Asus ROG Ally

Picked up the Extreme version of the Ally when the price dropped, have to say very impressed with it, although battery life isn't great.
 
I was quite dubious about spending money on a gaming handheld, especially as I already own a top tier gaming pc. But this little Ally has renewed my love of gaming. I actually like the way it's centered around windows, and just like a mini pc you can easily crack it open and upgrade the storage. I've got a 4TB drive in mine :D

Rather than sit at a desk on a pc, I can play this in bed, on the sofa, wherever. The screen is superb, and after 6 months (I've only had mine 4wks) the updates have made for a very impressive and smooth experience.
All my massive game libraries are loaded just like my gaming pc, and you barely notice the low graphics your running due to the screen size.

Careful though it can be quite addictive! I've got the Anker 140W power bank and case and dock and Anker 100W charger....etc..

This little thing is just so much fun to play. I'm amazed at the way I'm finding myself going back through my gaming catalogue and enjoying games I rarely had the time for. I'm currently addicted to Dead Cells which I've owned for ages, but barely played until now.
 
Given my experience with a 2070 Max Q laptop, I have more enjoyed the ally and don't actually feel I've lost much performance given an Ally is around a 1060 GPU, with FSR most games run at the same IQ, but at much quieter noise levels and don't get my legs burnt anymore. In the house it's an extension of my desktop PC, like the PS Portal is for the PS5.
 
will13 said:
How does the ally feel in hand? I loved the steam deck but couldn't hold a switch for more then about 10min
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I think its great. It's a pretty big unit but I think it feels quite light for the size of it. I find it really comfortable and can play games for hours no issues!
 
djay said:
I think its great. It's a pretty big unit but I think it feels quite light for the size of it. I find it really comfortable and can play games for hours no issues!
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I think the unit looks hideous from the side, good from the front and back though. It's bulky sideways I think some rounded sides might have been better,
 
@FlyingFish had mine a similar time and fully echo your post. Had some time off work over the Xmas period and I've probably spent more time gaming than any other time I can think of in the last few years. Don't have a gaming PC, but haven't touched my Series X console since getting the Ally.
 
I've been play Forza Horizon 4 on the Ally since I've had the Ally but as of yesterday the game fails to run claiming no DX12. I've tried full Turbo mode and setting the game to Racing style but failed to sort this. Any ideas please?
 
Maybe one for the attention of the mods, but with the SteamDeck, Ally, Legion Go, MSI Claw and all the other obscure ones, the handheld market is increasing rapidly, and it's definitely unique enough to set apart from laptops, maybe there should be a subforum for "Handheld" discussion ?
 
willhub said:
What do you mean settings the game to "racing style"?
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It's one of the GameVisual settings in Armoury Crate. I was wondering if the Ally was not switching to the correct GFX mode when running FH4, hence no DX12. I've also forced the Ally in to Turbo mode which has not helped either.
 
FlyingFish said:
I was quite dubious about spending money on a gaming handheld, especially as I already own a top tier gaming pc. But this little Ally has renewed my love of gaming. I actually like the way it's centered around windows, and just like a mini pc you can easily crack it open and upgrade the storage. I've got a 4TB drive in mine :D

Rather than sit at a desk on a pc, I can play this in bed, on the sofa, wherever. The screen is superb, and after 6 months (I've only had mine 4wks) the updates have made for a very impressive and smooth experience.
All my massive game libraries are loaded just like my gaming pc, and you barely notice the low graphics your running due to the screen size.

Careful though it can be quite addictive! I've got the Anker 140W power bank and case and dock and Anker 100W charger....etc..

This little thing is just so much fun to play. I'm amazed at the way I'm finding myself going back through my gaming catalogue and enjoying games I rarely had the time for. I'm currently addicted to Dead Cells which I've owned for ages, but barely played until now.
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How long does 140w powerbank last you?

And is it fine for Carey on luggage if you know.
 
Although I'm not up to speed re the carry on requirements, I had read the Anker 737 is a suitable size etc to meet the luggage carry on stuff.
And although I have ran it to empty playing GTAV, I didn't time it, but I'd guess easily a couple of good hours, and that's still leaving the Ally full.

I'm off work with a chest infection at the mo, so the Ally is getting quite a bit of use, I'll see what times I get out of it :)
 
For future reference my FH4 complaining about no DX12 was because the GFX device had been disabled, re-enabled in Device Manager and it all works again. Who or why it got disabled is however a mystery.
 
willhub said:
At first my AMD graphics drivers used to uninstall themselves, no idea why, perhaps just an AMD feature?
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The AMD driver for the 780M seems a little bit glitchy (not helped on the Legion Go by Lenovo screwing up their install script) there seems to be a bit of a fight with the release drivers and Windows Update which doesn't seem to recognise the versions correctly, most of the time works but can get caught out.
 
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