They're still pretty good at least here in Asia. The horror stories I hear of Asus support in the US is a might and day difference from what I experienced. Their Taiwan HQ needs to smash some sense into the US office and clean house.

[–] reagansrottencorpse@lemmy.ml 83 points 5 months ago (13 children)

Why would anyone buy this instead of a steamdeck?

[–] Sneptaur@pawb.social 41 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Because some gamers think windows would be better for this. And maybe a little bit of gamer brand loyalty

[–] TexasDrunk@lemmy.world 22 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, some folks don't want to tinker and do like to play games with DRM that won't work on Linux. It's also a little more powerful than the Deck.

I love my deck so much that I broke my tinkering with computers outside of work hours rule in order to set up some Steam remote play boxes (HoloISO based) on mini PCs scattered throughout the house so I don't have to be next to my gaming rig to play. I don't really play anything online that has the Windows only DRM so Linux is great for me. But I get it when people have things they want to do and don't have the time, know how, or desire to fuck with their systems.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

What's the advantage of the mini PCs over a relatively cheap Android TV with the Steam Link app or even an old Steam Link hardware?

What's the hardware you're using?

I have been doing local streaming from my gaming PC to devices around tbe house (using mostly Steam and Moonlight) for nearly a decade.

I just find the steam stuff maddeningly buggy (setups that worked a month ago suddenly start having some new issue, usually Steam Input or otherwise controller-related). But when things work, it's fantastic. Especially for living room gaming with friends (or my kid)

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[–] hayz00z@lemmy.world 16 points 5 months ago

I bought it because I was able to go to Best Buy and trade in my Mac Book for a gift card and walk out with one.

[–] _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 11 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It's got better specs on paper but in practice, my Steam Deck just just about everything without issue, even new games and most games that are "unsupported" (at least as far as I've tried).

Some people might also like the layout better or just be fond of Asus as a company from the good old days when they were actually decent.

[+] FonsNihilo@lemmy.ca 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 24 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Cheaper

Isn't the Ally a lot more expensive than the Deck?

easier to use

I'd also question this, obviously everyone's familiar with windows but the handheld experience is pretty rough when compared with SteamOS.

[–] xkforce@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Walmart prices:

512 GB Ally: $399

512 GB Steam Deck: $499

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

To be fair, that's the low power Ally with a pretty significant 20% off sale.

I'm not well educated on the power difference, but a quick google search shows the cheaper Ally gets about 60% the benchmarked performance of the more expensive Ally when plugged in. There's also a significant drop when not plugged in, but less severe (only about a 20% drop in fps). Source

I suppose the real question is how does it compare to a Steam Deck at that price, and if the drop in power is worth the price difference.

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 8 points 5 months ago

iirc they're all similar amd chips but the steam deck has the lowest performance by a small margin. But the steam deck uses less overhead with Linux.

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[–] Xatolos@reddthat.com 4 points 5 months ago

Online gaming for certain games. Proton doesn't work with some online DRMs.

[–] Lesrid@lemm.ee 4 points 5 months ago

Because they don't need touchpads and like an asymmetrical layout

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[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 77 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (6 children)

They've been a shit company for over a decade at least.

I got a laptop for my wife back when we were in college. It developed a problem with the monitor where the screen would look all corrupt after using it for a little bit. My wife, while reciting the prayer of percussive maintenance, would whack it and the problem would go away for a while. So I figured the connection had come loose. No biggie, just reseat it or replace it. The warranty had expired, so I cracked it open to see what was wrong. I reseated the cables in it and it worked... for a bit. Then the problem came back. Eventually we got fed up and bought another one, same model, figuring it was a fluke... It developed the same issue. Come to find out, Asus cheaped out in the ribbon cable for the monitor and installed ones that were too short for the laptop. Looking online, there were a bunch of people complaining about the same thing.

Around the same time as I had gotten her the new laptop, I'd also bought an Asus ZenPad for her to read on. We'll, that suddenly developed a screen issue too! Almost exactly the same as the laptops! My wife, ever eager to apply kinetic reinforcement, found that twisting the tablet a little bit also fixed the issue. I went online and, sure enough, Asus used cheap cables again! They would last just long enough for the warranty to expire before they'd detach.

I swore to myself I'll never buy another Asus product as long as I live. If I ever have kids, I'll disown them if they do too... Fuck these scammers.

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[–] slurpinderpin@lemmy.world 48 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Tech Jesus had a video about this recently too. I’ll stay far away from Asus

[–] Chainweasel@lemmy.world 33 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (5 children)

I think Gamers Nexus also did a video on it recently.

Edit: I'm an idiot and I just recently started watching GN so I had no idea it was the same channel 🤷‍♂️

[–] Fermion@mander.xyz 26 points 5 months ago

Tech Jesus is a colloqial name for Steve Burk of Gamers Nexus because of his hairstyle resembling old depictions of Jesus.

[–] slurpinderpin@lemmy.world 18 points 5 months ago

Tech Jesus = GamersNexus

All hail Steve!

[–] KryptoSynth@ani.social 9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I believe Steve did a video on it as well recently. Fortunately, looks like I dont own any Asus devices.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I believe also Tech Jesus did a video too. Lots of stuff going on with this.

[–] DAMunzy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

GN too!

[–] Chef_Boyardee@lemm.ee 2 points 5 months ago

I forget the channel, but this guy with long dark hair and a goatee covered this issue.

[–] WhiteHotaru@feddit.de 8 points 5 months ago

Louis picked it up from Gamers Nexus, as he says in the video.

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[–] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 10 points 5 months ago

Tech Jesus he mentions he spoke to Louis Rossman about this in his video. So it kinda makes sense Louis would also make a video about it.

[–] frezik@midwest.social 10 points 5 months ago

Gamers Nexus is killing it over the past few years. So many shitty companies taken down.

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[–] Dremor@lemmy.world 45 points 5 months ago (1 children)

My own experience with Asus warranty was of utter incompetence.

It was a long time ago, around 10 years or so, and I sent a newly acquired laptop for repairs because of constants BSOD. Waited a month before getting it back... Without sound. Turn out they forgot to reconnect the sound card. I sent it back for repair, waited another month (because even if they are at fault, they won't even fast track that repair), only to get it back with a nonfunctional touchpad. I don't use it, so I didn't send it back a third time, because who know what would have come back damaged that time.

So their repair woes aren't recent. When their stuff works, it works well, but pray that you won't need to RMA it.

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 6 points 5 months ago

I had a nightmare situation a few years back with a ZenFone 6.

It bricked itself within a week, and after I sent it in I got months of radio silence, until I started calling them about it. They had no clue what the status of my repair was, there were a ton of orders for part after part, and it just kept going.

Eventually I just started pressuring anyone I could with "I need a new phone, this old one is falling apart, I can't just keep using it for months on end as you figure your shit out" and they eventually relented, instead just giving me an entire new unit.

Last year I bought an Asus monitor with clearly advertised "on-site-warranty" (which means a courier comes to your house and just drops off a replacement in exchange for picking up the old one), it was DOA.

I thought great, "on-site-swap" should have this sorted by tomorrow. I started the RMA and the first thing they want me to do is ship my monitor to Germany at my expense. I said "fuck no", and instead returned it to the retailer as I was still within the return window, and then just walked into another retailer with more in stock, to pick up another, which then worked.

Then, months later, some dude calls me and asks when I'll be home for my on-site warranty swap, straight up dropping my jaw to the floor. I know I cancelled my RMA.

Lo and behold, the RMA case-number wasn't even the same, so for some reason Asus decided, on their own, to open another RMA, WITHOUT TALKING TO ME for a monitor I TOLD THEM I WOULD BE RETURNING. Maybe someone tried to fix the fuck-up of not honouring the on-site warranty, but holy fuck if that took two months, thank god I took it into my own hands and got it fixed within 24 hours.

[–] aniki@lemm.ee 30 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I love how the latest generation of gamers are finally finding out that Asus has always been, and always will be, a dogshit company.

[–] fluckx@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Fucking Asus transformer pad.

Please send it back for free and we'll check if the damage is under warranty. If not you'll need to pay 50$>to get your device back.

FUCK. OFF. Ship it back for free if it isn't under warranty. Or have a contract with a shop nearby that can determine if it's under warranty.

Last time I bought anything Asus.

[–] fluckx@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Actually that's a lie. I have their routers in house which, for now, all seem to run pretty decently

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[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yeah even in this video the guy was saying they used to be great, but after having like 3 motherboards fail prematurely and dealing with their crappy RMA process, I learned long ago that their reputation isn't deserved. I did buy a couple of their routers which seems fine for now but I won't be giving them more money in the future after watching this

[–] aniki@lemm.ee 3 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Back in university at the turn of the millennia I was a front-line desktop support guy and the amount of Acer and Asus laptops that came in just completely falling apart was insane.

[–] celeste@kbin.earth 5 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I was in college around the same time and recall doing my usual minimum research for a new system and still to this day think "acer's crap, right?" when someone mentions it, even though the memory of why is gone.

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[–] UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world 27 points 5 months ago

Jay stopped promoting their stuff, tech jesus just did a report on them and our fair repair guy is on it too. Fuck Asus.

[–] Xantar@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

I've been told that originally Asus was called Pegasus. But they shortened it to be listed higher in alphabetical order lists.

Guess they're trying to 😎 bring back the Peg.

[–] ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 6 points 5 months ago

So they've already done the pegging, and are now just the Asus?

[–] Blaster_M@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

Pegatron, and that was the OEM motherboard branch of ASUS, which the likes of HP used for a long while. Also ASRock, which is a split off from Pega.

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