The Asus ROG Ally X is official, offering twice the battery life, double the storage, and numerous small improvements, all for $799. Don’t miss out on this upgraded gaming experience!
When Valve introduced the Steam Deck OLED, I deemed it “everything the original should have been.” Asus is aiming for the same level of improvement with the new ROG Ally X.
Following months of leaks, teasers, and exclusive early details from yours truly, it’s official: the ROG Ally X handheld gaming PC is now available for preorder at $799.
Shipping on July 22nd, the ROG Ally X boasts double the battery life, double the storage, double the USB-C ports with quadruple the USB bandwidth, 50 percent more (and faster) 7500MHz memory for up to a 15 percent performance boost, significantly improved ergonomics, a redesigned internal layout, and a host of other enhancements.
The changes are so extensive that I spent two hours on the phone with Asus technical marketing director Sascha Krohn to learn about them all. I also visited the company’s US headquarters, where I personally opened up an ROG Ally X with my own screwdrivers and tested the new build. The ROG Ally X is a significant revision rather than a sequel, and it comes at a higher price point. It still runs on Windows, which I believe hampers gaming handhelds, but the Ally X might be the best Windows handheld yet. Asus has managed to pack a powerful 80 watt-hour battery into a device that feels lightweight and fits comfortably in average-sized hands.
Weighing in at 1.49 pounds (678g), the ROG Ally X is just 0.15 pounds (70g) heavier than the original and only 0.18 inches (4.5mm) thicker at its thickest point. Remarkably, it has almost the same weight as the original Steam Deck and is nearly half an inch thinner, all while boasting twice the battery capacity.
How did they manage this? While the bigger battery added over 120 grams of weight, Asus offset half of it by making other components lighter. According to Krohn, a stronger, thinner, and lighter chassis offered the most significant weight savings — the talcum-filled ABS/polycarbonate composite’s weight was reduced from 176 grams to 134 grams. Additionally, the Ally X features lighter circuit boards, trimming unnecessary parts, and a lighter cooling module. This includes 23-percent smaller fans that are more powerful, thanks to the company’s custom design of 77 ultra-thin blades, compared to the original’s 47 blades.
Krohn also noted that the Ally X might run a couple of degrees cooler, with the thinner blades helping to reduce the audible noise bump at around 5,000Hz. Furthermore, the new series of vents allows the Ally X to cool its touchscreen more effectively, by up to 6°C.
The joysticks on the ROG Ally X are both improved and lighter. Completely revised modular boards now feature the same high-grade potentiometer-based ALPS sticks found in PS5 and Xbox gamepads. These sticks offer a far tighter throw than the original Ally, delightfully tacky concave tops similar to the Steam Deck OLED, wider bases for better dust resistance, and low-friction POM plastic stems for smoother action when scraping against the joystick ring’s edge.
They are rated for 5 million rotation cycles, up from 2 million, and are modular, ready for a drift-resistant Hall Effect magnetic joystick upgrade kit that Gulikit is already developing. According to Krohn, not enough gamers currently prefer Hall Effect sticks for them to be standard, but the option will be available.
Asus has seemingly addressed almost all of the major complaints about I/O. The ROG Ally X now features a full-length M.2 2280 PCIe 4 SSD slot, which also supports double-sided drives. This upgrade opens up access to both the highest capacity and the most cost-effective storage options available on the market.
Asus has also replaced its proprietary XG Mobile eGPU port with a second USB-C port, offering the full benefits of Thunderbolt 4: 40Gbps speeds, 100W USB-C PD charging, DP 1.4 video output, and four lanes of PCIe for standard eGPUs. (No Oculink support, unfortunately.)
Both ports are top-mounted, which, according to Krohn, allows even the weaker one to offer 100W charging and 10Gbps data transfer.
Additionally, the ROG Ally X includes a new SD card reader, which Asus assures is different from the previous version that had issues.
