I got an ROG Ally X instead of a Switch 2

And it was a reckless but overall good decision, even if it took me on a journey.

Okay, I know this might sound like a nuts thing to do. Especially with the Xbox Ally coming out sometime this year (I bought it before I knew about that). But as I covered in my article on why I sold my original Switch (found here), I'm kinda done with Nintendo. So I.... Felt left out with all of the people writing Switch 2 articles. I still don't want to buy one so I decided I should grab a more powerful handheld PC. I've been wanting something more powerful than the Steam Deck so I can play more of my PC games on my couch (the room in my house with my computer gets rather warm during the summer months). So I stopped by my best buy and grabbed an ROG Ally Z1E (the cheaper version).

Now, I hear you asking through the camera I watch everyone who reads my articles through (don't worry, you won't find it), you said you bought an Ally X in the title but now say you bought the cheaper one? What gives? That is such a good question that I'm gonna stop watching you for a week. So then, let's go over why I bought the cheaper one, how I ended up getting the more expensive Ally X version, and what I think of them both.

Saturday mornings are the perfect time for reckless decisions.

Recently I was house sitting for my parents for the weekend and, as I'm used to sleeping at home, I had horrible sleep. Come that Saturday morning and I decided I was tired of my steam deck struggling with some of the games I wanted to play so it was time for an upgrade. Naturally I started looking around on Best Buy and reading reviews and such. I came the conclusion to buy the Ally z1e version. I didn't want to spend too much money because I have a tattoo in the future I plan on getting.

Unfortunately the z1e is absolutely dogshit when it comes to ergonomics. The thing has almost no bump outs on the back so you're basically holding a thick mostly flat tablet and it SUCKED but performance wise it was much better than the Steam Deck. I installed Steam OS on it (which took a whole day because of some mistakes I made with my USB drive), as I hate windows and don't care for gamepass, and started to have a very good time. I've been playing The Hundred Line and seeing that game at 1080p and 120fps has been really nice for both my eyes and for capturing screenshots for whenever I manage to finish the game and put out my review. This is something my Steam Deck just couldn't have done (mainly because of the screen when it comes to Hundred Line specifically).

This is the ROG Ally z1e edition, not the X, and as I have said the ergonomics were shit.

I spent a long time messing around with the device, I messed around with the OS, I messed around with how to hold the thing, I got a really good feel for what kind of device it is. I loved so much of it, but something was still nagging at the back of my mind, something I had tried to ignore but just kept coming back, something that hadn't impacted my decision about buying any other such device.

Did I make the right call?

I started to wonder if buying the z1e version was the right call. See, while it was much more powerful than the Steam Deck, it also had a horrible battery life. I mean fucking horrible. I would play the thing for an hour and have to charge it. This made me second guess my reckless decision. So I did some researching, probably something I should have done before taking the plunge but that's unimportant. I found that the X version had a much bigger battery and a couple other improvements, mainly just the increased RAM amount and speed.

That wasn't convincing me though, it was just a battery and RAM, it really wasn't that important to spend so much more money on the X. I tried to shove away the thought that I should have gotten the X because, well, it just didn't seem worth it. I continued to plow on and enjoy the z1e. It had so much going for it, it was a decent price overall, especially open box at best buy, and had a great processor and a great screen.

Then came the game changer that changed my mind. As I mentioned in the last section, the z1e version has dogshit ergonomics. I mean absolute trash. There's ways to make it better but for me it was the biggest issue with the device. I felt uncomfortable holding it. It felt like I was holding something designed by someone who had never tried to hold it. The bump outs were almost non-existent and the back buttons didn't even land near where your fingers landed on the back of the device.

I decided to continue looking around to see differences between the z1e version and then I found a review that placed them side by side. It was then that I found out that the X version had bump outs on the back (through the video linked above). That it had moved the back buttons to be where your fingers landed. That it had, overall, improved on the entire design of the z1e version.

Minor improvements add up

The improvements I continued to see around the internet and mobile PC community that the only real improvements to the X version were the battery and the RAM. Some mentioned minor things but none went into detail about what they were. After finding out the minor improvements, I did a lot of thinking about it. Was it really better to spend so much more money on a device when it will only really improve how nice it is to use as opposed to the power of the device?

Yes.

So I went back to Best Buy and swapped out the z1e for the X. I had decided that what mattered the most to me was how comfortable it was to hold and the build quality as a whole, as well as the power of course. When I got to my car I immediately took it out of the box and realized how much better of a device it was. It just has so much better ergonomics even if they're not perfect. All of the minor improvements to the device, the bump outs, the moving and redesigning the back buttons, rounding out the edges so they aren't pointy in your hand, making the joysticks more resistant (Hall Effect), having the buttons overall feel more comfy to press, even making the device slightly heavier making it feel more like a proper device as opposed to a toy. They all added up.

These back buttons are so much better than the z1e version. The z1e version you can move them around and get under them, they felt like an after thought on a toy. These feel thought out and like real buttons.

But that was just in the car. I got home and realized how much better it was overall. It's slightly smaller than the Steam Deck which actually made it nicer to hold for me (I don't have big hands). I knew I had made the right decision even if it was all based off of a reckless Saturday morning with barely any sleep in an uncomfortable place.

But why not the Lenovo Legion Go S?

I did say I care about ergonomics and I continue to read just how damn good that device is to use. But there were a few things that put me off of the device. Primarily, the size. as I mentioned, I don't have big hands and the Legion Go S being so big to accommodate it's larger screen would likely make my hands stretch more than they're able to. It would likely be uncomfortable because they are just not built to use such a large device.

Would I love an 8in screen? Absolutely. But is it necessary for the fun of the device? Nope. Plus, the Lenovo Legion Go S z1e edition was even more money on top of the Open Box Ally X version I had gotten and I had already spent just too much damn money on this reckless decision. I also would have had to wait a bit to get my hands on the Go S because it would have to be shipped to me. After reading about build quality I was also discouraged from buying it as I've heard the plastic the device is made out of can make it feel like a toy instead of the expensive device it is. Add on that I don't really like Lenovo devices as most that I have known have broken far more often than other devices I have had and it was obvious that the Go S was not for me.

The Conclusion

I do still wonder if I made the right decision. I've thought a couple times about taking it back, maybe getting the Legion Go S, but as I covered, I keep reminding myself of the reasons that one just wouldn't work out well. Now, as I write this, I keep just wanting to go back to using my Ally X. I installed Bazzite on it (a Steam OS alternative that is more useful for the Ally X until some of the features of the device are officially supported by Steam OS directly) and I couldn't be happier. I am simply waiting on my case to come in the mail from dbrand to be able to not worry about dropping the damn thing (sometimes my hands just decide it’s time to drop things because I have MS and they like to stop working for no reason).

I am a techie at heart, I always enjoy getting my hands on a new device and figuring out how it works and whether it's something I've enjoyed using. The Handheld PC market has provided me with far more opportunities for this kind of thing than I used to have. I know it was a reckless decision to make on a Saturday morning when I was only working on a few hours of sleep but I think it was a good one. Now I'll be able to play more games than I could on my Steam Deck all from my couch. I'm happy I made the reckless decision, and I still don't want to get a Switch 2 even though I spent far more than it costs. Overall, some reckless decisions are good decisions.

Meow,

Cat