Review: Asus ROG Ally X

Like crypto and CrossFit, I’ve also made peace with being wilfully ignorant about handheld PCs. Partly sanity and fear of being overwhelmed and partly, as Gandalf said, ‘Don’t tempt me Frodo’. But in the case of CrossFit, mostly because I prefer minimal effort, moderate results.

However, my interest was piqued during the Black Friday madness when I saw the ASUS Rog Ally Z1 Extreme on sale and started reading up on it.

My editor Nafisa reached out to ASUS and secured a review unit of the ASUS Rog Ally X. The below captures my impressions over a two-week period.

Handheld gaming consoles have come a long way. As a long-time Nintendo fan, my appreciation for the portability of systems like the Nintendo Switch is well-documented in most of my reviews on Recharged and my recent experience with the ASUS ROG Ally X has been a revelation, showcasing just how far handheld gaming has evolved.

The ROG Ally X boasts an 80Wh battery, doubling the capacity of its predecessor and addressing one of the most common complaints I’ve read about the first model—battery life.

I was sceptical about what this translates to in terms of real-world gaming but was very impressed with how many hours of gameplay I could get out of the system before charging. It easily outlasted my Switch on long play sessions, especially while I was in transit.

One of the most appealing aspects of the ROG Ally X is its design. While initially feeling bulky, it soon melted into my hands as I immersed into God of War (2018) and CyberPunk 2077.

It did feel unusually warm at times, which was a little concerning but not unlike how my phone heats up when I’m running Waze in my car. There was also some noticeable fan noise, like my Nintendo Switch.

That said, while the device’s LCD screen delivers vibrant colours, an OLED screen would have elevated the experience as it does struggle a bit under our beautiful Johannesburg sun but that would have probably made the already hefty price more chunky.

The speakers, however, are a standout feature, providing immersive audio without the need for headphones, except for when you’re in public spaces because no one wants to hear your device on blast.

The ROG Ally X excels in most scenarios. Games like God of War ran smoothly. The vibrant colours and fluid gameplay made for an enjoyable experience, but the rendering of detailed textures fell slightly short of expectations. I don’t know if that comment is unfair considering I am sometimes comparing games that I initially played on either the PS4 Pro or Xbox Series X on an OLED TV.

For less demanding games, like Angry Birds 2, the ROG Ally X is a dream. To be fair though, these sorts of games, along with the ones you emulate (like arcade classics) don’t need such a powerful system to run well. It’s probably the equivalent of taking a Ferrari to your local Spar to buy milk and bread.

I have never really been a PC gamer so despite the interface trying to be game-friendly, I struggled a bit with navigation and was overwhelmed at times with the customisation options.

I recognise a lot of gamers appreciate the flexibility but for someone like me who was raised on ‘insert cart into console and play game’, it was a tough learning curve.

At approximately R18 000, the ROG Ally X is a premium device and more expensive than its peers. This is probably the part of the review that I struggled the most with as I tried to answer whether I would buy this for myself, considering I already own an Xbox Series X, Playstation 5, Nintendo Switch and two dedicated retro consoles (a Pandora joystick and an Anbernic RG35XX Plus).

It really is an everything machine and cheaper than buying a few consoles and a portable PC. It was very easy to connect it to my TV using a cheap USB-C adaptor that I got from Temu for about R90 and I appreciated the versatility of gaming options.

Syncing my Xbox controller was a breeze, thanks Microsoft! I also think it would make for great value for gamers with a decent PC gaming library, although the addition and ease of accessing apps like Gamepass is also something to consider.

I haven’t tried the Steam Deck or MSI Claw, so it would be unfair to compare at this stage, however what I’ve read about them makes me very optimistic about the future of these devices and how they are helping evolve the industry.

Asus ROG Ally X specs

The ROG Ally X is made for Windows 11 gaming-on-the-go, and features the same AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chipset found on its predecessor,

The updated console features 1TB of SSD storage – double that of the original Ally; a redesigned motherboard with a M.2 2280 form factor slot that allows users to easily upgrade their storage than before.

It features Armoury Crate SE 1.5 with a new customisable game library and unified system updates. It also packs in 24GB of DDR5-7500 RAM, and as an APU, the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme shares its video RAM with the device’s system RAM.

The battery is double the capacity of its predecessor at 80Wh, and the console is a mere 70g lighter than the original unit (via Recharged) https://www.recharged.co.za/asus-rog-ally-x-in-sa/