A little over a year after launching the ROG Ally, Asus is back with an upgraded version of its portable gaming device, the ROG Ally X. This Windows-based machine will start shipping on July 22 for US$800. After spending a few days with the console, you’ll find much to appreciate, especially on the hardware front.
Steam Deck’s influence and competition
Released in 2022, Valve’s Steam Deck made handheld PC gaming mainstream. At the same time, it wasn’t the first to explore this form factor: valve perfectly balanced specs, portability, and price. Its success caught the attention of PC manufacturers, prompting Lenovo to release the Legion Go and Asus to introduce the ROG Ally. Niche manufacturers like Ayaneo also entered the market.
The ROG Ally X features a bright seven-inch display with a 1080p resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The display is flanked by standard gaming buttons and joysticks, similar to a Nintendo Switch, but the controls on the ROG Ally X are relatively small. Instead, they feel like a full-size controller in your hands, with joysticks resembling those on a modern Xbox controller. The A/B/X/Y buttons are large and clicky, and the analogue triggers offer plenty of travel.
However, the D-pad feels mushy, reminiscent of a budget third-party controller. The View and Menu buttons, located next to the display, are also hard to reach and require you to stretch your thumbs to pause a game. There are two additional macro keys at the back of the device, which you can configure as View and Menu buttons for better accessibility. On each side of the screen, you’ll find a command centre button for on-the-fly performance tweaks and an Armoury Crate button to launch Asus’ game launcher.
Armoury Crate and command centre
The ROG Ally X’s main software interface, Armoury Crate SE, is functional but has flaws. It acts as a game launcher, centralising everything you’ve installed from platforms like Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Ubisoft Connect. It also lets you change device settings, from joystick LEDs to gamepad profiles. While it gets the job done, the interface could be faster to open menus, and there are occasional bugs, such as games disappearing from the list.
The command centre is essential for adjusting settings on the fly, such as switching between silent, performance, or turbo mode. However, it can sometimes be slow to react to your interactions.
Due to its weight, the device will be comfortable to hold, but only for short sessions. Handheld PC gaming devices are generally heavy and can get warm during use, especially when playing games.
Before testing the ROG Ally X, spend hours with the Logitech G Cloud, an Android handheld designed for cloud gaming and remote play. The G Cloud offers a quiet, battery-efficient, and easy-to-hold experience. However, it’s limited compared to the ROG Ally X, which feels like the culmination of gaming handhelds, much like how the Game Boy allowed you to play NES games on the go 35 years ago.
Performance and battery life
Asus has kept the AMD Z1 Extreme APU for the ROG Ally X but increased the RAM from 16GB to 24GB, improving gaming performance by sharing memory between VRAM and system RAM. The handheld has a user-replaceable 1TB NVMe storage card (in 2280 format) and a larger 80Wh battery. The proprietary eGPU port has been replaced with a more standard USB Type-C with USB 4 support.
The ROG Ally X excels with games that don’t require top-of-the-line PCs, such as Jusant, Cocoon, or Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, rendering 60 to 120 frames per second in 1080p without using the 30W boost mode. For AAA games, you’ll need to make some compromises. Marvel’s Spider-Man runs around 45 frames per second on a high graphics preset with RSR, AMD’s resolution upscaling feature. More demanding games like The Last of Us: Part I require low settings and aggressive resolution scaling to reach 30FPS.
Battery life depends on your games and the power mode you select. While you can play games like Baba Is You in “silent mode” for extended periods, using “boost mode” for demanding games like The Last of Us significantly impacts battery life.
The ROG Ally X is a Windows PC that allows you to install any game on the platform. However, the Windows experience without a mouse and keyboard can be frustrating, making a proper laptop or smartphone more convenient for non-gaming tasks.
The ROG Ally X offers a console-like form factor but not a polished, console-like experience. It represents an early preview of the future of PC gaming, where handhelds work like PCs but look like consoles. As gaming handhelds evolve, they will become smaller, lighter, and quieter, potentially resembling Android-based handhelds. For now, the ROG Ally X stands out as a capable and promising device in this emerging market.
