The first console with AMD Ryzen Z1 APU released ASUS ROG Ally features Zen4 and RDNA3 architectures. The day has come, says AMD. ASUS has finally launched its ROG Ally gaming console based on AMD hardware. This is the first handheld console developed by ASUS and the first console to ever feature the AMD Ryzen […]
only 2 back triggers to learn to avoid and/or deal with
minus:
single usb-c
it’s on the top
no nifty touchpads
battery is definitely a bit stressed
cloud restore only works if your warranty is active apparently which i promise will be annoying
nightmare:
the windows 11 and asus trashware startup experience; i mean my god, i had to do the cloud reinstall to even login to the thing reliably
on first boot OOBE i tried to just login with my existing personal ms account which i guess was my first mistake, but it worked fine. i added a fingerprint and it also worked fine. i then added a PIN and it also worked fine. windows downloaded updates and demanded a reboot which is fine. it rebooted and i logged in with a thumbprint just fine. then armoury crate said HEY FIRMWARE UPDATE DEMANDS REBOOT so ok fine reboot and down the spiral we go. fingerprint doesn’t work. PIN fails, “something went wrong” with a side of 0xd0000225 over and over. check bios, v317. event viewer says something about some exe with “biometric” in its title failing repeatedly. looks like i have to update through armory crate again? oh, the asus app? does that require me to sign up? it sure looks like it does… ok no, just dark patterns. more updates. more failed login attempts and the most alerts from MS authenticator i’ve ever had in one afternoon. bios v319, windows and my asus and armoire box all claim everything’s as up to date as one can get, but you’re sure gonna have to get a notification and cancel a request to reset your PIN on each login
i genuinely thought it might be headed for a refund, but shift+f10 and OOBE\BYPASSNRO after cloud restore let me make a local account and it’s been smooth since, but i’ve barely installed we <3 katamari reroll on it
This is the main reason I won’t be getting rid of my Steam Deck for the Ally. Setup was super smooth, and for the most part everything just works. Barring a few issues with proton here and there, but I haven’t had many with the games I play. Windows on a handheld sounds like a craptastic idea to me.
It’s complicated. I work for a FOSS company and I like what the WINE team and Valve have accomplished with proton. However, a lot of games struggle with cut scenes even with GE proton. A couple examples are Call of Juarez Gunslinger (the cut scene audio is crackly) and Persona 5 strikers (the cutscenes are missing the dialog). Games that will not enable the anticheat are also, obviously, a no go. Not the fault of Linux or Valve, but still a consideration.
One other feature that Windows offers is cloud syncing for games that store their saves in the user’s Documents folder if they enable onedrive. For games without Steam cloud saves, it’s simpler than setting up syncthing or copying the saves manually.
I picked up a ROG Ally yesterday and I also own a Steamdeck. The Ally definitely has rougher edges in software. I’m still debating if I am going to keep it, but some of the Windows pros are a strong consideration. I think what is unsung is how flawless the Switch is with it’s docking and undocking experience. IMO neither the Deck or the Ally come close in that regard.
see like just as a personal anecdote to praise the magic that is proton, jet set radio HD works infinitely better on steam deck than ANY win10 machine i’ve tried, simply because save games work again lol
How did you manage to launch CMD from the Ally? Is it possible using the built-in touch keyboard during setup? I don’t have a USB-C keyboard to connect, unfortunately.
EDIT: I found a workaround: if you enter nonsense during the Microsoft sign-in it will fail and prompt to create a local account.
yeah, i was using an external usb-c dock/hub to get a keyboard working on that :/ fingerprint/PIN woes actually resurfaced, but i’ve read that it’s “expected” with how win11 uses the TPM to manage that kind of data, so any firmware/BIOS updates will generally ruin those i guess, and you have to essentially remove and re-setup any biometrics on any update like that?? idunno, if that’s the case you’d really think there’d be a more reliable or at least sensible error message than “something went wrong, we’ve tried nothing”
haha, sorry to hear, but i’m not even surprised at that all failed login and almost-but-not-quite-refund debacle, that’s why i only ever set up local accounts on windows nowadays.
i’d be interested to get your opinion on the Ally once you’ve had a chance to play a bit more with it, especially compared to the Deck.
oh god very likewise; i simply didn’t realize there was even a way to setup win11 with a purely local account on a home edition… haven’t gotten around to putting win11 on anything else yet :/
so far, it’s definitely far superior hardware (i mean the screen resolution alone is one thing, but dat refresh rate… let’s not talk about the thumbsticks please) but a significantly weaker software experience; valve knocked the UI/UX for deck out of the park
plus:
minus:
nightmare:
on first boot OOBE i tried to just login with my existing personal ms account which i guess was my first mistake, but it worked fine. i added a fingerprint and it also worked fine. i then added a PIN and it also worked fine. windows downloaded updates and demanded a reboot which is fine. it rebooted and i logged in with a thumbprint just fine. then armoury crate said HEY FIRMWARE UPDATE DEMANDS REBOOT so ok fine reboot and down the spiral we go. fingerprint doesn’t work. PIN fails, “something went wrong” with a side of 0xd0000225 over and over. check bios, v317. event viewer says something about some exe with “biometric” in its title failing repeatedly. looks like i have to update through armory crate again? oh, the asus app? does that require me to sign up? it sure looks like it does… ok no, just dark patterns. more updates. more failed login attempts and the most alerts from MS authenticator i’ve ever had in one afternoon. bios v319, windows and my asus and armoire box all claim everything’s as up to date as one can get, but you’re sure gonna have to get a notification and cancel a request to reset your PIN on each login
i genuinely thought it might be headed for a refund, but shift+f10 and
OOBE\BYPASSNROafter cloud restore let me make a local account and it’s been smooth since, but i’ve barely installed we <3 katamari reroll on itThe more I hear about Windows these last few years, the more it feels like I got out just in time.
Gaming on Linux just keeps getting better, and doing anything on Windows just keeps getting worse.
the steam deck OOBE was genuinely fifty times smoother than this :|
This is the main reason I won’t be getting rid of my Steam Deck for the Ally. Setup was super smooth, and for the most part everything just works. Barring a few issues with proton here and there, but I haven’t had many with the games I play. Windows on a handheld sounds like a craptastic idea to me.
It’s complicated. I work for a FOSS company and I like what the WINE team and Valve have accomplished with proton. However, a lot of games struggle with cut scenes even with GE proton. A couple examples are Call of Juarez Gunslinger (the cut scene audio is crackly) and Persona 5 strikers (the cutscenes are missing the dialog). Games that will not enable the anticheat are also, obviously, a no go. Not the fault of Linux or Valve, but still a consideration.
One other feature that Windows offers is cloud syncing for games that store their saves in the user’s Documents folder if they enable onedrive. For games without Steam cloud saves, it’s simpler than setting up syncthing or copying the saves manually.
I picked up a ROG Ally yesterday and I also own a Steamdeck. The Ally definitely has rougher edges in software. I’m still debating if I am going to keep it, but some of the Windows pros are a strong consideration. I think what is unsung is how flawless the Switch is with it’s docking and undocking experience. IMO neither the Deck or the Ally come close in that regard.
see like just as a personal anecdote to praise the magic that is proton, jet set radio HD works infinitely better on steam deck than ANY win10 machine i’ve tried, simply because save games work again lol
How did you manage to launch CMD from the Ally? Is it possible using the built-in touch keyboard during setup? I don’t have a USB-C keyboard to connect, unfortunately.
EDIT: I found a workaround: if you enter nonsense during the Microsoft sign-in it will fail and prompt to create a local account.
yeah, i was using an external usb-c dock/hub to get a keyboard working on that :/ fingerprint/PIN woes actually resurfaced, but i’ve read that it’s “expected” with how win11 uses the TPM to manage that kind of data, so any firmware/BIOS updates will generally ruin those i guess, and you have to essentially remove and re-setup any biometrics on any update like that?? idunno, if that’s the case you’d really think there’d be a more reliable or at least sensible error message than “something went wrong, we’ve tried nothing”
haha, sorry to hear, but i’m not even surprised at that all failed login and almost-but-not-quite-refund debacle, that’s why i only ever set up local accounts on windows nowadays.
i’d be interested to get your opinion on the Ally once you’ve had a chance to play a bit more with it, especially compared to the Deck.
oh god very likewise; i simply didn’t realize there was even a way to setup win11 with a purely local account on a home edition… haven’t gotten around to putting win11 on anything else yet :/
so far, it’s definitely far superior hardware (i mean the screen resolution alone is one thing, but dat refresh rate… let’s not talk about the thumbsticks please) but a significantly weaker software experience; valve knocked the UI/UX for deck out of the park