I Can't Recommend the ROG Ally X

ASUS really sucks as a company right now, but the improvements to the ROG Ally handheld are undeniable. While we like the Ally X, we can't recommend it until we see a massive overhaul in terms of customer and RMA support.

ASUS "Enhancing Communication Processes in Canada and USA"

Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.

FOLLOW US
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MUSIC CREDIT
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Intro: Laszlo - Supernova

Outro: Approaching Nirvana - Sugar High

CHAPTERS
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0:00 Intro
2:09 Performance Improvements
4:22 Weight and Feel
6:50 Gaming On It
8:55 IO Changes
10:15 Micro SD Card Slot
12:50 Teardown
14:35 Conclusion
15:38 Outro

[LinusTechTips]

We're replacing the incorrectly labeled SSD length at 2:40. Sorry about that.

[elliekittymeow]

The tiniest nick in the plastic will still void your warranty

[suhuy]

I used to work at a repair shop with authorization from Asus back in Europe. There, they used a model of many independent authorized repair shops instead of shipping to a central location. The quality of repairs as well as speed was highly dependant on which shop you chose.

Moreover, the official policy was "if a device has any sign disassembling then we assume an attempt of an unauthorized repair and void the warranty for the whole device (no need to prove that user's actions caused the specific damage)". 

In some cases it made sense. For example, liquid damage means that the whole thing is potentially corroded and might die any moment. Mechanical damage (dropping/ deforming) means that there are micro-cracks in PCBs (potentially internal layers) and ripped off soldering pads of BGA chips. 

In other cases it was grey zone. For example, people opening up the device to remove the signs of liquid damage to claim a warranty repair afterwards. Other people opening up the devices to replace the cracked screen (to hide the fact of mechanical damage) and then claim warranty for a mainboard repair. Sometimes, people opened up the devices to replace RAM/SSD but were unqualified to do so and damaged slots or just fried mainboard. Officially users were supposed to come to a closest authorized shop for this replacement.


AFAIK, in the USA you can't void warranty if customers open up the device. You have to prove that their actions caused damage and only this damage is off warranty, not the whole thing. Also, not everyone is authorized doing such analysis, only specific independent labs for a lot of money and a lot of time.

Lastly, you should keep in mind that ASUS pays independent shops a couple of bucks per repair, and technicians get a fraction of this. For them to earn minimum wage they have to perform 10+ repairs a day. They just physically don't have enough time for in-depth investigations. BTW if a technician misses user-induced damage on a part and does a warranty repair, but ASUS finds out, then the price of the replaced part will be deducted from the technician (-$300 mainboard when you are making minimum wage). That's why you gotta be very conservative.

[MasOck]

ASUS: "You are not allowed to share any Performance graphs"
Linus: "Ok, Anyway..." "I Predict"

[tiduseleven]

Linus taking his "Chief Vision Officer" job to the next level with all these "predictions"

[Fragdemented]

That Ad Sponsor Read at the end is, hands down, the best one I have ever seen on YouTube.

[Balekkar]

Editor killed it in this one. Added both context and comedy without distraction.

[NaudVanDalen]

ROG Ally X: breaks.
User: hands in a perfectly clean ROG Ally X.
ASUS: whips out the electron microscope to search for any molecule that's out of place. "We're sorry. You damaged the device. Your warranty is void."

[Violet-ui]

I predict 😉 Asus will keep scamming buyers with their warranty and you shouldn't get this regardless of how good it is

[Hatecrewdethrol]

Valve really did just start the handheld PC movement with the Deck and now can just sit back and do basically nothing while the competition shoots itself in the foot

[bolut]

7:52 nice touch in the edit with the hand wave masking out the title. Love little creative decisions like that

[jonathanmelton]

Bought the Ally, killed my 1TB micro SD ASUS refused to replace it. I took it back to Best Buy for a full refund. The worker said I wasn’t alone, he had seen a ton of them being returned with the same issue. So much so they stopped testing them and just issue refunds no questions asked. It sucked because I loved it so much. Oh well OLED steam deck works just fine 😎👍

[ChrisClark]

Linus has figured out how to bypass the embargo by "predicting" everything 😂

[MandoMonge]

15:08 made me go full “HOLY CRAP LINUS!” Out loud in the middle of a busy food court

[fawkesmccloud]

I would really like an LTT video that goes over the handheld market in general right now. There are so many videos on individual handhelds, but I've no idea where to go to to actually see them all compared side by side with a high level of rigor.

[giridharlaha]

Looks like 'ROG' might actually stand for 'Regretting our Gadget !' 😂

[oklad]

The Dbrand ad at the end is probably one of the best ads i've ever seen for a case.

[matthewacer]

the way he hammered with that case at 15:08 gave me chills

[irany]

Just sent in my ROG ally for RMA about 4 days ago. My SD card reader had been bricked since month two of release, but honestly I didn't care enough to fix it until it just stopped turning on for some reason. You bet your butt I took really good care of that device, I just set it down one day, and when I picked it back up the power button was unresponsive. Now I'm dreading the repair process after reading so many horror stories about other people trying to get theirs fixed.

[hajiku]

that "I predict" sounds very much like a lawyer's advice and I absolutely love it