For the final couple of years, PC gaming has sought to flee the inflexible confines of its electric-outlet certain, RGB-coated monolithic towers with quick framerates at huge resolutions for one thing a bit extra modest and moveable.
In 2023, PC maker Asus shipped its moveable gaming PC, the ROG Ally, to compete with Valve’s well-liked Steam Deck. In contrast to the Steam Deck which runs Linux, Asus went with customary Home windows for its working system, which in idea permits for extra video games to run natively in addition to the choice to extra simply run a wide range of PC gaming storefronts. Now, in 2024, the Ally X offers a much-needed {hardware} refresh that improves the shape issue and performance of the gadget. And this time, Asus assures us the Ally X received’t be frying SD playing cards (extra on that later).
The Ally X, notably, shouldn’t be a full blown “sequel” to 2023’s Ally. At $799, it doesn’t improve the processor from the primary, increased tier mannequin. The AMD Ryzen Z1 Excessive, nonetheless, is greater than able to powering a overwhelming majority of contemporary video games, from tiny indie titles that received’t ever bother it, to extra substantial graphical powerhouses like Cyberpunk 2077. The Ally X, nonetheless, did add extra (and sooner) reminiscence, with 24GB of ram and it has a really, very beneficiant 80Wh battery that made me virtually by no means take into consideration battery life throughout my time with it. And it does have the identical 7-inch, 1080p, 16:9 LCD display that, whereas clearly not as flashy as an OLED panel, by no means fails to look splendid (that’s, when my fingerprints weren’t throughout its shiny floor).
Whereas I’ve points with Home windows as an working system for handheld gaming, the Ally X has made it arduous for me to return to my Steam Deck. That stated, I nonetheless discover Valve’s moveable PC to be a greater gaming expertise total. However oof, it’s gettin’ shut ya’ll.
My expertise with the Ally X
I’ll spit numbers and stats at you in a second, and I’ll extra completely tackle my complaints the place they exist. However there’s no mistaking it: The Ally X supplied me with a beautiful moveable gaming expertise, and it’s more likely to proceed doing so. It’s a substantial enchancment to the expertise of the unique Ally and is compact sufficient to make it value placing up with Home windows.
As a New Yorker, I made a decision to essentially lean into the Ally X’s moveable potential as a lot as potential. Whereas that motivation was a bit lower quick by the truth that the Ally X doesn’t embrace a case (forcing me to make use of the interior shell of my Steam Deck OLED case through which it…principally match), its smaller dimension in comparison with the Steam Deck was welcome as I traveled on trains and buses day by day.
As soon as I received previous some frustrations with Home windows 11, I not often considered {hardware} and software program, I simply gamed. My time was largely spent with Flintlock, Elden Ring, Future 2 (which I needed to be house for on account of a required web connection), and No Man’s Sky. All ran with just about zero flaws at a good 40-60 frames per second relying on how I fiddled with the graphics settings. The display has a 120HZ refresh price too, so you possibly can push to even increased framerates with the best recreation.
And since I used to be enjoying video games on my Steam account, I may come house and choose up proper the place I left off on my way more highly effective house pc. Just like the Steam Deck, the Ally X flattens the boundary between PC gaming at house and on the go, however with fantastic battery life and a kind issue that’s extra like pulling my Change out of my bag than it’s the mini battle tanks different moveable gaming PCs are usually.
The Ally X offers a unbelievable PC gaming expertise on the go for a value that’s a contact steep, however honest if you happen to’re up for investing in a terrific moveable expertise.
That stated, the selection of working system right here, which technically shouldn’t be Asus’ fault, could make for some tough setup and various irritating quirks.
Home windows %@*&ing sucks for this sort of gaming expertise
My first hour or so with the Ally X was spent, effectively, organising Home windows. I needed to signal into my Microsoft account, flip down all of the gives for a free trial of OneDrive, Microsoft 365, and different stuff that isn’t a priority to me by any means on a gaming machine. Then, for some motive, it wouldn’t acknowledge my pin to signal into the gadget. So I needed to reset that plenty of occasions.
Given that you simply shouldn’t depart a conveyable Home windows machine simply open for anybody to choose up and signal into your private account, having a pin to unlock the gadget is important. And since Home windows doesn’t acknowledge controller enter on its lock display, I had to make use of the contact display as I tried and reset my pin two or 3 times.
By the top of going by Home windows setup and continually coming into my pin, I used to be exhausted and left with a tool with fingerprint smudges on it as a result of I can’t use the controller buttons to check in.
And it didn’t finish there. Home windows would continually do its bizarre Home windows issues. Whereas enjoying Elden Ring, I’d get spontaneously taken again to the desktop with no method to get the sport again on the display simply. Bear in mind, there’s no keyboard, so I can’t Alt + Tab to it. I’d swipe up continually to make the Home windows taskbar seem to maintain urgent the sport’s icon to no luck. That, after all, left extra fingerprint smudges on the gadget.
Suspending the gadget to toss it again in my bag whereas transferring between trains was additionally unpredictable. I’d hit the facility button to see it go black after which abruptly pop to life once more on the Home windows lock display. Why? I don’t know. Certain, there are methods to tailor Home windows to play nicer with this sort of kind issue, however the working system is an unideal resolution for moveable gaming. It pales compared to SteamOS on the Steam Deck and doesn’t even come near the seamless expertise of utilizing one thing like a Nintendo Change. I might gladly take a gaming-specific working system which may technically run fewer video games (although the Proton compatibility layer for Linux OS is making Home windows much less and fewer important today) over an working system that’s simply foundationally not meant for this sort of kind issue.
There’d be different points, like troubleshooting randomly disconnecting Bluetooth with a pair of Pixel Buds Professional that by no means has points on different units. Random Home windows prompts right here and there have been one other ache level, as was any time I seemingly activated Co-Pilot for causes unbeknownst to me.
Whereas Home windows has gotten higher with recognizing a gamepad as an enter gadget, it’s nonetheless finest observe to arrange your Ally X with a keyboard and mouse linked. I liked the {hardware} of the Ally X, however firms like Asus desperately want to begin exploring alternate options, or Microsoft must relent and provide some sort of extra light-weight model of its OS for these sorts of gaming units.
One thing’s gotta give as a result of this isn’t a terrific resolution.
However as soon as I received gaming, and Home windows left me alone, rattling, the Ally X rocks.
The Ally X simply feels proper
Upon first holding the gadget, the Ally X is straight away extra snug than its predecessor and every thing simply feels extra premium this time round. The shell has been tweaked a bit so it’s a contact bigger than the unique Ally, however its grips are much less angular so it simply rests in your fingers extra naturally. To be trustworthy, I nonetheless discover the Steam Deck to be extra snug even when it’s a bigger gadget in comparison with the Ally X.
The triggers and bumpers have been reshaped and really feel higher. The identical is true of the 4 face buttons, which, although nonetheless flat and fewer colourful as I’d like them to be, really feel higher to press than the unique gadget. The thumbsticks, particularly, are wonderful, with extra resistance than the earlier ones. The d-pad additionally received some love and feels extra dependable and fewer slippy than the shiny one on the unique. The twin rear buttons are additionally much less distinguished than the unique Ally, which on that gadget I had discovered to be too susceptible to unintended presses.
I virtually by no means considered battery life
The Ally X ships with a 65W charger that will get the Ally X as much as a full cost rapidly (it’s suitable with a 100W charger if you’d like even sooner cost occasions). I don’t keep in mind what number of occasions I charged this gadget, nevertheless it wasn’t an on a regular basis requirement. You’ll get much less battery life if you happen to swap the gadget to its extra highly effective efficiency setting in Asus’ utility software program, however even whereas enjoying trendy video games, battery life was past beneficiant.
The Ally X is a contact heavier than the unique Ally, however for my part, this helps it really feel a bit extra “premium” within the bizarre means that additional weight typically does.
All of those kind issue modifications imply that if you happen to’re contemplating an improve from the primary Ally, you’re gonna should go purchasing for a brand new case and/or pores and skin because it received’t be suitable with present equipment for the primary Ally.
Lastly, the selection to go together with a slick matte black isn’t simply aesthetically pleasing, it helped me focus a bit extra on the sport. Whereas I like a colourful object as a lot as anybody else, the black case makes it simpler on your eyes to concentrate on the display extra so than the intense white of the unique Ally’s case.
What precisely did Asus improve?
Although it sports activities the identical processor and 120HZ display of the unique Z1 Excessive Ally, the Ally X comes with twice the battery capability, a further 8 GB of RAM (which runs at a sooner velocity than the unique), extra cooling vents and improved followers to push warmth out of the gadget. It additionally ships with 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe storage. Take a look at the one-to-one breakdown of each mannequin’s specs on Asus’ weblog.
Maybe one of the best addition, nonetheless, is an additional USB-C port that may each cost the gadget and hook up with peripherals or any USB4 suitable gadget. With the Ally X, Asus has made the case that these sorts of machines want two USB ports. You received’t want an exterior hub, for instance, to cost the gadget whereas connecting it to a display or different gadget. With two ports, the Ally X simply feels extra moveable and fewer depending on carrying round a bag full of additional stuff to sprout extra connections into the gadget.
The Ally X is a superb, premium-feeling moveable PC gaming expertise with unbelievable battery life, a really fairly, color-rich display, and elevated utility with its extra USB C port.
Probably the most minor of {hardware} complaints
I really like the Ally X, as you would possibly’ve seen. However there have been a couple of issues I feel may’ve been higher (except for Home windows sucking the enjoyable out of the room).
Whereas the display seems to be nice, it’s a fingerprint magnet. Given how a lot you want to use the contact display to function Home windows to make use of the machine, meaning a single session of gaming will see this factor smudged up fairly rapidly. I discovered that I needed to carry round a microfiber fabric to constantly wipe away the marks. The Ally X additionally repositioned its proper thumbstick to be nearer to the display. This may typically lead me to by accident contact the display with my proper thumb. Not solely would that depart extra fingerprints, it might typically set off one thing in-game as many video games acknowledge a contact display as a mouse click on.
I additionally would’ve appreciated to have seen a 16:10 1920×1200 display as a substitute of the cinematic, extra desktop customary 16:9 1920×1080 dimension. With 16:10, you get a taller picture which pairs properly with a smaller gadget. Such a ratio is customary on the Steam Deck and Change for a motive. The 16:9 letterbox form simply feels a bit too tight for me. That stated, some older video games don’t assist that decision, so the additional actual property isn’t at all times getting used. Nonetheless, it might’ve been a pleasant inclusion.
Additionally, for 800 bucks, the Ally X ought to ship with a case.
Asus’ previous Ally troubles
A powerful machine in its personal proper, the primary Ally definitely impressed with a fairly LCD display, a slim kind issue, and a few satisfyingly highly effective compute energy to run video games at 1080p, typically at nice framerates. However with nice energy comes nice warmth, and that warmth turned out to be an issue for the 2023 Ally mannequin as it might be identified to fry SD playing cards.
To make issues worse, Asus wasn’t precisely swift to come clean with this downside. Finally, the corporate would situation a further yr guarantee on the Ally to make up for any future issues customers could have with the SD card reader.
That wasn’t the top of it. As Avid gamers Nexus documented in its video on the Ally’s restore companies, Asus seemingly wasn’t essentially the most trustworthy and clear when it got here to servicing a faulty gadget. It was an expertise many different Ally house owners had as effectively, which might lead Asus to vow to revamp its customer support expertise to keep away from additional points.
For some, the injury could have already been accomplished. And, to be trustworthy, that’s one thing to consider once we’re speaking about throwing down $800 on the brand new Ally X.
Chatting with Kotaku, an Asus consultant said that the SD card situation has “lengthy been recognized” and that the workforce “took all precautions potential to keep away from customers encountering related points with the Ally X.” Time will inform how true that’s. Asus additionally stated that will probably be providing a regular, one-year guarantee with the Ally X, because it doesn’t anticipate the brand new gadget working into the identical situation that precipitated them to increase the guarantee on the unique Ally to 2 years.
The ROG Ally X is a unbelievable {hardware} refresh
The Ally X is well one of the best model of the Ally. It feels nice to play. Has beyond-excellent battery life and is available in a kind issue that’s excellent for on-the-go gaming, regardless of a irritating working system.
All of that stated, Asus goes to should earn its belief again after earlier issues. I hesitate to say it’s value an improve you probably have already invested within the Ally Z1 Excessive from final yr, however if you happen to’ve been involved in moveable PC gaming and want Home windows, the Ally X is greater than as much as the job.
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