After being (sort of) unveiled last month, the new ASUS ROG Ally X PC gaming handheld is now officially available for pre-order ahead of launch on July 22. The latest portable gaming PC from the brand is indeed not a complete redesign, or a ROG Ally 2 if you will, but the brand has made some marked improvements to its design with small enhancements all over the place, a much better battery, and double the storage capacity out of the box. It would seem ASUS’ ROG unit has attempted to take in much of the criticism the original handhelds received after launch to deliver the machine some might suggest it should have in the first place. Head below for for a closer look at the specs.
New ASUS ROG Ally X PC gaming handheld
The new ROG Ally X features the same 7-inch 120HZ VRR 1080p display alongside the same AMD Z1 Extreme chipset that powered the higher-end original model. However, this time it has doubled the battery power (80Wh) and the storage, and the number of USB-C ports while packing in faster 7500MHz LPDDR5X memory (24GB in fact).
Another improvement found on the new X model delivers what should be a much better cooling. According to ASUS, it is equipped with “antigravity heat pipes, redesigned fan shrouds, and upgraded dual fans that feature thinner blades and a fluid dynamic bearing design” – there’s also an additional exhaust vent. These enhancements, alongside with some other minor adjustments in this department, should deliver better performance, and just generally keep the touchscreen cooler – up to 6°C cooler according to folks that got a detailed look inside.
Here’s a rundown of the feature set:
- New 80Wh battery
- Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor with RDNA 3 graphics
- FidelityFX Super Resolution
- Radeon Super Resolution
- Silent, Performance, or Turbo modes to balance power and performance
- Dedicated UHS-II microSD slot
- Upgradable M.2 SSD
- FreeSync Premium,
- 500 nits of brilliant brightness
- Dolby Atmos and AI noise cancellation
The aforementioned I/O updates deliver the following;
- 1x Type C USB 4
- With Thunderbolt 4, DP 1.4 with G-sync monitor compatibility, and 100W PD 3.0 support
- 1x Type C USB 3.2 Gen 2
- With DP 1.4 and G-sync monitor compatibility, and 100W PD 3.0 support
And for these updates, ASUS also wants you to pay a higher price. The original two models will remain in the lineup and pricing breaks down as follows:
One of the major advantages ASUS had over some of the other players in the handheld space was its price – and it went on sale quite a lot. That’s not really the case at the $800 on the X model, you can score a Lenovo Legion Go for less and a Steam Deck OLED for less than that even. I mean this is one of the best batteries in handheld PC gaming right now, there’s a better D-Pad onboard, better haptics, better heat management, an updated microSD reader, and support for fill-size, double-sided SSDs, but has ASUS and ROG done enough here to warrant the price tag and deliver some healthy competition? Let us know what you think.
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