So after some deliberation I decided to make January the month I obsess on the blog on my side-hobby as a handheld PC gaming enthusiast. I have some credentials to this, albeit with the caveat that there are like a millions Youtubers out there who love filming their handheld devices and running endless performance metrics on them. I mainly like the handhelds for gaming, and I tend to go for the vibes when it comes to assessing their performance and value to my personal experience. This means that I may find a device more fun and engaging than reviewers do because I am far less worried about how many FPS I am squeezing out of the device than I am whether it feels good to play and the game seems to run smoothly to my eyes.
So with that in mind, here's my quick review of the first such device of the 2025 crop that I shall dive in to: the Xbox ROG Ally - the base white model! AKA the one with the budget performance specs.
Xbox ROG Ally Base Model Specs: From the ASUS website: Ryzen Z2 A processor 2.8GHz (6MB Cache, up to 3.8 GHz, 4 cores, 8 Threads); GPU is AMD Radeon Graphics Card (integrated? not sure); 7 inch, 1080p IPS display, touch screen, 120hz refresh 500 nits brightness, and AMDFreesync Premium
The Xbox ROG Ally base model is a decent budget priced handheld gaming PC. It runs MSRP $600 but you can find it on sale for cheaper usually. This new line of ASUS handhelds are equipped with the best form factor for comfortable handheld gaming on the market; they are far more satisfying to play on the go than almost every other device, and I find only the Legon Go S to be comparatively friendly to the hands (also the Playstation Portal if you want to count that).
It's Xbox marketing will disappoint a lot of people who will find the Windows Full Screen Experience (FSE) a shallow replacement for an actual Xbox experience, but it does run a surprising number of top tier games just fine....notably Microsoft published titles like Horizon 5, Gears 5 and Gears Reloaded, Halo Master Chief Collection, etc. all run pretty well on this, but other games may struggle. It's hampered by only 512GB of storage, and the expansion slot for an SSD is often insufficient for running modern games, but I use the SSD slot to load older games and less demanding titles. Bottom line: if you're gaming experience revolves around Hades and Hollow Knight, this handheld is a great choice (but so is a Steam Deck). If you want to run games curated by Microsoft to run well (like Gears of War and Forza Horizon 5) it is also a good choice. Other graphically-intensive titles will be all over the place in terms of quality, performance and feel, however.
I set up Steam, GOG and Xbox's platforms on the device and it ran each just fine. I ran in to repeated issues with how the Windows FSE switches between the storefronts, and whether the storefronts would drop to the background while playing games, which was often so frustrating I would have to kill the FSE mode to get things to play nice, however.
Both Xbox ROG Ally models have the standard 7 inch IPS screen common on prior Asus handhelds. The screen is totally fine, and looks crisp, but it pales when you compare it to the infinitely superior screens of the Legion Go series, especially the Go 2's OLED screen. Good news though: if you are not insane like I and other enthusiasts are, and just buy a single handheld device, I don't think you will be bothered by the screen size.
I tried the Xbox ROG Ally out on a dock with a hookup to a 1080p big screen to see how it functioned as a dockable work station and the answer is: not very well. It showed obvious performance issues in jumping to tasks, the keyboard and mouse, and compared to other handhelds (even the original ASUS Rog Ally which I used this way constantly) it was an inferior experience. So the Z2 A processor is just not great at this sort of docking setup, I can confirm.
Another problem with the device is actually a FSE problem. Microsoft's handheld solution does not play well with the controls on this thing, and I often find that while in FSE mode, the game I am trying to boot in to does not automatically pop up, or the control scheme changes from gamepad to keyboard, or while in a game it will also detect button pushes and activate other features or games in other storefronts. This is a problem that uniquely impacts this device, though some of the issues are found on other handhelds as well (MSI Claw notably), enough so that my preference is to disable the FSE entirely in order to enjoy a game uninterrupted.
Get this thing on sale if you can find it and want a Steam Deck replacement, and aren't too worried about high end performance (say, you prefer indie titles and older titles for gaming). But if you want performance and can save up to get something better (such as the Xbox Ally X) I suggest you do that. Spoiler for later blog posts: my personal preferred handheld is the Legion Go 2, but you can buy like 2 and 1/2 of these for the same price so YMMV. Solid C as a rating.
Games I am playing on my Xbox ROG Ally currently: Forza Horizon 5, Gears 5, Deadzone Rogue, Berserk Recharged, Hollow Knight and Hades (I am waaaay behind on the last two franchises, trying to catch up). I have also loaded up some older titles like Hunted: The Reckoning and Bioshock 2 and had very satisfying play experiences on the device.
Will I still have this handheld by 2027? I don't know. It's really comfortable to play, and I like a lot when it works well, but literally everything it does well other devices do as well or better, and the Xbox ROG Ally X also exists, and it has the same comfort in play. So I may end up gifting it to a friend or relative.
