ASUS ROG Ally review: A fully armed and operational handheld battle station

Despite being one of the first gaming handhelds from a major PC maker, ASUS got a lot right with the original ROG Ally. It offers better performance in a smaller chassis than Valve’s Steam Deck, but without a huge increase in price. And because it’s based on Windows instead of Linux, it delivers almost universal game compatibility. That said, issues like weak battery life and faulty SD card slots left plenty of room for improvement. So on the new Ally X, ASUS tweaked almost everything aside from its chip and display. But this time, what we’re getting is the fully armed and operational battle station that I wanted all along.

Design and display

From afar, it may appear like all ASUS did was switch the color of the Ally X’s chassis from white to black. But the second I picked it up, I noticed a lot of little changes including more pronounced grips, slightly taller face buttons and smaller paddles around back designed so that they’re harder to hit by accident. There’s also a brand new D-Pad which is a big improvement from the one on the vanilla Ally, though I’d still prefer a traditional cross or one of Sony’s pentagon-shaped arrangements.

On the inside, ASUS added stiffer springs to Ally X’s joysticks, making them tighter and more responsive. However, ASUS stopped short of switching to Hall Effect sensors like the ones on rivals like the Lenovo Legion Go. There’s also a third vent and a new fan system that improve cooling and airflow, though at full load, the back of this thing still gets pretty toasty.

But the best part is that even with all these changes and a handful of new components on the inside (more on those later), the Ally X isn’t much bulkier than its predecessor. The original ROG Ally weighs 1.34 pounds and measures 1.28 inches at its thickest while the Ally X comes in at 1.49 pounds and 1.45 inches. I’ve even been told by an ASUS representative that the Ally X fits in the original Ally’s official case, though I haven’t confirmed that myself, because, unlike the Steam Deck, you don’t get one bundled with the system.

Finally, there’s the Ally X’s 1080p display, one of two components that’s the same as on its predecessor. It has great brightness with a peak of around 500 nits (our review unit was actually a touch better at around 515 nits) and a variable 120Hz refresh rate. It’s pretty much exactly what you want on a system this size and in brighter environments, its black levels are so good that I’ve mistaken it for an OLED panel.

Performance

The other major component that hasn’t changed is the Ally X’s AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any performance improvements. That’s because ASUS massively upgraded the rest of its components with 24GB of faster LPDDR5X-7500 RAM (up from 16GB) and a larger 1TB M.2 SSD (up from 512GB). This time, ASUS even opted for a full-size 2280 module, so if you want to upgrade your storage down the line, you’ll have way more options than the smaller 2230 stick used in the previous model. Plus, and I can’t stress this enough, ASUS has also had extra time to polish the Ally X’s drivers. As we saw on the original, improved software support can make a big difference in performance, especially in a category that still benefits a ton from better optimization. And depending on the title, we’ve seen performance increase by as much as 5-10 percent, which is pretty significant considering its chip hasn’t changed.

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 720p on high graphics, the Ally X hit 54 fps in performance mode and 64 fps in Turbo mode compared to 54 fps and 60 fps for the original. Meanwhile when playing Cyberpunk 2077, I saw even bigger gains with the Ally X getting up to 78 fps in Turbo mode versus just 69 fps for the vanilla Ally. This improvement seems to be due in large part to the Ally X’s increased RAM, which the handheld shares with its GPU. And unlike on a laptop or desktop with discrete graphics, the Z1 Extreme’s Radeon 780M doesn’t have its own dedicated memory.

But regardless of how it’s getting there, all these changes make the Ally X one of the most powerful handheld PCs on the market. That’s because while the Legion Go uses the same processor, it has 8GB less RAM, so in games, it generally lagged behind by three to five fps.

Software

Windows-based gaming handhelds continue to be a bit clunky when you need to switch between various game launchers and menus, but ASUS has streamlined its Armoury Crate app to be more responsive and easier to use. It’s generally less buggy and better equipped to be a one-stop shop for aggregating all different games (and launchers) or quickly tweaking settings. Even with all that, though, it’s still less cohesive than Valve’s Steam OS. And despite recent improvements, I still ran into things like Armoury Crate interrupting what I was trying to do in Windows when it automatically boots up after a restart (which thankfully you can disable).

Battery life and ports

One of the biggest issues with the original Ally was its short battery life, which often lasted just an hour or an hour and a half at best. And when you have a system that needs to be plugged into a wall that frequently, it calls into question how good of a gaming handheld it really is.

But on the Ally X, ASUS doubled battery capacity to 80Wh. Now it can easily game for at least two hours to two and a half hours (or more, if you don’t mind fiddling around with settings). And when you remember that the Ally X isn’t that much heftier than its predecessor, you have an even greater appreciation for how much extra juice ASUS managed to cram inside.

I also appreciate that ASUS replaced the proprietary XG Mobile connector on the original model with a second USB-C port that supports Thunderbolt 4. This means you can still plug in an external graphics dock if you want, while also giving you the flexibility to hook up all sorts of peripherals. This allows the Ally X to better serve as a portable desktop because you can plug in accessories like a mouse and keyboard without the need for external docks or dongles. 

Wrap-up

While the Ally X isn’t a true 2.0 version of its predecessor, ASUS has addressed pretty much every complaint I had about the original and then some. Its joysticks feel tighter, its performance is better and battery life has essentially doubled. Even ASUS’ Armoury Crate app is easier to use, though it still hasn’t fully solved the issue of Windows feeling clunky on PC handhelds. And while it’s a touch thicker and heavier than before, those changes don’t impact its portability. ASUS also claims it has improved its RMA process to better support people who need servicing or repairs after numerous customer complaints. But it’s still too early to say if this has made a difference.

Really, the biggest hurdle for the Ally X is its price. At $800, it costs $150 more than the original Ally or the closest equivalent Steam Deck. For those who bought its predecessor, that could still make it a tough sell after only one year. I’d also argue that thanks to Steam OS, Valve’s handheld remains the more streamlined and easier-to-use option. But make no mistake, if you’re talking about the best PC gaming handhelds on the market, the Ally X sits at the top of the hill right next to the Steam Deck.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/asus-rog-ally-review-a-fully-armed-and-operational-handheld-battle-station-133043986.html?src=rss