A little over a year after the launch of the ROG Ally, Asus is releasing an upgraded version of its notebook, the ROG Ally X. This Windows-based machine starts shipping on July 22nd for $800. I’ve been playing with the portable console for a few days now, and there’s already a lot to like — especially on the hardware front.
Released in 2022, Valve’s Steam Deck helped usher in handheld PC gaming. It wasn’t the first company to explore the form factor, but Valve hit on the right mix of specs, portability and price.
When it became an instant hit, computer manufacturers took notice. Lenovo released the Legion Go, and Asus had its own take on handheld gaming with the ROG Ally. There are other niche manufacturers like Ayaneo.
The device has a bright seven-inch display with 1080p resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. Like the Nintendo Switch, the display is flanked by your standard set of gaming buttons and joysticks.
Unlike the Switch, the controls aren’t disappointingly small. ROG Ally X feels like a full-sized controller in your hands. The joysticks look and feel like the joysticks of a modern Microsoft Xbox controller. The A/B/X/Y buttons are large and clicky. Analog triggers also have a lot of travel.
I wasn’t completely sold on the D-pad, though. It feels soft, a bit like the D-pad you’d find on a budget third-party controller. Similarly, the View and Menu buttons are hard to reach. They are right next to the display, requiring me to extend my thumbs to pause a game.
There are two additional macro buttons on the back of the device. I configured them as view and menu buttons and that helped. On each side of the screen you’ll also find a Command Center button for tweaking performance on the fly and an Armory Crate button to bring up Asus’ game launcher.
ROG Ally X’s main software interface, Armory Crate SE, is okay at best. It acts as a game launcher, centralizing everything you’ve installed from Steam, Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Connect, and more. It can also change your device’s settings, from joystick LEDs to gamepad profiles.
If you spend as little time as possible on it, it will get the job done. But there are bugs (a game I installed using GOG Galaxy mysteriously disappeared from my list), opening the menu can be frustratingly slow, and I had a few crashes.
The same goes for the command center. It’s an indispensable tool for adjusting settings on the fly, such as switching from silent to performance or turbo mode, but it sometimes becomes slow to respond to your interactions.
The device is comfortable to hold — at least for short sessions. The main problem with these types of portable computer games is that they are heavy. They also get warm, especially when you’re playing a game.
Before testing the ROG Ally X, I spent hours playing with the Logitech G Cloud, an Android handheld that’s specifically designed for cloud gaming and remote play. It’s an extremely satisfying experience because the G Cloud stays quiet (it’s a fanless device), you don’t have to worry about battery life, and it’s easy to hold in your hands.
We’re still at the very beginning of this massive shift in PC gaming from full-fledged PC towers to nimble but capable pocket PCs. Over time, handheld gaming devices will become smaller, lighter, and quieter. They will look more like a pocket PC based on Android. For now, however, experiences like G Cloud remain limited.
The ROG Ally X, on the other hand, feels like the pinnacle of handheld gaming. When Nintendo released the Game Boy 35 years ago, it felt like you could play NES games on the go.
Similarly, the ROG Ally X feels like a good gaming companion for long days on the road or a daily commute on the subway. Despite the weight, I’ve had no problem diving into games for several hours.
An indie game engine
In terms of performance, Asus has kept the same APU for the ROG Ally X, the AMD Z1 Extreme. However, the RAM has been increased from 16GB to 24GB. This makes a difference in gaming performance as memory is shared between VRAM and system RAM.
The handheld comes with a user-replaceable 1TB NVMe storage card (2280 format). The battery is twice as large (80Wh) as its predecessor, and the native eGPU port has been replaced by a more standard USB Type-C with USB 4 support.
The device works especially well with games that do not require a high-end PC, such as Jusant, Cocoon or Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. The ROG Ally X can easily render 60 to 120 fps for these games at 1080p without using the 30W boost mode.
For AAA games, you have to make some compromises. I can get about 45fps with the high graphics preset in Marvel’s: Spider Man by enabling RSR, AMD’s upscaling feature. As for games that really struggled on previous notebooks, there’s no magic here. For example, you have to use low settings and aggressive resolution scaling in The Last of Us: Part I to reach 30 FPS.
If you’re really into strategy games or simulation games, the ROG Ally X might not be the best form factor for those games. At least you can plug it into a monitor and use a mouse and keyboard if that’s the only computer you have.
As for battery life, it really depends on the type of games you play and the power mode you choose. You can play Baba is You in “silent mode” for a long time. But using “booster mode” for The Last of Us will significantly affect your battery life. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time with the device to perform in-depth testing, but I’m sure many reviewers will be running benchmarks this week.
As a gaming console, the most surprising thing about the ROG Ally X is that it’s a PC that runs Windows – at least on paper. Of course, you can install whatever you want and use it in a desktop environment. But Windows without a mouse and keyboard is a frustrating experience. It’s good if you want to install a game launcher and multiple games. But the right laptop (or even smartphone) is more convenient for everything else.
Likewise, since this is a computer you can install everything games that are available on Windows. But some will work better than others, so you need to adjust your expectations. You can also change settings to get longer battery life or better looking games.
ROG Ally X has a console form factor. But don’t expect a clean, console-like experience—it’s no competitor to the Nintendo Switch. In many ways, the ROG Ally X, or at least this handheld form factor, can be seen as an early preview of the future of PC gaming. A future shaped like a console that works like a computer.
