I tested the $1,299 ROG Xbox Ally X20 — with that OLED display, the $300 price hike is surprisingly palatable

Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 — (Image credit: Future)

I’ll be real. When I saw the ROG Xbox Ally X20 at Computex 2026, and saw how Asus was dodging the questions of price like an Elden Ring player panic-rolling through a boss fight, I braced myself for the worst.

But then the news broke here at Gamescom — you can pre-order one now for $1,299 standalone, and it’s set to launch on October 15th. Now, after seeing how the supreme MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ with Intel Arc G3 Extreme came in at nearly two thousand dollars, this actually is not that bad.

Yes, it’s $300 more. But after getting more hands-on time with this “Edition 20” transparent facelift (which looks seriously slick to a nerd like me) and its glorious OLED panel, dare I say I’m starting to feel this could be kind of a worthwhile premium handheld.

Performance and Power

Well, from the start, it’s the same core performance specs: AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a 1TB SSD, which is all fueled by an 80Wh battery inside.

Don’t get me wrong — Intel well and truly has AMD’s number in this area. We’re still waiting for an upgraded FSR to come to the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, while Team Blue steams ahead with XeSS 3 multi-frame generation.

But every frame counts and with that higher sustained TDP thanks to the evolved internal cooling system to combat the OLED panel’s heat sensitivity, you’re getting noticeably more bang for your buck. 1080p 60 FPS at medium settings on Forza Horizon 6 is absolutely possible for example.

OLED perfection (no more glare)

A gaming handheld is just as much about its screen as it is about everything else, and that 7.4-inch ROG Nebula HDR OLED 120Hz VRR panel is quite the canvas for your games. With a dazzling 1,400-nit peak brightness, picture quality survived even under the harsh spotlights of the demo room I was in.

All the games I played are a pure flash flood of color — whizzing on by with an excellent contrast ratio to really provide some inky blacks and really bring a title to life in a way that your standard IPS panels can’t match.

Curing the drift

Then there’s the ergonomic uplifts too. My thoughts are already clear on the record that the ROG Xbox Ally is the most comfortable handheld I’ve ever used with the contoured controller arms making it a joy to play on.

But with the X20, Asus has upgraded a few things across the board — including magnetic TMR joysticks that track magnets instead of physical contacts (effectively eliminating joystick wear and tear). On top of that, the bumpers have been reshaped for better grip, the ABXY buttons are subtly more domed than before and there are rubberized grips on the controller arms.

Then, there’s the transforming D-Pad. Rotate it 90 degrees and you can swap from an 8-way input for fighting games to a simpler 4-way cross for retro or indie titles. It’s one of those small things that I took for granted at first, but once I used it and eliminated any unread inputs in a platformer, it was a small but significant tweak that I ultimately appreciated!

Let’s talk about the $2,499 Anniversary Bundle

Now, let’s talk about the Pelican-cased elephant in the room. There is a monster $2,499 bundle here. Alongside that case, you get the ROG Xreal R1 Edition 20 AR glasses and a dBrand Killswitch case complete with a motherboard-patterned skin.

That’s a crazy price in and of itself, but I want to go deeper on the Xreal R1s here because while I was initially not too happy with the desktop PC connectivity in my review, the software tweaks in here with Asus DisplayWidget Center really unlock some interesting use cases.

For starters, there’s the 360-degree wallpapers — essentially giving you that floating screen in a VR-esque space rather than seeing the world around your glasses. But most intriguingly is FreeLook.

Basically think of this as a replacement for your right joystick. Instead of using that to look around, the tie-up between Asus and Xreal means you can use the 3DoF tracking on the glasses to just look around a game with your head. That’s going to be huge for games where spatial awareness is key like flight sims.

Value for money?

Now, now. I wouldn’t go that far. It’s still a $1,300 device and for those who want to get into PC gaming on the go, the lower end ROG Xbox Ally is actually becoming the value for money option (with everything else shooting up in price around it).

But while the X20 has a steep entry fee, that combination of the 1,400-nit OLED, Z2 Extreme and drift-proof sticks makes that price increase a little easier to swallow.

Maybe I was a little too hard on this thing before.

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Jason brings a decade of tech and gaming journalism experience to his role as a Managing Editor of Computing at Tom's Guide. He has previously written for Laptop Mag, Tom's Hardware, Kotaku, Stuff and BBC Science Focus. In his spare time, you'll find Jason looking for good dogs to pet or thinking about eating pizza if he isn't already.