The best modern gaming system is the Asus ROG Ally

[JPF997]

 Over the last three years I've owned a Series S, a Series X, a PS5 and a Switch V2, not one of them has given me the same level of quality experience as the Ally, this thing literally does everything.

It's a computer, a gaming console and a gaming handheld all at the same time, it's almost a perfect machine, the only downside is the battery life being a bit short compared to the Switch.

Overall I give it a 9.5 out of 10, easily the best system of this generation.

[scifidude79]

Very nice. I like the look of the system, especially with the lights. Can you program those or are they stuck on a preset? Also, I see two models, a cheaper one and a more expensive one. Which one did you get?

[JPF997]

4 hours ago, scifidude79 said:

Very nice. I like the look of the system, especially with the lights. Can you program those or are they stuck on a preset? Also, I see two models, a cheaper one and a more expensive one. Which one did you get?

The more expensive model is the one that I have, it's the definitive model as it offers  much better performance ( the Z1 Extreme chip is almost double the power of the normal Z1 chip on the cheaper model, only buy the cheaper model if it's heavily discounted).

Out of the box the lights are always on and they are always changing color each second ( really beautiful ), I've never messed with the settings of the lights so I don't know if you can choose a specific color for each analog or if you can just turn them off if you don't want them.

[roots.genoa]

7 hours ago, JPF997 said:

the best system of this generation

But also the most expensive, though. 😅

[scifidude79]

Thanks for the info. 😎

 

I was looking at Best Buy and both models are on sale, though I can't really afford them. Regularly, the lower model is only $100 cheaper than the higher one, but there's currently $200 difference between them. I wouldn't mind a PC gaming handheld, but I'm not sold at all on the Steam Deck. I have too much experience trying to get Windows gaming working on Linux-based operating systems to think that it will go smoothly on the Deck. WINE (or even Steam's own version, Proton) needs to be tweaked a lot for specific games.

[+madman]

If it doesn't take Switch carts it can't possibly be the best console. 

[JPF997]

38 minutes ago, madman said:

If it doesn't take Switch carts it can't possibly be the best console. 

Unless you really only play Nintendo exclusives there's no way you can say that the Switch is better than the Ally, just having access to the  GOG  store is enough for the Ally to blow the Switch's library to Kingdom Come.

[Razzie.P]

1 hour ago, madman said:

If it doesn't take Switch carts it can't possibly be the best console. 

You can probably jam one in there if you try hard enough.

[+madman]

3 hours ago, JPF997 said:

Unless you really only play Nintendo exclusives there's no way you can say that the Switch is better than the Ally, just having access to the  GOG  store is enough for the Ally to blow the Switch's library to Kingdom Come.

If the GOG store doesn't have Mario Odyssey, MK8 Deluxe or Mario Wonder I don't see how it can compete. 

[+bent_pin]

2 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

You can probably jam one in there if you try hard enough.

[Steven Pendleton]

I'm pretty sure Switch games run better through emulation on most handheld PCs than they do on the Switch itself, which often struggles with its own exclusive games and results in many of them running at sub-native resolutions. Like I said before, just play on PC because it's better.

[roots.genoa]

Do Steam Deck and ROG Ally allow to suspend a game like the consoles now do? That's one of my main problems with PC (and don't tell me I can let the game run and do other things).

[Steven Pendleton]

32 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

Do Steam Deck and ROG Ally allow to suspend a game like the consoles now do? That's one of my main problems with PC (and don't tell me I can let the game run and do other things).

Steam Deck does. I think it may depend on the game, though, as I tried suspending Tales of Vesperia on the title screen and the intro started playing when I restarted, but then in Sonic Mania I tried it in game and the timer didn't change between when I put it in sleep mode and woke it up.

Edited December 10, 2023 by Steven Pendleton

[roots.genoa]

Anyway, even if my PC was able to emulate the Switch correctly (which I doubt), I wouldn't want to play Switch games on my PC because of that convenience. I also prefer handhelds anyway, enjoy HD rumble in Nintendo games, and most of all I'm no f'n pirate. 🙂

[JPF997]

10 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

Do Steam Deck and ROG Ally allow to suspend a game like the consoles now do? That's one of my main problems with PC (and don't tell me I can let the game run and do other things).

You mean  the Xbox quick resume ? Unfortunately no, such  a feature doesn't exist  on PC yet   but to be honest the games boot up so fast on the Ally that it's not really that big of an issue.

[Zoyous]

This thing looks great! I have a Steam Deck and primarily use it for retro games and only a few contemporary games that also tend to be retro-styled and/or smaller, not technically-demanding games. But Linux is a bit of a hassle for me... I really can only deal with it by following step-by-step tutorials. So I like the idea of something that is already Windows-based. Hopefully this field of handheld computers keeps expanding in the coming years because I'd like the prices to come down and for there to be a wide range of specs.

[Razzie.P]

Something I've been curious about, and the one thing that always prevents me from getting something like this or Steam Deck -- if someone already has a pretty high end gaming PC and has no interest in playing handheld, do these still offer any benefit to warrant owning?

 

I'm always interested in picking one up, but I'm not sure if it offers anything I don't already have.

[roots.genoa]

2 hours ago, JPF997 said:

the games boot up so fast on the Ally that it's not really that big of an issue.

Oh they boot fast on Xbox Series and PS5 too, but without "quick resume" you often have to watch all the unskippable credits, and not every game lets you save anywhere, you know...

[JPF997]

2 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

Something I've been curious about, and the one thing that always prevents me from getting something like this or Steam Deck -- if someone already has a pretty high end gaming PC and has no interest in playing handheld, do these still offer any benefit to warrant owning?

 

I'm always interested in picking one up, but I'm not sure if it offers anything I don't already have.

The thing is the main reason I bought it is precisely because it's a computer and a handheld at the same time, if you have a high end PC and don't care about the portable aspect then I guess the Ally ( or any other PC handheld) isn't for you, I still recommend seeing videos on YouTube that go over all the features the system has ( SSD, rdna 3 , vrr etc )

[+Zeptari]

1 hour ago, JPF997 said:

if you have a high end PC and don't care about the portable aspect then I guess the Ally ( or any other PC handheld) isn't for you

Yes that's me. Mine is not really that high end of a PC system, but it gets the job done. lol

Personally I'd grab a Switch Lite to change up my gaming options. 

I'm glad you're loving it. It's crazy how powerful gaming handhelds are these days. 

 

 

[Steven Pendleton]

On 12/10/2023 at 8:53 PM, roots.genoa said:

Anyway, even if my PC was able to emulate the Switch correctly (which I doubt), I wouldn't want to play Switch games on my PC because of that convenience. I also prefer handhelds anyway, enjoy HD rumble in Nintendo games, and most of all I'm no f'n pirate. 🙂

I prefer handhelds as well, which is why I got the Steam Deck, but nobody said anything about piracy. Not sure how the French government rolls, but I'm sure you know about the Sony v. Bleem! thing and apparently it's possible to dump your Switch games somehow, but I don't know how and I am not interested in emulating the Switch anyway.

 

I don't like or trust software emulation in general, but it does have some advantages over running things natively.

 

On 12/11/2023 at 3:48 AM, JPF997 said:

such  a feature doesn't exist  on PC yet

It does on Steam Deck, which is a PC.

 

On 12/11/2023 at 4:07 AM, Razzie.P said:

Something I've been curious about, and the one thing that always prevents me from getting something like this or Steam Deck -- if someone already has a pretty high end gaming PC and has no interest in playing handheld, do these still offer any benefit to warrant owning?

 

I'm always interested in picking one up, but I'm not sure if it offers anything I don't already have.

It's easier to carry with you and will probably consume less electricity, which is apparently a concern for people that live in (maybe only some parts of?) Europe, where electricity bills seem to be quite expensive. That's it.

[roots.genoa]

3 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Not sure how the French government rolls, but I'm sure you know about the Sony v. Bleem! thing and apparently it's possible to dump your Switch games somehow

It has been discussed to death already here but basically, you're allowed to make a dump (or have it made by someone else) to obtain a backup copy "for archival purpose". So you're not supposed to use it (especially on another device than the one it's made for) unless your original copy is dead. That's at least the law in the US.

 

Anyway, as you're not interested in emulating the Switch because you've got notoriously poor taste, I'm not interested in playing stuff on a PC when I enjoy them a lot on Switch. 🙂

[+Zeptari]

On 12/10/2023 at 5:33 PM, Zeptari said:

Personally I'd grab a Switch Lite to change up my gaming options. 

I think I've had a change of heart. Having my steam library on the go sounds appealing now. Spotted this on reddit today.A few Gamestops now carry Steamdeck in stores!