More Gaming, Less Tinkering: ROG Xbox Ally Review

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Handheld gaming PCs have been around long enough now. At this point, we've moved past the general excitement and novelty of playing PC games on-the-go and have fully moved on into complaint mode about what's not optimized, the things we want to be better, and general gamer griping.

But like, with love.

Unbeknownst to us, both Xbox and Asus have been listening very carefully to those gripes and concerns (as well as the accolades and good stuff) and filing it away as they worked to develop a new type of handheld gaming PC.

The ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X have arrived. The core focus is putting gaming first on these Windows-powered machines.

By launching you right into a dedicated Xbox environment, minimizing unnecessary windows functions, and making some thoughtful physical changes, the minds behind these devices have put out what could be the most compelling handheld options on the market today…if you've got the cash.

The ROG Xbox Ally requires a little less cash up front (with a few trade-offs compared to the X model), but is overall an excellent gaming-on-the-go machine.

ROG Xbox Ally One Paragraph Review

Ally To Ab Xy Hero — The console has a familar XYAB button layout Xbox gamers will be familiar with.

Pros

New Xbox UI
Amazing ergonomics
Expandable storage (micro SD & PCIe)

Cons

Expensive (even though it's the lower-cost one)
No Thunderbolt 4 compatibility
Max 16 GB memory

The ROG Xbox Ally is the entry point into the new Xbox gaming handheld. Choosing which one is right for you will require some careful thought related to budget, performance, and how often you intend to use this thing docked. Overall, this console provides an excellent pick-up-and-play gaming experience, allowing you to dive into your Xbox library as well as other game libraries (Steam, EA, and more). While this is the lower-cost model, the initial investment is still high. While the specs are lower than the ROG Xbox Ally X, the AMD Ryzen Z2 A processor, 1.4 display port, and absolutely excellent ergonomics and Hall Effect triggers make this a great gaming companion for enjoying Xbox and PC gaming anywhere.

Armoury Command Centre On Ally — Armoury Crate is a button push away when you want to dig deeper into customizaing your game experience.

ROG Xbox Ally Physical Design Features

The most significant differences between the new ROG Xbox consoles are related to the "Xbox full screen experience," (which we'll cover next) and the physical design (which we'll dig into right now).

Underside Of Fin Ally — The ergonomics of this console are a significant improvement over the past Aly models.

When I saw the reveal of the Xbox Ally consoles, I had no idea what a significant upgrade adding those "fins" to the grip would be.

While attending a pre-launch event in Toronto, I was hanging out at one of the demo tables, just to see what people's first reactions of the console would be when they held it. Consistently, everyone said some form of, "Wow, this is so light!"

But, guess what? It's actually not lighter than the previous Ally consoles; it just feels like that because the improved ergonomics are SO good.

Xbox Ally Demo — An Ally demo at a pre-launch event in Toronto.

This is truly one of those things you don't understand until you're holding it, so let me emphasize the ergonomics of this console are such a significant upgrade, it cannot be overstated.

ROG Xbox Ally Design Trade-Offs

Now that change in ergonomics may also mean your existing docking station that you may have on hand might not "fit" the new console (because of those fins) so that's something to keep in mind. I have a Razer docking station and a Ugreen one, both of which mostly work, in terms of resting nicely in the console, but it does take some balancing/extra adjusting.

Ally X On Stand Wood Table — The Ally X in the official Razer docking station.

ASUS does have a dock, which looks really cool, but it's also really expensive. So, I need more time with the console to decide if I really care enough about the docked experience to need a $150 CAD docking station to go with the console.

One design feature I don't like is the button layout change.

With the new console, you get a dedicated Xbox button (great). They moved the Armoury button (to dial into the ROG specific performance gaming settings), which is still fine. But the Library button is now where the Armoury button was, which has resulted in unintentionally leaving games SO many times.

If you haven't used the previous Ally consoles, I don't think this will slow you down; however, if you're an Ally user right now, prepare for this adjustment.

ROG Xbox Ally The Specs

While it's the less powerful of the two devices, the Xbox ROG Ally is certainly still a powerful mobile gaming console.

Ally On Stand Hero — Both models of ROG Xbox consoles have the same 1080p 120Hz panel.

A Truly Gorgeous Screen

Here's where both the Ally and the more expensive Ally X are identical, and it's a huge win for both. The screen is a stunner. If you have a pro mobile phone, you've probably gotten used to a great display, but when you take a step back and appreciate what we're getting here, it's pretty remarkable:

Display: It's a 7-inch, 1080p touchscreen panel that looks incredibly sharp.
Refresh Rate: It boasts a 120Hz refresh rate with AMD FreeSync™ Premium support, which means your games will look buttery smooth, without any ugly screen tearing.
Brightness: The display gets up to 500 nits of peak brightness, which is great for playing in brighter rooms or even outdoors.
Protection: It's coated with Corning® Gorilla® Glass DXC, which cuts down on reflections and improves scratch resistance.

Crash Bandicoot Hero Ally — You can play or stream games from a variety of sources on your console.

For an $800 gaming console, you'd expect a high-end experience, and the display certainly delivers this. While you may have also expected an OLED display at that price, keep in mind that those displays suck more power from the battery, which, in a mobile gaming console is a pretty important consideration. So, I assume that cost and battery life were factors in having an LED panel vs. an OLED one.

Further Key Specs

Paired with that display are a decent battery, fair storage, and an excellent AMD processor:

Processor: AMD Ryzen™ Z2 A Processor (4 cores, 8 threads).
Memory: 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM.
Storage: 512GB M.2 SSD.
Battery: 60Wh battery.

It's worth noting that you can expand the storage by installing your own PCIe SSD (requires opening up the console, but relatively easy to do). Or, for a simpler solution, you can use the Micro SD card slot.

65 W Power Supply — Both the Ally and Ally X include a 65 W power adapter.

Two other things worth flagging (on the negative side) are the lack of Thunderbolt 4 support (this "only" has USB 3.2) and a DisplayPort 1.4 (the higher-end model supports DisplayPort 2.1).

This will mostly impact your experience related to connecting to docking stations or external displays, and the degree to which you're limited will really depend on the hardware and accessories you're pairing with your console. But if you're trying to dig into the difference between the hardware of the two models, these are some that may not be on your radar.

Wide Dock Cable Deathloop — The ROG Xbox Ally features USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C ports, not Thunderbolt 4.

Gaming Console That's Gaming First

The coolest feature of the new ROG Xbox Ally line-up is something called the "Xbox full screen experience". This is what separates it from the existing ROG Ally devices and is something that seems so obvious, it's kinda surprising we're only seeing this now.

The whole point of these devices is to game. Yet, with previous handheld PCs, there's too many steps between the user and their games.

While this is still a Windows machine, when you boot it up, you're dropped into a user interface that feels more like an Xbox console, while Windows is running in the background, stripped down to the essentials; allowing the console to dedicate more resources to gaming.

Various Game Libraries On Ally X — Access your favourite titles from your favourite gaming librairies easily.

This is what you can expect when you go hands-on with the Ally X:

It's Built for Gaming: The software is designed to minimize background activity and pause tasks that aren't essential, meaning more of the device's power goes directly to your game.
All Your Games in One Place: It pulls together games from your Xbox library, Game Pass, and even games you've installed from other PC stores like Battle.net into one unified library alongside your Steam and EA libraries. No more hunting through different apps to find what you want to play.
The Xbox Button: There's a dedicated Xbox button that brings up an enhanced Game Bar, just like on-console. From there, you can browse your library, chat with friends, or jump into the device's hardware settings in Armoury Crate SE.

This whole setup is designed to make PC gaming feel less like, well, PC gaming, and more like the simple pick-up-and-play experience of a dedicated console.

Get into Your Games Faster

Ally X Xbox Menu — The console launches into an easy-to-navigate Xbox environment.

Using this device for almost two weeks (and having come from the previous Ally X), it is such a delight to just get into the Xbox UI. Everything about using the ROG Xbox Ally feels like it was designed to get you into the games faster, making the most of your precious gaming time (which I appreciate, as the father of twin toddlers).

But it's not just the UI that helps you get into games faster.

The ROG Xbox Ally introduces another industry first to help reduce load times: Advanced Shader Delivery.

Viture Luma Pro And Ally X W Deathloop — Compatible titles load faster thanks to Advanced Shader Delivery.

For a quick primer/reminder, shaders are small programs that tell the hardware how to render graphics. Traditionally, they have to be compiled (or "prepared") when you first launch a game, which can lead to long initial load times.

It's the reason why when you first started playing Starfield on Xbox you had to wait SO incredibly long when you first loaded the game or first visited a new world.

Advanced Shader Delivery pre-compiles these shaders in the cloud. When you download a game, the prepared shaders come with it, significantly reducing those initial wait times, so you can jump into the action faster.

Psychonauts — The console comes with three free months of Game Pass.

This is one of many things I noticed while testing out both of the ROG Xbox consoles that made the device feel different - you just get into the games sooner and stay more immersed with less distractions.

The Ally vs. The Ally X: The $500 Question

Ally X Docked Low Angle — Okay, this is the most important part. The standard ROG Xbox Ally costs $799 CAD, while the ROG Xbox Ally X is priced at $1,299 CAD. That's a $500 difference. So, what exactly are you getting—and giving up—with the more affordable model? The Ally X has some enhancements that will make the docked experience potentially better than the base model.

The "base" ROG Xbox Ally can comfortably play tons of modern and classic games locally, and it's perfect for streaming AAA titles from the cloud via Xbox Cloud Gaming.

What You're Missing from the Ally X

That $500 upgrade to the Ally X gets you a significant boost in performance and features. If you stick with the standard Ally, here's what you'll be missing out on:

A More Powerful Processor: The Ally X has the AMD Ryzen™ AI Z2 Extreme Processor (8 cores, 16 threads). It's more powerful and operates at a higher wattage (up to 35W vs 15W) for better performance in the most demanding games.
A Dedicated AI Chip (NPU): The "AI" in the Ally X's processor is a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) with 50 TOPS of performance. This will power upcoming AI features like Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR) and AI-generated highlight reels, which the standard Ally won't get.
More and Faster RAM: The Ally X comes with 24GB of faster LPDDR5X-8000 RAM.
Double the Storage: You get a 1TB SSD in the Ally X. Though, since you could swap in your own PCIe storage, this may be less of a big deal.
A Bigger Battery: The Ally X packs a larger 80Wh battery for longer play sessions at high settings.
Impulse Triggers: The Ally X features Impulse Triggers that provide localized haptic feedback for a more immersive feel.
Better Connectivity: One of the USB-C ports on the Ally X is a full USB4 port that is Thunderbolt™ 4 compatible, allowing you to connect high-bandwidth accessories like an external GPU.

Cyberpunk Bench Marking Results Ally X — Benchmarking Cyberpunk on the Ally X.

What Can You Play? (Spoiler: A Lot)

One of the biggest questions with any new gaming hardware is, "Will my games work?" Xbox and ROG have come up with a fantastic system to take the guesswork out of this.

Cloud Gaming On Ally Hero — Cloud Gaming is available on the console if you have a Game Pass Ultimate subscription giving you access to hundreds of games, no installation required.

It uses a Handheld Compatibility Program that tests thousands of titles. Before you even download a game, you'll see a badge letting you know what kind of experience to expect:

Handheld Optimized: The game is ready to rock on your new Ally by default. Adjust settings if you want, but it's not required. These titles have a little green flag and check mark to identify them in the UI.
Mostly Compatible: It will work, but you may have to change some in-game settings to have a great experience on a handheld.

Ally X Doom Mostly Compatible — Doom: The Dark Ages "Mostly Compatible."

A little more confusing, there's a separate thing called Windows Performance Fit, and this indicates what kind of performance (different than compatibility) you can expect from a certain title.

Should Play Great: Titles that will average 60 FPS or better.
Should Play Well: Titles that will average 30 FPS or better.

Indiana Jones Should Play Well — Indiana Jones and the Great Circle "Should Play Well."

If you see a game that is labelled with both Handheld Optimized and Should Play Great, you'll know you're getting the best compatibility and performance instantly.

Beyond the games you install locally, you also have access to the entire Xbox ecosystem:

Xbox Remote Play: Stream games directly from your home Xbox console to your Ally, whether you're in another room or on-the-go.
Xbox Play Anywhere: Buy a participating digital game once and play it on both your Xbox console and your Ally, with all your progress, achievements, and saves syncing between them.
Xbox Cloud Gaming: With a Game Pass Ultimate subscription, you can stream hundreds of AAA titles directly from the cloud, no installation required.

Source: geekingout.ca

Unplugged with high performance settings I was averaging about 2 - 2.5 hours battery life on the ROG Xbox Ally.

The Bottom Line Is the ROG XBOX Ally Worth It?

The gaming experience on the ROG Xbox Ally is SO good, but it is a different tier of gamer who I think will find this device appealing. I'm just not sure exactly what that tier is.

Windows 10 Hero On Ally — The point of this console is keeping Windows in the background, but if you want to access the OS, it's simple enough to do.

That $799 price point is certainly worthwhile for the specs of this console, but will a casual gamer have that kinda cash to put into their casual hobby? I don't think so.

That means this is for a higher echelon of gaming enthusiasts. A gamer who likely already has a system for playing games on-the-go (whether it's the existing Ally consoles or even pairing their smartphone with a high-quality controller grip).

Ally Xbox Boot Up Screen To Demo — Xbox Ally demo at a pre-launch event.

And for the most dedicated PC gamers, they're going to be looking at the ROG Xbox Ally X for its higher memory capacity and to squeeze the advantages out of that NPU on the AMD processor.

Based on all of the above, I think this console would be excellent for someone who loves their Xbox game play experience, but, for whatever reason, never got into mobile PC gaming.

Geeking Out Shop

ROG Xbox Ally

Xbox Gaming on-the-go

The ROG Xbox Ally is an extremely capable gaming machine. While it doesn't have every bell and whistle that the X model has, for a $500 price difference, it's a great choice for the gamer who wants a pick-up-and-play portable solution to try and carve out more time in their day for gaming by taking a console with them on the go.

$799 CAD at ASUS

Maybe tweaking Armoury Crate on the previous Ally models required more tinkering than they were up for. Or, maybe there were barriers with having a Windows-based device overcomplicating the gaming experience.

The good news is, the ROG Xbox Ally has truly optimized the handheld gaming experience to put Xbox first (and very close second, making any other gaming libraries you want to explore readily accessible).

For anyone who has sat on the sidelines of the mobile PC gaming world, the ROG Xbox Ally is your invitation to the club.

It successfully bridges the gap between the power of PC gaming and the simplicity of a console. The focus on a unified library, faster load times, and clear compatibility ratings makes it incredibly user-friendly.

If you are an Xbox fan who wants a portable companion for your Game Pass library, or if you're a PC gamer who's been waiting for a more streamlined handheld experience, the ROG Xbox Ally is an easy recommendation at $799 CAD.

It offers a premium experience without the premium price tag of its big brother, the Ally X. For many gamers, this will be the portable powerhouse they've been waiting for.

Will you be grabbing the ROG Xbox Ally? What are you most excited for about it? Let me know in the Comments below or message me on Instagram to share your thoughts!

The Powerful One