I played PC games on Asus’ ROG Ally X handheld console: Here’s how it went

Asus ROG Ally X price in India (as reviewed): Rs 89,990

The Asus ROG Ally X comes with a sleek and refined design. It has larger grips and smoother triggers, providing a comfortable gaming experience on the go. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Fantastic to hold in the hands

I’m quick to adopt new tech, and the Ally X feels familiar; I’d say it is more refined than the original Ally, with a sharp design. The first thing I noticed was how fantastic it feels in my hands. The grips are larger, the back buttons are smaller, and the triggers are smoother and have more depth. Each joystick is surrounded by an RGB ring that can be customized with Aura Sync software. The face buttons and the rounded D-pad have a much nicer tactile feel. However, I should point out that the Ally X has an Xbox-esque gamepad layout, which I personally don’t mind, but when I handed the device to my friend, he got frustrated and had a hard time navigating the library. If you come from a different camp—PlayStation or Nintendo, which I’d assume many of you do—the D-pad on the Ally X might be confusing. So, there is a learning curve if you haven’t used an Xbox game controller before.

But if you ask me, I would say the Ally X is impressively light considering the kind of games it can handle and play. It is bigger than my Nintendo Switch but smaller than the Lenovo Legion Go, which is another Windows-powered handheld console.

Although the new device is on the thicker side, it doesn’t affect comfort. The fan is quiet, and I didn’t notice any tinkering noise during gameplay, but it wasn’t an issue with the original Ally either. It’s nice to see twin USB-C ports for charging and peripherals, and there’s an option to hook up a Thunderbolt eGPU, which I didn’t try myself. You still get a 3.5 mm headphone jack and microSD card slot.

Asus Ally X (left) next to Nintendo Switch (right). (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Missing OLED screen

Ever since I tried the Nintendo Switch OLED at Best Buy, I’ve had a hard time going back to my original Switch. It’s not that the first-generation Switch is inferior, but I really miss the vibrancy and precise colors of the OLED screen. I felt the same while using the Asus Ally X. The 7-inch FHD IPS display is nice, but if Asus had used an OLED screen or at least offered another SKU with a better screen, it would have made a huge difference. Asus is already charging Rs 89,990 for the Ally X, and given that OLED technology is rapidly replacing the older, inferior LCD technology in smartphones, TVs, and laptops, I would have expected it. That being said, the 7-inch 1080p screen on the Ally X is fine for gaming (thank fully, It supports a 120Hz refresh rate which makes smooth gamneplay) but an OLED screen could have made games more atmospheric, and games with dark scenes would have looked much better and more refined.

A gaming PC in your palms—quite literally

I grew up with handheld consoles, but I am also aware of their limitations. I’ve always wanted a handheld device to be as powerful as a home console, and with the Ally X, it seems all my wishes have come true. The Ally X uses the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, the same processor that powered the original Ally. This also means it has the same AMD Radeon graphics with RDNA 3 and 12 compute units. However, Asus made several changes to improve performance in the latest Ally X. Although the changes may seem minor, I noticed faster performance. This improvement is due to three key tweaks that I think are worth highlighting to help differentiate between the original Ally and the Ally X: improved cooling, increased RAM to 24GB, and a full-size SSD instead of the half-size SSD used in the ROG Ally, which has dramatically sped up loading times.

I have been genuinely impressed by how the Ally X handles the games I’ve installed. Indie and smaller titles have worked flawlessly, and I’ve spent hours playing them after a tiring day at the office. Even AAA titles have performed quite well. I ran Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Dirt 5, and Forza Horizon 5, and I noticed a small bump in CPU and disk performance. For instance, “Forza Horizon 5” on medium settings at 1080p with FSR can reach 50 FPS. Games run smoothly on the Ally X, and I can definitely feel it. It wouldn’t be wrong to call the Ally X a mid-cycle refresh rather than a fully-fledged successor to the Ally.

The Asus ROG Ally X features a sturdier and more stable base design compared to the Nintendo Switch. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Long battery life

Perhaps what impressed me the most was the battery life. As someone who travels a lot and always has a handheld gaming device in my backpack, I was surprised by how much a bigger battery can improve a handheld console like the Ally X. Asus has added an 80 WHr battery to the Ally X, which is double the size of the 40 WHr battery in the original Ally. When playing AAA titles, you can expect around 3 hours of playtime. For smaller titles, the battery life can last longer, especially if the screen brightness is turned down. Of course, you can use different modes to extend battery life, but it depends on the type of game you’re playing.

The Asus ROG Ally X delivers powerful PC gaming in a compact handheld form, boasting impressive performance with an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor and 24GB of RAM. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

The curious case of Windows

You can call Windows 11 both a boon and a bane for current-generation consoles that bring PC games to handheld systems. The positive aspect of running Windows on a handheld console is that you can play any game that works on a PC. Additionally, you have the option to download games from Xbox Game Pass, Steam, and the Epic Store—legally, without jailbreaking or modifying your system. However, on the negative side, Windows isn’t designed to run on a handheld. It’s a simple fact. After all, Windows is designed to be navigated using a mouse and keyboard, and while a touchscreen may help, navigating the operating system on a small handheld screen using a controller is a challenge. I fully blame Microsoft for this. While Asus is trying hard to make the OS experience less frustrating with Armoury Crate—a console-esque overlay that displays your entire game library in one place—it doesn’t solve the basic issues that annoy gamers the most. I don’t want to use a handheld console like a PC. I don’t care about the Windows startup menu or a free subscription to Office 365. All I want is a singular interface, something like SteamOS on the Steam Deck, or an interface that is simple to navigate and appeals to everyone, as Nintendo did with the Switch. I can already see some posituve change in that direction with a new compact mode rolled out as part of the Xbox app but it’s still not enough to ignore how awkward it is to navigate Windows on a tiny touch screen.

With responsive joysticks surrounded by customisable RGB rings and a vibrant 7-inch display, the Asus ROG Ally X offers precise control and immersive gameplay. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Should you buy the Asus ROG Ally X?

The Asus Ally X, for me, is the best Windows handheld on the market. It is indeed impressive, and I wonder about the engineering effort that went into making the Ally X a powerful device in a compact form factor. Although it doesn’t come cheap (I wish it were priced lower), it is terrific for what it offers. A supercharged handheld console that brings PC gaming straight out of the box to a form factor I can take everywhere I go becomes even more tempting.