Microsoft’s Xbox model isn’t doing nice. Despite being a pillar of the fashionable gaming panorama, it looks like Xbox consoles are inconsequential because of stiff competitors from inside and with out. Nintendo and Sony are enjoying to their strengths, and Microsoft itself appears extra excited by pushing a platform and subscription than in sustaining its shrinking portion of the market. Add to this big worth will increase, for both consoles and the lynchpin Xbox Game Pass itself, and it’s not precisely glad days in Redmond.
Into this fractious and unsure panorama lands the Asus ROG Xbox Ally handheld, and its extra souped-up model, the ROG Xbox Ally X. Launching later this week at $600 and $1,000, respectively, these devices are some main firsts for Microsoft. They’re the primary Xbox moveable units, even when their declare to being “Xboxes” is mostly a matter of marketing. They’re the primary post-Steam Deck moveable gaming PCs made explicitly in cooperation with Microsoft and Xbox, although Asus has made two generations earlier than them. And they’re the official debut of the Xbox Fullscreen Mode, Microsoft’s reply to the Steam Deck consumer interface.
Michael Crider/Foundry
Asus requested me to take a look at the brand new Ally {hardware} at a pre-release occasion, which was my first likelihood to go actually hands-on with the system only a week or so earlier than they land on cabinets. And whereas the handhelds themselves are spectacular, I don’t assume they’re such an enormous step ahead that they’ll persuade anybody who wasn’t bought on the idea already. And the brand new, semi-exclusive interface is fairly good, definitely an enchancment over the ache level of working Windows 11 on smaller handheld units, nevertheless it nonetheless wants work even because it’s getting ready for a full retail launch.
PC players who’re already followers of this type issue would possibly discover a new front-runner within the Xbox Ally, and perhaps even the primary true rival to the Steam Deck. But mixed with the woes of the Xbox platform itself, and a fairly excessive price ticket even in case you don’t need the $1,000 upgraded X mannequin, I don’t assume that is the Xbox hit that Microsoft has been ready for.
Fill your palms
The most putting distinction between the older ROG Ally design and the ROG Xbox Ally is these extremely seen handles, now distinctly jutting from the system’s physique as a substitute of easily built-in. And it’s no shock that these are the largest change in truly utilizing the hand-held, too. Gripping onto the gadget was immediately acquainted — I may shut my eyes and picture I actually was holding an official Xbox controller, as I’ve executed for 1000’s of hours earlier than. It’s comfortable is what I’m saying right here, and the acquainted staggered management format is likely to be an enormous enchancment when you’ve got medium or small palms and the Steam Deck’s interior thumbsticks are a pain point.
Michael Crider/Foundry
The extra strong grip on the system makes it really feel lighter, regardless of trying significantly chunkier, if solely as a result of my muscle reminiscence makes it look like I’ve held it so typically earlier than. This is a formidable trick, for the reason that base mannequin (the one in white) is sort of precisely the identical weight because the 2024 Ally X. The ROG Xbox Ally X (upgraded, in black, God these names are terrible) is just a few grams heavier, and feels it. But it wants a much bigger, 65-watt battery to deal with its extra highly effective and higher-wattage processor, 35W versus 20W. Even then, I didn’t really feel uncomfortable holding it — although I by no means obtained to take action for greater than about 10 minutes at a time.
Aside from the adjusted ergonomics, the bodily expertise of the system feels very acquainted. With a 7-inch ,1080p IPS show it’s neither the largest nor the sharpest display accessible in a PC handheld. But it’s a lot clean at 120Hz, and 500 nits of brightness ought to hold it seen in virtually any state of affairs. The solely different huge shift is a devoted Xbox button, conspicuously hanging out close to the left analog stick. The upgraded black mannequin additionally will get haptic suggestions in its triggers, although I didn’t play any sport that appears to reap the benefits of it — that is nonetheless a uncommon discover on PC video games because it’s primarily a PS5 characteristic.
Michael Crider/Foundry
So in case you’re already comfy with any given 7- or 8-inch PC gaming handheld, I believe you’ll discover the Xbox Ally straightforward to select up, actually. It’s impressively comfy, sacrificing solely somewhat additional house (about half an inch wider than the unique Ally and a bit thicker). But given that you simply’ll want both a full bag or a devoted carrying case for it anyway, I don’t assume you’re giving up an excessive amount of…and it’s nonetheless not as huge because the Steam Deck.
Performance
To be sincere I’m not able to gauge minute variations in efficiency between the varied flavors of PC gaming handhelds available on the market proper now. For that, you should definitely take a look at Adam Patrick Murray’s protection over on the PCWorld YouTube channel — he’s a fiend for these items. Both these units are primarily based on AMD APUs, with built-in graphics which might be nonetheless tuned for spectacular gaming efficiency given their dimension and energy limitations. The white Xbox Ally has a Ryzen Z2 A with 4 cores and 16GB of reminiscence, the Xbox Ally X will get a top-of-the-line Ryzen Z2 Extreme with 8 cores and a most velocity of 5GHz, plus 24GB of reminiscence.
2D video games like Hollow Knight Silksong (and people who combine quite a lot of low-poly 3D, like Hades) appear greater than comfortable working easily on the {hardware}, with no gaps or stuttering. That’s hardly shocking, since even the low-priority built-in graphics on price range laptops can deal with these video games with few, if any, points. The extra attention-grabbing query on this software is how lengthy the battery can final whereas intelligently giving the sport simply sufficient juice to maintain it secure.
The ROG Xbox Ally X and Xbox Ally, disassembled, on high, Ally X and Ally on backside. Look at them guts!
Michael Crider/Foundry
More strenuous video games had been a distinct story. Playing the graphically intense however well-optimized Forza Horizon 5 on the Xbox Ally X was a deal with, with clean racing at 60-80fps and loads of graphical extras…let down by a really apparent dip in 1 p.c body price lows each 30 seconds or so. This is, to my thoughts, completely acceptable — regardless of years of optimizations, we’re nonetheless speaking about chips that had been initially designed for laptops with out discrete graphics playing cards. If you demand uninterrupted 4K/240Hz brilliance, you’re not enjoying on a handheld anyway (otherwise you’re streaming from one thing extra highly effective).
But let’s say you’ve obtained a hankering for extra energy, and also you even have an enormous price range. Asus can be launching the latest generation of its XG Mobile dock together with the brand new Xbox Ally. These docks include discrete laptop computer GPUs (Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti and 5090 for the latest variations) and a Thunderbolt 5 port. Not solely will this max out the reference to the Xbox Ally, it’s appropriate with virtually any latest laptop computer or gaming handheld, granting them the boosted energy too. This is a marked distinction from the unique XG design, which needed a proprietary connection designed just for ROG-branded laptops, tablets, and (later) the ROG Ally.
You can plug in an ROG XG Mobile dock to the Ally…or any laptop computer with Thunderbolt assist.
Michael Crider/Foundry
The mixture of an explicitly moveable system with an additional sizeable hunk of electronics to make it extra highly effective might sound unusual. But Asus representatives informed me that the ROG Ally household is the system most often paired with the XG dock, regardless of it being initially marketed as a companion for laptops and Surface-style tablets. Trying out the {hardware} on the occasion, I used to be impressed with the mix of the Xbox Ally X and the 5090-equipped dock, related to a 4K show and working Gears of War Reloaded at full decision and its most settings. While it wasn’t breaking any data, it constantly hit 80 frames per second at 4K.
We’re additionally speaking a couple of expensive mixture of {hardware} right here. The ROG Xbox Ally X is $1,000, and the 2025 model of the XG Mobile dock with an RTX 5090 laptop computer card is $2,500. (The 5070 Ti model is a extra palatable $1,300.) So $3,500 all-in, not counting the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. That doesn’t imply it’s a direct comparability with a $3,500 laptop computer — the mix setup is extra moveable (arguably), and that dock can work with virtually any fashionable Windows-based system. But it’s a lot to ask for in any case.
Windows on handhelds nonetheless wants work
The most attention-grabbing facet of the Xbox Ally to me is the brand new “Xbox Fullscreen Experience,” Microsoft’s reply to the Steam Deck’s software program benefit. For the unaware, the Steam Deck runs on a customized Linux-based SteamOS, utilizing the Proton compatibility layer to play Windows-based video games when no Linux construct is obtainable. It additionally has a completely customized consumer interface, tailored from Steam’s Big Picture Mode. That ought to imply that Windows-based handhelds have a bonus working native software program…however the overhead of Windows 11, to not point out its ache factors on units with screens as small as 7 inches, means these dearer machines are sometimes slower and extra cumbersome.
Asus
The Xbox Fullscreen Experience is the answer, or a minimum of it hopes to be. Not solely is it providing a extra centered, console-style shopping interface, with a unified library from the largest Windows sport shops, it helps the efficiency facet of issues by not loading the Windows taskbar, desktop, and varied different behind-the-scenes stuff. This needs to be a one-two punch for the ROG Xbox Ally, making it really feel like a way more built-in expertise that’s been missing for Windows handhelds. The Xbox Fullscreen Experience is coming to different units in 2026, although it’s doable to check it out now in case you put in somewhat elbow grease.
The system is getting one thing much like Valve’s Steam Deck Certified program, too. Microsoft calls it the “handheld compatibility program.” Games labelled “Optimized” are good to go along with no modifications, whereas these marked “Compatible” would possibly want just a few settings tweaks or the occasional touchscreen enter, however ought to run acceptably. A Microsoft consultant mentioned of the video games examined thus far (presumably largely Game Pass titles), 85 p.c fell into a type of two classes. Expect this system to be expanded to extra {hardware}, similar to the UI.
This is Forza Horizon working on the Xbox Ally X. Allegedly.
Michael Crider/Foundry
This new strategy to handheld gaming is an enchancment, to make certain. Focusing on the mix of controller-style navigation and touchscreen makes the system really feel much more full and pure. If you informed me this actually was a transportable Xbox, as a substitute of a partnership system working on Windows, I’d consider you…till I noticed that you would be able to nonetheless get to the complete desktop if you wish to.
And that’s the place the cracks began to point out. When I first tried to launch Forza, it did so in a wierd minimized floating window. That’s not unparalleled for a sport working on Windows, nevertheless it’s annoying, and a transparent indication that yeah, the acquainted and infrequently clunky Windows 11 continues to be beneath all this good UI. It is likely to be smoother and sooner than, say, the third-party launcher applications from Asus and Lenovo, nevertheless it’s nonetheless there. I needed to manually shut the sport and launch it once more to strive it out.
More weirdness.
Michael Crider/Foundry
Being conscious of this, I attempted to launch the usual Windows interface, which was straightforward sufficient. When I attempted to modify again to the Xbox Fullscreen Experience, the Ally warned me that I ought to restart to get the supposed efficiency increase. I believed this would possibly imply restarting Explorer.exe or one thing comparable…nope. It reboots the whole system, which takes a strong three minutes or so. Whatever tweaks are being made backstage to maintain this factor working easily, they aren’t evident within the startup time.
I believe that getting a unified, gaming-focused interface, offered and supported by Microsoft, is a good concept. (In truth I requested a Microsoft consultant if it was coming to desktops and laptops anytime quickly…no remark.) But whereas I’m certain that each Microsoft and Asus have put quite a lot of work into this, it appears fairly clear that there are quite a lot of kinks left to work out, and rather a lot left to do when this factor will get within the palms of finish customers.
Ouch, that price ticket
Speaking of which…that worth. Oof. $600 for a transportable machine is rather a lot, albeit not in the context of Windows-powered handheld PCs launching this year. At that worth the ROG Xbox Ally is competing not with the bottom mannequin Steam Deck, however its OLED improve, $550 on the time of writing. And Asus mentioned it intends this model of the system to be for “casual gamers.” Okay…however absolutely if somebody considers themselves “casual,” they’re wonderful with their cellphone or pill, or the console they already personal. You can discover an unique Switch for half that a lot.
The upgraded ROG Xbox Ally X prices $1,000 USD, which simply makes it the costliest Xbox ever, if you wish to name it that. And it’ll land someplace between the Series S and Series X consoles by way of its graphical energy. Granted, the Windows OS offers it way more flexibility, to say nothing of the choice of throwing it in your bag with no need to elevate together with your legs. And let’s face it, there’s no main sport popping out on Xbox that isn’t also coming to Windows at this level.
Three generations of Ally: Original, high left, Ally X, backside left, Xbox Ally X, high proper, Xbox Ally, backside proper.
Michael Crider/Foundry
If you’re nonetheless handheld PCs as an accessible option to get into the newest video games, and even at consoles as a extra reasonably priced different to high-powered PC gaming, the brand new “Xbox” portables simply don’t make sense as a price proposition. Of course there are many individuals who see no drawback dropping greater than a grand on a handheld system — our personal Adam Patrick Murray is considered one of them. But trying on the ROG Xbox Ally as a serious hope for Microsoft’s gaming ambitions, I can’t assist however assume it’s underwhelming. And that was earlier than each the Xbox consoles and Game Pass grew to become far more costly.
Even if the worth isn’t an issue for you, I’d wait till you will get your palms on it to place some cash down. Especially in case you’re torn between the ROG Xbox Ally X and Lenovo’s different, the Legion Go 2, which should get that upgraded Windows interface at some point. There are plenty of options from other suppliers too, albeit much less prone to present up on a retail shelf. With one thing this costly, and with a satisfaction this depending on the way it bodily feels, I’d make liberal use of a Best Buy demo unit if I had the choice.