ROG Ally

kirbyrj said:
Everything I've seen says the non extreme version of the Z1 is garbage in terms of actual gaming performance compared to both Steam Deck and regular Z1 Extreme.
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Might be ok to play older games in silent mode (9watts)

Is there any review at 9watt mode for older games ?
 
Bumping a semi-old thread to say I just picked up an Ally yesterday. I was trying to decide between it and the new OLED deck. Saw the local BestBuy had an open box one for $508 and took the plunge. I’m really enjoying it so far. Played a bit of Lies of P, Borderlands 2, and Monster Hunter Rise. They all play good with it set to either 30w or manually set to max. I’m excited to check out some emulators over the four day weekend and really dig into the potential of this thing.
 
Ended up ordering a refurb from Best Buy for $489 CAD today. A little worried about it being a refurb, but it still has the 30 day return policy/one year warranty, and it's cheap enough that I won't feel too screwed if it does brick itself after a year.

Currently watching ROG Ally-specific Windows 'debloat' guides and also found its simple enough to install a 2280 SSD into the Ally - which is very cool.

A little concerned about Windows (I hated the experience when trying to use it on the Steam Deck), but from what I've read, ASUS Armory makes the experience a lot better.
 
SeymourGore said:
Ended up ordering a refurb from Best Buy for $489 CAD today. A little worried about it being a refurb, but it still has the 30 day return policy/one year warranty, and it's cheap enough that I won't feel too screwed if it does brick itself after a year.

Currently watching ROG Ally-specific Windows 'debloat' guides and also found its simple enough to install a 2280 SSD into the Ally - which is very cool.

A little concerned about Windows (I hated the experience when trying to use it on the Steam Deck), but from what I've read, ASUS Armory makes the experience a lot better.
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I'm interested in how you made out. I've been thinking about doing the same thing. I have a couple SD's, but when push comes to shove, it's not that desktop friendly and not all my games are on steam. My use case would be essentially a miniPC that I can also take out and game with.
 
It arrived Thursday, but haven't had much time to play it until today (due to work). Most of my previous two evenings with it were limited to installing Windows updates and spending a good chunk of time optimizing Windows for handheld use (based off a Youtube video by filt3rless).

Hardware-wise, it feels premium, definitely more solid than my Steam Deck. I do miss the Steam Deck's 'stiffer' analogue sticks, but in actual use I don't notice much of a difference. The dpad and facebuttons feel better than the Steam Deck's imo, the dpad has a nice click and felt great during a quick play of Mega Man 2; And the face buttons are larger than the SD, closer to a Xbox gamepad - pretty sure they might be the same size. Screen is beautiful compared to my LCD Steam Deck, I didn't think I'd appreciate the resolution bump on a 7" screen, but I do.

The 'Refurb/Open Box' didn't appear to affect the unit itself. The unit didn't have any signs of use - the box it came in was definitely rough, though. And I had to contact ASUS support to be able to register the device, but that was painless enough.

I haven't really stretched its legs out on a graphically intense title, but it ran Fallguys at 80-100+ FPS on performance mode (really quietly too).

Battery life is lackluster, even playing FF VII - 7th Heaven mod on Silent mode, the battery got chewed up pretty quick. I haven't played around too much with TDP, but I'm sure I can improve things for my retro/older titles at least.

ASUS software - actually, not bad. Armory Crate isn't that great, I'll likely replace it with Playnite or that Steam OS-lookalike frontend the Emudeck guys are working on, but its servicable. ASUS Command Centre is great though - being able to quickly End Task, adjust TDP, change resolution, etc is great and exactly what's needed for a Windows-based handheld.

As for Windows - not bad at all. Command Centre is going a long way to make it comfortable using a gamepad. Windows performs smooth on the Z1 Extreme, and having a KBM hooked up to it feels... like a Windows PC. Windows was definitely annoying initially, but it can be tamed to be a lot more comfortable.

The Xbox App was annoying at first, kept getting a 'Site ID' error trying to load Minecraft, but by the time the next morning rolled around it was working fine. Likely just needed some Windows update installed.

But, yeah, really impressed by it. See how it goes for the next month, but I can definitely see this guy replacing my Steam Deck.

Here's the setup video I followed:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPKepg96XP8
 
I just picked one up last week. So far I like it. It's definitely easier to configure due to my familiarity with Windows. I also have much better luck with this thing docked. No random display issues like I had with the steam deck and it's official dock. Realistically it could be a mini PC replacement.

The battery life is pretty terrible. Other than that though it's a great little device.

I was playing through Arkham City and it was smooth. I fired up skull and bones and it was serviceable. I installed emudeck, and emulators are very solid.
 
Just finishing up my first set of nights with my ROG and - yeah, it's effectively replaced my Steam Deck.

I got the Skull & Co grip case for it, and that rounded out the grips nicely where it's very comfortable to hold. I'd dare say this handheld has become more comfortable than the Steam Deck for me, I'm attributing it to the larger face buttons and analogue stick placement. I still prefer a 'stiffer' analogue stick ala Steam Deck, but forget about the looseness of the ROG's sticks during gameplay. It reminds me of a 360 or Dreamcast stick. The Steam Deck was comfortable and I'd rarely receiving hand cramping, but I'd still use a 8bitdo gamepad for long sessions or more difficult platforming - this hasn't been a need for the ROG Ally, I can comfortable play it for longer sessions and haven't had the desire to use a gamepad over the built-in controls.

I was complaining about the lack of touchpads on this device, but really, haven't missed them at all except for one game. For general mouse movement (what I mainly used them for on the Steam Deck), the PC mode + touchscreen are serviceable enough for me.

I've been using Playnite as a prettier frontend for my games, and while it's not nearly as sleek as Steam OS' game mode, it's still functional and 'pretty'. Illusion fades when you launch a game and it switches back to Windows for a brief second, but whatever - the games work fine once they do start. Hoping this Emudeck 'SteamOS-like' frontend for Windows gets a public release at some point and I'll give that a shot. I tried Steam Big Picture mode, and found it more of a pain in the ass than Playnite, especially when loading 3rd party launcher titles. Playnite just handles all the required 3rd party launcher services better than Steam.

I haven't tried any emulators yet, and don't really plan on it until I get a larger SSD in it (I don't trust the SD card slot). Truth be told, with Gamepass and the current JRPG's sitting in my Steam backlog, I probably won't be looking at much emulation in the near future.
 
SeymourGore said:
Just finishing up my first set of nights with my ROG and - yeah, it's effectively replaced my Steam Deck.

I got the Skull & Co grip case for it, and that rounded out the grips nicely where it's very comfortable to hold. I'd dare say this handheld has become more comfortable than the Steam Deck for me, I'm attributing it to the larger face buttons and analogue stick placement. I still prefer a 'stiffer' analogue stick ala Steam Deck, but forget about the looseness of the ROG's sticks during gameplay. It reminds me of a 360 or Dreamcast stick. The Steam Deck was comfortable and I'd rarely receiving hand cramping, but I'd still use a 8bitdo gamepad for long sessions or more difficult platforming - this hasn't been a need for the ROG Ally, I can comfortable play it for longer sessions and haven't had the desire to use a gamepad over the built-in controls.

I was complaining about the lack of touchpads on this device, but really, haven't missed them at all except for one game. For general mouse movement (what I mainly used them for on the Steam Deck), the PC mode + touchscreen are serviceable enough for me.

I've been using Playnite as a prettier frontend for my games, and while it's not nearly as sleek as Steam OS' game mode, it's still functional and 'pretty'. Illusion fades when you launch a game and it switches back to Windows for a brief second, but whatever - the games work fine once they do start. Hoping this Emudeck 'SteamOS-like' frontend for Windows gets a public release at some point and I'll give that a shot. I tried Steam Big Picture mode, and found it more of a pain in the ass than Playnite, especially when loading 3rd party launcher titles. Playnite just handles all the required 3rd party launcher services better than Steam.

I haven't tried any emulators yet, and don't really plan on it until I get a larger SSD in it (I don't trust the SD card slot). Truth be told, with Gamepass and the current JRPG's sitting in my Steam backlog, I probably won't be looking at much emulation in the near future.
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I also took the plunge late last year via the Best Buy open box for $508. They pulled a few out as there were about 10 open box at the time so I was able to cherry pick. I think when they launched, people thought it was plug and play and were returning them in droves once they saw the setup procedure. I am loving it so far once I tempered my expectations a bit. Performance is great and as intended. Actually got me back into PC gaming since I don't have to be tied down in my gaming room. BTW, Handheld DIY has great HAL effect sticks and they offer a stiffer variant. I replaced mine easily but didn't get the stiffer ones which I may go ahead and pull the trigger on.
 
Coming to an end of another set of nights and my ROG Ally (affectionately called 'Roggy') was a welcomed companion for the set. Played some Tetris Connect, Lumines, Fallout 4, and Sleeping Dogs (which has been pretty great so far).

One hardware issue has popped up, though, and it's a 'squeak' when I press down on the dpad. Doesn't affect gameplay at all, but is annoying. I see others have ran into this issue and there are a couple of fixes to try later.
 
g1xx3r said:
I also took the plunge late last year via the Best Buy open box for $508. They pulled a few out as there were about 10 open box at the time so I was able to cherry pick. I think when they launched, people thought it was plug and play and were returning them in droves once they saw the setup procedure. I am loving it so far once I tempered my expectations a bit. Performance is great and as intended. Actually got me back into PC gaming since I don't have to be tied down in my gaming room. BTW, Handheld DIY has great HAL effect sticks and they offer a stiffer variant. I replaced mine easily but didn't get the stiffer ones which I may go ahead and pull the trigger on.
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Did you end up replacing them? My biggest complaint is the dead zone on the right thumbstick. I wonder if these would help.
 
has anyone gotten to test the new fluid frames and other new features yet? hopefully some of these get ported to the steam deck
 
Vengance_01 said:
has anyone gotten to test the new fluid frames and other new features yet? hopefully some of these get ported to the steam deck
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Is it in the latest Asus driver update? I installed it, but I don't have any old benchmark data to compare it to. I haven't played around with using the AMD driver instead of the Asus one.
 
pendragon1 said:
asus pulling rma shens again...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pMrssIrKcY
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well that's what happens when you try to rush a product to market to try to cash in on someone else's laurels, in this case the steam deck. which was crafted with love. i'd just wait for steam deck 2 if i was going to get one. plus the fact that supporting steam deck also gives devs incentive to optimize for linux so maybe one day we won't be forced to use microsoft's latest windows spywear and bloat to run games. AND they made steam deck diy repairable too, let's not forget that.
 
ROG Ally X hands-on impressions videos are going live.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6ymEz1PmBc


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_dK_ADuPQg

I'm liking the revisions, not enough to make me rush out and replace my ROG Ally (I'll wait for the next chipset, but it's definitely an improvement in all areas).

Every video seems to have a blurb about the Gamers Nexus drama concerning ASUS RMA process, feels very coordinated, just not sure if that's the techtubers working together or ASUS playing some 4D chess to help control the narrative.

Oh, one nice thing about Computex this year - I'm working a set of nights the next few days so will be able to watch the keynotes live (NVidia's should be streaming in an hour and a half).
 
SeymourGore said:
Oh, one nice thing about Computex this year - I'm working a set of nights the next few days so will be able to watch the keynotes live (NVidia's should be streaming in an hour and a half).
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Yes, you can share computex updates in thread below on the main news page

Marees said:
AnandTech preview:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/21418/computex-2024-keynote-preview

Intel: Bringing AI Everywhere​

When: June 3rd, 11:00pm ET (8:00pm PT)
What: Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger will present a keynote entitled “Bringing AI Everywhere.”
What To Expect: The final of the major Computex keynotes, Intel has been the most up-front about what to expect from their hour-long presentation. The company’s Computex 2024 page already outlines their four major topics: AI PCs, Xeon 6 Processors, Gaudi AI accelerators, and Intel’s OpenVINO software ecosystem.
On the consumer hardware front, the company set the table with a significant teaser earlier this month about their forthcoming mobile PC SoC, Lunar Lake. The next generation of Core Ultra processors, Intel is touting significant energy efficiency gains for the mobile-focused chip, with new architectures driving their Performance and Efficiency CPU cores, Xe2 GPU, and a much faster 45+ TOPS (INT8) NPU. While the Lunar Lake announcement is coming relatively soon after the Meteor Lake launch, Intel has made it clear that it’s not going to hold back on shipping future products; they are looking to make up for lost time. Still, Lunar Lake devices are not expected to hit retail shelves until Q4 of this year, so this announcement is coming months in advance of the hardware itself.
On the server front, Intel has been publicly prepping for the launch of a new generation of Xeons with the Xeon 6 platform. The most notable part of this being the release of the company’s first Efficiency-core Xeon, Sierra Forest. Sierra Forest is set to be the first Xeon 6 chip out the door this year, and will offer up to 288 E cores on a single chip, allowing Intel to tap into the many (many) core CPU markets that AMD and Arm-based rivals have been unopposed at thus far.
Finally, the company has fully pivoted its server AI accelerator strategy to its Gaudi accelerators. Gaudi 3 was introduced back in April, and while it isn’t expected to go toe-to-toe with NVIDIA’s top accelerators in every workload, Intel is betting that they can beat NVIDIA on critical workloads, all while undercutting them significantly in pricing. The first Gaudi 3 parts are set to be released in the second half of this year, so hopefully we’ll be hearing a bit more about Intel’s plans as part of their keynote.


AMD: The Future of High-performance Computing in the AI Era​

When: June 2nd, 9:30pm ET (6:30pm PT)
What: AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su will be presenting a keynote entitled “The future of high-performance computing in the AI era.”
What To Expect: The first off the official Computex keynotes, AMD’s keynote is the closest thing the show has to a “prime” keynote that kicks off the whole show. Like NVIDIA, AMD’s AI-focused description intersects virtually their entire product stack. But as AMD has been consistently executing on a well-published architecture roadmap over the last few years, we have a good idea of what to expect here.
The big expectation here is fresh news around AMD’s Zen 5 CPU core architecture, and the chips built around it. AMD’s most recent Zen 5 roadmap has it slated to deliver all three flavors of Zen 5 by the end of this year, and we’re coming up on the two-year anniversary of the Zen 4 architecture launch.
Along with client chips, AMD has been pushing their server CPUs hard, and they’ve previously told investors that the next-gen EPYC Turin CPU is “looking great”. So we’ll likely hear about both client and server Zen 5 product plans during this keynote.
On the GPU/accelerator side of matters, AMD is mid-cycle (at best) with their Instinct MI300 series accelerators. With the company’s sales repeatedly beating their own expectations, AMD doesn’t seem to need much help moving this premium silicon right now. But with AI being the operative buzzword of this year’s Computex (and indeed, the computing industry as a whole), it would be weird for AMD to not have something to say about their rapidly growing AI accelerator product line.


NVIDIA: What’s Next for the AI Ecosystem​

When: June 2nd, 7:00am ET (4:00am PT)
What: NVIDIA’s leather jacket-wielding CEO Jensen Huang will be presenting a talk “outlining what’s next for the AI ecosystem.”
What To Expect: Of the 4 Comuptex-aligned keynotes, NVIDIA’s is both the first and the most mysterious. The company has not telegraphed its intentions for its keynote – or even how long it will run. And with virtually all of NVIDIA’s products intersecting the AI market in some fashion, the “AI ecosystem” could conceivably cover anything from servers to smartphones.
With that said, NVIDIA is coming into this show as the vendor farthest from the start of their next product cycle. The company already presented a detailed roadmap for it’s all-important server products at their own GTC conference two months ago, leaving them with relatively little to announce at this spring’s expo. And NVIDIA’s consumer GPUs have traditionally followed a 2+ year cadence, meaning they’re not due for refresh until later this year at the earliest. Still, NVIDIA is solidly in the driver’s seat of its own destiny right now thanks to the wild success of its Grace Hopper-based accelerators, so the company can (and will) do whatever it pleases.
Notably, even NVIDIA’s keynote itself is a big rogue. While the AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm keynotes are all official Computex keynotes taking place at the TaiNEX 2 expo hall, NVIDIA’s keynote is off-site, taking place the night before the show officially starts at the National Taiwan University Sports Center.



Qualcomm: The PC Reborn​

When: June 3rd, 1:30am ET (10:30pm PT)
What: Qualcomm's CEO, Cristiano Amon, will be presenting a keynote entitled “The PC Reborn”
For now we'll pretend that they don't exist (until they establish themselves properly in the PC space).
While Snapdragon X is not Qualcomm’s first effort to ship an Arm-based SoC for Windows devices – there are 3 generations of 8cx Gen 3 platforms that everyone is happy never to mention again – the Snapdragon X is Qualcomm’s most serious effort yet.
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SeymourGore said:
Every video seems to have a blurb about the Gamers Nexus drama concerning ASUS RMA process, feels very coordinated, just not sure if that's the techtubers working together or ASUS playing some 4D chess to help control the narrative.
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It would be more weird if they failed to mention any of that given how recent it was, and then people would accuse them of shilling as well if they didn't. All of the criticism is well deserved and seemingly past due from all the threads and reports I've seen here from people RMAing Asus products. Fortunately the few mobos I've had from them haven't had any issues and I think generally Asus makes decent products, but customer support is a decent factor me and most people, I think.
 
T4rd said:
It would be more weird if they failed to mention any of that given how recent it was, and then people would accuse them of shilling as well if they didn't. All of the criticism is well deserved and seemingly past due from all the threads and reports I've seen here from people RMAing Asus products. Fortunately the few mobos I've had from them haven't had any issues and I think generally Asus makes decent products, but customer support is a decent factor me and most people, I think.
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Yar, ASUS announced a bit after the Ally X info drop that the warranty will be extended for 2 years (not just for the SD card issue). Considering sending my unit in for its squeaky DPad.

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sk3tch said:
Haha yeah - hey here’s two more years of false hope! Enjoy!
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I mean, so far, my Ally has worked great. I don't use SD cards. I swapped in a larger SSD, but I can't complain at all. I prefer it to my old Steam Deck for pretty much everything (except battery life). I would be surprised if I RMA'd it between now and the new end of warranty date. But if I did have to, I don't expect much from Asus.
 
kirbyrj said:
I mean, so far, my Ally has worked great. I don't use SD cards. I swapped in a larger SSD, but I can't complain at all. I prefer it to my old Steam Deck for pretty much everything (except battery life). I would be surprised if I RMA'd it between now and the new end of warranty date. But if I did have to, I don't expect much from Asus.
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Would you recommend an Ally X over a Steamdeck OLED for someone in the market? It just seems like the Steamdeck ecosystem is tough to beat even if the Ally has better hardware.
 
sk3tch said:
Would you recommend an Ally X over a Steamdeck OLED for someone in the market? It just seems like the Steamdeck ecosystem is tough to beat even if the Ally has better hardware.
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Personally, I like the fact that I can just use the native launchers for whatever game I'm playing. I have Steam, Ubisoft, Epic, GOG, EA, Game Pass Ultimate etc. all on my Ally. I can also dock the Ally and use it like a regular Windows computer. So, yes, I'd probably recommend the Ally X over a Steam Deck OLED right now, but that's based on my use case. If I was more Steam heavy or didn't use it as a computer as often, the Steam Deck would probably be fine. It just takes more tweaking to get things to work that are non-Steam (occasionally).

I don't like Asus shenanigans, but I haven't had any issues with my current Ally. I'd definitely test it out thoroughly within the return period of whatever retailer you buy from. I probably won't upgrade to the Ally X as the biggest difference for me would be the battery, and I usually just plug it in when I'm playing even though it's inconvenient.
 
Anyone try out Bazzite for their Ally? (a SteamOS-like Linux distro). Watching some install/feature videos for it on Youtube and it appears to have near feature parity with the Steam Deck (full TDP control with a DeckyLoader plugin too). I'll for sure be trying this out as I miss the Steam OS interface (especially a properly working 'suspend' feature). Also it seems simple enough to dual boot between Windows 11 and Bazzite.

Did have one rough issue with my Ally recently; Placed it in sleep mode (using the power button), put it in its carrying case, and about 15 minutes later when I resumed it - the system was burning hot and not responding. Took me several attempts to wake the device up, including forcing the device to power down by holding the power button, for it to finally 'wake up' from sleep mode with the game I was playing (Axiom Verge 2). I've had a few times when sleep mode would glitch out my game or require a hard shutdown/reboot, but this was the worst glitch to occur.
 
SeymourGore said:
Anyone try out Bazzite for their Ally? (a SteamOS-like Linux distro). Watching some install/feature videos for it on Youtube and it appears to have near feature parity with the Steam Deck (full TDP control with a DeckyLoader plugin too). I'll for sure be trying this out as I miss the Steam OS interface (especially a properly working 'suspend' feature). Also it seems simple enough to dual boot between Windows 11 and Bazzite.

Did have one rough issue with my Ally recently; Placed it in sleep mode (using the power button), put it in its carrying case, and about 15 minutes later when I resumed it - the system was burning hot and not responding. Took me several attempts to wake the device up, including forcing the device to power down by holding the power button, for it to finally 'wake up' from sleep mode with the game I was playing (Axiom Verge 2). I've had a few times when sleep mode would glitch out my game or require a hard shutdown/reboot, but this was the worst glitch to occur.
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Just my $0.02, but if I was going to install Bazzite, I would just buy another Steam Deck. The whole point for me of having an Ally is that it uses Windows, and I can use regular Windows programs and drivers.
 
kirbyrj said:
Just my $0.02, but if I was going to install Bazzite, I would just buy another Steam Deck. The whole point for me of having an Ally is that it uses Windows, and I can use regular Windows programs and drivers.
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For me, it's the ability to dual boot. I can use Windows for its compatibility, but when I want a more... 'refined' (or console-like) experience, I can boot into Bazzite.

This was actually my plan for when I had the Steam Deck, but (at least at the time) dual booting was a no go, and Windows was a really lackluster experience (ASUS Command Centre goes a long way in making Windows work on a handheld).
 
Alright, it took three attempts at installing, but I've now got Bazzite dual booting properly alongside Windows. First reinstall went fine, but I didn't like the look of Gnome, so went to KDE. Second attempt, not sure why (I'm assuming it was because I had a external SSD connect to my hub) but Emudeck got borked during install (wouldn't create the proper folder structure). Third attempt went mostly flawless (first time loading into game mode took a lot of time).

Dual booting is pretty slick on the ROG Ally, since its BIOS can be fully controlled by the gamepad, I can easily boot which OS I want to use or configure the boot order. Really impressed by that aspect, thought it was going to be clunky.

Bazzite itself has been really stable for me - I really missed Decky Loader and the add-ons available for it. There was a theme for CSS Loader that applies the ROG Ally icons to Bazzite, which was really cool. This theme was a built-in ujust command within Bazzite, I didn't see it within CSS Loader's search feature.

Well, next step is to play on it for a couple of months (I only gave 340 GB worth of space to Bazzite) and see where most of my playing time ends up.

Edit: And for anyone attempting to set up a dual boot for the ROG Ally, here's a written guide and also a Youtube video I used to do it.

https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dual-boot-preliminary-setup-and-post-setup-guide/2743


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45P3hlvq8jk
 
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SeymourGore said:
Alright, it took three attempts at installing, but I've now got Bazzite dual booting properly alongside Windows. First reinstall went fine, but I didn't like the look of Gnome, so went to KDE. Second attempt, not sure why (I'm assuming it was because I had a external SSD connect to my hub) but Emudeck got borked during install (wouldn't create the proper folder structure). Third attempt went mostly flawless (first time loading into game mode took a lot of time).

Dual booting is pretty slick on the ROG Ally, since its BIOS can be fully controlled by the gamepad, I can easily boot which OS I want to use or configure the boot order. Really impressed by that aspect, thought it was going to be clunky.

Bazzite itself has been really stable for me - I really missed Decky Loader and the add-ons available for it. There was a theme for CSS Loader that applies the ROG Ally icons to Bazzite, which was really cool. This theme was a built-in ujust command within Bazzite, I didn't see it within CSS Loader's search feature.

Well, next step is to play on it for a couple of months (I only gave 340 GB worth of space to Bazzite) and see where most of my playing time ends up.

Edit: And for anyone attempting to set up a dual boot for the ROG Ally, here's a written guide and also a Youtube video I used to do it.

https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/dual-boot-preliminary-setup-and-post-setup-guide/2743


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45P3hlvq8jk
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Super cool, man. Thank you for sharing! These devices are exciting. I’m dipping my toe in with a basic Steam Deck but I really want an Ally X if the form factor works for me!
 
Landed a open box z1e at BB for $450+tax. Was graded satisfactory (lowest grade) but it looks and works perfectly. Oddly there were some labeled "excellent" that were quite dirty. Even the rep was surprised at mine.

I'm pretty happy with it so far. The whole idea of a handheld PC is really cool and seems to actually work pretty well. Maybe one day I'll give this one to my son and grab the X if I can find a good discount on it.
 
Looks like Valve referenced the Ally in a recent Steam OS update (added Ally related 'keys') and Valve confirmed that ROG Ally would be supported by Steam OS in the future.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/13/24219469/valve-steamos-asus-rog-ally-steady-progress-dual-boot

Pretty cool, and nice to see an update on Valve's progress on it. I thought with the popularity of Bazzite, Valve was going to put Steam OS for other handhelds on the backburner, but looks like that's not the case.

With that said, I've recently been using the latest version of Armory Crate (the one they released alongside the Ally X) and it's been great. Really easy to set individual profiles per game and you can enable/disable specific Radeon GPU features through it (I don't remember that being a feature on the previous builds). I'm no longer using Playnite as my frontend and it's been all Armory Crate.

As for my experimentation with Bazzite, it was great at first, but then I ran into TDP settings not saving or changing to weird values after suspend/resume, and I'd have to restart the Ally to restore the TDP settings. Also ran into hard crashes with Tales of Arise, so I went back to Windows.
 
I would argue that if I was just going to install SteamOS on it, I might as well just get an OLED Steamdeck instead.
 
kirbyrj said:
I would argue that if I was just going to install SteamOS on it, I might as well just get an OLED Steamdeck instead.
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Yar, agreed. SteamOS is a great UI, but if the plan was to solely use SteamOS and not leverage the Windows aspect of the Ally - I'd be hard pressed to choose an Ally (OG or X) over the OLED Steamdeck. I guess the other scenario I could see is if someone wanted to try SteamOS, but didn't want to entirely leave Windows to try it.

I'm also curious how ASUS will handle warranty repairs on Ally's running SteamOS - are they going to be good about it or perhaps say that running an unsupported OS is what caused the hardware failure (ie: running the system too hot).
 
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