Asus ROG Ally X Review: Gen 1.5 of Windows Gaming Handhelds

7.8/ 10
SCORE

Asus ROG Ally X

Pros

• Supports a wider library of games than non-Windows devices
• Good performance for its components
• Paddles for macro combos and some basic Windows navigation
• Bumpers feel clicky and responsive

Cons

• Expensive
• Display doesn’t support HDR and only has sRGB gamut
• Pressing the ABXY buttons only registers in the center
• No trigger stops

The ROG Ally X is an updated version of the much less-expensive ROG Ally (it starts at $499), usually considered one of the best of an uneven lot of Windows-based handheld gaming consoles. Its rivals include high-profile models like the Lenovo Legion Go or MSI Claw as well as a host of options available mostly in other regions. The Ally X is relatively expensive at $800, though, which may justifiably give you pause, despite a host of design tweaks and better performance.

In a category where the operating system more or less defines what games you can play, Windows is a mixed blessing. On one hand, it provides the infrastructure to let you play any game available for PC — using any Windows-based launcher such as the Epic Games Store, Xbox Game Pass, Steam and more — which means you have access to the largest library of games possible. 

The Nintendo Switch can only play Switch games, by comparison. The Steam Deck can only play Steam games (although you can mod it to expand support), the PlayStation Portal is tethered to the PS5 and PS games, the Logitech G Cloud can only play cloud or Android games and so on.  

But on the flip side, Windows is ill-suited to small screens and not easily skinned for seamless, console-like operation. Rage quitting because game mechanics are bad is frustrating enough. Rage quitting because you keep hitting some mysterious set of buttons that repeatedly throw you out to Windows or the main launcher app is a whole other level of argh. Etching the four menu buttons with glow-in-the-dark ink or even high-contrast labels would help minimize accidents when you’re coming from other controllers or devices. By the time the ink wore off you’d have memorized the functions.

Watch this: Asus ROG Ally X Gaming Handheld: First Look

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Even if you use the compact touch keyboard, it still can block the fields (like email address and password) that you’re trying to type into. When I hit critical mass, I’d connect a keyboard and mouse via Bluetooth, which was suboptimal but far less annoying. And coming off the MSI Claw, which I’ve just started testing, the Ally X seems a positively streamlined implementation.

The other thing to remember is that all these Windows handhelds use chips with integrated graphics, which circumscribes what you can play and how well it will play. Even at the Ally X’s screen resolution (1080p) older AAA games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Guardians of the Galaxy or Horizon Zero Dawn run at significantly less than 60fps without turning the quality way down. So it’s not a great choice if you want to connect to a better-than-1080p external display.

However, if you want to play lighter-weight games, it performs surprisingly well; it’s comparable to a low-power laptop with an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS with integrated graphics in Hades 2 I usually had sustained frame rates over 200fps. You can also enable AMD’s optimization technologies in its Adrenalin driver or in games with FidelityFX support to give performance a boost.

Upgrades that help speed the Ally X up despite using the same AMD Z1 Extreme processor are more and faster memory with 8GB dedicated to the iGPU by default, a faster SSD (63% faster on 3DMark Storage benchmark) and bumps in the wattage allocations in the unplugged gaming profiles (such as jumping from 15W to 17W in Performance mode).

And although we didn’t have battery life tests for the original Ally, the Ally X has double the capacity (80Wh compared to 40Wh), and it lasted roughly 4 hours playing Hades 2, Have A Nice Death, plus cloud-based Flock and Maquette gameplay and some library surfing. It was at about 3.5 hours at 9% remaining when I had to go to sleep. While that’s not terrific, it’s not horrible either. Despite having increased the charging capacity to 100W, it still ships with a 65W charger.

Asus has updated the cooling system to improve the device’s skin temperature — it’s not as quiet on battery as before — but I occasionally felt the air venting out the top and the surface behind it was on the hot side.

Streamlined design

Let’s get some of the personal preferences out of the way. Asus has added texture to the grips, but they’re still plastic: I like them with more of a rubbery feel. The company also tweaked the controls, changing the D-pad to eight-way and making the ABXY buttons “more tactile.” But they all still feel kind of mushy to me. 

More annoying, the ABXY buttons don’t seem to register unless I strike them in the middle, which was initially a problem for my  Dash+Attack (A+X); on the Steam Deck, I can hit them closer to the edges without issue. It’s not a huge problem, but did take a adjustment of my hand placement. And like most triggers, the Ally X’s have a relatively deep pull: I like trigger stops so I can set one to a quick, shallow pull.

On the flip side, I like how clicky the bumpers are. And the size — a little smaller than the Steam Deck — is good for my hands (I wear women’s size 7 gloves, for reference). Despite my feelings about the grip texture, they’re quite comfortable. Asus has shrunk the paddles on the back to reduce accidental presses, and I like the size and feel.

Notably, Asus has replaced the proprietary combo XG Mobile eGPU/USB-C connector with one USB-C 4.0 port that supports an external GPU in addition to a USB-C 3.2 port.

The screen hasn’t been upgraded, which is disappointing. The Ally X’s screen is 1080p and slightly larger, and it can get reasonably bright as well as dimmer than before. But I’m used to the high-contrast, HDR-capable OLED screen on the Steam Deck. The Ally X’s has minimal reflectivity, though, which is nice.

And I have to give Asus some props for Armoury Crate SE, its skin and utility software. I hate the full Armoury Crate that’s on the company’s ROG laptops, mostly because it’s a hot mess of conflicting places to change settings. SE is designed to run on a smaller screen and is more manageable, though still a bit confusing. In addition to essential features, like control binding for both gamepad and desktop modes and lighting control, it also lets you manually adjust the fan and power settings, change the among of memory dedicated to the iGPU (though I didn’t test it) and more.

Between the price, the problems inherent in grafting a console-like experience on Windows and the uncertainty of how well any particular game may run on it, especially in a couple of years, it’s hard to give anything other than a qualified recommendation for the Ally X. The Lenovo Legion Go has more hardware flexibility for slightly less, but in some ways it’s overdesigned. The original Ally is notably slower, but notably cheaper, so if you want to play retro games it might suit. I like the Ally X, and if you want to play light- to middleweight Windows games that aren’t from Steam and can comfortably afford the $800, it’s probably your best bet.