Outpoll | ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X Review: High Performance, High Price

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ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X Review: High Performance, High Price

ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X Review: High Performance, High Price

1 day ago7 min read5 comments

Alright, squad, let's get straight into it. The ROG Xbox Ally and its beefed-up sibling, the Ally X, have finally dropped, and the vibe is… complicated.Imagine you’ve been grinding for months, saving up all your in-game currency for that legendary-tier item from the shop. You finally cop it, the stats are absolutely cracked, the DPS is through the roof, but the user interface is so cluttered and janky that you spend half your time in the menus instead of actually fragging noobs.That’s the essence of the Xbox handheld experience right now. Let’s break it down.On paper, these devices are the equivalent of a pro player’s dream setup. We’re talking about AMD’s latest Z1 Extreme APU under the hood of the base Ally, a chip that frankly slays, delivering buttery-smooth frame rates in titles like *Halo Infinite* and *Starfield* that would make a desktop rig sweat.The Ally X takes it even further, throwing more RAM and a bigger battery into the mix, addressing the two biggest pain points for any portable PC gamer. The performance is, without a doubt, top-tier.Boot up *Gears 5* and the visceral thrill of chainsawing a Locust is rendered with stunning fidelity on that vibrant 1080p screen; it’s a portable power fantasy realized. But then you hit the dashboard.The custom UI that Microsoft and ASUS have cobbled together feels like a pre-alpha build that somehow made it to the live server. It’s a labyrinth of overlapping menus, slow navigation, and features that don’t quite work as advertised.Trying to quickly switch from Game Pass to a native Steam title can feel like you’re troubleshooting a mod conflict instead of enjoying a seamless gaming session. It’s the kind of jank that gets a dedicated ‘Fix This Please’ video from every major tech tuber on launch day.And then there’s the price tag. The base ROG Xbox Ally starts at a cool $700, putting it in direct competition with the established king, the Steam Deck OLED, and the highly modular Ayaneo devices.The Ally X pushes even further into the premium stratosphere. This is a massive ask for the average gamer, especially when the out-of-the-box experience isn't perfectly polished.It’s like paying for a Deluxe Edition of a game that still has day-one patches the size of a Call of Duty install. The context here is crucial.The handheld PC market is exploding right now, a golden age sparked by Valve’s visionary Steam Deck. Microsoft’s entry with the Xbox branding is a monumental move, a direct shot across the bow in the battle for your gaming attention outside the living room.They’re betting that the sheer power of their hardware and the magnetic pull of the Xbox ecosystem will be enough to justify the premium. But in a landscape where user experience is becoming the true differentiator—just look at how Nintendo’s Switch, with its comparatively weaker hardware, dominates through sheer accessibility—this launch feels like a missed opportunity to truly stick the landing.The potential is absolutely there. With a few major software updates, the ROG Xbox Ally could easily become the definitive way to play your Xbox library on the go.The hardware is genuinely impressive, a testament to how far mobile computing has come. But right now, it’s a beast that’s not fully tamed, a S-tier item locked behind a paywall and a clunky interface.For the hardcore enthusiasts with deep pockets, it’s a fascinating and powerful new toy. For everyone else, it might be worth waiting for the next patch—or for the price to drop in a Steam Summer Sale.