The unique ROG Ally handheld gaming PC is barely a 12 months previous however Asus felt the necessity to give it a raft of much-needed updates and rename it because the ROG Ally X. A lot of the internals stay the identical—an AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive nonetheless powers it—however probably the most notable modifications repair nearly every little thing that wasn’t nice with the preliminary model.
Whereas cheap sufficient in dimension, the 40 Wh battery and 512 GB SSD within the first Ally had been arduous limits to what number of video games you would retailer on the Ally and the way lengthy you would use it. Asus has doubled each figures for the X variant and it is now far extra handy to make use of as a gaming machine.
Asus has additionally switched to utilizing the bigger M.2 2280 format within the Ally X. The older fashions used the extra compact 2230 format however such drives are at all times dearer than the extra acquainted dimension.
In actual fact, it is only a much better gaming PC full cease, as a result of the main modifications aren’t simply restricted to the battery and NVMe storage. The quantity of RAM soldered onto the motherboard has been elevated from 16 GB to 24 GB (basically a dual-channel 12 GB equipment), and the additional reminiscence house means the Ally X is way more snug utilizing an 8 GB VRAM restrict. The unique Ally had this restrict too but it surely’s higher to lower it to six GB on that system, to make sure there’s enough system reminiscence to run the newest video games.
Header Cell – Column 0 | Asus ROG Ally X | Asus ROG Ally |
---|---|---|
Processor | AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive | AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive |
CPU structure | Zen 4 | Zen 4 |
Core / threads | 8 / 16 | 8 / 16 |
CPU enhance clock | 5.1 GHz | 5.1 GHz |
GPU structure | RDNA 3 | RDNA 3 |
Shader rely | 768 | 768 |
GPU enhance clock | 2.7 GHz | 2.7 GHz |
VRAM | 8 GB (shared, adjustable) | 8 GB (shared, adjustable) |
Reminiscence | 24 GB LPDDR5-6500 | 16 GB LPDDR5-6500 |
Display screen | 7-inch IPS LCD show | 7-inch IPS LCD show |
Decision / Refresh price | 1920 x 1080 / 120 Hz | 1920 x 1080 / 120 Hz |
Peak brightness | 500 nits | 500 nits |
Storage | 1 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD | 512 GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2230 SSD |
Connectivity | 1x USB4 Kind-C, 1x USB 3.2 Gen Kind-C, 1x 3.5 mm audio, 1x UHS-II microSD reader | 1x ROG XG Cellular, 1x USB 3.2 Gen Kind-C, 1x 3.5 mm audio, 1x UHS-II microSD reader |
Dimensions | 280 x 111 x 24.7-36.9 mm (11.02 x 4.37 x 0.97-1.45 inches) | 280 x 111 x 21.2-32.4 cm (11.02 x 4.37 x 0.83-1.28 inches) |
Weight | 678 g (1.49 lbs) | 608 g (1.34 lbs) |
Worth | $799/£799 | $599/£599 |
That is now not the case with the Ally X and you’ll simply leap in and begin gaming on it, with out having to fret about twiddling with the settings. Nicely, for many video games at the least and I will come to why that is the case later.
The preliminary expertise of choosing up and utilizing the hand held is far nicer than the first-gen mannequin, because of the redesigned physique. The ‘handles’ on either side have smoother curves to them, and together with the firmer thumbsticks, smaller again buttons, and higher high quality shoulder buttons, the Ally X is simpler to carry and sport for hours in comparison with the unique Ally.
Asus has retained the 7-inch 1080p, 120 Hz IPS show from the Ally however that is okay because it’s sharp, vibrant, and has nice color copy. Utilizing one thing with extra pixels would solely tank the efficiency and a better refresh price would eat into the battery life—one thing we seen with the Lenovo Legion Go and its 1200p, 144 Hz display.
The place the primary iteration of Asus’ handheld PC feels considerably low-cost and flimsy in locations, the up to date model has a much more strong and high-quality air to it, particularly the controls. I am not a fan of the white plastic used on the Ally Mk1—it picks up grime too simply—so I used to be happy to see Asus has deserted it for a smart gray/black color.
The interior cooling system has additionally been tweaked and whereas the Z1 Excessive chip does not run any quicker, the warmth pipes and followers shift a bit of extra warmth, so it ought to have the ability to maintain greater clock speeds for longer. When it is plugged in and working at full energy (30 W Turbo mode), there is a truthful quantity of noise, after all, but it surely’s decrease in pitch than earlier than and significantly greater than tolerable.
Connectivity choices had been a tad restrictive within the first Ally however that is additionally been addressed, with the proprietary ROG XG Cellular port giving means for a full-blown USB4 Kind-C port, that is Thunderbolt 4 compliant and helps DisplayPort 1.4 and Energy Supply 3. It does imply you will not have the ability to connect an exterior GPU to the Ally X however that is no actual loss.
The SD card reader that prompted Asus no finish of complications (overheating and killing storage playing cards) is similar spec as earlier than, but it surely’s been repositioned on the motherboard and the bigger hole between it and the close by heatpipe ought to assist forestall any thermal woes.
I did not count on the Ally X to be any quicker than the Ally however having retested the unique mannequin (because it has undergone numerous updates since launch), and gone by a number of runs to verify the figures, the brand new model is a bit of faster. That is nearly actually all the way down to the higher cooling system, though having 50% extra RAM will assist in no small means.
The efficiency good points aren’t particularly noticeable in our commonplace benchmarks however working them once more with FSR upscaling enabled (set to Balanced) and all the standard settings dropped to medium values, the Ally X was round six to 10% quicker than the Ally. That is not very a lot but it surely’s higher than nothing.
One may be upset to see that the Ally X’s 1 TB SSD isn’t any quicker than the 512 GB one used within the Ally, however quicker NVMe drives use extra energy, which in flip impacts battery life. There’s greater than sufficient storage efficiency for many PC avid gamers’ wants, anyway.
It is not simply the parts and bodily form that is been tweaked—the facility modes accessed by the Asus management centre now provide 13% and 33% extra energy in Efficiency and Silent modes, and within the case of the latter, the additional vitality helps the Z1 Excessive run correctly. Testing the modes in Cyberpunk 2077, with FSR Balanced upscaling and medium settings, noticed the Ally X run 62% quicker than the Ally, when in Silent mode.
That specific sport is not actually playable when the chip simply has 13 W to play with (we’re speaking 21 fps on common) however for older video games or simply much less demanding ones, it is greater than sufficient—it was surprisingly good to have the ability to play F1 22 and Horizon Zero Daybreak at over 30 fps (with FSR and medium settings), for a number of hours with out getting battery warnings or scorching arms.
The Ally X is 70 g heavier than the Ally but it surely’s solely a rise of 11% and never particularly noticeable. Because of the a lot bigger battery, it’s fairly cumbersome, although nothing just like the Steam Deck’s substantial type.
Pitting the Ally X in opposition to the Ally in our commonplace battery check (each units working within the 25 W ‘On battery’ Turbo mode) does not produce any main surprises—80 Wh vs 40 Wh—however the truth that it is a bit of bit higher than it needs to be exhibits that Asus’ engineers have finished a fantastic job of maximising the Z1 Excessive’s effectivity.
That mentioned, I feel 13 W continues to be a bit of too low for the Silent mode. Sure, the Ally X actually is completely silent when working like this however some functions wrestle to run easily on this mode, resembling Asus’ personal Armory Crate software program.
Purchase if…
✅ If you would like the perfect handheld gaming PC: It is actually that straightforward. The ROG Ally X is nice to make use of, lasts for hours, and has a perfect stability of efficiency, warmth, and battery life.
✅ If you would like a NUC with extras: Purchase an appropriate dock and you’ll run the Ally X on a giant monitor and management it by way of a keyboard and mouse. It’s a PC, in spite of everything.
Do not buy if…
❌ If you would like a funds transportable gaming PC: At $799, the ROG Ally X is sort of laptop-price and the 1 TB OLED Steam Deck is $150 cheaper.
❌ Should you count on an ideal gaming expertise: Valve’s Steam Deck software program is a lot better on this format than Home windows is and could be irritating to get working at instances.
The place Valve’s handheld gaming PC stands out from the competitors is its peerless software program assist. Asus has tried its finest to beat the truth that Home windows is not nice on handheld units, regardless of all of the work that Microsoft has finished to enhance the way it capabilities with touchscreens and controllers, fairly than a keyboard and mouse.
The Ally X was despatched to me with the up to date model of the Armoury Crate software program and whereas it is higher than it has ever been, SteamOS on the Deck continues to be the bar in opposition to which all others are judged.
Horizon Zero Daybreak and Cyberpunk 2077 did not simply have nice efficiency on the Ally X, they labored completely with Asus’ controllers—F1 22, then again, was a ache to get working correctly, requiring a number of restarts earlier than filling the display and recognising the thumbsticks accurately.
It was the identical with streaming a sport from one other PC by way of Steam’s Distant Play system. When it really works, it is sensible however streaming Dragon’s Dogma 2, for instance, was an train in frustration, because it refused to recognise the Ally X as a sport controller.
That does not occur as usually on the Steam Deck and though it isn’t an issue immediately generated by Asus, the gaming expertise does not at all times match the standard of the {hardware} and design within the Ally X. Hopefully the success of the hand held PC market will push Microsoft to enhance issues on this space.
Should you’re comfortable to place up with Home windows and its quirks on this type issue, then there’s just one deciding issue left to contemplate and that is the value. The unique ROG Ally launched with an MSRP of $699/£699 however Asus has dropped this to $599/£599 (and discontinued the Ryzen Z1 non-Excessive in some markets).
That value was fairly costly however pretty cheap—the ROG Ally X, although, is $799/£799 and it will be an excellent whereas earlier than we see any sizeable reductions.
The OLED Steam Deck is $649/£569 for the 1 TB model so it is $150 cheaper than the ROG Ally X. Different Home windows-based handheld units are simply as dear as the brand new Asus ROG mannequin and also you’re getting plenty of gaming efficiency beneath the good 1080p display, however $150 is a good chunk of cash.
At $799, the Ally X can also be bordering on RTX 4050 gaming laptop computer territory however one does not actually purchase a handheld PC to make use of it for a similar duties as a laptop computer. With a keyboard and mouse, you are able to do simply that (this evaluate has been written with Ally X plugged right into a dock and monitor), although that is all further expense.
However when you simply need the perfect handheld gaming efficiency, in a cushty and transportable type issue, that can final for hours—there’s actually just one alternative and it is the ROG Ally X. Asus has taken what was an excellent however flawed gaming system and altered every little thing that held the unique Ally again from being really nice. It will likely be fascinating to see how a lot better the subsequent iteration might be.