Asus ROG Ally X: The best on the handheld market?

When I tested the handheld computer (I can hardly call it a console) ROG Ally, I was pleased with many things. There were shortcomings that you pay special attention to, because you pay a very specific price for it. At the time, I thought we would have to wait at least a few years for a successor. Well, ASUS caught me off guard. Although it's not a successor, but more of a refresh, I'm still excited about the new ROG Ally X handheld. They've made significant improvements, including quite a few that we fans have been asking for. The price has increased, but considering the new specifications, this is quite understandable.

It's already coming on July 22nd, most likely to Europe right away, although we don't have an official confirmation yet. But we will get almost twice the battery, more USB-C ports with even more bandwidth, faster system memory (RAM) with a huge capacity (24 GB), a full-size SSD, improved ergonomics and more.

What we didn't get is a new screen and processor. The screen remains LCD, which is a minor disappointment. Apparently, ASUS is saving this ace up its sleeve for the ROG Ally 2. The processor is also the same as the AMD Z1 Extreme, which is fine, as it proved to me that it can run practically any game. Of course, Windows also remains, which I have already pointed out is a double-edged sword. When it works well, the experience is great. But we all know that Windows is a very capricious operating system, especially on a device that Windows was not designed for.

The ROG Ally X is slightly heavier and wider, but they crammed a huge battery (80 Wh) into it, which may be its biggest asset. If before we could play the most demanding game for a maximum of two hours, now I expect an hour or so more. Although the new battery adds a good 100 grams, the weight has been reduced in other areas: in the circuits, a new case made of polycarbonate, a lighter cooling system, completely new fans that are even more powerful. They have also improved the controllers, saving a few grams at the same time, and are now even more tactile. The durability of the controllers has been improved from 2 to 5 million cycles.

A full-size SSD (M.2 2280) is also an important upgrade, which means that we can now upgrade the drive ourselves with the best (and cheapest) drives on the market. Previously, users had to do a DIY upgrade themselves if they wanted to have this disc format. They also got rid of the XG Mobile connector for external graphics cards and instead put in an additional USB-C with support for Thunderbolt 4. We didn't get an Oculink connector, too bad. It can be charged at 100 W, but the included adapter only supports 65 W.

What about the SD card reader that caused countless problems? It was supposed to be replaced, but it's not clear if that fixed the overheating issues. Among other things, they improved the speakers, the motors for haptic feedback, the "Quiet" profile was adjusted from 10 W to 13 W, and the "Power" profile from 15 W to 17 W.

The price should be about €100 more, i.e. around €900.