ASUS’ attractive and powerful handheld, ROG Ally, has undergone one of iFixIt’s extensive and detailed teardowns. The teardown video was positive, praising the easy-to-maintain device’s battery, thumbstick, fan, and SSD. However, the Asus ROG Ally loses some points due to the difficulty of replacing the screen and the unavailability (lack) of some custom spare parts.
iFixit wants to take a look inside the Asus ROG Ally to see how it performs against Valve’s Steam Deck, the “undisputed champion of PC-based handheld games.” Device repairability is essential for technology enthusiasts, so ratings on sites like iFixit are very important to many users. Extensive reviews on the Asus ROG Ally and Valve Steam Deck also reveal the unit and can be read via the inserted link. However, iFixit goes pretty deep in this regard.
Opening the ROG Ally was easy, just spring off the back with six Phillips screws and some tabs/clips. The battery has a Tamper Evident sticker (the other components have two small warning stickers). However, lithium-ion batteries can evaporate if mishandled, so this is more of a safety advice than a law. iFixit described ROG Ally’s easy battery replacement as the “biggest repair advantage” over the Steam Deck.
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Despite the warnings, the ROG Ally’s battery is screwed in rather than glued, making it easier to replace than the Steam Deck’s battery. Similarly, easily unscrewable components included an M.2 2230 form factor SSD (upgradeable to 2TB at the time of writing).
Further disassembly revealed more user-friendly design considerations. For example, the thumbstick assembly is on a modular board and is attached using screws and a detachable data cable. When removed, two more screws allow you to separate the wear-prone physical thumbsticks depending on your gaming style and user preferences. The heatsink and fan assembly is modular and easy to remove and maintain.
After removing the mainboard, it’s not difficult to remove the modular speaker, power button, fingerprint sensor, LED ring and other bits.
Removing the screen wasn’t very easy to use. Like many smart devices, this one is glued, and iFixit used a combination of a scalpel and a guitar pick to cut and pry it off to minimize the risk of breaking the glass (probably hot air helps with the glue). probably).
The final drawback highlighted in the iFixit video is the lack of official ROG Ally spare parts. ASUS has yet to commit to making these available to repair shops or the general public, but it should do so soon if it follows the trends set by its main rivals.
iFixit ends the video blaming ROG Ally’s UI and Windows usage. However, Windows is well known both for its pros and cons. tom’s hardware Dear readers, in our review, we shared an extensive discussion of the Asus handheld’s Armory Crate SE.
