ASUS ROG Ally What changes, specifications, price and everything we know

For those who, like the writer, love to play games especially on a laptop (or in handheld, one might say), is practically a golden period. The proposals on the market follow one another and the fierce competition to the still unbeaten Steam Deck model – in terms of optimization and sensational quality/price ratio – can only be good for the evolution of this segment.

So, too ASUS he decided to carry forward his idea ROG Allyreleased last year and equipped in the top model of AMD Z1 Extreme. No new generation, as had already been confirmed, but an updated model with some specifications revised.

On the occasion of Computex, we had the opportunity to take a preview of the features of ASUS ROG Ally and in this article we take stock of all the official information.

What is ASUS ROG Ally

Like ROG Ally before her, ASUS ROG Ally X is a gaming computer with the body of a portable console.

It is therefore a platform that runs Windows, allowing you to play your library of PC games via the already integrated controller, and taking advantage of a hub that overlaps the operating system (Armoury Crate) to access more intuitively and quickly settings, toy library, client to download titles and hardware power.

Specifically, ROG Ally it’s the beefed-up version of the original ROG Allyso don’t expect a real generational leap forward: the basis remains the same, but with some interesting improvements to the technical specifications.

Technical specifications: all the news

During the event, ASUS explained that it had decided to intervene on some perfectible aspects of ROG Ally, although never mentioning the famous issue of overheating of the micro SD slot, which had given problems to several users.

Whether it’s for this reason or not, the external design remains almost identicalbut it will be black and will have some improvements to the handles. Inside, however, the components have been rearranged to accommodate some interesting innovations.

ASUS ROG Ally X: all the technical specifications

APU

As you can see, like its big sister ROG Ally X it will still mount AMD Z1 Extreme, so don’t expect a next-generation AMD chip. Indeed, ASUS, like Valve before it, believes that right now the technologies do not justify such a leap as to be able to quickly create a new generation platform – hence the decision to keep Z1 Extreme, which already guarantees excellent performance even on very recent games, such as Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon Forbidden West And Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.

RAM and SSD

An interesting leap forward is instead represented by ROG Allywhich makes a significant leap forward: we will have 32 GB LPDDR5X-7500 (the same bandwidth as that of Legion Go, which however has 16 GB), which can give a big hand to the performance of the handheld.

Furthermore, the entire storage, now entrusted to an M.2 2280 SSD, switches to 1TB by defaultwhile the ROG Ally model marketed in Italy stopped at 512 GB.

Drums

However, perhaps the most interesting aspect of this new ROG Ally model is represented by its drumswho sees his capacity to be doubledgoing from 40 Wh of the previous model to well 80Wh by ROG Ally

In the presentation, ASUS was keen to underline that such a large battery was made possible by the reorganization of the internal components, but you will not see significant weight gain: we move to a +11.5% weight (678 grams, practically the weight of the recent MSI Claw, against the 608 grams of the previous model), acceptable if the battery really guarantees double the duration – considering that the heel of ROG Ally’s Achilles was precisely its negligible performance, even during the single hour on the most advanced games.

Heat dissipation: will it still heat?

When ASUS highlighted the longer battery life, my mind immediately went there: how much ROG Ally heats. In my in-depth videos, I have repeatedly underlined how ROG Ally, with its great power but its small body, tends to reach really high temperatures (even over 90°) when put under stress.

The idea of ​​being able to keep it on for longer, perhaps in Turbo 25W mode, must necessarily embrace the fact of heat less. And, on paper, ROG Ally X will have better heat dissipation.

ASUS showed during the presentation a new cooling systemwith fans that take up less space but are more powerful, and which guarantee the 24% more air recirculationso as to facilitate the escape of heat.

The improvement would be tangible, according to the manufacturer, since we are talking about -6° on the display compared to the past. And if, like me, you had the idea to play Hellblade II on ROG Ally in substantial sessions, you will know well that the screen could become Really hot during the game phases. For now, clearly, we have to be satisfied with what ASUS reported, but it is encouraging that it has already immediately talked about substantial changes to the cooling system, which frankly did not keep up with the rest of the handheld’s specifications.

What changes in the controller

There will also be some small news for the ROG Ally body, beyond the color that goes from white to black. And I must say that, even as a lover of all-white consoles, the black color gives a lot to the fact that ROG Ally has a striking dark frame around the display, making the screen better integrated and much more harmonious with the rest of the design.

The platform will be slightly thicker than the basic model (3.7 cm versus 3.2 of ROG Ally), with more curved handles, a bit in the wake of those of MSI Claw, to better accommodate your hands and give you a firmer grip. They were analog sticks replaced: the previous ones, ASUS states, were tested for two million cycles, while the new ones will last for five million cycles. Good news, considering that if the stick of a handheld has problems it is very, very painful – also because we don’t talk about sticks with Hall.

Also changed d-padwhich was not excellent and will be replaced by a model all new, eight directions, to ensure more precise input on games that require it, such as fighting games. News that I welcomed positively, waiting to test ROG Ally reduction of rear M keys, which were previously very large and could be pressed by mistake. In the new version they will be a little smaller, like those of MSI Claw, to avoid possible accidental pressures.

Connectivity and ports

Finally, ROG Ally X will have two USB-C ports (one of which is Thunderbolt), like the competitor Lenovo Legion Go. They will both be housed on the upper side of the handheld body, while Legion Go also offers one on the lower side. The presence of the two doors on the upper side moves it further to the side slot for the Micro SD – which is good news, as far as I’m concerned.

One of the USB ports will replace the one now intended for connecting the additional external GPU (ROG XG Mobile), which will evidently adapt to USB 4, thus allowing you to Connect an external device and keep ROG Ally X powered and charging at the same time. Something that previously, with a single port, was not possible: if you had connected a monitor you could not power it, and the same was true if perhaps you had connected a USB mouse for point and click.

Armory Crate SE 1.5

Interesting that during the month of July a will arrive update for Armory CrateASUS’ proprietary interface that overlaps with Windows and allows you to manage access to your games and “console” settings in a more practical way.

The new version, more customizable, will give more scope to the interface, resembling that of home consoles, and will also allow you to create customizable commands for individual games – as well as sharing them with the community. The experience should be optimized and I’m curious to see it in action, considering that giving a more practical and intuitive UI, in the wake of Steam’s Big Picture exploited by Steam Deck, can also encourage console players to approach the world of handhelds – which is close to the PC one but which can offer them shortcuts in terms of practicality, such as Armory Crate.

The Armory Crate update it is planned for both ROG Ally X and ROG Ally, so owners of the original will also be able to use the new interface. Makes sense, considering that the original model will remain on the market, probably stabilizing at the discounted prices we’ve seen recently.

ASUS ROG Ally

To better clarify the different specifications between ROG Ally and ROG Ally X, we have created this summary table.

Is there an OLED screen?

Unfortunately not. Although it was one of the most heartfelt requests from the communityASUS ROG Ally X will maintain exactly the same display as the previous model.

However, we are talking about a display with an excellent color spectrum and really good performance, but given that it will be a high-end model of the same generation, it would have been interesting to see a choice similar to that made by Steam Deck.

Unfortunately, this will not be the case.

What games are compatible with ROG Ally

Being a platform WindowsROG Ally X can spin anything running on Windowsas long as there are no driver problems (frankly, it has never happened to me until today, while it happened to me once with Legion Go, which is the one I use the most among the Windows platforms) or that a game does not exceed ROG Ally specifications.

At the moment, however, it is unlikely that there are games that really do not allow execution on the ASUS home handheld, even with the minimum specifications, considering that they have to run on a 7″.

This means you can access your games on Steam, Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Connect, EA, Battle.net, Xbox, PC Game Pass, the Game Pass cloud, GOG and any other Windows video game client. It also means that you can install your own emulation software and do, in essence, anything you do on a Windows gaming PC – just in a smaller 7″ format.

When does it come out and how much does it cost?

The launch is scheduled for July 22nd, with pre-orders already starting today. The purchase includes three months of Game Pass.

During the presentation, it was confirmed that the price will arrive up to $799 – which we can expect to become €899 in our area.