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Asus’ next ROG Ally handheld will be the ROG Ally X

StereoVsn

Gold Member
I'm holding out on some 8-9" OLED options. 7" is just too small for me

Season 4 Episode 10 GIF by The Office
Plus the new chipset that’s promising about 30% improvement should be in devices by year’s end.

Well, and ASUS RMA policies are terrible so if something breaks, good luck.
 

zeroluck

Member
Literally any mobile phone?
I need Windows, GeforceNow App works best on it, 4k/120 downscale to 1080p, VRR, etc. On IOS they blocked it so it just stream through Safari and missing many features, on Android, last I remember my tablet couldn't do 4k, also streaming 4k/120 at high bitrate is no joke, most of these phone have terrible decoder performance.
 
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StereoVsn

Gold Member
I need Windows, GeforceNow App works best on it, 4k/120 downscale to 1080p, VRR, etc. On IOS they blocked it so it just stream through Safari and missing many features, on Android, last I remember my tablet couldn't do 4k, also streaming 4k/120 at high bitrate is no joke, most of these phone have terrible decoder performance.
Modern high flagship Android phones/tablets have no issues with that. Although why the heck would you want a 4K stream on a 6-7” device I have no idea as it’s mostly pointless at that size.

Something like this would do what you need:

 

zeroluck

Member
Modern high flagship Android phones/tablets have no issues with that. Although why the heck would you want a 4K stream on a 6-7” device I have no idea as it’s mostly pointless at that size.

Something like this would do what you need:

Games look way better rendering at 4k with DLSS performance compared to 1080p. GFN VRR support is a must at this point, unfortunately all these handhelds are not it.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Games look way better rendering at 4k with DLSS performance compared to 1080p. GFN VRR support is a must at this point, unfortunately all these handhelds are not it.

Can't you still just do that prior to streaming? Like run the stream at 1080p but have the game downsample from 4k?

You can do that on the Deck, set the game resolution to 4k and you get sharper images/text.

I dunno why you'd need to do that on the streaming level.
 

zeroluck

Member
Can't you still just do that prior to streaming? Like run the stream at 1080p but have the game downsample from 4k?

You can do that on the Deck, set the game resolution to 4k and you get sharper images/text.

I dunno why you'd need to do that on the streaming level.
Only for games that support 2x internal rendering resolution, but most game don't and even if they do they don't support DLSS. Streaming only care about the output resolution, I wish GFN has a downsample feature but it doesn't.
 

Klosshufvud

Member
With the reviews out, I feel vindicated calling this the best handheld PC as of yet. Being able to game for 2h+ at 20W with seemingly quiet fans is a game changer for these mainstream handhelds. And Asus also really optimized power usage so total system power is on par, if not less than Steam Deck OLED. So a complete home run for Asus with this revision. Had I not already owned a 7840U device, this would be the device I would buy. Its only real flaws being lack of USBA and kick stand.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
With the reviews out, I feel vindicated calling this the best handheld PC as of yet. Being able to game for 2h+ at 20W with seemingly quiet fans is a game changer for these mainstream handhelds. And Asus also really optimized power usage so total system power is on par, if not less than Steam Deck OLED. So a complete home run for Asus with this revision. Had I not already owned a 7840U device, this would be the device I would buy. Its only real flaws being lack of USBA and kick stand.

Nobody’s ever going to put a USB A in these things, except maybe the Chinese OEMs?

But yeah, it’s really good. I’d have been really tempted if the price was lower, and if I didn’t have a Deck OLED I haven’t yet maximized.

Can’t wait for the Strix point variants. Those are expected to bring a nice power uptick.

Only challenge is that Asus will probably have to think hard about when they introduce an Ally 2 with the updated chipset. I can’t imagine customers will be amused if there’s an Ally 2 in November (for example).
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Nobody’s ever going to put a USB A in these things, except maybe the Chinese OEMs?

But yeah, it’s really good. I’d have been really tempted if the price was lower, and if I didn’t have a Deck OLED I haven’t yet maximized.

Can’t wait for the Strix point variants. Those are expected to bring a nice power uptick.

Only challenge is that Asus will probably have to think hard about when they introduce an Ally 2 with the updated chipset. I can’t imagine customers will be amused if there’s an Ally 2 in November (for example).

It's a PC, that's the whole point. New hardware existing means new hardware created. Don't buy it if you don't want to have a new one released a year later, it is inevitable IMO.

That said, beyond the LCD screen on this thing kinda being a bit shitty compared to OLED, and Windows being a bitch like normal, the hardware - especially when docked, is amazing this time around.

Battery life is incredible, it runs really fast, much more so than the Deck, and handles/feels great. The blacks on the LCD screen suffer quite a bit in a dark room, thing has a lot of backlight bleed. But that's LCD for you. And it is very time consuming every time I have a new Windows device to go through all the updates and logging in to a hundred software and declining all the bloatware and setting up all the little options here and there. Desktop keyboard and mouse make it 100x better though, and it could totally substitute a PC and wouldn't skip a beat. The 24GB of RAM feels great, and Windows is very snappy and quick to respond - running 4K @ 120hz without a hitch (non-gaming).
 

DAHGAMING

Gold Member
Realy tempted with this new Ally X but think I will wait abit longer for the next gen of windows/Steam handhelds, I only recently bought a 4080 laptop aswell so that will do me for bed time gaming and busting some games while my wife watches some soy shit on tv. These handhelds are getting realy good though and seem good for my minimal game time now days. We might be hearing of the Xbox version later this year aswell.
 

Darko

Member
Had to return mine it had a squeaky trigger… I coulda fixed it but that’s not the point. lol… maybe I’ll buy it again when in stock.. I really loved it
 

Darko

Member
Thats a 3 min fix, thats what I did and its fine now.
Yeah but it’s asus I didn’t want any issues later down the line.. I shouldn’t have to fix something I buy within days of buying it

Edit: it was the r2 button and I’ve been playing nothing but spiderman… which made it extra annoying because that is the swinging button
 
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StereoVsn

Gold Member
Yeah but it’s asus I didn’t want any issues later down the line.. I shouldn’t have to fix something I buy within days of buying it

Edit: it was the r2 button and I’ve been playing nothing but spiderman… which made it extra annoying because that is the swinging button
With Asus opening up console is mostly giving up on any future RMA needs.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Yeah but it’s asus I didn’t want any issues later down the line.. I shouldn’t have to fix something I buy within days of buying it

Edit: it was the r2 button and I’ve been playing nothing but spiderman… which made it extra annoying because that is the swinging button

On the plus side, you just made it easier for someone else by increasing the supply of ‘Open Box’ Ally X.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
With Asus opening up console is mostly giving up on any future RMA needs.

True, but you know how many people I've read with their Steam Decks sent them back for issues and they get another with the same or different issues? Some people have posted they're on their fifth or sixth return in a row. I probably would just give up entirely after the third time mailing it back and waiting for another defective replacement unit.
 

Gamezone

Gold Member
Thats a 3 min fix, thats what I did and its fine now.
Imagine having to remove screws, connectors and triggers on a brand new device in order to applied lubricant. This shouldn't have happened in the first place. Asus have to get their shit together. This also isn't their first handheld.
 
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Minsc

Gold Member
Imagine having to remove screws, connectors and triggers on a brand new device in order to applied lubricant. This shouldn't have happened in the first place. Asus have to get their shit together. This also isn't their first handheld.

I mean imagine buying a Steam Deck and getting a headphone jack that has static, sending it back, and getting a replacement with the same issue, sending that back, and getting another replacement with the same issue, then sending that back and getting a replacement with a different issue. There's no shortage of horror stories with the Deck either.
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
True, but you know how many people I've read with their Steam Decks sent them back for issues and they get another with the same or different issues? Some people have posted they're on their fifth or sixth return in a row. I probably would just give up entirely after the third time mailing it back and waiting for another defective replacement unit.
Not sure, but haven’t seen nearly same amount of complaints vs ASUS.

And at least Valve RMA actually works. ASUS breaks your shit and charges extra.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Not sure, but haven’t seen nearly same amount of complaints vs ASUS.

And at least Valve RMA actually works. ASUS breaks your shit and charges extra.

Oh maybe you haven't been looking as closely then, did you also miss the tons of dead pixel complaints on the limited edition OLED version? It was so bad at first people just started to think every single one made had dead pixels. There's an abundance of build issues with the Deck if you regularly browse the reddit.

I know people in the past have had issues, but didn't they put out a statement both extending the warranty and saying they would honor it better? Either way, mine works fine, like almost every single device I purchase. So I'm not too worried myself.

I know we're both trying to point out flaws, but I will admit the original version I skipped because of bad build quality so I agree with you they made mistakes in the past, but the Ally X so far has been great for me. I am happy to have a working SD reader too.
 
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TrebleShot

Member
Imagine having to remove screws, connectors and triggers on a brand new device in order to applied lubricant. This shouldn't have happened in the first place. Asus have to get their shit together. This also isn't their first handheld.
You only have to remove the back of it.

6 screws.
Lift.
Apply WD40 to swab
Apply to the springs you can see under triggers.
Reattach back.

Or continue moaning online until the issue magically resolves itself.
 

Gamezone

Gold Member
You only have to remove the back of it.

6 screws.
Lift.
Apply WD40 to swab
Apply to the springs you can see under triggers.
Reattach back.

Or continue moaning online until the issue magically resolves itself.
The guide I came accross the guy had to remove the triggers as well.
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
Oh maybe you haven't been looking as closely then, did you also miss the tons of dead pixel complaints on the limited edition OLED version? It was so bad at first people just started to think every single one made had dead pixels. There's an abundance of build issues with the Deck if you regularly browse the reddit.

I know people in the past have had issues, but didn't they put out a statement both extending the warranty and saying they would honor it better? Either way, mine works fine, like almost every single device I purchase. So I'm not too worried myself.

I know we're both trying to point out flaws, but I will admit the original version I skipped because of bad build quality so I agree with you they made mistakes in the past, but the Ally X so far has been great for me. I am happy to have a working SD reader too.
Not sure about the OLED SE, but at least Valve sorted folks out.

ASUS can put out statements all they want, but until it can be verified they are honoring that, it’s all BS.

They have had horrendous RMA for years, but of course even for them Ally support was shit and until Steve from GN brought receipts they even refused to acknowledge their RMA scam behavior.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Not sure about the OLED SE, but at least Valve sorted folks out.

ASUS can put out statements all they want, but until it can be verified they are honoring that, it’s all BS.

They have had horrendous RMA for years, but of course even for them Ally support was shit and until Steve from GN brought receipts they even refused to acknowledge their RMA scam behavior.

I like to look at it the other, simply for the fact that the failure rate (outside global issues like the SD card affecting nearly all units) of devices tends to be around 2-3%, maybe higher a little higher for laptops.

So there's a ~97% chance or whatever I won't have issues, and if that 3% chance happens, I deal with either Best Buy's warranty (within 1 month when most issues occur, you are going to be covered fully by BB/Amazon/Whatever), which I won't have issues.

So in my mind we're down to like a 1:10:000 chance or lower I'll have to deal with ASUS' warranty support, and if I do, supposedly it's better now, maybe it's not, but I'm not going to lose sleep over a 1:10,000 or 1:100,000 chance I may have to spend $40 or something.
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
I like to look at it the other, simply for the fact that the failure rate (outside global issues like the SD card affecting nearly all units) of devices tends to be around 2-3%, maybe higher a little higher for laptops.

So there's a ~97% chance or whatever I won't have issues, and if that 3% chance happens, I deal with either Best Buy's warranty (within 1 month when most issues occur, you are going to be covered fully by BB/Amazon/Whatever), which I won't have issues.

So in my mind we're down to like a 1:10:000 chance or lower I'll have to deal with ASUS' warranty support, and if I do, supposedly it's better now, maybe it's not, but I'm not going to lose sleep over a 1:10,000 or 1:100,000 chance I may have to spend $40 or something.
If you used the SD card , your chances of issue would be much higher then that. 2-3% is average across industry.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
If you used the SD card , your chances of issue would be much higher then that. 2-3% is average across industry.

Right, that's why I said outside of global issues, like the SD card - being why I skipped it in the first place, along with it having 16GB of shared RAM, which is not my preference for a Windows device.

With the SD card issue, you could argue nearly 100% of the Ally units are ticking timebombs, which is indeed pathetic and sad I'd agree. Then again, some people simply don't use the SD card at all, so like any negative, there's context to it.
 

DAHGAMING

Gold Member
Had a good week drug dealing round the manor this week so thought fuck it and ordered 1 of these, should be delivered the next couple of hours. Excited to try this, missus can watch whatever fucking shit she wants and i can bust some games. Think it will be perfect to hit the backlog aswell. Will give an update over the weekend on my impressions of it.
 

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Some very interesting finds here by tom's guide when they tried running Steam OS on the Ally X. Perhaps it even deserves its own thread.



Gaming performance comparison
GameSettingsTDPAsus ROG Ally X (Windows 11)Asus ROG Ally X (SteamOS)
Cyberpunk 20771080p medium preset with AMD FSRPerformance mode (15-17W)36 FPS42 FPS
Tetris Effect1080p medium - 120% scalingSilent mode (13W)46 FPS61 FPS
Forza Horizon 51080p high preset with AMD FSRTurbo mode (25-30W)53 FPS59 FPS

That’s a big jump in frame rate across these three key games, which unfolded exactly the same for every other game I threw at it from Persona 5 and Dave the Diver, to Hitman 3 and F1 24. Oh, and for those keeping score, the gains over Steam Deck OLED are monumental.

GameSettingsAsus ROG Ally X (SteamOS)Steam Deck OLED
Cyberpunk 2077720p Steam Deck preset48.1 FPS29.93 FPS
DiRT 5720p Medium63 FPS41.03 FPS

Now, let’s turn our attention to battery life. Windows is a complex OS — especially when running on a not-so-power efficient x86 architecture. Asus has worked around this rather admirably by packing a giant 80Wh battery into the ROG Ally X, and it does go some way to relieving some of those longevity woes.

But do you know what goes even further than that? Using SteamOS. With a 20+% improvement in stamina, this becomes a long commute gaming king for any player.

Gaming Battery Life (hh:mm)
GameSettingsTDPAsus ROG Ally X (Windows 11)Asus ROG Ally X (SteamOS)
Cyberpunk 20771080p medium preset with AMD FSRPerformance mode (15-17W)02:3103:05
Tetris Effect1080p medium - 120% scalingSilent mode (13W)03:1203:46
Forza Horizon 51080p high preset with AMD FSRTurbo mode (25-30W)01:2601:44
 
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