When the Asus ROG Ally made its debut, the console was mired with issues such as appalling battery life and a suicidal microSD card slot. A year later, the gaming brand released the Ally X, which addressed the issues by issuing a larger 80Wh battery and support for the more conventional M.2 2280 SSD form factor.
For one Indian TechTuber by the name of Miner TechTips, they made the decision to mod their 2023 Ally’s battery, a trend which has grown substantially since the console’s arrival. Their choice of battery, however, is definitely a bit more interesting, if not controversial: they used a 90Wh battery, taken from an ASUS ROG Strix G15, to replace the piddling 40Wh of the console.
As the 90Wh battery clearly wasn’t designed for devices such as the Ally, Miner TechTips also had to 3D-print a custom back panel and cover for the handheld, which also provided extra space for him to install a full-sized M.2 2280 SSD into the console, using a special 90° bracket.
Once done, the modded Ally had its weight increased from 670g to 813g. Heavy as that may sound, it is important to remember that the recently announced ROG Xbox Ally X weighs in at 713g. Further, the bulk of the 90Wh battery means that the handheld looks bulkier from the outside but again, such is the price of modding and attaching massive batteries that clearly have no business being attached to anything but the laptop it was assigned to.
Getting back on point, the fruit of Miner TechTips’ labour was a gaming handheld that provided extended gaming sessions over the original configuration. Instead of the less-than-two hours of game time, the 90Wh battery effectively provided up to four hours of gaming, with three hours seemingly being the bare minimum. Of course, it goes without saying that the type of game being played also affects the battery life.
(Source: Miner TechTips, Videocardz)
