 3 166
@@LifeIn-nq1pu I got 7486 on FireStrike, for what it's worth. I sincerely believe I got a dud.
@@baldlyrudy ran time spy on pd power as well
Time spy score 3 475
Grphics score 3 174
Cpu score 7 540
Id be very eager to know the sample model scores
Well the reviews Are not gonna match if you are getting The product from the company directly. Having a consumer level product like something that was bought at best buy is the review that should be Made not of one that was sent from the company that might be different that what us consumers get. Thanks for letting us know
Thats crazy man because i preordered from best buy and when i powered it on th screen was unusable had a noticable crack in it major discoloration. Luckily getting a replacement was easy but i was so excited to play it so the first impression was lame unfortunately.
Mine was the opposite. The first impression with the sample unit was amazing. But the production unit was lackluster. I'm hoping the third unit will be better.
Rog ally is much better than the steam deck on every level, so i expect the ally x to further prove that point.
The only issue i had with the og white edition rog wss the terrible battery life and the faulty sdcard slot. The battery was my only really major concern. Thr fecat that its using an 80nwatt battery is a game changer. I've seen a youtube video where simebody got 3hr and 25 min more than the deck.
The battery alone is insanely good. I'm so surprised at how well this unit performed, but the sample unit was better. Can't wait for the next unit to arrive to run it through the ringer with benchmarks.
If you’re shopping for a pc handheld, it’s worth looking into the customer support and community pages. Think it’s fair to say you’ll be shocked at how poor asus compares to valve or lenovo
Lenovo customer support isn't anything to praise depending on your region.
Valve is probably the only company that has decent to good customer service. They rest leave a lot to be desired.
@@baldlyrudy All do respect, whataboutism isn't fair to protentional PC handheld buyers. One is factually the worst by a large margin.
I think it's very fair for buyers to be aware of that and what to expect.
@@TheHookemhornman "one is factually worse"? Are you referring to the video Gamer's Nexus did?
I've been testing both the SD OLED and Ally X head-to-head and I think I'm keeping the SD OLED and returning the Ally X. I don't think yours is a dud, I'm not seeing enough performance either. The Ally X either performs the same as the SD or maybe 10-20% more FPS, but it's usually in a circumstance where the SD is already getting 100fps and the Ally X is getting 110-120fps (i.e., it's not noticeable). The Ally X screen is also noticeably smaller when bouncing back and forth, and the screen gets very hot where the SD doesn't at all. The bezel is so large on the Ally X and just makes you wish it had a larger 16:10 screen. Overall, Ally X thermals are good but SD are phenomenal, and I think the SD is just a better all around handheld. If you really want a Windows handheld then Ally X is the best you can get. But I think the SD is the better experience as a whole. I'm also having a lot of consistent bugs and annoying glitches that I had with the original Ally too, so it's frustrating that some basic things still aren't fixed.
The go is the best hands down
Spec wise, no. It's not anymore.
But personal preference is a different story. People still swear by the Steam Deck.
It reminds me more of a game gear than the steam deck does
Steamdeck things on the past. Ally is the futures 😂
Had og ally and lts way too small for me.got legion go lastweek and i love it the screen is so nice and bigger and fits perfect for my big hands .at 30w ally is perfomy only 5 fps more so not really worrh it unless you really need that battery
I love mine but i really wish they put an OLED in it cause im spoiled by my OLED 4k monitor I use on my pc.
OLED would have been really nice!
I’m brand new to gaming handhelds and got the X now for 3/4 days and I LOVE it. I’ve nothing to compare it too so how do I know it’s not a crappy one like this 😂😂
If you're having a good time, then I'm sure yours is fine. Unlike mine. 🤣
I sincerely think mine was a one in a million chance.
@@baldlyrudy that’s unbelievable really. I am sorry for you. Hope the other one comes soon and will you do a new review did you say. (Sorry had to pause to join a mtg) 😂😂
@@jadebrady5826 haha! All good. And yup, I'll be doing another review when I get the next Ally X.
Is the VRR still good?
Yes, it's the same display as the original Ally
rename the AC_FDSPlugin folder in AC SE service folder to something else and restart. its a total resource hog
my problems with this is Asus ....they're very hard to trust right now.
Ok. I understand why I have worst performance than my Legion go now
Did you get a dud, too?
great device but too damn expensive
I’m honestly thinking about returning mine. It might just be me but games like 7 days to die studders to the point it’s unplayable on the lowest settings, fallout 76 runs but on the lowest settings around 26fps average. I actually got war thunder to run around 70-80 fps. But it’s just too hard to use the controls, so if I gotta use mouse and keyboard I might as well use my gaming laptop. But apart from mine just not running games that well, I don’t think it’s a good fit for me because I find my self just wanting to play on my gaming laptop because the performance is soo lack luster and I’d just rather use mouse and keyboard.
That's definitely fair. If it doesn't suit your needs, then you should do whatever works best for you.
What’s with the updates and bench marking and add ons and CONSTANT PC shananagans that these PC SYSTEMS have? The reason we want to buy these things is to game not be a computer tech. Seriously.
Yeeeeeeah. That is part of why the Steam Deck is so popular. There are updates, but they're similar to a traditional console.
Battery life can't be understated. So to get the performance with the best battery life is simply amazing.
Also, windows gets a lot of shade thrown its way, but it is the best option for a handheld. Being 40 yrs old, i get it that i might not play the most popular games but having that option is a huge plus. The SD just can't compete because developers just dont see linux as a viable option.
I sold my ally and upgraded to the ally x because im a nerd and had to have it. I should get it today finally. The original allys battery was absolute garbage. All the upgrades were worth it to me. 2280 and more ram is nice too.
@baldlyrudy that's the issue its inherently a bad handheld for that exact reason. You cant trust A SuS for their Quality Control, the vast majority of users might get a perfectly working devices but thousands will get a terrible one like yours.
Same thing happened to me with a Asus g14 laptop, bought one terrible QA issues, no RMA would fix said issues, 13 months out and I was with a dead laptop and no money to buy a new one.
That is why I cant trust ASUS ever again with my money because they have terrible QA and customer service, if the issue is inherently their fault product wise they should honor that and fix it, I'm fine with paying out of pocket for dumb user stuff like me dropping my laptop or damaging the screen but when a device is purchased new and fails because of their terrible QA, that is where I have to draw the line.
I'm sad seeing all these reviewers posting rog ally reviews and not even failing to mention their review unit had issues because "it was a review unit not a final product"
You’re acting like this is every single unit. Most reviewers have not had this issue and if it were an issue you would have heard about it. I get it you hate Asus however that doesn’t mean every single product is bad
Maybe they didn't have a faulty unit. You ever thought about that?
I don't know, my dude. I talked to the Phawx, Cyber Dopamine, and Stubbs at Retro Handhelds. All of their units were 1:1 with their sample units. I really think I got a dud.
So he's gonna trust the unit they send him?,,,,could be souped up
Maybe he will. But you bet he's going to double check the numbers with other content creators he knows.
I can deal with ally if it's had oled and bigger screen not 7n with big black box on the screen i don't care about ram bigger than 16gb and the bettery life in x not that longer than sd oled ,this gives feel ally x is just fan mod vr of ally z1 with different color
I get that. Quick question: what's the perfect screen size?
@@baldlyrudy actually the 7.4 to 7.8 works on allyx size but I have feel they will never put oled same as ayaneo and onexplayer
@evilcrashbandicootthetouho2753 you know what? I've been thinking that it won't happen either. I think ASUS prefers VRR over OLED.
I just find it hard to trust asus a had to return a asus oled and 2 years ago asus mother board died on me
I’m purchasing one. My fiancée is getting my current.
My wife is using it for Palia. Lol
AssSus playing funny games again?? Shocker.
Think you just got a lemon bro. It happens.
I think so too. Waiting for the other unit to arrive.
@soul3lixir you received a lemon? I looked around my local Best Buy reviews and there is multiple ppl saying they got a unit that the right trigger doesn't work.
@@topgunndunne9815My unit is actually sitting outside of my house right now lmao. I've been at work since it was delivered yesterday. I'll know later today
@@topgunndunne9815 Tested mine out and all is well. Perfect unit
@@soul3lixir how’d he get a lemon? I must’ve missed it
It's so refreshing to hear someone pronounce ASUS correctly. I don't know how he pronounced it before this video but considering he visited the headquarters, I would have been really really sad if he came back and pronounced it incorrectly. LOL Just sayin'. Anyway, it has nothing to do with the handheld BUT I just had to get that off my chest. Good video. I haven't bought my handheld yet I'm waiting for Christmas sales before I decide what I'm finally getting. As of right now I'm leaning towards the steam deck OLED.
Funnily enough, I asked two employees while I was there exactly how it's pronounced and they both said the same way.
@@baldlyrudy 😊
Actually anyone should buy whatever suit their need and budget
I dont get why there is a war between these handheld gamers
Cleary the market started to mature and soon we will get a device which has oled with dual booting and best cpu
"The war" is basically self justification. From the handhelds that I have used, objectively the best handheld is the ROG Ally X.
That being said, when you throw in budget, I believe the Steam Deck is the best bang for your buck right now.
I do agree with you though. Everyone's situation is unique. And the best handheld is the one you have.
@@baldlyrudy
how is the rog ally x screen in real life?
all my smartphones are oled and the current one i have is iphone 15 pro max
my eyes kinda spoiled with oled
i feel any ips lcd screen is holding back the hight ghraphic fedilty of pc games
@abcdoooabcd OLED is better, IMO. I wish it had an OLED screen. The VRR does help create a smooth experience with its frame rate though.
The screen isn't bad either. But I miss those inky blacks.
@@baldlyrudy we are in 2024 OLED screens should not be that expensive i dont know why these handheld companies still stingy about it lcd screens should vanish at this point of time its an old screen technology we should move on and just improve OLED to avoid its flaws
thank you for replaying though subscribed ❤️
@@abcdoooabcd agreed. And thanks!
Of course the sample version they sent you to review performance better than the release product I smell bullshit
I'm just telling you like it is. I'll post another video when I get the other unit and compare the results.
@baldlyrudy I might have said that wrong. I agree with you. The sample product is better for marketing purposes
@@thegamer9595 for sure. Which is why I was confused with the numbers when I ran tests. I talked with the Phawx, Stubbs at Retro Handhelds, and Cyber Dopamine and they all had units that were 1:1 with the samples. I really think I just got a dud.
Your very first problem… there is a literal diagram on the box..
Yeah. That didn't work.
@@baldlyrudy threw me when you jumped to talking about the manual 😭 and then your solution seemed to be the diagram on the box lol
🤷♂️