iFixit took advantage of the weekend to publish a teardown video of the ASUS ROG Ally. The opportunity to discover the bowels of the portable console, but also to see that it benefits from a repairability potential greater than that of its main competitor: the Steam Deck.
This is indeed what the experts of the American specialized site confirm to us. Their disassembly allows us in particular to note that access to the components is easier on the console of the Taiwanese manufacturer than on that of Valve. To open the shell, all you have to do is remove six small Phillips screws, then gently unclip the back plate. An easy operation.
A modular design…
Surprisingly, ASUS nevertheless wants to dissuade users from continuing to disassemble its ROG Ally by affixing warranty stickers everywhere. A point that some users will have to take into account. That being the case, the design of the console is overall very modular. The components can therefore be disassembled quite quickly and some basic repairs are therefore within reach of the majority of users with a precision screwdriver and a little patience.
Unlike that of the Steam Deack (solidly glued), the 40 watt-hour battery of the ROG Ally can thus be easily removed, as can the M.2 SSD installed inside its chassis. Changing the latter is possible in a few minutes in order to switch to a higher storage capacity at a lower cost, for example. A great point. Same approach for the sticks and the vibration motors, which can be disassembled without any particular difficulty. And above all: replacing them does not require changing anything else, since they are each installed on independent modules of the motherboard.
Be careful though, the stick technology used by ASUS is the same as that of the Nintendo Switch… which is not a good sign for their durability. Fortunately, it will always be possible to replace them in the event of a problem.
… but ASUS neglects (for now) an important point
The dissipation system can also be removed without incident, and we discover that the two fans of the ROG Ally are independent of each other, which will allow them to be replaced individually if they were to become noisy. Unsurprisingly, the RAM (LPDDR5) is soldered to the motherboard.
Conversely, the speakers are screwed to the hull (and therefore removable), and the fingerprint sensor is also modular. All you have to do is unlock the cable that connects it to the motherboard and unclip it to be able to remove it. In the same vein, the RGB elements installed at the level of the sticks can also be replaced, if necessary, with a few turns of a screw.
The 1080p / 120 hertz screen of the ROG Ally, on the other hand, is particularly difficult to remove, the latter being firmly glued to the chassis. Replacing it could therefore lead to its damage, especially if you are not careful. Another reason for dissatisfaction: for the moment, ASUS does not offer official spare parts for its portable console, unlike the Steam Deck thanks to a partnership… with iFixit (it can’t be invented).
Source : Engadget
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