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Jason goes hands-on with the ROG Xbox Ally X and the ROG Xbox Ally to see how ASUS and Microsoft are trying to redefine handheld gaming. Could this be the best handheld gaming console yet? Jason compares the ROG Ally X vs. ROG Xbox Ally X, breaks down what’s new with the UI, and shows you how it might stack up against the Steam Deck and other portable gaming PCs. With Windows 11 gaming improved by Xbox UI integration, and upgraded performance with the AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, the Xbox Ally is aiming to be the go-to device for Xbox fans on the move.
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0:00
The ROG Xbox Li and the ROG Xbox LiX are set to launch on October 16th this year
0:06
just in time for the holidays. And I've gone hands-on with both of them to answer one very simple question
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Could these be the next best gaming handhelds you could buy this year
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So what does go into making a great gaming handheld? Well, in my mind, it comes down to three key things
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Number one, it's got to feel nice to play on, because whether something is comfortable or not is super important
0:29
for when you're gaming hours on end. Number two, kind of an obvious one
0:33
It's got to have good games and it's got to play them really well. That means making sure that the games
0:38
are good enough for handheld play and that there's also enough horsepower inside
0:42
to pull it off. And number three, it has to be really easy to use
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So strip away all of the unnecessary guff and make sure that you've got a nice and easy to use UI
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that gets you straight into your games with minimal requirement. but before that if you want more videos like this i'm gonna have to point down to the like button
1:03
and the subscribe button somewhere on this video with the ally consoles so let's start at the
1:07
beginning you pick up an RNG Xbox ally or ally x and i gotta be honest this is the most comfortable
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pc gaming handheld that i've ever held definitely a little bit thicker than a lot of your other
1:21
standard gaming handhelds and that comes down to these much more pronounced grips which makes it a
1:26
a lot easier to hold onto and a lot more comfortable to play on for a very long time
1:32
Alongside that you've got your standard array of everything that you saw on other versions of the ROG Li
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So you've got a microSD card slot, 3.5mm headphone jack, power on off switch, volume controls and two USB-C ports
1:44
On the Li one of them is USB 4 and on the standard Li you got two USB 3 So both will be able to support AR glasses but one of them will have faster data transfer
1:56
But this loving between Microsoft and ASUS has really produced something that is so ergonomically sound to hold and to play
2:04
Because the ergonomics here are inspired by the Xbox wireless controller. And while you can find other Windows gaming handhelds
2:10
that are slimmer, they are nowhere near as comfy to use as these because your hands fit around these grips really nicely and the buttons and
2:19
the joysticks are really well placed so that you're not stretching you're not having to do any sort of
2:24
like gymnastics like you have to do on a nintendo switch 2 really nice to use trust me next is the
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games and you've got a whole bunch of things at play all kind of coming together to make for a
2:37
really strong proposition for the rg xbox ally and ally x so with xbox play anywhere in the handheld
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compatibility program, you've got thousands of games that are not only supported on this handheld
2:47
but also the power inside makes the most of it. So in the ROG Xbox Li, you've got a Ryzen Z2 A
2:53
chipset with 16 gigs of memory. And on the ROG Xbox Li X, you've got a Ryzen Z2 AI Extreme chipset
2:59
with 24 gigs of memory. We'll come back to this one in a second. Because performance-wise
3:05
you're actually getting some pretty decent frame rates out of here. I know that in terms of like
3:10
the reduced core count and reduced power going to the chip there has been some concerns around it but
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in terms of what i've been able to play on it some triple a some dually titles you're able to get
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pretty decent frame rates because pc games are usually pretty well optimized nowadays so for
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example you've got forza horizon 5 which i tried and you can get like 1080 and it's kind of like a
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mixture of low and medium settings with fsr terms of performance you can get that about 45 to 50 frames a second which is perfectly fine for gaming on the go And if you go into something that been a lot more optimized for a PC handheld
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something like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4, you can easily find yourself at around about 60 frames a second
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Obviously, something like this, if you were to really test it, you are going to see that frame rate reduce
3:57
But if you are wanting the peak of visual fidelity coming out of these things, that's when I turn your attention to this one
4:03
because the numbers that I managed to get are insane. So for example, I ran Doom the Dark Ages on here
4:09
and with 1080p at medium, with FSR turned on, I'm able to get 83 frames per second on average
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Moving on over to Gears of War Reloaded, this was set to a mixture of ultra and high settings as well
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That was a rock solid 60 frames per second. These numbers are unheard of in gaming handhelds
4:32
and the games do all look great on the 7 inch 1080p display obviously you can get bigger screen sizes
4:38
in other handhelds but I feel like 7 inches is just the right size in terms of like it maintaining
4:43
portability but then also the screen is a little bit more condensed down so those textures look
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that little bit extra crispy and of course you've got variable refresh rate as well so you can really
4:53
stretch it to that 120 hertz now I know what you're thinking you're thinking Jason you've tried
4:59
other handhelds that have basically the same chip inside. Why is this one faster by quite a
5:07
noticeable amount? It comes down to the software. When you boot it up, you go straight into what's
5:12
called the Xbox full screen experience. And this is the big tick in the box of making it a really
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easy console-esque interface to explore. You've got all of your games available. You've got access
5:23
to the cross media bar It super easy to navigate There this great little multitasking thing where you press and hold the Xbox button you you can switch between apps really easily You got quick access to performance settings or at the touch of a button and it all great But that only half the story because you
5:38
see one of the issues with Windows 11 gaming handhelds is Windows 11 itself. Like not only
5:44
is Windows 11 a bit awkward to use on a seven inch touchscreen, it's also running a whole load
5:49
of background processors in the back to get that running. Now the Xbox full screen experience does
5:54
differently because it doesn't actually load up any of that stuff in the background. I checked the
5:59
task manager there's no desktop background processors or anything like that and what that
6:04
means is with the Xbox UY running there's so much more headroom for that chipset and that RAM to run
6:11
as smoothly as it can. So during my time with these one thing is certain these are the best
6:16
Windows gaming handhelds I've used because there's so much more than that they are portable Xboxes
6:22
The base model Li is going to be a great option for indie gamers. And the Li-X is going to be great for those who really want to stress it
6:29
So AAA gaming on the go. Of course, there's questions about battery life, what that may be
6:34
And of course, we can't test that at the moment. But keep it locked to TomSky.com when we do have the full review
6:39
And I'll be honest, with an 80 watt hour battery in the Li-X, I'm not that worried based on what I saw with the original Li-X
6:47
They feel great to play on. The UI is really intuitive. and the games play better than I could have imagined
6:54
Now it's just a case of seeing how they stack up under our full testing, which you'll be able to see when they come out around about October time
7:00
Make sure you keep it locked onto Tom's Guard for that. I've been Jason England, and I'll talk to you in the next video
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Take care
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