Asus’ ROG Ally has been a hit handheld gaming PC, offering a formidable entry into to the category which has been absolutely booming in the past few years.
While we wait for AMD to deliver additional horsepower with a new Ryzen Z2 Extreme or some such variant, Asus decided that they can still push the envelope for specs in their handheld, and are delivering updated kit with a slew of upgraded specs.
The specs that most folks care about front is additional RAM, and the ROG Ally X is packing 24GB of DDR5 memory, a 50% increase from the 16GB that was previously included.
Storage is doubled, greatly reducing the need for external solutions (it is a portable console, after all) from 512GB to 1TB, and Asus has made the internal storage a full-sized M.2 2280 slot, so you can add a larger SSD of your choosing, theoretically up to 8TB of gaming madness. You know, if you want to double the price of the unit as it stands, but still … theoretically.
Speaking of doubling, Asus has also increased the battery from 40Wh in the original ROG Ally to an insane 80Wh, which is an insane increase considering the weight of the unit is barely up by 10%, and the unit itself is sturdier and built with better materials.
Improved thermals push nearly 25% more air through the unit’s vents so it stays cooler to the touch, which in turn only further improves battery life.
In terms of things Asus has removed, or rather replaced, they’ve done away with their proprietary port in favour of a second USB-C port, giving both ports DisplayPort functionality as well as Power Delivery. One of these ports is also Thunderbolt 4 capable, which includes support for docks and external GPUs for that much more horsepower to drive this unit. Though, arguably the latter makes it less of a portable powerhouse and more of a, erm, normal powerhouse?
All this in a package with the same beautiful 120Hz display and the Asus ROG Ally X launches June 2nd in Best Buy, and comes to the Asus online store later this month for $799 USD, only a $100 premium over the highest spec’d ROG Ally before it. The unit also comes with a three-month trial of Xbox Game Pass.