It’s everything I want in an Xbox handheld.
It runs Windows. But it’s not stock Windows but an optimized version for gaming. And you have access to Steam, GOG, EGS, itch.io–and of course, Xbox Game Pass.
The Zen 2 Extreme chip is a giant step up in terms of mobile APUs, and offers a 30% gain on the Zen 1 in terms of graphical performance.
Apparently, people who’ve tried it say it feels like an Xbox controller. Which is good. I like the Xbox controller.
Now am I going to buy it?
Unlikely. My household already has two handhelds, and they each fit our needs very well.
But you know what? I’m glad Microsoft is taking the handheld market seriously. Both Nintendo and Valve should feel pressure to perform.
The real question is if this is will be available for other windows handhelds. If it is, people who already have a first or second Gen ROG Ally /X will likely not upgrade. 30% increases in chip performance sounds great on paper but don’t necessarily mean anything in real world use depending on games and other specs. I can’t say because I don’t play a whole lot of AAA games on my ROG Ally X, but my opinion is that it’s unlikely to make enough of a difference to get me to buy the new one. That’s probably true for most of the people who own a handheld (including the steam deck). The suspend feature is useful, and the Xbox os optimization of windows sounds great, but I want to see side by side specs and benchmarks, and I want to know how upgradeable this thing is. You can already get a 2TB ROG Ally X for just under $1000. Is this thing gonna come in a 2TB variant? Can I dual boot steam os? Will changing the edition of windows (home to pro) lock me out of the Xbox style interface? I have lots of questions.
All very good questions. If a lot of these are software updates … I was genuinely hoping they would go back and make it easier for those with the earlier handhelds. I bought my friend’s kid a ROG Ally (not an X) and it’d be nice if they got some of these benefits too.
I’m dubious until I see benchmarks from Steve, Linus, Dave2D? I think most of the videos that have been out have been what they’ve advertised/marketing rather than independent testing.
None of those guys were particularly happy with the original slate of handhelds from everything I watched. Steve and Linus especially seemed to quibble a lot over performance and battery life. I watched so many reviews before I bought a handheld and I ended up not really enjoying the Legion Go I originally bought. It’s lovely but it’s way too big. So I ended up giving it away to my sister (who doesn’t use it as a handheld but as an entertainment center PC), and I bought myself the Ally X.
For sure though we can at least trust that Steve and Linus and Dave will put out reliable benchmarks. So there’s that.