Verdict
Regardless of the addition of the Xbox identify, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X nonetheless does not actually really feel like a correct console-like Home windows gaming handheld. Nonetheless, due to a terrific AMD processor and aggressive worth, it is the hand held to beat proper now.
Professionals
Implausible gaming efficiency
Strong battery life
Snug grip design
Nice total design
Cons
Home windows nonetheless sucks as a handheld interface
Excessive worth
Xbox app/overlay additions disappointing
The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X is lastly right here, and with it comes a brand new period in Home windows gaming handhelds, due to Microsoft’s unimaginable Xbox app… is what I would love to have the ability to write about this new $1,000 handheld. Nonetheless, for probably the most half, that is simply one other instance of why Home windows alternate options to the Steam Deck nonetheless cannot beat Valve’s authentic for total usability. Nonetheless, regardless of its lackluster Xbox console-like expertise, the Xbox Ally X remains to be a terrific handheld that is properly value consideration, thanks largely to its implausible AMD processor.
It is the AMD Ryzen Z2 Excessive that sits on the coronary heart of this machine, and it brings a giant step up in efficiency in comparison with the Steam Deck and different “first-gen” handhelds such because the ROG Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go. Crucially, whereas we have seen the likes of the Ayaneo 3 and AOKZOE A1X ship comparable ranges of uncooked efficiency (due to AMD Radeon 890M-class GPUs) in latest months, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X is available in at a much more affordable, if nonetheless costly, worth. With a spot on our greatest gaming handheld information at stake, learn on to search out out simply what does and does not shine in what is bound to be the biggest-selling Home windows handheld of the 12 months.
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Specs
Asus ROG Xbox Ally X specs
CPU
AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Excessive
GPU
AMD Radeon 890M
RAM
24GB LPDDR5X 7,500MT/s
Show
7-inch IPS LCD, 1920 x 1080, 120Hz, 500nits, 100% sRGB, 75.35% Adobe RGB, AMD FreeSync Premium (VRR)
Battery
80Wh
Storage
1TB M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 SSD
Weight
715g (1.58 lbs)
Dimensions
290 x 121 x 27.5 – 50.9mm (11.42″ x 4.76″ x 1.08″ – 2.00″)
Controls
Xbox format, two rear buttons, two further top-mounted left and proper click on inputs
I/O
1 x USB 4 Sort-C/Thunderbolt 4, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-CÂ 40Gbps, 1 x UHS-II microSD, 1 x 3.5mm combo audio jack
Additional
2 x rear buttons, energy button with built-in fingerprint sensor, Ayaspace fast menu button, house button for Home windows Recreation Bar entry
Design
The design of the Xbox Ally X stands out from the gang due to its intriguing grip design. Nonetheless, in most different elements, it is clearly simply an iteration on the prevailing ROG Ally X. It is available in the identical two colours – black for the Xbox Ally X and white for the Xbox Ally – and has the identical face buttons, dpad, and thumbstick design, with the identical rings of RGB lighting across the latter. The one distinction is the addition of the Xbox button on the entrance left of the display.
As such, you actually don’t get something revolutionary right here. No removable controllers, no slideout keyboard, no kickstand on the again, no fancy additional connections, and no touchpads like on the Steam Deck. It is each bit the basic Home windows handheld, apart from these grips.
Talking of which, they do really work relatively properly. That is simply probably the most comfy gaming handheld I’ve used, with the additional depth and fullness of the grips sitting very naturally within the hand, similar to the perfect PC controller designs. What’s extra, the cut up part on the backside, which makes this handheld appear to be somebody has ripped a controller in two and caught a display within the center, permits you to actually wrap your fingers across the grip. This, together with the grip-aiding crosshatching sample on the grips, means you’ll be able to simply maintain the gadget one-handed.
In any other case, its ergonomics are largely much like different handhelds. It is a contact heavier than a Steam Deck, at 715g, however properly under the Legion Go’s 854g, and the general proportion of the 7-inch display with the management format works properly, even when the fairly vast bezels across the display do counsel a barely bigger display might have been squeezed into the chassis.
Show and sound
Trying in additional element on the display, it is an LCD panel with a 1080p (1,920 x 1,080) decision, and it could run at a refresh fee of as much as 120Hz. It additionally helps variable refresh fee (VRR) with Freesync, so you’ll be able to run the display at a decrease refresh fee to save lots of battery life, whereas additionally making certain you by no means get display tearing or stutter.
As these specs counsel, it is a display that works nice for gaming, with it providing all of the velocity and variation in efficiency you might want to both run quick video games at excessive body charges or slower titles in a approach that finest preserves battery life, all whereas sustaining good picture high quality and a smooth-feeling refresh fee.
Nonetheless, when it comes to uncooked picture high quality, this display is ok however nothing particular. It has good viewing angles for an LCD, and produces pure and fairly saturated-looking colours, however because it’s simply a typical LCD with out a multi-zone backlight, it could’t produce notably low black ranges. This implies it lacks the distinction and punchiness of OLED panels, akin to on the Steam Deck OLED and AOKZOE A1X. It additionally technically does not have as quick a response time as OLED panels, although this is not a lot of an element on a handheld akin to this one.
This display additionally does not help HDR and solely stretches to fill 100% of the sRGB colour area and 75% of the AdobeRGB colour area, so it lacks just a little vividness in its colours in comparison with the perfect gaming monitor designs.
As for sound, it is a robust go well with for the Xbox Ally X. Its stereo, forward-firing audio system get loud – excess of needed, actually – and preserve a good quantity of depth so they do not sound too shrill and tinny. The headphone jack additionally affords clear, clear audio with no apparent background hiss or hum.
Working system and Xbox app
Together with its new Z2 Excessive processor and aggressive worth, the principle purpose so many individuals have been additional excited in regards to the launch of the Xbox Ally X is that Microsoft was promising a brand new Xbox app expertise that might revolutionize the usability of Home windows gaming handhelds. Nonetheless, whereas there are some good options within the new app, it is from a full repair for the frustrations of making an attempt to navigate Home windows with a dpad and touchscreen.
The Xbox app masses as quickly because the Xbox Ally X has booted up, offering a one-stop store in your put in video games and your Xbox profile, together with entry to Recreation Move, Cloud gaming choices, and the Microsoft sport retailer.
The put in video games part will embody video games from different launchers, akin to Steam and Epic, and so they’ll open the launcher and sport straight from the app. Nonetheless, that is about so far as the app goes in the case of offering a single entry level for navigating your gadget or controlling its settings.
The app is, in any case, simply the prevailing Xbox app for Home windows with a brand new interface, so it is considerably comprehensible that it does not combine each particular operate for this gadget. Nonetheless, Microsoft has fully missed the chance to easily duplicate commonplace Home windows controls, akin to display brightness management, quantity, energy mode settings, and extra.
The essential level right here is that not solely would this make sense to be used on gaming handhelds, and different cases of making an attempt to run a Home windows gaming machine with out a keyboard and mouse (a PC plugged right into a TV, as an example), however Valve has already proven how to do that properly with its Steam Massive Image mode. All Microsoft wanted to do was make its personal equal.
Again to what the app can do, and the principle house display supplies an inventory of your just lately performed video games – annoyingly, solely the icons with out the names of the video games – then largely simply promotes different video games and Recreation Move.
Likewise, within the Recreation Move part, it does not think about exhibiting you what video games you have already got put in through Recreation Move however on selling the service. The Library part is the place all of your put in video games are introduced collectively in a clear, smart interface, after which the cloud gaming and retailer sections are, as you’d anticipate, portals for selecting up new video games.
Soar to the Buddies part and you’ll chat to your Xbox friends, seeing who’s on-line, and you’ll both chat through voice, voice-to-text, or utilizing the onscreen keyboard.
With so little in the way in which of gadget administration included within the Xbox app, it is left to the Xbox/Asus overlay to regulate these options. This overlay will seem over video games and some other apps you are operating if you press both the Xbox button or the Asus Command Heart button simply subsequent to it.
Press the Xbox button, and also you’re taken to the house part of the overlay, the place you’ll be able to launch certainly one of your final three performed video games or open a sport launcher. Faucet left and also you get to the principle Asus Command Heart, which is the place you management all of the gadget’s settings.
Right here you’ll be able to modify brightness and quantity, energy down the gadget, change between energy modes, set the FPS Limiter, activate AMD RSR, and alter resolutions. The ability modes check with the power to have the hand held run its processor at a most energy output of 13W (Silent), 17W (Efficiency), and both 25W on battery or 35W when plugged in (each known as Turbo mode). The decrease the facility consumption, the longer the battery life, however the decrease the efficiency. We check the impact of those settings within the efficiency part of this assessment.
To the precise of the house part of the overlay is the place you discover the settings part that duplicates the amount and brightness controls, energy choices, and community choices already proven within the Command Heart. Then there’s an Xbox Social tab, Audio tab, display seize tab, system monitoring tab, Xbox Achievements tab, inevitable CoPilot AI tab, and a Widget Retailer tab.
The whole thing combines to really feel overly difficult and fussy, with oddities akin to there being three totally different sections the place you’ll be able to management system quantity (Command Heart, Settings, Audio). That stated, there isn’t any doubt that it is helpful to have most of those features at hand. It simply appears like the entire thing has been rushed and probably not thought of in a holistic method.
What’s extra, on my assessment pattern, after a latest computerized firmware replace, urgent the Xbox button now really causes Steam Massive Image to load, at which level utilizing the dpad to navigate the overlay would not work. As such, to entry these features, I’ve to press the ROG Command Heart button to convey up the overlay and navigate it from there. I am positive it is a bug that will likely be fastened quickly sufficient, nevertheless it was fairly a irritating expertise.
Furthermore, the Xbox app and overlay nonetheless cannot overcome the truth that Home windows nonetheless simply has a horrible touchscreen/dpad navigation expertise. The corporate wants to only create a single interface that brings collectively nearly all of key Home windows features into a correct mobile-style interface, with a clear, scrolling app drawer, a easy settings menu, and so forth.
The best way it presently simply smashes collectively each contact and mouse interfaces has made Home windows worse on desktop, and it is nonetheless terrible on touchscreen gadgets. It is a lesson the corporate ought to have discovered properly over a decade in the past when Home windows 8 fell flat on its face, and but it nonetheless hasn’t managed to take it on board.
Efficiency
Fortunately, whereas the smooth Xbox expertise of the Xbox Ally X leaves quite a bit to be desired, the uncooked efficiency and gaming expertise of this handheld remains to be glorious. As soon as video games are operating – particularly in the event that they’re operating on Steam – the controls work fantastically, and the brand new AMD Ryzen Z2 Excessive processor on the coronary heart of this machine supplies far larger body charges than early-generation handhelds. The likes of the Ayaneo 3 and AOKZOE A1X could have comparable GPU energy, however the numbers are nonetheless spectacular.
Beginning with Cyberpunk 2077, I began off utilizing the very best 35W energy mode (with the gadget plugged in), then ran the sport at 1080p with medium element settings and utilizing FSR upscaling set to high quality, the place the Xbox Ally X duly delivered a superbly playable expertise. A 43fps common and 33fps 1% low is not fairly {smooth} sufficient to really feel nice when utilizing a mouse and keyboard, however I discovered it was superb for controller enter. Crank up the FSR upscaling to balanced mode (so it is beginning at a decrease preliminary render decision earlier than upscaling), and efficiency jumps to a 49fps common.
Within the lower-power 17W mode operating on battery, efficiency drops by about 25%, with our common utilizing balanced upscaling dropping to 37fps. That is nonetheless nearly playable, however you would possibly wish to tweak a couple of different settings – dropping to low total high quality, as an example – to get a barely smoother expertise for extra intense fight sections. Play on the identical decision because the Steam Deck, utilizing balanced upscaling, and you will get a 52fps common.
In the meantime, if you happen to really feel prefer it, you’ll be able to even (nearly) play with ray tracing enabled on this sport at 1080p. Utilizing the low ray tracing high quality preset and with FSR set to balanced once more, the Xbox Ally X will get you 29fps utilizing the 35W energy mode. It is not how I would select to play the sport, however the possibility is there.
Talking of ray tracing, Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle is a sport that does not allow you to flip this characteristic off fully, but it nonetheless ran nice on the Xbox Ally X, even with none upscaling. When you use the low high quality preset, you’ll be able to play this sport at a 33fps common utilizing the 35W mode. Change to 17W mode, and this drops to 29fps, however in a slow-paced sport like this, that is nonetheless nearly playable.
For a barely smoother body fee, enabling FSR upscaling on the high quality setting will get you a 42fps common in 35W mode (37fps at 17W), and utilizing balanced upscaling will push this to 46fps common at 35W (39fps at 17W). All of the whereas, despite the fact that the standard setting is about to low, the sport nonetheless seems implausible when operating at this decision on a display this dimension.
Away from particular benchmark runs in trendy AAA titles, I additionally performed a variety of older 3D titles, akin to 2011’s Warhammer 40,000: Area Marine, which trotted alongside at properly over 100fps in 17W mode.
As for warmth and noise, this handheld stays remarkably cool and quiet. Even in its high 35W mode, it nonetheless solely hit 38dB from a distance of 10cm whereas taking part in Cyberpunk 2077. Utilizing its 17W mode, it hit simply 33dB. All of the whereas, the gadget solely will get barely heat.
Battery life
With a sizeable 80Wh battery packed inside it, the Xbox Ally X delivers stable battery life for a gaming handheld. Utilizing the PCMark 10 gaming battery life benchmark, which is kind of demanding, this handheld lasted just below two hours in its high 25W energy mode, however this jumped straight to 3 hours utilizing the 17W mode.
Nonetheless, each these exams have been performed with the FPS Limiter not set to assist cut back the workload for the GPU, and once more, it is a fairly demanding check. We’ll be updating this assessment quickly with a check that features utilizing the FPS limiter, together with a check simply measuring battery life with video playback and utilizing the PCMark 10 Workplace benchmark, like we do for our gaming laptop computer evaluations. For now, in our basic use of the gadget, it might ship within the area of 4 to 6 hours of gaming on much less demanding titles, which is on par with different handhelds.
Worth
The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X worth is $999 / £799, which makes it an costly buy and significantly extra dear than the Steam Deck OLED and a number of other first-gen handhelds. Nonetheless, it really places this handheld comfortably under different competing handhelds that use second-gen chips, such because the AMD Ryzen Z2 Excessive. The UK worth, specifically, is extremely aggressive, with it being the identical as the prevailing ROG Ally X. In distinction, the likes of the AOKZOE A1X value upwards of $1,300.
Alternate options
AOKZOE A1X
The undoubted champion of Home windows gaming handhelds proper now when it comes to efficiency and the standard of its display is the AOKZOE A1X. It additionally packs an identical second-gen AMD processor to the Xbox Ally X. Nonetheless, it is significantly costlier and has worse battery life.
Asus ROG Ally X
Regardless of utilizing an older era of processor, the unique ROG Ally X stays a terrific alternative of handheld. It affords principally all the identical options because the Xbox Ally X, simply with a slower processor. Nonetheless, proper now its worth nonetheless hasn’t dropped sufficiently under that of the Xbox Ally X. If Asus does drop its worth considerably, to round $600-$700, it’s going to be the mid-range choice to get.
Steam Deck OLED
The Steam Deck interface nonetheless reigns supreme for ease of use, and with the Steam Deck OLED being half the worth of the Xbox Ally X, it nonetheless makes for undoubtedly the perfect gaming handheld total. It is exhibiting its age with its 800p display and historic processor, nevertheless it’s nonetheless the gadget to beat.
Verdict
The large hope that an Xbox-branded Home windows gadget would lastly make Home windows really feel like a slick, streamlined gaming handheld interface has not materialized within the Xbox Ally X. Nonetheless, regardless of its Xbox additions feeling pretty token, this stays the Home windows handheld to beat proper now.
A lot of that positivity comes from the facility of its AMD Ryzen Z2 Excessive processor, which delivers a extremely marked step up in gaming efficiency in comparison with the Steam Deck and different first-gen handhelds. Nonetheless, the peculiar-looking controller-style grips on the Xbox Ally X are a terrific addition too.
The most important issue of all, although, is that whereas that is nonetheless an costly, premium gaming handheld, it is extra competitively priced than different gadgets on this efficiency league. When you’re tempted by a Home windows handheld and need the perfect proper now, that is it.
