Our Verdict on the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X
Despite the addition of the Xbox name, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X still doesn’t quite deliver a truly console-like Windows gaming handheld experience. However, thanks to a superb AMD processor and a competitive price, it stands as the handheld to beat in its category right now.
Pros:
- Fantastic gaming performance
- Solid battery life
- Comfortable grip design
- Great overall design
Cons:
- Windows remains challenging as a handheld interface
- High price point
- Xbox app/overlay additions are somewhat disappointing
The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X is finally here, and while many hoped it would usher in a new era for Windows gaming handhelds with a revolutionary Microsoft Xbox app, it mostly highlights why Windows alternatives often struggle to match the Steam Deck’s ease of use. Yet, despite its less-than-seamless Xbox console-like experience, the Xbox Ally X is an excellent handheld, largely thanks to its powerful AMD processor.
At the core of this machine is the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme, offering a significant performance boost over the original Steam Deck and first-generation Windows handhelds like the older ROG Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go. While some recent devices, such as the Ayaneo 3 and AOKZOE A1X, have delivered similar raw performance with AMD Radeon 890M-class GPUs, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X comes in at a much more reasonable, though still premium, price. It’s a strong contender for a top spot on any best gaming handheld list.
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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 | 2 x rear buttons, power button with built-in fingerprint sensor, Ayaspace quick menu button, home button for Windows Game Bar access |
Design
The Xbox Ally X’s standout feature is its distinctive grip design. In most other aspects, it’s a clear evolution of the existing ROG Ally X. It shares the same two color options (black for Xbox Ally X, white for Xbox Ally) and identical face buttons, D-pad, and thumbstick design, complete with RGB lighting rings around the sticks. The only new addition is the Xbox button positioned on the front-left of the screen.
This means you won’t find revolutionary features like detachable controllers, a slide-out keyboard, a kickstand, or touchpads seen on the Steam Deck. It’s a classic Windows handheld in nearly every way, save for those unique grips.
These grips, however, are surprisingly effective. This is arguably the most comfortable gaming handheld available, with the added depth and ergonomic shape fitting naturally in the hand, much like a premium PC controller. The split bottom section, giving it the appearance of a controller sliced in half with a screen inserted, allows for an exceptionally firm grip. This, combined with the textured crosshatching, makes one-handed operation surprisingly easy.
Otherwise, its ergonomics are comparable to other handhelds. It’s slightly heavier than a Steam Deck at 715g but significantly lighter than the Legion Go’s 854g. The overall proportion of the 7-inch screen with the control layout feels balanced, though the noticeable bezels around the screen suggest that a slightly larger display might have been possible within the chassis.
Display and Sound
The screen is a 7-inch LCD panel with a 1080p (1,920 x 1,080) resolution, 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 eliminating screen tearing and stutter.
These specifications make it an excellent screen for gaming, providing the necessary speed and flexibility to run fast-paced games at high frame rates or slower titles to maximize battery life, all while maintaining good image quality and a smooth refresh experience.
However, in terms of raw image quality, this screen is good but not exceptional. It offers decent viewing angles for an LCD and produces natural, reasonably saturated colors. But as a standard LCD without a multi-zone backlight, it struggles to achieve deep black levels. This results in less contrast and visual punch compared to OLED panels found in devices like the Steam Deck OLED and AOKZOE A1X. While technically not as fast in response time as OLEDs, this difference is less significant in a handheld device.
The screen also lacks HDR support and only covers 100% of the sRGB and 75% of the AdobeRGB color spaces, meaning colors might lack some of the vividness seen on high-end gaming monitors.
Audio, on the other hand, is a strong point for the Xbox Ally X. Its stereo, forward-firing speakers deliver impressive volume – often more than needed – and maintain good depth, preventing a shrill or tinny sound. The headphone jack provides clean, clear audio without any noticeable background hiss or hum.
Operating System and Xbox App
Beyond its new Z2 Extreme processor and competitive pricing, much of the excitement surrounding the Xbox Ally X stemmed from Microsoft’s promise of a revitalized Xbox app experience that would transform Windows gaming handhelds. While the new app introduces some useful features, it falls short of being a complete solution for the inherent 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 central hub for your installed games, Xbox profile, Game Pass, Cloud gaming options, and the Microsoft game store.
The installed games section integrates titles from other launchers like Steam and Epic, directly launching both the game and its respective launcher from within the app. However, this is largely where the app’s comprehensive functionality ends regarding device navigation or settings control.
Given that the app is essentially a redesigned version of the existing Xbox app for Windows, its limited integration of device-specific functions is somewhat understandable. However, Microsoft missed a prime opportunity to incorporate fundamental Windows controls such as screen brightness, volume, power mode settings, and more. Implementing these would not only benefit gaming handhelds but also any Windows gaming setup without a keyboard and mouse (e.g., a PC connected to a TV). Valve has already demonstrated this effectively with its Steam Big Picture mode, indicating a clear path Microsoft could have followed.
Returning to the app’s capabilities, the main home screen displays a list of recently played games – frustratingly, only their icons without titles – and primarily promotes other games and Game Pass content.
Similarly, the Game Pass section focuses on promoting the service rather than highlighting games you’ve already installed via Game Pass. The Library section is where all your installed games are consolidated into a clean, intuitive interface, while the cloud gaming and store sections act as portals for discovering 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 within the Xbox app itself, these features are relegated to the Xbox/Asus overlay. This overlay activates over games and other running applications when you press either the Xbox button or the adjacent Asus Command Center button.
Pressing the Xbox button leads 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, which handles 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 allow the processor to run at a maximum power output of 13W (Silent), 17W (Performance), or either 25W on battery or 35W when plugged in (both called Turbo mode). Lower power consumption extends battery life but reduces performance. The impact of these settings is detailed in the performance section of this review.
To the right of the overlay’s home section are settings that duplicate volume and brightness controls, power options, and network options already found in the Command Center. Additional tabs include Xbox Social, Audio, screen capture, system monitoring, Xbox Achievements, the inevitable CoPilot AI, and a Widget Store.
The overall experience feels overly complex and disjointed, with redundancies like three different places to control system volume (Command Center, Settings, Audio). Nevertheless, having most of these functions readily accessible is undeniably useful. It simply feels like the entire system was hastily implemented without a holistic design approach.
Furthermore, on my review unit, a recent automatic firmware update caused the Xbox button to unexpectedly launch Steam Big Picture, rendering the D-pad navigation within the overlay unresponsive. To access these functions, I had to use the ROG Command Center button. While likely a bug that will be fixed, it was a frustrating experience.
Crucially, the Xbox app and its overlay still fail to overcome the fundamental issue of Windows’ poor touchscreen and D-pad navigation. Microsoft needs to develop a unified interface that integrates core Windows functions into a genuine mobile-style experience, complete with a clean, scrolling app drawer and a simple settings menu. The current approach of haphazardly combining touch and mouse interfaces has degraded the Windows desktop experience and remains abysmal on touchscreen devices. This is a lesson the company should have learned over a decade ago with the failure of Windows 8, yet it persists.
Performance
Thankfully, while the Xbox Ally X’s polished Xbox experience leaves much to be desired, its raw performance and gaming capabilities are still excellent. Once games are running – especially within Steam – the controls operate flawlessly. The new AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor at the heart of this machine delivers significantly higher frame rates compared to early-generation handhelds. While devices like the Ayaneo 3 and AOKZOE A1X might boast similar GPU power, the Ally X’s performance figures remain impressive.
Starting with Cyberpunk 2077, I used the highest 35W power mode (with the device plugged in) and ran the game at 1080p with medium detail settings and FSR upscaling set to quality. The Xbox Ally X delivered a perfectly playable experience, with a 43fps average and 33fps 1% low. While not perfectly smooth for mouse and keyboard, it felt entirely acceptable with a controller. Boosting FSR upscaling to balanced mode (starting from a lower initial render resolution before upscaling) saw performance jump to a 49fps average.
In the lower-power 17W mode running on battery, performance decreased by about 25%, with the average using balanced upscaling dropping to 37fps. This is still just about playable, but you might want to adjust a few more settings – perhaps dropping to low overall quality – for a smoother experience during intense combat. Playing at the same resolution as the Steam Deck with balanced upscaling yielded a 52fps average.
If you’re curious, 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 achieved 29fps in the 35W power mode. While not my preferred way to play, the option exists.
Speaking of ray tracing, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, a game where this feature cannot be fully disabled, still ran remarkably well on the Xbox Ally X, even without upscaling. With the low quality preset, the game averaged 33fps in 35W mode. Switching to 17W mode saw this drop to 29fps, but for a slower-paced game, this was still just about playable.
For a smoother frame rate, enabling FSR upscaling at the quality setting resulted in a 42fps average in 35W mode (37fps at 17W), and using balanced upscaling pushed this to a 46fps average at 35W (39fps at 17W). Throughout these tests, even with the quality setting at low, the game looked fantastic on a screen of this size.
Beyond specific modern AAA benchmarks, I also played a range of older 3D titles, such as 2011’s Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, which consistently ran at well over 100fps in 17W mode.
Regarding heat and noise, this handheld remains remarkably cool and quiet. Even in its top 35W mode, it only reached 38dB from 10cm away while playing Cyberpunk 2077. In 17W mode, it registered just 33dB. All the while, the device only became slightly warm to the touch.
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, the handheld lasted just under two hours in its top 25W power mode. This jumped to three hours when using the 17W mode.
However, these tests were conducted without the FPS Limiter engaged, which would reduce the GPU’s workload, and the benchmark itself is quite demanding. We’ll be updating this review with tests including the FPS limiter, along with video playback and PCMark 10 Office benchmark results, similar to our gaming laptop reviews. For now, in general use with less demanding titles, the device delivered approximately four to six hours of gaming, which is comparable to other handhelds.
Price
The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X is priced at $999 / £799, making it a significant investment and considerably more expensive than the Steam Deck OLED and several first-generation handhelds. However, this pricing positions it comfortably below other competing handhelds that utilize second-generation chips, such as the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme. The UK price, in particular, is highly competitive, matching the existing ROG Ally X. In contrast, devices like the AOKZOE A1X can cost upwards of $1,300.
Alternatives
AOKZOE A1X
Currently a leading Windows gaming handheld in terms of performance and screen quality, the AOKZOE A1X also features a similar second-generation AMD processor to the Xbox Ally X. However, it comes at a much higher price and offers shorter battery life.
Asus ROG Ally X
Despite housing an older generation processor, the original ROG Ally X remains a strong handheld option. It offers nearly identical features to the Xbox Ally X, just with a slightly slower processor. Its price, however, has not yet significantly dropped below that of the Xbox Ally X. Should Asus reduce its price considerably, to around $600-$700, it would become an excellent mid-range choice.
Steam Deck OLED
The Steam Deck’s interface continues to be unmatched for ease of use. With the Steam Deck OLED priced at half the cost of the Xbox Ally X, it undoubtedly remains the best overall gaming handheld. While its 800p screen and older processor show their age, it’s still the device to beat for many users.
Verdict
The high hopes for an Xbox-branded Windows device to finally deliver a sleek, streamlined gaming handheld interface haven’t fully materialized with the Xbox Ally X. However, despite its Xbox additions feeling somewhat superficial, this device remains the Windows handheld to beat right now.
Much of its success stems from the formidable 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-gen handhelds. Additionally, the Xbox Ally X’s distinctive, controller-style grips are a welcome ergonomic improvement.
The most crucial factor, however, is its competitive pricing. While still a premium gaming handheld, it offers significantly better value than other devices in its performance class. If you’re considering a Windows handheld and want the best currently available, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X is your top choice.