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ROG Ally X
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It’s official, here are all the official information on the new ROG Ally X. Prior to the June 2 announcement, we already got all this data in a leak. Everything in the leak was correct, including the double battery life (80W) and even down to the price of $799. The only thing new is the exact release date - which is June July 22, 2024.
As a fan who own the original ROG Ally since launch date (June 2023), it’s become my go-to handheld gaming device, beating out the previous champions the original Steam Deck and original Nintendo Switch.
As I already previously mentioned, I am disappointed in the higher price, and that there are no changes to the CPU and 7” LCD screen. At that $800 price, it’s hard to recommend that over to the original device, which you can regularly get on sale for as little as $500 (it’s currently $477.99 on Amazon). At a $300 difference, to me, it doesn’t make any sense for you to buy the new one, if you’re only getting marginal improvements (basically only better battery life).
To me, the real reason why you would want the new ROG Ally X is for their upgraded USB4 eGPU support. The original did support eGPU, but you had to own a ROG XG Mobile External GPU Dock, which are expensive and never available in stock.
If you are going to go through the eGPU route, like me, you need to buy an eGPU enclosure (with your own graphic card) or buy a pre-made eGPU device. eGPU are not cheap, you can end up spending another $1,000, so basically your ROG Ally X will cost over $1,800 just for the ability to game on the go, but also turns into a desktop gaming class computer, when you dock it.
To me, that is the perfect computer solution, especially if you travel a lot, but also need it to perform when you’re at home. This is incredibly useful for those who only wants to deal with one Windows device. Me, on the other hand, I do own a very good desktop PC, which is my preferred gaming computer when I’m at home. While I want the eGPU solution with the ROG Ally X, I don’t know how useful it would be for me, as someone who don’t mind switching over to my desktop.
Thinking about all the extra cost that I will upgrade or have to buy, it’s probably not worth it to spend all that extra money… when what I have, the original ROG Ally suits my need just fine.
So, if I go with the ROG Ally X route, here’s a breakdown of how much money I will have to spend:
Alternatively, you can buy the GPD G1 eGPU (Radeon RX 7600M) or a standard eGPU enclosure if you have an extra GPU laying around. They’re going to cost about $800 to $1,000 depending on your card… still, when you add it all up, the true cost is going to be about $2,000 or more… that’s not even including the 4K monitor ($300) and ROG Azoth Keyboard ($250). Thankfully, I already own those items.
At that price point, just buy yourself a good desktop computer (about $1,000) and a first gen ROG Ally ($500), and it’s the better option for most people.
As for me, while I do want to go the eGPU route, the cost doesn’t really justify my use case. The smart money is just to wait for any bugs or problems in early release (for example the ROG Ally’s SD overheating problem), or wait for a sale. Now that I think about it, what if the new eGPU devices that I’m looking at doesn’t work with the ROG Ally X, due to system bugs or unsupported AMD drivers? Or what if the eGPU solution is not very good, based on the USB4 bandwidth standard? There are so many questions I have. We won’t know until people get a hold of the product and tests it out. I should wait until they work out all the kinks.
The biggest problem, for me, is that I already own the first ROG Ally and am quite happy with it. However, the scenario that I can see is that I will go to a Best Buy and see the new ROG Ally X on display, and then I’ll just make an impulse buy. That’s how it is going to play out.
As a fan who own the original ROG Ally since launch date (June 2023), it’s become my go-to handheld gaming device, beating out the previous champions the original Steam Deck and original Nintendo Switch.
As I already previously mentioned, I am disappointed in the higher price, and that there are no changes to the CPU and 7” LCD screen. At that $800 price, it’s hard to recommend that over to the original device, which you can regularly get on sale for as little as $500 (it’s currently $477.99 on Amazon). At a $300 difference, to me, it doesn’t make any sense for you to buy the new one, if you’re only getting marginal improvements (basically only better battery life).
To me, the real reason why you would want the new ROG Ally X is for their upgraded USB4 eGPU support. The original did support eGPU, but you had to own a ROG XG Mobile External GPU Dock, which are expensive and never available in stock.
If you are going to go through the eGPU route, like me, you need to buy an eGPU enclosure (with your own graphic card) or buy a pre-made eGPU device. eGPU are not cheap, you can end up spending another $1,000, so basically your ROG Ally X will cost over $1,800 just for the ability to game on the go, but also turns into a desktop gaming class computer, when you dock it.
To me, that is the perfect computer solution, especially if you travel a lot, but also need it to perform when you’re at home. This is incredibly useful for those who only wants to deal with one Windows device. Me, on the other hand, I do own a very good desktop PC, which is my preferred gaming computer when I’m at home. While I want the eGPU solution with the ROG Ally X, I don’t know how useful it would be for me, as someone who don’t mind switching over to my desktop.
Thinking about all the extra cost that I will upgrade or have to buy, it’s probably not worth it to spend all that extra money… when what I have, the original ROG Ally suits my need just fine.
So, if I go with the ROG Ally X route, here’s a breakdown of how much money I will have to spend:
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Product
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Price
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ROG Ally X
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$800
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ONEXGPU AMD Radeon RX 7600M XT (USB-C 4.0)
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$850
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Samsung 4TB NVME m.2
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$400
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Total:
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$2,050
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At that price point, just buy yourself a good desktop computer (about $1,000) and a first gen ROG Ally ($500), and it’s the better option for most people.
As for me, while I do want to go the eGPU route, the cost doesn’t really justify my use case. The smart money is just to wait for any bugs or problems in early release (for example the ROG Ally’s SD overheating problem), or wait for a sale. Now that I think about it, what if the new eGPU devices that I’m looking at doesn’t work with the ROG Ally X, due to system bugs or unsupported AMD drivers? Or what if the eGPU solution is not very good, based on the USB4 bandwidth standard? There are so many questions I have. We won’t know until people get a hold of the product and tests it out. I should wait until they work out all the kinks.
The biggest problem, for me, is that I already own the first ROG Ally and am quite happy with it. However, the scenario that I can see is that I will go to a Best Buy and see the new ROG Ally X on display, and then I’ll just make an impulse buy. That’s how it is going to play out.
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Yours,
Weekend Gamer
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