ASUS Readies ROG Ally X with Larger Storage and Battery, Fixed microSD Slot

[btarunr]

Earlier this week, we got news of ASUS working on a design revision for its ROG Ally handheld game console to fix the positioning of its microSD card slot that was causing card and card-reader failures due to its location close to a thermal vent. It turns out that this revision is a whole different product, and ASUS is naming it the ROG Ally X. There's more to this console than simply a relocated microSD slot that won't fry your memory cards.

Apparently, ASUS has used the opportunity to give it a larger battery, and a larger M.2-2280 SSD bay, compared to the M.2-2242 slot on the original ROG Ally. This would open up end-users to the widest possible array of SSD choices. As a final bit of product differentiation, the ROG Ally X comes with a new black chassis trim. The larger battery makes the ROG Ally X heavier than the original. Besides these three hardware changes, the new ROG Ally X features the same kit as the original, and is hence expected to offer the same performance, albeit with improved battery life. ASUS is expected to formally launch the ROG Ally X on June 2, 2024.



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[Space Lynx]

but leave your old customers who fried expensive cards in the dust eh? move on and forget, lol companies today man I tell ya.

 

[Woomack]

but leave your old customers who fried expensive cards in the dust eh? move on and forget, lol companies today man I tell ya.

They said a couple of days ago that all earlier consoles get an additional 2 years of warranty or something.

 

[jonny2772]

but leave your old customers who fried expensive cards in the dust eh? move on and forget, lol companies today man I tell ya.

It's way more than move on and forget, if they say that they know the cause of the problem, that is opening the door wide open for lawsuits to come in. Saying that they don't know why cards are frying is a scumbag move, but still a strategic one.

 

[Woomack]

It's way more than move on and forget, if they say that they know the cause of the problem, that is opening the door wide open for lawsuits to come in. Saying that they don't know why cards are frying is a scumbag move, but still a strategic one.

As I said, they know the reason; it was described already, and ASUS will extend the warranty for older devices and in some cases cover the costs of dead mSD cards.
You don't have to look far for this info:

ASUS to Revise ROG Ally Design to Fix microSD Card Heat Deaths

ASUS is reportedly revising the design of the ROG Ally handheld game console to address microSD card heat deaths. In its original design, the ROG Ally has its microSD card reader located directly under the heat vents from which the active cooling mechanism exhausts heat from the SoC. This could...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Chaitanya]

They said a couple of days ago that all earlier consoles get an additional 2 years of warranty or something.

And that still doesnt fix the "design" flaw, that additional "warranty" is not even a band-aid on bullet wound.

 

[jonny2772]

As I said, they know the reason; it was described already, and ASUS will extend the warranty for older devices and in some cases cover the costs of dead mSD cards.
You don't have to look far for this info:

ASUS to Revise ROG Ally Design to Fix microSD Card Heat Deaths

ASUS is reportedly revising the design of the ROG Ally handheld game console to address microSD card heat deaths. In its original design, the ROG Ally has its microSD card reader located directly under the heat vents from which the active cooling mechanism exhausts heat from the SoC. This could...

www.techpowerup.com

You misunderstood what I said. They know the reason, of course they know. They just don't want to put it out there publicly, because that opens a whole can of worms they do not want to deal with. That's why Asus' official statement only states they'll replace SD cards and extend US warranty, nothing about the problem itself.

 

[TheDeeGee]

They said a couple of days ago that all earlier consoles get an additional 2 years of warranty or something.

I'd make use of that and ask for a refund and get a Steam Deck 2.

 

[sephiroth117]

I'd love for them to use OLED

Crazy how beautiful that screen is for the Switch and the Steam Deck, now, I don't know if there are off the shelves 7 inch 1080p OLED available since Steam deck and Switch use lower resolution but would it be that bad for them to lower to 720/800p ? I doubt so

 

[Cheeseball]

- M2 2280 SSD NVMe slot
- Most likely 32 GB of RAM
- Relocated microSD card slot
- Bigger battery (possibly 60 Wh)
- Black shell

What they should of added/modified as well:
- At least 2nd generation (JH16) Hall Effect magnetic joysticks (no excuse for this one as the Legion Go and MSI Claw have these)
- 120Hz OLED screen, but I don't know any OEM that makes 6-inch ones from the mother glass QD-OLEDs or W-OLEDs (Steam Deck OLEDs are the 7-inch Samsung Display/BOE 800p 90Hz panels)
- Another USB-C (preferably USB4) port, compared to the USB-C (3.2 Gen 2x2) that is used for the XG Mobile connector

 

[Noyand]

You misunderstood what I said. They know the reason, of course they know. They just don't want to put it out there publicly, because that opens a whole can of worms they do not want to deal with. That's why Asus' official statement only states they'll replace SD cards and extend US warranty, nothing about the problem itself.

It's not entirely true, an Asus rep went public about the issue, they just didn't do a deep dive CPPC TEK style and explained that the SD card reader is near the very hot power delivery ...but they admitted that it's a thermal issue.
Asus Confirms Thermal Stress Is Killing the ROG Ally SD Card Reader | PCMag

After confirmation from internal testing, under certain thermal stress conditions the SD card reader may malfunction.

To alleviate the issue, we will be releasing an update that further fine-tunes the default and minimum fan speeds on the device to improve reliability while keeping fan noise in check, as we know this is a concern for many of you.

If you are currently experiencing issues with your micro-SD card reader, please contact customer service for your region to RMA your unit, which we will inspect for any issues and repairs. For ROG Forum members residing in the US, please private message Silent _Scone, MasterC, or CL_RL_ROG.

 

[chrcoluk]

I'd love for them to use OLED

Crazy how beautiful that screen is for the Switch and the Steam Deck, now, I don't know if there are off the shelves 7 inch 1080p OLED available since Steam deck and Switch use lower resolution but would it be that bad for them to lower to 720/800p ? I doubt so

I still feel a little off that I brought the steam deck literally a couple of months before the 2nd model launch being completely ignorant it was in the works, which meant I made a decision I might not have done otherwise.

Not that I am unhappy with my deck, I love it, its just one of those weird human nature things.

 

[The Quim Reaper]

Not 'fixed'...moved.

 

[Gooigi's Ex]

but leave your old customers who fried expensive cards in the dust eh? move on and forget, lol companies today man I tell ya.

What an asinine comment to make especially when it’s wrong and someone has proven it’s wrong. Again, this is why I don’t deal with the Steam Deck community and will never get a Steam Deck.

As I said, they know the reason; it was described already, and ASUS will extend the warranty for older devices and in some cases cover the costs of dead mSD cards.
You don't have to look far for this info:

ASUS to Revise ROG Ally Design to Fix microSD Card Heat Deaths

ASUS is reportedly revising the design of the ROG Ally handheld game console to address microSD card heat deaths. In its original design, the ROG Ally has its microSD card reader located directly under the heat vents from which the active cooling mechanism exhausts heat from the SoC. This could...

www.techpowerup.com

It's not entirely true, an Asus rep went public about the issue, they just didn't do a deep dive CPPC TEK style and explained that the SD card reader is near the very hot power delivery ...but they admitted that it's a thermal issue.
Asus Confirms Thermal Stress Is Killing the ROG Ally SD Card Reader | PCMag

See, in the Steam Deck Community, Asus never acknowledged and never offered fixes for the ROG ALLY as the SD issues is still going on(even though Asus already made a revision of the handheld that fixes the isssue) and once the updated Ally X comes out, the original will be EOD(even though they are releasing AC 1.5 and added AFMF as well).

It’s wild that other communities( ROG ALLY, Lenovo Legion Go, MSI Claw etc) don’t talk mad shit about the Steam Deck but the Steam Deck community does it all the time and spread their shit all over the internet. Just crazy to me and though we have grew up from that.

 

[Space Lynx]

What an asinine comment to make especially when it’s wrong and someone has proven it’s wrong. Again, this is why I don’t deal with the Steam Deck community and will never get a Steam Deck.


See, in the Steam Deck Community, Asus never acknowledged and never offered fixes for the ROG ALLY as the SD issues is still going on(even though Asus already made a revision of the handheld that fixes the isssue) and once the updated Ally X comes out, the original will be EOD(even though they are releasing AC 1.5 and added AFMF as well).

It’s wild that other communities( ROG ALLY, Lenovo Legion Go, MSI Claw etc) don’t talk mad shit about the Steam Deck but the Steam Deck community does it all the time and spread their shit all over the internet. Just crazy to me and though we have grew up from that.

they never replaced the micro SD cards of the people who did get fried cards... so...

why would I ever trust doing business with a company like that? or for that matter a company who makes zenphones and abandons them so quickly with hardly any updates, compared to other companies... I just don't agree with ASUS business model, it may have improved in recent years, and that is good, but they have done one too many things to make me avoid them for life. like forcibly installing software on a clean install of windows

link with sauce and spaghetti lulz

 

[Gooigi's Ex]

they never replaced the micro SD cards of the people who did get fried cards... so...

why would I ever trust doing business with a company like that? or for that matter a company who makes zenphones and abandons them so quickly with hardly any updates, compared to other companies... I just don't agree with ASUS business model, it may have improved in recent years, and that is good, but they have done one too many things to make me avoid them for life. like forcibly installing software on a clean install of windows

link with sauce and spaghetti lulz

If you go their Reddit page, it’s says they have and will replace the SD cards(they were already doing before giving their “official announcement” that everyone was waiting on for sooooo long) well as constant updates to their devices soooooooo…

Also, you talk about ZenPhones but not other devices since Asus is Hardware company first. Again, I get where your coming from but to be dickriding Valve so hard makes it difficult to take this conversation seriously.

Also, aren’t you cute…two years ago…try 5 months ago and come back to me

 

[Octavean]

Two things:

I eventually stopped buying Asus motherboards because it seemed that I was paying a premium for boards that eventually developed issues. One example was the Asus P7P55D PRO which was recalled due to an Intel chipset issue (degrading SATA ports off the chipset IIRC). Its fair to say that this was an Intel issue, however in due time, after the RMA for a new board the replacement board (which was new and corrected) failed in exactly the way the recall / RMA was meant to prevent.

While my Synology DS1815+ was not recalled due to the Intel Atom C2000 errata (eventually resulting in un-bootable units due to a pull down resister / voltage issue) Synology did offer an extended warranty. Not happy with this and knowing they started manufacturing the same model with a fixed stepping of the ship I requested an RMA. Synology approved it and cross shipped an entirely new DS1815+ manufactured in early (February) 2017 with the fix. It still works now in 2024. Again this was an Intel issue.

There are a number of different ways manufacturers can handle issue like this but an extended warranty on a product with a known issue seems like doubling down on stupidity. The bean counters understand that the rate of failure within the warranty period is easier and cheaper to deal with than doing a total recall.

If there is anything you can do to not be left holding the bag (IE a known flawed product) then do it. In this case the SD card slot flaw doesn't seem all that bad. It's not great but there are ways to work around it.

 

[Space Lynx]

If you go their Reddit page, it’s says they have and will replace the SD cards(they were already doing before giving their “official announcement” that everyone was waiting on for sooooo long) well as constant updates to their devices soooooooo…

Also, you talk about ZenPhones but not other devices since Asus is Hardware company first. Again, I get where your coming from but to be dickriding Valve so hard makes it difficult to take this conversation seriously.

Also, aren’t you cute…two years ago…try 5 months ago and come back to me

I wasn't aware they were replacing SD cards, so I will concede.

length of time doesn't matter, I look at an entire company's history for consistency when making purchasing decisions. For example, a lot of companies used to promise monthly security updates for phones, but never delivered, but Samsung, Google, and Apple - have in recent years explicitly stated how many years it will get monthly updates, and they have kept to that. I would never recommend a zenphones to anyone for example, hardware is great, but the updates are important these days, especially if you do banking and such on your phone.

my main gripe with Asus is how they do such shoddy vrm cooling on their lower range boards, you really have to get into the $200+ price range to get decent vrm cooling that all the other brands offer for $120-$150 (on average) I credit MSI with changing the industry on this front, they really stepped up their game in vrm cooling early on in AM4 cycle and others were forced to compete. for that I respect MSI, though I still use AsRock cause Steel Legend has always been my dream mobo.

 

[swaaye]

I noticed at a local Best Buy they had about 10 of these open box. I think I saw the microSD card problems appear in customer reviews on launch week but people keep buying them I guess.

This developing premium handheld market is kind of interesting to see. The el cheapo Chinese handheld emulator portables too. But I don't think I find the form factor appealing anymore.

 

[Gooigi's Ex]

I wasn't aware they were replacing SD cards, so I will concede.

length of time doesn't matter, I look at an entire company's history for consistency when making purchasing decisions. For example, a lot of companies used to promise monthly security updates for phones, but never delivered, but Samsung, Google, and Apple - have in recent years explicitly stated how many years it will get monthly updates, and they have kept to that. I would never recommend a zenphones to anyone for example, hardware is great, but the updates are important these days, especially if you do banking and such on your phone.

my main gripe with Asus is how they do such shoddy vrm cooling on their lower range boards, you really have to get into the $200+ price range to get decent vrm cooling that all the other brands offer for $120-$150 (on average) I credit MSI with changing the industry on this front, they really stepped up their game in vrm cooling early on in AM4 cycle and others were forced to compete. for that I respect MSI, though I still use AsRock cause Steel Legend has always been my dream mobo.

You’re not wrong at all lol. I’ve had 3 asus motherboards and one of them was Intel and the HDMI make a little poof noise and that port stopped working. Also I couldn’t overclocked RAM that i installed(even though it says it did)

 

[Cheeseball]

they never replaced the micro SD cards of the people who did get fried cards... so...

why would I ever trust doing business with a company like that? or for that matter a company who makes zenphones and abandons them so quickly with hardly any updates, compared to other companies... I just don't agree with ASUS business model, it may have improved in recent years, and that is good, but they have done one too many things to make me avoid them for life. like forcibly installing software on a clean install of windows

link with sauce and spaghetti lulz

You should be able to disable the MyASUS and Armoury Crate installer within the UEFI/BIOS for most of ASUS' newer motherboards. If the option is not there you gotta update the BIOS.

ASUS was able to replace my ROG Ally last year (Nov-Dec 2023) through an RMA due to the failed SD card reader issue. It was funny because I only used the SD card reader once and that's how I found out it was defective. The SD card was not damaged, it was disconnecting/disabling itself intermittently at high temps.

 

[Chaitanya]

Time to get popcorn bucket ready:

 

[Space Lynx]

Time to get popcorn bucket ready:

VALVE TIL I DIE BOYS

LOL ASUS says this is $200 in repair, Steve from gamers Nexus smokes ASUS, Steam Deck til I die boys!!!!

thank God we have Steve from GamersNexus holding the industry accountable. He has saved us from Intel, Newegg, EK, MSI, countless others, and now ASUS sauce gamersnexus time stamp: 1:48 mins in @Chaitanya ty for linking this initially :D STEAM DECK AND VALVE FOR LIFE BOYS!!! IFIXIT...

www.techpowerup.com

OPEN REPAIR KITS FOR LIFE IFIXIT AND STEAM DECK TIL I DIE BOYS WE RIDIN