ASUS and Microsoft have pushed their Xbox Ally handheld lineup upmarket. The ROG Xbox Ally X20 costs $1,300 and adds an OLED screen, a transparent plastic shell, and reworked controls to the formula that made last year's ROG Xbox Ally X a favorite among Windows-powered gaming handhelds, according to a review published by Android Authority on October 26.
Under the hood, nothing has changed. The X20 runs the same AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor and 24GB of LPDDR5X memory as the original Ally X, Android Authority's reviewer found. The outlet's review treats that as a feature rather than a shortcoming, since the Ally X was already considered one of the stronger Windows handhelds on the market before this update arrived.
Android Authority's testing found performance swings hard depending on power mode. The X20 offers a 35-watt Turbo preset, but that tier is locked to 25 watts unless the handheld is plugged into the wall. On Resident Evil 4's 2023 remake, the reviewer saw a steady 30 frames per second at 1080p on high settings while plugged in, a figure that sagged into the 20s on battery power at the device's 17-watt default preset.
Results varied by title. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II held in the mid-30s on Turbo at medium settings, according to the review, while Forza Horizon 5 ran smoothly even on battery, dipping to around 50fps in complex nighttime scenes and holding near 60 in daylight. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered managed roughly 40fps plugged in in Turbo, the reviewer reported, something they called underwhelming given the age of the underlying game, though they attributed that to Bethesda's optimization rather than the hardware itself. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered ran into AMD driver compatibility issues during testing, with some foliage rendering as solid black.
Battery life, per Android Authority's figures, ran about three hours in graphically demanding games on the Performance preset, stretching to four hours or more in lighter titles off the X20's 80Wh cell.
On build quality, the reviewer described a handheld that runs over an inch thick and weighs nearly two pounds, warmer to the touch and louder under its cooling fans during heavy loads, but without any performance throttling noted. Despite outweighing a Switch 2 with its controllers attached by about half a pound, the review called the X20 more comfortable to hold over long sessions, crediting its grips. The directional pad can now toggle between four-way and eight-way input, an addition over the original Ally X, and the hall-effect analog triggers were singled out for consistent resistance.
The X20 ships with a Game Pass trial, though Android Authority noted Forza Horizon 6 wasn't included in it at the time of testing. For now, the review frames the $1,300 price as the device's biggest obstacle, a tough ask for anyone outside the handheld's core audience of Xbox and PC players chasing the most powerful screen ASUS has put on this hardware so far.
RRFiled by The Reviews Roundup Desk
What the reviews are saying: verdicts on new devices from the outlets that tested them, summarised and credited to each. This desk does not test products itself.
More from this desk →
Be the first to comment
Join the argument. No password, just your email or a passkey.