It’s official, the Asus ROG Ally X is right here and out there for pre-order now. Asus unveiled the brand new gaming handheld at Computex and it’s filled with much more upgrades than we anticipated, together with a large increase in battery life.
Whereas it’s too early to say whether or not the Asus Ally X’s enhancements are sufficient to make it a contender to knock the Steam Deck OLED of the highest of our greatest handheld gaming PC information, the sheer variety of enhancements is certain to make a tempting prospect for a lot of consumers.
The obvious change with the Ally X is that it has switched from the white end of the unique Ally to a black end, with every model solely out there in a single coloration. This can make for a handheld that hides the ravages of a life on the street and in your fingers higher.
Slight stylistic tweaks apart, the largest improve with the Ally X is its doubled battery dimension, from 40Whr to 80Whr – sure the Ally X leaks had been true. The battery lifetime of the unique mannequin wasn’t horrible however was behind its chief rival the Steam Deck, so an enchancment as massive as this might even put it forward.
Regardless of this large enhance in battery capability, the ROG Ally X isn’t that a lot heavier than the Ally due to Asus shaving weight from elsewhere on the gadget. Even the fan has shrunk, dropping 23% in dimension whereas sustaining as much as 10% increased airflow due to utilizing thinner fan blades. A 3rd exhaust space additionally aids venting warmth.
Different inside enhancements embrace a default 1TB of storage with a transfer to utilizing a “full-size” 2280 format SSD, tremendously rising the vary of SSDs you’ll be capable of match within the gadget. RAM allocation has additionally elevated to an enormous 24GB LPDDRX 7500 – greater than many gaming PCs.
Externally, there are a bunch of ergonomic enhancements too, with rounder handles and triggers, that are legitimately extra snug to carry. The D-pad has change to a “precision” eight-way design too and the buttons have been barely rearranged so that they’re simpler to achieve. Conversely, the rear macro buttons are smaller and fewer simple to hit unintentionally.
In our brief time with the gadget, all these small adjustments did really feel like they added as much as making for a extra snug gadget to make use of general, although the additional weight positively isn’t a welcome addition.
What we couldn’t assist however really feel is slight disappointment that the display hasn’t switched to OLED, even when it wasn’t fairly as dazzling an OLED as that on the Steam Deck OLED. The plain drop in distinction and coloration saturation when viewing the Ally X from an angle and common lack of pop when considered facet by facet with the Steam Deck OLED is apparent to see. I suppose there must be one thing for Asus to improve with the Ally 2.
