A fully armed and operational portable battle station

Despite being one of the first PC makers, ASUS got a lot right with the original. It offers better performance in a smaller chassis than Valve’s Steam Deck, but without a huge price hike. And because it’s based on Windows rather than Linux, it offers nearly universal gaming compatibility. However, issues like poor battery life and faulty SD card slots left a lot of room for improvement, so ASUS has tweaked almost everything except the chip and display on the new Ally X. But this time, we get what I wanted all along.

Design and display

From a distance, it might look like ASUS has simply changed the color of the Ally X’s body from white to black. But when I picked it up, I noticed a lot of small changes, including more pronounced grips, slightly larger front buttons, and smaller paddles on the back that are designed so you don’t hit them as easily by accident. There’s also a brand new D-pad that’s a big improvement over the one on the standard Ally, although I’d still prefer a traditional cross or one of Sony’s pentagonal arrangements.

Photo by Sam Rutherford

Thanks to some subtle design tweaks and significant hardware upgrades, ASUS has made the ROG Ally X the flagship Windows gaming handheld it should be.

Per

• Improved ergonomics
• Double the battery
• More RAM
• Bright VRR display
• Now with two USB-C ports

Disadvantages

• More expensive than before
• Windows on handheld PCs still feels clunky
• A built-in stand or included case would be nice
• No Hall effect joysticks

$800 at Best Buy

Inside, ASUS has added stiffer springs to the Ally X’s joysticks, making them tighter and more responsive. However, ASUS hasn’t switched to Hall Effect sensors like those found on rivals like the There’s also a third vent and a new fan system that improve cooling and airflow, though the back of this thing still gets pretty hot when fully loaded.

But the best part is that despite all of these changes and a handful of new components inside (more on that later), the Ally X isn’t much bulkier than its predecessor. The original ROG Ally weighs 1.34 pounds and measures 1.28 inches at its thickest point, while the Ally X tips the scales at 1.49 pounds and 1.45 inches. An ASUS rep even told me that the Ally X fits in the original Ally’s official case, though I haven’t confirmed that myself since, unlike the Steam Deck, you don’t get one included with the system.

Finally, there’s the Ally X’s 1080p display, one of two components that’s identical to its predecessor. It has great brightness, peaking at around 500 nits (our review unit was even a touch better at around 515 nits), and a variable 120Hz refresh rate. It’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a system this size, and in brighter environments its black levels are so good that I confused it for an OLED panel.

Performance

The other major component that hasn’t changed is the Ally X’s AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip. But that’s not to say there aren’t performance improvements. That’s because ASUS has massively upgraded the rest of its components, with 24GB of faster LPDDR5X-7500 RAM (up from 16GB) and a larger 1TB M.2 SSD (up from 512GB). This time around, ASUS has even opted for a full-size 2280 module, so if you want to upgrade your storage later, you’ll have a lot more options than with the smaller 2230 stick used in the previous model. Plus, and I can’t stress this enough, ASUS has also had extra time to refine the Ally X’s drivers. As we saw with the original, improved software support can make a big difference in performance, especially in a category that still benefits greatly from better optimization. And depending on the title, we saw a performance increase of up to 5-10 percent, which is pretty impressive considering the chip itself hasn’t changed.

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider At 720p and high graphics, the Ally X achieved 54 fps in performance mode and 64 fps in turbo mode compared to 54 fps and 60 fps on the original. When playing Cyberpunk2077I saw even bigger gains, with the Ally X reaching up to 78 fps in Turbo mode, compared to just 69 fps for the standard Ally. This improvement seems to be largely due to the Ally X’s larger RAM, which the handheld shares with its GPU. And unlike a laptop or desktop with discrete graphics, the Z1 Extreme’s Radeon 780M doesn’t have its own dedicated memory.

But no matter how it gets there, all of these changes make the Ally X one of the most powerful handheld PCs on the market. That’s because while the Legion Go uses the same processor, it has 8GB less RAM, so it generally lags three to five fps behind in games.

software

Windows-based handheld game consoles are still a bit clunky when you need to switch between different game launchers and menus, but ASUS has tweaked its Armoury Crate app to be more responsive and easier to use. It’s generally less buggy and better suited to being a one-stop shop for aggregating all the different games (and launchers) or quickly tweaking settings. That said, it’s still less unified than Valve’s Steam OS. And despite recent improvements, I still ran into things like Armoury Crate interrupting me from what I was trying to do in Windows when it automatically boots up after a reboot (which you can, thankfully, disable).

Battery life and connections

One of the biggest problems with the original Ally was its short battery life, which was often only an hour or an hour and a half at best. And when you have a system that needs to be plugged in so often, it begs the question of how good a gaming handheld it really is.

With the Ally X, however, ASUS doubled the battery capacity to 80Wh. Now you can easily get at least two to two and a half hours of gaming (or longer if you don’t mind fiddling with the settings). And considering the Ally X isn’t much heavier than its predecessor, you appreciate even more how much extra juice ASUS packed into it.

I also appreciate that ASUS replaced the original model’s proprietary XG Mobile port with a second USB-C port that supports Thunderbolt 4. This means you can still connect an external graphics dock if you need it, while still having the flexibility to connect all sorts of peripherals. This makes the Ally X more usable as a portable desktop, as you can connect accessories like a mouse and keyboard without needing external docks or dongles.

Packing

While the Ally X isn’t a true 2.0 version of its predecessor, ASUS has fixed pretty much every complaint I had about the original and more. Its joysticks feel more solid, its performance is better, and its battery life has essentially doubled. Even ASUS’ Armoury Crate app is easier to use, though it still hasn’t completely solved the problem of Windows feeling clunky on PC handhelds. And while it’s a bit thicker and heavier than before, those changes don’t affect its portability. ASUS also claims that after numerous customer complaints, it needs to better support people who need service or repairs. But it’s too early to say whether that’s made a difference.

The biggest obstacle to the Ally X is actually its price. At $800, it costs $150 more than the original Ally or the closest Steam Deck. For those who bought its predecessor, that might still be a tough sell after just a year. I’d also argue that Valve’s handheld remains the sleeker, more user-friendly option thanks to Steam OS. But make no mistake: When it comes to the best PC gaming handhelds on the market, the Ally X stands right next to the Steam Deck at the top of the hill.