ASUS has introduced its brand new ROG Ally X gaming handheld which is an upgrade to the original model using the same AMD Ryzen Z1 APUs.

ASUS ROG Ally X Handheld Is The Upgrade That You’ve Been Asking For, Everything is Better But At A Higher Price

Last year, we got to see the ASUS ROG Ally which was the first handheld to make use of AMD’s new Ryzen Z1 APUs based on the Zen 4 core architecture. Now a year later, ASUS is upgrading things for its handheld users and offering a beefed-up model in the form of the ROG Ally X.

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The ASUS ROG Ally X is based on the same AMD Ryzen Z1 APU series but instead of having two models, the X variant will only come configured with the higher-end Ryzen Z1 Extreme which is the top APU of choice for handhelds featuring 8 cores,16 threads up to 5.1 GHz clock speeds, 12 RDNA 3 compute units and 24 MB of cache. The APU can be configured between 9W and up to 30W and given the upgraded cooling on the ROG Ally X, you can expect better performance out of this insanely efficient handheld chip.

Image Source: AMD

The ROG Ally X sees major changes in the battery and storage department, with the battery being  upgraded to 30-40% larger capacities (ASUS calls the battery improvement very good), offering twice as much gaming time versus the original model. The storage now comes with support for NVMe M.2 SSDs with up to 2280 form factor support which means you can plug in anywhere from 4 to 8 TB drives. Plus, even better is the memory upgrade which now comes with LPDDR5X-7500 memory support.

Image Source: ASUS

In terms of dimensions, the ASUS ROG Ally X should retain the same size for the chassis and the screen as the previous model. You can expect the same 7″ FHD panel with a rated refresh rate of up to 120Hz and a maximum brightness of 500 nits. One of the major issues in the previous model was the SD card which had a malfunctioning problem and to resolve this issue, ASUS has moved the SD card positioning away from the internal heatsink which should eliminate the issue once and for all. There are also going to be other physical changes on the handheld but the company has only teased them.

Lastly, the ASUS ROG Ally X will be available in a black-colored flavor and once again, since this is a handheld aimed at enthusiasts, the price is expected to be slightly higher than the $699 retail price of the original Z1 Extreme variant. Expect ASUS to share more details on the 2nd of June during a pre-Computex 2024 event so stay tuned.

Handheld Gaming Console Lineup:

NAME ASUS ROG ALLY X MSI CLAW AM1 STEAM DECK OLED LENOVO LEGION GO ASUS ROG ALLY AYANEO AIR 1S AYANEO 2S AOKZOE A1 PRO AOKZOE A2 GPD WIN MAX 2 GPD WIN 4 (2023)
CPU Name AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme Intel Core Ultra Series 1 AMD Sephiroth AMD Ryzen Z1 Series AMD Ryzen Z1 Series AMD Ryzen 7 7840U AMD Ryzen 7 7840U AMD Ryzen 7 7840U AMD Ryzen 7 7840U AMD Ryzen 7 7840U AMD Ryzen 7 7840U
AMD Ryzen 5 7640U
CPU / GPU Architecture 4nm Zen 4 / RDNA 3 Meteor Lake / Arc Xe-LPG 6nm Zen 2 / RDNA 2 4nm Zen 4 / RDNA 3 4nm Zen 4 / RDNA 3 4nm Zen 4 / RDNA 3 4nm Zen 4 / RDNA 3 4nm Zen 4 / RDNA 3 4nm Zen 4 / RDNA 3 4nm Zen 4 / RDNA 3 4nm Zen 4 / RDNA 3
CPU Cores / Threads 8 / 16 @ 5.1 GHz 16 / 22 @ 4.8 GHz
14 / 20 @ 4.5 GHz
4 / 8 @ 3.5 GHz 8 / 16 @ 5.1 GHz 8 / 16 @ 5.1 GHz 8 / 16 @ 5.1 GHz 8 / 16 @ 5.1 GHz 8 / 16 @ 5.1 GHz 8 / 16 @ 5.1 GHz 8 / 16 @ 5.1 GHz 8 / 16 @ 5.1 GHz
6 / 12 @ 4.9 GHz
GPU Cores 12 CU @ 2.8 GHz 8 Xe @ 2.25 GHz
7 Xe @ 2.20 GHz
8 CU @ 1.6 GHz 12 CU @ 2.8 GHz 12 CU @ 2.8 GHz 12 CU @ 2.7 GHz 12 CU @ 2.8 GHz 12 CU @ 2.7 GHz 12 CU @ 2.7 GHz 12 CU @ 2.7 GHz 12 CU @ 2.7 GHz
8 CU @ 2.6 GHz
Memory >16 GB? 16 GB LPDDR5-6400 16 GB LPDDR5-6400 16 GB LPDDR5-7500 16 GB LPDDR5-6400 32-64 GB LPDDR5x 16 GB LPDDR5x-7500 32-64 GB LPDDR5x 32-64 GB LPDDR5x 16 GB LPDDR5x-7500 16-64 GB LPDDR5x-7500
Storage TBD (M.2 2280)
Micro-SD UHS-H
512 GB / 1 TB (M.2) 512 GB / 1 TB (M.2) 512 GB- 2 TB (M.2) 512 GB (M.2) +
Micro-SD UHS-H
512 GB – 2 TB (M.2) 512 GB – 2 TB (M.2) 512 GB- 2 TB (M.2) 512 GB – 4 TB (M.2) 512 GB – 2 TB (M.2) 512 GB – 4 TB
Display Resolution 1920×1080 @ 120Hz 1920×1080 @ 120Hz 1280×800 @90Hz 2560×1600 @ 144Hz 1920×1080 @ 120Hz 1920×1080 @ 60Hz 1920×1200 1920×1200 @ 60Hz 1920×1200 1920×1200 1920×1200 @60Hz
Screen Type 7-Inch 7-Inch IPS 7.4″ OLED 8.8-Inch Full IPS 7-Inch 5.5-Inch Amoled 7-Inch Full IPS 8-Inch Full IPS 7-Inch Laminated IPS 10.1-Inch Full IPS 6-Inch Full IPS
WiFi Option WIFI 6E + BT 5.2 TBD WIFI 6E + BT 5.3 WIFI 6E + BT 5.2 WIFI 6E + BT 5.2 WIFI 6E + BT 5.2 WIFI 6.0 + BT 5.0 WIFI 6E + BT 5.2 WIFI 6E + BT 5.2 WIFI 6.0 + BT 5.0 WIFI 6.0 + BT 5.0
Battery Size TBD 53Wh 50.0Wh 49.2Wh 40Wh 38Wh 50.25Wh 65Wh 48Wh 67Wh 45.62Wh
Weight TBD 675g 640g 845g 608g 405g TBD 729g 649g 1005g 598g
Form Factor TBD 294x117x21mm 298x117x49mm 299x131x41mm 28.0 x 11.3 x 3.9mm 224×89.5×21.6mm TBD 28.5 x 12.5 x 2.1mm 265x105x22 227 × 160 × 23 mm 220 × 92 × 28 mm
Operating System Windows 11 Windows 11 Steam OS/Windows 11 Windows 11 Windows 11 Windows 11 Windows 11 Windows 11 Windows 11 Windows 11 Windows 11
Release Date June 2024 1H 2024 November 2023 November 2023 May 2023 2023 May 2023 May 2023 December 2023 May 2023 August, 2023
Price $699+ $699 (125H + 16 GB + 512 GB)
$799 (155H + 16 GB + 1 TB)
$549 (16 GB + 512 GB)
$649 (16 GB + 1 TB)
$649 (16 GB + 512 GB)
$749 (16 GB + 1 TB)
$799 (16 GB + 2 TB)
$699 (Z1 Extreme)
$599 (Z1 Standard)
$799 (16 GB + 512 GB) TBD $799 US (32 GB +512 GB) $699 US (32 GB + 512 GB) 730 EUR (7640U+16+1)
959 EUR (7840U+32+2)
TBD