If Asus make parts available. Otherwise owners will be dependent on 3rd parties to make replacement parts, and then there will be issues with variable quality I'm sure.
Took the gamble to be a $750 Beta tester. On my third unit after the SD card reader failed on the first - the second unit was DOA, and my third is running good. The device is impressive. Love my steam deck but much prefer playing Diablo IV on the Ally. Love to see that this is pretty repairable.
I got mine specifically as a handheld laptop not a console Considering all the downsides are pointed toward general console take out of box power on and play customers As someone that knows windows well and knows how to tweak and mod everything, this device is amazing In docked mode (Using a Type C dock not XG Mobile) it works lust like my laptop but unlike my laptop and its 5 cables I need to remove to disconnect the dual screens, usb hub, ethernet and power its just a single type C and I can just pick up and go.
Yeahhh this is what I'm gonna do. Ally will replace 2 laptops of mine actually. A 14 & 16 inch both w dGPUs. Will get an 18 inch gaming monitor and have an even better gaming experience bc of that size. Goin w a small mechanical kb that's way better than either kb on the laptops 🤓 hope u been enjoying your Ally broski
Exactly! My setup experience was similarly smooth. It's just going through the motions of setting up any pc. And if you know where to give Windows a friendly nudge in the right place, everything is quite daisy tbh
Hard-core pc gamers don't like windows os, most people grew up with windows so shouldn't be too much of a problem Also some people want / expect a console lol experience like steam deck 😮💨
Because all the cool kids bag on Windows any chance they get. IDK, it's pretty obvious that a full fledged OS is going to be unwieldy on a little handheld (focused on playing games with a gamepad) and then surprise! It is unwieldy when the device comes out...! In the week I've had the Ally, I've settled on two use-cases (after initial setup.) Power it on and double tap the shortcut for the current game I'm playing. Or plug the usbc hub in (which is connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse) and use it as a full-duty PC. It does both of these really well so far.
The problem is when you compare the experience to a Switch. Switch has few and quick updates. Interface is rock solid and unified. It took me over an hour setting up my Ally. It had a ridiculous amounts of updates and seems like if I haven’t used it in a bit there’s another windows update waiting. Interface wise you have the armoury using a button while windows uses bumpers as mouse click. Then there’s the pop-up keyboard that rarely works to pop up. The R3 button never seems to launch it.
FYI: The ChimeraOS devs are hard at work providing compatibility to the ROG Ally along with dozens of the Chineses handhelds with very promising results so far. Windows is just not the right OS for these Handhelds. Linux for the win.
I checked it out at a local best buy and compared it to the steam deck, it is like you said the hardware is good but the software is terrible. Great option for people who love modding different os's. Can't wait to see Linux on it.
Someone already tested on it and it's on 'par' at best. You get more console-like experience and somewhat better experience as a console than Windows, at a sacrifice of the hardware being 'not compatible' with the OS itself. ChimeraOS works but it's still gets some hiccups on its experience. For now just use Windows until the Chimera team finally fixes all issues, or if you want to help them you can participate it by installing it right now.
ASUS has actually done a pretty good job trying to manage windows on it. Definitely not perfect, but the command center and armory crate do A LOT to improve the experience
As someone who has owned this since day one, and was in the first round of deliveries for the steam deck last year, I've actually had much less bugs with the ROG than the steam deck on launch. With Armoury Crate and Steam big picture mode, you almost never need to mess around with the windows side of things.
Are you comparing it to the Steam Deck in how it was in its first 10 days being out or the Steam Deck after close to 1.5 years of updates? The Deck's software was pretty lousy when it came out as well. Desktop mode on the Deck is still pretty terrible.
Yea it takes some time to get all the updates and drivers to install, how is that a negative? It's a PC, if you think this is a negative you have no business getting this device.
Exactly. How did they survive before the steam deck/OS?? The amount of people saying that having to do windows/driver updates at the start and do some basic windows customization to your liking, it's baffling that there's so many people making that complaint. They must never have had a gaming PC
@@Idgafmf007 dude some people just want to have that console like experienice..not everyone is that familiar with windows platform..sure the pros might out way the cons but if your not that familiar with windows and pc gaming in general and your jumping in for the first time it might be a hassle..
@@Idgafmf007As someone who has used Linux for 20 years, that comment is hilarious. The people complaining probably either use consoles or have MacOS or Linux on their desktops. I work in IT, and I dread working with Windows. It's not the worse thing in the world, but it's hard to unsee the huge flaws when you're used to something better.
@@hueypautonoman being the most popular OS doesn't mean it's the best OS. At least Windows is supported by a lot of things out there. Microsoft does need to make a more downscale version of Windows for gaming handhelds but still provide access to a full Windows experience not the S version. Maybe a more simple frontend if anything. I never dabbled into Linux and I heard great things about it. To me tho I will rather pick capability over ease of use any day as I don't mind a little tinkering at my age, just not a lot like how I did before.
I've had mine for a month now and I'm really digging it. It handles spider-man miles morales easily and sitting on my lawn under the shade while I swing through NYC is something I never thought I'd be doing.
I've had a Steam Deck since the beginning, and the Ally since day 1 - and I will say the Ally has improved quite a bit since launch, but it comes at the price of performance. The biggest issue, by far, with the Ally is the terrible stock battery life, where you can easily kill the battery in about an hour if you want peak performance. However, it appears that some firmware updates have improved the battery life, but that's just done by lowering the performance - BUT that might not be a bad thing since it seems like they're finding a better balance than what it launched with. As for software, yeah, it's still buggy, but I've just got used to it now and know how it works, so it's really no longer a big issue to me. I was 95% certain I'd return the Ally after having it for a few days, but now that we're coming up on two weeks, that's more like 40%. At launch if I wanted to play some indie game at 120hz 1080p, you got terrible battery life, now in those same titles, you might get more like 3+ hours (at the 10w setting). Also, plugged in, this thing does perform really well, using it with a USB monitor that runs at 1440p 120hz, I was able to play some older AAA titles maxed out. Finally, the big there here, is that the battery is easily replaceable. That's a huge deal since you have to charge this thing so often that battery is going to be shot in a couple of years at the most. Knowing I can just easily drop in a replacement, that probably means I'll keep end up keeping it since that's been my biggest concern.
I’d say quite the opposite - the Ally’s performance has gotten worse since launch imo. I saw a decrease in game performance after the launch update, and it hasn’t gotten much better (on Steam). The Xbox apps either don’t launch or have odd issues. It’s not a stable experience yet, compared to the steam deck, but hopefully it gets better
@daspotjoel You have to turn off automatically setting the clock and turn it back on to fix the Xbox issue, the other issue is fixed by applying the hotfix.
@@daspotjoel Well I was talking about battery performance, the system performance certainly seems to have gotten worse. But yes, it's nowhere near as stable as the Steam Deck. Still, I do like the fact I can use the system as a backup low-wattage PC for work if I really needed to since it's running Windows and can run the apps I need it to run natively, so that's a plus. If I was recommending one of the two, it would be hard to not recommend the Steam Deck since it just works, pretty much every time with no issues. Where as the Ally does not, and I don't have any real faith in Asus to be patching this a year from now.
@@SEVENTEENPOINT1 I'm not sure what the XBOX app issues are, that's not one I've encountered. Game Pass has worked fine, which was one of the big draws to getting this - so at least with that, I've had no issues.
Okay, so I took mine apart and have absolutely no idea how the triggers work. It looks like they have magnets in them, but I didn't see any sensors on the actual board that correlate with their positions.... I also cut out a couple small pieces of plastic reenforcment and slipped a 4tb 2280 SSD in mine. I put a heat pad on top and bottom of it, and have had zero issues.
My mind is truly blown to see a manufacturer of consumer electronics in this day and age going out of their way to make the device repairable. Not sure if I'll buy one (for what I play the Switch works fine, and battery life is limited) but seems like a great handheld nonetheless!
Love the ALLY it's a good buy and if it's that easy to get to the Battery I'll be looking to change it to a battery with double the power as I did with the Dual sense controller as soon as one becomes available!
0:58 sad that most of us don't live in the US. Also, breaking warranty stickers means that they can gaslight you to believe you have caused damage to the device.
Thanks so much for this!!! I have a z1 extreme rog ally and it somehow fell off the couch face first and one of the thumb sticks completely popped out, me and my girlfriend followed this video to tear it down and we cleaned the dust that was in there too! We only needed just the unscrewing steps pretty much but we did it successfully and my stick feels less sticky now somehow too!
4:00 Why shouldn't the poor software be asus' fault? Even if they didn't make the software, it was their choice to go with something not optimised or even intended for the form-factor of their product, especially when alternatives that *are* intended for it do exist. Valve put effort into this area of their product, and the end result was an intuitive and functional system through and through. Microsoft put effort into this area of their product, and the end result was an intuitive and functional system through and through. Sony put effort into this area of their product, and the end result was an intuitive and functional system through and through. Nintendo put effort into this area of their product, and the end result was an intuitive and functional system through and through. Asus didn't put (much) effort into this area of their product, and the end result was being unable to compete in the same market as steam deck.
I would say it's both Asus' and Microsoft's fault. But they should've gone with a some kind of Linux distro either way rather than making the customer waste 100€ just on the Licensed OS they would probably never use.
@@chickennugget-ug9gnUnless you go out of your way to (for example) cause a fire by stabbing the lithium ion battery, repairs won't void your warranty.
@@cameronbosch1213No the court case says they can't. Nothing functionally stops them from denying you anyways. You going to get a lawyer that costs $400 an hour over an $800 device?
I have one. The Extreme version. Only complaint is the battery and the 512GB of space but that can easily be fixable by utilizing the expandable storage to a 1TB micro SD card to install games. Make sure you get a read speed micro SD card that is fast if you do this.
I recommend taking the big plastic flap that cover the apu and ssd off and if you have a clean home you can take off the mesh blocking half the air intake for much better temps
Thanks for the teardown! 2:10 Yea, the SD slot seems a bit off! Seems like they shaved off the top cover of the slot somehow? It does make one wonder if it's the reason behind the SD reader heat issue as of recent? Perhaps it warped due to prolonged heat and caused a failure to retain the SD card properly for normal operation.
Not while fitting it in the case. Maybe a few mah but honestly just get the anker brick with the screen. $150 can output 140w. Ally turbos properly off of it
Mine has been great so far, although I haven't tried using the SD card slot yet and likely won't ever. I opted to install a 2tb ssd instead of investing in SD cards which ended up saving me SD card reader headaches. Hopefully ASUS can figure that one out. If you're looking to buy an Ally, it sounds like May models are far better than March models. I got mine on launch day and ended up with a May model.
answering from an rog ally... literally replaced my pc and it was avery good one. able to play every game and treat this like a portable pc. it is just amazing the quantity of things i can do from here without sacrificing.
You guys have to remember...if you use Windows there will always be glitches and bugs and lots of updates, whereas Linux-based Steam OS..it's more stable and less vulnerable. This is the main reason why the Steamdeck has a huge advantage in battery life because Windows loves to hog resources..tons of stuff loading in the background, when compared to Linux.
@@cameronbosch1213Okay yes but... Those are completely different work loads and not comparable... The OS is so light weight because it can quite often only perform a specific task and don't have any GUI, so the simplification can make it more stable but it's just not the same. let me know when you buy a Super Computer or Server to do daily user tasks haha
My Ally has been a flawless experience so far. Every game has worked. Download, press launch and away I went. The thing is crazy fast for a handheld. Cinebench I scored 14,000. That's like i5 11600k kind of performance.
Ever since I received mine on the 13th i've touched my pc like twice, it's amazing and a few hiccups here and there but if you're familiar with Windows and pc's nothing too difficult
those disassembleable sticks mean that you most likely will NEVER need to replace them, as you can thoroughly clean every part and get rid of drift with a drop of bw100 on each rail. Massive props to asus for that.
@@TolstoiDrummond1007 that is generally true but a quick cleaning on debris can drastically improve performance on aging sticks. I've had the same pair of joycons for over 3 years now and all I do is spray some wd40 contact cleaner in the stick wells every time they start to disobey and they get right back on track with no issues whatsoever.
I am so glad I did not watch these reviews and what not before I purchased my Ally X. Ever since I keep hearing about issues right out the box and games not booting etc. I (knock on wood) have not had any issues with mine whatsoever. I just took it with me on my Vegas trip for F1 and I was there playing Wukong and Cyberpunk perfectly fine. The only issue I have seen so far is sometimes screen wont turn back on after i put it to sleep but being basically a pc, it goes right back to where I was before I restarted it and it has only happened twice in the last 2 months.
I have 2 steam decks, 1 Logitech G Cloud and 1 Rog Ally. Since I picked up the Ally i have yet to touch the steamdeck. I enjoy using the Ally by far more than the Deck. Yet again this is my personal experience.
Hopefully Gulikit gets to work on making some Hall Effect sticks for the Ally. They have them for the Steam deck, seeing how the Ally’s sticks are modular, I don’t see how they can’t.
Worth mentioning the crappy proprietary connector for external GPUs, maybe not related to repairability, but without a doubt it severely handicaps the expansion options.
The only thing the connector hampers is external GPU Expandability, the type C port is DP compatible. I currently have an HP Thunderbolt 3 dock plugged into mine (Ally does not support thunderbolt at all) but all the ports on the HP Dock work, Dual DP and HDMI/VGA (Depending on model) 3 Type A's 3 Type C's (one of them is also DP Compatible), Ethernet and 120W power brick All work, the only thing that doesn't is the power button on the dock itself but that's no problem. I have a single cable that takes me from portable to full Dual Screen desktop mode with mouse and KB I even installed a cut down version of 11 called ghostspector last night and after reinstalling the SW from the backup eSupport folder and grabbing some drivers everything works flawlessly.
This was very reassuring to see how easy it is to repair and replace parts but hopefully it’s durable enough to not need to. I like my ally but that battery life is not good and pop-up keyboard rarely launches. I do enjoy I can have all the different game stores and libraries on one device.
My left bumper button is starting to fail. Unless I press really hard, the button won't register. If it's pressed down but not enough force, it'll rapidly alternate between pressed/released. Is this an easy fix or will this require me to replace the entire board?
Honestly, the Windows situation doesn't bother me. I really like the Ally - so much so I sold my Steam Deck. I think they did a great job with the overlays on top of Windows to squeeze some bit of ease of use out of Windows from a handheld perspective. The performance of this thing outweighs the OS cons for me. The only thing that drives me nuts are the joysticks. Patiently waiting for someone to create HALL effect joysticks.
I grew up on windows, gamed on windows and grew not to be that bothered by it, so I definitely agree with you. The hardware is phenomenal. I also had a steam deck and sold it because eventually I got frustrated/annoyed with the disadvantages of Linux based OS so I was excited for the Ally and am content with windows 11. I like knowing any game that comes out for PC will work baring hardware limitations. I just had too many games on the deck that weren't getting verified that it eventually turned me off of the joy I first had with SteamOS and its simplicity. I honestly don't have much go wrong in windows. It's just not designed for touch/gamepad but I can get around that fairly easily
My R2 trigger won't calibrate so driving games are a no no but I can still play FPS games... Spoke to Asus and tried their "fixes" but the unit has to be returned.... it looks like the bumper pots are on the mainboard right? Can the bumper switches be replaced or will they need to change the whole mainboard?
Nice to see how it seems to be repair friendly. Here's hoping Asus keeps supporting it from the software side like Valve has done with the Deck. From what I have read from those who owned a Deck when it came out and got the Ally, the Ally seems to be a bit more stable and has less issues than the Deck did back then so if that is the case, it could be promising that Ally will fix whatever issues are left and be "on par" with the Deck in that area.
ASUS is pushing regular software updates. It’s dramatically improved in terms of operating smoothness and a reduction in finicky bugs like the controls not working when switching from gamepad to desktop mode. I think the armoury crate software is great considering what it’s able to do on a windows machine compared to other competitors’ less capable software such as OneXPlayer.
I never thought I'd see the day when PC gamers are against having options. That's supposed to be a huge benefit of PC gaming. You should not be threatened by options. 🙄
Exactly! I love my Deck and if I want to have both, I can have both! People these days… Little did they know, Steam Deck PR congratulated ROG for the Ally, so they don’t really mind the competition. Can’t say the same to those that preferred one thing or the other though.
I will say I’ve had absolutely 0 problems with windows on the ally since launch day. I’m sure there will be bugs I’ll encounter eventually, but so far it’s been nothing but smooth sailing
There's no better option than windows. I can't take anyone's opinion seriously when they rag on windows for Handheld..... there's nothing that even comes close
@@kevinbuchanan67 I understand its not the easiest thing in the world to get up and running if you've never had a windows pc before, especially on a handheld, but for those with some experience its not bad at all!
@@nickjacobsss all 60,000 steam games are designed to run on windows while about 6,000 steam deck games are verified and some of those have problems. All peripherals, all standards, all emulators run on windows, all schoolwork, all programming can be done on windows. Ragging on windows is the weirdo elitist thing to do
@@kevinbuchanan67The windows experience on a handheld is fundamentally flawed, why is it forbidden to talk about it? And to my knowledge, windows 11 has broken quite a few games, so no, not all steam games run on it, just like linux.
1:31 THANK GOD YOU CAN ACTUALLY REPLACE THE THUMB STICKS!!! If anything I really want to get any better sticks that don't have possible drifting or what I really want being stiffer sticks overall. These sticks are so flimsy there almost as bad as bootleg controllers that I've tried out. If anyone knows any modules that come out that are like what I want let me know because I'd be willing to pay like $40 to $50 just to replace the left stick if anything
3:28 Wouldnnt it just be better to have hall effects and Never have to replace them... saving the pcb is nice and all but id rather have bullet proof no drift sticks for life rather than the ability (and inevitable need ) to replace them.
Where's the score Also for overseas perspective this is a very good device because valve steam deck isn't available in my country and asus have more than enough service center here
anyone struggling w ssd screw?mined did not take phillip 1 or 0 ... was a pain but even after messing up screw finally got it w a 1.5 flathead bit. was super small but did trick u can find a set at home depot or any hardware store. i got it from harbor freight
Windows 11 is so bad that it cost me my Ally on day 1 before I could even load a game. Was configuring my Ally whilst updating Windows and somehow a Windows update cooked the device into a boot loop. Said boot loop persisted even with USB boot sticks and a reformatted blank SSD... I've got a refund and will wait a few months to see if Asus develops the platform or if there are other competitors coming out.
already a minus point from me with do not tamper sticker. I wonder if Gulikit going to make a hall sensor version joystick for it when there's enough interest
Does anyone know if its easy to sort the bumper buttons out? My left one is alot more mushy then the right. Heard that it could be something on the back plate, took it off and tried it without it on but still the same. Can't figure out what's making it mushy and a soft press instead of clicky like the right side. Please help if possible.🙏
A little weird for u guys to comment on the software side… feels strange since u should only rate the repairability well well Asus = Taiwan 🇹🇼 Steam deck = USA 🇺🇸 Ifixit = USA 🇺🇸 mhhhhhhh think about it.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
I am so happy that a lot of devices are becoming more modular and easier to repair nowadays.. Great Job by Asus
it really is, it is a serious pain in the butt to change out those analog sticks on the steamdeck.
imagine the board of framework
Pleasantly surprised at how repairable it is!
If Asus make parts available. Otherwise owners will be dependent on 3rd parties to make replacement parts, and then there will be issues with variable quality I'm sure.
Aliexpress
I was thinking the same thing! Definitely gives third party companies an easier solution for aftermarket thumb sticks and things like that
unlike the fucking Deck!
@@gangwu4541
🤞
Took the gamble to be a $750 Beta tester. On my third unit after the SD card reader failed on the first - the second unit was DOA, and my third is running good. The device is impressive. Love my steam deck but much prefer playing Diablo IV on the Ally. Love to see that this is pretty repairable.
is the sd card reader really a deal breaker? does it destroys microsd cards?
@@picanha694they fixed this issue in the lastest bios update.
@@picanha694 doesn't destroy the cards themselves it's the reader failing
@@TysonHarvey My first one fried both the reader *and* the 512gb Samsung card I was using.
I got mine specifically as a handheld laptop not a console
Considering all the downsides are pointed toward general console take out of box power on and play customers
As someone that knows windows well and knows how to tweak and mod everything, this device is amazing
In docked mode (Using a Type C dock not XG Mobile) it works lust like my laptop but unlike my laptop and its 5 cables I need to remove to disconnect the dual screens, usb hub, ethernet and power its just a single type C and I can just pick up and go.
Yeahhh this is what I'm gonna do. Ally will replace 2 laptops of mine actually. A 14 & 16 inch both w dGPUs. Will get an 18 inch gaming monitor and have an even better gaming experience bc of that size. Goin w a small mechanical kb that's way better than either kb on the laptops 🤓 hope u been enjoying your Ally broski
Idk why everyone harps on the windows updates. I legit haven't had any more software issues with the ally than i would with a new laptop or desktop
Exactly! My setup experience was similarly smooth. It's just going through the motions of setting up any pc. And if you know where to give Windows a friendly nudge in the right place, everything is quite daisy tbh
Hard-core pc gamers don't like windows os, most people grew up with windows so shouldn't be too much of a problem
Also some people want / expect a console lol experience like steam deck 😮💨
Because all the cool kids bag on Windows any chance they get.
IDK, it's pretty obvious that a full fledged OS is going to be unwieldy on a little handheld (focused on playing games with a gamepad) and then surprise! It is unwieldy when the device comes out...!
In the week I've had the Ally, I've settled on two use-cases (after initial setup.) Power it on and double tap the shortcut for the current game I'm playing. Or plug the usbc hub in (which is connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse) and use it as a full-duty PC. It does both of these really well so far.
The problem is when you compare the experience to a Switch. Switch has few and quick updates. Interface is rock solid and unified. It took me over an hour setting up my Ally. It had a ridiculous amounts of updates and seems like if I haven’t used it in a bit there’s another windows update waiting. Interface wise you have the armoury using a button while windows uses bumpers as mouse click. Then there’s the pop-up keyboard that rarely works to pop up. The R3 button never seems to launch it.
Asus: Puts a DO NOT DISASSEMBLE warning on the battery
iFixit: Yes
Asus in countries with enforcable warranty void sticker: No!
he doesn't care about a measly 700 bucks
Love the modularity. An aftermarket higher capacity battery will be interesting to see if it comes out.
Really hope a community rallies around this one, mod potential is pretty huge.
No
@@CARNEWBwhy
They already added BFI looks great.
Maybe there wil be upgradable parts someday like we see from desktops.
@@BarnzTT what are u gonna upgrade tho lol, everything is soldered except the nvme drive 😭
FYI: The ChimeraOS devs are hard at work providing compatibility to the ROG Ally along with dozens of the Chineses handhelds with very promising results so far. Windows is just not the right OS for these Handhelds. Linux for the win.
I wonder if chimera will be compatible with the Aokzoe A1 Pro
Yep, I’ve heard! If in the future where I get the Ally, I’m gonna put ChimeraOS once I’m done updating.
I only bought the Ally for windows tbh more software optimized for it and piracy is much easier
Would pay good money for a black case. Hopefully we get a similar community to the steam deck
Dbrand is releasing a project killswitch case for the ally hopefully by q2 2024, I already put my $3 refundable reservation in, I can't wait
I checked it out at a local best buy and compared it to the steam deck, it is like you said the hardware is good but the software is terrible.
Great option for people who love modding different os's.
Can't wait to see Linux on it.
Someone already tested on it and it's on 'par' at best. You get more console-like experience and somewhat better experience as a console than Windows, at a sacrifice of the hardware being 'not compatible' with the OS itself. ChimeraOS works but it's still gets some hiccups on its experience. For now just use Windows until the Chimera team finally fixes all issues, or if you want to help them you can participate it by installing it right now.
ASUS has actually done a pretty good job trying to manage windows on it. Definitely not perfect, but the command center and armory crate do A LOT to improve the experience
As someone who has owned this since day one, and was in the first round of deliveries for the steam deck last year, I've actually had much less bugs with the ROG than the steam deck on launch. With Armoury Crate and Steam big picture mode, you almost never need to mess around with the windows side of things.
Are you comparing it to the Steam Deck in how it was in its first 10 days being out or the Steam Deck after close to 1.5 years of updates? The Deck's software was pretty lousy when it came out as well. Desktop mode on the Deck is still pretty terrible.
@bfums yeah, everyone seems have memory loss and can't recall how so many games were terribly unplayable on steam deck
Cant wait for SteamDeck 2... Valve will definitely cook something awesome, for now I am happy with my SD.
I can imagine imagine steam deck 2 be similar to asus rog price with improved graphics and screen 😎
@@ridwanahmed1793 and knowing how rapid AMD APUs are improving, damn the performance is going to be sick.
need to be oled qith vrr support
@@samuelkdu totally, that would be lit. Trust Valve :)
Want steam deck with Windows 12
Here's hoping someone can engineer a larger battery to swap in one day.
Yea it takes some time to get all the updates and drivers to install, how is that a negative? It's a PC, if you think this is a negative you have no business getting this device.
Exactly. How did they survive before the steam deck/OS?? The amount of people saying that having to do windows/driver updates at the start and do some basic windows customization to your liking, it's baffling that there's so many people making that complaint. They must never have had a gaming PC
@@Idgafmf007 dude some people just want to have that console like experienice..not everyone is that familiar with windows platform..sure the pros might out way the cons but if your not that familiar with windows and pc gaming in general and your jumping in for the first time it might be a hassle..
@@chiemeriechinwe3349"Dude" the thing is being advertised and sold as a HANDHELD GAMING PC!! Even says it on the back of the box on the bottom.
@@Idgafmf007As someone who has used Linux for 20 years, that comment is hilarious. The people complaining probably either use consoles or have MacOS or Linux on their desktops. I work in IT, and I dread working with Windows. It's not the worse thing in the world, but it's hard to unsee the huge flaws when you're used to something better.
@@hueypautonoman being the most popular OS doesn't mean it's the best OS. At least Windows is supported by a lot of things out there. Microsoft does need to make a more downscale version of Windows for gaming handhelds but still provide access to a full Windows experience not the S version. Maybe a more simple frontend if anything.
I never dabbled into Linux and I heard great things about it. To me tho I will rather pick capability over ease of use any day as I don't mind a little tinkering at my age, just not a lot like how I did before.
a lot better that i initially thought now give us access to parts
I've had mine for a month now and I'm really digging it. It handles spider-man miles morales easily and sitting on my lawn under the shade while I swing through NYC is something I never thought I'd be doing.
I've had a Steam Deck since the beginning, and the Ally since day 1 - and I will say the Ally has improved quite a bit since launch, but it comes at the price of performance. The biggest issue, by far, with the Ally is the terrible stock battery life, where you can easily kill the battery in about an hour if you want peak performance. However, it appears that some firmware updates have improved the battery life, but that's just done by lowering the performance - BUT that might not be a bad thing since it seems like they're finding a better balance than what it launched with. As for software, yeah, it's still buggy, but I've just got used to it now and know how it works, so it's really no longer a big issue to me. I was 95% certain I'd return the Ally after having it for a few days, but now that we're coming up on two weeks, that's more like 40%. At launch if I wanted to play some indie game at 120hz 1080p, you got terrible battery life, now in those same titles, you might get more like 3+ hours (at the 10w setting). Also, plugged in, this thing does perform really well, using it with a USB monitor that runs at 1440p 120hz, I was able to play some older AAA titles maxed out. Finally, the big there here, is that the battery is easily replaceable. That's a huge deal since you have to charge this thing so often that battery is going to be shot in a couple of years at the most. Knowing I can just easily drop in a replacement, that probably means I'll keep end up keeping it since that's been my biggest concern.
I’d say quite the opposite - the Ally’s performance has gotten worse since launch imo. I saw a decrease in game performance after the launch update, and it hasn’t gotten much better (on Steam). The Xbox apps either don’t launch or have odd issues. It’s not a stable experience yet, compared to the steam deck, but hopefully it gets better
That’s why I waited a year before getting the Deck, so I _might_ do the same with the Ally.
@daspotjoel You have to turn off automatically setting the clock and turn it back on to fix the Xbox issue, the other issue is fixed by applying the hotfix.
@@daspotjoel Well I was talking about battery performance, the system performance certainly seems to have gotten worse. But yes, it's nowhere near as stable as the Steam Deck. Still, I do like the fact I can use the system as a backup low-wattage PC for work if I really needed to since it's running Windows and can run the apps I need it to run natively, so that's a plus. If I was recommending one of the two, it would be hard to not recommend the Steam Deck since it just works, pretty much every time with no issues. Where as the Ally does not, and I don't have any real faith in Asus to be patching this a year from now.
@@SEVENTEENPOINT1 I'm not sure what the XBOX app issues are, that's not one I've encountered. Game Pass has worked fine, which was one of the big draws to getting this - so at least with that, I've had no issues.
If it wouldn't have been this modular and repairable, I wouldn't have bought it. Awesome product!
Okay, so I took mine apart and have absolutely no idea how the triggers work. It looks like they have magnets in them, but I didn't see any sensors on the actual board that correlate with their positions....
I also cut out a couple small pieces of plastic reenforcment and slipped a 4tb 2280 SSD in mine. I put a heat pad on top and bottom of it, and have had zero issues.
It was much easier to take the outer shell off of the ally than it was for the steam deck.
I'm glad the stick modules are so simple, because hopefully that means Gulikit is already on it with making a hall effect version.
My mind is truly blown to see a manufacturer of consumer electronics in this day and age going out of their way to make the device repairable. Not sure if I'll buy one (for what I play the Switch works fine, and battery life is limited) but seems like a great handheld nonetheless!
EU is about to nuke non reparability, manufacturers just try to stay ahead of the inevitable for marketing purposes.
Love the ALLY it's a good buy and if it's that easy to get to the Battery I'll be looking to change it to a battery with double the power as I did with the Dual sense controller as soon as one becomes available!
0:58 sad that most of us don't live in the US. Also, breaking warranty stickers means that they can gaslight you to believe you have caused damage to the device.
Thanks so much for this!!! I have a z1 extreme rog ally and it somehow fell off the couch face first and one of the thumb sticks completely popped out, me and my girlfriend followed this video to tear it down and we cleaned the dust that was in there too! We only needed just the unscrewing steps pretty much but we did it successfully and my stick feels less sticky now somehow too!
What is that empty ribbon cable header for?
The one on the left side clearly visible at 3:13
4:00 Why shouldn't the poor software be asus' fault?
Even if they didn't make the software, it was their choice to go with something not optimised or even intended for the form-factor of their product, especially when alternatives that *are* intended for it do exist.
Valve put effort into this area of their product, and the end result was an intuitive and functional system through and through.
Microsoft put effort into this area of their product, and the end result was an intuitive and functional system through and through.
Sony put effort into this area of their product, and the end result was an intuitive and functional system through and through.
Nintendo put effort into this area of their product, and the end result was an intuitive and functional system through and through.
Asus didn't put (much) effort into this area of their product, and the end result was being unable to compete in the same market as steam deck.
I would say it's both Asus' and Microsoft's fault. But they should've gone with a some kind of Linux distro either way rather than making the customer waste 100€ just on the Licensed OS they would probably never use.
tried rog ally today, dang really nice hardware. really want it. lets wait till the price down to 600euro
If someone makes different colour shells i.e. black, I'd be tempted to do a swap.
Windows can still be a mess on full size computers
so unbelievably happy to see direct discussion of Magnuson-Moss warranty act!
What's that mean
Most things you do to the device wont void warranty i think
@@chickennugget-ug9gnUnless you go out of your way to (for example) cause a fire by stabbing the lithium ion battery, repairs won't void your warranty.
@@cameronbosch1213No the court case says they can't. Nothing functionally stops them from denying you anyways. You going to get a lawyer that costs $400 an hour over an $800 device?
I have one. The Extreme version. Only complaint is the battery and the 512GB of space but that can easily be fixable by utilizing the expandable storage to a 1TB micro SD card to install games. Make sure you get a read speed micro SD card that is fast if you do this.
watching this on my Steamdeck 😎
I recommend taking the big plastic flap that cover the apu and ssd off and if you have a clean home you can take off the mesh blocking half the air intake for much better temps
3:55 Well, it's just Windows being Windows, and I don't think Ally fans would find it annoying anyway.
I like the fact it's Windows, which is undoubtedly the best gaming OS and the rest isn't worse than Android either.
finally a teardown! Great vid man 😄
Thanks for the teardown!
2:10 Yea, the SD slot seems a bit off!
Seems like they shaved off the top cover of the slot somehow?
It does make one wonder if it's the reason behind the SD reader heat issue as of recent?
Perhaps it warped due to prolonged heat and caused a failure to retain the SD card properly for normal operation.
Do yall think we can upgrade the battery for something bigger in mah? Once companies start making some? Or naa
Not while fitting it in the case. Maybe a few mah but honestly just get the anker brick with the screen. $150 can output 140w. Ally turbos properly off of it
I've ditched windows in 2015, definitely not going back!
Mine has been great so far, although I haven't tried using the SD card slot yet and likely won't ever. I opted to install a 2tb ssd instead of investing in SD cards which ended up saving me SD card reader headaches. Hopefully ASUS can figure that one out. If you're looking to buy an Ally, it sounds like May models are far better than March models. I got mine on launch day and ended up with a May model.
Wow, I guess I've arrived being mentioned in an ifixit video! 0:25
Amazing tear down 👍
I am massively tempted to get an Asus ROG Ally over the Steam Deck! Asus really made lots of meaningful hardware improvements! 🎉
answering from an rog ally... literally replaced my pc and it was avery good one. able to play every game and treat this like a portable pc. it is just amazing the quantity of things i can do from here without sacrificing.
You guys have to remember...if you use Windows there will always be glitches and bugs and lots of updates, whereas Linux-based Steam OS..it's more stable and less vulnerable. This is the main reason why the Steamdeck has a huge advantage in battery life because Windows loves to hog resources..tons of stuff loading in the background, when compared to Linux.
Linux "more stable" lmao😂😂😂
@@TheTyisawesomeThen why do over 80% of servers and all of the top 500 supercomputers use some form of Linux?
@@cameronbosch1213Sure in server space....90 plus percent of desktop users either run MacOs or Windows
@@TheTyisawesome I wonder why your cell phone isn't running windows, instead it's running on android..and android is linux-based.
@@cameronbosch1213Okay yes but... Those are completely different work loads and not comparable... The OS is so light weight because it can quite often only perform a specific task and don't have any GUI, so the simplification can make it more stable but it's just not the same. let me know when you buy a Super Computer or Server to do daily user tasks haha
My Ally has been a flawless experience so far. Every game has worked. Download, press launch and away I went.
The thing is crazy fast for a handheld. Cinebench I scored 14,000. That's like i5 11600k kind of performance.
Ever since I received mine on the 13th i've touched my pc like twice, it's amazing and a few hiccups here and there but if you're familiar with Windows and pc's nothing too difficult
Exactly! My PC hasn't even been turned on since I got this lol. If you use Windows regularly it's a walk in the park.
Actually its $700 before taxes. It rounds up to about 762 from the asus online shop
those disassembleable sticks mean that you most likely will NEVER need to replace them, as you can thoroughly clean every part and get rid of drift with a drop of bw100 on each rail. Massive props to asus for that.
i miss the days when controllers are bulletproof.
Drift issues aren't always about parts getting dirt. Generally, drifting occurs due to irrepairable damage associated with normal usage.
@@TolstoiDrummond1007 that is generally true but a quick cleaning on debris can drastically improve performance on aging sticks. I've had the same pair of joycons for over 3 years now and all I do is spray some wd40 contact cleaner in the stick wells every time they start to disobey and they get right back on track with no issues whatsoever.
Just picked mine up from Sam's club for $379.99 pre tax. Loving it so far
I am so glad I did not watch these reviews and what not before I purchased my Ally X. Ever since I keep hearing about issues right out the box and games not booting etc. I (knock on wood) have not had any issues with mine whatsoever. I just took it with me on my Vegas trip for F1 and I was there playing Wukong and Cyberpunk perfectly fine. The only issue I have seen so far is sometimes screen wont turn back on after i put it to sleep but being basically a pc, it goes right back to where I was before I restarted it and it has only happened twice in the last 2 months.
I have 2 steam decks, 1 Logitech G Cloud and 1 Rog Ally. Since I picked up the Ally i have yet to touch the steamdeck. I enjoy using the Ally by far more than the Deck. Yet again this is my personal experience.
Thumb stick assembly looks like It's hard to make hall effect sensor joystick kit. That's a bummer.
Why not?
Team rog ally for lyfe dawg
Hopefully Gulikit gets to work on making some Hall Effect sticks for the Ally. They have them for the Steam deck, seeing how the Ally’s sticks are modular, I don’t see how they can’t.
Worth mentioning the crappy proprietary connector for external GPUs, maybe not related to repairability, but without a doubt it severely handicaps the expansion options.
The only thing the connector hampers is external GPU Expandability, the type C port is DP compatible.
I currently have an HP Thunderbolt 3 dock plugged into mine (Ally does not support thunderbolt at all) but all the ports on the HP Dock work, Dual DP and HDMI/VGA (Depending on model) 3 Type A's 3 Type C's (one of them is also DP Compatible), Ethernet and 120W power brick All work, the only thing that doesn't is the power button on the dock itself but that's no problem.
I have a single cable that takes me from portable to full Dual Screen desktop mode with mouse and KB
I even installed a cut down version of 11 called ghostspector last night and after reinstalling the SW from the backup eSupport folder and grabbing some drivers everything works flawlessly.
This was very reassuring to see how easy it is to repair and replace parts but hopefully it’s durable enough to not need to. I like my ally but that battery life is not good and pop-up keyboard rarely launches. I do enjoy I can have all the different game stores and libraries on one device.
My left bumper button is starting to fail. Unless I press really hard, the button won't register. If it's pressed down but not enough force, it'll rapidly alternate between pressed/released. Is this an easy fix or will this require me to replace the entire board?
Honestly, the Windows situation doesn't bother me. I really like the Ally - so much so I sold my Steam Deck. I think they did a great job with the overlays on top of Windows to squeeze some bit of ease of use out of Windows from a handheld perspective. The performance of this thing outweighs the OS cons for me. The only thing that drives me nuts are the joysticks. Patiently waiting for someone to create HALL effect joysticks.
I grew up on windows, gamed on windows and grew not to be that bothered by it, so I definitely agree with you. The hardware is phenomenal. I also had a steam deck and sold it because eventually I got frustrated/annoyed with the disadvantages of Linux based OS so I was excited for the Ally and am content with windows 11. I like knowing any game that comes out for PC will work baring hardware limitations. I just had too many games on the deck that weren't getting verified that it eventually turned me off of the joy I first had with SteamOS and its simplicity. I honestly don't have much go wrong in windows. It's just not designed for touch/gamepad but I can get around that fairly easily
4 out of the 6 Phillips screws won't go up any further after a certain height and "snap back". Any help?
Is it possible to cover the SD card reader with foil tape to keep the heat away? Trying to find solutions for the SD card reader problem
Broke my screen the other day. The whole module really isn't all that expensive and repair is super easy
so is it possible to change the batteries for something much bigger? the battery is the only thing not selling me the console right now
My R2 trigger won't calibrate so driving games are a no no but I can still play FPS games... Spoke to Asus and tried their "fixes" but the unit has to be returned.... it looks like the bumper pots are on the mainboard right?
Can the bumper switches be replaced or will they need to change the whole mainboard?
Nice to see how it seems to be repair friendly. Here's hoping Asus keeps supporting it from the software side like Valve has done with the Deck. From what I have read from those who owned a Deck when it came out and got the Ally, the Ally seems to be a bit more stable and has less issues than the Deck did back then so if that is the case, it could be promising that Ally will fix whatever issues are left and be "on par" with the Deck in that area.
Oh this is gonna be great for case mods and repairs
ASUS is pushing regular software updates. It’s dramatically improved in terms of operating smoothness and a reduction in finicky bugs like the controls not working when switching from gamepad to desktop mode. I think the armoury crate software is great considering what it’s able to do on a windows machine compared to other competitors’ less capable software such as OneXPlayer.
What was that one small white piece that look like a small “T” that came out from joystick?
Any info on the D-pad? - like dome-switches or rubber membrane?
I never thought I'd see the day when PC gamers are against having options. That's supposed to be a huge benefit of PC gaming. You should not be threatened by options. 🙄
Exactly
Just like the console wars 😂
Who is against that?
@@Hector52441 A lot of people.
Exactly! I love my Deck and if I want to have both, I can have both! People these days…
Little did they know, Steam Deck PR congratulated ROG for the Ally, so they don’t really mind the competition. Can’t say the same to those that preferred one thing or the other though.
I will say I’ve had absolutely 0 problems with windows on the ally since launch day. I’m sure there will be bugs I’ll encounter eventually, but so far it’s been nothing but smooth sailing
There's no better option than windows. I can't take anyone's opinion seriously when they rag on windows for Handheld..... there's nothing that even comes close
@@kevinbuchanan67 I understand its not the easiest thing in the world to get up and running if you've never had a windows pc before, especially on a handheld, but for those with some experience its not bad at all!
@@nickjacobsss all 60,000 steam games are designed to run on windows while about 6,000 steam deck games are verified and some of those have problems. All peripherals, all standards, all emulators run on windows, all schoolwork, all programming can be done on windows. Ragging on windows is the weirdo elitist thing to do
@@kevinbuchanan67The windows experience on a handheld is fundamentally flawed, why is it forbidden to talk about it? And to my knowledge, windows 11 has broken quite a few games, so no, not all steam games run on it, just like linux.
My aux port has become damaged and my sound now sounds like hall effects. is it hard to replace or fix it?
how are the led ring modules working for the thumbsticks?
just got the ally and i love it
I love Windows 11. I use it massive with severl tabs, music in the background and downloads happening in the background
Do you guys not give a repairability score anymore?
Great teardown as always!
1:31 THANK GOD YOU CAN ACTUALLY REPLACE THE THUMB STICKS!!! If anything I really want to get any better sticks that don't have possible drifting or what I really want being stiffer sticks overall. These sticks are so flimsy there almost as bad as bootleg controllers that I've tried out. If anyone knows any modules that come out that are like what I want let me know because I'd be willing to pay like $40 to $50 just to replace the left stick if anything
This is how Nintendo should build its successor to the Switch.
Definitely my favorite reviewer in iFixit.
3:28 Wouldnnt it just be better to have hall effects and Never have to replace them... saving the pcb is nice and all but id rather have bullet proof no drift sticks for life rather than the ability (and inevitable need ) to replace them.
Where's the score
Also for overseas perspective this is a very good device because valve steam deck isn't available in my country and asus have more than enough service center here
Awesome! Dropped mine today and the sticks are not working properly. Found a redditor with the exact issue and looks like it's time to open it up.
How easy is it to replace the sd card reader? Mine wont hold in the sd card anymore.
i am holding off on a battery and back case upgrade kit, if that pops up i'll get the Ally.
HI Can i repair the SD card slot my self, If i can find the Card Reader to Buy ??
anyone struggling w ssd screw?mined did not take phillip 1 or 0 ... was a pain but even after messing up screw finally got it w a 1.5 flathead bit. was super small but did trick u can find a set at home depot or any hardware store. i got it from harbor freight
The one x player hall joysticks fit in the ally just gets a bit of interference from the left trigger to the left joystick
OMG...I miss my original rift, wish I had beaten Half Life before switching to the quest. Now that I have the ROG I def gotta give it a try.
How do you get the screen up enough to get something under it though
Windows 11 is so bad that it cost me my Ally on day 1 before I could even load a game. Was configuring my Ally whilst updating Windows and somehow a Windows update cooked the device into a boot loop. Said boot loop persisted even with USB boot sticks and a reformatted blank SSD... I've got a refund and will wait a few months to see if Asus develops the platform or if there are other competitors coming out.
How much score do you give to reliability?
How complicated is it to change a trigger? Mine don't seem to register movement
It's so similar to a pc that it can be easily repaired, the only disadvantage from a normal pc is the performance
I will buy one soon
already a minus point from me with do not tamper sticker.
I wonder if Gulikit going to make a hall sensor version joystick for it when there's enough interest
What is that black seal on the middle for?
What size Phillips head do I need to remove the m.2
Does anyone know if its easy to sort the bumper buttons out? My left one is alot more mushy then the right. Heard that it could be something on the back plate, took it off and tried it without it on but still the same. Can't figure out what's making it mushy and a soft press instead of clicky like the right side. Please help if possible.🙏
Can't you return and get a replacement it as you may have a faulty one
A little weird for u guys to comment on the software side… feels strange since u should only rate the repairability well well Asus = Taiwan 🇹🇼 Steam deck = USA 🇺🇸
Ifixit = USA 🇺🇸 mhhhhhhh think about it.
There was a day when cell phones were easier to open like this
there seem to be enough space in there for a optional 5g lte model. asus should do it in the next update and make it truly portable.