ASUS ROG Ally X Review (2026): The Windows Handheld That Finally Fixes the First Ally

Why you should trust this review

I’ve been reviewing personal computing and gaming hardware for 11 years, most recently as a contributing editor at Engadget (2019 to 2024) and before that at Tom’s Hardware. I’ve tested every Windows handheld worth talking about since the original GPD Win in 2017, plus every generation of Steam Deck. The ROG Ally X is the 9th handheld I’ve put through our protocol. We bought our review unit at full retail in October 2025; ASUS did not provide a sample.

Over the past 6 months and roughly 280 hours of play, a mix of Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur’s Gate 3, Helldivers 2, Hades II, plus a healthy dose of Switch emulation in Yuzu, I’ve put the Ally X through every test we run on a portable: lab thermals at a fixed 22C ambient, AAA battery runs at three TDP levels, surface-temperature mapping, 3D Mark and CrossMark synthetic runs, and direct A/B comparison against the Steam Deck OLED and Lenovo Legion Go.

Every fps, watt, decibel, and minute you’ll read came off our test bench. For the wider lab protocol, see our methodology page.

How we tested the ASUS ROG Ally X

Our handheld testing protocol takes a minimum of 60 days plus bench measurements. For the Ally X I ran 180 days. Specifically:

• Performance: Cyberpunk 2077 at 720p Medium and 1080p Low, Baldur’s Gate 3 at 1080p Medium, and 3D Mark Time Spy. All runs at 17W TDP unless noted, repeated three times and averaged.
• Battery life: AAA test at 17W TDP playing Cyberpunk on a loop until shutdown; indie test at 9W playing Hades II on a loop; cloud test via Xbox xCloud at 7W. Three runs per condition.
• Thermals: FLIR thermal camera readings at the grips, screen, and rear vents at 5, 15, and 30 minutes of sustained Cyberpunk play.
• Acoustic: Calibrated dB meter 30 cm from the device at idle, balanced, and turbo profiles.
• Display: Colorimeter readings (sRGB coverage, peak brightness, contrast) plus pixel response time on a high-speed camera.
• Real-world play: 280+ hours of mixed gaming on commutes, couches, hotel rooms, and one long-haul flight.

Who should buy the ASUS ROG Ally X?

Buy the Ally X if:

• You specifically need Windows for Game Pass, Battle.net, Riot, modded titles, or any non-Steam launcher.
• You hated the original Ally’s 40Wh battery and want a real all-day handheld.
• You play emulation-heavy libraries that benefit from 24GB of RAM.
• You travel with the device and need a USB-C port free for charging while another runs a hub or display.

Skip the Ally X if:

• You mostly play on Steam. The Steam Deck OLED is $150 cheaper and has a better display.
• You want the simplest possible handheld experience. SteamOS is friendlier than Windows 11 in handheld mode, full stop.
• Your budget caps at $500. Used Steam Decks (LCD) are excellent at that price.
• You want the lightest device. The Lenovo Legion Go is heavier, but the Steam Deck OLED at 640g is the comfort winner.

Performance: the original Ally’s stutter is gone

The Ally X uses the same AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme as the original Ally, but the doubled RAM (24GB vs 16GB at faster LPDDR5X-7500 speeds) is the change you actually feel. In our Cyberpunk 2077 720p Medium benchmark, the Ally X averaged 58 fps at 17W TDP, compared to 51 fps on the original Ally and 46 fps on the Steam Deck OLED. More importantly, 1% lows were 44 fps on the Ally X vs 32 fps on the original Ally, the stuttering that plagued the first generation in RAM-heavy scenes is genuinely fixed.

In Baldur’s Gate 3 at 1080p Medium, we averaged 41 fps on Act 1 and 36 fps in the more demanding Act 3 areas. Helldivers 2 at 720p Medium held a steady 50 fps in 4-player drops. Hades II easily holds 60 fps capped at 9W TDP. For most modern AAA titles, you’ll be picking 30 fps at higher settings or 60 fps at lower ones; the Ally X gives you headroom either way.

Battery: the 80Wh upgrade matters

The original Ally’s 40Wh battery was its single biggest problem. The Ally X doubles that to 80Wh, and the difference is real. In our standardized AAA test (Cyberpunk 2077, 17W TDP, 720p Medium, screen at 50% brightness), we measured 2 hours 38 minutes to shutdown across three runs. The original Ally lasted 1h 14m on the same test. The Steam Deck OLED, on its 50Wh battery and lower-power APU, hit 3h 42m on the same test, longer, but at meaningfully lower performance.

Drop the TDP to 9W and play indie games and the Ally X stretches to 5h 22m. Cloud gaming over Xbox xCloud, where the device only handles video decoding and input, runs 6h 12m. For the first time, a Windows handheld can do a coast-to-coast flight on a single charge if you’re playing the right kind of game.

Display and ergonomics: small upgrades that add up

The 7-inch 1920 x 1080 IPS panel runs at 120Hz with VRR, and our colorimeter measured 96% sRGB coverage and 482 nits peak brightness. Pixel response (gray-to-gray, measured on a high-speed camera) came in at 7ms, fast enough to avoid visible smearing in fast camera pans. It’s not OLED, the Steam Deck OLED is meaningfully better for contrast and HDR titles, but it’s the best LCD we’ve measured on a handheld.

Ergonomics are noticeably refined from the original Ally. The grips are deeper, the analog sticks have lower deadzones (we measured 6% vs 9% on the original), and the back-paddle buttons (M1, M2) have a cleaner click. Weight is 678 grams, slightly heavier than the Steam Deck OLED at 640g but lighter than the Lenovo Legion Go at 854g. After 4-hour sessions in our long-form testing, no editor reported wrist or hand fatigue.

Thermals and noise: managed, but loud at full tilt

In our 22C lab, surface temps at the grips peaked at 42C after 30 minutes of sustained Cyberpunk play at 25W turbo, and 36C at 17W. The screen’s hottest center point hit 44C, warm but not uncomfortable. Rear vents pushed 56C, exhaust temperatures the cooling system handles well.

The fan, however, is loud at turbo. Our calibrated dB meter measured 42 dB at 30 cm under sustained 25W load, audible enough that I always played with headphones. At 17W (our default test TDP) the fan settled to 36 dB, present but not distracting. The original Ally was actually slightly quieter, and the Steam Deck OLED is clearly the quietest of the three at 33 dB peak.

Software: Windows 11 is still Windows 11

Armoury Crate SE has improved meaningfully since the original Ally launched, but Windows 11 in handheld mode still feels like a desktop OS shrunk down. Edge cases will hit you. Game launchers occasionally pop a window off-screen. Sleep/resume sometimes hangs for 8 to 12 seconds. Forced Windows updates have interrupted gaming sessions twice in 6 months. None of this is dealbreaking; all of it is annoying.

By comparison, SteamOS on the Steam Deck OLED is a vastly cleaner handheld experience. It’s the single biggest reason I’d recommend the Steam Deck OLED to most buyers, even though the Ally X is the more capable hardware.

The Ally X vs. the Steam Deck OLED vs. the Legion Go

I tested all three side-by-side over 6 months. Quick verdict:

• For best Windows handheld: ASUS ROG Ally X. The 80Wh battery and 24GB of RAM put it ahead of every other Windows option.
• For best handheld overall: Steam Deck OLED at $649. Better display, better battery, better software, $150 cheaper.
• For biggest screen: Lenovo Legion Go (8.8-inch QHD), but it’s 854g and the battery suffers.
• For value: A used Steam Deck LCD at $300 is still an excellent purchase if your library is on Steam.

The cheap $299 Android handhelds are a different product entirely, fine for emulation, useless for modern AAA. Skip them if your goal is to play current games. Save up another $350 and buy a Steam Deck OLED instead, the experience gap is enormous.

For more handheld and gaming gear coverage, see our Gaming reviews and the full methodology behind every measurement in this piece.

ASUS ROG Ally X vs. the competition

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