Asus ROG Ally X Review: You’ve Got a Friend in Me

The $800 Asus ROG Ally X is 1 of the astir costly gaming handhelds you tin buy. It’s a bully happening that it’s besides the astir versatile gaming handheld I’ve plugged excessively galore hours into. It’s a mid-cycle refresh of the ROG Ally, but marque nary mistake, this is the 1 you want. It’s amended successful astir ways than its predecessor and astir different handheld PCs connected the market. The Ally X has much storage, somewhat amended performance, and, astir importantly, a two-times bigger artillery than the archetypal Ally. 

The Ally X sits adjacent to the Steam Deck OLED arsenic a premier illustration of what’s imaginable with a gaming handheld. It would beryllium adjacent perfect, but Windows 11 and Microsoft’s inattention to its OS connected tiny screens makes everything harder than it needs to be. Also, that’s a damn precocious terms for immoderate handheld, nary substance however bully it is.

Some people proclaim that the lone mode to play connected a handheld console, whether a Steam Deck, Lenovo Legion Go, oregon ROG Ally, is with the instrumentality plugged in. That is simply a acold worse mode to play immoderate handheld game, whether it’s a Nintendo Switch oregon your aged Game Boy Color. This signifier origin promises it’s freeing; it tin spell anywhere: planes, trains, automobiles, you sanction it. If you’ll ever permission it plugged in, wherefore wouldn’t you bargain a budget gaming laptop and effort to worldly it successful your luggage? 

The occupation with handhelds has been their batteries. You tin get a coagulated league with the early-access mentation of Hades II connected astir of these devices, but not with immoderate crippled that pushes graphics and coagulated framerates. On the ROG Ally X with the caller 80Wh artillery (twice arsenic large arsenic the Ally’s 40Wh), I got 2 to astir 3 hours successful demanding games similar Baldur’s Gate III and Cyberpunk 2077. Some players would accidental that’s not enough, but they’re wrong. It’s capable playtime earlier being reminded that taking a interruption is good. Three hours is astir of a home level flight. It’s doubly arsenic overmuch arsenic my emblematic bid commute. 

Its redesigned chassis and buttons marque it my favourite handheld since the Steam Deck OLED. Will it regenerate Valve’s Deck arsenic my astir recommended handheld PC? No, unluckily not. The Ally X is $800 compared to $650 for the 1 TB OLED Deck. Asus’ instrumentality besides uses Windows 11, and nary substance however overmuch its built-in Armory Crate SE UI has improved, it’s inactive excessively annoying to leap into your games done aggregate launchers connected specified a tiny screen. 

But if you cognize what you’re doing, the Ally X is simply a beast. It performs amended than the regular Ally successful CPU and crippled benchmarks, acknowledgment to the amended RAM and artillery with entree to higher modular TDP. It’s 1 of the astir costly handhelds you tin get, but it’s besides travel the closest to extolling the afloat committedness of this nascent design.

I privation a gaming PC with the portability of a Nintendo Switch and the artillery beingness of a Game Boy. We besides request it to beryllium arsenic controllable with thumbsticks and look buttons arsenic it is with a rodent and keyboard. In that way, the Steam Deck OLED is inactive your champion archetypal choice, particularly if you’re connected a budget. The Ally X is simply a adjacent second.

Asus ROG Ally X Design and Display

It’s a Bigger, More Comfortable Handheld PC

Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo

There’s much than a elemental colour swap gone into the Ally refresh. It’s conscionable a fewer millimeters thicker and a somewhat heavier console astatine astir 1.5 pounds. The caller instrumentality redesigned the consciousness of the thumbsticks, triggers, and backplate. Overall, it’s a acold much comfy build. No much ridge on the backmost acts arsenic an awkward support for your ringing finger, and it’s overmuch easier to grip the triggers present that they slope much towards the handheld’s sides. 

There’s a caller 8-directional d-pad arsenic well, but the thumbsticks are easy the biggest betterment overall. The older Ally’s sticks felt thin, but the refreshed exemplary has much heft without being flicky. Asus claimed it’s easier to regenerate the sticks if there’s immoderate contented this time. The lone happening I consciousness missing from the plan is RGB backlights successful the look buttons, possibly the lone bully happening I had to accidental astir MSI’s Ally-aping Claw. 

The rear aerial vents are each recovered successful the aforesaid places, but if you’ve utilized an Ally before, you’ll announcement the buttons on the apical person been shuffled around. There are nary much XG Mobile ports; instead, you person 2 USB-C ports that tin complaint the instrumentality (though lone the lefthand 1 supports Thunderbolt 4). Many communal Steam Deck docks, specified arsenic a trial portion provided by Gulikit that looks similar an aged SNES, volition person trouble reaching implicit to plug into that port. Still, it’s an wide improvement. 

The SD Card slot has been repositioned to the apical close broadside of the Ally. That comes aft immoderate users and The Verge cited issues with the archetypal Ally occasionally cooking SD cards. We haven’t experienced immoderate problems connected that front, but it volition instrumentality galore much weeks and the luck of the gully to find immoderate issues. 

There’s lone 1 mentation of the Ally X disposable to buy. It has to person a afloat 1 TB of storage, which volition inactive capable up rapidly if you’re not sparing astir your installs. It’s a shame nary of that clip and attraction went to the display. The caller handheld sports the aforesaid 7-inch, 1080p surface arsenic past year’s. It wasn’t a atrocious screen, and it tin inactive show 120 Hz refresh rates, but it inactive looks dull compared to the Steam Deck OLED oregon adjacent the Nintendo Switch OLED.

Asus ROG Ally X Battery Life

It Lasts Long Enough for a Solid Gaming Session

Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo

I’ve been doing regular sessions with my brother, playing Baldur’s Gate III co-op. He’s astatine his computer, and I’m lounging hedonistically connected the couch, sipping mead and reveling successful my brother’s hunched discomfort. The occupation with this setup is that I can’t get much than a fewer hours earlier leaving my throne and searching for a charger, astatine slightest with my Steam Deck OLED.

On the Ally X, I’ve managed to get betwixt 2 and a fractional to 3 hours of artillery beingness without dipping beneath 20%, capable for our regular sessions earlier calling it quits for the night. 

I enactment the Ally X adjacent to the Ally and acceptable some to linger connected Control at the aforesaid TDP and graphics settings. While the older Ally was afloat depleted successful little than 2 hours, the Ally X was inactive going beardown astatine 60%. I managed to get person to 4 hours connected little demanding games moving astatine higher-performance settings. You tin compression retired much clip if you tune down graphics and speeds, but I cognize fewer gamers volition marque that tradeoff.

I’d spell further than simply arguing that handhelds are amended played unplugged. Asus’ devs claims they did a batch to rework however the instrumentality handles heat, but adjacent truthful connected a blistery summer’s evening playing the Ally X I felt that the instrumentality could get beauteous uncomfortable for my near manus with my scale digit precariously adjacent to the USB-C port. With the handheld plugged successful and not moving immoderate games, I registered astir 104 degrees Fahrenheit with a laser thermometer astir wherever the instrumentality was charging. The remainder of the console, including the screen, was comparatively chill to the touch.

Despite the other vigor from the battery, I didn’t observe immoderate nonaccomplishment successful framerate adjacent aft a multi-hour league plugged in. ROG has proved susceptible of managing vigor with its Zephyrus laptops, truthful I’m gladsome the streak continues with the Ally X. Even then, I would inactive suggest you play unplugged for the champion and astir axenic handheld experience.

Asus ROG Ally X Performance

A Small Performance Bump Over the Ally

Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo

The Asus ROG Ally X uses the aforesaid CPU arsenic the top-end Ally from past year, the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme. It’s the aforesaid spot besides recovered successful the Legion Go, and it has met with immoderate of the champion show compared to different AMD oregon (beleaguered) Intel Meteor Lake chips. That’s not the extremity of the communicative for the Ally X since the large quality present is RAM and artillery upgrades. 

The caller Ally mentation has 24 GB of LPDDR5 representation versus 16 GB connected the past handheld. The caller duplicate RAM sticks besides person a faster speed, but the enhanced artillery is pushing the Ally X ahead, which allows for amended powerfulness draw. I was genuinely amazed astatine the summation successful show from past year’s Ally to Ally X. 

In 3DMark Time Spy tests, the Ally X scored astir 200 points higher than the Ally, which isn’t overmuch but considerable, noting it’s the aforesaid processor. On basal CPU benchmarks similar PCMark10, Cinebench, and Geekbench 6, I saw akin increases successful show of a fewer 100 points.  

The quality is much important successful games. In Forza Horizons benchmarks nether the aforesaid settings, including AMD FSR turned to performance, I was seeing 15 much FPS than connected the older Ally. It was little important successful different games, like Cyberpunk 2077, where the leap was from 21.52 FPS to 25.86 FPS, with default medium-to-high settings and FSR acceptable to auto. 

Compared to the Lenovo Legion Go with its 16 GB of 7500Mhz LPDDR5X RAM and Z1 Extreme, the Ally X inactive did alternatively good successful our tests. With its larger surface acceptable to a 25 TDP, the Legion Go experienced 30 FPS little than the Ally X successful Forza: Horizons and 20.64 FPS successful the Cyberpunk benchmark. Tune down the higher solution connected the Legion Go’s larger screen, and you’ll spot scores person to Ally X but not rather astatine the aforesaid level.

This is the 1 gaming handheld from a large OEM that could connection arsenic adjacent to the afloat PC acquisition without arsenic galore compromises. Still, you should take immoderate little intensive games if you privation to crippled for longer. The caller Ally promises you tin get amended TDP successful soundless and show mode, up to 13 W and 17 W, respectively. You would ne'er person a occupation with top-down titles similar Hades II connected Steam Deck, Ally, oregon immoderate large handheld, but it’s bully to cognize you tin gully much powerfulness and inactive beryllium just to bully connected artillery life.

Asus ROG Ally X Software

Microsoft Needs to Do Something About Windows 11 connected Handheld

Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo

The latest updates to Armoury Crate SE bash a batch to screen up the lingering, glaring issues with Windows 11 successful a handheld format. Despite a fewer bugs resulting successful occasional frozen screens and different issues that should person been fixed with the latest 1.5.11 patch, the UI makes selecting antithetic games and launchers comparatively painless. It’s beauteous casual to acceptable the automatic power and graphics mounting profiles for each crippled done Armoury Crate oregon the Command Center. 

But it can’t instrumentality you each the mode there, and it’s wherefore the Steam Deck volition stay ultimate until Microsoft decides to make a handheld-centric mentation of Windows. Loading successful Steam from Armoury Crate opens the app successful Big Picture mode, which is inactive amended for controllers, but the aforesaid can’t beryllium said for Epic Games Store, GOG, oregon adjacent the Xbox app contempt Microsoft’s recent improvements. 

There are inactive truthful galore instances of crippled launchers failing to admit your controller’s inputs and requiring wide usage of the touchscreen (and past applying a microfiber cloth to not muddy your visuals). Windows 11 loves popups, and adjacent though you tin crook galore off, it’s overmuch much challenging if you don’t person an casual mode to plug successful a rodent and keyboard.

Microsoft and Xbox inactive look hesitant to propulsion the trigger connected an Xbox handheld. Microsoft’s Xbox head, Phil Spencer, antecedently said his handheld for on-the-go gaming was the ROG Ally. He, of each people, should cognize the tribulations of utilizing Windows 11 connected specified a tiny device. Perhaps if helium gets his hands connected the Ally X, helium mightiness person much impetus to propulsion the close levers astatine his institution and get things moving connected a mobile-first mentation of Windows.

The Ally X Will Become Your Lively, Capable, and Very Expensive Friend

Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo

The Ally X is amended than its predecessor successful each way. If the Steam Deck OLED is the prettiest and easiest to usage of each the mainline handheld gaming devices, past the Ally X is the champion if you privation each the options and the champion artillery life. 

It besides costs a premium, and determination are nary little retention options that would typically assistance support the costs down. It’s $150 much than the 1 TB Steam Deck OLED, $100 much than the Lenovo Legion Go, and $150 much than the younger Ally. It’s the aforesaid terms arsenic the highest-end MSI Claw, but the Ally X tin warrant its cost, whereas the Claw can’t.

It besides makes going backmost to the older Ally that overmuch harder. I tin power backmost to my Steam Deck, particularly due to the fact that I bask its show and UI acold amended than the Ally X. Other than the price, the archetypal Ally has nary benefits compared to the X.

If you don’t caput the other effort it takes to tally Windows 11 connected a 7-inch screen, and if you hap to person 8,000 pennies rolling astir successful your table drawer, past the Asus ROG Ally X is your friend.