Since “once again, but even more so” has become the mantra of post-Steam Deck portable PCs. Post-steam Deck OLED ones? As Valve successfully demonstrates the feasibility of revamping their handheld without alienating original owners, other manufacturers take note: Lenovo teases a revamped Legion Go, while MSI unveils an enhanced Claw; meanwhile, Asus introduces its new ROG Ally X. What’s next for our ROG ally – an even greater challenge? It’s rare to find a strategy that doesn’t ultimately lead to financial ruin at a rapid pace.
While the £799/$800 price tag may seem steep at first, it’s undeniable that this device offers an impressive array of upgrades. With some improvements that address the ROG Ally’s most pressing pain points: battery life is significantly boosted, thumbsticks now boast enhanced stability and traction, and the microSD card slot no longer sits atop a hot internal component, thereby resolving the ROG Ally X’s predecessor’s notorious overheating issues.
The APU remains unaltered, an identical AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme found in higher-end ROG Ally models; however, RAM upgrades from 16GB LPDDR5 to 24GB LPDDR5X, and the standard SSD capacity surges from 512GB to a generous 1TB. This is a significant and faster drive as well, sharing the same M.2 2280 format that’s likely to be found in your desktop PC, rather than the smaller, slower M.2 2230 drives commonly used in most portable devices. I’m pleased to see the upgrade of the USB-C port, replacing the less practical ROG XG Cellular docking port with a more universally compatible connection that will be welcomed by most users.
While some hardware adjustments might account for the ROG Ally X’s increased bulk – it’s visibly thicker and substantially heavier than its predecessor, the ROG Ally – these changes ultimately yield a gaming console that is far more comfortable to hold. The ROG Ally X’s thumbsticks may have been liberated from a high-end gamepad, offering a premium alternative to their plastic counterparts, while the more spacious interior, enabled by the incorporation of a third exhaust vent on its upper rim, seems to facilitate enhanced cooling and reduced noise levels. The enlarged outer shell allows for larger shoulder buttons, a feature that has proved significantly less prone to trapping my fingers when using high-trigger weapons. While it may feel slightly larger in the hand, the difference is minimal, similar to that of the Steam Deck.
The upgrade from a 40WHr battery to an 80WHr one also yields significant benefits in terms of extended battery life. As in, actually doubling it. In benchmarking tests, Grand Theft Auto V was found to rapidly deplete a laptop’s battery, exhausting it in just 1 hour and 36 minutes on high-performance settings. However, when using the ROG Ally X, this same game continued running for an impressive 3 hours and 12 minutes, a notable 100% increase in runtime. With Forza Horizon 5 achieving an unprecedented level of performance, it successfully narrowed the gap between its previous and current uptimes, boasting a remarkable improvement from 1 hour and 29 minutes to 2 hours and 55 minutes.
What ultimately sets the ROG Ally X apart from its competitors is its exceptional battery life, made all the more impressive by the fact that it finally has a legitimate challenger in the Steam Deck’s OLED display. While a transportable machine’s battery life may be at odds with its inherent portability, the reality is that a device’s usability is severely hampered by poor power management; in fact, it’s the ability to maintain a strong charge that truly makes a tool of this sort feel uniquely convenient. Considering these premises, the ROG Ally X stands out more intriguingly than its genuine counterpart from the start.
A particularly stunning yet equally anticipated improvement is the significant enhancement in precise game performance. It appears that RAM upgrades have a significant impact, as the ROG Ally X consistently produces framerate advantages of 10% or more compared to the original, further expanding its lead at lower resolutions over the Steam Deck.
With enhanced performance capabilities allowing for faster load times, the ROG Ally X streamlines your gaming experience. The new 1TB SSD stands out for its impressive capacity and ease of finding replacements, surpassing the Steam Deck and ROG Ally in speed: it loaded a Shadow of the Tomb Raider save in just 13.4 seconds, outpacing the ROG Ally’s 14.6 seconds and the Deck’s 15.9 seconds, while its 7.7-second time in Aperture Desk Job topped their respective 8.1 seconds and 10.8 seconds?
Although the display screen is exceptional, I’m hard-pressed to remember any official announcement about this upgrade. This 7-inch, 1920×1080, 120Hz LCD panel remains largely unchanged, with one notable exception: its peak brightness has increased to an impressive 532 cd/m2, outpacing the original’s 501 cd/m2 display. The panel boasts an expanded color gamut, covering 97.1% of the RGB spectrum, surpassing the original ROG Ally’s 93.6%. Moreover, it features a marginally higher contrast ratio of 1311:1 compared to the primary model’s 1239:1. While the Steam Deck’s OLED display undoubtedly outperforms comparable Asus models, its truly exceptional features include depths of black that leave all others in the dust and a peak brightness of 984 cd/m2, which also enables HDR support in certain games. Despite this, there’s an additional plus point in the ROG Ally Upgrades section.
Whether these refinements justify the demand for your hard-earned English skills is another matter altogether. Asus wisely avoids devaluing the ROG Ally X by making drastic price cuts, instead maintaining its value at £200 more than the ROG Ally, with a similar gap to the Lenovo Legion Go, and £230 higher than a premium 1TB Steam Deck OLED model? Having crunched the data, I’ve confirmed that these figures represent an enormous leap forward, especially considering the ROG Ally X’s revamped design rather than a straightforward generational update.
One modification stands out as truly transformative: extending battery life. This is a significant benefit that the Steam Deck’s OLED display has consistently delivered. Nothing comes with a case unless there’s more to it?
The ROG Ally X outshines its Deck counterpart in terms of gaming compatibility, thanks to its Windows 11 operating system, which is free from the anti-cheat and launcher issues often plaguing SteamOS. The Steam Deck allows for seamless gameplay of your Sport Go video games, a feature exclusive to this device when relying on always-online cloud streaming capabilities.
Despite its potential, deploying Windows on a handheld device still presents unique challenges, including the inherent awkwardness of navigating a desktop-oriented operating system using thumbsticks and a touchscreen, which often manifests as repeated bug appearances. Despite its limitations, the SteamOS interface is refined and surprisingly well-adapted for portable gaming experiences. On several occasions when using the ROG Ally X, I’ve observed video games suddenly shrinking into miniature windows without any explicit prompts, and launchers occasionally refusing to launch a desired application. The inherent functionality of the ROG Ally X’s biometric sensor appears dubious given Windows 11’s persistent requirement for a PIN to authenticate.
Given its OLED display’s intuitive design and competitive pricing, the Steam Deck stands out as the top portable gaming option among its revamped counterparts. While its price tag may seem steep, the Asus ROG Ally X is undoubtedly one of the top-notch Windows handhelds on the market. Compared to the original model, this device represents a significant leap forward in terms of design, featuring substantial upgrades in battery life, efficiency, and build quality that far surpass the distinctive features and adaptability of the Legion Go. With a growing sense of indignation, I yearn to unleash a spectacular display of frustration upon the desk of the individual responsible for deeming the greater portion of a grand worthy of such an egregious undervaluation; yet, I must temper my impulses and recognize that perfection is often an unattainable ideal.
