The 2230 and 2280 naming do seem a tad clunky to me, since I feel like most would assume it's "two-thousand two-hundred [thirty/eighty]" instead of "twenty-two [thirty/eighty]", but it makes since with the explanation.
No, sorry, I'm not buying it. After my original Ally burned it's sd card slot I requested RMA but after the repair (which took almost 1 month) the fingerprint sensor didn't work. I requested 2nd RMA and said that I want a refund (in store where I bought my Ally the staff said that after poorly made repair it's eligible for refund because of bad service) but they swapped the same parts as in 1st one and didn't say anything. Now, I'm waiting for 3rd response after sending my Ally to them. It's 2,5 months now from the 1rs RMA and my money is just driving circles.
@@Chardan001 Its a REAL issue thats covered in there warranty???? 🤣what???? that "youtuber" made a email showing thounds of people complaining about asus scam. Hes actually trying to get them sued right now
same here got scammed with zenfones before.gave them a chance with ROG phones. which only lasted for a year and a half. ROG are just overpriced piece of sh!t
My backlog is so big and my time to game is so low that I'm still playing games from 2018. I'll stick with the steam deck until it stops running the games I really want to play lol.
For me the steam deck is a companion device, I mainly play on my gaming pc or my ps5, a new handheld would have to be insanely better for me to really be tempted. These are cool but not worth upgrading to for me
for any new owner I personally think it's also good to weigh their options on the original ROG Ally. I ended up going with an open box Z1E at Best buy for 400 dollars. Bigger battery and ram increase is great, but at "potentially" twice the cost, I'm happy with my OG Z1E
Yeah I think the price is my biggest complaint. I got my Z1E open box shortly after launch for just over 500. Now they want me to sell that same system for 300 or maybe 400 and pay a 400-500 dollar difference for a small upgrade? Nah. Even if I didn't already own one, I think I would still go with the regular extreme and not go for the X.
@@TimothyStuder wouldn’t that same approach be worth it for the better version? Wait a few months after and then get an open box for cheaper, nobody has to buy it day one but when it’s on sale or a fair price, then it’s deff worth it over the older models…..
@@Ejp23_ depends how much the open box is. If it follows the OG Z1E pricing it'll be like 600. So if you sell your OG for 300 it's still 300 to upgrade. Seems like a lot. Could be worth it for someone who plays a lot unplugged.
Bought the Ally when it came out. 1 month later, had SD problems. Sent it in to get fixed. SD went out again last week. Still under warranty, sending it in again to get fix. I like the original Ally, but taking no changes and will sell when it comes back out. I’ll keep using my Steam Deck and wait a few months after this new Ally to comes out to see if there are problems. I’m tired of being a beta tester of their hardware.
SSD sizes are the dimmensions in millimeters. 22x80mm is the big one, 22x30mm is the square one and 22x42 and 22x60 are the ones nobody cares about. And the big ones tend to have cache and go up to 8TB.
Seems like a solid piece of hardware, but I feel most of us will stick with the Steam Deck. Valve has exceptional customer service, while ASUS does not. Also, SteamOS is just so much better for a handheld… using windows is a frustrating experience. Software is more important to me than having cutting edge hardware.
SteamOS is not better. As someone who owns an LCD deck and a Z1E Ally, the Ally had its windows annoyances here and there yes - but nothing drove me up the wall as much as finding out which games were just straight up off limits to play even on the steam decks own native store… Steam!! Whether it was for Anticheat incompatibility, or Proton support was not out for it at that point or Proton just straight up never worked with it. Anyone whose ever even been in the same room as a windows PC will know how to largely work around an Ally for tinkering. SteamOS’s Linux backend? Good luck.. Not to mention The workarounds and insane hoops i had to jump through just to get Gamepass playing on the Deck but only through Cloud gaming! Can’t even run games natively… No thanks, i’ll take my native xbox support and my non steam device that’s capable of playing a significantly larger amount of steam games than steams own dedicated device, and runs them all way faster and now does it with longer battery life.
You might've not heard ssd sizes being complained, but games are crazy big nowadays. And many people, including me have to buy an adapter to install a 2280 4tb SSD. There are even 8tb SSDs. Also, the numbers represent dimensions in milimeters, 22*30 and 22*80. Also I have modded my ROG ally enough that there is no point for me to upgrade to this. I have a 148Wh (40000 mAh powerbank) hooked up via JSAUX black mod case. Although I like the black color personally, I can always spray paint the shell to get that.
@@destruxandexploze2552RAM upgrade is something, I don't think I personally need. I have my ally running Win 10 with AtlasOS(not an OS) to debloat it. CPU and RAM usage is very efficient after this. But the FOMO for USB4 is real. I'd've for sure upgraded to Ally X if I didn't already have a gaming PC with a 6800XT inside, which I do use when I want to game on a monitor/TV. When I do upgrade my PC in the future, I'll for sure use this GPU in an enclosure. As it is only 3 yrs old, I'll hold the upgrade for 4 more yrs at least.
@@destruxandexploze2552 24 GB Ram is something I dont feel anyone needs if they keep their system bloat free. Am kn W10 debloated with AtlasOS and also have Razer Cortex that frees RAM significantly on game launch. Also it is USB4 not Thunderbolt4. USB4 has TB3 not TB4. Since I never intend to game on my Ally in docked mode, its ok, have a PC for that, on 6800 XT. It is only 3 yrs old now but 4 years from now when I do upgrade my PC I will use the current GPU in an enclosure but by that time I'll probably get a new handheld as well.
I've had the first one since release and have used it almost daily. I've been very happy with it, no issues to report at all even with damn near daily use. Not even any SD issues. I'm tempted to get the X since the lack of vram makes running some games problematic, but I'll wait a while after it's been out to make that decision.
$800 dollars is pretty goddamn steep, considering we're still not receiving an OLED panel. Why are they still prioritizing raw power upgrades when they can't even nail down consistency in performance?
Thanks for being entertaining. I discovered your channel due to switch fandom. I was somewhat intimidated with PC handhelds but ended up investing in a steamdeck after seeing it in enough of your videos. I'm not so intimidated anymore. Having people sort of spell out stuff makes my purchases more confident ones. PC handhelds have been a whole new world for an old f++ker like me. you are my roadmap sir. Cheers.
The Ally X is actually what I hoped for in a handheld PC. Two USB-C, large battery, the hall effect sticks and easier to tinker with. Now I want to see what battery life is like on games. Then I'll probably wait a year or more for it to drop in price to $700 USD for the holidays or something. Maybe the Ally 2 will drop lol. I got my PC and Odin 2 to keep me busy while I wait.
I just got a Steam Deck based on your recommendations and honestly I'm of the mind that Valve just needs to release the damn OS for other systems now. It feels like all the extra beef that they are packing into these other handhelds is just to compensate for windows. I see these specs like the bulked up ram and think "wow imagine if this memory could be used towards playing games, and not towards keeping a bunch of on by default windows apps suspended in memory at all times"
Uk owner of a secondhand Ally here.. my unit had an issue with one of the triggers which wasn’t noticeable unless you were playing a driving game.. anyhoo… RMA was second to none.. fixed and returned in under two weeks with no hassle.
Still happy with my Steam Deck, Vampire Survivors doesn't need any more frames. In all seriousness though it runs everything I want to run and I prefer SteamOS over Windows on these things, especially with all the BS Microsoft's pulling lately. Still, nice to see these handhelds continuing to be a thing!
I love the Rog Ally got mines as a Christmas gift and I play it very regularly. However I will not be upgrading I will wait until the 2 releases and all the kinks are dealt with :)
I recently got a Non extreme Ally and love it for my needs... Seleco is well optimized for controllers. I may upgrade next year if the Ally 2 is ready.
Love my launch day Ally. I love the updates they are doing and hope they keep up the iterations. I hope they get to a point where we get a hardware update every 3 years with x version with these kinds of updates in the in between years.
Had one. Linux is definitively a bootleg windows that's constantly under developement to the point u can barely play your games. Graphics aren't the best out. Legion go was better before that crashed. Also steam has very poor customer service.
I like how this video was just a review of him being there and what changed while the other big channels just dunked on it. Rightfully so, but was not expecting this type of video.
At 7:42 it's not a dumb name. It's literally the width and depth of the product in millimetres. 1 is 30 mm long and the other is 80 mm long. It makes perfect sense
When buying hardware, I like to take a vacation and just use it 24/7. I’ve bought many Asus laptops. Returned all except one due to problems with them like blue screens and banding. I’ve got a great g14 only took 3 others to get to the great one. If you put a lot of work into it at first the damage will out and no need to deal with rma. I’ve never had to deal with warranty issues with any purchase and I’m an old man.
the thing about "playing a decent amount of games" on your rog, with my launch rog, i had stick issues after less than 48 hours of minimal gaming and exploration where i had VERY deep cuts in the stem itself, so HOPEFULLY this is ironed out completely tbh
A lot of people don't mention the 2280 SSD form factor change in the showcase for the Ally X, which would support up to 8TB drives and drives tend to come cheaper in that more standard form factor and in a wide variety of speed tiers. To me besides the bigger RAM and battery, the 2280 SSD form factor change is a huge plus as well. No need for 3D printed mods to fit a 2280 like you can on the Legion Go. As for a mid-life upgrade or sequel to the Legion Go. It has to keep all the uniqueness & options of the original Legion Go, but change the SSD size from 2242 to 2280 (support Gen 4 as well), bigger RAM either 24GBs like the Ally X or go one step further and just do 32GBs of RAM, and 80+ battery like the Ally X.... I'll pretty sold with those upgrades while keeping everything else the same. For extras: Change Z1 Extreme chip for a more standard 7840U or 8840U equivalent so we don't have to deal with this extreme wait times on OEM drivers... let us get the regular AMD drivers from a regular AMD adrenaline app or from Legion Space if people don't want to interact with AMD adrenaline... but makes them available as soon as any other 7840U/8840U chip gets it in other platforms/form factors of any other PC. If they want to go the extra mile, change the screen to a 16:9 Native Landscape panel to avoid the finickiness of Portrait panels with some apps/games... if not... well... it's a PC, it can be mitigated with Software and some tweaking... but at least that's fixable through software. What's under the hood is priority, and improve the speakers & maybe add an extra USB4 next to the other top one like the Ally X, while keeping the bottom one = making it 3 USB4 ports. They would come out later with it... so it gives me hope that they have the timing advantage to 1-up the Ally X (basically copy their last homework and use the Ally X as a blueprint to further improve on the original Legion Go) further and even undercut in cost with more hardware features. I for one on the change to USB4 eGPUs, is that it's your more versatile can use the ports for other stuff... universal compatibility if most of other devices use the same and forward compatibility for an eventual leap in USB bandwidth and speeds later on with some of a USB5 tech... where it would a very inexpensive upgrade to just change the GPU docking station/enclosure... or the cable & USB output module of the enclosure/dock already supports higher bandwidth then it is just plug and play on a future device that can take higher bandwidth inputs.
Side Note: (from what I think and other reddit users) actually the real reason why the sd card failed (in most units) is because of a PTC Fuse failure that ASUS used on some (actually a lot) on the sd card reader circuitry and the heat isn't the main problem but i think it helped it, that's why there are actual units with working sd card from the start and other units replaced and they are now working normally(mostly), because i opened 2 ASUS rog ally and saw that between the 2 there is a different fuse between them + the one that has the failed sd reader have its fuse burned out, so i am not confirming that it is 100% true but yeah that's definitely a possibility
“One of their phones rang and they yelled at us” I admire your composure, Bob. I would have been kicked out of the venue for verbally assaulting the guy
I would love more collaborations between you and retro game Corp love you guys. 👍I don't really love Asus though. I Heard from Gamers Nexus that their RMAs are pretty bad. I'm good. Even my friend told me it was pretty bad. Thank you for talking about it! I even heard that they were being investigated by the FTC 💀 I would still love to have a windows handheld unlike the steamdeck. Maybe someday!
If I’m gonna spend that much money I need an oled screen at the very least I’ll wait until we get a better chipset maybe next year . All I am using it for is emulation so anything would be fine but still
I'm a day one owner of the ROG Ally. I haven't had one issue with it. I don't use the micro sd card anyway. I'll probably upgrade the memory and keep using it. I would've bought the new one if I didn't already have it. Love my Steam Deck.
7.36 thats an NVMe drive not M.2 easy way to remember M.2 has one cut not two more lanes. Also the name is just width plus length in mm. So 22mm by 80mm or 22mm bt 30 mm it's what the small ones are almost square ⬛️.
Thanks for the video, Wulff. I always appreciate your opinion on handhelds. I can’t wait for the full review, as I am deciding between an OLED Steam Deck and this one. Before the announcement of the Ally X, the decision was easy, as nothing offered a battery life like the Steam Deck, but now it seems there’s another option.
It’s really weird and unfortunate how ASUS RMA is so bad in the west; my Ally’s right stick stopped functioning about a month after I got it (from a US BestBuy store) and at that time I was traveling in China so I brought it to an authorized RMA center there and it was ready for pickup in perfect shape in just 2 days, without any hassle or costing a cent.
Not going to lie Love the Ally got the original one when it came out and just had the dreaded SD card reader failure. Sent it in got it repaired and now its working fine. Honestly the new one is really tempting because of the ability to attach an affordable EGPU. I could see attaching like a 3060 or 3090 to it and it being a really good compact gaming rig. Especially with that RAM upgrade.
The redesign isn't that surprising to me. This is just my speculation, but when you spend the level they had to on R&D you're likely to come up with multiple variations on the product's form. It's likely that the feedback they received from users fit one of the unreleased versions of the product. At the very least, they already have a good starting point. The thumbstick changes sound pretty dope though. I have been thinking that the sticks on my steam deck are a little high for me. I wish I could swap in shorter ones like on the xbox pro controller.
I was waiting for this launch to get a windows handheld… until the GN video came out. Now I have a legion Go and love the product. I hope Asus can get their act together. Maybe I’ll consider the Ally2 if they fix their process and make good on their warranty.
I think if you’ve waited this long, it’s better to wait for the Ally 2 for a proper chip and screen update. asus isn’t following Valve’s plan to release at a more console-like pace (aka few years to encourage optimization for the same specs). So i expect an Ally 2 next year
@@extra4542 I mean valve released the oled steam deck like a year and some change after the original released. I'd imagine there'd be a new steam deck revision alongside the rog ally 2, which I have been hearing more speculation it could release next year too. Guess I'll stay put with my current lcd steam deck til then
I’m no pc buff my any means. But arent the regular sized ssd’s prone to getting really hot? Kind of a concern. I’ve seen some ssds with built in heat sinks for heat dispersion. Just a thought that ran through my head. That with that large battery kinda concerns me, idk…
Well apart from the micro sd card issue that shouldn't be there, I added a 2TB 2280 and never looked back. It's been perfect, the new FSR 3 and AMDs Fluid Motion Frames its game changing, im getting some crazy results, pretty much everything runs above 100fps at 900p i don't even need 720p its insane About the Ally X i cant really consider it an upgrade, if it had an Oled panel and an updated processor, smaller bezels would be more interesting, i dont see myself upgrading anytime soon. About the 2280 ssds you can get an adapter for about 5$ or less from aliexpress and the older model supports the 2280 instead of the 2230 just fine, easy installation anyone can do it
The warranty/RMA thing is a deal killer for this device. It does look good. I have a SteamDeck and won't go to any of these, till the next gen CPU hits....
An entire comments section written this unit off because of a single GN video, lol. IDK why ya'll need to hear this, but nobody posts a video when a unit works fine or an RMA goes smoothly. The stuff you hear on the internet is only the bad situations. I'm sure this thing has it's problems, but everybody can ONLY talk about that with respect to this unit, and I think that's a shame. Anyway... IMO these are upgrades the Ally should have had from the start, and it's nice that they listened to feedback and did some of them. Definitely none of them are groundbreaking. But that price tag is getting REAL steep for a unit like this. I like that you have better compatibility than the Steam Deck, but it's a big trade-off to make for the price tag, and the performance is definitely better, but not THAT much better. IDK. I hate that the Steam Deck forces Linux gaming on people, I've used WINE for far too many years, but price per dollar the AllyX is just too pricey IMO. They need to get that cost down.
I had a XG Mobile 4090 saw the new Ally X then returned it thankfully I was still in the return window on Amazon. Bad Asus they could have kept it and just updated the USB C port on the side. I hope Asus updates the XG Mobile with thunderbolt because the size and noise levels were awesome compared to the others out there. I also have a full 2280 ssd in my old Ally with a cheap Chinese adapter and a 4tb name drive works great.
I watch your content because of your personality, and i feel that we have a similar viewpoint on tech I could review a toaster from 8 years ago and i would watch it lol 😆 😂 Keep up the good work 😊
I currently own an Ally, but I can confidently say that it will be the last Asus product I will ever buy, period. Asus will "pRoMiSe" to improve their CS issues, but trust me, when the PR damage fades away, they will go back to screwing customers over again, since they already did it before, they will do it again, corporate greed outweighs everything. Edit : And my sd card slot did fail too, can't be bothered since I swapped the internal ssd to a 1TB, and f**k letting Asus fix it under warranty and quote me for a "dent" repair.
The battery in the Ally X should be the standard size for all PC Handhelds moving forward. You shouldn't have to worry about a mobile device lasting for less than two hours...
I never get who cries about XGmobile connector being a proprietary, it’s literally USB C + PCIE. You could still use any eGPU, you just can’t use XGmobile except on X/Z/Ally platform. It is still the best eGPU connector, the best open source that’s close is Oculink and that’s just PCIE
I think this looks really cool, but I will never buy another ASUS product after a nightmare RMA for a motherboard a few years back. The GN video just confirmed to me that my experience wasn't the exception.
If they accepted trade ins for the previous ally, it would help me consider getting it. However, considering the controversies surrounding asus, im scared to get a new device because the original ally was janky and was poorly optimized at launch.
Having bought my Ally around black friday, I can`t say I feel cheated by this refresh, because the 2 most important specs (processor and the screen) are the same. I have no issues with the ergonomics or controls (other than the dpad that seems quite prone to registering false diagonals in celeste), I upgraded to a 2tb ssd ( and when I check amazon, 2tb 2280 SSDs aren`t that much less than what I payed for my 2tb 2230 micron example), the 2nd usb c is nice, but not that big of a deal to me, cooling and noise was never an issue either (I barely ever run more than 15-18w), the sd card placement change is good, but as far as I know the issue was never actually thermal related, and the fact that my slightly later unit hasn`t failed yet seems to somewhat confirm this. Really the only changes I`m somewhat jealous about are the ram and battery, but even than, I think that most games that would need more system memory and vram than the normal Ally`s shared memory can provide, probably also need more GPU power to run well than what the 780m can offer, and I`ve mostly been trying to tackle the backlog, so by the time I`m ready to tackle the types of games that wouly even signifantly benefit from the spec bump, we`ll brobably be on the deck 2 oled and ALLY 3 X, atleast And I can always get by with a battery bank
I only watch your review videos now first before watching others because it is more well put together I feel. It is more of a cinematic experience sometimes. The others are just like unboxing first impressions. At least you have some time to have a more review that is like well its been out a month here's what sucks, here's what doesn't suck (insert fancy B-Roll and lofi jams) then what do you think at the end? then i'm like yeah I won't buy said product or I will based off of what you say about it, If I am even interested in the product in the first place. I also enjoy the Zim commercials
I am currently waiting on the pricing when they land in Australia, assuming they do land in Australia at all... We still don't have Steam Deck LCD or OLED available officially in Australia at all. I can get one via a reseller, but then it's the same price as an Ally/Ally X anyway, so I'd rather get the higher spec system.
My biggest problem with all of these devices is the OS. I love my Steamdeck because it is a handheld built for this gaming purpose on the OS level as well! Windows 11 is not a good OS for this use case :( . Microsoft should work a lot harder on it.
![This can play what the Steam Deck CAN'T [Asus ROG Ally]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/crSfiGBPGeo/mqdefault.jpg)
My favorite thing about ASUS is that the tiniest ding on plastic could cause them to send your ally back unassembled.
DING!
Good opinion, did you get it from a youtuber?
Wow very original copy and paste
Don't support asus because of this it will teach them a lesson
It's a feature
7:40 M.2 naming is entirely about the physical size. 2230 is 22mm x 30mm and 2280 is 22mm x 80mm. I'd say the names work pretty well.
Keep in mind he's 'Murican.
@@fairphoneuser9009 So am I. Doesn't take a specific nationality to notice the 2280 is longer than the 2230 and wonder if the numbers mean anything.
@@acoupleofschoes Yeah. But the numbers are measurements in millimeters. So 'Muricans don't get that.
The 2230 and 2280 naming do seem a tad clunky to me, since I feel like most would assume it's "two-thousand two-hundred [thirty/eighty]" instead of "twenty-two [thirty/eighty]", but it makes since with the explanation.
Agreed
No, sorry, I'm not buying it. After my original Ally burned it's sd card slot I requested RMA but after the repair (which took almost 1 month) the fingerprint sensor didn't work. I requested 2nd RMA and said that I want a refund (in store where I bought my Ally the staff said that after poorly made repair it's eligible for refund because of bad service) but they swapped the same parts as in 1st one and didn't say anything. Now, I'm waiting for 3rd response after sending my Ally to them. It's 2,5 months now from the 1rs RMA and my money is just driving circles.
This didn't happen to you apparently because a youtuber also experienced it.
😂
@@Chardan001 Its a REAL issue thats covered in there warranty???? 🤣what???? that "youtuber" made a email showing thounds of people complaining about asus scam. Hes actually trying to get them sued right now
@@robertvalenica8999 if they won't give me my money back after this RMA I'll sue them too lol
BS...
Nope. Staying away of any ASUS stuff. Just watching because I love you Bob ❤
Fanboying makes you stupid
Same here. Would never pay for anything Asus related
Bruh the motherboard of my pc is Asus and it's the best I've ever had 💀
@@mesasil1 Yes, I'm sure you're astounded, even flabbergasted by your motherboard on a daily basis
same here got scammed with zenfones before.gave them a chance with ROG phones. which only lasted for a year and a half. ROG are just overpriced piece of sh!t
"I found the cookies" is the energy I bring to every event
Truth, I would do the same thing...lol I normally get more excited about the cookies than the meal itself....
My backlog is so big and my time to game is so low that I'm still playing games from 2018. I'll stick with the steam deck until it stops running the games I really want to play lol.
For me the steam deck is a companion device, I mainly play on my gaming pc or my ps5, a new handheld would have to be insanely better for me to really be tempted. These are cool but not worth upgrading to for me
Dude, the amount of $2.99 games is astounding.
Im in the same way with my SD Oled, i playing a lot of older titles on it.
I didn't finish witcher3 while I bought this game day one
The steam deck is like 2 years old of course you should not be considering a new handheld pc.
for any new owner I personally think it's also good to weigh their options on the original ROG Ally. I ended up going with an open box Z1E at Best buy for 400 dollars. Bigger battery and ram increase is great, but at "potentially" twice the cost, I'm happy with my OG Z1E
Yeah I think the price is my biggest complaint. I got my Z1E open box shortly after launch for just over 500. Now they want me to sell that same system for 300 or maybe 400 and pay a 400-500 dollar difference for a small upgrade? Nah.
Even if I didn't already own one, I think I would still go with the regular extreme and not go for the X.
@@TimothyStuder wouldn’t that same approach be worth it for the better version? Wait a few months after and then get an open box for cheaper, nobody has to buy it day one but when it’s on sale or a fair price, then it’s deff worth it over the older models…..
@@Ejp23_ depends how much the open box is. If it follows the OG Z1E pricing it'll be like 600. So if you sell your OG for 300 it's still 300 to upgrade. Seems like a lot. Could be worth it for someone who plays a lot unplugged.
Would’ve bought one but I’m waiting till ASUS becomes more trustworthy…
Yeah. The us government is investigating asus
that means you'll not gonna buy it ever lol
Third party purchase or no go 😊
what did ASUS do
@@NateXL Look up gamer nexus. Thats what this is mostly about
That "lol they did" caption had me in stitches 😂
Bought the Ally when it came out. 1 month later, had SD problems. Sent it in to get fixed. SD went out again last week. Still under warranty, sending it in again to get fix. I like the original Ally, but taking no changes and will sell when it comes back out. I’ll keep using my Steam Deck and wait a few months after this new Ally to comes out to see if there are problems. I’m tired of being a beta tester of their hardware.
SSD sizes are the dimmensions in millimeters. 22x80mm is the big one, 22x30mm is the square one and 22x42 and 22x60 are the ones nobody cares about. And the big ones tend to have cache and go up to 8TB.
It's all about presentation. You make quality, well edited, curated content. Cheers to that!
Really cool, but I'm not jumping deck from my steam deck. Customer support matters.
Seems like a solid piece of hardware, but I feel most of us will stick with the Steam Deck.
Valve has exceptional customer service, while ASUS does not.
Also, SteamOS is just so much better for a handheld… using windows is a frustrating experience.
Software is more important to me than having cutting edge hardware.
Also the steam deck 2 is confirmed to be in development
SteamOS is not better. As someone who owns an LCD deck and a Z1E Ally, the Ally had its windows annoyances here and there yes - but nothing drove me up the wall as much as finding out which games were just straight up off limits to play even on the steam decks own native store… Steam!! Whether it was for Anticheat incompatibility, or Proton support was not out for it at that point or Proton just straight up never worked with it. Anyone whose ever even been in the same room as a windows PC will know how to largely work around an Ally for tinkering. SteamOS’s Linux backend? Good luck..
Not to mention The workarounds and insane hoops i had to jump through just to get Gamepass playing on the Deck but only through Cloud gaming! Can’t even run games natively…
No thanks, i’ll take my native xbox support and my non steam device that’s capable of playing a significantly larger amount of steam games than steams own dedicated device, and runs them all way faster and now does it with longer battery life.
You might've not heard ssd sizes being complained, but games are crazy big nowadays. And many people, including me have to buy an adapter to install a 2280 4tb SSD. There are even 8tb SSDs. Also, the numbers represent dimensions in milimeters, 22*30 and 22*80. Also I have modded my ROG ally enough that there is no point for me to upgrade to this. I have a 148Wh (40000 mAh powerbank) hooked up via JSAUX black mod case. Although I like the black color personally, I can always spray paint the shell to get that.
Too bad you can’t upgrade to the 24gb ram officially or get the Thunderbolt 4 with eGPU support.
@@destruxandexploze2552RAM upgrade is something, I don't think I personally need. I have my ally running Win 10 with AtlasOS(not an OS) to debloat it. CPU and RAM usage is very efficient after this. But the FOMO for USB4 is real. I'd've for sure upgraded to Ally X if I didn't already have a gaming PC with a 6800XT inside, which I do use when I want to game on a monitor/TV. When I do upgrade my PC in the future, I'll for sure use this GPU in an enclosure. As it is only 3 yrs old, I'll hold the upgrade for 4 more yrs at least.
@@destruxandexploze2552 24 GB Ram is something I dont feel anyone needs if they keep their system bloat free. Am kn W10 debloated with AtlasOS and also have Razer Cortex that frees RAM significantly on game launch. Also it is USB4 not Thunderbolt4. USB4 has TB3 not TB4. Since I never intend to game on my Ally in docked mode, its ok, have a PC for that, on 6800 XT. It is only 3 yrs old now but 4 years from now when I do upgrade my PC I will use the current GPU in an enclosure but by that time I'll probably get a new handheld as well.
0:43 I see you SpawnWave 👀
I've had the first one since release and have used it almost daily. I've been very happy with it, no issues to report at all even with damn near daily use. Not even any SD issues. I'm tempted to get the X since the lack of vram makes running some games problematic, but I'll wait a while after it's been out to make that decision.
$800 dollars is pretty goddamn steep, considering we're still not receiving an OLED panel. Why are they still prioritizing raw power upgrades when they can't even nail down consistency in performance?
Thanks for being entertaining. I discovered your channel due to switch fandom. I was somewhat intimidated with PC handhelds but ended up investing in a steamdeck after seeing it in enough of your videos. I'm not so intimidated anymore. Having people sort of spell out stuff makes my purchases more confident ones. PC handhelds have been a whole new world for an old f++ker like me. you are my roadmap sir. Cheers.
The Ally X is actually what I hoped for in a handheld PC. Two USB-C, large battery, the hall effect sticks and easier to tinker with. Now I want to see what battery life is like on games. Then I'll probably wait a year or more for it to drop in price to $700 USD for the holidays or something. Maybe the Ally 2 will drop lol. I got my PC and Odin 2 to keep me busy while I wait.
Only ball if you buy and put them in.
4:12 thanks for the shoutout! 😂 great video as always keep it up!
I just got a Steam Deck based on your recommendations and honestly I'm of the mind that Valve just needs to release the damn OS for other systems now. It feels like all the extra beef that they are packing into these other handhelds is just to compensate for windows.
I see these specs like the bulked up ram and think "wow imagine if this memory could be used towards playing games, and not towards keeping a bunch of on by default windows apps suspended in memory at all times"
Spawnwave has legs 🤯
All of you together is so wholesome :)
Palworld and Solitaire hell yeah
It's that time now where companies will start making expensive devices with minor changes at a premium markup
How is double the battery and better game controls minor? Maybe for poor peolle
Uk owner of a secondhand Ally here.. my unit had an issue with one of the triggers which wasn’t noticeable unless you were playing a driving game.. anyhoo… RMA was second to none.. fixed and returned in under two weeks with no hassle.
Love the shy “bye” at the end Bob!! Great video as always
Still happy with my Steam Deck, Vampire Survivors doesn't need any more frames. In all seriousness though it runs everything I want to run and I prefer SteamOS over Windows on these things, especially with all the BS Microsoft's pulling lately. Still, nice to see these handhelds continuing to be a thing!
Wow 2024 is definitely the year of the handheld 🎉
I’m way too poor to buy any of this shit but I enjoyed watching you and Russ talk about it regardless 👍
Specs are perfect on this ill get it as soon as best buy has a sale.
I love the Rog Ally got mines as a Christmas gift and I play it very regularly. However I will not be upgrading I will wait until the 2 releases and all the kinks are dealt with :)
I recently got a Non extreme Ally and love it for my needs... Seleco is well optimized for controllers. I may upgrade next year if the Ally 2 is ready.
Recently Bought the OG steam deck, I’m happy with that until a device is launched that can emulate PS4 games.
At the time a handheld device emulates ps4, every game from the console will get ported to pc already. So what's the point?
Trust is a big one for me I'm far from rich and tech i save for MUST work and well.
Nice! Just saw Russ's video
Nice to see Jon with a shirt on
Love my launch day Ally. I love the updates they are doing and hope they keep up the iterations. I hope they get to a point where we get a hardware update every 3 years with x version with these kinds of updates in the in between years.
The next steam deck is gonna be a beast
I hope it's still a couple years away. I'd like to see an actual jump in performance between the devices.
Better have game pass of it
@@GG-zv9ku that's on Microsoft for not having native (eg not streaming) Game Pass off of Windows, not something Valve could cook up
Had one. Linux is definitively a bootleg windows that's constantly under developement to the point u can barely play your games. Graphics aren't the best out. Legion go was better before that crashed. Also steam has very poor customer service.
😂😂😂😂
I like how this video was just a review of him being there and what changed while the other big channels just dunked on it. Rightfully so, but was not expecting this type of video.
Bob putting other people at the event on blast lmao
At 7:42 it's not a dumb name. It's literally the width and depth of the product in millimetres.
1 is 30 mm long and the other is 80 mm long. It makes perfect sense
When buying hardware, I like to take a vacation and just use it 24/7. I’ve bought many Asus laptops. Returned all except one due to problems with them like blue screens and banding. I’ve got a great g14 only took 3 others to get to the great one. If you put a lot of work into it at first the damage will out and no need to deal with rma. I’ve never had to deal with warranty issues with any purchase and I’m an old man.
The best TH-cam channel ever , thanks for your hard work !
the thing about "playing a decent amount of games" on your rog, with my launch rog, i had stick issues after less than 48 hours of minimal gaming and exploration where i had VERY deep cuts in the stem itself, so HOPEFULLY this is ironed out completely tbh
A lot of people don't mention the 2280 SSD form factor change in the showcase for the Ally X, which would support up to 8TB drives and drives tend to come cheaper in that more standard form factor and in a wide variety of speed tiers.
To me besides the bigger RAM and battery, the 2280 SSD form factor change is a huge plus as well. No need for 3D printed mods to fit a 2280 like you can on the Legion Go.
As for a mid-life upgrade or sequel to the Legion Go. It has to keep all the uniqueness & options of the original Legion Go, but change the SSD size from 2242 to 2280 (support Gen 4 as well), bigger RAM either 24GBs like the Ally X or go one step further and just do 32GBs of RAM, and 80+ battery like the Ally X.... I'll pretty sold with those upgrades while keeping everything else the same.
For extras: Change Z1 Extreme chip for a more standard 7840U or 8840U equivalent so we don't have to deal with this extreme wait times on OEM drivers... let us get the regular AMD drivers from a regular AMD adrenaline app or from Legion Space if people don't want to interact with AMD adrenaline... but makes them available as soon as any other 7840U/8840U chip gets it in other platforms/form factors of any other PC.
If they want to go the extra mile, change the screen to a 16:9 Native Landscape panel to avoid the finickiness of Portrait panels with some apps/games... if not... well... it's a PC, it can be mitigated with Software and some tweaking... but at least that's fixable through software. What's under the hood is priority, and improve the speakers & maybe add an extra USB4 next to the other top one like the Ally X, while keeping the bottom one = making it 3 USB4 ports.
They would come out later with it... so it gives me hope that they have the timing advantage to 1-up the Ally X (basically copy their last homework and use the Ally X as a blueprint to further improve on the original Legion Go) further and even undercut in cost with more hardware features.
I for one on the change to USB4 eGPUs, is that it's your more versatile can use the ports for other stuff... universal compatibility if most of other devices use the same and forward compatibility for an eventual leap in USB bandwidth and speeds later on with some of a USB5 tech... where it would a very inexpensive upgrade to just change the GPU docking station/enclosure... or the cable & USB output module of the enclosure/dock already supports higher bandwidth then it is just plug and play on a future device that can take higher bandwidth inputs.
Side Note: (from what I think and other reddit users) actually the real reason why the sd card failed (in most units) is because of a PTC Fuse failure that ASUS used on some (actually a lot) on the sd card reader circuitry and the heat isn't the main problem but i think it helped it, that's why there are actual units with working sd card from the start and other units replaced and they are now working normally(mostly), because i opened 2 ASUS rog ally and saw that between the 2 there is a different fuse between them + the one that has the failed sd reader have its fuse burned out, so i am not confirming that it is 100% true but yeah that's definitely a possibility
Definitely need to be honest when reviewing
Thanks Captain Obvious 🫡
He does.
@@Andrew12105 didn’t say he wasn’t
“One of their phones rang and they yelled at us”
I admire your composure, Bob. I would have been kicked out of the venue for verbally assaulting the guy
I would love more collaborations between you and retro game Corp love you guys. 👍I don't really love Asus though. I Heard from Gamers Nexus that their RMAs are pretty bad. I'm good. Even my friend told me it was pretty bad. Thank you for talking about it! I even heard that they were being investigated by the FTC 💀 I would still love to have a windows handheld unlike the steamdeck. Maybe someday!
If I’m gonna spend that much money I need an oled screen at the very least I’ll wait until we get a better chipset maybe next year . All I am using it for is emulation so anything would be fine but still
It is crazy Asus manufactured this all ready! Future looks promising.
I'm a day one owner of the ROG Ally. I haven't had one issue with it. I don't use the micro sd card anyway. I'll probably upgrade the memory and keep using it. I would've bought the new one if I didn't already have it.
Love my Steam Deck.
Linus has an Ally X..just watched a video where he talks about it
7.36 thats an NVMe drive not M.2 easy way to remember M.2 has one cut not two more lanes. Also the name is just width plus length in mm. So 22mm by 80mm or 22mm bt 30 mm it's what the small ones are almost square ⬛️.
Thanks for the video, Wulff. I always appreciate your opinion on handhelds. I can’t wait for the full review, as I am deciding between an OLED Steam Deck and this one. Before the announcement of the Ally X, the decision was easy, as nothing offered a battery life like the Steam Deck, but now it seems there’s another option.
It’s really weird and unfortunate how ASUS RMA is so bad in the west; my Ally’s right stick stopped functioning about a month after I got it (from a US BestBuy store) and at that time I was traveling in China so I brought it to an authorized RMA center there and it was ready for pickup in perfect shape in just 2 days, without any hassle or costing a cent.
Not going to lie Love the Ally got the original one when it came out and just had the dreaded SD card reader failure. Sent it in got it repaired and now its working fine. Honestly the new one is really tempting because of the ability to attach an affordable EGPU. I could see attaching like a 3060 or 3090 to it and it being a really good compact gaming rig. Especially with that RAM upgrade.
i love the oled in the background with the botw screenshot lol
The redesign isn't that surprising to me. This is just my speculation, but when you spend the level they had to on R&D you're likely to come up with multiple variations on the product's form. It's likely that the feedback they received from users fit one of the unreleased versions of the product. At the very least, they already have a good starting point. The thumbstick changes sound pretty dope though. I have been thinking that the sticks on my steam deck are a little high for me. I wish I could swap in shorter ones like on the xbox pro controller.
A wild SpawnWave appears!
That’s cool you got to meet up with Russ, Carey and Spawnwave. 😁
I was waiting for this launch to get a windows handheld… until the GN video came out. Now I have a legion Go and love the product. I hope Asus can get their act together. Maybe I’ll consider the Ally2 if they fix their process and make good on their warranty.
M.2 SSD Names are actually pretty easy/smart if you're metric. They're just the dimensions of the device in millimeters.
I'm tempted. I'm still rocking the base lcd Steam Deck and I've been eyeing the Rog Ally recently
I think if you’ve waited this long, it’s better to wait for the Ally 2 for a proper chip and screen update. asus isn’t following Valve’s plan to release at a more console-like pace (aka few years to encourage optimization for the same specs). So i expect an Ally 2 next year
@@extra4542 I mean valve released the oled steam deck like a year and some change after the original released. I'd imagine there'd be a new steam deck revision alongside the rog ally 2, which I have been hearing more speculation it could release next year too. Guess I'll stay put with my current lcd steam deck til then
I'd still choose a steam deck oled any day 😂
Looking forward to the sp video and yes we will watch it.
I’m no pc buff my any means. But arent the regular sized ssd’s prone to getting really hot? Kind of a concern. I’ve seen some ssds with built in heat sinks for heat dispersion. Just a thought that ran through my head. That with that large battery kinda concerns me, idk…
Between my ally and the new one I'm just jealous of the more ram
I love my Rog Ally, I'll stick my current one but if I didn't have I would go for this one.
Ill never forget that I met him twice on the Lirr ( I’m A Conductor ) lol
the switch 2 has some real competition
Well apart from the micro sd card issue that shouldn't be there, I added a 2TB 2280 and never looked back. It's been perfect, the new FSR 3 and AMDs Fluid Motion Frames its game changing, im getting some crazy results, pretty much everything runs above 100fps at 900p i don't even need 720p its insane
About the Ally X i cant really consider it an upgrade, if it had an Oled panel and an updated processor, smaller bezels would be more interesting, i dont see myself upgrading anytime soon.
About the 2280 ssds you can get an adapter for about 5$ or less from aliexpress and the older model supports the 2280 instead of the 2230 just fine, easy installation anyone can do it
The warranty/RMA thing is a deal killer for this device. It does look good. I have a SteamDeck and won't go to any of these, till the next gen CPU hits....
An entire comments section written this unit off because of a single GN video, lol.
IDK why ya'll need to hear this, but nobody posts a video when a unit works fine or an RMA goes smoothly. The stuff you hear on the internet is only the bad situations. I'm sure this thing has it's problems, but everybody can ONLY talk about that with respect to this unit, and I think that's a shame.
Anyway... IMO these are upgrades the Ally should have had from the start, and it's nice that they listened to feedback and did some of them. Definitely none of them are groundbreaking. But that price tag is getting REAL steep for a unit like this. I like that you have better compatibility than the Steam Deck, but it's a big trade-off to make for the price tag, and the performance is definitely better, but not THAT much better. IDK. I hate that the Steam Deck forces Linux gaming on people, I've used WINE for far too many years, but price per dollar the AllyX is just too pricey IMO. They need to get that cost down.
I had a XG Mobile 4090 saw the new Ally X then returned it thankfully I was still in the return window on Amazon. Bad Asus they could have kept it and just updated the USB C port on the side. I hope Asus updates the XG Mobile with thunderbolt because the size and noise levels were awesome compared to the others out there. I also have a full 2280 ssd in my old Ally with a cheap Chinese adapter and a 4tb name drive works great.
I watch your content because of your personality, and i feel that we have a similar viewpoint on tech
I could review a toaster from 8 years ago and i would watch it lol 😆 😂
Keep up the good work 😊
I currently own an Ally, but I can confidently say that it will be the last Asus product I will ever buy, period. Asus will "pRoMiSe" to improve their CS issues, but trust me, when the PR damage fades away, they will go back to screwing customers over again, since they already did it before, they will do it again, corporate greed outweighs everything.
Edit : And my sd card slot did fail too, can't be bothered since I swapped the internal ssd to a 1TB, and f**k letting Asus fix it under warranty and quote me for a "dent" repair.
The battery in the Ally X should be the standard size for all PC Handhelds moving forward. You shouldn't have to worry about a mobile device lasting for less than two hours...
I never get who cries about XGmobile connector being a proprietary, it’s literally USB C + PCIE. You could still use any eGPU, you just can’t use XGmobile except on X/Z/Ally platform. It is still the best eGPU connector, the best open source that’s close is Oculink and that’s just PCIE
I think this looks really cool, but I will never buy another ASUS product after a nightmare RMA for a motherboard a few years back. The GN video just confirmed to me that my experience wasn't the exception.
If they accepted trade ins for the previous ally, it would help me consider getting it. However, considering the controversies surrounding asus, im scared to get a new device because the original ally was janky and was poorly optimized at launch.
1:01 100000% ign loves to be buttered n expects freed stuff
Having bought my Ally around black friday, I can`t say I feel cheated by this refresh, because the 2 most important specs (processor and the screen) are the same. I have no issues with the ergonomics or controls (other than the dpad that seems quite prone to registering false diagonals in celeste), I upgraded to a 2tb ssd ( and when I check amazon, 2tb 2280 SSDs aren`t that much less than what I payed for my 2tb 2230 micron example), the 2nd usb c is nice, but not that big of a deal to me, cooling and noise was never an issue either (I barely ever run more than 15-18w), the sd card placement change is good, but as far as I know the issue was never actually thermal related, and the fact that my slightly later unit hasn`t failed yet seems to somewhat confirm this.
Really the only changes I`m somewhat jealous about are the ram and battery, but even than, I think that most games that would need more system memory and vram than the normal Ally`s shared memory can provide, probably also need more GPU power to run well than what the 780m can offer, and I`ve mostly been trying to tackle the backlog, so by the time I`m ready to tackle the types of games that wouly even signifantly benefit from the spec bump, we`ll brobably be on the deck 2 oled and ALLY 3 X, atleast
And I can always get by with a battery bank
You do good work, thanks Bob.
I only watch your review videos now first before watching others because it is more well put together I feel. It is more of a cinematic experience sometimes. The others are just like unboxing first impressions. At least you have some time to have a more review that is like well its been out a month here's what sucks, here's what doesn't suck (insert fancy B-Roll and lofi jams) then what do you think at the end? then i'm like yeah I won't buy said product or I will based off of what you say about it, If I am even interested in the product in the first place. I also enjoy the Zim commercials
5:40 Who is the guy to the left of Russ wearing the white shirt? Does he have a youtube channel? I've seen him in Russ's video as well
If I was in your shoes I’d tell it like it is so if a company sends you a product that sucks what the heck do they expect ?
Bobbo's back!
I'm done with Asus, sick of getting screwed over by them. I'm one of the several that were affected by their support team.
Same. It's so bad that the US government is investigating asus rma practices
do not agree to embargos do not allow companies to control your opinion
What do you think the odds are the Ally 2 will be out before the SD 2?
Defeinitely will still watch your SP review. Really interested in your opinions.
I am currently waiting on the pricing when they land in Australia, assuming they do land in Australia at all... We still don't have Steam Deck LCD or OLED available officially in Australia at all. I can get one via a reseller, but then it's the same price as an Ally/Ally X anyway, so I'd rather get the higher spec system.
5:40 Vinny Pizza Pasta spotted! :D
you should do a video where u use it as ur main pc :)
I just want to know if it runs Forza Motorsport at 900p 60fps or at least 45fps with medium graphics.
Can we see a comparison video between this and the Steamdeck OLED
My biggest problem with all of these devices is the OS. I love my Steamdeck because it is a handheld built for this gaming purpose on the OS level as well! Windows 11 is not a good OS for this use case :( . Microsoft should work a lot harder on it.