Well, it's not ASUS, ect fault that some people has holes in their pockets; to even consider that any so-called decent performance handheld device should retail... starting at 1k stacks... is just ludicrous. I mean... why stop there, right? Why not charge these clueless CONSUMERS at a starting price at 2k stacks; starting in 2026, especially since... uhm... the so-called "shortage of memory" now, right... RIGHT?! 😏
I guess it must not be selling that well or they're expecting a lot more stock to be discounting it this early.
I'm sorry but the supporting arguments for the ETHER verson of Ally are at best very weak.
First, most OEM's have a seemingly $1K "line in the sand" drawn for new "Gaming PC" offerings, and with anything BELOW that price point to be under performing with very obvious compromises in components to reach that price point.
The 'better' performing 'Handheld Gaming PC' (an oxymoron if there ever was one!) prices can be fairly locked in > $1K as they might or could be competing with Gaming laptops.
Honestly, if a buyer is considering one of the 'weaker' handhelds they would be better served by merely getting a 'Steam Deck' then an Ally in the first place. Much better price/performance and not stuck with WIN11.
If the buyer is giving up on performance all together and thinking of leaning into Streaming, then there are "Streaming" specific devices that are available for MUCH LESS COST or even an Odin2 (mini) costs much less and can play both Streaming services OR you can stream your PC games to. It also can be used to emulate nearly countless other platforms (similar to the x86 counter parts) but at a FRACTION of the cost of an x86 device.
"Front of Asus ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X compared (Image source: Andreas Osthoff)"
That's a lie. The photo shows white Asus ROG Xbox Ally (X or not) and black Steam Deck.