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Having covered the pre-announcement of the ROG Ally X announcement a few weeks ago, we will admit to being left feeling a little underwhelmed. One year on since the announcement of the original ROG Ally we were getting the promise of a machine that should have perhaps been the device that launched originally for more money, leaving current ROG Ally users with a feeling in their gut that somewhere along the way, they should have just waited.
You don’t need buyer’s remorse a year on and this speedy iteration of hardware is annoying. You can’t expect all the people who supported your initial venture just to have a few hundred more dollars to drop on a machine with a better battery and some other changes – even though they really deserve those upgrades for supporting you in the first place – without them there would be no iterative leap.
Valve did something similar with the Steam Deck, although they were in more uncharted water with the original release, 3D Printer companies do it, heck, even Apple does it and we, as customers continue to enable the behavior. The last thing I am going to say on the matter is, if a better battery and more USB ports are possible a year after launch, they were likely possible at launch. Now some owners will be left with a feeling they have a second-rate device compared to the one they want. Why buy the ROG Ally X if the ROG Ally 2 could be months around the corner?
Anyway, enough hypotheticals. Let’s have a look at what the new ROG Ally X will be packing.
ROG Ally X Specs
Rather than just give you a list of specs to glaze over let’s talk about some of the key things here and compare them to what we already have.
Asus has done a great job keeping the weight of the machine down despite dropping in a much heavier battery. It uses a different, lighter plastic for the shell, smaller yet more powerful fans, and saves more real estate on the PCBs inside.
Joysticks have been improved dramatically to bring them in line with what you would expect with an Xbox or PlayStation controller and the speakers have been upgraded for better sound. The D pad’s size has been enlarged but we still don’t get Hall Effect sensors on the controls. I wonder if they will come as a selling point for the ROG Ally 2? Hmm.
Storage has been revamped, the Ally X comes with a much-needed boost to 1TB onboard – double the original size and your internal upgrade options look like they may be more viable to put something really large in there, but that will be hacky and DIY, and not for everybody.
ASUS reckons the boost to the speed, as well as double the memory will provide a 15% bonus to performance which will obviously be welcome.
So is the Rog Ally X going to be worth the buy? If I have sounded harsh so far it is mainly because I really like the original ROG Ally. While some don’t like the fact it comes with Windows rather than a proprietary OS like the Steam Deck, I found the ease of just being able to install Game Pass, Epic Game Store, Ubi Connect, etc without faffing around just made playing my gaming library which is spread around all over the place much easier.
My issue here is if you already have one then the pre-purchase of $800 is asking a lot of existing owners who backed the original.
If you are new to the blossoming world of the PC gaming handheld you have a choice – do you want to drop that amount of money on a pocket gaming device? The Switch costs a couple of hundred dollars. I know it’s not the same, but if you only game on the go “a bit” you have a decision.
The Steam Deck with its beautiful OLED screen is also the cool kid on the block as a cheaper option.
Time will tell whether the price creep of the ROG Ally X will be worth it over the original. Extra storage is nice, and better performance is great, but I had an awful lot of fun with the original Ally and while all these little extras are nice, I would be hard-pressed to drop that amount of money on an iterative upgrade if I had the original.
When is the ROG ALLY X released?
You can pre-order the Xlly X now and the release date is currently earmarked for 22nd July 2024. There is no reason we can foresee that this will change, so you should be able to get your hands on it within six weeks of the time of going to press.
Like the original ROG Ally, you will also get a free three-month credit with Game Pass Ultimate, which you can either start up an account with or add to your existing account.
How much is the ROG Ally X?
The Ally X is listed at $799 which is between $100-$150 more expensive than the original model depending on when you purchased it.
Can you trade your existing ROG Ally in towards the new model?
We went through Best Buy’s trade-in program which is offered at the time of pre-purchase and you can in fact trade in an existing Ally towards the cost of purchase. Having said that, if you have one in good condition and with all the power supply and cables it will still only net you $180, so you may be able to sell it for more elsewhere or even eBay it to raise more funds.
This means if you have bought an existing Ally for around the $640 mark and then pre-order the Ally X for $799 and trade in for $180 you are still in the hole for around $1250 in the last year for a gaming handheld.
Not so much a problem if the Ally X is your first model, although $799 is still not exactly cheap.
