Well folks, the time has arrived. With the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X officially releasing on October 16th, ASUS was kind enough to give us rough two weeks of early access to the "X" version of the device (the most premium model) here at Pure Xbox, and I've been playing it every single day in the lead-up to launch.
In this review, I'm going to delve into the hardware, the battery, the performance, the ergonomics, the software experience, what it's like playing everything from indie games to AAA games, and a whole lot more. I've been trying all sorts of different things with this device over the past two weeks, and it's continually impressed me with what it can do.
What you won't find are too many comparisons to other handhelds in this review. I'm coming at this from the point of view of an Xbox fan - someone who hasn't necessarily spent too much time with the original ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go or even the Steam Deck - and so we're going to take the Ally X at face value here. How does it feel, what's it like to play, is it a competent gaming device in general, and how close to a console-like experience are we getting with this?
Without further ado, let's dive in.
Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.
Hardware:
I love how the ROG Xbox Ally X feels in the hands. There's an immediate familiarity to it, and that's because the textured grips are pretty much identical to the official Xbox controller. Yes, the two handles may look a little off-putting from a visual perspective, but in practice they're one of the most important aspects of this handheld in my opinion. The Ally X isn't a particularly light device at all, but because of how these grips are designed, the weight is balanced really nicely - your fingers never even have to touch the middle of the system, which is naturally where the bulk of the weight lies.
Because of this, I feel like the Ally X is something I can play for hours at a time without feeling uncomfortable, and that includes sitting at a desk, lying down in bed, sitting on the toilet - whatever the situation calls for. I'll admit that I often rest it on my leg to help reduce the weight even further, but it's not something I have to do by any means. If you took those grips away (and apparently the original Ally X suffers with this), I think it'd be a pretty rough experience after an hour-or-two. Another benefit with these handles is that I can hold the system in one hand with ease - something I wouldn't want to do too often because of how heavy it is, but it's great for transporting it around the house / office and maybe grabbing a quick drink in the middle of a game.
It's a similar story with the thumbsticks in terms of how they're barely any different to the ones on the official Xbox controller. With some systems like the Nintendo Switch, I feel like there's an adjustment period in terms of playing games that require precise thumbstick movements (FPS titles come to mind for the most part), but the ROG Xbox Ally X immediately feels familiar. The same can be said of the buttons and triggers, although those are a little bit different - the buttons feel a little more spongy, the RB and LB buttons don't click in quite as much, the triggers are wider and a bit less sensitive, and the d-pad is basically the same but takes away the clickiness.
In practice, all of this feels really good to use. As I say, it's a credit to the hardware design that everything feels natural if you're coming from an Xbox console to the ROG Xbox Ally X, and that seems to be regardless of what type of game you're playing. I'll give a shoutout to the speakers and vent design as well (more on the cooling later), as the speakers are loud and feature crisp, clear sound albeit with a slight lack of bass, while the vents are large but don't get in the way while you're playing - you'll only feel them if you purposely put your hand over them.
As for the screen, I'll admit that you do notice the difference going between something like a Switch OLED and the ROG Xbox Ally X. Unlike an OLED, the LCD screen on the Ally can be prone to looking washed out and not being able to achieve those deep blacks, but for the most part it's still a really impressive display. I actually changed the warmth of the visuals in the settings after a couple of days, and I'm getting some superb results at this point - games like Discounty now pop with colour, and others like Shadow of the Tomb Raider aren't as prone to struggling with overly bright scenarios.
The 7" size of the screen is perfectly adequate in my opinion, although I can understand why people look at the Lenovo Legion Go and wish for something more - especially when it comes to games with a lot of small text like Football Manager 2024 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I'd say my favourite thing about the screen is the VRR support though, as it makes games appear really smooth (like they're 60FPS) even if they're hovering at around 45-50FPS. That's a massive inclusion in my view - more important than OLED - and the fact it can support up to 120Hz is just the icing on the cake.