The year was 2005, and Sony’s PSP was the ultimate badge of cool. Every kid wanted one. And while some had it, the rest of us could only dream. I was firmly in that second group – the one that admired the PSP from afar. Maybe this is why portable gaming consoles have always fascinated me. When I first tried Asus’ ROG Ally back in 2023, the little kid in me who never got the PSP was finally happy. Now, Asus has returned with a new handheld, and this one feels even more special.
Built in collaboration with Xbox, the ROG Xbox Ally X lets you carry your gaming world wherever you want. It’s compact, powerful, and built for people who want the Xbox experience wherever they go. I’ve spent the past week using it as my primary gaming device – in cabs, during lunch breaks, and even when I was down with a heavy fever. And I am happy to say, I’m hooked.
Also read: ASUS ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X pre-orders are live in India, price starts from Rs 69,990
The ROG Xbox Ally X comes in a stunning matte black finish. The joysticks have that signature Ally lightning strips and at the back, there is the ROG logo, created from air vents.
The device is compact enough to hold in one hand, although users with smaller palms might find it slightly challenging to get a comfortable grip. Personally, I could carry it around easily, but during long gaming sessions, I did start to feel a bit of fatigue after about an hour. My wrists didn’t hurt, but I eventually switched to resting it on my lap or a pillow.
The device comes with Xbox-style controllers attached to a screen. The highlight here is the textured grips, which take heavy inspiration from Xbox controllers. These improve handling drastically and prevent accidental slips.
There is also subtle ROG Xbox branding etched across the surface which makes the handheld looks neat yet proud of its association with Xbox. The back houses two USB Type-C ports (one for charging), along with a 3.5mm headphone jack. There are also various shortcut buttons that are incredibly useful.
Coming to the display, the ROG Xbox Ally X packs a 7-inch 1080p IPS display that lets you get immersed in your games. It’s a bit reflective under strong light, but nothing too concerning. Colours appear natural and well-balanced, without the oversaturation that plagues some gaming devices. It’s also bright enough for outdoor or on-the-move play as I enjoyed many quick sessions in a cab after work without any issues. However, dust and fingerprints form on the screen quite easily. Moreover, in this price segment, I would have loved it if an OLED option was also present.
Coming to the battery life, it is satisfactory given the kind of hardware this console is pushing. While gaming, the handheld lasted for around 2-3 hours. For instance, I started playing Forza Horizon 5 on the device with 57% battery. After half an hour, the battery dropped to 36%. Another 20 minutes later, the battery was hovering around 20%. Thus, the ROG Xbox Ally X seems built for bursts of intense gaming rather than long unplugged marathons. And that’s expected for a device that runs full-fledged PC titles.
Meanwhile, when I used Windows Edge browser and YouTube on the device, it lasted around 4-5 hours. When left idle, the device will easily last more than a day. So if you are planning to travel with it and want to keep it in your backpack on standby, you won’t have to worry about the battery running out if you want to pull it out for a short session before your flight.
Coming to speakers, this is one area that surprised me the most. The dual speakers are loud, detailed, and super immersive. I got scared while playing Silent Hill f, adrenaline pumping-level excited during Forza Horizon 5 and super relaxed while playing Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Even in an office environment, I could easily enjoy my games and back at home in my room, the speakers filled the room.
When you talk about gaming experience on-the-go, the ROG Xbox Ally X stands tall. Powered by AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, the device can handle even modern titles that require immense power.
In the newly-launched Battlefield 6, I averaged around 50 fps at 1080p on medium settings during training. When I finally entered a match, the FPS hovered around 40 and the experience was stable.
Doom: The Dark Ages ran at roughly 20 fps at 1200×900 resolution on medium graphics, but enabling frame generation bumped it up to a much smoother 60 fps.
Silent Hill f saw 20 fps on high graphics with some stutters, but dropping to low settings improved both visuals and frame rates to about 30 to 35 fps. Meanwhile, a relatively less demanding game like Ori and the Will of the Wisps breezed through at around 140 fps on balanced settings.
I also enjoyed the adventurous world of Forza Horizon 5. It averaged around 100 FPS with high graphic settings and AMD’s frame generation turned on. Every turn, every landscape and every vehicle looked breathtaking here and I was quite immersed the whole time.
I also tried Black Myth: Wukong and the device did full justice to the incredibly detailed world. It managed to give me around 50 FPS mostly and even touched 60. The overall experience was quite smooth.
Talking about benchmarks, I used 3D Mark, Geekbench and Cinebench on the device. The scores are quite promising and show that this is a powerful device in the handheld segment.
Here’s a quick look at some benchmark results:
3DMark Steel Nomad DX12: 601 points
3DMark Time Spy: 4104 points
3DMark Fire Strike: 9063 points
Geekbench 6: 2803 (Single-core), 12768 (Multi-core)
Cinebench 2024: 110 (Single-core), 544 (Multi-core)
Numbers aside, it’s the real-world smoothness that impressed me. Games booted quickly, transitions were seamless, and the device rarely faltered during multitasking. Just to test its multitasking capability, I minimized Forza Horizon 5 and dared to open Microsoft Edge while running the game in the background. I was pleased to see that I could still browse comfortably.
After a few hours of gaming, the Ally X felt warm but never alarmingly hot. This means that the internal cooling system is doing a fine job – air constantly pushes out through the vents, and while the exhaust air is scalding, the body itself remains fairly cool to the touch.
On the software side, it runs Windows, which means any PC gamer will feel right at home. Touch controls work well for navigation, but what I really liked was the dedicated Xbox mode. One button press launches the Xbox app, where you can access all your games and control the device entirely using joysticks – no need to touch the screen.
At around ₹1,15,000, the ROG Xbox Ally X is a luxury gadget that has nailed the concept of portable PC gaming. For those who can afford it, this is a superb fusion of console simplicity and PC power – a handheld that truly feels like an Xbox you can carry anywhere.
Also read: Asus ROG Xbox Ally wants to be the Xbox you can carry anywhere: First impressions