finally have the cash to get a gaming laptop.
and it's kills it's own gpu because the developers tested their setup in a fridge.
1 firmware update later.. dead gpu.
and its taken 2 years to try get it fixed.

4060 = why god why..

Your problem was you bought a laptop. If you wanted to do serious, proper gaming, a (non-bodge special) proper computer will have to do. Be it something you build in a SilverStone FLP01, or a refurbished workstation with some manner of workstation graphics card shoved into it, a laptop just isn't gonna cut it, especially if you made the mistake of buying a consumer grade product instead of a Thinkpad, Elitebook, or other manner of hardened laptop.

my problem is i dont have space for a full machine.
rn i'm being powered by a rog ally on a long usbC cord to a dock

and it's putting that high tech brand name laptop to shame... at 80% of the same power use.. i'm confused.

i have laptops with gpu's in them running games and barely serviced for 25 years.
you want to tell me they cant build that quality anymore? the stigmata that these products should be worse is the mistake that enables them to do worse.
please don't be a enabler.. your speaking to a darth vader level engineer, no science scares me.

the mistake 99% of all developers are making is error margins are so small... they can easily fail.
{redacted} has been a world wide supplier and they know their making trash electronics that dont stand the test of time... and no one is taking a fight to them all about quality..

it would be one thing if it was a pile of trash no name grab... but it's not.. it speaks of the quality that a empire gives the rest of humanity as well.

you need to litterally force the repair guy to run a program and test it.. liek a stubborn mule...

my first robot dies from a bad regulator.. i learn from it.
next build i make sure there's a 25% power margin.
what do they do.. next time make sure there's a 1% heat margin... NUMBSKULLS WE GIVE MONEY.
they try not break what their selling us... but we pay the price.
2 years to figure out.. HEY MAYBEY WE DESTROYED THE GPU WITH OUR CRAP SOFTWARE!!

it's like all these well paid engineers are not enjoying their job and clearly dont know what the hardware limits are at all...
and why is that you may ask... ohh let me tell you...
they dont test their trash... at all and thats 70% of the main market.

because a gpu cant live up to it's age.. no we need to brute force the next generation that we barely mastered...

too much money spent from our end so some ceo can live in a holodeck..

Gaming laptops are no different to other laptops.... only they are always throttled so they dont overheat and have biker tatoo's..... this time it did not throttle.

10/10 assessment

3 laptops in 4 months all had to be returned, due to defects and unrepai able problems.

Friendly advice, if you cannot get offline backup drivers for any pc. Dont buy it. I hate any company, that does this. Because they do not allow a customer to fix their own problems. There are valid reasons a user would not want to require being online.

You might be the target demographic for a mini PC. They take up about as much space as a laptop and if you don't plan on moving it anywhere then it's essentially the same thing but less likely to have problems.

If you're happy with your gaming experience on the ROG Ally, then a mini PC with a better APU can basically be your desktop alternative.

Of course they don't. How could they, being constantly caught in artificial shackles set up by management?
Things used to work like this long time ago:
Instructor: "please calculate the life expectancy of your design. If it is below "infinite", then you will fail your thesis."
How things work today:
Instructor: "please calculate the life expectancy of your design. If it exceeds minimum warranty by more than three months, then you will fail your thesis, and more than three months before minimum warranty will reduce your score."

Why? Because the extra margins required to make a solid product 1) cost money (both in good design practices and component selection / quality / quantity) and 2) weight and 3) increase TPU and 4) lengthen time to market. Neither increase will be accepted by todays consumers because inflated "premium" brands have made sure that "more expensive = good & resilient" holds zero truth anymore. Thus, there is no reason to buy or pay premium because you will end up with sub-par products and services anyway 95% of the time. That of course kills the remaining 5% in the end.

In the span of about 20 years, I bought 2 business laptops (Thinkpads).

They've lasted me about a decade each. The first one, I really needed to change because of increasing RAM requirements (it still runs otherwise). And the second one, I could probably extend its lifespan bringing it to the repair tech (something I intend to eventually do after I wipe out the data drive as I'm pretty paranoid), but no longer needed the mobility of a laptop and desired even more power so I got a high end desktop.

I left my first Thinkpad for my wife for her laser cutting and will use the second one for my infrequent travel needs after repairs.

Generally, I'm not a fan of our throwaway culture which is personified in the mobile computing industry (laptops and smart phones), but if you must: Get yourself a proper desktop (you can splurge a bit more generally even if it is not high end, you can easily replace the components) if you can and if you cannot (if you need to be mobile or some other reason), I'd say don't pay more than 1k for the cheap consumer garbage laptops (for gaming or not, the moniker says nothing about the expected lifespan of the device) they usually sell (that will likely die on you in less than 5 years, probably less than 3 even). If you want to splurge more than that for a laptop, go business grade with a brand that has a reputation for durability like Thinkpad.

My 2 cents.

I mean, I game on this laptop but it's not something I'd recommend to avid gamers either. Even if you live in an ice-box and you keep the thing 100% dust free, generally you have to tweak the settings DOWN so it doesn't run at max thrust or, yeah, burn-out.

If you're happy playing old-er titles at less than top quality, then a laptop is fine. If you're expecting to play newer titles at buttery-smooth performance levels, don't get a damn laptop.

WRONG.. YOU BUILD PROPPERLY OR CLOSE YOUR STORE... BECAUSE WERE NOT ALL IDIOTS THAT EXPECT A EXPENSIVE TOOL TO BREAK THE MOMENT WE USE IT AS DIRRECTED
That broken mentality is why we have expensive products breaking for nothing


H9w many years of tech evolution for you all to forget what you paid for actualy, WHAT IS THE POINT OF NEW TECH IF IT'S WORSE?

You live in S Africa where it is very hot. You should get AC if you intend to play on a gaming laptop because otherwise it will fry.

Or move to Finland. It is now around -6 C degrees here, perfect for some laptop gaming action.

The houses must be constructed with the expected temperature in mind. What's the normal room temperature like over there for you two?