Alright, so here’s something wild for you: Microsoft—big shocker—teams up with Asus and what do they do? They launch… wait for it… an Xbox handheld? Sort of a handheld? Anyway, it’s called the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X. And fans are, like, thrilled? Cause imagine blending a game console with a handheld—who wouldn’t trip over that idea?
Now, what Asus says makes it sound all epic. They listened to feedback—kinda. Took the ROG Ally, mashed it with Xbox vibes, and voilà! You get these contoured grips—think Xbox controller feel here. Also, impulse triggers? Sweet buzz when you press, it’s all about those feels apparently.
They’re bragging—they as in Asus—that these gadgets are top-tier for comfort. Even though they’re sort of chunky. Like, thicker than a steaming pile of pancakes on a Sunday morning. I mean, isn’t chunkier kind of the opposite of comfy? But they say it’s immersive. So… go figure.
And let’s not forget about that new Xbox button. Handy, right? It’s near the left joystick—no idea if that’s good; just saying I’m always lost with these layouts. You press it, and bam! Game Bar pops on screen. Probably useful if you’re all about multitasking.
Oh, side digression—they’re launching this right around AMD’s flurry of processor announcements. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. The ROG Xbox Ally X flexes with AMD’s newest Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme. It’s packed with more techy stuff than I care to dig into but sounds fancy. Throw in 24GB of RAM and a terabyte of storage—yawn, more space to ignore cleaning up old files.
Alright, focus. Battery, yeah. It’s got this 80Wh unit (I pretend like I know what that means), but they say it lasts longer than that $10 battery you regret buying on Amazon.
And what about the other Ally—just “Ally” without the X? Your wallet might thank you since it’s more like the younger sibling pretending to be cool. Less power, cheaper bits, but probably gets the job done.
Not much magic with the display. Same 7-inch screen, which they insist is fabulous. Though, frankly, a good magazine spread is more my style.
Swinging back—where was I? The software. It’s Xbox land with a Windows 11 twist. You still get the usual software shops so you can sprinkle games everywhere. There’s also this ROG Armoury Crate… Special Edition? Sounds like a secret gaming club only the cool kids know about.
They haven’t even pinned down pricing yet. Classic, right? But these babies should hit the shelves around holiday season in countries I’ll only dream of visiting. And that’s my chaotic spill on this whole situation. Why did I care about this again? Oh right—gaming news. But still, if you’re jazzed about gadgetry, keep your peepers on this one.
