Microsoft and Asus have been working collectively over the previous 12 months to create not one, however two new ROG Xbox Ally handhelds. Both of those Xbox Ally units, a part of the Project Kennan effort I reported on earlier this 12 months, embody a brand new full-screen Xbox expertise on Windows that’s designed to be extra handheld-friendly and conceal away the complexity of Windows to give attention to gaming as an alternative.
The white ROG Xbox Ally is designed for 720p gaming, and the extra highly effective black ROG Xbox Ally X targets 900p to 1080p gaming on the go. Like the prevailing ROG Ally and Ally X, the brand new Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X share the identical 7-inch 1080p display screen, full with a 120Hz refresh fee and VRR assist.
The Xbox Ally makes use of a beforehand unannounced AMD Ryzen Z2 A chip, mixed with 16GB of LPDDR5X-6400 RAM and 512GB of M.2 2280 SSD storage. The Xbox Ally X upgrades the chip to AMD’s Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor, 24GB of LPDDR5X-8000 reminiscence, and a 1TB M.2 2280 SSD.
All of those specs make them similar to Asus’ current Windows-powered handheld gaming PCs at coronary heart, however there are some much-needed adjustments to the software program aspect that might make the Windows handheld expertise quite a bit higher.
“We know that to take this handheld expertise to the subsequent stage, we can’t do that alone,” says Shawn Yen, vp of shopper at Asus, in a briefing with The Verge, admitting that some players have discovered it “irritating and complicated” to navigate Windows with joysticks and button till now.
Microsoft and Asus have been collaborating carefully on these two new Xbox Ally units over the previous 12 months, and Yen says Microsoft and Asus “share a joint obsession” on these new handhelds.
That joint obsession consists of Microsoft making good on its promise to mix “the very best of Xbox and Windows collectively,” due to a brand new Xbox full display screen expertise on Windows that’s designed particularly for handhelds. Not solely can the Xbox Ally units boot on to this interface, the businesses declare you possibly can simply get again to it utilizing a brand new devoted Xbox button on these handhelds — very similar to an Xbox console.
Microsoft doesn’t load the total Windows desktop or a bunch of background processes on this full display screen Xbox expertise, placing Windows firmly within the background and liberating up extra reminiscence for video games. Instead, you launch straight into the Xbox PC app, which incorporates your whole PC video games from the Microsoft Store, Battle.web, and what Microsoft calls “different main storefronts.”
This aggregated gaming library means you’ll see video games from Xbox, Game Pass, and all of your PC video games put in from Steam, Epic Games Store, and elsewhere in a single interface very similar to what the GOG launcher gives. Earlier this week we began seeing elements of this unified library seem within the Xbox PC app, and Microsoft says you’ll have the ability to entry your full Xbox console library by way of Xbox Cloud Gaming or Remote Play to an Xbox console.
The thought is that you need to have the ability to seamlessly launch any recreation you personal, whether or not it’s truly put in in your handheld, streaming out of your Xbox Series X over house Wi-Fi, or streaming from the cloud, although we have now but to attempt that ourselves.
Microsoft has additionally made some extra tweaks to the Xbox PC app and Game Bar to make this all extra handheld-friendly, together with the power to log in through the Windows lockscreen together with your controller, no touchscreen faucets required. You’ll additionally have the ability to use this handheld-friendly Game Bar interface to simply launch apps like Discord, or alt-tab between apps and video games, or alter settings with out having to fiddle with the touchscreen. You can learn all about all of the Windows adjustments in my deep dive have a look at this new Xbox PC expertise proper right here.
These two Xbox Ally units even have Xbox-like contoured grips. It’s as if Microsoft and Asus have taken an Xbox controller and squeezed a display screen between the grips, much like what Sony did with its PlayStation Portal. The grips have been designed like this to make it simpler to wrap your fingers across the complete controls, so that you entry all of the buttons and triggers.
The Xbox Ally X even has impulse triggers like all trendy Xbox controllers, so that you’ll really feel issues like terrain of roads throughout racing video games or the affect of bullets in a shooter, all due to the haptics on the triggers. Asus can be utilizing a USB-C 4 connector that helps Thunderbolt 4 on the extra highly effective Xbox Ally X, providing the potential for connecting a strong exterior GPU to it, alongside a single USB-C 3.2 port and a UHS-II microSD card reader. The Xbox Ally makes use of two USB-C 3.2 ports as an alternative.
Microsoft and Asus aren’t offering any benchmarks or an actual sense of efficiency for these handhelds but, and each use chips we haven’t examined. But apparently, they seem like specializing in battery life this time round.
“For this era a very powerful factor to us is effectivity. Efficiency is our new superpower,” says Yen. “The video games will have the ability to play cooler and quieter, and on the identical time give you an extended battery life for gameplay.” AMD informed us in January that the Z2 Extreme could be each its strongest and most effective handheld chip but, whereas the Z2 A is rumored to be based mostly on the Steam Deck’s much less highly effective however battery sipping Van Gogh-based chip.
Importantly, the Xbox Ally is utilizing a 60Wh battery, 50 % bigger than the pack that shipped within the authentic ROG Ally, whereas the extra highly effective Xbox Ally X makes use of an 80Wh battery, tied with the Ally X and the biggest you’ll find in a handheld at this time. The Windows tweaks can also enhance battery, with Microsoft claiming it’s already seeing 1/third the drain when these Xbox Full Screen Experience programs are idle and asleep.
If you need further efficiency, you’ll additionally have the ability to dock these Xbox Ally units to Asus’ XG cell system that gives up an RTX 5090 laptop computer GPU to overtake how video games play on these handheld units.
These new Xbox Ally handhelds will launch through the vacation season later this 12 months, and Microsoft and Asus are planning to share pricing and preorder info within the coming months.
