The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X has arrived, and while many hoped it would usher in a new era for Windows gaming handhelds with a revolutionary Xbox app experience, the reality is a bit more nuanced. Unfortunately, the Xbox integration doesn’t quite deliver the seamless console-like feel we hoped for, reaffirming that Windows-based handhelds still struggle to match the intuitive usability of Valve’s Steam Deck. However, don’t let that deter you; the Xbox Ally X is a truly impressive device, primarily due to its exceptional AMD processor and comfortable design. It offers fantastic gaming performance, solid battery life, and a great overall aesthetic. On the downside, Windows as a handheld interface remains frustrating, the price is high, and the Xbox app/overlay additions are somewhat disappointing.
It’s the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme that sits at the heart of this machine, bringing a significant step up in performance compared to the Steam Deck and other “first-gen” handhelds like the ROG Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go. Crucially, while we’ve seen devices such as the Ayaneo 3 and AOKZOE A1X deliver similar levels of raw performance (thanks to AMD Radeon 890M-class GPUs) recently, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X comes in at a far more reasonable, if still expensive, price. With its sights set on our best gaming handheld guide, let’s delve into what makes this device both shine and falter, and why it’s likely to be the biggest-selling Windows handheld of the year.
Specifications
| Asus ROG Xbox Ally X Specs | |
|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme |
| GPU | AMD Radeon 890M |
| RAM | 24GB LPDDR5X 7,500MT/s |
| Display | 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 layout, two rear buttons, two additional top-mounted left and right click inputs |
| I/O | 1 x USB 4 Type-C/Thunderbolt 4, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C 40Gbps, 1 x UHS-II microSD, 1 x 3.5mm combo audio jack |
| Extra Features | 2 x rear buttons, power button with built-in fingerprint sensor, Ayaspace quick menu button, home button for Windows Game Bar access |
Design Philosophy
The Xbox Ally X’s design truly distinguishes itself with its innovative grip. However, in most other aspects, it largely iterates on the existing ROG Ally X. It maintains the same color choices – black for the Xbox Ally X and white for the Xbox Ally – and features identical face buttons, d-pad, and thumbstick designs, complete with the signature RGB lighting rings. The sole new addition on the front-left of the screen is the dedicated Xbox button.
Therefore, you won’t find any groundbreaking changes like detachable controllers, a slide-out keyboard, a kickstand, or touchpads reminiscent of the Steam Deck. It largely adheres to the classic Windows handheld formula, with the exception of those unique grips.
These grips, however, are surprisingly effective. This is arguably the most comfortable gaming handheld I’ve used, with their increased depth and contour fitting remarkably naturally in the hand, much like the best PC controller designs. Furthermore, the distinctive split section at the bottom, which gives the device the appearance of a controller cut in half with a screen inserted, allows for an excellent finger wrap around the grip. This, coupled with the crosshatching pattern for added traction, makes one-handed operation surprisingly feasible.
Beyond the grips, its ergonomics are largely consistent with other handhelds. At 715g, it’s slightly heavier than a Steam Deck but significantly lighter than the Legion Go’s 854g. The overall proportions of the 7-inch screen and control layout are well-balanced, though the noticeably wide bezels around the screen hint that a slightly larger display might have been accommodated within the chassis.
Display and Audio Experience
Delving deeper into the display, it’s an LCD panel boasting a 1080p (1,920 x 1,080) resolution and capable of a refresh rate up to 120Hz. It also supports variable refresh rate (VRR) with Freesync, allowing for lower refresh rates to conserve battery life while ensuring a tear-free and smooth visual experience.
These specifications indicate a screen that performs admirably for gaming, offering the necessary speed and adaptability for both high-frame-rate action and slower-paced titles that prioritize battery preservation, all while maintaining good image quality and a fluid refresh rate.
However, from a pure image quality perspective, this screen is competent but not exceptional. It offers commendable viewing angles for an LCD and produces natural, reasonably saturated colors. Yet, as a standard LCD without a multi-zone backlight, it struggles to achieve deep black levels. This results in a lack of the contrast and vibrancy found in OLED panels, such as those on the Steam Deck OLED and AOKZOE A1X. While technically not as fast in response time as OLEDs, this difference is negligible on a handheld device.
The screen also lacks HDR support and only covers 100% of the sRGB and 75% of the AdobeRGB color spaces, meaning its colors may not be as vivid as those seen on the best gaming monitor designs.
On the audio front, the Xbox Ally X truly excels. Its stereo, forward-firing speakers deliver impressive volume—far more than typically needed—and maintain a commendable level of depth, preventing them from sounding thin or tinny. The headphone jack also provides clean, clear audio, free from any discernible background hiss or hum.
Operating System and the Xbox App Experience
Beyond its new Z2 Extreme processor and attractive price point, a major source of excitement for the Xbox Ally X’s launch revolved around Microsoft’s promise of a revitalized Xbox app experience, intended to revolutionize Windows gaming handheld usability. While the new app introduces some welcome features, it falls short of being a comprehensive solution to the frustrations of navigating Windows with a d-pad and touchscreen.
The Xbox app launches immediately upon the Xbox Ally X booting up, serving as a centralized hub for your installed games, Xbox profile, and access to Game Pass, Cloud gaming options, and the Microsoft game store.
The installed games section thoughtfully integrates titles from other launchers like Steam and Epic, allowing you to launch them directly from the app. However, this is largely the extent of the app’s functionality in terms of providing a single access point for device navigation or settings control.
Given that the app is essentially the existing Xbox app for Windows with a new interface, its limited integration of device-specific functions is somewhat understandable. Yet, Microsoft seems to have missed a prime opportunity to simply mirror standard Windows controls like screen brightness, volume, power modes, and more within this dedicated handheld interface.
The crucial point is that not only would such integration be logical for gaming handhelds (and other Windows gaming machines without traditional mouse and keyboard input, such as a PC connected to a TV), but Valve has already demonstrated how to achieve this effectively with its Steam Big Picture mode. Microsoft merely needed to create its own equivalent.
Returning to the app’s capabilities, the main home screen displays a list of your recently played games – frustratingly, only as icons without their titles – and then predominantly promotes other games and Game Pass content.
Similarly, the Game Pass section focuses more on promoting the service itself rather than highlighting games you’ve already installed through it. The Library section, however, is where all your installed games are cleanly organized in a sensible interface, while the cloud gaming and store sections function as expected portals for acquiring new titles.
In the Friends section, you can chat with your Xbox contacts, see who’s online, and communicate via voice, voice-to-text, or the on-screen keyboard.
With minimal device management capabilities residing within the Xbox app, these functions are instead relegated to the Xbox/Asus overlay. This overlay appears over games and other running applications when you press either the Xbox button or the adjacent Asus Command Center button.
Pressing the Xbox button takes you to the overlay’s home section, where you can launch one of your three most recently played games or open a game launcher. Tapping left brings you to the main Asus Command Center, the central hub for all device settings.
Here, you can adjust brightness and volume, power down the device, switch between power modes, set the FPS Limiter, enable AMD RSR, and change resolutions. The power modes dictate the processor’s maximum power output: 13W (Silent), 17W (Performance), and either 25W on battery or 35W when plugged in (both labeled Turbo mode). Lower power consumption translates to longer battery life but reduced performance. We will examine the impact of these settings in the performance section of this review.
To the right of the overlay’s home section is a settings area that redundantly duplicates volume, brightness, power, and network controls already available in the Command Center. Additionally, there are tabs for Xbox Social, Audio, screen capture, system monitoring, Xbox Achievements, the inevitable CoPilot AI, and a Widget Store.
The entire system feels unnecessarily complex and convoluted, with peculiar redundancies such as three different locations to adjust system volume (Command Center, Settings, Audio). Nevertheless, having most of these functions readily accessible is undeniably beneficial. It simply feels like the entire implementation was rushed and lacked a cohesive, holistic design approach.
Moreover, on my review unit, a recent automatic firmware update caused the Xbox button to launch Steam Big Picture, rendering the d-pad navigation for the overlay inoperable. Consequently, to access these functions, I had to resort to pressing the ROG Command Center button. While undoubtedly a bug that will likely be patched, it proved to be a frustrating experience.
Fundamentally, the Xbox app and overlay still fail to overcome the inherent flaw of Windows’ clunky touchscreen/d-pad navigation. Microsoft urgently needs to develop a singular interface that unifies the majority of critical Windows functions into a proper mobile-style experience, complete with a clean, scrolling app drawer, a straightforward settings menu, and so forth.
The current approach of haphazardly blending touch and mouse interfaces has only degraded the Windows desktop experience and remains abysmal on touchscreen devices. This is a lesson the company should have learned well over a decade ago when Windows 8 stumbled, yet it continues to be ignored.
Gaming Performance
Thankfully, despite the Xbox Ally X’s less-than-slick Xbox experience, its raw performance and gaming capabilities are still excellent. Once games are up and running – particularly on Steam – the controls operate superbly, and the new AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor at the heart of this machine delivers significantly higher frame rates than early-generation handhelds. While devices like the Ayaneo 3 and AOKZOE A1X may boast similar GPU power, the Ally X’s numbers remain impressive.
Starting with Cyberpunk 2077, I initiated testing in the highest 35W power mode (with the device plugged in). Running the game at 1080p with medium detail settings and FSR upscaling set to ‘quality’, the Xbox Ally X delivered a perfectly playable experience. An average of 43fps and a 1% low of 33fps might not feel perfectly smooth with a mouse and keyboard, but I found it entirely acceptable for controller input. Boosting the FSR upscaling to ‘balanced’ mode (which starts at a lower initial render resolution before upscaling) saw performance jump to a 49fps average.
In the lower-power 17W mode running on battery, performance dropped by approximately 25%, with our average using balanced upscaling falling to 37fps. This is still just about playable, though you might consider tweaking a few other settings – such as dropping to low overall quality – to achieve a slightly smoother experience during more intense combat sequences. Playing at the same resolution as the Steam Deck, with balanced upscaling, yielded a 52fps average.
Interestingly, if you’re inclined, you can even (just barely) play with ray tracing enabled in this game at 1080p. Using the low ray tracing quality preset and FSR set to balanced, the Xbox Ally X managed 29fps in 35W power mode. While not my preferred way to play, the option is there.
Speaking of ray tracing, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a game that doesn’t allow you to completely disable this feature, yet it still ran remarkably well on the Xbox Ally X, even without any upscaling. With the low quality preset, you can enjoy this game at an average of 33fps in 35W mode. Switching to 17W mode, this drops to 29fps, but for a slower-paced game like this, it remains just about playable.
For a slightly smoother frame rate, enabling FSR upscaling at the ‘quality’ setting will deliver a 42fps average in 35W mode (37fps at 17W), and using ‘balanced’ upscaling will push this to a 46fps average at 35W (39fps at 17W). Throughout, even with the quality setting on low, the game looks fantastic at this resolution on a screen of this size.
Beyond specific benchmark runs in modern AAA titles, I also played a variety of older 3D games, such as 2011’s Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, which consistently ran at well over 100fps in 17W mode.
In terms of heat and noise, this handheld maintains remarkable coolness and quiet operation. Even in its top 35W mode, it only reached 38dB from a distance of 10cm while playing Cyberpunk 2077. In 17W mode, it registered a mere 33dB. Throughout, the device only became slightly warm.
Battery Life
Equipped with a substantial 80Wh battery, the Xbox Ally X provides solid battery life for a gaming handheld. In the demanding PCMark 10 gaming battery life benchmark, this device lasted just under two hours in its top 25W power mode, a figure that extended to three hours when using the 17W mode.
However, both these tests were conducted without the FPS Limiter engaged to reduce the GPU’s workload, and it’s a relatively strenuous benchmark. We’ll soon update this review with tests including the FPS limiter, as well as measurements for video playback and the PCMark 10 Office benchmark, mirroring our approach for gaming laptop reviews. For now, in our general use, the device typically delivered between four to six hours of gaming on less demanding titles, which is comparable to other handhelds.
Pricing and Value
The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X is priced at $999 / £799, positioning it as a premium purchase and significantly more expensive than the Steam Deck OLED and many first-generation handhelds. However, this pricing places it comfortably below other competing handhelds that feature second-generation chips, such as the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme. The UK price, in particular, is exceptionally competitive, matching that of the existing ROG Ally X. In contrast, devices like the AOKZOE A1X typically start upwards of $1,300.
Key Alternatives
AOKZOE A1X
Currently, the AOKZOE A1X stands as the undeniable champion of Windows gaming handhelds in terms of both performance and screen quality. It also incorporates a similar second-gen AMD processor to the Xbox Ally X. However, it comes with a considerably higher price tag and offers worse battery life.
Asus ROG Ally X
Despite utilizing an older generation processor, the original ROG Ally X remains a strong handheld option. It offers nearly all the same features as the Xbox Ally X, though with a less powerful processor. Currently, its price has not dropped significantly enough to truly differentiate it from the Xbox Ally X. If Asus were to lower its price substantially, to around $600-$700, it would become the definitive mid-range choice.
Steam Deck OLED
The Steam Deck interface continues to reign supreme for its user-friendliness. With the Steam Deck OLED costing half the price of the Xbox Ally X, it remains, without a doubt, the best overall gaming handheld. While its 800p screen and older processor show their age, it is still the device to beat for many users.
Final Verdict
The great anticipation that an Xbox-branded Windows device would finally deliver a slick, streamlined gaming handheld interface has unfortunately not fully materialized with the Xbox Ally X. However, despite its Xbox additions feeling somewhat superficial, this remains the Windows handheld to beat right now.
Much of this positive assessment stems from the raw power of its AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor, which provides a truly noticeable leap in gaming performance compared to the Steam Deck and other first-generation handhelds. Furthermore, the distinctive, controller-style grips on the Xbox Ally X are a highly commendable addition.
The most significant factor, however, is its competitive pricing. While still an expensive, premium gaming handheld, it offers far better value than other devices in its performance class. If you’re seeking a Windows handheld and want the best available today, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X is your top choice.