ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X (7" FHD 120Hz screen, AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, 24GB RAM, 1TB SSD)
My final review in the handheld PC gaming market is the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X, the slick black-cased big brother to the Xbox Rog Ally base model I reviewed in the beginning of the month. It's a nice device, and in terms of the AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme chip it sits neatly next to the Legion Go 2 and some of the new MSI Claw models that are imminently coming out. What it does not have over the Legion Go 2, however, is a larger screen (it's got the standard ASUS 7 inch screen, though the screen quality is very nice), and it is loaded with only 24GB of RAM, and I have to be honest, 32GB of RAM has been the sweet spot for performance improvements. I have run games on the Xbox ROG Ally X and then compared the same game on the Legion Go 2 and noticed that they do not always stack up; I can often see a slight bit of graphical hitching on the Xbox Ally X that I do not see on the other device, or even the MSI Claw 8 AI+.
That said, the overall performance of the Xbox Ally X is just fine, and I enjoy playing games on it due to its best feature: the ergonomic controller-style grips and incredible sound make for a very pleasant playing experience. I have often reached for this device for travel over the last four weeks, and find that even with the smallest handheld screen its generally the thing I enjoy playing for a short spot here and there over the bulkier Legion Go 2 and MSI Claw. It's performance is still better overall than the older Z1 Extreme chip, so if you want cutting edge, this is the next best thing to the Legion Go 2 in terms of performance.
The Xbox Ally X suffers in a few spots. The smaller screen is noticeable compared to most of the competition; on the plus side if you only have this device you will not be wanting for a larger screen and just get used to it. The Xbox Full Screen Experience is fine, and better than Windows 11 by itself, but I often find the thing fiddly and periodically have to back out of the FSE mode to get things done. Like all ASUS products I notice its got terrible read/write speeds on its MicroSD.....to contrast, I can get shockingly good MicroSD performance out of other devices like the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and Legion Go 2 (and for some reason the Linux-based Steam Deck and Legion Go S models have the best r/w speeds on their MicroSDs of all the bunch). It does not seem to have the problem its weaker counterpart does in which some games are just too much to run from the MicroSD, however....at least none I've encountered as of yet.
The other major issue with the Xbox Ally X is the obvious one: it's not really an Xbox, and you can't actually play your full Xbox library on it, only the Play Anywhere titles. You can use their PC game store and Game Pass on it, and you can set up to stream most games, but this does mean that you should not buy this with the idea of a console-like experience; it's a PC through and through.
The Xbox Ally X is honestly Perfectly Fine in every way except that it doesn't quite have as many bells and whistles as the Legion Go 2, and even the MSI Claw 8 AI+ feels a bit more prestigious than the Xbox Ally X. If you had $1,000 and wanted a handheld, I would say this thing is perfectly fine, but also advise that if you saved up another $100 you could get the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and then 3D print some grips for it, and if you save up $350 you can have a stellar experience with the Legion Go 2. But if you were totally fine with the Xbox Ally X as-is, you won't regret your decision, unless your eyes don't like the small screen! A B+ for what its worth, though the ergonomics are a solid A+++.
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