Asus ROG Xbox Ally X – Review

Handheld gaming consoles have always worked off a compromise – portability enables users to engage in triple-A quality gaming even while on the go, though it comes at the cost of suboptimal performance, poor battery life, or the combination of the two.

The Nintendo Switch and its recent successor, the Nintendo Switch 2 remains the current success story and others remain eager to take a slice of that pie, and Asus, Xbox and AMD have worked together to merge modern technological advancements to find that sweet spot with the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, which takes the already rather impressive predecessor, the ROG Ally, up a few notches with not just hardware upgrades, but meaningful implementations of the Xbox branding. It’s not perfect, as battery issues and a steep price hold it back from greatness, but it comes really close.

Right off the bat, the ROG Xbox Ally X’s design differs from the usual form factor of other handhelds on the market due to its two grips jutting off either side of the device, meant to emulate those seen on an Xbox controller. Similar to the PlayStation Portal, the console looks like someone sawed a controller straight down the middle and slapped a screen in between.

This might seem odd and unwieldy compared to the slimmer or more streamlined competitors out there, but in practice, this design feature does wonders for comfort. This is made even more important considering the ROG Xbox Ally X is a rather bulky device, measuring 29 x 12.1 x 5.09cm at its thickest point, and weighing slightly more than its 2024 predecessor, at 715g. 

With actual controller grips this time around, the device’s ergonomics have been vastly improved, fitting naturally in a user’s hands and helping to support its increased weight even after extended hours of play, which is a level of comfort that devices with the more traditional rectangular design often fail to achieve.

Layout-wise, buttons are mostly what users of the ROG Ally X would expect, but with a few exceptions. The Amoury Crate app button, which used to be on the right side and above the ‘Menu’ button, is now replaced with a shortcut key that brings users to the library section of the Xbox app. On the left now lie two shortcut keys, one that brings up the Xbox app and another that opens the Game Bar for quick access to its Control Centre.

Thumbsticks and triggers feel extremely satisfying to use, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering that the buttons on the device employ the same technologies as seen on first-party Xbox controllers, such as Impulse Triggers, which add immersive vibrations and feedback when pressing the key in supported titles. While a joy to use, these keys are unfortunately rather loud, meaning using the console in certain quiet environments might not be ideal.

In terms of connectivity options, the ROG Xbox Ally X features two USB-C ports on its top left side, one of which supports USB 4.0. On the right-hand side lies a MicroSD card ready and the device’s power button, which also doubles up as a fingerprint sensor, alongside a headphone jack.

The device’s enhancements don’t extend to its display, however, as it features the same seven-inch 1080p display as its predecessor. To be fair, the existing technology was already well-suited for mobile gaming purposes, with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate and peak brightness of 500 nits, which aids screen readability even in bright outdoor environments.

All its improvements, in terms of performance, lie under the hood instead, with the ROG Xbox Ally X packing in an enhanced AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme Processor and AMD Radeon GPU. Putting the chips through their paces via various benchmarking software such as 3DMark, Geek Bench 6, and Cinebench 2024 produced the following results:

• 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra: 2,744 
• 3DMark Wild Life Extreme: 7,735
• Geek Bench 6: 39,725 (OpenCL GPU), 47,227 (Vulkan GPU), 2,794 (Single-Core CPU), 12,394 (Multi-Core CPU)
• Cinebench 2024: 111 (Single-Core CPU), 745 (Multi-Core CPU) 

Benchmarking aside, the console boasts respectable performance for a system of this size, as apart from breezing through more casual gaming titles like Hades II or Shinobi: Art of Vengeance without a hitch, while maintaining a constant 60fps at 1080p resolution, it was also able to run certain 3D triple-A titles like Cyberpunk 2077 smoothly too with a little tweaking of settings, specifically setting it to the game’s Steam Deck preset and making use of upscaling technologies like DLSS, to which the game was able to run between at 50 to 60fps depending on the scene, which is an impressive feat.

The ROG Xbox Ally X is still a handheld console at the end of the day, however, so users shouldn’t expect to run the latest and greatest titles without some compromise. Doom: The Dark Ages, for example, a game that has proven to be extremely scalable to different platforms and systems, is almost unplayable on the handheld, with the only way to achieve a decent performance being to reduce the resolution or to use upscalers, which results in a washed-out image instead.

While gaming, the device’s cooling systems function similarly to most other handhelds, with intake fans strategically placed at the back of the device and away from where a user’s fingers would sit, with hot air being dissipated through vents on the top. How fast the device heats up depends on which of the four operating modes it’s currently on – Windows, Silent, Performance and Turbo, with its default Performance setting automatically switching to Turbo upon plugging in. But even after extended play with graphically intensive titles on Turbo, the device never heated up to a state where it was uncomfortable or painful to play.

Despite its many improvements, the ROG Xbox Ally X still struggles with the bane of all handheld gaming consoles – battery life. It might boast a bigger 80WHr cell than its non-X counterpart, but with its beefier processor, it uses far more power, which sort of balances it out anyway. What this means is that even during casual gameplay, battery life drains fast, and playing a mere hour-and-a-half session of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, a game that doesn’t tax a system all that much, can easily drain half the device’s battery. 

This means that the device can only afford up to four hours of gameplay on a full charge, and that’s only if the title isn’t too taxing on the system, with more demanding 3D titles like Cyberpunk 2077, for example. draining half the system’s battery within an hour. As impressive as how such a tiny system – in comparison to traditional consoles – can last two hours playing demanding triple-A titles is, having a less-than-ideal battery life and needing to constantly charge the device is something that, even with all of today’s advancements, hasn’t been perfected yet.

And then there’s its price. At a staggering S$1,299, the ROG Xbox Ally X is more expensive than the likes of the Nintendo Switch 2, the PlayStation 5, or even the PS5 Pro, with the latter two being the far superior systems in terms of graphical prowess. Like most handhelds, users are essentially paying more for less, just for convenience and portability, but for those specifically looking for a handheld console, this oddly shaped but powerful Xbox-themed one presents the current cream of the crop.

Kevin Low

Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.