ROG Xbox Ally X Review

Tom's Guide

Jason goes hands-on with the ROG Xbox Ally X and the ROG Xbox Ally to see how ASUS and Microsoft are trying to redefine handheld gaming. Could this be the best handheld gaming console yet? Jason compares the ROG Ally X vs. ROG Xbox Ally X, breaks down what’s new with the UI, and shows you how it might stack up against the Steam Deck and other portable gaming PCs. With Windows 11 gaming improved by Xbox UI integration, and upgraded performance with the AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, the Xbox Ally is aiming to be the go-to device for Xbox fans on the move.

Transcript

00:00The ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X are set to launch on October 16th this year,

00:06just in time for the holidays. And I've gone hands-on with both of them to answer one very

00:11simple question. Could these be the next best gaming handhelds you could buy this year?

00:16So what does go into making a great gaming handheld? Well, in my mind, it comes down to

00:21three key things. Number one, it's got to feel nice to play on, because whether something is

00:27comfortable or not is super important for when you're gaming hours on end. Number two, kind of an

00:33obvious one, it's got to have good games and it's got to play them really well. That means making

00:37sure that the games are good enough for handheld play and that there's also enough horsepower inside

00:42to pull it off. And number three, it has to be really easy to use. So strip away all of the

00:49unnecessary guff and make sure that you've got a nice and easy to use UI that gets you straight into

00:55your games with minimal requirement. But before that, if you want more videos like this, I'm going

01:00to have to point down to the like button and the subscribe button somewhere on this video with the

01:05Ally consoles. So let's start at the beginning. You pick up an ROG Xbox Ally or Ally X. And I've got to be

01:12honest, this is the most comfortable PC gaming handheld that I've ever held. Definitely a little bit

01:19thicker than a lot of your other standard gaming handhelds. And that comes down to these much more

01:24pronounced grips, which makes it a lot easier to hold on to and a lot more comfortable to play on

01:30for a very long time. Alongside that, you've got your standard array of everything that you saw on

01:35other versions of the ROG Ally. So you've got a micro SD card slot, 3.5 millimeter headphone jack,

01:40power on off switch, volume controls, and two USB-C ports. On the Ally X, one of them's USB 4. And on

01:48the standard Ally, you've got two USB-C 3.2. So both will be able to support AR glasses, but one of

01:55them will have faster data transfer. But this loving between Microsoft and ASUS has really produced

02:00something that is so ergonomically sound to hold and to play. Because the ergonomics here are inspired

02:06by the Xbox wireless controller. And while you can find other Windows gaming handhelds that are slimmer,

02:11they are nowhere near as comfy to use as these. Because your hands fit around these grips really

02:17nicely and the buttons and the joysticks are really well placed so that you're not stretching,

02:23you're not having to do any sort of like gymnastics like you have to do on a Nintendo Switch 2.

02:27Really nice to use, trust me. Next is the games. And you've got a whole bunch of things at play all

02:35kind of coming together to make for a really strong proposition for the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X.

02:40So with Xbox Play Anywhere and the handheld compatibility program, you've got thousands

02:45of games that are not only supported on this handheld, but also the power inside makes the

02:50most of it. So in the ROG Xbox Ally, you've got a Ryzen Z2 A chipset with 16 gigs of memory. And

02:55on the ROG Xbox Ally X, you've got a Ryzen Z2 AI Extreme chipset with 24 gigs of memory. We'll come

03:02back to this one in a second. Because performance-wise, you're actually getting some pretty decent

03:08frame rates out of here. I know that in terms of like the reduced core count and reduced power going

03:12to the chip, there has been some concerns around it. But in terms of what I've been able to play on

03:16it, some AAA, some AA titles, you're able to get pretty decent frame rates because PC games are

03:23usually pretty well optimized nowadays. So for example, you've got Forza Horizon 5, which I tried

03:29and you can get like 1080p and it's kind of like a mixture of low and medium settings with FSR

03:33turn to performance. You can get that about 45 to 50 frames a second, which is perfectly

03:38fine for gaming on the go. And if you go into something that's been a lot more optimized for

03:44a PC handheld, something like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4, you can easily find yourself

03:49at around about 60 frames a second. Obviously, something like this, if you were to really test

03:54it, you are going to see that frame rate reduce. But if you are wanting the peak of visual fidelity

03:59coming out of these things, that's when I turn your attention to this one, because the

04:04numbers that I managed to get are insane. So for example, I ran Doom the Dark Ages on

04:09here, and with 1080p at medium, with FSR turned on, I'm able to get 83 frames per second on average.

04:17Moving on over to Gears of War Reloaded, this was set to a mixture of ultra and high settings

04:25as well. That was a rock solid 60 frames per second. These numbers are unheard of in gaming

04:31handhelds. And the games do all look great on the 7 inch 1080p display. Obviously, you can get bigger

04:37screen sizes in other handhelds. But I feel like 7 inches is just the right size in terms of like

04:42it maintaining portability. But then also the screen is a little bit more condensed down. So those

04:47textures look that little bit extra crispy. And of course, you've got variable refresh rate as well.

04:52So you can really stretch it to that 120 hertz. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking,

04:57Jason, you've tried other handhelds that have basically the same chip inside. Why is this one

05:06faster by quite a noticeable amount? It comes down to the software. When you boot it up, you go straight

05:12into what's called the Xbox full screen experience. And this is the big tick in the box of making it a

05:18really easy console-esque interface to explore. You've got all of your games available. You've

05:22got access to the cross media bar. It's super easy to navigate. There's this great little

05:27multitasking thing where you press and hold the Xbox button and you can switch between apps really

05:30easily. You've got quick access to performance settings or the touch of a button. And it's all

05:35great. But that's only half the story. Because you see, one of the issues with Windows 11 gaming

05:41handhelds is Windows 11 itself. Like not only is Windows 11 a bit awkward to use on a seven inch

05:47touchscreen, it's also running a whole load of background processors in the back to get that

05:52running. Now the Xbox full screen experience does this differently because it doesn't actually load up

05:57any of that stuff in the background. I checked the task manager. There's no desktop background

06:02processors or anything like that. And what that means is with the Xbox UI running, there's so much

06:08more headroom for that chipset and that RAM to run as smoothly as it can. So during my time with

06:14these, one thing is certain. These are the best Windows gaming handhelds I've used because there's

06:19so much more than that. They are portable Xboxes. The base model Li is going to be a great option for

06:25indie gamers. And the Li-X is going to be great for those who really want to stress it. So AAA gaming

06:30on the go. Of course, there's questions about battery life, what that may be. And of course,

06:34we can't test that at the moment. But keep it locked to TomSkyard.com when we do have the full

06:39review. And I'll be honest, with an 80 watt hour battery in the Li-X, I'm not that worried based on

06:45what I saw with the original Li-X. They feel great to play on, the UI is really intuitive, and the games

06:51play better than I could have imagined. Now it's just a case of seeing how they stack up under our

06:56full testing, which you'll be able to see when they come out around about October time. Make sure you

07:01keep it locked onto TomSkyard for that. I've been Jason England, and I'll talk to you in the next video. Take care.

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