*** ROG XBOX Ally X Discussion Thread ***

Soldato
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HOLIDAY 2025

ROG XBOX ALLY X​


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  • ROG Xbox Ally X | 24GB RAM | 1TB
  • ROG Xbox Ally | 16GB RAM | 512GB


XBOX, ANYWHERE​




 
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Same as what I posted in the Xbox thread but I'll be day 1 on this if the price isn't crazy

I'll be honest I think I'll be swapping my steam deck for the XBox Ally X (unless it's completely stupidly priced). I'd love to be able to take my Xbox games portably without the need for an internet connection to stream on the cloud. I love my deck but the fact I can't access my gamepass library offline is a killer. Hopefully the Ally X will be able to run EmuDeck though.
 
Same as what I posted in the Xbox thread but I'll be day 1 on this if the price isn't crazy

It looks really good from what I've seen. Seems a smart choice from Microsoft to pair with an established brand in the handheld space. We just bought a switch 2, my wife may kill me if I buy this as well :cry:
 
Bit of a damp squib really.

"The first XBOX handheld!" ...is just an Asus ROG Ally yearly refresh with an XBox button on it.

Wow.

Fair enough, the chip inside the X is what is interesting to me and the new environment for playing the games as well. Reducing services to only critical. I wonder in future if they optimize the gaming environment on other Rog Ally's as well, even on PC, that would be very useful.
 
Fair enough, the chip inside the X is what is interesting to me and the new environment for playing the games as well. Reducing services to only critical. I wonder in future if they optimize the gaming environment on other Rog Ally's as well, even on PC, that would be very useful.
It will serve as the base for a potential hybrid console offering in the future, is my hope and guess.

A public beta, as a retail product.

I'll be interested in buying a similar product once it's OLED 144Hz and I can customise the power of the internal GPU more at purchase.
 
I think we'll have to wait for the SD2 (if it happens) to get a properly interesting handheld. I like that MS are building a UI for Windows, and hopefully optimisations are put in place to use the APU more efficiently, similar to what Valve has done on SteamOS.

AMD have steadily improved their graphics performance, and FSR4 is a significant improvement over 3 so it feels like we're on the cusp of a well-rounded gaming APU.
 
I think we'll have to wait for the SD2 (if it happens) to get a properly interesting handheld. I like that MS are building a UI for Windows, and hopefully optimisations are put in place to use the APU more efficiently, similar to what Valve has done on SteamOS.

AMD have steadily improved their graphics performance, and FSR4 is a significant improvement over 3 so it feels like we're on the cusp of a well-rounded gaming APU.

Yeah it would be great to have a decent gaming APU for desktop as well. I like the idea of just having one chip, easier to cool and potentially far less power use.
 
Yeah it would be great to have a decent gaming APU for desktop as well. I like the idea of just having one chip, easier to cool and potentially far less power use.
I think we'll get there since laptops are already doing it. Obviously not ideal for upgradability, but would be a much smaller footprint, unified memory, etc. to reduce IO overhead.

A beefy APU with SteamOS or this Window gaming front-end would make a great "console" to have at the TV.
 
Fair enough, the chip inside the X is what is interesting to me and the new environment for playing the games as well. Reducing services to only critical. I wonder in future if they optimize the gaming environment on other Rog Ally's as well, even on PC, that would be very useful.
I understand the appeal of a stripped down Windows OS that will presumably be more efficient for gaming, but it still begs the question : why not just get a Steam Deck or ROG / Lenovo with Steam OS on it now ? I struggle to see what's so special about Microsoft entering the handheld arena - to me it's just another device among a sea of competitors ( and it won't be cheap ! )
 
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I love my SteamDeck but would happilly switch to anything else if it enabled me to natively have all my main launchers in one place and outperformed the SD (which anything new should, but let's ignore the Z2a)

As for pricing, it's going to be £700 isn't it? Instantly dead for me if so. It's the OS & Z2 that I care about, when/if someone releases a cheaper less flashy version I'm in!

If the Os is being ported to the older Ally too then that could make a cheap v1 a decent buy. I'd hope someone would run some comparisons.
 
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Bit of a damp squib really.

"The first XBOX handheld!" ...is just an Asus ROG Ally yearly refresh with an XBox button on it.

Wow.

I agree, and MS haven't helped either with the mixed messaging, you already have some people thinking that this is actually a portable Xbox, meaning console, which to be fair isn't really stretch, it's a PC handheld that directs you to the Xboc PC Game Pass store!

I like the idea that it's a custom OS that also supports other game stores, but @ the cost of the current Ally X, probably around £800 unless MS decides to subsidize it I don't think it's going to be flying off the shelf but then maybe it doesn't have, we know Xbox is moving down the avenue of eventually being a software/App based platform with less emphasis on the console.

Seen more than a few comments around switch 2 weight and top spec of this isn't too far off 200g heavier :/

Switch 2 is heavy, I can only play it handheld resting on lap or table.
 
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I understand the appeal of a stripped down Windows OS that will presumably be more efficient for gaming, but it still begs the question : why not just get a Steam Deck or ROG / Lenovo with Steam OS on it now ? I struggle to see what's so special about Microsoft entering the handheld arena - to me it's just another device among a sea of competitors ( and it won't be cheap ! )
Yeah it kinda feels like Microsoft are going tactical with this. Perhaps it’s to appeal to the game pass holders? I got a feeling that steamOS is riding a wave at the moment and Microsoft are perhaps worried of a future of pc/mini pc steamOS installs and Microsoft are not in that loop, so to speak. I’d love to ditch windows 11 for my pc games and dual boot my pc.
 
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Yeah it kinda feels like Microsoft are going tactical with this. Perhaps it’s to appeal to the game pass holders? I got a feeling that steamOS is riding a wave at the moment and Microsoft are perhaps worried of a future of pc/mini pc steam installs and Microsoft are not in that loop, so to speak.
Perhaps. I can't see this winning over any new customers - as you say it may appeal to a cross section of Xbox users who want a portable device. But this isn't going to move the needle.
 
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Went from hyped to erm ok, still interested (as there was no OLED) to meh when I figured out it was just a ROG Ally with Xbox controller.

Kind of feel duped by the advertising making it seem it's a portable Xbox with Windows.
 
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