When ROG and XBOX announced the ROG Xbox Ally series, we had the more premium, powerful X version in black color, and the base version ROG Xbox Ally in white, which is more budget-friendly at only RM2,699 and also aimed towards AAA gaming at 720p resolution. Their words, not mine – and I appreciate it since they’re honest about it.
So, how does this new handheld device perform? Is it better than the original ROG Ally with the AMD Ryzen Z1 that I had been using for the past 2 years or so?
Design
Let’s start off with the most obvious of all – the design. The new ROG Xbox Ally has the exact same design between the X and the non-X version, just in different colors. The comfort is astoundingly good, especially when compared to the original Ally. I mean, sure – the OG is a lot thinner in comparison, but it suffers from the Nintendo Switch effect whereby the thinnest ultimately makes ergonomics nonexistent and rather uncomfortable. Which is also why my Switch 2 has a case with a tiny bump – and that improves the grip by a lot.
The grips still have the word “ROG” printed all across, which improves grip if you’re a sweaty gamer like me.
Also, the M1 and M2 keys are now tinier and out of the way when my fingers are resting on the device too. It’s another huge improvement over the original Ally. You might say – hey, my triggers look different. And you’re correct. I 3D printed these thinner ones to replace the original big bulky buttons.
The shoulder buttons and triggers have also changed shape. This allows for a much more natural curve while playing games on the device. The triggers’ curve is actually a big boon here as there is a tiny upward curve to prevent my fingers from slipping off while I’m holding the trigger in a racing game, for example.
At the front, the ROG Xbox Ally still uses the Xbox controller layout with the asymmetrical joysticks – which I think is superior, and the words “ROG XBOX” is printed across the entire faceplate. I thought the white version would be a lot more reflective and distracting, but turns out – no. I never once got distracted by the design.
Of course, there’s an Xbox button right now – which we have did a video talking about it already, so check it out at the top right corner there.
The start and select keys have swapped position compared to what it was before as well – which took me some time to adjust my muscle memory. I know they’re not technically called the start and select buttons but that’s the name I grew up with. Also, the start key is a tad bit difficult to press now since the right joystick is in the way.
Screen
Okay, it’s time for the screen. It’s technically the 4th time we’re talking about this screen because it’s the same screen between the ROG Ally, ROG Ally X, ROG Xbox Ally X, and the ROG Xbox Ally.
It’s a 7-inch IPS LCD touchscreen with up to 120Hz refresh rate with AMD FreeSync Premium for VRR, and has a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels.
Through our screen test, it can go up to around 480 nits while having great sRGB color gamut coverage and supremely good color accuracy because of the super low ΔE numbers.
Since all the 4 handhelds are using the same chipset, the screen protectors are interchangeable too. Nice.
Speakers
One thing that improved is the speaker. While they look the same as the previous generation, I think they upgraded it by a lot. You can have a listen to it in our video at the top of this review.
Ports
Another big improvement is the ports. While we have most of the same ports between the original ROG Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally, the new one has one more USB-C port and the microSD card reader has been moved to some other place that’s not going to cook the card inside. If you don’t know the context, then let me share with you the big debacle of the burnt microSD card readers on the original ROG Ally.
Actually, my ROG Ally’s card reader does not work anymore. It’s not a problem for me because I don’t use it anyway – but your usage is different from mine.
Anyway, having on more USB-C port is definitely a huge boon here as I can plug in more devices. For example, I can now charge the ROG Xbox Ally while connected to an external storage at the same time. Such a simple thing was not achievable on the original ROG Ally, unless I use a dongle.
Performance
Okay, enough about all that. How does the new ROG Xbox Ally perform when compared to the ROG Ally? Well, let’s list out all of the specs. Everything is as shown here – and one thing to note is that our ROG Ally is the Z1 version, not the Z1 Extreme.
So… here’s the thing. The new AMD Ryzen Z2 A chipset’s cores are based on AMD’s Zen2 architecture and the integrated GPU is based on AMD’s RDNA 2. It’s a bit old.
The new ROG Xbox Ally is supposedly an upgrade for the Z1 version. I still don’t understand why the new ROG Xbox Ally is still using a 512GB SSD though.
So when we look at the graphs, there’s no surprise that the CPU cores are weaker on the new Ryzen Z2 A, by about 31.8%. That’s a huge drop in terms of CPU performance!
As for the GPU though, it is actually an improvement by about 12%. That’s interesting.
In Black Myth Wukong benchmark, it actually improved. Not by much in terms of raw numbers, but still an increase nonetheless.
The new AMD Ryzen Z2 A is able to achieve all of this while only boosting up to 20W at most, as opposed to 30W on the Z1.
Things are actually starting to make sense now as I can see this AMD Ryzen Z2 A more like a rebalance of the Z1 to achieve better performance-per-watt despite using an older architecture. You see, the Z1’s GPU is rather weak while the CPU is mostly unused – so the Z2 A addressed this issue by decreasing the CPU a bit and improving the GPU, hence we’re getting a much better, balanced experience now. 10W less with slightly better overall gaming performance is insanely good.
Temperature
Since the wattage is lower and the cooling system has vastly improved on the ROG Xbox Ally, the SoC temperature is only 62.1°C at most and the fan is whisper quiet at only 26.4dB, while spinning up to at most 5100rpm. Much quieter, much cooler, and much more efficient than the Z1.
Battery life
As for the battery life, let me just show you the graph here. The new ROG Xbox Ally lasts a lot longer compared the ROG Ally because it has a larger 60Wh battery versus a 40Wh on the previous one, and also a maximum TDP of only 20W as opposed to 25W on battery.
It’s very straightforward here, and these tests can be proven again with some simple math.
Charging time
Of course, with a larger battery also means longer charging time. The new ROG Xbox Ally comes with a 65W charger in the box as usual, and it take around in only around 62W at most. The time taken is 95 minutes to charge from completely flat to 100%, and there is a drop in the input wattage possibly due to the battery temperature.
Now, what happens if we plugged it into a 100W charger? Does it speed up the charging speed? Unfortunately, nope. It’s still only takes in around 62W at most and needs about the 95 minutes to charge as well – so unfortunately, there is no fast-charging feature on the ROG Xbox Ally.
Upgradability and repairability
So, one of the things that I want to do with the ROG Xbox Ally is to swap out that SSD. The 512GB SSD is really not going to be enough, and how do we upgrade it? It’s actually very simple. A few screws and a plastic card, the entire back panel will pop off. We can then directly access the SSD and swap it for a 1TB or 2TB SSD.
The battery and joysticks are also easily accessible, and we have a teardown video as well – so check that out if you want to follow the disassembly step-by-step. It’s very simple, and all you technically need is a Philips head screwdriver.
Should you buy the ROG Xbox Ally?
Finally, should you buy the ROG Xbox Ally? Well, it depends on you. I’d say the ROG Xbox Ally is a great entry point to the world of handheld PC gaming. It’s a mostly hassle-free experience thanks to the Xbox Full Screen Experience, though we can still change back to the traditional desktop mode to tinker around some more if we want to.
If you already own the ROG Ally with the Z1 like I have, then the upgrades are mostly in the grip comfort and quality of life features like having another USB-C port, a larger battery, and also a microSD card reader that wouldn’t burn.
At the price of RM2,699, I think it’s a good device – especially if you play some not-so-demanding games like… let’s say metroidvanias like Ender Lilies or Ender Magnolia, or platformers like Yooka-Replayee. It’s definitely a much better and more affordable option to play PC games compared to emulating them on a phone – that’s for sure.
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