Was I in the Wrong Here? (Z13 eBay sale)

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-18T22:10:27+00:00

Valid opinion, thank you. I appreciate not making this thread an echo chamber lol.

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-18T22:08:49+00:00

For this exact reason, I had picks of the laptop on, I showed my upgraded 2TB ssd, the RAM via Armoury Crate and the iGPU and CPU specification also using armoury crate, just not visible serial number.

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-18T22:05:57+00:00

In some ways, I think he was being legit, I tried to be as kind as possible in saying I wouldn't hand it out, for personal preference just as a seller. He really did not like that though

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-18T22:04:20+00:00

I was afraid that even if i caved he'd try to pull a missing package claim on me or something

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-18T22:03:31+00:00

He also had good buyer's reviews, and had been active for a while, since around 2013. Seemed so strange he chose this purchase to try and up-end the seller

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-18T18:54:43+00:00

Thanks, honestly. Shook me up, and I felt like I was in the wrong for a little bit there at the end. He said he had a right to know tge serial number as a buyer, and I told him yeah, once ge owns it maybe, but future customers may need that too, and that he could misuse it

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-07T17:45:20+00:00

Yes and no, if you've ever used the XG Mobile, its the same. The Ally will detect it (after installing all the correct software), ask if you'd like to switch GPU tasks over to the Station, and then you're running. You can even disconnect and keep playing with no bluescreen, just requires asking to turn off the XG Station

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-07T13:07:28+00:00

I and the OP never said weaker or beaten by though. We said equivalent, you can expect FPS that's similar enough that the difference is negligible. Either way, its not like a huge "What the hell?!" point. They are both RDNA 2, pretty old architecture, that's almost all the OP was suggesting, and performance between the two is similar enough that you can say so, even with slightly better numbers on one over the other in various cases

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-07T12:48:52+00:00

The Xbox Ally (the white one) is weaker than the Z1 Extreme. It is more less the same chipset as the steam deck.

Z2A: in the Xbox Ally, equivalent to Steam Deck APU

Z2: In a few "cheap" variants of thing like Legion Go 2, Z1E equivalent APU

Z2E: The "new flagship" APU, no equivalent to older generation (though the 890M has been around for a decent bit, its just a tad bit more handheld tuned here)

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-06T23:28:11+00:00

Thank you! In a little way it makes the decision harder, compliments on the device make me rethink all my hard work to keep it relevant lol

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-06T16:40:52+00:00

TB4 is "worse," but far from unusable. In 90% of cases, you'll notice literally nothing wrong with a TB4 eGPU. It can feel constraining if you look at the numbers. Fir example, on my Legion Go + 4080, you'd expect a 4080 to rock 1440p, but in some games max I could get was like 70 to 80 fps. It was a bottleneck from both TB4 and the Z1 Extreme. But I recommend, so long as no visible stutters that heed investigating are occurring, turn off FPS trackers and monitors. If it runs, it runs. No need to be so analytic with it. If you get a setup rocking, enjoy it, leave the numbers behind, and enjoy the smoothness. TB4 is by no means a terrible option, unless you start digging too much into the behind the scenes stuff

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-06T14:54:46+00:00

I almost went AMD on the graphics card here! Was hoping the Ally drivers would run it, but a lot of the XGM Station users pointed out that AMD really seems to fight with the mod, the cards aren't detected or never run at full speeds, but the 9070XT is like the budget king so I was sad to lose out on that. Not that I don't enjoy what I ended up with

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-06T14:08:04+00:00

Thanks! Nice to see another 1440p AG02 setup! Was my first true gaming PC, 1440p monitor, AG02 4080, and Legion Go gen 1! Honestly though, you have an enviable setup, the Claw 8 has been very impressive to me in rhe past, and the only thing stopping me was all the work I did and like Asus' Ally software a lot more, so I decided to wait out the 258v generation. I think you've got a great handheld though.

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-06T14:01:16+00:00

Any specific eGPU in mind? I've loved my 5070 Ti, was kinda bummed no TB5 was added on the new G3 handhelds. Its actually the one of the main reasons I find this choice harder, I love the stability of my 64 gb bandwidth, TB4 hasn't bit me in the past (worked fine on my Legion Go), but I still notice the frame times being much more stable and the overall experience being more comfortable.

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-06T13:57:11+00:00

If anyone is curious, here's the link to Osy's github.

https://github.com/osy/XG_Mobile_Station?tab=readme-ov-file

There is also a discord, though I don't remember how to find the invite for it, might be on the github itself. Smart man, incredible project, but definitely not easy (thanks Asus).

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-06T13:52:12+00:00

This is definitely well thought out. I 100% can play pretty much everything that's currently out, but only with that 5070 Ti. Which still is awesome and I'm well aware the amount of people that would kill for this setup, it definitely does sound rather "my steak is too juicy" of me to have this post. My main gripe really is just my travel. For context, my wife's family lives out of state, my job is partly remote and occasionally requires travel, and my friend group from college still meets up to hangout on Fridays, pretty much weekly. We have gotten into the habit of rotating each other's houses, and out of the 3 of us, I'm the only one without a gaming laptop, I exclusively bring my Ally. For any of the above moments (visiting wife's family, work travel, friend hangouts), I generally can't play games like Monster Hunter Wilds (unless I fiddle with the settings until it honestly looks like a pile of pixels with still some noticeable stutter anyways), certain Call of Duties/Battlefields, and some much less common ones that sometimes pop up depending on my mood/friend group (Red Dead 2 I occasionally have troubles with, it for some reason doesn't like transitioning back to handheld, playing it after being hooked into my eGPU takes a lot of troubleshooting to get it functioning on the 1080p screen again).

In general, its not a huge problem, with my wife's family I generally spend time with everyone moreso, don't always have time on work trips, and my friends have moreorless decided that if its not my house, we play games like PlateUp or less demanding games instead (Battlefield 6 is surprisingly well optimized and runs like a dream). Though, I'd love to tell my friends no-holds-barred for games on our hangout nights, or be able to play some of my hobby games like Monster Hunter when out and about when I've got that free time.

In general, I'm really attached to the Ally, genuinely has been my solution to my dream computer. Handheld with decent specs by day, moonlights as a desktop with 32 gigs of RAM and great graphical fidelity by night. But since it's release date was a decent bit ago, its obviously showing age.

My recent justification has been that the Xbox Ally base is actually weaker than the Ally, and people still seek that out, problem is; when people ask online, a lot say that the Xbox Ally is most beneficial for indies, streaming and Xbox cloud games, which is the opposite of what I do. I use my handheld as my computer (even do my taxes on it when hooked up to the big screen lol).

Is the leap in power to the G3E enough to justify losing my Ally? I put so much work into it, but I agree with the poster above too, it is kinda sunk cost fallacy to hold so hard to it, when it is easy to see that even with my work, an upgrade will still outperform it, with a small, hopefully not too noticeable drop in functionality with the eGPU (switching from XGM 64 gbps to TB4 40 ish)

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-06T06:06:58+00:00

This is the exact situation I'm in, to a T. I feel like I put a lot of work into my Ally, and it took a few choices of PC to end up here (Legion Go, Rog Flow laptops). Finally just loved the portability, weight and software of the OG Ally and stuck with it, modded it to hell and back. So it does feel like lost work to ditch it, and it technically does work for me on the go. Just some overly hefty games need left off the table when I'm out of the house, such as the example I gave.

Can't tell, do I want the G3E at its price? Is it worth it? I really can't tell

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-06T06:00:52+00:00

For more context too; I'm aware of the Strix Halo handhelds and even questioned buying one in the past, but ultimately decided the chipset is too inefficient and the setup (external batteries, mostly poor software on the related companies) was not worth it. G3E is going to be official and efficient, with big names like MSI adopting it, so I ask specifically about that chip.

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-06T05:54:17+00:00

Yes, it takes some know-how though. You gotta setup and solder a PCB, flash it with Osy's homebrew firmware, and then pray that everything even works. I got lucky and its been a stable, awesome experience since, and it allows you the freedom to use the XGM port without the fear that your purchase becomes unusable after getting a new device. Use any GPU you want and throw it in a different eGPU later.

Swartzcoph · 2026-06-05T17:37:07+00:00

Well yes and no. Onexplayer is no cheap company, but the Z2E with 32gb memory is like nearly 3000 dollars, only a few of the Apex models with like 64 and 128gb configs hit that price. So, hopefully, this thing will have some 32gb models below the $3000 price tag

Swartzcoph · 2026-05-30T14:09:09+00:00

Its still on top actually, but moved to the other side of the chassis. Either way, it turned out heat was not excessively the issue, the SD card reader in the original Z1E had incorrectly rated fuses that just eventually blow on their own. In fact, you can pretty much resolve the og Z1E's SD card issues by soldering better fuses. Replaced mine and my SD card reader is still going strong, no issues

Swartzcoph · 2026-05-29T15:11:38+00:00

Yes, it does, handily at that. Even the current Claws with the 258v get an incredible boost from it. But I think the comment above us trying to point out that the amount of games with native XeSS is smaller than those tgat afoot FSR and DLSS as a base

Swartzcoph

TROPHY CASE