ROG Xbox Ally X - Reviews Thread

My experience holed up in Bakersfield for 6 months made me see the light on these handhelds. Ordering this as soon as I make it back to the U.S. I should've have just preordered before I left for vacation. Now I gotta wait until December the get one at the soonest.
Sounds like a good plan. I'm actually genuinely excited to try one with Windows, only had Decks so far. Worst case scenario I can install Playnite on it, I saw that there are specific ROG Ally themes, there is even a Deck theme lol
 
So $1000 for a portable Windows 11

Yeah, i dont see the appeal to be honest. The fun thing about the Steamdeck is that, even if it is a silly idea, it was (and is) affordable.
 
This thing is pathetically overpriced and while I appreciate hardware if you want to throw your money away and burn it I cannot see the reason to spend this even for the fear of missing out for what they are asking for the high-end. You are way better off getting a gen one she wasn't extreme or an Ally X than this.

And my fears have kind of been confirmed and the performance bump is pathetic in what I expected. And I noticed that at least the linus tech review did not try to put steamos on it to see how that compares in performance. So even if somehow Microsoft made of ground and it performs better the fact is it needs to perform a lot better with a generational leap and for the stupidly expensive price of $1,000.

'Pathetically overpriced'? It costs $100 more than the Ally X you recommend. Reviews say it's worth the premium over that.




Does he realize his Eurogamer buddies gave it a very good review?

 
7" screen is a no go, especially after using the LEgion Go, which I got for $500 and has similar performance to this.
I suppose there are enough people with money who can justify $1000+ on these things.
 
'Pathetically overpriced'? It costs $100 more than the Ally X you recommend. Reviews say it's worth the premium over that.




Does he realize his Eurogamer buddies gave it a very good review?

I'm talking about lower devices that are in a lower rung. The generation or leap needs to be hired or justify that price. You can at least see what those $1,500 devices that have the new AI ryzen chips. That is the real premium in next gen. That's why the enthusiasts will look at that and say that is a worthy upgrade.

The price irks a little bit too much for what you're paying to be not a giant increment. It's not to say that it's a bad device it just is probably around 2 to $300 too much. It goes to show that it is a poor approach than Microsoft is taking. That is not to try to make it about that but if you are talking business and analytics then that one is probably irrelevant to the discussion but if you're going to talk about all this other stuff then you have to figure out what the current Microsoft is doing and slapping Xbox brands on anything isn't the way.

My original point stands and the rest of it was just market analysis and things that I talk to with some colleagues but it would be a decent device at the right price. But it is not an Xbox and it is a lazy effort to slap the brand down there. And I don't blame them for the right price but the confusion is already there as there are professional outlets who are already confusing this as an Xbox to play all your games. Remember the Wii and Wii u?
 
Last edited:
I'm still completely bamboozled someone greenlit the base Xbox Ally.

An absolutely shite decision to go with that chipset. No redeeming features with the RAM and battery life too. Making a product that's weaker than the OG Ally…

This is probably on Asus as much as it is on MS, but really baffling decision indeed.
In the design phase, MS likely wanted a cheaper entry level device. They probably wanted to hit the $499 target. Because MS knew that it would make for the best streaming handheld at that price.

Logitech G Cloud was $350 at launch, and Razer Edge was $399. Both Android handhelds were primarily designed for streaming. Adding a controller like GameSir G8+ or Razer Kishi Ultra to a cheap android tablet like Samsung Tab A11 can also cost around $250-$350 total.

So an Xbox Ally for $499, that drops down to $399 on sales or after 9-12 months, is a great value for streaming plus smaller native games.

They couldn't simply go with Z2 chip at a $499 price point, it's the equivalent for a Z1X chip with 12 CUs. So they commissioned a Z2A chip from AMD.

But then the tariffs screwed their entire plans for that price point. The target changed to $549 from the reported leaks, and changed again to $599 at launch.

So think of the Xbox Ally as a streaming handheld with some native capability. It will eventually drop to $499 or below.
 
Last edited:
Will wait for the xbox experience to show up on LeGo2 with all the issues ironed out by then. Getting to play gamepass pc and steam games all with cloud saves is tempting.
I go back and forth from deck to my rig on Silksong and Silent Hill f the past month or so and im like this is the future of gaming.
 
I can't even afford to buy a Switch 2 with its price point. I'm jealous of people that can throw a grand down on a handheld. For now I'll have to keep playing wow classic era on my 2018 laptop lol.
 
Urge to buy rising!!!!


mine dropped....

flaccid GIF



I was hoping the Windows 11 handheld mode would wow me a bit more. I think it needs to bake a bit longer and maybe by the time it officially launches for all handhelds I will feel it is ready for primetime. I'm still going to watch as things progress after launch. I will never say never.
 


Only Xbox fans could be so beaten down that they would find it "crazy" their new thousand dollar device performs well. The bar is truly in hell.
 


Tom's post is kinda cringy. He's bragging about what literally any other Windows-based PC handheld can do as if it's somehow unique to the ROG XBOX ALLY X.

If the "next-gen Xbox" is as "open" as the XBOX ALLY X, it's not an Xbox: It's a glorified prebuilt PC. And it may not even be a budget one.
 
Last edited:
If the "next-gen Xbox" is as "open" as the XBOX ALLY X, it's not an Xbox: It's a glorified prebuilt PC. And it may not even be a budget one.

The way some of you frame an 'open' solution as a bad thing is quite amusing.
It'll ship in a box, with a controller packed in, a TV friendly interface and the Xbox Store front and center. You'd get the usual console experience, your digital console library (most likely) + the ability to import and run your other PC games.

It definitely won't be 'budget' compared to the console standard…but likely cheaper compared to an equivalently specced prebuilt PC.

With Xbox games moving to full third party and eventually launching on PlayStation day one, meaningful hardware differentiation is pretty much the only way you'd get people to buy a next gen Xbox.
 
I'm happy with my rog ally z1e. I got it over a year ago for £399. I dont do much travelling so wasn't sure why I was buying a handheld....but it amazing really. There's something magical about having a full windows 11 gaming PC in the palm of your hand.

Cloud saving my entire pc libray between my pc and the ally, just picking up Where I left off is legit great.

it's actually my preferred way to older games from 8 years or older because on the small screen they look great, where as on my tv they don't look as good.

I've nodded the battery on my Rog and use a custom power profile and lock games to 40fps( which look great on a 120hz s reen). With this setup I can get 3.5 hours battery life, plus I have a 65w power bank that adds another 2 hours if needed.

It's great on a Sunday, football on the tv, laying on the couch playing the handheld.
 
I'm tempted to get a handheld, mainly as an emulator machine and for the times that I'm forced to be on the couch watching something with my so that I don't like😅 or I could buy her a big tablet so I could use the TV😂😅😂... Nah easier that I get an handheld probably... Still not at those price/perf... Probably gonna go the used route
 
From the few reviews I have read/watched, it seems the device itself is good for its segment and as a windows handheld in general. The only issue( besides a few bugs) that people are having is with the attached brand name.

Basucally a good device but marketing caused wrong expectations to be set. It's a bit bewildering that both Xbox and ps( GoY marketing for example) have suddenly become really bad at marketing.

Personally not for me( I am too much of a miser to buy a 1000usd special use case device like this) but can see people who can afford it, really liking it.
 
I'm pretty much done with all these PC handhelds now. As much as I enjoy the SD, I just don't play it. Thinking of just getting a small device with a large 4:3 screen like an Ambernic for 200 quid to play retro games.

Will fill up the SD with shit like Minecraft and pass on to the children's hospital.
 
Again, are you comparing 2x priced device or actual competitor which is the vanilla Ally?

There is no point in updating the Deck for Valve till UDNA is out circa 2027. We can see that by pricing with these devices.
I'm not the one comparing, others are saying the current Steam Deck (OLED or not) is a better device, but it's clearly not a better device. As others gaffers have stated let alone the differences in performance (resolution, fps, etc..) there's a huge difference between being capable or running a game or not, the Steam Deck is aging and it's showing it's hard to keep it up to come AA and AAA titles released recently.

By no means I'm saying the Steam Deck sucks, but disagreeing with those people claiming it's a better device than the ROG Ally X, which is not. You might think the Steam Deck is more than enough to run those games you are interested in, so that might be more convenient for you, but that doesn't mean it's a better device.
 
Top Bottom