Asus feels like they fired their entire PR and customer support team that everyone liked for the past 5-10 years and outsourced it to another company. Horrendous RMA practices, dubious hardware flaws and still a weak armory crate software after 1 year makes it a hard recommendation. Especially when they squeeze 2 product releases in 1 cpu generation makes it hard to imagine how long they would support it with firmware fixes.
Exactly my thoughts. Half of the product is software, and Valve has proven above and beyond their commitment with software updates. Choosing between good customer support and proven software updates and improves and questionable RMA practices, it's a simple decision I'd say...
Armoury crate is fine though, honestly haven’t had issues with it. It has gotten quite a bit of updates. The comment about 2 product releases is weird though, you can say the same thing about valve with the steam deck oled.
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@@oo--7714 the steam deck didn't change that much tho. It is all about a new screen. Even pricing. I think the steam deck 'upgrade' is much closer to what Nintendo did with the switch I think for the ally it is in fact a new version, despite Asus saying it is just a revision of the original ally
The steam deck upgrades with the oled are similar to the rog ally x, Basically a new screen, faster ram and more battery life on the oled. The pricing got a bit of a bump but only by 30 dollars or so. The rog ally is less of an upgrade it has more ram, faster ram and more battery life. But no changes to the screen. The bezels still look terrible.
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@@oo--7714 the ally had changed all around tho, including ports and the shell They didn't keep compatibility with accessories, not even their expensive external GPU
We've already had 2 responses from ASUS, if I'm not mistaken, and both were gaslighting the customers and GN. Also having a 2 year warranty will mean nothing if they say "oh look a fucking 1 micron scratch this is now void of warranty because clearly you've damaged it"
Playing Devil's advocate, ASUS' warranty problems are almost entirely in communication. The actual service was fine. If you declined the cosmetic repairs, they still fixed the actual problems. But they presented it as though they never even acknowledged the actual problems.
@@rightwingsafetysquad9872 The messaging from Asus was downright extortion in language over at GN. You're absolutely right, they eventually did fix the problem GN wanted them to, but the initial messages from ASUS was pretty much a threat that if they didn't pay $X the device would be returned, possibly even disassembled. Nowhere in the first 2-3 emails did the CS rep give GN the option to choose. Never did they say, "Your problem is fully covered and we're on it! Also, we noticed some other damage that you can $X to fix, but that's optional."
I worked at Best Buy's Geek Squad between 2021 to very late 2023 and I had not seen a product so unanimously returned and sent to repair as the ROG Ally. We had a ton in stock, all repackaged used, and the issues were not JUST the SD card reader. It blows my mind that they would try to release another version.
A new PR statement doesn't fix this. Nor does a 2 year warranty, if the warranty treatment and behaviour as was, is still what people get. When I was younger, ASUS was a bit of a go to brand for me. But over the years, the quality dropped, and the cost went up, and I really mean that. Even in their base area, motherboards, I don't like what's been put out. Hot, BIOS problems, high cost, mediocre perf, mediocre VRMs. Not a brand I want to buy from.
People are like 'omg Asus your RMA and customer service sucks! I sent in my thing during the warranty and had a terrible time!' ASUS: 'ok have extra warranty time'
People need to realize they've been called out by GN regarding the warranty issue for the second time, and without fail, ASUS proceeds to gaslight them whenever GN reaches out. Only a fool would give them a third chance.
yeah i like how very speculative the 100 bump for basically just a battery upgrade , goes into the territory of it's probably for rma coverage, it's only speculation and having something to say to make positive coverage for the product out of absolutely no objective, tangantial evidence. And also, guyses, 899 is inexpensive... you can get a pretty nice laptop with a rtx 4050 sometimes 4060 for that price. It's not that inexpensive for what is essentially laptop parts and cheap laptop cpu (the Z1 is similar to ryzen 7740u 780m) with a much smaller screen.
@@CloseCallssand now its you who detach from the rest of the world economy. Here the 100-200 dollar phones are more than enough and expensive enough for a lot of people.
@@patrickdaly5988It was Asus that started this by absolutely shitting the bed. Gamer's Nexus has only been doing what they do best: expose those motherfuckers.
Nope. Valve doesn't sell the steamdeck in most of the world's biggest gaming markets. The Ally curbstomped steamdeck in terms of worldwide sales and now with the Ally X, Valve don't stand a chance. Only that Asus have shitty management and as a company, they suck.
As a previous owner of one of these, I can safely say Asus RMA is absolutely embarrassing. Great device, until it kept blue-screening. Brought it into the store on December 2023. April 2024 arrived and still no progress. The store (called Incredible Connection here in South Africa) eventually offered me either a new one, or store credit. Now I own a PS5. It's honestly a damn shame, because for what it's worth, the Ally genuinely delivered.
Thanks for the comment it genuinely helped me decide., I'm going to save my time and money and avoid this product even tho I was so tempted to buy it. It legit seems so perfect otherwise. Was also gonna buy from incredible soon but maybe not. Enjoy your ps5 bro!
I have a$2000 XG Mobile 4090 that is essentially a paper weight since it will not work, Asus has already RMA'd it once, sent it back "repaired" and still broken. I've had to deal with 4 people after that, all while trying to tell them to take it back and fix it. Finally got them to send RMA again and it will go out a second time and I have little to no faith it will be repaired/replaced. I will no longer buy ASUS until they get their heads out of their rear ends. Absolutely unnacceptable, not including the people who invested in the XG Mobile system and now it's incompatible with the Ally X after just one version.
@@bkk3782 that has to really suck ass. I was going to buy the mobile 4090 but the proprietary connector is bound or tied up to other asus garbage. I am glad occulink ports are now becoming a connectivity standard so I can wait for a OL GPU dock and put whatever GPU I want on it.
It runs windows, so it would still have all the problems that OS does , not optimised for touch, annoying constant updates and biggest draw back being games not having that resume feature.
In Korea, we call warranty as A/S (after service) and the pronunciation of "no (don't exist)" is "eopseum". So we say Asus as A/S eopseum, which is really similar to its naming.
In Europe, consumer electronics are guaranteed a minimum 2-year warranty by law under the Consumer Rights Directive. This applies to all member states of the European Union, ensuring that consumers have the right to request repairs, replacements, or refunds for faulty goods within this period.
They definitely could have covered the cost with profits from other products. They gave entry level pricing and are slowly raising it just like every other company including OnePlus and others.
@@EikottXDdont they still have that entry level pricing available on the original devices still Not trying to defend a tech company, i dont like companies. But i feel like thats a big distinction
Yea, I mean ASUS has a track record outside the Ally, that's why that comment was there on launch day. Saying they priced it too low is just a lame excuse.
I was very hesitant to buy the Ally because of all the issues I heard about the device. Even the best buy guy told me it was heavily returned. After 7 months of ownership, I am extremely happy with it, zero issues.
Same just that i even bought a returned one (which was completely fine) and after roughly 2.1k hours of playtime everything works like day one. Except for the Battery which lost quite a bit of life. Gonna switch to ally x soon
that's a smart move from asus, move the SD Card to the OTHER hot air vent. though in some studies, thermal was not the problem. it was the low quality fuse.
The engineers did some engineering! So much more efficient use of space. I hope Valve takes notes. But the warranty is irrelevant if they claim that every scratch is user damage and that their own instructions to remove the SSD voids the warranty.
It's illegal to say that, by the way. If you damage the unit WHILE servicing user serviceable parts (hard drive, battery, etc), that's one thing, but saying doing these things voids the warranty is absolutely incorrect.
I am never going to buy an Asus product. Bought a ROG Flow Z13 and it had massive issues. Contacted customer support, they told me to remove the GRAPHICS CARD (on a gaming tablet) and send the rest of the device to them for repair. Gladly, I bought it on Amazon and they gave me my money back without an issue and told me they'd investigate what went wrong here.
@@ultrasrifat1495or you know everyone has unique or different experiences.... it doesn't take sherlock to know that. Use more of your brain or go back to school 😉 😂
I was soooo close to buying one of these, but in light of the recent GN video's and Asus's pathetic response I spent my money elsewhere. It's going to take a lot for me to trust Asus again.
Right? This new device is genuinely interesting to me, but "here, have an extra year of our worthless warranty" does not instill much confidence in me.
us in South Asia / SE Asia don't really have consumer protection from tech giants like ASUS. the best we'll have is wait for half of the product cycle so you know what their defects are before buying in.
For sure, if its broken after the local warranty, its as good as trash. Heck, lets expand it to phones, one guy I know bought a samsung flip, screen broke and had to pay half of that phone to repair it. What's the use of paying over $1600 (AUD) that breaks when you can spend half of it on a better brick phone. Edit: AUD is 1:1 with my country's currency and its easy for people to understand
UK owner here, had the SD card issue like many others. RMA process easy via Asus, they used a partner for the work (letmerepair, they probably use a few) .. courier turns up with a crate, takes pics etc.. and off it goes. multiple email updates and returned back to me good as new - end to end process roughly 10 days. aside from the likes of dell/lenovo who do repair onsite for certain levels of service I really couldn't have expected more .. maybe it's a US thing, or I just got luck, but feel it's good to give balance. Samsung get a bad rep too, but I had good experience there .. they couldn't find a problem with my flip but instead of throwing it back to me a tech called me and I was able to explain the problem and got it resolved
i'm indonesia and we don't have such home-pickup warranty service, but the service has been consistently satisfying.. i think it may have something to do with the 3rd party repair service asus hired in the US
Yes well, Europe has consumer laws protecting them from exploitative companies. The US does not and needs consumers to hope that someone with influence like Steve steps up and helps them. Dave is all excited about ASUS offering two years of “full warranty” where in the UK and the EU, that is just the default law-regulated standard for anything and everything you buy.
maybe the UK people actually have a "rather made everything settled rather than complicating matters" kind of mentality when it comes to servicing things? idk, maybe that's why very few people in the UK complained, not that it's abnormally smooth in there.
It still blows my mind how many people were defending Asus for the SD reader. I saw a lot of posts in Reddit from Best Buy employees insulting consumers for expecting the device to work as advertised.
Dave, the issue is this dog "water" RMA is not only for their Ally product but a lot more.... If they did mess up and did not budget that's on them and in fact it's very common to sell even at a loss to get a slice of the market share with an eye on the medium/long term profit. Asus was greedy (not only with the Ally) so really screw them until they've shown they changed They may say 'oh 2 years warranty on the old one' and you go through RMA hell and they find 200 things that voids the warranty
@@casualgamerdad2878 I don't think he meant we 'deserved' it.. rather that the explanation to the situation is Asus' miscalculations. I think no one should be making excuses to Asus given that this situation is way larger than just the Ally and extends to their other products as brought to light by Steve. I'm not touching an asus product until this is demonstrably fixed worldwide, not just for US/CA
@@BacklogDrifter you're calling me salty yet you weirdly feel the need to post multiple comments on here bashing this thing like you're paid to do. Smooth brain
They legitimately did a better job than even valve did when it comes to listening to customer feedback to improve a product but at the same time have awful customer support. Really shows how splintered a company can be when it comes to management and different departments.
As much as a bad products can kill a company, bad companies can kill decent products as well. Having said that, my entire rig at home is Asus, thank goodness nothing has gone wrong with any of those components. Will most likely move away from them for my next build.
Agree, it is sad since they make so much cool stuff that you really want to buy, but then you don't want to hassle with quality issues. They really need to look over there QA processes. Fixing the customer support is important, but the best and cheapest support is the one you never needed to call since the product just worked out of the box.
What I found is the Ally does not work with 1TB MicroSD, but works with 512GB. In my case I thought my 1TB SD Card was broken when Ally does not detect it anymore, but when I put it on the Steam Deck it actually works and only needs a format 🤷🏻♂️ confused really.
I had an SD Card Reader RMA Case for the ALLY in germany. Luckily it all went well over here.😅And it was even a second hand one for which I didn't have the original receipt. So Kudos to the company that repairs them in germany and the german customer support 🙈 They have been helpful and already knew it was an issue and said "yeah yeah just send it in". (then again we have VERY strict laws about such over here with a 2 years warranty. By law! Which might be why it just worked out fine.)
11:41 It'd be really much of a shame if the new one wouldn't have at least 2 years of warranty. In germany 2 years of warranty are mandatory for product launches. I know this is specified globally, respectively for the USA, but I think it's still important to point out here.
I must be one of the only ones that had a good experience with my Ally getting my RMA done. I had the same stick issue that Gamers Nexus had. I called Asus, they sent me a label, and i shipped it out. I had it back in two weeks fully repaired with no questions asked. This was before GN had their nightmare scenario. I love my Ally, but i hope they do for everyone what they did for me.
Just out of curiosity, I went back and looked at some of Dave’s oldest videos. The fact that this channel’s content has evolved, but the aesthetic remains just as clean is great. Also I think currently, the Steam Deck OLED remains the most convenient way to get into handheld gaming. The software is just incredible on that thing.
@@cameronbosch1213 Any long time Linux user can tell you how much gaming on it improved since Valve stepped in. They could have locked every single improvement they've made to their device but no, anyone using Linux can enjoy the results of their work.
Looks like a nice upgrade. I’ll probably wait for the ROG Ally 2 or Steam Deck 2. I’m still happy with my original Ally. I never had the SD card issues luckily. Thanks for the review.
@@clarkmacatuno7348 huh? I had ROG ally. Returned it due to bad battery and stick issues. So naturally I'm waiting for next version with those issues fixed.
@@duffydemonwhat did you not watch this video the battery life doubled 80w battery biggest in a handheld right now? And the sticks have been fixed on this new version everything you have complained about in your comment dave showed it has been fixed in this new version
In Sweden, all private customers have a 3-year warranty for complaints if something breaks with a technical product that cannot be considered mishandling by the customer. Two of my ROG Ally devices have had the SD card error (I expect my third will have the same issue), but the retail store where I bought them replaces them without question each time. I got a new one over the counter the same day (!) both of the times.
Not really. Asus are so smart they put USB 2.0 on their official dock, and only one USB-C on the handheld. Meanwhile Legion Go have 2 USB 3.2 gen 2 20Gbps internal ports and supports any eGPU too. Both ports supports Samsung T7 SSD at 1050.MB/s.
@@V3ntilator well, I think if you ask the engineer they would have prefer thunderbolt port, you know who told them to make it not too advance in case the product team want an X variant hahaha sucks
If you watch Steve's complete breakdown, it's not about the Ally, it's about pretty much every branch of ASUS when you look at the fan mail experiences. Also bad RMA from Asus isn't a new topic. It happened before too, it's a constantly recurring practice that started way before the the Ally launch
Thanks for the video, honestly, I had a great experience with their support, I dropped my ally and the joysticks got damaged, I went to an asus center in Vietnam, and they were able to replce it without charge and in just 2 days!
Dave lost it this time. First he shows the comment that Asus has a poor CS even before the Ally, and then saying that the Ally 1 is too cheap hence the poor support. The problem has rooted, Asus need overhaul their customer support system before anyone should even think about buying anything Asus. Extra $100 on the Ally X would do jack shit.
Doesn't matter for us in the Philippines though. As RMA is handled by the local distributor rather than Asus, at least it's a bit better here. I feel the issues are stemmed from bad customer service of RMA representatives from the US and probably Europe.
Just wanted to add that the situation is not the same in every region of the world. Had my Ally screen randomly died on me. Sent it to the service center and gotten the machine back in 2-3 weeks, screen replaced with no questions asked.
@@naterodnope. Steam deck cannot play AAA titles at a respectable level, and of course not all games run well on Linux. The ally can play everything, if you just want to play little indie games then go for the Steam deck but if you want to play anything demanding get the ally, legion go, etc
@@willneverreadreplies besides what the flying fuck does that have to do with the market😂 despite whether or not which is superior the fact ramins buddy it’s the same exact fucking market. Both are PC handhelds.
Now I realise that I was incredibly lucky that my ROG ally got fixed by Asus, with no issues with customer support at all, esp when the left joystick completely died just months into using it.
I think the only PC Handheld worth buying (aside from Steam Deck) is Legion Go - simply because (just like Steam Deck) it has a touch pad, so it makes game compatibility much greater. But if you already have Steam Deck, then buying another "windows based" handheld, does not make sense really.
Steam Deck doesn't make much sense when many games are not compatible or straight up broken, even verified titles. Persona 4 Golden is verified yet the animated cutscenes were broken on Steam Deck. Valve literally put almost no effort in their verification system
Definitely not. Anyone listening please do not buy that handheld. Same crappy windows problems, highly uncomfortable, tons of bugs and glitches, and more. It’s a terrible console
Valve really did the right move by ditching Windows. Besides freeing them from Microsoft, creating their own Linux distro also allows them to adjust and optimize everything to improve the user experience on their device. I find all these handheld PCs very interesting but there's no way I'm buying any of these unless they ditch Windows as well.
@MisterPikol Actually, the 512 GB OLED model compared to the original price of the 256 GB model (before the Steam Deck OLED was released and the 256 GB LCD Steam Deck took the $399 base price) is slightly lower. And it has tangible improvements that aren't just the screen.
Having a longer warranty doesn’t really matter when they REFUSE to fix anything under warranty. You’re essentially buying a $800 product hoping NOTHING ever goes wrong. I’m a ROG Ally owner and there is a lot of things wrong with mine…
If the warranty issues were limited to that of the Ally i might agree price was a factor but it seems like their customer service experience extends to their entire suit of products.
Their customer service is trash. I went through numerous Flow X16s with issues, and now an XG Mobile that cost me an arm and a leg that is being sent back on it's second RMA. That and it's nice to know after you spend all of this money on their products, they decide to remove their proprietary connector after one generation of a device.
If you have the know-how for it, I think the better call is to buy the normal Ally discounted, then re-engineer the entire thingy yourself. Swap out the sticks for aftermarket hall effects, design a mini-PCB around the SD Card module they used and run jumper wires to it away from the vents, then throw in the 90wh battery mod that will surpass even the Ally X. All that, and you won't have to worry about Asus' garbage anymore with their warranty, because you fix what they failed at and cut them out of the equation entirely after purchase.
That was a really good, even-handed review. I liked that you didn't hide away from their mistakes and just praise Asus, but mentioned the high points and the low points.
The issue is not the "2 year warranty", it's the process when going through the warranty that Asus is trying to charge more and trying to get out of the warranty claim.
Nah Dave Id have to disagree with you: people had lots of horrible with ASUS top end hardwares too like their RTX 4090 or some other expensive Motherboards. Shitty RMA practices run deep and the lack of serious competitions might put them in a complacent place. But no more can they expect to get away with it.
I worked for ASUS motherboard tech support a few years back (through a call center of course) around when they just launched the first ROG phone and I can tell you even back then it was hell for whoever bought that damn phone and it needed RMA. Same thing with motherboards etc. I even remember getting a complaint for a rma mother board that came back with LOTION MARKS from service center lol. it seems they outsource rma to the cheapest guys in Asia or wherever honestly.
Usually, those titles are used for making a point, usually a point that should be taken into consideration due to key details and in most cases its due to the negative percussions that could occur. Tho if you don't like it don't watch if you want to stay in the dark u have that choice if you don't care quit complaining common sense.
I am a Asus zen phone owner, they promised the boot unlocker at launch, never came, its been over a year, not just a current issue. I love asus, their phones, laptops, computer hardware, but damn I wish they can get their shit together so I could actually trust them.
lets not forget the EXPLODING RYZEN CPU's and how asus handled THAT mess, "void your warranty with this bios update or run the risk of fire!" scum company.
hot take here: if they make a good product without those kind of issues, they wouldn't need a rma process in the first place. sure things aren't perfect, but it's not the price to make a good rma process. they CAN make a good product with a affordable price point AND make money of it, when they would make a good product.
TLDR; newer version has been upgraded to a DONT BUY, you have been warned. Thank you Dave for your honesty, transparency and straightforwardness in all your reviews and videos.
I have the rog ally and never used the SD port. Been working like a princess for me. It's the best so far. You see it's a machine, if you put it to work right out the box and binge play on it it will indeed break.
it sounds like it was planned from the beginning by the marketing team. Like it was no mistake, they knew exactly what they were doing. I wouldn't be surprised if they intentionally folded with a flaw in order to easily try again with a improved version with a higher price to essentially double their income. Marketing 101
Bought an excellent condition open box one at bestbuy November 2023 and it’s been good. That said, my now 9 yr old son been playing it a lot ever since. No hardware issues yet. We got 2 of them but I hardly play with mine since I’ve been busy. I bought a really long 100w wall charger and we only play at home while plugged. And we don’t use the SD card reader for gaming though. But I do understand the complaints about the SD reader issues and short battery life for those that plays on the go. I would sell mine but I don’t sell anything online, so I just keep it. Playing retro games on it was great at the beginning though
I'm praying for Zotac that they'll deliver. So far first AMOLED 120hz 1080p AMD based handheld with hall effect joysticks from what leaks suggest and possibly my first handheld.
Yeah and I think FHD is very decent for such a small screen considering the ppi! I am just concerned about the battery life even if it's an AMOLED. Would be neat if it competes with the battery life of a regular flagship phone.
@@proudyyleaks say 75min probably at full load so... I'm prepared with my 65w 30000mah powerbank tho :D or just plug to the wall if possible. I'm going to play on my bed most of the time anyway but it's concerning how bad battery development is going especially considering that batteries are everywhere now...
@dave2d please don’t take this the wrong way but you can’t blame something on price. Especially when they charge a premium for the rog name. If it wasn’t profitable then they wouldn’t make it. PLUS it’s the same customer service for all there products not just the ally. It’s sounds like you are Asus PR person or you don’t feel comfortable criticizing Asus. (Just saying how it sounds.)
In South Africa they use Pinnacle Retail Warranty, They blamed me for breaking the screen of my 2 in 1 Laptop when I sent it to them to fix the hinges. Was denied warranty and sent a R9700 ($520) invoice for a product I bought for R15 600 ($830). Hinges were not broken just faulty, the first time I sent it to get checked they told me that it is a 2 in 1 it's supposed to rotate 360 Degrees (No Shxt). Then I sent it the second time only for my warranty to be denied, and it got shipped back with a broken screen. Now I write my notes on paper like the peasant I am.
It’s not when u compare it to the competition like Msi claw 750€ the new one claw8 will be around 900€ or onexplyer 2. 1000€ or even the steam deck oled is in my place 779€ ally x is 899€ ally z1ext is 600€
I am so glad my Zephyrus Duo hasnt had issues that I havent been able to doctor yet. The immense amount of issues surrounding ASUS right now put me in a weird position as a laptop owner when the motherboard reputation crisis happened, and now that its happening on more devices surrounding them its making it scary to own one of their products and also not be able to change it on the spot
Awesome Dave. I think its good you highlight and callout these things. I feel a like a lot of hardware tech reviewers never talk about the customer support of companies. They should because its part of the experience of owning these devices.
I get everyone is angry at Asus (rightfully so) but this doesn't even make any sense. They can't just launch a completely new product in a matter of weeks as a reaction to public backlash
@@Ash_1277 No, it's not. It takes months to design, engineer, prototype, manufacture, test, debug, market and much more required to launch a new product. It simply isn't possible to make a product as complex as the Ally X in just a couple of weeks.
I really do hope that Asus* works on fixing their RMA problems as the tech itself has a lot going for it. Me personally I plan on DIY repairing any issues with my Ally (the parts can be found online) and i really hope that also will be the case for the Ally X. I also recognize that most people either wouldnt have that skill set, would be too nervous to DIY repair, or really shouldnt need to have to DIY in the first place (especially if the hardware has faults that the customer had nothing to do with). Every tech company will have a certain number of units with faults straight from the factory and it shouldnt be on the customer to have to roll the dice or pay for DIY in parts or third party repair for issues that fall on Asus QA. I suggest anyone who buys an Ally new to test their device thoroughly while it is still within the return/exchange period as it will be a lot easier to resolve vs later on.
Well, okay, it's cool that they heard our voice and changed things we didn't like. But like you mentioned, we were dissapointed by the service more than the product. Now, they give us roduct without problems (we'll se how bout that) but they don't even offer trade-in as simple "sorry". Original used Ally prices will drop, people will be still dissapointed if something won't be right in the new one and mad at Asus that they did it like that.
I saved up for my birthday and Christmas for this thing and am in grade school. When the stupid SD card broke i was so disappointed. If i want this fixed I’m going to save up to have to do so. ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS
Asus feels like they fired their entire PR and customer support team that everyone liked for the past 5-10 years and outsourced it to another company. Horrendous RMA practices, dubious hardware flaws and still a weak armory crate software after 1 year makes it a hard recommendation. Especially when they squeeze 2 product releases in 1 cpu generation makes it hard to imagine how long they would support it with firmware fixes.
Exactly my thoughts. Half of the product is software, and Valve has proven above and beyond their commitment with software updates.
Choosing between good customer support and proven software updates and improves and questionable RMA practices, it's a simple decision I'd say...
Armoury crate is fine though, honestly haven’t had issues with it. It has gotten quite a bit of updates.
The comment about 2 product releases is weird though, you can say the same thing about valve with the steam deck oled.
@@oo--7714 the steam deck didn't change that much tho. It is all about a new screen. Even pricing. I think the steam deck 'upgrade' is much closer to what Nintendo did with the switch
I think for the ally it is in fact a new version, despite Asus saying it is just a revision of the original ally
The steam deck upgrades with the oled are similar to the rog ally x, Basically a new screen, faster ram and more battery life on the oled. The pricing got a bit of a bump but only by 30 dollars or so.
The rog ally is less of an upgrade it has more ram, faster ram and more battery life. But no changes to the screen. The bezels still look terrible.
@@oo--7714 the ally had changed all around tho, including ports and the shell
They didn't keep compatibility with accessories, not even their expensive external GPU
We've already had 2 responses from ASUS, if I'm not mistaken, and both were gaslighting the customers and GN. Also having a 2 year warranty will mean nothing if they say "oh look a fucking 1 micron scratch this is now void of warranty because clearly you've damaged it"
Amen
Playing Devil's advocate, ASUS' warranty problems are almost entirely in communication. The actual service was fine. If you declined the cosmetic repairs, they still fixed the actual problems. But they presented it as though they never even acknowledged the actual problems.
@@rightwingsafetysquad9872 The messaging from Asus was downright extortion in language over at GN. You're absolutely right, they eventually did fix the problem GN wanted them to, but the initial messages from ASUS was pretty much a threat that if they didn't pay $X the device would be returned, possibly even disassembled. Nowhere in the first 2-3 emails did the CS rep give GN the option to choose. Never did they say, "Your problem is fully covered and we're on it! Also, we noticed some other damage that you can $X to fix, but that's optional."
@@MyManD You're agreeing with me in a very hostile tone.
fk them
I worked at Best Buy's Geek Squad between 2021 to very late 2023 and I had not seen a product so unanimously returned and sent to repair as the ROG Ally. We had a ton in stock, all repackaged used, and the issues were not JUST the SD card reader. It blows my mind that they would try to release another version.
Just buy a laptop at that price point. Duck portability with something this unreliable
Cap
they also sold a ton of them, so i'm sure if ur point means as much as u think
Steam sold a shit ton of devices too...
Talk about poor engineering
A new PR statement doesn't fix this. Nor does a 2 year warranty, if the warranty treatment and behaviour as was, is still what people get.
When I was younger, ASUS was a bit of a go to brand for me. But over the years, the quality dropped, and the cost went up, and I really mean that. Even in their base area, motherboards, I don't like what's been put out. Hot, BIOS problems, high cost, mediocre perf, mediocre VRMs.
Not a brand I want to buy from.
People are like 'omg Asus your RMA and customer service sucks! I sent in my thing during the warranty and had a terrible time!'
ASUS: 'ok have extra warranty time'
They will stick to their word and will be better! (They actually won't)
People need to realize they've been called out by GN regarding the warranty issue for the second time, and without fail, ASUS proceeds to gaslight them whenever GN reaches out.
Only a fool would give them a third chance.
yeah i like how very speculative the 100 bump for basically just a battery upgrade , goes into the territory of it's probably for rma coverage, it's only speculation and having something to say to make positive coverage for the product out of absolutely no objective, tangantial evidence. And also, guyses, 899 is inexpensive... you can get a pretty nice laptop with a rtx 4050 sometimes 4060 for that price. It's not that inexpensive for what is essentially laptop parts and cheap laptop cpu (the Z1 is similar to ryzen 7740u 780m) with a much smaller screen.
They can make recall of original Ally cooking SD reader and cards for a start
I live in 3rd world country in Asia and my RMA process to get joystick changed in my ROG ally was seamless. I think this only American problem. Sed :/
Ya.. Bad support not worth buy
saying that $799 is "relatively inexpensive for kids" just shows how detached from economic reality you "tech influencers" are .
800 is too much yeah...
all phone are at least 800-1k if you want something thats great and usable that can keep up w life though
It's relatively cheap when compared to a full console setup 😅
Especially considering a PS5 and a Playstation Portal together costs about the same. And then you get both a console and a handheld device.
@@CloseCallssand now its you who detach from the rest of the world economy. Here the 100-200 dollar phones are more than enough and expensive enough for a lot of people.
Valve is still miles ahead of them, Dave. Louis Rossmann covered their RMA issues, which makes me not want to deal with them at all.
Wasn't it Gamers Nexus that started this.
@@patrickdaly5988 Asus started it with faulty SD card slots.
@@patrickdaly5988It was Asus that started this by absolutely shitting the bed. Gamer's Nexus has only been doing what they do best: expose those motherfuckers.
Nope. Valve doesn't sell the steamdeck in most of the world's biggest gaming markets. The Ally curbstomped steamdeck in terms of worldwide sales and now with the Ally X, Valve don't stand a chance.
Only that Asus have shitty management and as a company, they suck.
@@vikram5491 Valve hasn't released any sales figures, Asus too IIRC. So you're just making this up based on nothing really.
As a previous owner of one of these, I can safely say Asus RMA is absolutely embarrassing. Great device, until it kept blue-screening. Brought it into the store on December 2023. April 2024 arrived and still no progress. The store (called Incredible Connection here in South Africa) eventually offered me either a new one, or store credit. Now I own a PS5. It's honestly a damn shame, because for what it's worth, the Ally genuinely delivered.
Thanks for the comment it genuinely helped me decide., I'm going to save my time and money and avoid this product even tho I was so tempted to buy it. It legit seems so perfect otherwise. Was also gonna buy from incredible soon but maybe not. Enjoy your ps5 bro!
I have a$2000 XG Mobile 4090 that is essentially a paper weight since it will not work, Asus has already RMA'd it once, sent it back "repaired" and still broken. I've had to deal with 4 people after that, all while trying to tell them to take it back and fix it. Finally got them to send RMA again and it will go out a second time and I have little to no faith it will be repaired/replaced. I will no longer buy ASUS until they get their heads out of their rear ends. Absolutely unnacceptable, not including the people who invested in the XG Mobile system and now it's incompatible with the Ally X after just one version.
I hope ASUS gives all the ally owners a free upgrade.
PS5 is a worse product
@@bkk3782 that has to really suck ass. I was going to buy the mobile 4090 but the proprietary connector is bound or tied up to other asus garbage. I am glad occulink ports are now becoming a connectivity standard so I can wait for a OL GPU dock and put whatever GPU I want on it.
MUCH needed extra battery life ngl, does the software still suck though compared to the Steam Deck?
Sup
Mrwhosetheboss with the real question 👏👏
Everything sucks compared to the Steam Deck
It runs windows, so it would still have all the problems that OS does , not optimised for touch, annoying constant updates and biggest draw back being games not having that resume feature.
Asking the real questions. I enjoy being able to play non-steam games easily in Windows, but UX relative to Valve’s OS is awful.
I remember it from last year, I returned it 2 days later (it burned 2sd cards). I'm great with the Steam Deck Oled. Good luck to anyone else.
In Korea, we call warranty as A/S (after service)
and the pronunciation of "no (don't exist)" is "eopseum".
So we say Asus as A/S eopseum, which is really similar to its naming.
More like ‘After Service Up Seum’
@@캐붕 Spot on
It's not similar to the name tbph
Well, Korean A/S and customer service in general is exceptional compared to any other country I know of.
@@Justakatto It is in Korean, due to how extra syllables get added. The pun doesn’t work at all with native English pronunciation though.
In Europe, consumer electronics are guaranteed a minimum 2-year warranty by law under the Consumer Rights Directive. This applies to all member states of the European Union, ensuring that consumers have the right to request repairs, replacements, or refunds for faulty goods within this period.
Yea thats why i was surprised when Dave said that they include a 2 year warranty now. I was like isnt that supposed to be the case with every product?
Common EU win
Same in Aus
Since January 2022 the law is 3 years of warranty.
Source: European Directive (EU) 2019/771 of 20 May 2019
If you're the consumer, you're cattle. You're not the customer
oh sweet dave, they didn't bump the price by 100$ to cover the costs of fixing future defects....when will we learn
Facts
They definitely could have covered the cost with profits from other products. They gave entry level pricing and are slowly raising it just like every other company including OnePlus and others.
@@EikottXDdont they still have that entry level pricing available on the original devices still
Not trying to defend a tech company, i dont like companies. But i feel like thats a big distinction
Dave is simping for Asus. Which is sad. He’s condoning their bad practices.
Yea, I mean ASUS has a track record outside the Ally, that's why that comment was there on launch day. Saying they priced it too low is just a lame excuse.
I was very hesitant to buy the Ally because of all the issues I heard about the device. Even the best buy guy told me it was heavily returned. After 7 months of ownership, I am extremely happy with it, zero issues.
Great to hear 😎
Same just that i even bought a returned one (which was completely fine) and after roughly 2.1k hours of playtime everything works like day one. Except for the Battery which lost quite a bit of life. Gonna switch to ally x soon
that's a smart move from asus, move the SD Card to the OTHER hot air vent. though in some studies, thermal was not the problem. it was the low quality fuse.
It's not smart, it's common sense.
@@vincev4630
It’s not smart. OP was being sarcastic.
The engineers did some engineering! So much more efficient use of space. I hope Valve takes notes. But the warranty is irrelevant if they claim that every scratch is user damage and that their own instructions to remove the SSD voids the warranty.
It's illegal to say that, by the way. If you damage the unit WHILE servicing user serviceable parts (hard drive, battery, etc), that's one thing, but saying doing these things voids the warranty is absolutely incorrect.
@@ocha-time "if they claim" which they do.
@@ocha-time yes, but asus are too big and rich to be taken to court, so realistically they can do almost anything without punishment.
@@your_average_cultured_dudeThat's... Not even remotely true
@@your_average_cultured_dude Dude thinks Asus is Apple lol
I am never going to buy an Asus product. Bought a ROG Flow Z13 and it had massive issues. Contacted customer support, they told me to remove the GRAPHICS CARD (on a gaming tablet) and send the rest of the device to them for repair. Gladly, I bought it on Amazon and they gave me my money back without an issue and told me they'd investigate what went wrong here.
Never had a problem and I always buy asus PC components and rog ally and laptops etc.
@@Steelninja77 maybe because you work for Asus
@@ultrasrifat1495or you know everyone has unique or different experiences.... it doesn't take sherlock to know that. Use more of your brain or go back to school 😉 😂
@@Space97. Ok Einstein wherever you say 😂
@@ultrasrifat1495 doesn't take "Sherlock" try again 🤣👎
I was soooo close to buying one of these, but in light of the recent GN video's and Asus's pathetic response I spent my money elsewhere. It's going to take a lot for me to trust Asus again.
Right? This new device is genuinely interesting to me, but "here, have an extra year of our worthless warranty" does not instill much confidence in me.
Wth are you guys talking about lol? Asus is fine.
us in South Asia / SE Asia don't really have consumer protection from tech giants like ASUS. the best we'll have is wait for half of the product cycle so you know what their defects are before buying in.
Asus CS is better in SEA though
Lmaooo agree, what's consumer protection here anyways, just some random written bullshit for convenience's sake.
It's what any reasonable consumer would do anywhere. Buying stuff on release date is basically offering yourself to be a beta tester.
For sure, if its broken after the local warranty, its as good as trash. Heck, lets expand it to phones, one guy I know bought a samsung flip, screen broke and had to pay half of that phone to repair it. What's the use of paying over $1600 (AUD) that breaks when you can spend half of it on a better brick phone.
Edit: AUD is 1:1 with my country's currency and its easy for people to understand
UK owner here, had the SD card issue like many others. RMA process easy via Asus, they used a partner for the work (letmerepair, they probably use a few) .. courier turns up with a crate, takes pics etc.. and off it goes. multiple email updates and returned back to me good as new - end to end process roughly 10 days. aside from the likes of dell/lenovo who do repair onsite for certain levels of service I really couldn't have expected more .. maybe it's a US thing, or I just got luck, but feel it's good to give balance. Samsung get a bad rep too, but I had good experience there .. they couldn't find a problem with my flip but instead of throwing it back to me a tech called me and I was able to explain the problem and got it resolved
i'm indonesia and we don't have such home-pickup warranty service, but the service has been consistently satisfying.. i think it may have something to do with the 3rd party repair service asus hired in the US
Yes well, Europe has consumer laws protecting them from exploitative companies. The US does not and needs consumers to hope that someone with influence like Steve steps up and helps them. Dave is all excited about ASUS offering two years of “full warranty” where in the UK and the EU, that is just the default law-regulated standard for anything and everything you buy.
maybe the UK people actually have a "rather made everything settled rather than complicating matters" kind of mentality when it comes to servicing things? idk, maybe that's why very few people in the UK complained, not that it's abnormally smooth in there.
@@baoquoc3710 no its just we are better protected (laws) against the things like this than the US.
@@agps4418 Asus has great warranty service in SEA, that's why they dominate here. So yeah I'm guessing the issues are from the NA side.
It still blows my mind how many people were defending Asus for the SD reader. I saw a lot of posts in Reddit from Best Buy employees insulting consumers for expecting the device to work as advertised.
"Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power"
Master Gaben
Dave, the issue is this dog "water" RMA is not only for their Ally product but a lot more.... If they did mess up and did not budget that's on them and in fact it's very common to sell even at a loss to get a slice of the market share with an eye on the medium/long term profit.
Asus was greedy (not only with the Ally) so really screw them until they've shown they changed
They may say 'oh 2 years warranty on the old one' and you go through RMA hell and they find 200 things that voids the warranty
It felt to me that Dave was making excuses for Asus. He was basically saying that you deserve crap service because you bought a cheap product.
@@casualgamerdad2878 I don't think he meant we 'deserved' it.. rather that the explanation to the situation is Asus' miscalculations. I think no one should be making excuses to Asus given that this situation is way larger than just the Ally and extends to their other products as brought to light by Steve.
I'm not touching an asus product until this is demonstrably fixed worldwide, not just for US/CA
@@Airbag888 IMHO he should've just kept his speculations to himself as it does not hold any value. Just stick to the facts.
@@casualgamerdad2878 It's still his channel.. he's free of his opinions and he did not present it as facts
When you said Asus won’t allow you to tell us the runtime numbers that’s all I needed to know 👍
This needs to be the pinned comment.
That's how it works when tech hasn't come out yet, you can never post actual numbers lmfao
@@MARCUSFISHERMAN All you salty Asus reps need to go handle your RMA’s.
@@BacklogDrifter you're calling me salty yet you weirdly feel the need to post multiple comments on here bashing this thing like you're paid to do. Smooth brain
@@MARCUSFISHERMAN You weirdly post comments defending it because a comment hurt your feelings. Salty Asus rep 😂
They legitimately did a better job than even valve did when it comes to listening to customer feedback to improve a product but at the same time have awful customer support. Really shows how splintered a company can be when it comes to management and different departments.
When a product is good but the company isn't, then the product itself is not worth buying.
As much as a bad products can kill a company, bad companies can kill decent products as well. Having said that, my entire rig at home is Asus, thank goodness nothing has gone wrong with any of those components. Will most likely move away from them for my next build.
Agree, it is sad since they make so much cool stuff that you really want to buy, but then you don't want to hassle with quality issues. They really need to look over there QA processes.
Fixing the customer support is important, but the best and cheapest support is the one you never needed to call since the product just worked out of the box.
What I found is the Ally does not work with 1TB MicroSD, but works with 512GB. In my case I thought my 1TB SD Card was broken when Ally does not detect it anymore, but when I put it on the Steam Deck it actually works and only needs a format 🤷🏻♂️ confused really.
I had 1tb sd and my ally doesn't turn on anymore or charge for no reason. Is that what happened to urs or is my problem different
I had an SD Card Reader RMA Case for the ALLY in germany.
Luckily it all went well over here.😅And it was even a second hand one for which I didn't have the original receipt.
So Kudos to the company that repairs them in germany and the german customer support 🙈
They have been helpful and already knew it was an issue and said "yeah yeah just send it in".
(then again we have VERY strict laws about such over here with a 2 years warranty. By law! Which might be why it just worked out fine.)
All of the RMA complaints and controversy just isn't applicable to EU thanks to our consumer protection laws.
11:41 It'd be really much of a shame if the new one wouldn't have at least 2 years of warranty. In germany 2 years of warranty are mandatory for product launches. I know this is specified globally, respectively for the USA, but I think it's still important to point out here.
Same in FR
Yeah this is an EU law, it's amazing.
Nobody asked
@@Kevin-mx4vm your mother
@@Kevin-mx4vm jealous? 🤐
I must be one of the only ones that had a good experience with my Ally getting my RMA done. I had the same stick issue that Gamers Nexus had. I called Asus, they sent me a label, and i shipped it out. I had it back in two weeks fully repaired with no questions asked. This was before GN had their nightmare scenario. I love my Ally, but i hope they do for everyone what they did for me.
Just out of curiosity, I went back and looked at some of Dave’s oldest videos. The fact that this channel’s content has evolved, but the aesthetic remains just as clean is great. Also I think currently, the Steam Deck OLED remains the most convenient way to get into handheld gaming. The software is just incredible on that thing.
And it doesn't use Windows. And Valve hasn't been anti-consumer like Asus has been.
Weak system even for 720p thou ngl
@@cameronbosch1213 Any long time Linux user can tell you how much gaming on it improved since Valve stepped in. They could have locked every single improvement they've made to their device but no, anyone using Linux can enjoy the results of their work.
@@Space97. Have you tried FSR? And there are other options, like the Orange Pi Neo.
Looks like a nice upgrade. I’ll probably wait for the ROG Ally 2 or Steam Deck 2. I’m still happy with my original Ally. I never had the SD card issues luckily. Thanks for the review.
It’s gonna be on sale so fast so ya, just wait.
The new strix point apus will be much better performance and battery wise. I'm waiting for ROG Ally 2.
Just keep on waiting ally 2 steamdeck 2 3 4 and more. New strix isnt released. Just keep on waiting lol
@@clarkmacatuno7348 huh? I had ROG ally. Returned it due to bad battery and stick issues. So naturally I'm waiting for next version with those issues fixed.
@@duffydemonwhat did you not watch this video the battery life doubled 80w battery biggest in a handheld right now? And the sticks have been fixed on this new version everything you have complained about in your comment dave showed it has been fixed in this new version
i love the fact that you use video switcher instead of edit it in the post for different angle.
I am so happy with my ROG ALLY. I prefer the 3,5mm jack on the left side as the first version had.
In Sweden, all private customers have a 3-year warranty for complaints if something breaks with a technical product that cannot be considered mishandling by the customer. Two of my ROG Ally devices have had the SD card error (I expect my third will have the same issue), but the retail store where I bought them replaces them without question each time. I got a new one over the counter the same day (!) both of the times.
I bet Asus is losing a lot of money in Sweden 😅
Honestly I’m scared to buy Asus now, and I’m sure I’m not alone
The only thing that asus have is their engineers are really smart
Not smart enough to locate that sd card on the original ally lol
so smart that they put the SD card slot next to the vents lol
@@jponz85 And not smart enough to do proper stress tests before greenlighting the device in the state that it's in.
Not really. Asus are so smart they put USB 2.0 on their official dock, and only one USB-C on the handheld.
Meanwhile Legion Go have 2 USB 3.2 gen 2 20Gbps internal ports and supports any eGPU too.
Both ports supports Samsung T7 SSD at 1050.MB/s.
@@V3ntilator well, I think if you ask the engineer they would have prefer thunderbolt port, you know who told them to make it not too advance in case the product team want an X variant hahaha sucks
If you watch Steve's complete breakdown, it's not about the Ally, it's about pretty much every branch of ASUS when you look at the fan mail experiences. Also bad RMA from Asus isn't a new topic. It happened before too, it's a constantly recurring practice that started way before the the Ally launch
But it's because ally was too cheap! This channel is an Asus marketing machine. Disgusted
@@awesomehliETA prime is the real marketing channel, not this one
Thanks for the video, honestly, I had a great experience with their support, I dropped my ally and the joysticks got damaged, I went to an asus center in Vietnam, and they were able to replce it without charge and in just 2 days!
Damn my ally wont turn on anymore and don't know what to do😊
My rog ally is one of the best things I’ve ever bought. Playing Alan wake 2 currently and it runs great
Is it true it heats up too much a lot?
Dave lost it this time. First he shows the comment that Asus has a poor CS even before the Ally, and then saying that the Ally 1 is too cheap hence the poor support. The problem has rooted, Asus need overhaul their customer support system before anyone should even think about buying anything Asus. Extra $100 on the Ally X would do jack shit.
Agreed. Most companies don’t have any relation between the execs who set pricing and the people who handle customer support.
Yeah his take is just straight up nonsensical
Dave with the dumbest take in the world. 🤡
6 months from now we’ll get to see Dave’s “Guys, I screwed up!” video.
Doesn't matter for us in the Philippines though. As RMA is handled by the local distributor rather than Asus, at least it's a bit better here.
I feel the issues are stemmed from bad customer service of RMA representatives from the US and probably Europe.
Just wanted to add that the situation is not the same in every region of the world. Had my Ally screen randomly died on me. Sent it to the service center and gotten the machine back in 2-3 weeks, screen replaced with no questions asked.
I could play Russian roulette with Asus customer service or just wait for a steam deck 2....gonna wait for a steam deck 2
2 Different devices for 2 different markets. Also SD selling in more than 3 countries when?
@@FrostArchonlol it’s literally the same exact market. Switch is a separate market.
@@naterodnope. Steam deck cannot play AAA titles at a respectable level, and of course not all games run well on Linux. The ally can play everything, if you just want to play little indie games then go for the Steam deck but if you want to play anything demanding get the ally, legion go, etc
@@willneverreadreplies yeah with a version of steam OS installed over windows.
@@willneverreadreplies besides what the flying fuck does that have to do with the market😂 despite whether or not which is superior the fact ramins buddy it’s the same exact fucking market. Both are PC handhelds.
Now I realise that I was incredibly lucky that my ROG ally got fixed by Asus, with no issues with customer support at all, esp when the left joystick completely died just months into using it.
I think the only PC Handheld worth buying (aside from Steam Deck) is Legion Go - simply because (just like Steam Deck) it has a touch pad, so it makes game compatibility much greater. But if you already have Steam Deck, then buying another "windows based" handheld, does not make sense really.
Steam Deck doesn't make much sense when many games are not compatible or straight up broken, even verified titles. Persona 4 Golden is verified yet the animated cutscenes were broken on Steam Deck. Valve literally put almost no effort in their verification system
@@FewCan456 Just buy ROG Ally X then.... I'm waiting bruh
@@FewCan456 I use my Steam Deck all the time and most games I want to play work and have zero bugs lol.
Definitely not. Anyone listening please do not buy that handheld. Same crappy windows problems, highly uncomfortable, tons of bugs and glitches, and more. It’s a terrible console
Valve really did the right move by ditching Windows. Besides freeing them from Microsoft, creating their own Linux distro also allows them to adjust and optimize everything to improve the user experience on their device. I find all these handheld PCs very interesting but there's no way I'm buying any of these unless they ditch Windows as well.
An extra $100 wouldn't change a company 's culture
My ally was one of the defective micro SD reader. And after that Asus lost me.
I'm glad the ASUS's RMA services in Thailand are wonderful, fast and reliable. Most of the problems reported to RMA solved with on-site support.
Good luck with the warranty
I'm amazed they made it more comfortable since it was already the most comfortable portable gaming device I've ever held!
Valve did an overhaul of the Deck, improved everything while keeping the price the same. Also they have great customer support.
Oled's price was not the same
@@MisterPikol yea it was slightly bumped price
@MisterPikol Actually, the 512 GB OLED model compared to the original price of the 256 GB model (before the Steam Deck OLED was released and the 256 GB LCD Steam Deck took the $399 base price) is slightly lower. And it has tangible improvements that aren't just the screen.
@@MisterPikol I thought they replaced the mid and high tier one with the better OLED. Then dropped the low tier one's price
Having a longer warranty doesn’t really matter when they REFUSE to fix anything under warranty. You’re essentially buying a $800 product hoping NOTHING ever goes wrong. I’m a ROG Ally owner and there is a lot of things wrong with mine…
If the warranty issues were limited to that of the Ally i might agree price was a factor but it seems like their customer service experience extends to their entire suit of products.
Their customer service is trash. I went through numerous Flow X16s with issues, and now an XG Mobile that cost me an arm and a leg that is being sent back on it's second RMA. That and it's nice to know after you spend all of this money on their products, they decide to remove their proprietary connector after one generation of a device.
If you have the know-how for it, I think the better call is to buy the normal Ally discounted, then re-engineer the entire thingy yourself. Swap out the sticks for aftermarket hall effects, design a mini-PCB around the SD Card module they used and run jumper wires to it away from the vents, then throw in the 90wh battery mod that will surpass even the Ally X. All that, and you won't have to worry about Asus' garbage anymore with their warranty, because you fix what they failed at and cut them out of the equation entirely after purchase.
“Hello and thank you for calling ASUS support. *How can we screw you today?” 😂*
Thanks for using your platform to work on behalf of consumers Dave, we need more TH-camrs to do this and keep companies on their toes.
That was a really good, even-handed review. I liked that you didn't hide away from their mistakes and just praise Asus, but mentioned the high points and the low points.
The issue is not the "2 year warranty", it's the process when going through the warranty that Asus is trying to charge more and trying to get out of the warranty claim.
Nah Dave Id have to disagree with you: people had lots of horrible with ASUS top end hardwares too like their RTX 4090 or some other expensive Motherboards.
Shitty RMA practices run deep and the lack of serious competitions might put them in a complacent place. But no more can they expect to get away with it.
Battery life is good, but $800 USD is mental!!!
This is why companies need to do more testing before jumping to the market. THIS is what V1 should have been.
This is what I'm getting from this video: Tell me you're shilling a company without telling you're shilling for a company 😅
I worked for ASUS motherboard tech support a few years back (through a call center of course) around when they just launched the first ROG phone and I can tell you even back then it was hell for whoever bought that damn phone and it needed RMA. Same thing with motherboards etc. I even remember getting a complaint for a rma mother board that came back with LOTION MARKS from service center lol. it seems they outsource rma to the cheapest guys in Asia or wherever honestly.
I am so sick of “we gotta talk.” headlines
if the video is substantial and is worthwhile , what's the problem with the title
Don't watch them then.
Fr like who tf is this guy lol
Usually, those titles are used for making a point, usually a point that should be taken into consideration due to key details and in most cases its due to the negative percussions that could occur. Tho if you don't like it don't watch if you want to stay in the dark u have that choice if you don't care quit complaining common sense.
Sounds like you should move on
I am a Asus zen phone owner, they promised the boot unlocker at launch, never came, its been over a year, not just a current issue. I love asus, their phones, laptops, computer hardware, but damn I wish they can get their shit together so I could actually trust them.
lets not forget the EXPLODING RYZEN CPU's and how asus handled THAT mess, "void your warranty with this bios update or run the risk of fire!" scum company.
lol
"Halt and catch fire" 😂
Glad I sold my Ally. Will wait for next gen cpu before jumping in again.
hot take here: if they make a good product without those kind of issues, they wouldn't need a rma process in the first place. sure things aren't perfect, but it's not the price to make a good rma process. they CAN make a good product with a affordable price point AND make money of it, when they would make a good product.
TLDR; newer version has been upgraded to a DONT BUY, you have been warned.
Thank you Dave for your honesty, transparency and straightforwardness in all your reviews and videos.
I have the rog ally and never used the SD port. Been working like a princess for me. It's the best so far. You see it's a machine, if you put it to work right out the box and binge play on it it will indeed break.
If you can’t even fully test it yet why the half-coverage video? Just call them out. They don’t deserve the coverage right now.
Because it’s sponsored
it sounds like it was planned from the beginning by the marketing team. Like it was no mistake, they knew exactly what they were doing. I wouldn't be surprised if they intentionally folded with a flaw in order to easily try again with a improved version with a higher price to essentially double their income. Marketing 101
9:10 Those are nothing more than wild and really stupid speculations.
You have returned to your original content style. Totally love the genuine reviews. And that calming pace that I am always hooked by it.
Didn't even know they were making an update to the ROG Ally
Bought an excellent condition open box one at bestbuy November 2023 and it’s been good. That said, my now 9 yr old son been playing it a lot ever since. No hardware issues yet. We got 2 of them but I hardly play with mine since I’ve been busy. I bought a really long 100w wall charger and we only play at home while plugged. And we don’t use the SD card reader for gaming though. But I do understand the complaints about the SD reader issues and short battery life for those that plays on the go. I would sell mine but I don’t sell anything online, so I just keep it. Playing retro games on it was great at the beginning though
It’s not just the Sd card reader. Joysticks seem to fail often too
I'm praying for Zotac that they'll deliver. So far first AMOLED 120hz 1080p AMD based handheld with hall effect joysticks from what leaks suggest and possibly my first handheld.
DOA with 16gb ram
@@fatanddepressed7400 its a handheld why would you need more than 16gb? If you need more, go use an actual powerful computer
Ayeneo has some great products also
Yeah and I think FHD is very decent for such a small screen considering the ppi! I am just concerned about the battery life even if it's an AMOLED. Would be neat if it competes with the battery life of a regular flagship phone.
@@proudyyleaks say 75min probably at full load so... I'm prepared with my 65w 30000mah powerbank tho :D or just plug to the wall if possible. I'm going to play on my bed most of the time anyway but it's concerning how bad battery development is going especially considering that batteries are everywhere now...
This will be my entry into the handheld pc market.. even the pc gaming market in general
@dave2d please don’t take this the wrong way but you can’t blame something on price.
Especially when they charge a premium for the rog name. If it wasn’t profitable then they wouldn’t make it.
PLUS it’s the same customer service for all there products not just the ally.
It’s sounds like you are Asus PR person or you don’t feel comfortable criticizing Asus. (Just saying how it sounds.)
Thanks to Dave for making this video. Because I'm sure if Asus fails he's gonna reference this and even big TH-cam will be addressing this
How much did Asus pay you for this ad?
😂😂😂😂
In South Africa they use Pinnacle Retail Warranty, They blamed me for breaking the screen of my 2 in 1 Laptop when I sent it to them to fix the hinges. Was denied warranty and sent a R9700 ($520) invoice for a product I bought for R15 600 ($830).
Hinges were not broken just faulty, the first time I sent it to get checked they told me that it is a 2 in 1 it's supposed to rotate 360 Degrees (No Shxt). Then I sent it the second time only for my warranty to be denied, and it got shipped back with a broken screen. Now I write my notes on paper like the peasant I am.
NOT WORTH EVEN FOR 500$ !!! 799 is FREAKING CRAZY !!!
It’s not when u compare it to the competition like Msi claw 750€ the new one claw8 will be around 900€ or onexplyer 2. 1000€ or even the steam deck oled is in my place 779€ ally x is 899€ ally z1ext is 600€
I am so glad my Zephyrus Duo hasnt had issues that I havent been able to doctor yet. The immense amount of issues surrounding ASUS right now put me in a weird position as a laptop owner when the motherboard reputation crisis happened, and now that its happening on more devices surrounding them its making it scary to own one of their products and also not be able to change it on the spot
How much did they pay ?
Yup.. never a paid promotion on this channel but always pushing Asus gear.. what gives? Liar just like the company sponsoring him, over way or another
Dave is like I didn’t want to make a video on this.
Dave: Makes a video on it.
Awesome Dave. I think its good you highlight and callout these things. I feel a like a lot of hardware tech reviewers never talk about the customer support of companies. They should because its part of the experience of owning these devices.
Ally Xpensive
The d-pad is now 8-way. If you play retro games this thing will rock.
Asus launching ally x hoping people forgive them...
By giving them more money.
I get everyone is angry at Asus (rightfully so) but this doesn't even make any sense. They can't just launch a completely new product in a matter of weeks as a reaction to public backlash
@@intraspec that's business
@@intraspec they can ever since the MicroSD card fiasco...
@@Ash_1277 No, it's not. It takes months to design, engineer, prototype, manufacture, test, debug, market and much more required to launch a new product. It simply isn't possible to make a product as complex as the Ally X in just a couple of weeks.
I really do hope that Asus* works on fixing their RMA problems as the tech itself has a lot going for it. Me personally I plan on DIY repairing any issues with my Ally (the parts can be found online) and i really hope that also will be the case for the Ally X. I also recognize that most people either wouldnt have that skill set, would be too nervous to DIY repair, or really shouldnt need to have to DIY in the first place (especially if the hardware has faults that the customer had nothing to do with). Every tech company will have a certain number of units with faults straight from the factory and it shouldnt be on the customer to have to roll the dice or pay for DIY in parts or third party repair for issues that fall on Asus QA. I suggest anyone who buys an Ally new to test their device thoroughly while it is still within the return/exchange period as it will be a lot easier to resolve vs later on.
I can't believe Dave is nearly 60 years old. Genetics!
60? Isn’t he like 45?
and staying indoors 😂
Come on dude, what are you talking about, almost 60 years old, he looks 39-40 something, not more than 42Years i'd say
This is a joke, right? 🤣 He's 40.
Sincerely, Dave love your enthusiasm for handheld gaming tech, but please bring back ol' school quality laptop reviews back.
Still no track pads, increased price, same garbage D-Pad and sub par ergonomics to boot. HARD pass...
Well, okay, it's cool that they heard our voice and changed things we didn't like. But like you mentioned, we were dissapointed by the service more than the product. Now, they give us roduct without problems (we'll se how bout that) but they don't even offer trade-in as simple "sorry". Original used Ally prices will drop, people will be still dissapointed if something won't be right in the new one and mad at Asus that they did it like that.
800 dollars?????????
The smaller the device, the higher the price
Deck oled it is
In Europe it's 900 € (960 $)
I saved up for my birthday and Christmas for this thing and am in grade school. When the stupid SD card broke i was so disappointed. If i want this fixed I’m going to save up to have to do so. ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS
Man fantastic video thank you for not selling out and handling this with tact and grace
Had never issues with ASUS RMA but i live in Taiwan. Got replacement repairs for free all the times.
im gonna stick with my steam deck oled until valve launch steam deck 2
Product looks good on paper, but I'll wait a few months to see if it fails as much as the original ROG Ally before deciding if I wanna buy it or not.