It’s hard to believe that the ASUS ROG Ally came out just one year ago, as in that short time it feel like it’s totally changed the landscape of PC handhelds. It followed in the footsteps of the Steam Deck and a bunch of other Windows handhelds from the likes of lesser known brands such as AYANEO, but it was the first mainstream viable choice for most gamers that want access to all PC games including Xbox Game Pass, and especially here in Australia, it’s one of the only choices.
As good as a first attempt attempt as it was, it absolutely had lots of small little issues that didn’t ruin the experience, but were glaring little problems that if ASUS had its time again and knew what a success this would go on to come, probably would have spent a little bit more time fixing, but it’s okay because the ASUS ROG Ally X is very much that product and improves on almost every little problem that the original had.
When you put the two devices together, to the naked eye you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking not a lot has changed apart from the move to a black shell, which I absolutely prefer as you just can’t beat black tech in terms of sleekness but also I’m not a fan of white due to it getting dirty, but almost every component of the ROG Ally X is different from the original.
Starting with the weight, the ROG Ally was heralded for being the lightest 7-inch handheld on the market, and the ROG Ally X is 70 grams heavier due to the fact that it has a battery that is double the size (which we’ll get to in a bit). It’s only really noticeable when you go back to the original unit, and I’ve had some length sessions with the Ally X and haven’t felt that it’s changed its comfort levels at all.
In fact, due to changes in the shell design which is a lot more rounded and moulds to the hands better and seemingly grippier back handles, the Ally X fits in the hands a lot better than its predecessor, and whilst I’m not going to pretend that heavier is better, it’s pretty remarkable that it only had a small increase in weight given the improvements inside.
THE CHEAPEST PRICE: $1,599 FROM THE ASUS E-SHOP
That’s just the beginning to the ergonomic improvements with almost every input being changed or improved. The D-Pad is a lot more solid and feels a lot more precise now, the analogue sticks now feel a lot tighter, the face buttons no longer get stuck, are more raised and feel a lot more clicky and the hall effect triggers have now been made longer and are a lot better to grip, as have the bumpers. I didn’t have huge issues with the original (outside of the face buttons), but every input on the Ally X feels a lot tighter and a lot more thought out.
Again, the back macro buttons aren’t something I had a huge deal with, but they did get in the way of holding the console properly at times, and also felt quite loose when they were pressed due to their side. They’ve now been made a lot smaller, sit perfectly where your fingers hit the back of the console and are just much improved now.
Other changes to the design include the moving of the infamous MicroSD slot, which I haven’t experienced issues with yet, and whilst you’d think that ASUS has probably moved it for that exact reason, I would never say with confidence that there won’t be issues, and the XG Mobile connector that was used for the ROG eGPU us now gone and has been replaced with a second USB-C port that is Thunderbolt 4 which means it can now be used with generic eGPUs (just like the ONEXGPU here) . This is a huge improvement, although if you did buy that XG eGPU, I do feel bad for you. This works exactly as expected and will go a long way between this device doubling as a home workstation/1440p beast.
As far as the screen goes, it’s still a 1080p LED display that has a 120hz refresh rate with VRR, so naturally there will be some disappointment there given the Steam Deck just got an OLED version. It’s still a fantastic screen as far as LEDs go, but it would have been the cream on top and extremely hard to beat if it had an OLED display.
Between the screen and the Z1 Extreme processor that also comes over from the original, everything on the inside has changed too. As far as storage goes, there’s now a 1TB SSD inside and it is placed in a full-size Gen 4 2280 SSD slot, so if you do want to upgrade to 2 or 4TB, there’s a lot cheaper options to do so.
The most two exciting changes come in the way of the memory and the increased battery size, which both go along way in moving Windows handheld forward and making them viable portable options. Let’s start with the battery life first because that’s going to be a big deal for a lot of people.
The ASUS ROG Ally X has an 80wh battery which is the larger in a handheld so far, and double the size of the original. I did a test with all three power modes, although for the Quiet and Performance modes, they now use slightly more power compared to the original consoles.
When using Turbo mode at 25w, you can expect to get a tad over two hours with the Ally X, and whilst it still doesn’t sound like a lot, that’s over twice the amount that I got with the original, and it just makes for a world of difference. I felt like I could get into my game and enjoy it for a considerable amount of time without instantly feeling that I was going to be running out of battery.
In performance mode, I was able to get over 2 and a half hours compared to 1 and a half hours on the original (again that’s with a higher 17w TDP over 15w with the original), and impressively, you can get more in this 17w performance mode than you could get with the 10w quiet mode on the original console. I was able to get almost 4 hours with the Ally X in quiet mode at 13w in comparison to 2 hours at 10w with the original console.
ASUS ROX ALLY X BATTERY LENGTH
- Turbo Mode (25w TDP) – 2 hours
- Performance Mode (17w TDP) – 2.5 hours
- Quiet Mode (13w TDP) – 3.8 hours
These are huge, huge improvements. You can now game for longer at the highest turbo mode than you could with performance mode and almost quiet mode from the original consoles. It’s absolutely incredible what ASUS has done with the Ally X in terms of ergonomics with this battery life.
The other massive improvement comes in the way of performance. Whilst the Ally X has the same Z1 Processor, it not only has 8GB more ram, it’s also faster at 24GB of 7,500 MT/S (compared to 16GB of 6,400 MT/s in the original). This is hugely important as memory in the Ally X (and other handhelds) is shared across the system and GPU and it goes a long way here.
There wasn’t a single game that I tested that didn’t run 5-7 FPS better on the Ally X in comparison to the original console, but for games such as Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, it was the difference between the game running smoothly compared to almost not running at all on the original (video here to see just how much of a difference it is). Whilst benchmarking the two side by side, it was remarkable to see how buttery smooth the Ally X was whilst the Ally was struggling hugely, even going as far as crashing the first time I tried to benchmark it.
ASUS ROG ALLY X BENCHMARKS
1080P / FSR Balanced & Frame Gen On (Where Possible)
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora – 40 FPS (vs 26 FPS)
- Returnal – 47 FPS (vs 42 FPS)
- Cyberpunk 2077 – 31 FPS (vs 27 FPS)
- Horizon Zero Dawn – 73 FPS (vs 63 FPS)
Whilst I don’t recommend running out and buying a ROG Ally X for the sole reason of getting handful more frames, I have zero doubts that we will start to see more games that struggle to run on the original given we’ve already seen Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Alan Wake 2 require more memory than what was on offer in the original, so it’s great that there is an upgrade path for those that do want to continue their portable gaming journey.
That’s probably the only other downside to the ASUS ROG Ally X. It’s $300 more than the original was at launch, and the original is significantly cheaper now. On one hand, it’s absolutely worth the $300 more when you compare the two on paper, but it’ll be a tough choice for gamers picking up their first Windows handheld. I have no doubts that this will drive down the price of the original even more and I can’t wait for more people to experience portable PC gaming whether it be with the ASUS ROG Ally X or the original version which is no doubt going to become more accessible.
@shannongrixti The ASUS ROG Ally X has arrived with some serious improvements and here’s your first look at what’s in the box AD #ROG #ROGANZ #playALLYourgames #rogallyx #rogally #handheld #windowshandheld @rog_anz
ASUS has once again smashed it out of the park with the ASUS ROG Ally X, and if it wasn’t clear before, it’s very obvious that they care a lot about this market and see themselves playing in this space for a long, long time.
