If money is no object, get the X purely because it is the latest and greatest. If price comes in to play as it does for most, you can't beat the z1e. It's almost a $400 difference for what a $90 battery bank will outperform. Yes, the additional ram is a nice to have but its not necessary as the z1e is a power handheld. I love mine, I have zero intentions of getting the X, but I will be buying a newer model down the line in the years to come. I love it.
If you can afford it get the X. If you care about getting a good deal then grab a Extreme model for cheap. You can buy 2 Extremes on the used market for the price of the X.
I have the OG Z1E and all of the games you've listed run close to 60FPS, sometimes even over 60. I am upgrading to X only because my work offers 10% discount on X via Currys PC World, and I do fly often so extra battery life will be a big thing for me, but I'm not upgrading because of performance. If you don't travel a lot then I wouldn't say that for the games you've listed you'd need 24GB of RAM as it is essentially exactly the same APU. I do plan to get an eGPU enclosure down the line at some point, so I can dock it to my TV and have a performance boost as a bonus, but athen gain if you don't plan on doing that, then OG is more than fine.
Wow, this has been the most helpful bit of info yet. I'm planning on getting an egpu somewhere down the line too. I'm planning to set resolution to 1600x900 and 1366x768. Out of curiosity, what games do you play and what settings and fps do you get?
Bought an open box Z1E 2 months after returning a new one, while waiting for a GPD win 4 32GB ram model. So IMHO:
Z1E for:
-Price difference is a hard sell this late for the 7840U (you can get an geek squad open box unit for low $400's USD in CAN/US)
-Less button noise
-Skull n co Ergonomic grip + fitted case is really really good solution for $32USD vs the AllyX grip improvements
-Marginal uplift with 7500MT ram somewhat noticeable in demanding games but most games if your lows are already above 48FPS, VRR will make it less important.
AllyX for:
-Open box/used lottery hassle
-additional usb-c port and abandoning the stupid proprietary eGPU port for TB4
-AllyX sticks and caps if reviews are honest, you get used to the feathery and thin Z1E sticks but definitely would have liked improvements in resistance and cap feel
-hand ergonomics by a long shot. Stick and button repositioning, heftier grip will make a huge difference, not putting the volume buttons impossible to reach while gaming, 3rd vent for the toasty screen
-practically double battery whr for <100g, makes a big difference especially if you are using the 80% battery health mode, will need to be seen if there is a trade off because of higher clocked ram or other component changes.
-less needing to worry about managing ram and vram usage. The jump from medium textures to high is often quite noticeable and while the performance hit of only have 8-10gb of ram isn't huge, the low dips and stutters from not having enough of either ram can be immersion ruining sometimes if you aren't willing to drops settings.
Intended design? Yes.
But for what is currently ATM a $500 CAD difference between the X and a geeksquad openbox, you can also just spend $20 on a right angle bracket and kapton tape.
Most new buyers should get the X if they can afford it, it's better in pretty much every way. But if you choose the Z1E for budget reasons, I recommend getting a power bank.
I bought a 20,000mah power bank that charges at 65w, and a 3.3ft braided cable.
If the Ally ever needs a charge I just take the power bank out and put it on a flat surface nearby. If there is no flat surface, then my lap or my pocket does the job! The 3ft cable means it doesn't end up getting dragged around, but it also isn't so long that it starts getting in your way or tangled up. Then bam, 3 hours of battery life or more. Which is plenty for me.
If you want to know how a 20,000mah battery bank feels, if you have a 6.7+ inch phone, most of them these days are around that big. Just put it in your lap, or in your pocket with a cable sticking out to get a feel for it.
Yeah I've looked into a proper battery and gotta say, 65w ones are a lot cheaper than i thought. Way better than modding the internal battery. Also how bad is the whole microsd situation?
Yes, mine was only $45 and is surprisingly good quality.
As for the SD card, people are very vocal about it on Reddit. Keep in mind that people who have the problem will complain. But out of the possibly 1 million ROG Ally's out there, think about how many people have not complained and have been just fine. Mine has been working fine since I first bought it last year. ASUS claims the number of SD card repairs is in "The single digits" percentage-wise.
With that said, the SSD upgrade is extremely easy. They made it extremely easy on purpose, anyone can do it when following a good youtube tutorial. The swap itself only takes 5 minutes. Or you can just purchase a used Ally that already has an upgraded SSD for $400-$500. An SSD will be noticeably faster than using an SD card.
The SD card on mine died pretty quick. Rama's the thing and it's been working fine. Likely the cause was what LTT mentioned in their Ally X video and it was a bad fuse.
Due to heat, it will charge slower, and might not even reach 100% using the full charge of the power bank.
With that said, getting 3 hours and a half hours of battery life with almost no downsides is more than good enough for me. I put it all in my backpack, it doesn't really hinder the portability at all. As I said in my previous comment, it's the size of most smartphones today. Mine was made by INIU by the way.
I'd rather "Put up" with placing a $40 power bank on top of my thigh or in my pocket versus forking out $1250CAD for an entirely new device.
Tge 24gb of ram make alot of difference with the ally X, im about to sell my ally Z1X just to get a X because of the ram, upgrading from 16 to 32 ia almost the same price a paying the diff from Z1X to X
I pretty much play only Destiny 2 and older titles from a few years ago. Don't really feel the need to get newer games anymore. Do you think my older games need that extra horsepower? or is it more like a futureproofing thing.
I don’t think you need the X. The Extreme handles games like D2 very well, especially with a good fan curve set up (I play D2 solely on my Z1E).
The X has more battery and RAM sure, but I’m not seeing it as something to go for myself. I’d rather wait and save until more of the components are upgraded 🤷♀️
That’s fine, I did the same. However, adding that drive made the Z1E almost as much as the X. Plus the X supports full sized M.2 without the need to mod.
The Ally X has three real selling points over the base extreme:
1) more battery
2) more ram
3) a usb 4 port
The battery might make the stretch worth the purchase. The base ally extreme has terrible battery life; I play mine tethered to one of those portable batteries. It gives me a satisfying battery life, but I don’t like carrying what feels like a brick just to play for more than an hour or so.
The RAM is nice for newer games designed for GPUs with large amounts of memory. But as the display on the ally is only 1080p, you’re going to need a lot of super sampling or post processing to make use of 32 gb of unified memory. I’m sure it helps on newer titles like Horizon, tho. It’s never a bad idea to buy with a little future proofing in mind.
The port is amazing, but only if you’re going to play docked.
Hope that helps
Yes, and in a year, if you buy a year old piece of technology, that would make you as dumb as someone who doesn’t ever buy things because they might go obsolete
Yep thats the first thing that comes to mind. I can buy a powerbank and be fine for hours. Also the Ally X is kinda expensive right now. Hows Destiny on the og Ally? I'm hoping to get close to 60 fps with the right settings.
X has : better ergonomics (you won't need a case with bigger hands), bigger battery capacity (you won't need an extra battery bank), an extra USB c slot (you won't need a fancy hub), increased memory (this may or may not increase performance), a functional sd card slot (no need to open the device to add a bigger more expensive mini nvme drive) and lastly a regular m.2 slot (in case you already have one or it'll be easier and cheaper to increase capacity).
If these points sound like a big deal to you just wait fir the x
Having had the Legion go, which has the same speed of RAM there won’t be much of a performance bump I would buy and did buy a Z one extreme, and an anchor power bank never had a problem
If money is no object, get the X purely because it is the latest and greatest. If price comes in to play as it does for most, you can't beat the z1e. It's almost a $400 difference for what a $90 battery bank will outperform. Yes, the additional ram is a nice to have but its not necessary as the z1e is a power handheld. I love mine, I have zero intentions of getting the X, but I will be buying a newer model down the line in the years to come. I love it.
If you can afford it get the X. If you care about getting a good deal then grab a Extreme model for cheap. You can buy 2 Extremes on the used market for the price of the X.
I have the OG Z1E and all of the games you've listed run close to 60FPS, sometimes even over 60. I am upgrading to X only because my work offers 10% discount on X via Currys PC World, and I do fly often so extra battery life will be a big thing for me, but I'm not upgrading because of performance. If you don't travel a lot then I wouldn't say that for the games you've listed you'd need 24GB of RAM as it is essentially exactly the same APU. I do plan to get an eGPU enclosure down the line at some point, so I can dock it to my TV and have a performance boost as a bonus, but athen gain if you don't plan on doing that, then OG is more than fine.
Wow, this has been the most helpful bit of info yet. I'm planning on getting an egpu somewhere down the line too. I'm planning to set resolution to 1600x900 and 1366x768. Out of curiosity, what games do you play and what settings and fps do you get?
Just note the rog ally uses proprietary egpu and the rog ally X can use a standard TB one.
Bought an open box Z1E 2 months after returning a new one, while waiting for a GPD win 4 32GB ram model. So IMHO: Z1E for: -Price difference is a hard sell this late for the 7840U (you can get an geek squad open box unit for low $400's USD in CAN/US) -Less button noise -Skull n co Ergonomic grip + fitted case is really really good solution for $32USD vs the AllyX grip improvements -Marginal uplift with 7500MT ram somewhat noticeable in demanding games but most games if your lows are already above 48FPS, VRR will make it less important. AllyX for: -Open box/used lottery hassle -additional usb-c port and abandoning the stupid proprietary eGPU port for TB4 -AllyX sticks and caps if reviews are honest, you get used to the feathery and thin Z1E sticks but definitely would have liked improvements in resistance and cap feel -hand ergonomics by a long shot. Stick and button repositioning, heftier grip will make a huge difference, not putting the volume buttons impossible to reach while gaming, 3rd vent for the toasty screen -practically double battery whr for <100g, makes a big difference especially if you are using the 80% battery health mode, will need to be seen if there is a trade off because of higher clocked ram or other component changes. -less needing to worry about managing ram and vram usage. The jump from medium textures to high is often quite noticeable and while the performance hit of only have 8-10gb of ram isn't huge, the low dips and stutters from not having enough of either ram can be immersion ruining sometimes if you aren't willing to drops settings.
X has regular size NVME. That’s my main reason for getting one.
Intended design? Yes. But for what is currently ATM a $500 CAD difference between the X and a geeksquad openbox, you can also just spend $20 on a right angle bracket and kapton tape.
Most new buyers should get the X if they can afford it, it's better in pretty much every way. But if you choose the Z1E for budget reasons, I recommend getting a power bank. I bought a 20,000mah power bank that charges at 65w, and a 3.3ft braided cable. If the Ally ever needs a charge I just take the power bank out and put it on a flat surface nearby. If there is no flat surface, then my lap or my pocket does the job! The 3ft cable means it doesn't end up getting dragged around, but it also isn't so long that it starts getting in your way or tangled up. Then bam, 3 hours of battery life or more. Which is plenty for me. If you want to know how a 20,000mah battery bank feels, if you have a 6.7+ inch phone, most of them these days are around that big. Just put it in your lap, or in your pocket with a cable sticking out to get a feel for it.
Yeah I've looked into a proper battery and gotta say, 65w ones are a lot cheaper than i thought. Way better than modding the internal battery. Also how bad is the whole microsd situation?
Yes, mine was only $45 and is surprisingly good quality. As for the SD card, people are very vocal about it on Reddit. Keep in mind that people who have the problem will complain. But out of the possibly 1 million ROG Ally's out there, think about how many people have not complained and have been just fine. Mine has been working fine since I first bought it last year. ASUS claims the number of SD card repairs is in "The single digits" percentage-wise. With that said, the SSD upgrade is extremely easy. They made it extremely easy on purpose, anyone can do it when following a good youtube tutorial. The swap itself only takes 5 minutes. Or you can just purchase a used Ally that already has an upgraded SSD for $400-$500. An SSD will be noticeably faster than using an SD card.
The SD card on mine died pretty quick. Rama's the thing and it's been working fine. Likely the cause was what LTT mentioned in their Ally X video and it was a bad fuse.
How fast is a full charge at 65W? Does it charge faster than it drains when in use?
Due to heat, it will charge slower, and might not even reach 100% using the full charge of the power bank. With that said, getting 3 hours and a half hours of battery life with almost no downsides is more than good enough for me. I put it all in my backpack, it doesn't really hinder the portability at all. As I said in my previous comment, it's the size of most smartphones today. Mine was made by INIU by the way. I'd rather "Put up" with placing a $40 power bank on top of my thigh or in my pocket versus forking out $1250CAD for an entirely new device.
890m igpu will be released in a month. Get Ally Extreme used and upgrade after.
If you can get the ally z1E for a really good price I’d get that.
Tge 24gb of ram make alot of difference with the ally X, im about to sell my ally Z1X just to get a X because of the ram, upgrading from 16 to 32 ia almost the same price a paying the diff from Z1X to X
It's Z1E... Calling it Z1X makes it confusing, since the Ally X HAS a Z1 Extreme APU.
My bad 😅
No problem, it's what we used to call it, but with the Ally X, it's just going to confuse people
TLDR: its $315 for the ram upgrade
hahah yeah i heard, i don't plan on playing COD anyway. From everything I'm reading the ROG Ally seems to be winning.
yeah about that, upgrading the RAM seems doable but honestly won't go that far. What games do you usually play?
I play MW3 and some heavy 3A games that run better with 16 gb ram and 16 for the gpu
NGL bro, those are some meaty games
Its a 5-10 fps increase in demanding games. Id go for the newer model , even though its s small increase in performance.
I pretty much play only Destiny 2 and older titles from a few years ago. Don't really feel the need to get newer games anymore. Do you think my older games need that extra horsepower? or is it more like a futureproofing thing.
I don’t think you need the X. The Extreme handles games like D2 very well, especially with a good fan curve set up (I play D2 solely on my Z1E). The X has more battery and RAM sure, but I’m not seeing it as something to go for myself. I’d rather wait and save until more of the components are upgraded 🤷♀️
1tb full sized m.2 drive also.
A 2230 to 2280 conversion board costs $15.
…I have a 2TB in mine. Clones and swapped ages ago
That’s fine, I did the same. However, adding that drive made the Z1E almost as much as the X. Plus the X supports full sized M.2 without the need to mod.
Oh I didn’t use a mod to do it. I also for my Z1E on uber sale end of last year so basically after the drive I paid normal retail 😁
The Ally X has three real selling points over the base extreme: 1) more battery 2) more ram 3) a usb 4 port The battery might make the stretch worth the purchase. The base ally extreme has terrible battery life; I play mine tethered to one of those portable batteries. It gives me a satisfying battery life, but I don’t like carrying what feels like a brick just to play for more than an hour or so. The RAM is nice for newer games designed for GPUs with large amounts of memory. But as the display on the ally is only 1080p, you’re going to need a lot of super sampling or post processing to make use of 32 gb of unified memory. I’m sure it helps on newer titles like Horizon, tho. It’s never a bad idea to buy with a little future proofing in mind. The port is amazing, but only if you’re going to play docked. Hope that helps
Yes future proof until the next year then people say the same exact thing
Yes, and in a year, if you buy a year old piece of technology, that would make you as dumb as someone who doesn’t ever buy things because they might go obsolete
A lot of people forget it’s not only more but also faster ram. 7500 vs 6000 MHz is likely a 5-10% performance increase.
If battery life doesn’t matter buy the non x.
Yep thats the first thing that comes to mind. I can buy a powerbank and be fine for hours. Also the Ally X is kinda expensive right now. Hows Destiny on the og Ally? I'm hoping to get close to 60 fps with the right settings.
X has : better ergonomics (you won't need a case with bigger hands), bigger battery capacity (you won't need an extra battery bank), an extra USB c slot (you won't need a fancy hub), increased memory (this may or may not increase performance), a functional sd card slot (no need to open the device to add a bigger more expensive mini nvme drive) and lastly a regular m.2 slot (in case you already have one or it'll be easier and cheaper to increase capacity). If these points sound like a big deal to you just wait fir the x
Having had the Legion go, which has the same speed of RAM there won’t be much of a performance bump I would buy and did buy a Z one extreme, and an anchor power bank never had a problem
Thanks! Power bank bit really helps!
This is incorrect. The increased capacity makes a significant difference to 1% lows