ROG Ally Desktop Experience - Can This Handheld Function as a Gaming PC?

[@5after12]

this is probably the best video you have ever made

[@JZrez]

I had a friend over last week, he was on my PC and I was on the setup shown here. We played rust for 5hrs, it left me super impressed.👍🏼

[@MashITTech]

yep, its incredible what this little machine is capable of!

[@enterix]

thanks for clear , hit to the point , and no bg sound. love your review

[@MashITTech]

thanks for the kind words :)

[@tclark5481]

You nailed it. This is exactly how I see myself using my Ally. I have 2 homes and travel between them regularly. Being able to take my Ally with me is going to be great. I have KB/Mouse/Monitor in both locations so all I need to carry is the Ally.

[@kenrodriguez9645]

Same boat. Though I’d actually like to see a shell that’s got a 15” monitor, 30,000 mah battery, a keyboard, 5G radio, and a slot that the ally slides into that basically makes it a decent email and spreadsheet machine. Kind of like the Samsung Dex mentality. All the horsepower is in your mobile, but sometimes you need the form factor and battery life of a laptop. Other times you need the full desktop 36” ultra wide full size keyboard and mouse with big speakers and a sub for serious gaming, productivity, and media consumption. I really hope this takes off…

[@Monkers18]

Yes, that's why I hate PC, it's not good if you are not in your home most of the time. Now with ally you can carry your computer like a slightly bigger phone.

[@jejkkeo1537]

How's it been, still using it?. Is it still functioning?

[@bhaskarkaura4507]

Same situation!

[@tclark5481]

@@jejkkeo1537 working great

[@Dex2R7]

I've watched almost every review on the Rog Ally and gotta say it felt like you were the most passionate about the review. Awesome job.

[@MashITTech]

Thank you mate

[@Dex2R7]

After 3 months with the Ally do you have any different feelings about the Ally? And will you be doing a review on the Legion Go? @@MashITTech

[@MashITTech]

@@Dex2R7 After 3 months I am still in love with the Ally! It is everything I wanted from the steam deck but steam OS couldn't quite deliver. Asus are still providing updates, performance is still excellent and it still surprises me the games I can get away with playing on it. Obviously the only downside are the SD card issues but installing a large SSD is so easy I don't ever use the SDCard slot. Ordered my Legion Go on day of release and hope it is as good as it looks, the removable joysticks and kick stand could be amazing if well implemented but being a fair bit bigger than the ally will create reasons for certain users to choose one over the other

[@Dex2R7]

Awesome. Looking forward the Go review. @@MashITTech

[@FairyTailGrey]

​@@MashITTechI bought a Asus Rog Ally 3 days ago, and I love to go to my bed every night and play for 30 minutes before going to sleep, since I just have a few games from Steam and Genshin Impact I still have space in my internal memory but I was thinking in buying an SD card, does that SD card problem affect every Ally?

[@HDRPC]

I didn't expect we could use it like a mini pc. Wow great and excellent content sir.

[@MashITTech]

Thank you mate :)

[@HDRPC]

@@MashITTech most welcome.👍🏻

[@tantoonie0]

Great video! I’ve made a similar switch and am now using my Ally as a replacement for my gaming laptop with a seventh-gen i7. I spend most of my day doing video production on Adobe Premiere working with 4K footage and have had zero issues since converting to using the Ally full time. It’s really quite incredible!

[@zigga967]

got mine in over the weekend; jsut grinded 10 hours on it using it as a desktop. ran beautifully!

[@HDRPC]

@@zigga967 great

[@kenrodriguez9645]

I remember UMPCs in the mid 00’s like 2005-2008, just stripped down little computers with split keyboards. Everyone had a different philosophy on how to do mobile computing that needed typing. This was all before the iPad came out in 2010 and made everyone accept the tablet form factor. We might see the rise of the UMPC again!

[@GeekTherapyRadio]

Excellent video. I edit video and produce podcasts for a living. I put away my RTX 3090 desktop and 4080 laptop for a day to see if I could use nothing but my Ally (Z1 Extreme). It was virtually flawless. Absolutely doable as a workstation. Audio editing in Reaper was perfect. Even 4K editing in Resolve. Obviously, 4K editing took a bit longer for things like Fusion edits and rendering time, but at no point was I disappointed with performance. You could absolutely use the Ally as your only work/play PC. What a time to be alive.

[@ernestoduenas2466]

Woul you think it does good for video editing on premier and some after effects and Photoshop? And also audition

[@GeekTherapyRadio]

Absolutely. I also work almost everyday with Reaper and other audio software. Audio really doesn't need much anyway, so 8c/16t CPU and 16GB RAM absolutely crushes audio work.@@ernestoduenas2466

[@farhanfebryan8255]

According to your comment, i would safely say that this shit is doable for android development, at least for ultra portable pc if you pair it with portable monitor, still not worth than a laptop, but this shit crazy if you have xg mobile too

[@GeekTherapyRadio]

@LoLFrizz An insignificant affair. Smooth and instant.

[@vasylzhydun8879]

That's why i love this channel so much! Answers for questions that matter.

[@theamanpandey1078]

What an informative video. Solved all my problems! You got a subscriber from India ♥️

[@ThatKidCj23]

Thank you so much! I’ve been doing so much reading and research because I’m looking to do EXACTLY this!!

[@MashITTech]

Glad it was helpful! I actually use mine more docked than in the hand 😀

[@mott1992]

My current gaming pc is a 2016 build: Asus Z97-A Motherboard running i7-4790k, GTX 970, and 16gb DDR3 ram. I have a potential buyer who might buy it for $500. The Asus ROG Ally seems to be a solid notch above my current PC in raw specs. If I'm okay with my current build's performance, would the Ally be a proper replacement as a handheld gaming rig able to be docked and used as a PC 90% of the time?

[@unkown34x33]

as my brother is a laptop lover, this! is a great replacement. coz.. he doesn't like big tower PCs. neither do I XD I play on mid settings as well so this is pretty nice!

[@harli3323]

Thanks video as always🔥 It would be interesting to look at the ROG Ally test in video rendering work programs :)

[@sierrajohn7967]

thank you kind sir, this is exactly the video i need to have the motivation to buy the ROG ❤

[@durrinfaqihah]

In 2024 its still awesome

[@ShinyShinyIsAlwaysBeingSerious]

This was a good video but you only really chose to show gameplay from pretty easy to run games, it would have been nice to see how it ran more demanding games because that can be the difference between choosing to buy it or not.

[@aforashish7]

Awesome video... ❤ Very helpful... Thank you 😊

[@MindFlaySlay]

Would this work good with Baldurs Gate 3 and keyboard and mouse setup?

[@alan_core]

Great video as always!!! :D

[@robertpayne6781]

Thank you! Ive been thinking of buying one to use like this so I can gain access to xbox live as well as some of the upcoming xbox exclusives, while also having access to steam.

[@Onion_Knights]

wow, so smooth, so good, so great. so quite, so nice, so smooth...

[@vegaf2011]

All I gotta say is I love this fucking device it’s the best purchase I’ve ever made and words can’t describe how grateful I am for it.

[@Scuurd1]

Youre words was needed

[@Scuurd1]

@@ThuderDuck omg you are so right hell dive 2 is fire on this

[@koammudo43]

This is how I feel about my steam deck coolest thing I've ever bought it was definitely an investment. These things are way different than your average consol . Once Xbox and Sony make handled able to dock I bet all consoles afterwards will always have a handheld mode dockable

[@Helifax19]

Just imagine the results if it would be a Nvidia SOC and you would have access to DLSS 3.0 (with Frame generation). Still waiting on that FSR 3.0 which presumably will arrive this year... This looks great nevertheless :)

[@crashdude7589]

Nvidia are years behind on low wattage SOCs

[@Helifax19]

​@@crashdude7589 If you look at the desktop & laptop Ada Lovelace architecture they are actually more efficient than RDNA3 . I am sure if they wanted to make a low power chip like the Tegra they could. It's not about their ability but their "want" to do it, which for some reason they don't :| I guess AI pays better :)

[@crashdude7589]

@@Helifax19 sure but high wattage is completely different than low wattage, we don't know for sure that they could do good low wattage chips.

[@zombos22222]

6:54 i dont think you really need turbomode for cs go ^^ but yeah i was also at first using turbomode but at the end performance mode or even manual mode with 18watt or 23 watt was impressive good and the games also run in medium/high settings at 1080p with good framerate and way lower fan noise.

[@yerahmeelspawn]

I'm torn between getting Ally X or SDOled. I don't have a good gaming setup/pc as I mainly use my laptop for work. Ally X can function as a gaming desktop PC which is really good. But on the other hand, SD-Oled seems to be a better handheld experience with its trackpad. This is a really good video, and I'm leaning more toward getting Ally X. Although it might be better to wait longer. I think there are a lot of new things in the market coming soon.

[@MashITTech]

you are going to want to wait a month! there is a new claw with arrow lake which looks excellent, also 2 versions of legion go (one with steam OS) plus many others on the way. With regards to the choice, if you do go steam OS there is still a desktop mode but its linux based so you need to make sure the software you need has a linux version or alternative. I will be covering the new handhelds as the are released and any questions just ask away

[@ArsevensX]

I think I'll be waiting ROG Ally to release their few next products. This is just getting better and better, we might not really need huge PC in the future, and everyone use hand held PC with very powerful performance.

[@AdioAurel]

Same, I'll wait at least for the 2nd gen. Remeber those annoying nerds keept telling us "build your own PC instead, it's much more powerful"... Finally they get proved wrong. I have the 13" mini laptop Flow X13 since 2021 and run it via the XGM 3080 on the 49" G9 or LG 4K TV, the setup is mindblowing! My friend said that dumb build your PC phrase when I told him about it lol. Ever since the new releases of the X13/Z13/XGM improved quite a bit in performance and I'm really curious about the Ally.

[@DavidNicholson101]

@@AdioAurelI think that build your own pc stuff is for extreme enthusiasts. I think most people including myself would be happy with this.

[@kasupa14]

Maybe next week? Curious to see how the Ally X will perform

[@xlr8jaeger]

This would work really well with a living room set up. with the viewing distance on a 4K screen plus FSR/RSR I believe your would see a in between between Xbox one x and Xbox series s experience. Resolution may be lower at 720-1080p but with sharpening tech, it probably wouldn’t be a problem sitting far back

[@acidhalide123]

Great video, thanks! I will be subscribing to this channel for future videos!

[@MashITTech]

Glad you found it useful

[@JustGoodGames.]

How would you feel about using it as a work laptop? I'm strongly considering it because of the portability for doing charting for my job. Not a lot of typing, just some clicks and sometimes a paragraph free texted here or there. I just had a baby so I need to be as portable as possible and I'm really thinking about the Ally X. Would mostly be doing some Steam Remote play from my PC unless I'm out of the house. Edit: I guess what would be important is using the right joystick as a mouse and how simple it is to use that way.

[@horineesgaming7354]

I use it as working laptop , something bring portable mini screen with mouse and keyboard u can fold

[@miqueinhamgtow2961]

Due to that task manager footage I actually managed to address a doubt regarding Windows RAM usagem on Rog Ally. I think it is ludacris how no review compares Windows Based Handheld RAM usage vs Steamdeck's OS RAM usage. If I had both system that is one of the thin'gs I'd definetly compare

[@MoeLester4444]

This is really good video and not many are doing these. What about two displays, not necessarily for gaming but for programming stuff?

[@FaeezHendricks]

I know this game won't be an easy sell cause it's so niche, but I REALLY hope this game sells great enough to shock From Software. I would love to see this gamer each a new level of popularity.

[@jessegriffin9]

WoW I didn't know this small gaming device can do things like a pc. I am old

[@MashITTech]

probably not as old as me 🤣

[@matthewjeanes4979]

One thing I found was using a 35w dock didn't work you need a 65 or above

[@dan4500]

Yeah, for traveling I was debating a gaming laptop or this. I went with this, I got a portable 15" monitor, dock, mouse, and keyboard and it works wonders. Plays Helldivers 2 at 60+fps (even higher when I use lossless scaling on Steam) and Diablo IV at 60FPS no issues

[@MashITTech]

Oh wow, I wasn't expecting hell divers to work, I didn't even try it 🤣

[@FaeezHendricks]

Great video! Could you maybe test some work type software like Adobe Suite? Photoshop or illustrator etc. Would be interesting to see how that works.

[@MashITTech]

Great suggestion! I will try and knock something up

[@renpamatian6472]

Good idea 💡, i would like to know so i can work and play on the go, specially handheld mode

[@FaeezHendricks]

@@renpamatian6472 that was my thoughts as well. We could get so much more out of this 👍

[@FaeezHendricks]

@@MashITTechawesome. Hopefully it comes. Sorry I'm a bit late to respond.

[@ara-arano-mi7392]

Awesome very informative vids

[@johannndsouza]

i am so glad you tested dota 2 thank you very much.

[@manuelquerochang2275]

Yes I was searching a vídeo comparing Steam Deck vs Rog and I havent seen ever dota been an example. I wish i could find a similar One with a Steam Deck

[@BigDaddyMacc]

do have your fan on max? you can prob get the temp down to 50-60

[@jimbob7424]

Subscribed great video, please could I see rust gameplay at 1080p, I am so tempted to get one of these but I need to know it can run rust playable

[@steveco1800]

Does Freesync still work? I think it will need to be a Display Port connection in alt mode and not HDMI?

[@LebanonJamess]

are we able to run 120hz or higher at 1080p with that 7 in 1 ugreen?

[@dnb888]

Great video. Would love to see an XG Mobile version too,

[@TheDuxbuse]

When its pulling greater than 30 wats during heavy game play, does that mean the battery is draining whilst plugged in? IF so how long can you game before its flat even when plugged in?

[@janoslambert-cannon7146]

I don't believe the battery will drain. The 30 wattss in turbo mode is just the apu's consumption and doesn't include the other components but the battery shouldn't drain as the included charger is 65 Watts.

[@vachina14]

Is this the ally z1 extreme?

[@bionic3500]

use the dock charger instead so you get better perfomance

[@MashITTech]

Thanks will give it a try

[@Steelninja77]

I was gonna look into getting that ugreen dongle but then saw it still only does 25 watts turbo mode not 30 and the dock i have which is a uni one i picked up already does that. It just doesnt charge at 30 watts turbo mode when plugged in with the ROG charger. But judging by this video none do that. It's the same with my Battery pack i bought for my steam deck. That only does 25 watt charging/turbo mode also. But I have a 1440p 165 hertz monitor to plug my ROG ally or steamdecks into and just have it set to 1080p it looks great but tbh I just use my Ryzen 9 5900x and Rx 6800 PC when i want to game on either my 4k 120 hertz LG nanocell or my 165 hertz KOOURI 1440p monitor. But usually game on my 4k tv as it looks outstanding compared to the cheap monitor. I only really bought the monitor because I could not read what is on my PC desktop from across the room. Even on my 55 inch 4k 120 hertz TV. So i bought the monitor to move windows over to near me so I can read stuff lol.

[@kingdomVI]

Im guessing this is not the asus rog ally extreme? I heard the extreme version can run triple AAAs at high/ultra with 60 frames avg on max power ofc

[@MashITTech]

yes, this is the extreme. And as good as it is, to get anything like that you will need to be running at 720p with FSR to get even close

[@TheVoyagers.]

For your graphics settings did you pick your rog ally or monitor?

[@CharThirteenWasTaken]

By chance does anyone know which Ally he was using? Was it the baseline or the extreme processor version? I think I may have missed if he mentioned it. Thanks!

[@MashITTech]

the z1e (extreme) the base model wasn't available when I bought it

[@CharThirteenWasTaken]

@@MashITTech thank you sir!

[@MithiQ77]

can this run roblox 1080p or 1440p at consistent 165 fps max settings?

[@alfonsjones5798]

is this the Rog Ally with the Z1 or with Z1 Extreme?

[@thekingisback4541]

Z1 extreme I just got one love it

[@lofasada]

Can this play valorant and how many fps it can give for 1080p high settings. Thank you in advance.

[@thegixlad27]

Hows the Alienware monitor going? its the 280hz 1440p 27 right? I'm looking to get it

[@MashITTech]

Not in this video. This monitor is the AW2521H 240hz 1080p. The AW2723Df you are talking about is still going really well, I stole it from the studio and use it as my gaming monitor at home 🤣 I love it still, 1440p and 280hz is just so smooth

[@thegixlad27]

@@MashITTech hopefully have it before the end of the year, I'm going to wait for their next generation of OLED displays anyway

[@animecorner9853]

Is legion go or rog ally perfoms better than my acer predator helios 300 gtx 1060 6b , i7-8750h 16gb?

[@RookieGamerz-3110]

Yes ig

[@MolediesOflife]

i realy wanna know this rog ally render to 3d like blender. this video is awesome

[@MashITTech]

it will do light blender work but if you are working on a large project it will start to lag

[@RiverFlower26]

Is it smooth too if I play avatar frontier connect to monitor?

[@chadunnering5733]

Can it do 30watt turbo with the ugreen dock ?

[@treyd7607]

Turn off cpu boost to decrease your wattage in half.

[@barebarekun161]

My best excuse to buy this thing is that I can tell that my dad he can work on this thing with his Office/Powerpoint documents.

[@MashITTech]

Sounds like a good idea to me!

[@33gametime4]

Any update after months of stressing the ROG Ally? How much is your full setup?

[@MashITTech]

This thing is still running like a champ! I am about to upgrade the SSD to give myself more game space! My total setup not including the ally cost approximately £450 as I spent quite a lot on the keyboard and monitor :)

[@vibrantmontefalcon354]

when playing in this kind of setup how many hours can you play? or does it make the ally throttle?

[@MashITTech]

I have put some long gaming sessions in and no throttling at all! The cooling solution is doing a good job

[@uncoiledfish2561]

straight into an ad. Nice.

[@MashITTech]

You can skip past it! It’s the only way we can afford to keep the channel going

[@PatitoDiAnime]

It is nice setup but with not original dock you can't use 30 watt of TDP and you can't recharge at 65 Watt

[@MashITTech]

agreed, but I am struggling to get an original Asus dock in the UK :( when I do manage to get hold of one I want to test how much difference that 5w makes!

[@PatitoDiAnime]

​@@MashITTech The store in netherlands says will be available for august 1

[@MashITTech]

Fingers crossed we may get some here then too!

[@PatitoDiAnime]

@@MashITTech i am curious about also xg mobile 2023, but i don't know even the price yet

[@MashITTech]

I was hoping to get one but in the UK the 3080 version was about £1200 and the 4090 about £2400 🤣 I can get a 4090 i9 legion for that price

[@jeffsama7195]

Can I connect hdmi to display port on my 165hz monitor

[@Trusteft]

Disappointed you didn't actually show any video editing on it. Anyway, thanks for the video. Cool device.

[@MashITTech]

Yes I missed a trick there! I might make a work edition version

[@NegusChristos]

​@@MashITTechDid you use the 512 or the 1TB for this video?

[@Tomacq]

Thanks for the video, does it work with 30 watt adapter or we need 100 watt to use it in desktop mode.

[@MashITTech]

No, it doesn’t need to be 100w you could use your original psu or any 40+ watt adapter (30 might limit you as you need some power for the peripherals

[@Tomacq]

@@MashITTech Thanks 👍🏻

[@N3mdraz]

I wonder how this has aged with counterstrike 2, because it's more demanding

[@djodabassz9099]

1080p the maximum resolution or can the monitor be set to a higher resolution 2K or 4K?

[@MashITTech]

You can choose what ever resolution you want. I just chose a 1080p screen as it matches the ally and games can often run at 1080p. For desktop work, KZbin, movies etc 4K would be great

[@djodabassz9099]

@@MashITTech thx

[@manz_squick]

I think the future of gaming console will be only Cloud and Handled

[@antmarignon]

The Ugreen adapter is limiting your monitor to 60Hz/60FPS unfortunately :/

[@jrocket93]

What keyboard is that

[@magonaiver]

Hi any link for the dock

[@hamdanrazak9830]

What if Ally+27 inch monitor,is it good?

[@MashITTech]

it is, but if the 27" is 1440p you will need to use FSR etc to get games playable as integrated will never manage 1440p gaming without

[@arijitkar7217]

Can we connect a wired usb type controller to the ally

[@MashITTech]

yes you sure can 👍

[@vakidisvaselidis744]

I want to use this as a work computer. Can this be docked or be on for 10 hours at a time?

[@MashITTech]

it sure can, I am so impressed with this little machine!

[@vakidisvaselidis744]

@@MashITTech Wow! And attach 2 monitors and I have a working desktop. Can it handle opening 24 browser tabs?

[@sflxn]

By the time you plug all those stuff in and the xg mobile, a 13 or 14 inch gaming laptop is much cleaner setup.

[@MashITTech]

I would say it’s exactly the same except for a stand for the ally. Obviously the laptop will make more sense for a lot of people but if you have an ally it’s a nice way to use it like a gaming pc especially if you have access to a spare screen

[@sflxn]

@@MashITTech With a laptop, you'll get a discrete GPU and less cables. These handheld PCs are looking for a market. I was tempted myself, but when I thought deeply about it, I realize it's a "hey, how cool" tech more than a practical tech.

[@MashITTech]

agreed, but one thing I was surprised with is just how much you can play at 1080p with these new onboard gfx!

[@gee_shock7124]

Is this the Z1 or the Z1 extreme?

[@MashITTech]

Z1 extreme

[@edmeljohnbiron3240]

Can u connect it to a power source? Thats my only concern tho

[@MashITTech]

of course! make sure you get a dock with PD passthrough like the Anker I used :)

[@De4thG0d]

Thank you!

[@Patrick1985McMahon]

I did this same setup with the steamdeck.

[@MashITTech]

yes me too, I must admit I do prefer windows than linux for this option but I prefer steam OS on the handheld 🤣

[@Patrick1985McMahon]

@@MashITTech With the steamdeck i just installed libre office and got myself a better browser than firefox and it's a perfect desktop.

[@ahmedalqahtani844]

What about sound?

[@phillipjoubert1119]

I just wish it was a phone too, then I would only need one device in my life.

[@alzheimers1667]

(UXbox E4-18inch 1080p 120Hz Monitor Gaming For XBox Series X / S) OR (UAlly K7-2560x1440 Monitor 17.3inch HDR Gaming 144Hz IPS Display)

[@MashITTech]

Personally neither, I would get the 18” 1600p screen, think uperfect make it

[@alzheimers1667]

@@MashITTechlink ?

[@MashITTech]

This one: amzn.to/3SLFmFI

[@XaviBits]

Will you be able to do a test playing valorant to know how many fps it arrives in FHD?

[@MashITTech]

I will try and test it this Weeknd for you :)

[@XaviBits]

@@MashITTech thank you so much

[@melvinp1324]

can this be hooked up to an oled ?

[@MashITTech]

it most certainly can! I used a 1080p fast IPS purely because it was the same res as the ally. You can hook up any screen you want but obviously if you choose a 1440p or 4k you will need to use FSR etc to get game playable

[@robertdeeley2758]

Can this handle 2 monitors at once?

[@JYNSKIR_YT]

I think yes

[@BHPace1]

Is the keyboard and mouse delay bad?

[@MashITTech]

no, no delay at all. why do you ask that?

[@BHPace1]

@@MashITTech I didn’t know if it was like a console which has a bunch of delay thanks

[@MashITTech]

Ah ok. No, this is like a mini pc so no delay just like on a pc 👍

[@Rht121]

Hey mash What would you recommend Asus A15 with 4060 Or asus g16 4060 Only for gaming

[@shonen84]

The G16’s screen is significantly better, I believe

[@Sponsi_PL]

@Mash IT I have a task for you: conect ROG Ally to Surface Pro 8 and use the surface screen as the external screen : )))

[@MashITTech]

God I wish I could make that work 🤣

[@amajor4901]

89°c but how long can it run?

[@MashITTech]

I have gamed on this thing for hours on end with no issues! Still running strong

[@richardmorales8016]

Can it run 1080p at 120hz?

[@MashITTech]

it sure can but not many games will get 120fps on an integrated gpu

[@bayamcodm3357]

can u connect rog ally to a laptop?

[@MashITTech]

unfortunately not

[@iomis2001]

Rocket League keyboard and mouse hurts my soul.

[@cutthat4643]

Razer 14 full review?????

[@lassifras]

Can you connect an Xbox controller to it?

[@fifabeatle3139]

Yes, through Bluetooth or hard wired. Same for ps5 controller

[@Erad3r]

Hello, i wanna know your keyboard brand and model, please.

[@MashITTech]

Hello mate, it is the Nuphy field75 you can buy it here: nuphy.com/products/field75 we have a 10% discount code if you want one: Mash10 and here is the video of the keyboard if you are interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6alY6CBl62shJY

[@pcigrock5874]

deck can play 90 fps 800p, this 90 fps 1080p, but not requarable 120 fps on docked mode

[@chrismaxie2864]

Thankyou.