I'm team Steam Deck, but I'm glad these Windows handhelds exist if only so I have something to point to when people complain about not being able to play Fortnite or COD on the Deck. There's something for everyone.

I cant wait to hear the phawx's deep dive on this thing. Bill, Phawx, and Russ are my council of advisors for hardware purchases 😂

Quality overview of the device, great video!

I am actually pretty excited about the device. I am going to get mine through Best Buy and may upgrade the storage as well. Love your videos btw.

ROG Ally X is cool but l just know they're gonna make a huge upgrade next year, OLED display and the RDNA 4 Z2 Extreme Chip is gonna be worth the wait!

can we just say how good the topic transitions are in this video, i didn’t even care about the ally x by the end, hallucinate me man!

I like that both usb ports are on the top. That means i can use them while using it as a handheld. The underside port on legion go is basically meaningless unless you put it flat on the back side.

Hey Bill, one suggestion, for the transitions between sections, could you change the background to one that's less white? You're filming with a pretty dark background which is great but the contrast is a bit too much imo.

I got a pair of 3d printed grips for my Ally from etsy, not because it cut into my hand but because the builtin grips were too shallow to be comfortable.

The LCD is still pretty good. I don't mind the LCD screen at all. Thanks for this video Bill!

Love the transitions, but the soundtracks featured in those sections are significantly louder than your microphone volume. The selection of these tracks also feel a bit random, as they are also used only for the transitions (at least I do not hear it in some of these portions) and do not pad in the back during the segments they're related to. Great content as always, however.

For the volume I set a shortcut with the paddles: paddle+LT - Volume down / paddle+RT - Volume up. Perfect in my opinion

I agree with you , a dedicated button to toggle off the touch screen would be awesome. You actually have to turn the touch screen off for new Lego games to work properly.

I had the same issue with accidental touches from using the right stick on the Legion Go and was able to create enough distance for it not to happen by adding some thumbgrips.

appreciate you going through everything on the device as a first look. the thing you were talking about with laptop trackpads is called palm rejection and it is a thing on windows laptops. whether it can be implemented well on all windows laptops or on windows gaming handhelds is a different story unfortunately. some constructive criticism, do you think you could balance the music a bit better for the transitions? they were much louder than your voice and made me have to turn down and then turn up my volume. appreciate the podcast and hope you keep doing stuff with pc gaming handhelds.

This can lead to an intresting conversation but what would the ideal handheld look like? This might be silly but I would love a handheld that feels like an Elite controller.

Chargerlab has been a primary source when seeing what is the best thirty party charger. While the Ally X may say it will charge up to 100w, we don’t know what actually will. Same for the charger itself Chargerlab does intensive testing. I use the 140w apple usb c adapter with 240w apple cable on my legion go. While expensive, I top off at 90w for the first 50 percent. I charge my device 70 percent on 35 minutes. Thanks to there testing, it allowed me to see what charger actually gives me the fastest charge I can’t wait for the Ally X test! Great video as always. Can’t wait for the podcast this week

Nice work Bill, I appreciate your deeper-dives covering the details of these devices. I personally couldn't recommend Asus after the recent plays, they need about a year with shown they have implemented the checklist Steve from GN put in front of teams in question, before they see a dime from me.

Great video, but I would recommend not having the sound effects so loud when transitioning between different sections. Other than that, great video! Keep up the great work man!

Funny enough, a lot of Bethesda published games like Prey for example, are Deck Verified and DO make use of all 4 rear buttons on the Deck on the default controller profile :D Which is very cool

How does the new anti reflective treatment look compared to the original ally?

Armoury Crate button should be press/hold to launch, and so does the touch screen. Cross fingers for next bios update.

Im looking forward to the Zotac Zone! The touchpads and form factor being similar to the Steam Deck interests me as I don't mind using Windows on the Deck. Helldivers 2 runs better on Windows on the Deck. If the Zone gives a good performance boost, It might be the first non deck device I am interested in.

Great first look video..thx

if it only had a bigger screen, I cant go back to a 7" screen after using the legion go

Will this play like the only up games and chained together just curious as after a hand held thanks

Thanks for a superb first-look, Bill!! Can’t wait to see how the X stands up against the Steam Deck OLED when your full review comes out!

Get a caliper with rubberized coating, also if it is digital it's just more convenient to use for beginners. But advanced users can still use them optionally not using the digital display. Avoid the cheapest calipers, you don't need super expensive once

This will be an instant buy. I am just waiting for egpu Performance Benchmarks.

They cannot put any IO in the bottom because their design places the battery in the bottom half of the device. They'll need to make a bigger redesign to have IO in the bottom.

Pretty good video! If I could make a suggestion, during the sound comparison part, use the same game and save file so that we can listen to the same thing and compare. Also, try not to announce the device change; just explain it before you show it to us. An abrupt transition could make spot the audio difference between the devices easier. English is not my native language, so i'm sorry if it is hard to understand what I'm trying to say.

I use the d pad to navigate the command center. Found it better for toggling ! HIT a A slide with dpad to desired setting . So much more accurate using the dpad and A button.😊

I got the OG Ally (upgraded to 2TB) along with an XGM 6850M at launch. As much as it matured to a way awesome product I was waiting for at least a bigger screen in an XL model or so. Keeping the XGM port would've been awesome so I'm a little disappointed in that. USB4 is only 40GB of bandwidth while the XGM could do 60GB. So with this change they kinda went backwards vs using something like an Oculink port which has a 60GB bandwidth. I didn't want to wait any longer so I ended up getting the Go again. Yeah I said again cause the first time around at launch as much as I wanted to keep it it was a mess, mostly UI wise. I also got the 1TB version which was $750. This time around I ended up getting the 512GB version instead as I knew I was going to upgrade the storage to 2TB. I know there are now kits out there to run a 2280 4TB drive but I don't need that much space. I just need enough to put some games on there that I'm currently playing. The Go was on sale new for $580 and my 2TB drive was $95 so altogether it's only $675! I'm planning to get a 1TB micro SD card for around $50 for all of my emulations. I love the screen on the Go much better than the Ally. To me I need this size as I like larger screens now at my age. I know the speakers aren't that great and the D-pad is flat. Plus the battery is only decent. All of this could be fixed with accessories tho. I do plan on upgrading again next year when the new chipset is out. We are not missing much with the 8840U as the iGPU is the same. I also only want to deal with retail products as well here in the US. I don't want to ship my products outside of the US. If the Ally X had a larger screen and was demanding $850 or so with all the changes I would not get it if I'm being honest. Even at the current asking price of $800 isn't worth it imo. Asus should've just made the OG Ally cheaper permanently and made the X at their current price of $650 ($700 for the OG Ally at launch). $700 would've been fine for the X too but to demand a $150 price jump from the OG Ally is a lot. Again my Legion Go with 2TB will only cost me $675 and I get an extra 512GB drive that I could put into an enclosure.

I've been looking to buy this within the next couple of months.😊

The sound is a little better from what I heard on the X. Sounds a tad fuller. I have the 2023 Ally now, I'm hoping whenever the Deck 2.0 comes out, it comes with more ram, egpu compatibility, and normal sized nvme drives. I had a deck, had to sell it a long time ago... I greatly miss it. Love the Ally too, butnits not the same. The X is a great step forward, but I want that version 2 Steam Deck.

Question: Is suspending games any better on windows yet? My Steam Deck OLED suspends and resumes pretty reliably. That is a huge feature for me on a handheld. How does the ROG Ally X do with suspend / resume while a game is running?

I saw these today, damn these handhelds are HUGE

I already liked the Ally but the decrepid battery is the reason I took it right back. Soo all these improved plus double the battery capacity is the perfect portable imo im excited to pick this up. The only complaint I had with the ally is there is no way to just drop it to 40fps with a button press like steam deck

It doesn't quite temp me, mainly because of screen size, I feel the Legion Go 8.8"Inch screen is so much better. That second type C port would be better on the bottom center position. I'll wait and see what they come up with on the Ally 2, this device is another £700 but doesn't offer enough for a second purchase, It's great if you don't have an handheld already though.

As a windows and steam and Xbox gamer and have love for handheld gaming with switch and others games all I can say is. I can’t wait for the future of gaming at this point

So weird. I have never once had an issue with big picture mode on my ally.

I could not get used to the 16X9 7" display- too small for me, but get some love it. The $850 after tax price even more so can not get used to..... Well, and the customer support issues. Not believing they are fixing it, given how long it has been going on.

If you put the game into Windowed Fullscreen does it still register mouse clicks when the Quick Access Menu is open?

an adapter for their old egpu system would be nice for those few. Even if you have to pay an extra for this

Ngl i never had a problem with the layout for the og ally besides the back buttons as they were extremely ez to hit them by mistake

Bill you are very awesome person and a very knowledgeable content creator keep up the good sir👍🏾

I know this comment is stupid but I love Ally because of it’s white color. I already have steam deck and always considered to buy Ally for its white color and AAA performance. Now, the white is gone and for me there is nothing left for me to buy that. I hope they release white version as well

I watch these to make sure the SD is still best buy, not disappointed.

Now im more interested than ever only going to wait knowing how ASUS is with servicing their products.😢

I might be getting one soon I still love my steam deck tho it’s the best way to game on the go and with friends I enjoy everything about the steam deck but sometimes I be in the mood to go shopping for new hardware and consoles I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these windows handheld

Should i upgrade from my z1 extreme

Hello!… I'm not sure if you are allowed to say, but can you give a hint about how far away the review embargo is from today?

I wish it were OLED… but the vrr screen sounds rad. I don’t know what to think. lol.

Brian Redban in an alt universe

Everyone remember best buy will take trade ins our just turn your old ally into a gaming cabinet.

18:24 I've never noticed how loud the button clicks are. I hope that's just how good the mic is picking up sound. That might be kind if annoying for me being at home and all I hear is the clicks. IDK maybe that's just me but the second he pushed the button my eyes immediately went to the top right lol. The button clicks were actually louder than the game at 50% volume. Is it that noticeable in person?

I don't mind the LCD screen at all they fixed the worst parts first. The screen was the only thing they got right last time.

the most important thing to know is whether the autonomy has improved, I think so since they have doubled it, let's wait for the test!!😉 I have the Rog Ally and the battery life sucks

Why not just have a dock where you can put it upside down and the port lines up? I'm sure a 3d printed Pi dock could work or something along those lines from Jsaux or another company.

Can't wait to buy ROG Ally X ❤❤❤

I’ve had 2 sd card readers fail, the first time took a month to fix, I havnt bothered the second time and just used the internal hard drive. I don’t really want to pay all that money for a new ROG ALLY X if a more powerful one gets released next year. I’ve got a steam deck OLED just wish it was more powerful

$200 used for the OG Ally when the X costs $799 new is a hell of a low ball. If you guys see an ally for $350 ish I think that's a good buy. Hell even $400 that's a decent price.

Thanks for pointing out the bad start select / armory crate button positions. That was infuriating. Also just a suggestion on sound testing, it’s better if you just let the audio play without gameplay/button presses. Also… F Asus. Tired of going through their subpar products and shady RMA.

Help me please, I have an steam deck oled fully kitted out, is it worth the money to buy the Rog ally x? Or should I wait for steam deck 2, or something similar?😊

I feel vrr is pretty nice if they can manage to make it 7.4inch or 8inch with 80watt battery with hrd.. would be pretty sweet. They oled steamdeck is still the best screen to look at if you play smaller games. Og rog i had was nice to play starfield but the colors looked flat comapred to oled

one thing thats holding it back is the small screen, nobody wants to play AAA games on a 7in screen

I can't see people who invested into the XGMobile eGPU for the OG ROG Ally Z1 Extreme purchasing this unit like Retro Game Corps and Jimmy from Deck Ready who purchased a XG Mobile eGPU. However users who want to purchase a ROG Ally I can see them purchasing this like with the Steam Deck OLED with new adopters. Also the Ally X got a RAM upgrade which will help in games that need more RAM. I also predict a slight performance increase with the Ally X over the OG Ally Z1Extreme due to the faster memory speeds just like with the Steam Deck OLED.

Did everyone noted ally x design was similar to sd now even the plastic used looks similar

I wish they could have bumped up the screen size a bit too... Would prefer seeing an 8" screen over oled even I think, provided they can keep the quality of the current LCD. If it had that it would be much easier to convince myself to buy one next to my deck. I considered the legion go for its screen but I just don't trust Lenovo on the software side and it just doesn't look as polished as the Ally does, especially this new X model.

Asus should still have made an OLED version for customers that want it. Providing Options is better, some people wanted fps above 60 and others want a more efficient and impressive screen/battery life.

Nice improvements, i'm going to wait for the next AMD lineup of APU's

You mean oled panels of thos size without vrr? My main monitor is 3440x1440p oled and it absolutely has freesync premium. Pretty much all gaming panels today have vrr.

this usb c slot can read ssd bro?

If it had a LLG size screen and res (for that pixel perfect SD settings and nicer RSR), with a track pad as well, it would be worth upgrading to, but I guess we have to rely on Lenovo for that or wait for actual next gen versions in likely 18-24 months when likely a SD2 comes out. Nice if its what you buy out of the gate without a a deck LLG or ally, but it still has the Asus badge which is not a badge of quality these days, its a badge of high chance of dying and then shitty service for what is a manufacturing/design fault.

Liking the new swankier edits, Bill 👍

Guys I don’t know what to do i need advice. Steam deck oled or rog ally x?

hey Bill love your videos but I am getting jumpscared at the transitions :joy:

i have an limited edition oled deck and im trying to convince myself to get the rog ally x but all youtubers still point out that the steam deck oled is better so it makes this decision difficult lol, i meanly want it for gamepass and the newer cods

ally x to remove hall effect triggers and put in the HE Joysticks that's what matters the most, I don't see the point what HE Triggers even do.

I sure hope ASUS sticks to their word on their Customer Service stuff. That and that they managed to solve their MicroSD Card Slot failures.

I would have purchased this if I didn't already buy the first ROG Ally. But there's no need in this case. No matter what is said about the Ally X, don't be fooled. You're still going to need to plug it in the wall or a battery bank. I just had Best Buy install my 2TB SSD, and I'm completely happy as one could be. Even with all its flaws.

What’s the point in ASUS sending these out if you can’t do benchmarks on the thing. Appreciate the overview in what’s changed but need to see the difference in gameplay.

I like this coming out because I'll prolly be able to get a used ally z1 for like 200 bucks

That 24GB memory is really really tempting...

Those people who always say --next year version better...fine.its your choice.

That Asus support issues only matter in the USA. In Europe we have laws that make it impossible for Asus to pull those same tricks over here in the UK. It's a US only issue I think.

Will you review a onexplayer 1x????????

doesn't the unit detect if the charger is an official charger? like all asus devices

Can you try bazziteOS in this device and then make a video explaining your impressions of it?

I disagree on you with the thickness. The ally destroys the deck on this. Here's why. You're gonna buy a case. Case will add thickness and will provide better grip. Depending on the case that grip may even be textured and rubberised. I put a case in my deck and it was like even more unwieldy.

I may end up waiting for gpd duo.

They're nice but man is the market becoming flooded with handhelds. I'll be sticking with my OG 512gb now 2 tb deck lol. Amazed at just how quickly these companies are coming out with a refreshed version. I need an 8 inch OLED steam deck lol so I shall wait. As always educational and informative thanks to Bill.

Waiting for embargo to be lifted.

I rather have IPS for Device Longevity that beautiful screen from OLED

For everyone said why not oled if the price was bigger than sd oled in the original ally so what the price will be if x was oled maybe 900$ or 1000$

All we want to know is how much better is the performance and battery life compared to the OG rog ally. Most of these reviews are the same because ASUS is silencing reviewers

Eh after reading all the problems online with other handhelds, I think I will just wait for Deck 2. It is a safer bet

Lets go, Bill!

I’ve stand corrected and an ips screen is in fact a type of lcd screen

Say no to thick bezels