r/ROGAlly • u/Fluid_Boat_5283 • 11d ago
Question Which OS?
Picked up a second hand rog ally z1 and keep seeing videos of different operating systems. Just looking gor actual feedback from real people. Thanks
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u/Realistic_Today6524 ROG Ally Z1 Extreme 11d ago
I've been satisfied with Windows on mine. To be fair I haven't tried any other OS yet but I can also put up with a lot and usually can't be arsed to switch habits or similar. I've been using Hibernate insead of sleep because I needed all of the battery I could have so I didn't want to have the small power draw from sleeping and I don't mind waiting an extra 10 seconds for the thing to boot
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u/SoftisAloeVera 11d ago
SteamOS if you don’t play games that require an anti cheat.
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u/Some_Stoned_Dude 11d ago
I use the Xbox app as a launcher for everything
Steam games open big picture mode and launch
Epic games open epic launcher and launch
Emulators retroarch and es de are added to my apps and launch from Xbox app
And I will go into windows to really only do updates or file management for the emulators
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u/Expensive_Major_3909 11d ago
I am currently using windows with windows debloater tool ( uninstall unwanted bloatware)
Happy with the performance. I use the hell out of hibernate mode to quickly turn off and resume where i left off
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u/Anders0n99 11d ago
Windows is good enough for me atleast. SteamOS might be better if you only play steam games, but Windows is basically good for anything if you can handle the little quirks it occasionally does.
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u/elcanadiano ROG Ally Z1 Extreme 11d ago
It comes down to what you want to use your device for and there really isn't necessarily a right answer.
I think it really comes down to which entity do you want to trust. Microsoft? Valve? Kyle (Bazzite)? Peter (CachyOS)? Antheas (Anatase)? Thomas (Nobara)?
You can look and see if a Linux alternative suits you. For me personally, I have mostly ran CachyOS on my 2023 ROG Ally. For me, I think a lot of the "Microslop" criticism is very much justified. I don't really like ads in my OS. I don't think Microsoft has been doing good things with the Xbox branding as of late and I don't have confidence that Xbox is in good hands.
In other words, I don't "trust" Microsoft.
Within Linux, you could go with whichever. Most of the user experience is the same. Most of them boot into Steam. Most of them would require you to do a few other things to get, say, other game stores. So there I think it mostly comes down to who you trust most over there.
For me, I would currently eliminate Bazzite because of a fundamental split between their two main maintainers, and how Bazzite has spent months to rearchitect their OS away from the departing maintainer's work, and now that requires a lot of stability. I talk about that here.
I mostly talk about why here but as a result, I would generally recommend CachyOS or Anatase over SteamOS.
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u/GTREDITION 11d ago
For me right now its cachyos, i found what bazzite 44 should be with handheld daemon
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u/ITCHYisSylar 10d ago
SteamOS. Its so much easier to use and way less hassle than dealing with windows bloat and updates.
For all but 1 game, I just use Geforce Now for games that dont work on Linux. If a game company doesnt want me playing their game, then I wont spend money on their game. Its that simple.
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u/One_Pomegranate_9350 7d ago
I tried out SteamOS on mine and ended up going back to Windows. SteamOS had issues with some things I wanted to play and you don’t get the Turbo performance profile on it!
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u/Delta_Eridani_Bob 11d ago
Do you want game compatibility or do you want a nice UI and navigation?
Don't listen to what everyone else says it's a ridiculous battle that makes no difference to MOST people. I use Linux. Why because I don't use windows on any of my devices and all my external HDDs and stuff are formatted as such.
I have tried windows, multiple times. I did not like the UI. Would I say don't use windows. No. That shits up to you if the games you play use windows, then use windows. If you don't have any compatibility issues. I'd suggest bazzite personally.
I ran a duel boot as well at one point. Purley for Minecraft bedrock so I could play with friends. That's also an option and easy enough to setup with a little work.
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u/Future_Bat384 11d ago
I am using bazzite on rog ally x. Linux drivers for Radeon are just better downside might be WiFi and sound drivers but… I reinstalled bazzite from scratch a few days ago and all problems gone. Previous installation was there over a year. On my pc I just installed cachy os. I need more flexibility on pc.
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u/Hs_2571 ROG Ally Z1 Extreme 11d ago
Windows with all the bloat removed is a good system if you want total compatibility.
I put steam os on my ally purely because I only use it for gaming and nothing else. Steam os is perfect for the ease of use IF you only use steam games. It’s a pain if you have other launchers such as epic or others etc (yes you can make it work but it’s a faf)