Asus is expanding its handheld portfolio with another refresh of the ROG Ally. How much better is it compared to its predecessor?
Asus released its new, well, let’s say refreshed handheld, ROG Ally X. While it is not a successor yet, it has a few quality of life improvements and even some major upgrades. But is it worth upgrading? That’s why you got me. I’ll do my best to answer any questions you might have about the newest portable PC from `Asus. I’ll be comparing the previous Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme to the new device.
Quick comparison
As I said, there are quite a few differences between the ROG Ally Z1 and ROG Ally X, but also some similarities. Here’s the list:
| Asus ROG Ally Z1 | Asus ROG Ally X | |
| Processor | AMD Z1 Extreme | AMD Z1 Extreme |
| RAM | 16GB LPDDR5 6400MT/s | 24GB LPDDR5X 7500MT/s |
| Storage | 512GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD | 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD |
| Display | IPS 1080p 120Hz | IPS 1080p 120Hz |
| Battery | 40Wh | 90Wh |
| Ports | One USB-C, Micro SD, Headphone Jack, XG Mobile | Two USB-Cs (one USB4 compatible), Micro SD, Headphone Jack |
| Price | 699$ | 799$ |
As you can see, not much is different, but what is, can make quite an impact on the performance of the new ROG Ally X.
Design
Asus ROG Ally X sports a new black casing, which I prefer way more over the previous white option, which can get very dirty with time. Other than the new colors, the device is a bit thicker than the ROG Ally Z1, with the grips also being redefined for a more confident grip.
Not only thicker, the ROG Ally X is a bit heavier than the ROG Ally Z1, coming at 678g compared to 608g of the latter. 70 grams should be noticeable by most users, but it is a price we have to pay for the bigger battery. 2x bigger might I add, so not bad at all.
The I/O has changed a bit too. We have an additional USB4-ready USB-C port, which will offer crazy good speeds if one would like to transfer some data to and from the device.
The rest of the ports have seen no changes other than moving a few of them. The headphone jack and Micro SD card slot have been moved to the other side of the device, which is a welcomed change since the SD cards had problems with overheating in the ROG Ally Z1.
The changes are minor but well thought out. If not for the new color of the casing, many users would probably not see a noticeable difference between the two handhelds.
Specs
In case of specification, the ROG Ally X has two major changes, a bigger battery and more RAM, which is also faster than before.
The battery went from a measly 40Wh to a fantastic 80Wh, which places the device right at the top of the competition, considering battery life. We might not see the battery life doubling, because of the additional memory, but still, it lasts noticeably longer, compared to ROG Ally Z1.
Another significant change is 24GB of faster memory, which will give you a solid bump in performance in any games you‘d want to throw at the portable computer.
Games like Cyberpunk 2077, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and Horizon: Forbidden West play much better on the ROG Ally X.
The storage in the new ROG Ally has also seen a change. It is now twice as big, with 1TB of fast PCIe SSD. Alongside of the bigger SSD, the device supposedly has a new SD card reader. That;s great news, since the previous one was quite faulty.
Much has also changed in the ROG Ally Xs internals. Things have been moved around, which is also why the ports moved, I guess. Handheld has smaller fans, but surprisingly, it has gotten quieter and cooler. It seems the engineers at Asus work hard to make their product efficient and better for the consumer. I very much like that approach.
Software
ROG Ally X offers a new, updated Armoured Core launcher, which is now working more seamlessly, offering all of your games from many services in one place. A very convenient change. I like to keep things simple and minimalistic. It also offers more customizable options like VRAM allocation in specific titles and the ability to download and export custom game profiles.
Summary – Is it worth the upgrade?
The new ROG Ally X is very much an upgrade over both its predecessors, but it comes at a higher price tag of 799$. That is a price, which makes me question if I even need such a device. Especially with so many gaming handhelds on the market. With the competition going strong, and the first ROG Ally model being heavily discounted, it’s hard to recommend the new handheld to anyone. But if you want great performance, great battery life, and don’t care too much about the price, sure, go for it. It is one of the best devices in its category. And for anyone looking for a cheaper device, I recommend getting the first ROG Ally or a Steam Deck.
