I spent 5,000 miles gaming on the ROG Xbox Ally X — it’s incredible, but something doesn’t add up

Here it is. An Xbox you should actually buy… I feel bad for that unnecessary dunk, but I mean it with the best intentions — the ROG Xbox Ally X is an impressive leap forward for handheld gaming.

From the simplification of Windows 11 to boot straight into an easy-to-use Xbox UI, to the ergonomic design and the power under the hood, it’s almost like Microsoft has seen our complaints about Windows gaming handhelds and meticulously addressed each one.

The Xbox controller-inspired body is oh-so comfortable for playing for hours on end, the Ryzen Z2 AI Extreme chip delivers solid performance (further enhanced by a streamlined version of Windows 11), and the 80 Wh battery easily gave me around three hours of playtime on one charge. This is certainly one of the best gaming handhelds you can buy.

But at $999? This is a pricey purchase — one only serious gamers with dense PC libraries should pay. And notice that I said “PC,” because the “Xbox Play Anywhere” branding is sure to create some confusion amongst long time Xbox players looking to dig up their entire library. But more on that later.

Let’s actually get into my 5,000 mile round trip with the Xbox Ally X, which starts (as you’d expect) with delays at the airport.

ROG Xbox Ally X: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? This is a top-of-the-line PC gaming handheld — sporting top specs.
• Who is it for? This is for gaming enthusiasts who want to take their PC library with them.
• What does it cost? You can pick one up for $999.
• What do we like? You want the best (and are paying $999 for it)? You’re getting the best. This is a seriously great gaming handheld with the performance to boot, the power efficiency, the stellar ergonomics, and the slick new Windows 11 Xbox UI to boot.
• What don’t we like? I’m a little sad that the Ally X didn’t get the OLED treatment — especially at the high price tag, and Xbox Play Anywhere is going to cause some confusion.

ROG Xbox Ally X: Specs

ROG Xbox Ally X: The ups

So as is becoming more and more inevitable, my flight was delayed. Not only that, but at the worst possible time — when you’re sitting on the plane with seatbelts fastened and unable to go anywhere. Lucky for me, the Ally X came in clutch and made the delay fly by.

The best feeling handheld

I remember all the reactions when we shared the design leak ages ago. All the talk of it looking a bit like a toy and being too thick to be a gaming handheld. Well, I can confirm that a) it’s a sleek-looking system and b) it’s actually the most comfortable handheld I’ve ever used.

Turns out, a little thickness was the cure all along! While everyone seems to worry about thinness, Asus and Xbox have brought the best of both worlds together with an even weight distribution across the system, and those controller grips inspired by the Xbox pad.

Every other handheld I’ve tried, no matter how subtly more pronounced the grips are (like the MSI Claw A8), they all come across a slight fatigue after a while as there’s a balancing act to keep those smaller curves in your hand.

Here, however, there’s none of that. Just grip on and get playing, and I easily played through my delay and the entire flight without feeling any aches. It’s simply a compact joy to play on.

Amping up the horsepower

Now let’s talk about the AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme. I’m going to go ahead and ignore that AI part, because at this point, no game is actually taking advantage of the NPU for performance gains.

But the main strength of this new chip, as I saw in the Claw A8, comes down to finding a better balance between performance and power efficiency. Because sure, when you do put it through our standard tests when plugged in (so running in a 35W Turbo Mode), the gains over the Ryzen Z1 Extreme are sort of minor.

However, as you start to head into the 17W performance mode, you see a marked difference that shows AMD has figured out a way to make more use of the wattage afforded to it.

Then of course, you can get into the settings tweaks and extract all the more performance than our standard array of benchmarks we do! For example, Cyberpunk at medium-to-high detail, 1080p with FSR resolution scaling runs at a smooth 50 FPS average.

And in turn, that leads to a strong battery life that should pass over any medium commutes, and only require the occasional boost back up to 100% if you’re on a long haul flight. When you tweak the power efficiency settings, you can easily get just over three hours on one charge. Of course, you can deplete that 80Wh battery faster, but this huge cell does have some staying power.

All-in-all, this is now the new strongest PC gaming handheld in terms of raw horsepower. And while some of that comes down to the hardware, there’s another major element that really helps it here: the software.

Windows 11 no longer sucks on a gaming handheld!

It’s been the bane of my existence for so long that it feels almost revelatory to see a gaming handheld operate like…well a gaming handheld. You can’t begin to imagine the elation I felt when I went through the setup process without once being offered a year of Microsoft Office 365 for free!

The Xbox UI you’re immediately ported into is seriously slick to navigate and really gives Steam OS a run for its money in terms of ease of use, while also ensuring you’ve got rapid access to tech settings if you want to tweak anything quickly.

But while I could wax lyrical about the fact Microsoft is finally on the right track, that’s not even the best bit in my mind. One look at a task manager, and you’ll see the desktop isn’t even running. This is one of the secrets to that additional performance headroom over other handhelds.

Running the Windows 11 desktop is a rather consuming task of background resources, and it can hamper gameplay and battery life. With that cleared out of the way, you’ll notice a nice little uplift here.

ROG Xbox Ally X: The downs

And after a few days in paradise, taking in the views (the views of in-game scenery on my Ally X of course), it was time to head back, and that’s when I really got to think about this machine and spot the weak points that many of you have talked about already.

$999 and no OLED display?

Going the LCD route is not the end of the world, and Asus’ 7-inch 1080p panel is pretty enough — good color presentation (77.9% DCI-P3 color gamut), smooth frame rate, impressive brightness at 515.8 nits in our testing, and small enough to make any textures look super crispy.

But given the cost is $999, I’m a little gutted that we’re not seeing an OLED screen here. It’s always shocking how much of a game changer an inky display with deep contrast and a flash flood of color can be for breathing new life into your games.

And speaking more in particular about that price, it’s a hard one to justify to anyone other than the hardcore gaming crowd or those who are serious about taking AAA experiences on-the-go. There’s gaming laptops that you could get for this same cost.

Is this an Xbox?

Now before I jump into this gripe, I’ll be clear in saying most of you won’t be impacted by this. Your combination of a massive Steam library and Game Pass will serve you well. I’m talking more to those who have amassed quite an Xbox console library.

You see, this is a PC gaming handheld that is part of a program called “Xbox Play Anywhere” — simply put, a platform-agnostic move to play your games on both Xbox and PC at no extra cost. So far (at the time of writing) 1,522 games are supported.

But there are some surprising omissions. For example, Battlefield 6 is not part of this program, and neither is the Xbox copy of Final Fantasy XIII I bought a while back. I can see this causing some frustration to those who have been dedicated to this platform.

This is a problem that should resolve itself over time with more developers opting in, but there’s going to be some more puzzlement heading into this new era.

ROG Xbox Ally X: Verdict

I live in a paradoxical mind. On the one hand, I sit on my lawn chair saying gaming handhelds have gotten too damn expensive. But on the other hand, I can’t lie — this is the best PC gaming handheld I’ve ever used, and I’d feel OK dropping $999 on it.

Impressive performance paired with a giant battery and power efficiency — all deeply rooted in a stripped down Windows 11 with a slick Xbox UI to navigate and a

All I’d say is just think about the library you have and the ways you play. If you’re leaning more towards indie, and you’re OK shaving off some textures in your AAA games, then a cheaper handheld is more than enough. Or if you dabble more in strategy, you can get some great gaming laptops for this price.

If you’re back here after thinking that through, you have your answer. Go play to your heart’s content!