ROG Xbox Ally X Review: A Sleek Portable Gaming PC With a Branding Problem

Other than the Nintendo Switch 2, the ROG Xbox Ally X is perhaps the most eagerly anticipated new piece of gaming tech to come about in 2025. This revision of the ROG Ally notably comes with an overhauled design, improved power, and a more intuitive system overlay that makes it easier than ever to download and launch directly into games. Even with a steep cost of $1000, it’s an impressive platform that largely warrants its cost.

Despite these positives, the ROG Xbox Ally X is a bit of a confusing piece of hardware. As a portable gaming PC, it works wonderfully and is one of the best options on the market for those looking to play all of their PC games while away from their desktop. Still, it’s the Xbox branding slapped in the middle of the product’s name that is confounding at best and misleading at worst.

Rating: 3.5/5

Pros	Cons
Great form factor with haptics and impulse triggers	Interface can be sluggish
Games perform and look excellent	Heavier than other handhelds
Provides access to all of your PC games in one place	Xbox elements aren’t plentiful
High level of customization

ROG Xbox Ally X Is Beefy, Yet Still Comfortable

The design of the ROG Xbox Ally X has received a notable upgrade compared to its predecessor. Gone are the rectangular grips from the original ROG Ally, and in steps an actual controller-style form. This controller layout is joined by the same impulse triggers that are found in standard Xbox controllers. All of the same features found in current Xbox controllers are included here, which makes for a more quality experience than you might think when playing.

While I love the general design of the ROG Xbox Ally X, it’s also quite large. The bigness of the handheld applies to just about every aspect of it, too, and not just its dimensions. The bumpers, triggers, and buttons are all just a bit more sizable when compared to what you’d find on a traditional Xbox controller. This isn’t a negative necessarily, but it definitely takes some time getting used to as it initially feels a bit awkward in your hands.

What is a downside, though, is that this sheer size of the ROG Xbox Ally X makes it far heftier than other competing handhelds. The Ally X weighs in at 1.58 pounds, which is almost a full pound heavier than the original Nintendo Switch. This weight makes the ROG Xbox Ally X a bit more difficult to play for prolonged periods of time, as your hands and forearms tend to get tired more quickly. It’s pretty impressive that ASUS was able to pack so much power into the ROG Ally X while keeping it as small as it is, but I still can’t help but wish it were even lighter.

Performance and Visuals of Games on Are Great

Once you get the ROG Xbox Ally X all set up, it’s a joy to play games on. The screen of the device is a 7-inch FHD display, which allows for consistent 1080p visuals. While it doesn’t match the crispness of an OLED display, this ability to hit 1080p is something that many other similar handhelds haven’t been able to do so far. Games look about as good as they possibly can on a portable device here with the Ally X and it’s immediately noticeable.

Performance is also splendid, and most importantly, consistent. I’ve tried out a lot of different games across a lot of different genres on the ROG Xbox Ally X so far and I’ve not had any major issues to this point. Performance varies depending on what it is you’re playing and what it is you’re trying to get the most out of. Even on games where I was trying to maximize fidelity, I found that I could still get frame rates that would push up to 60fps.

Given how finicky PC gaming can be sometimes, I was worried that there would be some optimization issues for the ROG Xbox Ally X here at launch. And while there might very well be annoyances with some games since I can’t test everything, I have generally been thrilled with how smooth it has been to play anything from a racing game to an open-world RPG without any faults.

Don’t Be Confused About the Xbox Branding

With Xbox’s name now clearly sitting in the middle of the ROG Xbox Ally X’s name, one might naturally think that this is the first portable Xbox device. Microsoft itself hasn’t done much to dissuade this belief with its marketing, either, as it has been heavily promoting the ROG Xbox Ally in recent months. It was the centerpiece of Xbox’s presence at Gamescom and was one of the biggest announcements to come from Xbox in its June presentation.

Having now used the ROG Xbox Ally X for a bit, though, the “Xbox” portion of the system feels almost disingenuous. Most of the contributions to the handheld when it comes to Xbox are tied to its interface. The ROG Xbox Ally X naturally launches into the handheld version Xbox App, which is similar to the one that many are likely familiar with on PC. Other than this, there’s an Xbox button on the Ally X that lets you easily pull up the platform’s system settings, performance details, and jump into other games and apps. Microsoft has also worked with ASUS to ensure that its games are well-optimized for the Ally X, but that’s about it.

Xbox itself has tried to make this clear, but I feel the need to also stress that you cannot play all of your Xbox games on the ROG Xbox Ally X; at least not natively. I’ve been buying games digitally in the Xbox ecosystem since the days of the Xbox 360 and have about 200 titles in total in my library. Of this collection, about 30 can be natively downloaded on the ROG Xbox Ally X, as these are the ones part of the “Play Anywhere” catalog. Many more are then accessible to play through the Cloud, but this feature is locked behind a Xbox Game Pass subscription.

If you’re expecting the ROG Xbox Ally X to be a machine where you’ll be able to play all of your Xbox games while on the go, it’s definitely not that. Microsoft still has a lot of work to do to expand its slate of Play Anywhere games, especially those from the past. Fortunately, most newer games tend to be Play Anywhere titles, which means that the ability to play games on an Xbox console and then pick up where you left off on the Ally X should only become more prominent over time.

Still, Xbox’s name being tied to this product is something that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. There aren’t any major Xbox-specific features here with the Ally X that weren’t found in the previous ROG Ally. So if you already have that former handheld, there’s no real reason to upgrade to this model. And if you’re someone who is potentially looking to get a ROG Ally for the first time with this Xbox version, just be aware of what it is you’d be buying.

The ROG Xbox Ally X Has All the Same Perks and Drawbacks of a PC

At its core, the ROG Xbox Ally X really is just a PC, which can be both a good and bad thing. The good is that this lets you do just about anything that you want to do with the device. It’s highly customizable and will only continue to become more so in the future.

The bad is that it suffers from many of the same annoyances that you’ve probably experienced with PCs in the past. In my time so far, I’ve already had a lot of random slowdowns when trying to use some of the most basic apps on the hardware. Simply trying to navigate around the Xbox App became tedious at times as my inputs would sometimes take 10-15 seconds to go through. This sluggishness wasn’t a constant, but it happened just enough for me to get bothered by it; I blame Windows 11.

That being said, I do appreciate how streamlined and clean the system overlay is. As mentioned, being able to pull up all of the quick settings of the Ally X without having to dive into the deeper parts of its menus is incredibly helpful. This overlay was also the one area where I never experienced any slowdowns, either. It took me a while to learn where everything was at, but once I did, I found myself loving how seamless it was.

A Niche Device at a High Price

There’s a lot to like and even some things to love about the ROG Xbox Ally X. I have really enjoyed my time with it so far and I look forward to pouring even more time into using it in the weeks and months ahead. I’ve collected a fair number of gaming handhelds over the past few years, but the ROG Xbox Ally X could become my new go-to device to take with me when I leave the house.

Still, this isn’t something that I would recommend to anyone and everyone. If you haven’t invested in a competing PC handheld like the Steam Deck and you happen to already have an extensive library of PC games, then this could be perfect for you. But if you’re trying to get the Ally X as a secondary handheld PC gaming platform, or you’re under the assumption that this is a dedicated Xbox machine, then I would suggest you really strongly consider whether you would get the most out of this.

At a retail price of $1,000, the ROG Xbox Ally X doesn’t come cheap. That cost is justified in many ways by what it’s capable of, but it still is one of the most expensive products of its type on the market. If you do decide to take the plunge, though, I’m hard-pressed to think you’d be left disappointed by the ROG Xbox Ally X.