Is the ROG Xbox Ally X The Best Gaming Handheld Ever?

Are we in the peak portable gaming era? The ROG Xbox Ally X might be a sign.

Thanks to rounded corners, large grips on either side and smart button and joystick placement, the ROG Xbox Ally X is an ergonomic dream. It’s built to feel natural, even during extended play sessions. Compared to the Steam Deck OLED and the first-generation ROG Ally Z1 Extreme, which felt tiring to hold for long periods of time, Asus has done a great job with the ROG Xbox Ally X’s industrial design. Performance, too, is impressive. Visually demanding titles like Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Cyberpunk 2077, Battlefield 6 and Forza Horizon 5 benefit from its newer, more capable hardware. By comparison, the Steam Deck often required dialling down settings on newer games, simply because it was underpowered. What’s not to like in the ROG Xbox Ally X? It isn’t the price, `1.15 lakh, which is in line with a mid-range gaming laptop. It isn’t the 7-inch display that some find anaemic. It isn’t even due to Asus’ blinkand- miss availability. No. It’s Windows. Microsoft’s operating system is the sticking point that keeps the ROG Xbox Ally X from true greatness. From a first-time setup that sends you hunting through corners of the OS for updates to the occasional crash, Windows feels cluttered and frustrating.

While updates have done their bit to make this a more stable device, one of its biggest features—having a user interface familiar to those who have used an Xbox Series X or S console—is still clunky. It doesn’t help that even basic expectations, like preserving battery life in sleep mode, are missing.

Nonetheless, if you’re willing to install an alternative OS like Bazzite, which has most of the functionality of the Steam Deck’s SteamOS, you can sidestep all of this. It brings a smooth interface that’s easy to use. Performance in games has improved with the likes of Forza Horizon 5 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II running a whole lot better too.

The best part? It’s pretty straightforward to do so as long as you have another PC or laptop to create a boot drive. Naturally, install a custom OS at your discretion—you don’t want to brick your brand-new device. Out of the box, without Bazzite, the ROG Xbox Ally X just about makes the cut.

But if you’re willing to tinker, you have what is probably the best gaming handheld ever. The combination of a 1080p screen, an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor, 24GB RAM, a terabyte of storage space, is enough to be relevant for years to come.

With more demanding game titles like Crimson Desert and Forza Horizon 6 along the way, it’s safe to say you will be future proofed given how the ROG Xbox Ally X runs the latest and greatest today with headroom to spare.