On paper, the idea of an Xbox-branded handheld PC sounds interesting. Valve made the form factor properly mainstream with the Steam Deck, a Linux-based machine that out of the box can run games on Steam only. Meanwhile, the various OEMs joining the gold rush are sticking with Windows-based handheld PCs, which has the convenience of running on Windows and the hassle of running Windows.
So when Microsoft’s Xbox brand decides to put their stamp on one of the OEM handheld PCs, in this case ASUS ROG, this should help solidify the space further as the experience PC maker and console maker collaborate on the next iteration of the ROG Ally.
However, Xbox as a brand is in a disarray right now. The console maker is now becoming a third-party publisher releasing games not only on PC, but rival consoles. The whole “This is an Xbox” campaign where Microsoft tries to convince consumers that Xbox is more than just the console has made things confusing, as some console gaming fans thought when a rumoured portable Xbox machine is in the works, it was a full-fledged Xbox portable, not a handheld PC with the Xbox brand.
So let’s start with stating the obvious: The ROG Xbox Ally is not an Xbox. Let’s judge the entry-level variant of the two 2025 ROG Xbox Ally models for what it is: a handheld Windows PC with some hardware and software touches thanks to a collaboration with Xbox.
From that perspective, I find the ROG Xbox Ally to be the perfect entry point to the handheld PC market, for those who are not committing into spending gaming laptop money (or two Xbox Series Xs money at that) for the flagship ROG Xbox Ally X. This is more of a Steam Deck alternative with, for better or worse, Windows 11 pre-installed.
Review Unit Specs
The review unit we were loaned is the ROG Xbox Ally RC73YA with the following specs:
- APU: AMD Z2 A
- RAM: 16GB (soldered, non-upgradable)
- Storage: 512GB SSD (technically upgradable)
- Display: 7-inch 1920×1080 120Hz 500 nits
- Price: RM2,699
Hardware
First things first, have you gotten used to how the ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X look? Yeah, the new
“Xbox-inspired” grips doesn’t blend to the Ally facade that well, it looks like the controller is bolted on a piece of plank with the edges sticking out and not connecting to the grip lopped off a bit.
The ROG Xbox Ally has more of that edgy design compared to the more subtler, bulbous look to say the Lenovo Legion Go or even the Nintendo Switch, and that’s just the ROG aesthetic in general as seen in their laptop and phone offerings.
I will admit that I recoiled in disgust when those early images of what turned out to be the Xbox Ally got leaked, but now after three weeks staring at this thing, I’ve grown used to it. Still looks odd, but not uggo.
But the oddness of its look is worth it, as the ROG Xbox Ally is much more ergonomic to the previous ROG Ally and ROG Ally X. I’ve held the two previous handhelds and it didn’t jive with me—I feel like holding a plank, too flat and with not much to grip on. The grips on the Xbox Ally makes it so much comfier to play on long sessions, my gamer hands feel like its in its natural habitat, though it doesn’t feel immediately as such in the first few hours.
You see, ROG keeps saying “Xbox-inspired” a lot because it’s true. The grips look like straight out of an Xbox controller at first glance, but it’s not.
They are longer, less acutely angled (hence why I didn’t feel immediately at home when holding the Xbox Ally) and the bumpers and triggers are, understandably, much bigger. Though it does have grippy texture moulded into its plastic shell at the back like an Xbox controller is which is nice.
The ABXY face buttons don’t carry the same letter font of the Xbox ones (they use the ROG ones instead) and while they do appear colourful in pictures, they tend to look darker in real life. Each face button is firm on press, and clicky on release, a similar sensation to the face buttons of an Xbox controller.
The face buttons are distinctively loud unlike a PS4 DualShock or PS5 DualSense, which made me feel self-conscious fiddling this thing about at public spaces. Though the d-pad, despite being looking similar and just as clicky as the Xbox controller’s, is its own thing. A very different click, much smaller, but just as satisfying to press.
Similar to the previous ROG Ally and like all Xbox controllers, the ROG Xbox Ally has an asymmetrical analog stick setup. I don’t mind this layout, but the problem is, the ROG Xbox Ally uses the ROG Ally’s style of option button layouts, vertically laid out and thin, instead of like an Xbox controller.
The device’s equivalent to the options (hamburger) menu button is placed in a way that you will end up with the thumb either touching—or worse, whacking—the right stick as you glide to press the button. If you want to avoid doing so, you’ll have to move the palm out of its natural resting place, a whole stretch, just to pause a game. It’s more annoying because the perfect placement for the options menu is just one above it, which is reserved for the systems-wide Library feature, with no way to map or swap these two buttons.
This is a big issue, as the concave analog sticks here are using potentiometers, which is more prone to wear-and-tear which causes stick drift. Should that unfortunately happen, fortunately there are plenty of options to mitigate this issue via software (more on this in a bit).
But it’s a shame that the hall effect-based parts are used for the triggers but not for the sticks which infamously known to break down and cause issues, especially when competitor OEMs in the space managed to put in hall effect sticks in their handheld PCs.
(That being said, ROG has partnered with Gulikit in the past to bring Hall Effect and TMR-based analog stick upgrades to the ROG Ally and Ally X. The company also announced they will also providing TMR analog sticks to the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X as well. These are plug-and-play, just replace the whole analog stick module with the new one, no soldering required. It would’ve been better if these comes built-in, rather than an extra thing you have to purchase and upgrade/repair down the line.)
On another unfortunate note, the ROG Xbox Ally controller isn’t in parity with the Xbox Ally X, or with the Xbox controller itself, as it’s missing the impulse triggers. These are small rumble motors attached to triggers that adds additional haptic feedback on supported games. It’s a shame these couldn’t be added in for the price budget the device is selling at, but at least it still has haptic feedback so you can still get the usual rumble vibration most games has.
In a less dreary note, one good feature inspired by the Xbox controller is the way the triggers feel. If you press them in full, it has this nice mushy feel, the bounce-back of the triggers sound and feel satisfying. If it’s like the Xbox controller, there’s a small thin strip of sponge that the triggers hit when you they are fully pressed.
The ROG Xbox Ally weights at 670g. I usually don’t make note of this when reviewing gaming laptops, but for handhelds that’s designed to be played in your hands, the weight, or more importantly the weight balance, matters. 670g is about three times the weight of a typical gaming controller, which isn’t that much. But then you have to consider that all that weight is centered not on the grips you’re holding on to, but the center of the device. You will feel it in the wrists on long play sessions if you haven’t played on handheld PCs.
That being said, most of the weight between 600-700g so the ROG Xbox Ally is more or less par for the course when it comes to this.
ROG knows how to style their products, and it shows on the ROG Xbox Ally. The subtle patterns of “Xbox ROG” letterings only visible at the right angle that is decked on the front face, the edgy trimmings of the back plate that’s just a few notches from surpassing into gamer-cringe so it comes off looking cool.
The white plastic that designates the ROG Xbox Ally (like how the black colour denotes the more powerful ROG Xbox Ally X, similar to Xbox Series S to the Xbox Series X, and even the ROG Ally to the ROG Ally X) looks nice, but it remains to be seen how well it can keep that colour or will it fade into a beige patina over time.
The 7-inch 120Hz 1080p screen is okay in well-lit rooms, though the bezels surrounding the ROG Xbox Ally makes it look larger than it actually is.
The front-facing speakers are a big surprise. I don’t think anyone should be playing a video game on the go out in the public with 100% volume, 40% is already obnoxiously loud, but if you dare to be a public nuisance, this little friend of yours can scream and provide unintended haptic feedback due to the thumping speakers. It’s honestly overkill, but I find it interesting that you can fit in some loud, good-sounding speakers on a handheld like this.
Overall, ASUS ROG definitely benefited from its collab with Xbox, as the ROG Xbox Ally feels more ergonomic than ever by taking cues to one of the best controllers you can have your hand around. It doesn’t feel exactly like holding an Xbox controller—the contours, weight and button positions are slightly off. But it’s close enough for people who haven’t been playing on handhelds can feel comfortable in, though not without putting in some time in.
Software
The big draw of the ROG-Xbox collab isn’t really the redesigned look and feel of the Ally’s exterior, though the changes are welcomed. I argue it’s the software side.
Microsoft developed what’s called the Xbox Full Screen Experience (Xbox FSE), a feature where handheld PCs would boot straight to the Xbox app and simply won’t load in the desktop and other background features. The idea is to make the experience of using handheld PCs more streamline and console-like, rather than having to bumble through Windows.
So how is it?
It’s not as revolutionary as it should’ve been.
If you have no one explained to you what Xbox FSE is, I doubt you even realise what it does and supposed to do, because it’s too subtle. The Xbox app looks just as it has been, and it looks nowhere like an Xbox console dashboard (again, this is not an Xbox).
I have whole rant about how lacking the Xbox FSE is, the short gist is that it’s still not doing enough to make the handheld PC experience to feel like a console. My point still stands. But here’s some more issues I find that’s worth highlighting:
- No option to passively download in the background like consoles do (you have to leave it on like a PC).
- Device doesn’t automatically go back to sleep mode if left alone for a while (accidentally hitting the sleep mode button will turn the device back to whatever power mode it was left and requires human intervention to turn it back off)
- Games don’t suspend as well as on consoles should you put the device into sleep mode (it behaves like a typical Windows 11 PC)
Windows 11 could do a lot more than just putting a cute little portable icon during the initial setup sequence, like having a storage management option right on the Xbox app.
I’m actually more impressed with ASUS ROG brings to the table on the software side. The Armoury Crate SE app is a really useful app you will definitely be visiting and tinkering about a lot thanks to its wealth of features. The usual RGB setting is here sure, but the more useful ones come from the fine-tuning of the analog stick controls and triggers you can do.
If you suffer from stick drift, or just want the mouse cursor to feel more in like to a Destiny cursor when you move the mouse with the stick, the options here are plentiful, and useful. Having a diagnostic app to check your analog stick inputs, as well as rectifying it, is a godsent. Microsoft has you install a different Xbox app just to check inputs, which is lame.
Interestingly, the Armoury Crate SE also has its own collated launcher that presents all your games across different launchers in one place. It’s funny that odd library button on the Ally can also be mapped to open Armoury Crate SE’s version instead of Xbox’s. Talk about the Department of Redundancy Department.
If the app can replace the entire Windows Settings menu by having only the features you want to tinker with for a device like this Xbox Ally, like a storage management menu, that would be kino. But even with just this, the software’s really good, enough for me to not mind there’s a tab of ads and promotions in there.
Gaming Performance
The ROG Xbox Ally packs what is one of the lowest-end of handheld PC APUs by AMD in terms of performance, the AMD Z2 A. It tops in power draw at 22W as compared to higher-end AMD Z2 chips that can go up to 35W, and its graphics cores are powered by the older RDNA 2 architecture instead of the bleeding-edge RDNA 3.5 as seen in the AMD Z2 Extreme or RDNA 3 features in the previous top-end APU, the AMD Z1 Extreme. This is weaker than the OG ROG Ally.
So if you see those promos of how the Xbox Ally brings console-like experience on the go or something along that lines, they’re talking about the Xbox Ally X. The ROG Xbox Ally is the Xbox Series S equivalent, or maybe even a step lower than that, even. This machine is more like an Xbox One or PS4 in terms of its overall graphical power.
Don’t expect to play most AAA games at 1080p on this machine and expect a playable experience. Graphically demanding games will have to run at 720p resolution and be bolstered by an upscaler like AMD FSR to really be able to reach playable frame rates. And it is possible.
Kingdom Come Deliverance II plays well enough in the early opening hours at 720p, on low settings plus enabling AMD FSR 3.
Forza Motorsport (2023), despite being warned that the AMD Z2 A isn’t a compatible chip at launch (though the game isn’t marked fully playable in handheld not due to specs but due to controller issues for some reason) can be played on low, 720p, AMD FSR enabled with a full 24-car grid averaging 30 FPS.
ROG and Xbox hyped a lot about the big-bro ROG Xbox Ally X’s performance running Indiana Jone And The Great Circle, but can it run on the little ROG Xbox Ally? Miraculously yes. At 720p and 30 FPS, but perfectly playable.
Street Fighter 6 performed fantastically, regularly reaching that 60 FPS target in regular gameplay at medium settings. The more performance-demanding World Tour mode floats around 30 FPS, as expected.
Forza Horizon 5 meanwhile has no problems running at lower spec, being able to maintain 60 FPS on low settings + FSR on.
Cyberpunk 2077, Gamer Matters’ favourite benchmark game, has no trouble running as it also offers Steam Deck settings. Maintaining 30 FPS at 720p is no problem for the ROG Xbox Ally.
Doom Eternal runs buttery smooth at 60 FPS at 720p, but that shouldn’t be all to surprising as the game is well-optimised.
The benchmark tests on Hitman 3 (a.k.a. Hitman World Of Assassination) produces decent results at low settings, holding on to 60 FPS.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart however, struggles to even keep 30 FPS with everything lowered to the most minimum and FSR cranked up to ultra performance. Adding “fake frames” via frame-generation just makes performance even more inconsistent as it bouncing between 60 to 20 FPS. In other words, unplayable. So not all AAA games would just work with this machine.
The ROG Xbox Ally can keep up with the modern AAA games albeit with graphical downgrades. However, my testing found it has a little quirk: it can’t run older AAA games as well as it should.
I tried out Borderlands 2, yes an old 2012 game, just for the fun of being able to run this on a better portable than a PS Vita. It surprisingly hitches a lot, with imperfect frame pacing despite being able to reach 60 FPS on high. GTA V, running the old non-Enhanced Version build, also struggles to keep a consistent frame rate. Even weirder, the game runs better at 1080p than it is 720p. More testing is required on this, but keep a mental note that the AMD Z APUs aren’t build the same way as the regular full-fledged CPU/GPU/APUs so design changes on this mobile-first x86 chip may have unintended consequences with running older-gen games.
Despite all of this, I found the ROG Xbox Ally to be a pleasant thing to game on. You can’t run games looking at its prettiest. And you just have to hope that games you want to play are either Steam Deck Verified or passes Xbox’s equivalent seal of approval, but it’s an amazing time when they do.
I’ve been able to finally catch up on the new Tokyo Xtreme Racer, albeit on the lowest graphics settings at 720p, and it still looks and play nice at 60fps. I can’t see the new graphical improvements of Football Manager 26, but it’s too long of a loading screen wait for the game to simulate about 7 different leagues I have in my save. Indie games with low graphical demands like Mars First Logistics can run perfectly fine, even on silent mode where the power draws drop to a meagre 5W to extend battery life.
Speaking of watts, the battery capacity for the ROG Xbox Ally is 60kWh. From my testing, it certainly matches up. I can play Tokyo Xtreme Racer (2025) on Performance mode (minimum 15W, but it always hovers around 20-22W) and it takes about 2-3 hours before the battery completely drains out, so the match checks out. It’s perfect for most commutes: I can play games through the entire train ride to Kuala Lumpur from Seremban and back. Charging from less than 10% to full takes about an hour and less with the provided power brick (rated at 65W).
Another neat surprise is how thermal efficient the ROG Xbox Ally is. When the internal temps reach its standard peak of 86 degrees Celsius I can barely feel the heat. Mostly because the hands are way away from the heatsinks. But still, if you rest the Xbox Ally on your lap for a bit when it’s full power you won’t get heat burns as most of the heat is concentrated to top of the device, at the screen. It can get warm there, but nothing out of ordinary. Plus, the fans on this thing runs quiet even when in full load. The built-in settings for the fan profile are set at low speeds because it doesn’t need to crank up that much to dissipate all its heat buildup. If you can find games that aren’t performance demanding (Mars First Logistics, for example, runs impeccable at only 5W power in silent mode), the ROG Xbox Ally just works like a regular portable console that you don’t have to worry about battery life of overheating concerns.
The one caveat with gaming on an ROG Xbox Ally is its low storage size. At 512GB of SSD space, you run out of space rather quickly if you’re playing AAA games with sizes that go from 40GB to 150+GB these days. The SSD can be replace with off-the-shelf parts for those that dare to open it up (it’s just regular philip screws, so no special tools needed).
For those who don’t want to do all that, the Xbox Ally has a UHS-II MircoSD slot that can read SD, SDXC and SDHC MicroSD cardss. But do note that this is not to be treated as an equivalent to a proper SSD.
The fastest SDXC MicroSDs labelled for gaming you can get goes around 200MB/s while a typical SSD goes in the GB/s. Installing and running Forza Horizon 5, for example, on a MicroSD is possible, but absolutely not ideal, unless the idea of waiting for the initial load to feel like an eternity and having the game completely stand still for a second to load in that new wheel you selected in the customisation menu sounds like a fun time. Use the MicroSD slot for smaller lightweight games and miscellaneous storage. The MicroSD slot is no SSD replacement, until the MicrosSD Express standard gets adopted beyond the Switch 2.
In short, the ROG Xbox Ally is more positioned as a Steam Deck alternative rather than fighting among the top dogs of handheld PCs, all with gaming laptop levels of performance. If you can accept that you’re not holding a beast of a machine between your hands when holding this, and more of an alternative way to experience low-spec, performance-lightweight games with a semi-streamlined experience that sort-of mimics the console experience, than you’ll find the ROG Xbox Ally a dependable friend indeed. If power is what you seek, you’re need a stronger Ally for that.
Value
This shouldn’t be the most contentious point of the ROG Xbox Ally, but since it carries the Xbox name, it had come to this. This and the Xbox Ally X are apparently the most expensive “Xbox.”
So let’s say it again, together: this is not an Xbox. These aren’t subsidised in price to get you spend money on Xbox games on the Xbox Store where they get a big cut for every game you buy. This isn’t a console ecosystem, it’s a PC, and as such, it’s priced like most OEM PCs are.
If you look at it from an ROG point of view, the ROG Xbox Ally is actually the cheapest ROG device yet. Even the ROG Xbox Ally X is miles cheaper than its laptop offering. The ROG Phone 9 FE, previously the “cheapest” ROG, is RM2,999 MSRP.
More importantly, let’s look at the handheld space. Most handheld PCs are on the higher-end spec, which goes for more than RM4,000 (see the ROG Xbox Ally X). You can get a Steam Deck, the entry-level standard of handheld gaming PC, on average about RM1,500 for an imported set. If you’re looking for a sub-RM3,000 handheld, there’s not much choice in the market, other than the ROG Xbox Ally.
If you just want a portable gaming device, however, the Nintendo Switch 2 is a better value proposition: console-level pricing, full console experience all in a handheld form factor. But it can’t play your PC games.
On that note, the main reason why the ROG Xbox Ally is not an Xbox is because it doesn’t run native Xbox console games. This is a Windows PC. That said, Xbox has put the Xbox Play Anywhere program back on their marketing beat again. This is a multi-entitlement program where participating games will include the Xbox version and the PC Microsoft Store version (i.e. UWP) of the same game with one purchase. Technically, if you have a library of 1st-party Xbox games on an Xbox console, with the assumption that all 1st-party Xbox games support Play Anywhere, you own the PC versions as well so those can be played on the ROG Xbox Ally. But not all 3rd party publishers and developers do this—understandably, why would they take a hit in sales despite having to create two different SKUs of the game, each costs money and time to make? So no, you can’t play all your Xbox games on the ROG Xbox Ally. Not until Microsoft figures out how to properly unify the Xbox console and PC platforms as the same ecosystem.
If you have to play games on PC and require Windows, the ROG Xbox Ally is, at the time of writing, a one of one. It’s the only device with this APU chip, which makes it relatively cheap, and still has full-blown Windows.
Though if you’re thinking about making this a replacement for desktop PC use, there are extra costs associated with getting this device, which only has USB-C ports, to be able to have full ports, connect to a monitor and be powered on. ROG has the Bulwark dock that sells at RM699, with not much aftermarket alternatives with this form factor of a dock. Then you need a 100W rated power brick or charger to power the dock and all its ports (ROG has one selling for RM269).
Also, you’ll need a case of some sort if you’re bringing this out to your commute. So that’s another purchase you need to consider (though aftermarket options are available for this).
I don’t recommend chucking the Ally in your backpack as is, you might accidentally knock it out of sleep mode have it idling in an enclosed environment wasting battery life and making it unnecessarily toasty hot.
The ROG Xbox Ally isn’t every gamer’s go-to gaming platform, but a good number of folks will find a place in their lifestyle for a portable gaming buddy.
Verdict
The ROG Xbox Ally is a dependable, entry-level Windows handheld PC that looks great, runs great if you throw the right games at it and feels relatively great in the hands.
The Xbox Full Screen Experience, and Windows 11 experience in general, still needs a lot of more work before you can say this is console. For those looking to dabble with this gaming form factor, and need access to a Windows machine, the ROG Xbox Ally is there for you.
This is not an Xbox, but the ROG Xbox Ally is a great entry-level handheld gaming PC.
Loaned review unit provided by ASUS Malaysia.
ROG Xbox Ally
The ROG Xbox Ally is a dependable, entry-level Windows handheld PC that looks great, runs great if you throw the right games at it and feels relatively great in the hands.
The Xbox Full Screen Experience, and Windows 11 experience in general, still needs a lot of more work before you can say this is console.
- Hardware 8.5
- Software 7.5
- Gaming Performance 7.5
- Value 9