If true, this indicates a much shorter supported lifespan than we would normally see in a gaming laptop or desktop.
If this trend were to continue, then it would likely affect the viability of the handheld gaming PC market. No one wants to buy a handheld console or a handheld PC device that lacks driver updates and support after only three years.
Honestly, it's almost a relief knowing we won't have to rely on the manufacturers forever. If anything, this situation is a massive win for Linux gaming distributions. Once the necessary drivers, device trees, and patches are successfully upstreamed and merged into the mainline Linux kernel, they are maintained indefinitely by the community. It completely removes the anxiety of hardware expiration, ensuring these handhelds are freed from corporate update cycles and will keep running smoothly long after official support is abandoned.
It can damage Asus Rog ally Market ! I have Rog Ally X and i bough it recently! this device can handel any game if they go this way then i will also abandon asus and wont buy anything they make !
Just remember, this is on AMD, this time it isn't Asus's fault, they don't write the chip drivers.
My Rog Ally has been in its box for 6 months anyway that thing is a stuttering mess. Really hated using the thing. I did like it till I realized it was so bad. I ended up getting a modded switch OLED and putting a 1080p OLED screen upgrade in my steam deck LCD and just use those and the switch 2 now.
So does this mean it's useless now?
So glad I never upgraded to a Ally X or even an Xbox Ally X then. Not worth it. The aliy x came out way after the Ally as well. Useless
I'll wait for an official announcement, rumors are just that, until they are true. I doubt this is true.
Funny enough atleast i took the Intel Core 7 handheld Msi claw a8..the Intel platforms itself was mostly remained supported for 7 to 10 years.... meanwhile AMD Z custom low power chip get very few attention from AMD itself..it should be a warning for people to avoid Ryzen Z series if they want to use the Handeld pc for longer years
Just another 'strategy' companies use to make u buy their latest shiz. By dropping support for certain products, they force u to buy their new products if u want stability (and everyone electronics user, whether casual, professional, or gamer, or whether PC, handheld, or phone user wants stability)
Quote from: Yoyo on February 25, 2026, 23:04:36Just remember, this is on AMD, this time it isn't Asus's fault, they don't write the chip drivers.
It's much worse than that. They're blacklisting the 780m driver that you install for laptops from being installed onto any z1 extreme chip despite it being the exact same silicon used in 7840U apu laptops.
Quote from: GoatisGaming on February 26, 2026, 15:25:12I doubt this is true.
Asus released an update to the driver for z1e ally. But when you look into the driver package it's still using the same old branch the last update had. The LeGo z1e hasn't had update in ages.
Why do you think this is happening? Without waiting for any official announcements, it's kind of pretty obvious what's going on. AMD wants OEMs to pay them for continued GPU driver support as they are treating these more as semi custom chips.