Dead in the water until it has an OS optimized for gaming handhelds.
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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Is the ROG Ally dead in the water? It seems to be gaining some traction. I don't think it's going to overtake the Steam Deck or anything, but it satisfies that customer who wants a little extra power, resolution, and compatibility.
Every other comment i read from people who own the Ally is how clunky windows is for the form factor or how a windows update broke stuff. I mean sure, there's going to be a few people who will buy it but i don't see any windows handheld as a true competitor to the Deck, at least not before it gets a true handheld mode.
I had a GPD Win 2 and had the same experience, but the truth is that you're going to spend more time in game than dealing with Windows, so if you need that compatibility, you'll put up with it.
How much more fps do you see on the ROG Ally with the unit not blasting the fans and having 30 min battery? Curious for real.
I've got an OXP2, which is 6800u/680m and my aim is usually ~40fps at 1920x1200. I've been playing Ratchet and Clank on it, and get that with upscaling, full power (28w), low (not very low) graphics and battery would last 2 hours. That's obviously brand new. Before that I played Deathloop on medium, no upscaling at 24w and I got just over 2hrs. Fans run pretty consistently, but aren't loud enough to bother me.
No idea; I've got a Steam Deck. But those slight improvements at the expense of battery life are speaking to a large enough subset of people.
Windows have performance issues compared to Linux though. Better on paper doesn't mean better performance.
I bet that is Microsoft getting scared, that the Steam Deck is taking it's market share and paying Lenovo etc. to make Windows handhelds.
The UX will never be as good as the Steam Deck though since Windows just isn't made for that
I'm not sure Microsoft even thinks about gaming handhelds at this point. It's not a huge marketshare. I think the steam deck at most sold 3 million units. The market is still real small.
You get used to it though. You can also set your launcher of choice to run on startup or use something like playnite and use which ever store is cheapest for any given game.
There is no amount of money you could pay me to get used to Windows Updates.
Windows has been a pretty garbage os for years. Linux is so much better in many ways. The only thing windows has is a few applications that have yet to release a Linux version.
If we could get office, Adobe, and autocad on Linux, we could see droves of people switch.
Gaming is basically all set on Linux at this point. Just a few games that have not setup to work due to anti-cheat, but screw it. I don’t need them.
A lot of VR stuff just doesn't work either. Also a good bit of streaming services seem to have troubles.
I've only encountered problems with Peacock, but it's not officially offered where I live, so I have been OK with Netflix and Disney Plus.
I have never tried VR. I have issues with balance as it is and I am pretty sure VR would trigger balance problems, but thanks for pointing it out. For those who are interested.
Adobe would be huge, but what would be even bigger is if it came pre-installed on a computer you buy at Walmart or Best Buy. Otherwise, no one's going to want to switch from what they're using unless the thing they're using bothers them. As annoying as I find Windows Updates to be, most people don't seem to notice.
That’s a great point. I wonder if people would buy it and use it without really noticing or if they would be upset because it’s not windows or whatever.
There will be different amounts of friction depending on the customer and what they expect. If all they need is Chrome and like one or two other Electron apps, as long as they're walked through the software center on first boot, quickly. But there will be friction when one odd customer here or there expects program X and it's not available, even if there's a very viable alternative. They'd have to educate their customers through marketing like Apple does to ease that transition, and Apple still only has a single digit percentage of the PC market.
You get used to having a long drive to work as well. But who wants to get used to that if you don't have to. Same reasoning applies here. SteamOS is so, so good. Why would I want to switch to something with performance leaks? To play competitive FPS games on my handheld? That's not why I have one (plus I could get windows on an external sd if I really wanted to).
I'm close to making a full on swap from windows to Linux. I just need to research in home game streaming first since I often sit on my laptop downstairs playing a game that runs on my gaming pc through Parsec.
Detachable controllers is something I miss on the Steam Deck. At the same time, I don't feel like having Windows on it, I have Linux on everything, including my phone, so unless SteamOS is officially supported, I won't buy. Valve should hurry and release SteamOS as an installable image.
Bluetooth controllers work with it well and 8bitdo makes some nice smaller ones for portability. Not the same as a switch but very handy
You could also pair the joycons to the steam deck
Including your phone? Care to elaborate?
I have SailfishOS on my phone.
Thanks
Android is Linux.
Yeah but. Yeah, sure :) If you specifically say you run Linux I don't think oh he is running Android :) Sorri!
Not really, it uses a patched Linux kernel. Nothing else of the Linux ecosystem is present.
It can have a different distro, as long as it’s Linux then it’s a viable product
This just tells me how popular the Steam Deck really is.
I convinced my girlfriend to buy one even though she isn't really a gamer and only plays some management games, Stardew Valley or similar in her spare time and she loves it. I even bought her Hogwarts Legacy on her birthday and now nearly every evening she's laying on the couch playing with it.
This looks more appealing to me than the rog. It’s a matter of cost and how well it runs chimera os. If it only runs windows it’s a dealbreaker for me.
This is the first one of these steam deck competitors that actually looks like it's taken notes on the competition: trackpad like a deck, joycons like a switch, back buttons, a kickstand; much more interesting than one of the ones that looks like they've just stuck a screen on an xbox controller. The deck's big feature is its software though and this runs windows, so they better have a good plan for how to make it performant without costing the world!
Nice, I love that this niche market has competition.
Yes! I've got the OXP2 and it's great, but I dread the thought of having to send it back for repairs. Hopefully my next one will be a big brand that I can just return to store if anything goes wrong.
Uh just like switch