Customer Ratings & Reviews

GREAT DEVICE JUST GIVE IT TIME ‼️ MORE UPDATES AND PATCHES ON THE WAY

Very small screen for the price! I wish they would reduce this price .

Ordered open box “excellent” condition. After saying it was out for delivery for 4 days straight and arriving late I finally received my product. Now I know it’s open box but being define as “ excellent “ means it should essentially look new. Well when I opened the box there were like crumbs and residue all over the screen as if someone was eating over it.. and then also finger prints on the triggers and screen. It’s one thing if I ordered open box and it was labeled “fair” condition to receive it like that, but they base the prices on the condition so I think I paid more then what it shoulda been classed at.

Is a little pricey but over all I would recommend it...

As someone who travels for work, I rarely bring along my gaming laptop due to its size. The Ally X will change that for me. I found it to be powerful enough to play my favorite games, yet portable enough for me to take along. Gaming on the Ally X was an enjoyable experience for me. The games I tested all ran smooth (no lag), even on battery. Graphics were well defined, vibrant colors and brightness, even in bright lighting. I found the audio to be surprisingly immersive and vocals clear and the fan noise to be minimal, even at the highest graphic, and power settings. The RGB lighting around the analog sticks, seemed distracting at first but after playing for a bit, I barely notice them. Armory Crate comes preinstalled so you can adjust to your preference. The display on the Ally X is impressive, to say the least. I tested it through a full range of lighting conditions, dark room to daylight, and even while sitting in my car. In all cases the graphics were clear, colors accurate, and sufficiently bright… much better than some of the other handheld systems I’ve tried. The controls feel like a premium Xbox controller. Everything is easily reachable, and responsive. The buttons are a bit louder than I prefer, but not enough to be intrusive. The whole device is comfortable to hold, but is a bit heavier than I had expected and found myself resting it on my lap during longer play sessions. I found the Ally X to be a very versatile system and capable of more than gaming. It has excellent battery life, roughly 2 hours for demanding apps, and at least double with lighter use. Throughout my testing I’ve used it for streaming, performing a few minor updates to work projects, and joined a couple of Teams meetings while on the road. I wouldn’t suggest using it as a portable workstation, but in a pinch it really does come in handy! Lastly, I did experience an odd vibration issue that caused an annoying clicking sound to be played through the speakers. Thankfully, it was resolved by restarting the system and I’m happy to say I haven’t experienced it since. Overall, I found using the Ally X to be very enjoyable to use and fits my lifestyle better than other handheld gaming systems and the first to actually make me want to travel with!!

I’ve been using this handheld since launch day, and after nearly two weeks, here’s my honest take. If Asus had made this handheld without Xbox’s involvement, I’m convinced we would’ve seen an OLED and a bigger screen this year. Instead, the focus shifted toward Xbox ergonomics and the Xbox Full Screen Experience, which became the main selling point of this generation. I think Asus is saving the OLED upgrade as a selling feature for the next generation, and honestly, that feels intentional. I’m starting to regret buying the Xbox Ally X, and it’s mostly because of the display. I’m used to OLED screens—my phone and 4K monitor both have them—so switching to this LCD panel has been rough. The colors look washed out, and even with AMD variable brightness turned off, the screen still feels dull and uneven. The bezels are massive, and during gameplay, it almost feels like I’m watching a movie in letterbox format instead of playing a game. The small text in many games is hard to read and causes real eye strain. It’s just not enjoyable to play on for long sessions, only because of the screen because the ergonomics are great The build quality is also disappointing. The plastic creaks when I grip it firmly, and I’m not alone—other users on Reddit and Twitter/X are reporting the same issue. The Xbox Full Screen Experience honestly feels more like an advertisement than a launcher. Every page is pushing new games or subscription offers instead of focusing on the games I already own. When I power on the device, it doesn’t take me straight to my library—it shows me banners for newly released titles or Game Pass promotions. It feels like the UI’s main purpose is to sell rather than serve. For someone who mostly plays on Steam, it’s frustrating to constantly be redirected toward Microsoft’s ecosystem. The experience feels intrusive, cluttered, and disconnected from what a handheld gaming device should prioritize: quick access to your own games. VRR doesn’t seem to work properly either. It’s enabled in my AMD settings, but I’m still getting screen tearing in about 7 out of 10 games. The ABXY buttons are extremely clicky and noisy. Every press makes a sharp sound, and it doesn’t feel satisfying or premium. It’s distracting during gameplay and adds to the cheap feel of the overall build. Lastly, the Xbox UI performance is poor. It doesn’t feel like it’s running at 120Hz—the animations stutter, pages lag, and the interface feels more like 30Hz at times. Overall, this device feels rushed and overhyped. For this price, I expected a higher-quality screen, tighter build, and smoother software experience.

First off, its not an xbox, you cannot play any of the game you played on xbox unless there's a PC version. This is a Windows 11 computer, full stop. Controls feel great, loved the triggers, not sure about the face buttons, they were just okay. Powerful system but the thing that killed it for me was the screen, its just 7" and 16:9 and LCD, while my yrs old steamdeck is bigger 16:10 and OLED...staying with this ROG would've been a downgrade. Hold out till there's a Z2 Extreme option at 8".

Product worked for a few games and than stopped working randomly.

📦 UNBOXING: Inside the box, you’ll find the ROG Xbox Ally X, a paper stand, and a 65W USB-C wall adapter. And just like previous iterations of the Ally, there is no case or screen cloth included. Other than that, you’ll have your warranty card, manual, and safety info. 💪 BUILD: The Xbox Ally X uses the same construction materials as the 2024 Ally X. If you thought the Ally X was thick, well the Xbox Ally X is even thicker. However, I quite liked the thickness of the original Ally X as it felt more comfortable in my hand compared to the original 2023 Ally which could dig into my palms a bit. The Xbox Ally X takes things forward by introducing contoured grips like that found on an original Xbox series controller. The weight of the console increases to 1.58lbs which is probably not going to be great for everyone, but I found myself having no comfort issues while playing it on the couch for hours at a time. 🔌 PORTS, EXPANSION & UPGRADES: For its ports and upgradability, the Xbox Ally X thankfully makes no regressions from the Ally X, but it also doesn’t make any changes, either. It uses 1x Thunderbolt 4 Type-C port and 1x USB 3.2 gen 2 Type-C port on the top of the unit. Both of these ports support Power Delivery 3.0 as well as DisplayPort 1.4 output. This means a wide range of support for docks, Thunderbolt external GPU enclosures, and peripherals. I appreciate being able to charge via one Type-C input while using the other for a wireless headset dongle. Additionally, there is a 3.5mm combo audio jack as well as UHS-II microSD card slot. As far as upgrades are concerned, if you want to increase your SSD storage, you can replace the standard 2280 size m.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD by removing 8 phillips screws to get immediate access to the m.2 slot. 🎮 CONTROLS & NAVIGATION: The Xbox Ally X has the same tactile buttons as the original Ally X, but makes some changes to the shoulder buttons and triggers. The shoulder buttons sound a bit dampened so they’re not as loud. I don’t have any issue with this since they feel responsive to use. The triggers continue to use hall effect sensors like the original Ally X, but now they are dampened so pulling the triggers makes more of a thud than a click. Again, I don’t mind this at all. The rear macro buttons are slightly harder to reach compared to the Ally X, but still reachable. If anything, it means you’re less likely to accidentally press them. In the previous iterations of the Ally, I never felt that ASUS was trying to make them feel like an equivalent of rear paddles like you might find on pro controllers. This means they’re not designed physically to be used in games, as they just aren’t accessible enough to press both quickly and comfortably. On the left side of the screen, there is the Xbox button which spawns the Game Bar and gives quick access to settings, while a long-hold of the Xbox button will bring up the multitasking menu where you can switch between open apps using the controller or the touch-screen. With the latest Windows 11 updates, Microsoft has made more usability improvements to make the navigation experience on a handheld better, but it’s still nowhere nearly as polished as the traditional Xbox console experience. The Command Center button opens the Command Center widget from the Game Bar. It gives quick access to performance settings like power profiles, an FPS limiter, a real-time performance monitor, a 60Hz/120Hz refresh rate toggle, and 720p/900p/1080p resolution toggles. From a PC gamer’s perspective, I appreciate having quick access to these so I can dial in performance and visuals to my liking, but non-PC gamers might find the plethora of performance and graphical settings to be a bit daunting. Below that is the Task Button—the same button from the Xbox controller. On the right of the display is the Library button which will launch into the Xbox app’s Library section which lets you launch and manage your installed games from the Microsoft Store. It also lets you launch your games installed from Steam, GOG, and Epic Games. I can also appreciate that there’s a section “My Apps” that lets you install these other launchers. And also on the top, you have the volume buttons and power button that also functions as a fingerprint reader. For supplemental apps like Discord, you’ll likely need to leave the Xbox Full Screen Experience to download apps from the Edge browser, or use the Microsoft Store when applicable. There doesn’t seem to be a native way to add apps like Discord to the Xbox app, but you can add them to the ASUS Armoury Crate app and launch them from there or use One Launcher to integrate them with the Game Bar. This can make for a pretty disjointed experience for PC gamers, but Xbox gamers can use Xbox chat directly from the Game Bar. 📺 DISPLAY: The Xbox Ally X uses the same 7” 1080p IPS touch screen display that ASUS has been using since the original Ally. It can operate at 60Hz or 120Hz and also supports FreeSync Premium to reduce screen tearing. The display is plenty bright for daytime usage and gets reasonably dim for darker gaming environments. It’s a good display, but it’s the same display as the original 2023 Ally. I think the choice to use the same display across 3 iterations while getting more expensive makes me question where the extra money is going. 🎙️ MICROPHONES: Like the Ally X, the onboard dual array microphones are positioned just above the view and menu buttons. Not much has changed here. If you go into the audio settings in the Armoury Crate app, the Directional Recording mode can deliver high-quality microphone performance, but if you have a lot of background noise, then the Conference AI Noise Canceling mode will do significantly better, but may impact battery life. I had a vacuum running in the background, and the AI Noise Canceling Mode did an incredible job at isolating my voice—especially with the Voice Identification enabled. Whereas the Directional Recording mode is great for quieter environments. However, if you’re using the built-in speakers, you might prefer the noise canceling mode so that the people you’re chatting with don’t hear your game audio through the microphone. 🔊 SPEAKERS & HEADPHONE: Among PC gaming handhelds, ASUS had a great start with their speakers on the original Ally, and they continue to deliver some of the best audio performance on the Xbox Ally X. The two front-firing speakers deliver both loudness and clarity while minimizing distortion. It can get loud enough to annoy, and quiet enough that even the controller buttons will be louder. Headphone performance is also sufficient for most consumer grade headphones, headsets and IEMS. Not everyone wants to use a wireless set and have more batteries to charge, so it’s great that you can pull out a pair of wired IEMs while on the go. 🔋 PERFORMANCE & BATTERY: While plugged in, the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme can run at a 35W turbo performance profile while the Z1 Extreme would run at a 30W turbo performance profile. In my testing, the difference between the original Ally X and the Xbox Ally X is about 15-20% fps. More interestingly, the 17W power performance profile yields a ~30% performance lift when compared to the 2024 Ally X’s 17W profile, which is an impressive efficiency gain. This means that if you want to use the Xbox Ally X on battery, you should be able to achieve decent performance on battery. 3D titles will fare better depending on your settings, but I did find that for many titles, I could yield a 60fps average with low to medium settings, while some well-optimized games could yield 60fps with high settings. Playing newer games like MIMESIS, Windblown and Lost Castle 2, I had no issues getting a 60fps minimum while on the turbo profile plugged in, but on battery, I found that I could also use a 60fps frame limit and the 17W power profile to get a good balance of performance and battery life. Control Ultimate Edition is also playable with the right settings. Under the 17W power profile, I can yield 30-60fps on Low Settings with Reflections disabled, but going to the 25W power profile can yield better minimum framerates. It’ll really depend on how much action is happening on screen, but it’s certainly playable. Revenge of the Savage Planet, however, does not fare as well. With low to medium settings with FSR balanced at 1080p on the 17W power profile, I’m able to achieve a maximum of 30 fps, but bumping to the 25W profile on battery yields 30-40fps. If you opt to play while plugged in and on the 35W, you can yield much closer to a 40fps minimum which feels smoother, but it’s still not consistent enough performance. Your mileage may vary, but if you’re running under this 17W profile for 3D games and even lower for 2D titles, you should be able to yield a solid portable gaming experience for several hours with very quiet fan noise thanks to the 80Whr battery. And the fact that the Xbox Ally X can accept 100W chargers means it can charge quite a bit faster. 🧐 CONCLUSION: There was more reasonable justification for the price premium when the ROG Ally X came out, but to go from +$150 in 2024 to +$350 in 2025 for the top-tier model only to get a mildly better performance and better ergonomics? I’m not convinced that’s enough justification for the $999 price tag. The new Xbox Full Screen Experience is coming to all ROG Ally handhelds, so that won’t be a feature that is unique to the new Xbox Ally. However, I do think that if you’re an enthusiast who wants the best that there is to offer, I do think that Xbox Ally X is a good handheld. The ergonomic grips and the performance on battery is a welcome improvement, but those improvements alone do not justify the significant price increase over the original ROG Ally nor the ROG Ally X.

I think it was a cool gimmick device. Had a ton of problems with it from crashing/not starting games.

ROG Xbox Ally X 7" FHD 120Hz Gaming Handheld - AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme Processor Summary: An awesome power packed hand-held gaming device. Use: I'm a PC gamer. I have to sit at my desk or at a table with my laptop to play games. After a long day at work, sometimes I want to play games - but I'm so tired of the chair I just can't do it. So I don't get to enjoy games as often as a result. I've been contemplating a console for quite some time, but I haven't purchased one because it is still something I can really only play in one spot. Enter the ROG XBox Ally X. This device is so cool. It is a gaming PC in the palm of your hands. Console controllers on each corresponding side. Asus did stand-up job ensuring the feel of the handles and the unit feel like an XBox controller - with one not-so-small 7" difference. The display is superb. It is crisp and bright and is also a super responsive touch screen. I installed some of my favorite go-to games. Games I would have to sit at my desk or use my laptop to play. So I downloaded Steam and downloaded Doom Eternal, Hogwarts Legacies, to start. I was in for such a treat as I sat in my living room playing Doom Eternal next to my family (watching Halloween Wars). The game controls were seemless, smooth, and responsive. The display bright and quite easy to see. The sound... the sound is markedly much better than something I'd expect from a handheld. There were times I thought the sound was coming from my surround sound system in my living room. Marketing materials do say it supports Atmos. I'm so excited to be able to play some of my games where ever I please. One thing I had not tried was streaming games from my desktop - something Steam reminded me of when downloading Destiny 2. Raw specs: * 24 GB of memory * 1 TB of storage (for OS and games) * 80 Whr battery * Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor w/Radeon GPU * 7" 500 nit 1080P 120Hz 7ms display Pros: * Form Factor. It's awesome. I can separate myself from my work/gaming laptop/computer whenever I need. I can go play outside, at the park, or at a cafe (if I wanted to - not that it makes sense). * Battery. I played a few games for a few hours in full experience mode and the battery was still well over 50%. This means that a full charge should get me more than enough gaming time with the 80Whr battery. * 2x USB-C 4.0. Charge and hook-up an external display such as your TV/projector. * Dedicated UH-2 MicroSD card slot for additional game storage. This is the first device of this form factor dedicated to gaming - for me. So it's a bit difficult for me to offer up some cons. The Windows, mobile, and XBox OS convergence Microsoft has been orchestrating for the past decade allows the truest form of gaming portability we've seen to date. Literally, "game how you please." Cons: *Occasionally some of the nuissance Windows things peep through when playing games not optimized for hand held experience. Windows flashing or having trouble resizing when going in and out of full experience mode. Not really an issue - most of this was probably just me getting used to the interface.

Overall really solid device. It definitely takes some time getting used to coming from a steamos device. Windows has improved, but it's still windows so all the fun things that come with it (updates, notifications, etc etc) It's very comfortable to hold, not too heavy and the buttons and triggers are very nice. I can play anything I throw at it. The 17 watt profile really surprised me. You can still get solid FPS on AAA games (above 30 FPS) and the battery will last much longer. I've been playing BG3, Starfield, Cyberpunk, Dragons Dogma 2 with no issues at all. The screen color and brightness is nice, obviously I wish the screen was bigger but what can you do. That's probably my only major complaint. I wish the screen was at least 8 inches. Overall, if you're looking for something that's portable and powerful, this is a great device. As a father, gaming can be difficult and this makes gaming when I can catch a break a breeze.

’ve been using the new ROG Xbox Ally X for about a week now, and overall, it’s pretty impressive. The build feels solid and premium right out of the box, but I will say… it’s big. Like, noticeably big. It took a few minutes to get used to holding it while gaming. The controller layout feels familiar — kind of like an Xbox controller — but my arms were like, “wait a second,” because they were spread way farther apart than normal. Muscle memory had to adjust a bit. The screen is definitely the hero. It’s bright, sharp, and games like Call of Duty and Madden looked smooth and crisp. Colors are vibrant, and the motion stayed clean even during fast action. The speakers really surprised me too — super loud and clear. When I hooked it up to my Samsung M8 monitor for a larger screen, I actually preferred the sound coming from the Ally itself. That says a lot. Once I got used to the form factor, I had no trouble playing for long stretches. It’s not exactly lightweight, but it’s balanced well, so it never felt heavy — just a little awkward at first. The triggers are responsive, and overall button placement is familiar and easy to get comfortable with. Battery life has been solid. I got several hours of real gameplay before needing to recharge, and when I did plug in, the fast charging kicked in quickly over USB-C. That’s a big plus when you’re out and about or traveling — charging won’t be a hassle. There are a few things I wish were different, though. The joysticks aren’t user-replaceable (at least easily), which makes me nervous about durability over time. They work great right now, but if one starts drifting a year from now, it’d be nice to have a fix that doesn’t involve sending the whole unit in. Honestly, I still don’t get why handhelds like this don’t use detachable controllers. We had a perfect design back in 2017 — not sure why we’re still locked into built-ins. When you boot it up, it starts in a console-style Xbox interface — which is cool, makes it feel like you've got basically a portable XBOX — but it’s still very much a Windows machine underneath. That means you’ll run into typical Windows stuff like updates, popups, driver tweaks, and all that. I actually spent about six hours doing updates and downloads before I could play my first COD session. Maybe it wouldn’t take that long with other games, but yeah — not the smoothest experience out of the box. Still, if you’re looking for a handheld that can actually run full PC games — not watered-down mobile ports — the Ally X with the Z2 Extreme chip is the real deal. It’s already my go-to device when I want play from the couch but can't fire up a whole setup because my daughter wants to watch cartoons.

This is my first high-end PC gaming handheld and I have a lot to say about it. I was initially worried from some of the reviews of this device and wasn’t sure how well it would work for my purposes but overall I am pleasantly surprised by how much power, performance, and fun this little device can be. I only play on Xbox not PC and wanted to see what this was all about since it’s advertised as an Xbox. It’s nice to know if I wanted to play a PC game one day I have that ability. When I first opened the box I was very surprised at how big it is and yet so light weight and with the hand grips and ergonomics they built into this device it really helps feel great in my hands although the grips while decent could be grippier. I usually use an Xbox Elite series 2 controller and thought it was kind of nice they have two buttons on the back of the device to map buttons to but I felt the back buttons were a bit harder to reach compared to the paddles on the Elite controller but they still work fine. The triggers would have been better if they had built in trigger locks. Before I even turned the device on I updated the SSD which was pretty easy to do with the right tools and so I had to do the Asus Cloud Recovery which took some extra time and it took me almost a whole day to set up this device and go through all the different settings and Windows 11 features plus updates it has to do in multiple location like MyAsus, Armoury Crate, Microsoft Store and Windows Updater. It probably could have taken an hour for most people who are familiar with PC’s but once it’s setup it’s really easy to just pick up and play. I like the Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) it’s pretty familiar coming from what I’m used to navigating in the Xbox UI but it does have some glitching, lag, and some bugs I feel and sometimes I have to restart the device to get it to act right again but it’s not too often it happens. It’s able to play almost all my games and can play Game Pass games streaming them from the cloud which is nice and the one game I had a problem with that’s native to my console is Destiny 2, I was able to remote play it from the device but it was very bad graphics and sluggish to play, so bad that I ended up being basically forced to download the one main game I play on Xbox from the Microsoft Store and purchase all the DLC all over again but now I’m able to play anywhere when I’m home on the Xbox and away like at work with the Rog Xbox Ally X. There is still so much left to learn about this device and little shortcuts and button mapping system settings etc. that really isn’t in the manual but it’s been kind of fun figuring it all out. I downloaded a couple other personally owned games to the device and all of those games worked as expected and played just wonderfully with no issues. I really only had some performance issues like lag and FPS drops in Destiny 2 during intense action moments but I need to better understand the graphics settings options since there is so much customization you can do and every game is different. Everything felt so smooth and just like it would if it was a console so really fun to play. The screen controls and touchscreen are pretty easy once you get to know them and what they all do. I enjoy using the fingerprint sensor it makes it so easy to log in. I like the Armoury crate button (Command Center) and how easy it is to be able to adjust performance settings on the fly, or to set up RGB lighting with Aura Sync which has a lot of options like static, breathing, strobing, color cycle, rainbow, starry night, music, smart, or dark (off). There are so many ways to customize the lighting but it’s a fun process. The best button is the new Xbox button which shows the Xbox game bar where you can find friends and chat settings search for new games or jump back into games recently played. You also can long press some buttons and they have different functions. I like that it’s a touch screen too and wasn’t sure if it was at all and thought I needed a keyboard to type with or play PC games with but none of that was necessary. It’s a perfect little powerhouse of a mini PC and with the right setup could even replace a PC when used with a Dock connected to a TV you can plug in a keyboard and mouse if you wanted to and I set mine up on the big screen to see how it would work and it’s basically just like my Xbox I’m used to. When it’s docked I use my normal controller I was using and it is was a bit finicky at first trying to get the display to work right like the Windows projection mode choices like leaving the device screen on or only displaying the TV screen so once I figured it all out it worked just fine and it’s nice to also have the functions of a PC in the background if you wanted to or needed to use it as a PC. Going into desktop mode was easy and I don’t really need any of the desktop stuff but It was cool to go in there and tweak some things or uninstall all the Windows bloatware that it comes with and just keep the necessary apps I use. The one part I don’t really like is how you have to restart the device when you want to go back into the Xbox FSE but it boots really fast so it’s not that bad just kind of annoying if you needed to do anything in the desktop and then jump back into the game and while you can jump back in without restarting it’s just suggested to in order to improve performance and it basically shuts down all the windows stuff and focuses on the gaming which is what this is really all about. Some complaints I have with this device and nothing I can really do about it is I wish they would have put a better actual 100W charging block and cable included and not just the bare minimum 65W plug they give which is kind of big and doesn’t have retractable prongs. The small “dock” they provide too just felt cheap and I also wish it came with some kind of travel case. The battery life really isn’t that great and yes it lasts a few hours for gaming and it’s quite enough time to use it if needed I just wish it could be more with how some other laptops get about a days worth of battery but this is a gaming PC so it does use a lot of power and it’s meant to just be plugged in at all times. I don’t like that the screen isn’t an OLED screen and the bezels are pretty big but it is still a beautiful display but for the cost I think they should have done that upgrade as well as put in some anti-drift TMR joysticks like their new controller coming out soon or something that will last since you can’t easily take off the handles like some devices or replace the sticks as easy and we will see how well it holds up and if stick drift becomes an issue. For me, I just mostly use my Xbox controller and leave the device alone unless I absolutely need to use it somewhere that I can’t dock it. The D-pad could also have been made a little better or with metal components like with magnetic changeability like the Elite 2 controller or even the sticks being able to remove and clean just the thumb parts is nice or change the length. Overall, I feel this device is very niche and unless you travel or need this or want a mini PC to play with if you don’t already own a PC or Xbox and have limited room and are able to dock this you don’t really need this and it can be improved so much still maybe even wait for an OLED version and longer battery life but it’s a solid device and it’s fun to play but just crazy expensive as it’s almost like you can just buy an Xbox Series X or even a gaming PC since you can play Xbox games on a PC with Game Pass, cloud gaming and all that and have even better graphics and power at almost the same price. Really this is made for traveling and quick sessions during a lunch break at work or if you just can’t use your TV at home. This device does have a lot of great features and power and I can see why it does cost so much for what it is but when you add on all the accessories like a travel case or to make this work for docking like the dock, the new Rog Raikiri II controller, 100W charging block, a USB-C cable, the optional updated SSD choices you could spend another $700 and even more if you choose to add on an E-GPU, so definitely almost better to buy a gaming PC or gaming laptop but then you can’t upgrade it or just wait for the next-gen Xbox console which hopefully has both a console and PC built in because this truly feels like a public beta test of what’s to come in the future for Xbox.

I along with many others were under the impression this was a handheld xbox or at least could olay digital xbox games i own, it does not. It only plays xbox play anywhere titles which are just pc games.

Gaming handhelds are a fascinating space. Since the Switch and the Steam Deck launched, we've seen that it's possible to play demanding games on the go without a laptop, even if it comes with a few sacrifices to framerate or graphical fidelity. More and more of these handhelds have come to the market, and it's created a new niche for gamers who can't or don't want to commit to a full sized PC or console, but still want to game. Thanks to this, AAA gaming has become much more accessible. Now, I have a full sized gaming PC. I have a Nintendo Switch. I don't travel much. Frankly, this device isn't for people like me, but even so, I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed with it. It's pretty light, despite its size. It's bulky, make no mistake, but it's not super tiring to hold it, especially since they've made the handles nice and ergonomic. That was a concern I had when I first got it that appears ill-founded. The screen is excellent. It's only 1080, but at this size, it's not a huge deal. Games still look excellent at 1080, you don't need 4K or even 1440 for everything. The colors really pop on it, it's got a high framerate, it's excellent. I think it's important to talk about the actual experience of playing games. In my time with it, I tested two different games - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, and Returnal. I figured these two games were good choices, as one isn't very demanding (THPS 1+2), and one is extremely challenging on my full desktop PC (Returnal). I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. Tony Hawk ran buttery smooth on the less demanding maps, getting a minimum of 60 frames per second. I didn't notice a significant performance drop compared to my PC, even though the settings were cranked pretty high. For the more demanding maps, it reduced to somewhere in the ballpark of 45 frames per second, which is still perfectly playable and still looks good. If I'd turned down the settings, I'm certain I would have had a higher framerate, but the 45 frames per second was good enough that I didn't care to bother. Returnal was a bit of a different story. Upon launching the game, I was given a warning that my hardware does not meet the minimum specifications to play it, but I decided to give it a go anyway. I turned down the settings to potato and did a run. For the most part, it was perfectly playable. Running at 720P with low settings got me 30 ish frames per second, but there were a lot of stutters when loading enemies and new areas. You might think that it sounds bad, but again, I was very surprised. This was a PS5 game before anything else, and it's demanding. I got a completely playable experience using a handheld computer running the game natively - not streaming, no upscaling, nothing. 720P on this screen looks fantastic, by the way. Now, while I was very impressed with the device, I have a few grievances I should mention. For one, the software. It runs Windows 11, and on top of that is some Asus software to give it more of a console-like feel. 90% of the time, it does this perfectly. It really looks and feels like interacting with a dedicated console, rather than a Windows machine with a veil of UI. You have easy access to your games across your different game libraries (Steam, Epic, Xbox) on one screen, you can see the utilization and what have you of the CPU and GPU and RAM. The problem is in the minor things. For one, with the RGB software, you can only change the brightness to off, 34%, 67%, or 100%, despite it being a slider. It's a little annoying. I should also mention that the touchscreen works great, but Windows is a little finicky about it. You have to be extremely precise with your presses for them to register sometimes, and when it comes to checking boxes for settings, it can take a few tries. Again, a little annoying. I had an instance where I was playing a game and it started screen recording when I didn't want it to. I had to look up the shortcut for starting the screen recording to stop it, and it happened again when I'm nearly positive I didn't press the necessary buttons. I may have been pressing a different one without realizing it, however, but it still feels too easy to accidentally do. The buttons themselves are one final point of contention. The face buttons - ABXY - feel a little... hollow. Cheap. They're loud and a little clacky and I would expect them to feel better, given the cost of the machine. It's not bad enough that I really notice when I'm playing a game, though. All in all, I think this is a wonderful machine for people who want to get into PC gaming, but don't have the space for a desktop, don't want the hassle of a laptop, and may even expect to be on the go a lot. There's a lot of performance for the size, and I really don't think you can go wrong if you're wanting a simple way to get into PC gaming. Plus, you could probably install SteamOS on this if you wanted to make it more like a higher end Steam deck. There's a lot of good to be found here.

Nothing but issues from this device. Most games on gamepass havent been optimized for handheld and the ones that are lag and ive beem unable to get the mic to work with 3 different headsets. I got sick of it after a few weeks and gave it to my daughter. She hasnt had any issues playing roblox.

The ROG Xbox Ally X is an impressive handheld gaming device. On the surface it’s another handheld to compete with the rest, but when you start looking at the details, teaming up with the Xbox team added some nuances that set it apart including the Xbox UI and a stripped down version of windows. --==Performance==-- You can look at synthetic benchmarks if you want to compare numbers, but actual usage is impressive. After running updates, I spent some time getting familiar with the buttons and menus. I found navigating through the menus need more work to make it more intuitive. However, I will say, there’s a lot you can do within the Xbox interface as well as the fact it’s basically a handheld PC. The UI is snappy, but I did run into a few occasions where it would hang up and the controller wouldn't respond, then I had to use the touch screen. I spent some time playing Battlefield 2042, downloaded Hollow Knight through Xbox gamepass, and fired up the Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered to test out playing on the different platforms. Hallow Knight has been a ton of fun to play. The game loads quickly and I haven’t noticed any performance issues. Battlefield has been mostly great. It performed well and I didn’t have any issues with actual game play, but I do not think the game was designed for such a small screen. Spiderman was a lot of fun. It took me a little bit to remember all the buttons but again, performance was great and no issues swinging around the map. It’s worth noting I played almost exclusively on battery so performance was not running at the highest wattage, but this is how I expect most people will use this. You can go into the menu and adjust settings to be more performative for smoother gameplay or lower wattage for battery saving. I also used an HDMI to USB C cable to play on the TV, using a separate Xbox Controller I had on hand. I had to adjust some of the settings while playing Battlefield, but I was getting a consistent 30 FPS, which is bare minimum for playability these days, but considering this is coming from a handheld, I was happy with the results. --==Software and Design==-- One thing they did right with the design was the Xbox feel to the controller grips. It’s very Xbox-esque and very natural feeling if you use an Xbox controller for steam or Xbox is your console of choice. The RGB on the thumbsticks is a nice touch and there’s enough stippling to the grip to feel nice in the hand without feeling grip fatigue. The screen isn’t anything special but gets plenty bright and the touch screen is responsive. The fingerprint reader built into the power button is a nice touch for easy login. Two USB C ports are nice to see with a dedicated volume button on top and an SD card reader for easily adding extra storage. UI Design I think needs a bit more love. For me there’s just a lot that Xbox and ASUS allow you to do, which is great, but can be overwhelming and maybe confusing for some. The Armory Crate button is for most of your settings such as brightness, volume, performance settings, powering off or putting to sleep, changing resolution, and many other settings you can add to the quick access menu. You press the Xbox button and you actually just move over in the UI to the Home screen where you can quickly launch games or access your game and app library, including Steam, and access even more settings, some of which are the same as what’s found in the armory crate menu. You can also download and launch apps such as Steam or Edge Browser, which appear to act and function like the full PC apps. Speaking of PC apps, the Xbox software does run on a stripped-down version of windows 11, which you can use just like you would use a PC. I think one of the better things that comes from this is the use of co-pilot, Microsoft’s AI. When you’re playing a game you can hold down the button just to the right of the screen at the top, looks like 3 books with one falling over, it will invoke co-pilot and you can ask questions to help your way through the game such as how to defeat an enemy. --==Battery==-- Battery life is good, especially considering the performance. I can sit and play Hollow Knight for a few hours and still have plenty of battery left. I also launched Edge and loaded up youtube to watch videos. Spent an hour or so just watching videos and again, wasn't worried about plugging it in. --==Other Thoughts==-- I’m glad that it came with a charger, so many things do not these days and I’m not really here for it. I would have liked to have seen an easier way to upgrade the internal storage, while I can appreciate an SD card, throwing in a 2TB or even a 4TB HDD would be a worthy upgrade. The speakers are fantastic. They sound great and really push out some volume. If you have a USB C to HDMI cable, you can easily connect to a TV. I had one laying around and I was able to test this out and it worked great. No notable input lag to be found. It also easily connects to an xbox controller if you want a full playing on TV experience. I’d say one thing to note is there isn’t one, “update all” button to keep drivers and applications up-to-date. If Window’s updates, you’ll need to go there to grab those, if Armory crate has updates, grab them from there. I’m not sure if I had to, but I also made sure to use Steam to update my steam games, and I’m assuming you’ll use the Xbox app / home screen to update xbox games. Finally, just the overall experience as someone who comes from PC gaming. I have tried cloud gaming on a spec’d out Mac, and wasn’t impressed. I’ve used Steam’s “cloud play” and didn’t like how some games weren’t compatible. A portable handheld is the way to play your favorite games on the go, especially when you have a desktop or just don’t have the room to pack around a laptop. I grabbed a carrying case I could throw the charger and my USB C to HDMI cable in for easy mobile gaming. You can use the device as a large controller or even throw an xbox controller in a go bag with you and you can practically play anywhere you want to go. I gave a lot of grief on the software but honestly, you can get over this quickly if you’re willing to spend some time getting familiar with the menu’s, what button does what, and how to navigate best. For me it’s a mix between controller and touch screen inputs for the quickest input and navigation. You do get some lag from time to time, but I think this will get better over time as things are optimized. It's easy for me to recommend the ROG Xbox Ally X. The performance and battery I think are easy wins but also the feel of the controller and the versatility of integrated Xbox app all running on a stripped down windows so there’s familiarity with what you can do with PC gaming, especially with something like game pass or a robust steam library. PC gaming on the go is getting pretty good.

The Closest Thing to a True Console Handheld After a week of moderate to heavy use, I can confidently say this is the definitive handheld experience for anyone who wants something that feels familiar to a home console. ASUS and Xbox have nearly delivered on the promise of bridging console comfort with PC flexibility. Also be prepared to update your device, a lot. It took me several hours to set up, before even playing my first game. This may vary based on individual experience. -Performance- I tested a wide range of titles from Vampire Survivors to Black Ops 6. While smaller indie titles should run flawlessly with this particular hardware, I wanted to see just how far I could push even some of the more demanding triple A titles. I maintained a solid 60 to 75 fps with high quality and AMD super res on average, in COD. With even reaching into the hundreds in games like Apex Legends. I mainly stayed within the Xbox Game Pass ecosystem but also explored my Steam and Epic Games libraries on this device. Performance has been excellent overall, and navigating between platforms is great when it works. There are some instances where clicking a button or opening apps has no visual response so you aren't sure if anything is working in the background and you just have to wait or try again. -UI/UX- The Xbox Full Screen Experience is a fantastic idea. A real step forward for making PC gaming approachable to console players, the way it boots to a console like interface. It can be intimidating if you’ve never used a windows handheld before, but this UI goes a long way toward easing that transition. All your games in one place makes it easier than ever to play anything you want from one screen. Everything will load in the background and just open the necessary application. The overall user experience still needs a bit of polish, but this feels like a strong baseline. You can also just switch out of the Xbox full screen experience and navigate from the windows start screen like a pc. And, even choose how the device should behave on boot up. There's even a dedicated button to access Asus's armoury crate command center. This is great for having quick access to important settings on the fly like operating modes and real time monitoring. It's handy when you want a detailed look at how the system is performing game to game. There's also the armoury crate app where you can customize all things from RGB lighting to game profiles and performance preferences as well as install necessary updates. -Display- As for the screen, while it’s not OLED, it’s still bright and crisp. Resolution is excellent, but I do wish the top and bottom bezels were a bit thinner for a more modern look. The touchscreen is great for normal use when you want to quickly switch in and out of apps but perriferals are recommended when using traditional windows mode. With a respectable 7 inch FHD display and 1920 by 1080 resolution, my games looked amazing even on medium settings. One down side is that some text can be difficult to read in certain areas. The system defaults to 150% resolution but then forces other apps to become too zoomed in, where navigating the epic games store, for example, was incomprehensible until reducing to 100%. -Battery Life- Battery life was surprisingly impressive compared to the original ROG Ally. I consistently got about 2–3 more hours of playtime per charge. My typical setup was Performance mode unplugged, and Turbo while charging. Since I mostly use it at home, battery life isn’t a major issue for me, but it’s great knowing the endurance has improved. I opted to turn off RGB all together because I aimed to squeeze as much battery life as possible, even if it was miniscule. -Ergonomics & Feel- This is hands down the most comfortable PC handheld I’ve used so far. The grip, button layout, and triggers make it feel almost identical to an Xbox Wireless Controller. Familiarity is a key selling point for me because I'm primarily an Xbox console user. It’s lightweight enough to feel premium without any fatigue during longer sessions. While the buttons themselves are clicky and responsive, they are noticeably loud in quiet environments. This may or may not effect your enjoyment. -Value- At the current price at release, the Ally X is undeniably expensive. The hardware and performance justify a lot of that price, but it’s not the most approachable option for newcomers to the handheld PC market. If this is something you want to use as your all in one device, I say go for it. For upgraders, the value really depends on how much you prioritize and raw performance gains and longevity of use. -Conclusion- Overall, the ROG Xbox Ally X feels like a true evolution of the handheld PC category. Powerful, comfortable, and thoughtfully designed for console players making the jump to PC gaming. It’s not perfect, but it’s an incredibly strong foundation that will only get better with updates.

I love the compact and sleek packaging. The box contains the Xbox Ally X (wrapped in plastic), a power supply, cardboard stand, and paper work. I do wish that the stand was plastic or some other material, but I would have rather had a case or a pouch. Device The ROG Xbox Ally X is a very sleek device, there’s a light texture on the body of the device along with small print along the front of the body. The device itself has some weight to it, it’s hefty but not obscenely hefty. The handles to me feel like they are of lower quality compared to the rest of the device. The grips feel hollow and a bit cheap, it reminds me of the xbox one’s windows controller. The grips are not bad, but not great, they could have been made better. It's almost as if the handles were an after thought/last minute addition. They feel out of place compared to the rest of the device. The grips took a bit for me to get used to, it was a bit odd holding them at first. After I get drawn into the game I forget about them. However I’d rather the handles had not been there just for case/transportation purposes, would have rather had them not stick out so much and be that could be added on when I am in the house or not taking it on the go. The grips make finding a case a bit difficult, it fits in my sling bag but takes up extra space. I have not had an issue with wrist pain or hand cramps while playing, which is due to the grips themselves. However when laying the device down on a table, the grips and angle of the screen causes the device not to lie flat which is a bit of a nuisance. While playing and focusing on the screen, the screen's angle has not caused an issue. I initially powered the device on with the power supply attached, it powered on right away and went straight into system set up, then right into an update. After the initial windows update and set up I went to desktop mode and checked for more updates. The ROG Xbox Ally X had a few updates to install. After the windows updates completed I went into Armory Crate which had several updates to complete, then I installed the Microsoft store update and finally went to MyAsus to do the registration of the device and updates there. The updates took me around 2 hours to complete. One thing to note: when I initially signed into the Microsoft account on set up, I used an account I use for all of my devices. However the Xbox Ally X came with three free months of Xbox premium. I use a different account for my Xbox account. So my free three months were set up and attached to the Microsoft account I initially signed in with. After setting up the device, you have an option to sign into your xbox app account. It's my own fault that I have too many accounts. I would suggest signing to the account you use for your Xbox account when setting up the device so you don't run into the same issue I did, If you want the free game pass linked to your existing Xbox account. Game launcher installs were in the xbox big picture mode as well as armoury crate. I chose to open all other launchers via the my apps in the xbox full screen experience (FSE) or via armoury crate rather than through the xbox full screen quick launcher options. Trying to do it through the Xbox short cut, steam would not always open. Steam would launch via the browser rather than the big picture mode. I went in and set the settings to try and get it to open in big picture mode but it would not consistently do this. Steam also would display improper aspect ratio and had the bottom tool bar cut off. The easiest fix to fix the aspect ratio was to go to armoury crate, quick settings with resolution, and cycle through the resolution options. This has corrected the issue each time. Game download speed via WiFi is slow. I would suggest if you have a dock with Ethernet use it for updates and game downloads. Smaller game download speeds were reasonable but larger games took a bit. I decided to let the games download overnight while on the charger. The next morning, the Xbox Ally X did not wake up after several power button pushes. I tried holding the power button for 5-10 seconds. The device finally woke up on the second attempt. I normally have had to have the device restart to get it to power on. Another option is to just power off after use instead of letting it sleep. When checking the game downloads, the Xbox app games downloaded but the Steam app crashed sometime during the night and did not finish the game download. Generally the game launchers opened right away. There were a few issues with Steam not launching the game or showing a loading screen, sometimes it would be stuck on a black screen or stuck in the games menu. After a day or two the games have been launching fine, there were a few updates that have come through from armoury crate. Steam still does not stay open overnight, each time I go to play the next day I have to relaunch steam. I tend to like to pick up and play in small intervals and this has not been possible with steam closing, and the device not always waking up from sleep. Games have run smoothly after tinkering with the operating mode. I created a manual mode at 20w, but most games have been running smoothly with the 13w or 17w setting. When connecting to power the turbo option is available at 35w. I tend to play handheld off power. Forza Horizon 5 has been the one that needed the most tinkering for me. Initially the game suggested high settings and was on the 17w option. It looked amazing but I kept experiencing lagging during some races or missions. I lowered the graphics to medium settings and it has been running much smoother with around 54 - 60 fps. HI Fi rush and Nickelodeon All Star Brawl 2 ran great at high and 17w no issues steady fps. I installed the Digimon time stranger demo. I'm trying to see if i want to get the full game and play it on the handheld, it's been running at 20w with no hiccups and bounces between 54 - 60w no issues. The print is super small though on the screen and can be a bit of a pain to see but i think that would happen on a regular monitor too. I have to mess with it to see if i can adjust the text size, but the game plays awesome one the handheld. Depending on what games I am playing ive gotten around 2 - 2 ½ hours so far of battery life. The sound on the device is great, it's loud and sounds open. I generally play with wired earbuds not wanting to disturb those around me. The Fan can get loud, just as loud as a laptop that sounds like it's about to take off but it hasn’t come on that frequently. The Xbox button and the armoury crate button are redundant to me, and add an extra non necessary button to the device, and could have been combined but I think that was a compromise that was probably made to get the xbox logo on the device. I generally just use it as an alt tab. Summary The device is sleek, runs the games I want it to, and has options for different launchers and games. The grips are something I can get used to. Xbox FSE is a good start, they are moving in the right direction but have a ways to go. But I am happy that they are at least making an effort to fix the bloat and constant marketing pitch. I would like to see them streamline the experience and fix the game pass home page/navigation/search, I prefer armoury crate. Updating the software for people who are new to handhelds should also be streamlined, making it simpler and easier to navigate. Experienced pc/handheld users are used to having to jump around so not a big deal. One last nib, for this price point the device really should come with a pouch/slim case. They sell a separate one for 70 bucks which is overpriced to me. All in all, It’s a nice collaboration for Asus and a test run for Xbox. The Rog Xbox Ally X is a nice device, it gives you a great gaming experience once in game.