The ASUS ROG Ally X is ASUS's second take on making a portable Steam Deck competitor and it comes with a plethora of upgrades that make it one of the best places to game on the go for gamers. It does, however, have one significant drawback for players in particular: its price tag. The ROG Ally X comes in two trims (1TB and 2TB) and both are considerably more expensive than the competition, clocking in at $800 and $900 respectively.
An ongoing sale that matches Best Buy's Black Friday discount on both of the ROG Ally X's SKUs promises to change that by offering a sub-$100 discount in tow. This brings the ROG Ally X down to the asking price of the original ROG Ally when it first launched.
Why Should You Get The ASUS ROG Ally X?
The ASUS ROG Ally X is an upgrade versus the original in multiple ways. The most notable of these is a much larger battery (80Wh vs 40Wh). It also packs in a larger 1TB NVMe SSD while supporting full-length (2280 type) M2 SSD upgrades down the line.
On the performance front, we see the memory change from 16GB of LPDDR5-6400 to 24GB of faster LPDDR5X-7500. Having faster memory and more of it does help with modern titles, many of which push well past the 16GB RAM requirement routinely of late.
Comfort, Utility And Durability Upgrades
The ASUS ROG Ally X also sports a much better grip than its predecessor for those who want a more controller-like feel, even as it upgrades its joysticks to ones rated for 5 million cycles while offering tighter springs in tow.
The D-Pads now have 8-way indicators in addition to improved tactility on the face buttons, even as we see more subtle upgrades to the speakers, macro buttons, and console design. One of the more underlooked upgrades happens to be support for USB4 thanks to an additional USB-C connector, making it possible for gamers to use the console with eGPUs in docked mode, essentially eliminating any bottlenecks from using the ROG Ally X as a full-fledged PC with an external discrete graphics source.
Another major upgrade is that of an overhauled cooling system where the fans are significantly upgraded from a dual 47-blade config to a 77-blade configuration with better ventilation in tow. While the ROG Ally X comes with a 65W adapter, it supports up to a 100W charger, making it a great time to pick one up.
Asus ROG Ally X
- Dimensions
- 28x11.1x2.47 to 3.69 cm
- Brand
- ASUS
- Weight
- 678 grams
- Chipset
- AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme
- RAM
- 24GB LPDDR5
The ASUS ROG Ally X is the successor to the ROG Ally, and it comes with a host of improvements. It is powered by the same Z1 Extreme APU but comes with 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage with the M.2 SSD being a standard 2280 form factor. There is an additional exhaust vent to keep the mainboard cool.
Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info- Storage
- 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD (2280)
- Wireless Connectivity
- Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
- Display
- 7-inch FHD (1920 x 1080)
- Ports
- 1x 3.5mm combo audio jack, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 1x Type C Thunderbolt 4, 1x UHS-II microSD card reader (supports SD, SDXC and SDHC)
- Battery
- 80Wh
If you are undecided, consider reading The Best War Games's Review of the ROG Ally X to help make up your mind!