ASUS ROG Ally X Review – The One You Get

The ASUS ROG Ally X is here and is meant to be an upgrade over the previous model that launched just one year ago not so much an entirely new device. ASUS has improved a number of features on this handheld. There’s a new black shell, the back is more ergonomic and easier to hold and there are various internal changes for the better.

This is obviously the go-to Ally if you’re in the market for one. Sure, it costs a bit more but the differences are quite obvious. But let’s get to the differences, and changes and benchmark the unit to decide for ourselves.

ASUS ROG Ally Versus ASUS ROG Ally X

The ASUS ROG Ally X doesn’t have a new system-on-a-chip and still makes use of the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme from last year’s ROG Ally. The only performance gains come from the 24GB of LPDDR5 RAM over the 16GB found in the original model. The new RAM bump means games load much faster and data is handled at almost double the speed.

The storage has also been doubled from 512GB to 1TB which is a great move. Games are bigger than ever and the 1TB SSD goes a long way to help store more of them without the need to free up space. Of course, you can always upgrade it with a larger SSD and MicroSD card.

Speaking of which, ASUS has also chucked out that horrible 2230 Compact SSD support and replaced it with the cheaper, and more readily available 2280 SSD. This makes upgrading your storage on the Ally X a lot easier. 2280 SSDs are easier to find and cost a lot less. Well, in South Africa anyway.

But ASUS has also packed in a bigger 80Wh battery and in turn, been quite smart in how the device handles this beefier battery cell. The power options run at a higher rate now which means more juice is drawn from the Z1 Extreme. In turn, game performance has increased.

ASUS has also moved the controversial MicroSD card slot away from the heat pipes to avoid the slot frying the cards. It was a major issue in the original model and caused a number of refunds. The company has also reworked the cooling system to provide better cooling in general.

The MicroSD card slot isn’t the only design change. The Ally X comes in black instead of the white launch model. There’s no longer an E-GPU slot on the top and now uses Thunderbolt 4 to get the same job done.

The back of the unit is also sleeker with trimmed-down grips and a sloped back case. The macro buttons are also much smaller. They also stick out from the shell a bit. I am not a huge fan of this change as I felt like these macro buttons are quite easy to press by accident. I had the same issue with the original model so perhaps my hands are just too big. Could be. But you know what they say about people with big hands, right? They wear big gloves.

ASUS has kept the Hall Effect triggers from the 2023 model which is a win here. They didn’t put Hall Effect joy sticks in the new Ally X though. Unlike MSI’s Claw, ASUS instead upgraded the potentiometers with what they say are more durable modules rated for 5 million cycles. There’s also a new 8-direction D-Pad which is great for retro gaming.

All of these changes result in the ROG Ally X being thicker and heavier than the original model. It is about 70 grams heavier and now weighs 678g compared to the 608g on the launch model.

678g is a heavy handheld and after a few hours of gaming, you start to feel it. I often found myself squirming around to find new positions to place my hands to avoid holding the Ally X in the air. I would place my hands on the arm of the couch at times, rest them and then switch back to holding it up in front of me.

It takes some getting used to, that’s what I am saying. But the grip of the unit wasn’t an issue. The sloped back and curved grips provide enough room to hold the device. The weight gets a bit intense but the grip feels fine

Apart from that, the ASUS ROG Ally X didn’t change the one thing I was so hoping it would – the display. The Ally X didn’t go for OLED and instead still uses an IPS touchscreen. Don’t get me wrong, this 120Hz FHD display is great. It is vibrant, bright and has excellent contrast but an OLED would have been magic. I would easily have paid more for the device with an OLED and I am sure others would do the same.

But it has a 7-inch FHD IPS display with a 120Hz refresh rate, VRR and FreeSync. It works and it looks good. A lot better than many IPS panels on the market. The 500 nits of brightness go a long way to deliver a great visual experience. Most notebooks and some cheap TVs and monitors don’t even have 400 nits.

ASUS ROG Ally X Performance

It goes without saying that the ASUS ROG Ally X runs Windows 11. Valve is working with ASUS to bring SteamOS to the device but for now, you’ll need to deal with all the good and bads of Windows. That means trying to use the OS without a keyboard and mouse and juggling all the wonky window tabs and glitchy menus.

The good here is that Windows means games are universally supported on the Ally X. You can download all emulators such as PS3 and Switch emulators and enjoy games that require anti-cheat software. There’s also the added benefit of Xbox Game Pass.

ASUS does have its own custom skin overlay that runs on top of Windows called Armoury Crate. Here, you can access the device’s settings, power modes, update stuff and launch games. Compared to the launch version back in 2023, Armoury Crate is a much smoother, user-friendly experience now. It is activated with a simple button press and if you don’t want to deal with Windows, you don’t have to. That is, of course, until it pops up and wants something from you.

I mentioned before that the larger battery on the ASUS ROG Ally X comes with changes to the power modes. Some power modes draw slightly more power which means more frames and performance. Silent mode was 10W and is now 13W, Performance Mode was 15W and is now 17W. So when using these modes, you’ll get slightly more performance.

Turbo mode, on the other hand, is still capped at 25W TGP. Of course, plugging in the device to an outlet then lets you go to 30W if you want it to by using a custom fan curve. The improved cooling on the Ally X means it runs slightly cooler. On the original model, 30W would see the device peak at 90C which isn’t great at all.

But using 30W on this unit does mean the fans will constantly be blowing and things can get loud and annoying. Even with the improved cooling. This should only be used if you’re really worried about 5 or 6 frames here and there. Often, the 25W is more than enough if you configure your games and make use of FSR and the 720p resolution.

I ran benchmarks across various games. I tested them using the Performance Mode and Turbo Mode. Here are the results I got.

Geekbench 6 (Turbo)

• Single-Core: 2570
• Multi-Core: 11091

3DMark Timespy

• Quiet: 1840
• Performance: 2780
• Turbo (Battery): 3020
• Turbo (plugged-in): 3210

Cyberpunk 2077 – Average FPS (1080p Medium RT Off FRS Off)

• Quiet: 17FPS
• Performance: 27FPS
• Turbo (Battery): 32FPS
• Turbo (plugged-in): 35FPS

Cyberpunk 2077 – Average FPS (1080p Low RT Off FSR Off) 

• Quiet: 32FPS
• Performance: 44FPS
• Turbo (Battery): 49FPS
• Turbo (plugged-in): 51FPS

When it comes to battery life, the ROG Ally X’s double battery size is definitely noticeable. Whatever you could get on the previous model is doubled in gaming time now too. At 50% brightness with RGB off, Turbo mode can last well over two hours and Performance mode over 3 hours. Silent mode can get close to 4 hours.

Of course, cranking that brightness up means this may vary but on Turbo Mode with 100% brightness, the ROG Ally X can easily get over an hour of game time in while playing the most demanding games. So use that as the peak experience here.

In many ways, the ROG Ally X feels like a device that should have been released just a year ago when the original Ally landed. Perhaps if the Ally came out in 2022, you could argue that ASUS needed an extra two years of RnD to upgrade the system. But we are talking about a new handheld just a few months later. It is a great product, don’t get me wrong but I just hope we don’t see ASUS throwing out new Ally devices every 12 months like their notebooks. Someone needs to tell them it is okay to have a device around for two years before milking consumers with an upgrade.

But the ROG Ally X is a great portable gaming device. It is still marred down by clumsy Windows 11 issues and some clunky menus but the performance here is on the high-end spectrum. Likely the best you’ll get for this price tag.