Asus ROG Ally X review

The unique ROG Ally handheld gaming PC is barely a yr outdated however Asus felt the necessity to give it a raft of much-needed updates and rename it because the ROG Ally X. Many of the internals stay the identical—an AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive nonetheless powers it—however essentially the most notable modifications repair nearly all the pieces 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 have been onerous 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 all the time dearer than the extra acquainted dimension.

In reality, it is only a much better gaming PC full cease, as a result of the foremost 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 (primarily a dual-channel 12 GB package), and the additional reminiscence area means the Ally X is rather 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 adequate system reminiscence to run the newest video games.

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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 Cell, 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 not the case with the Ally X and you may simply bounce in and begin gaming on it, with out having to fret about twiddling with the settings. Effectively, for many video games no less than and I will come to why that is the case later.

The preliminary expertise of choosing up and utilizing the hand held is way 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, shiny, and has nice color replica. 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 observed with the Lenovo Legion Go and its 1200p, 144 Hz display.

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A photo of the Asus ROG Ally X gaming handheld PC — (Picture credit score: Future)

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 sturdy 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 wise gray/black color.

The interior cooling system has additionally been tweaked and whereas the Z1 Excessive chip would not run any quicker, the warmth pipes and followers shift just a little extra warmth, so it ought to be capable to maintain increased clock speeds for longer. When it is plugged in and operating at full energy (30 W Turbo mode), there is a honest quantity of noise, after all, but it surely’s decrease in pitch than earlier than and significantly greater than tolerable.

Connectivity choices have been a tad restrictive within the first Ally however that is additionally been addressed, with the proprietary ROG XG Cell port giving approach 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 be capable to connect an exterior GPU to the Ally X however that is no actual loss.

The SD card reader that triggered 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 stop any thermal woes.

I did not anticipate 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 way of a number of runs to substantiate the figures, the brand new model is just a little faster. That is nearly actually right down to the higher cooling system, though having 50% extra RAM will assist in no small approach.

The efficiency positive factors aren’t particularly noticeable in our normal benchmarks however operating 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 is likely to be disillusioned to see that the Ally X’s 1 TB SSD is not 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 players’ wants, anyway.

It isn’t simply the parts and bodily form that is been tweaked—the ability modes accessed by the Asus management centre now supply 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 exact 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 palms.

The Ally X is 70 g heavier than the Ally but it surely’s solely a rise of 11% and never particularly noticeable. Due to the a lot bigger battery, it’s fairly cumbersome, although nothing just like the Steam Deck’s substantial kind.

Pitting the Ally X in opposition to the Ally in our normal battery take a look at (each gadgets operating within the 25 W ‘On battery’ Turbo mode) would not produce any main surprises—80 Wh vs 40 Wh—however the truth that it is just a little bit higher than it ought to be exhibits that Asus’ engineers have executed a terrific job of maximising the Z1 Excessive’s effectivity.

That mentioned, I feel 13 W continues to be just a little too low for the Silent mode. Sure, the Ally X actually is completely silent when operating like this however some functions wrestle to run easily on this mode, reminiscent of Asus’ personal Armory Crate software program.

Purchase if…

If you would like one of the best handheld gaming PC: It is actually that easy. The ROG Ally X is nice to make use of, lasts for hours, and has a really perfect steadiness of efficiency, warmth, and battery life.

If you would like a NUC with extras: Purchase an appropriate dock and you may run the Ally X on an enormous monitor and management it through a keyboard and mouse. It’s a PC, in spite of everything.

Do not buy if…

If you would like a funds moveable gaming PC: At $799, the ROG Ally X is sort of laptop-price and the 1 TB OLED Steam Deck is $150 cheaper.

When you anticipate 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 help. Asus has tried its greatest to beat the truth that Home windows is not nice on handheld gadgets, regardless of all of the work that Microsoft has executed to enhance the way it features 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, however, was a ache to get operating correctly, requiring a number of restarts earlier than filling the display and recognising the thumbsticks appropriately.

It was the identical with streaming a sport from one other PC through Steam’s Distant Play system. When it really works, it is good 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 would not all the time 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.

A phot of an Asus ROG Ally X handheld gaming PC next to the original Asus ROG Ally

(Picture credit score: Future)

When you’re completely happy to place up with Home windows and its quirks on this kind 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 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 gadgets are simply as expensive as the brand new Asus ROG mannequin and also you’re getting a number 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 would 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 should you simply need one of the best handheld gaming efficiency, in a snug and moveable kind issue, that can final for hours—there’s actually just one selection and it is the ROG Ally X. Asus has taken what was a superb however flawed gaming system and altered all the pieces that held the unique Ally again from being actually nice. It is going to be fascinating to see how a lot better the subsequent iteration shall be.

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