ASUS ROG Ally X First Impressions

The ASUS ROG Ally 10 was easily one of the devices I really enjoyed reviewing last year. Being able to play my favorite PC games on the go without having to carry around a laptop is just so convenient.

Aside from it being a portable gaming device, it also doubles as a “laptop” since it runs on Windows OS. This means I was able to install Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, and even get work done all in a relatively compact package. In fact, when I had the review unit with me, I barely brought my laptop with me anymore anytime I went out. It wasn’t easy to work with the small touchscreen, but then again I did end up using it to play Genshin for the most part.

As good as the ROG Ally was, it wasn’t perfect. It had several flaws including a very weak battery (only 45 minutes to 1 hour when playing) and the issue of storage space. It does come with a microSD card slot at the top, but that had its fair share of issues too. And as with most controllers nowadays, there’s also stick drift on the analog sticks after some time.

Thankfully, ASUS has been listening, and this year they have addressed those issues with the new ROG Ally X.

On the outside, it looks very much like the ROG Ally we’ve all come to love. The only obvious difference would be the color – it’s black instead of white. But look closely, and you’ll notice a few more changes aside from the color.

For starters, the most obvious would be the top part of the device. ASUS ditched the ROG XG Mobile external GPU port on the Ally X in favor of adding an additional USB-C port. With this, you no longer need a dongle just to plug in more stuff. Additionally, you can now charge the device and plug in a controller at the same time.

Another upgrade would be the D-Pad. It is slightly bigger, and after trying it out here at Computex 2024 playing Tekken 8, it is a lot smoother to operate. Specifically, those that play fighting games on the go will definitely enjoy the updated D-Pad. I certainly did. Alongside the D-Pad, ASUS says the analog sticks have been reinforced too in order to prevent stick drift.

Although not as obvious as the D-Pad, the rear trigger buttons have also been changed. ASUS redesigned them to be smaller, so it is not intrusive when you’re playing on the go. Some might like the bigger M1 and M2 buttons on the original ROG Ally, but I personally prefer the smaller buttons on the ROG Ally X since they don’t get in the way.

Along with the mappable buttons, another design change is the shape of the grip themselves. The grips are now more comfortable, allowing you to hold the ROG Ally X more comfortably, especially when you’re playing over long periods of time.

However, the down side to some of the upgrades is the weight. I was able to try the ROG Ally and the ROG Ally X back to back at Computex, and the added weight is quite noticeable. The added weight is something I don’t mind since I can just sit down and have a table to support my hands.

But where is the weight coming from? Well, that’s because ASUS also upgraded some of the internal parts of the device. The ROG Ally X still uses the same AMD Z1 Extreme chipset, same storage, and RAM. However, you can now install an additional M.2 SSD for more storage space.

This means you no longer have to depend on a slow microSD card slot at the top. Just pop in an M.2 SSD of your choice, and you’re good to go. At the same time, you can use the microSD as like an HDD rather than installing your games there.

Another reason for the added weight is the battery. ASUS ditched the small 40Whr battery for a larger 80Whr, doubling the battery size. We didn’t get to test it out due to the limited time we had, but I’m sure we should see improvements in battery life. More importantly, they addressed the concern of users wishing to have longer battery life on their device.

So far, I like what ASUS did with the ROG Ally X. It’s not exactly a successor to the original ROG Ally since the rest of the specs are the same. From the processor to the 7-inch 120Hz screen, most of the hardware remains unchanged. But the changes that ASUS made are the ones that matter, and that’s what’s important.

We still have to test out the device’s battery life and run benchmarks, but we’ll save that for our full review.

At the time we wrote this article, ASUS did not disclose when the ROG Ally X would make its way to the Philippines together with local pricing. However, we hope we won’t have to wait too long.

We really enjoyed our time with the original ROG Ally, and we want to try out the ROG Ally X in full.

ASUS ROG Ally X specs:
7-inch FHD (1920×1080) display
120Hz refresh rate, 500 nits (peak brightness)
Corning Gorilla Glass Victus
Gorilla Glass DXC coating
16:9, 100% sRGB, 7ms response time
AMD FreeSync Premium
AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme
AMD Radeon Graphics
24GB RAM
Up to 1TB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe SSD
1x audio combo jack
1x MicroSD Card reader
1x USB Type-C (USB 3.2 Gen 2, DisplayPort 1.4 with Freesync, and PD 3.0 support)
1x USB 4 (Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort 1.4 with Freesync, and PD 3.0 support)
Dual speaker system
Dolby Atmos
AI noise-canceling
Hi-Res Audio certified
Built-in array microphone
Windows 11
80Wh battery
65W AC Adapter
20V DC, 3.25A, 65W (Output)
100~240V AC 50/60Hz universal (Input)
11.02 x 4.37 x 0.97 ~ 1.45-inches (dimensions)
1.49lbs or 678 grams (weight)