ASUS ROG Ally X arrives to challenge the Steam Deck by promising to play "All Your Games"

It's not even been a year since the first version was released, but ASUS is back again with the ROG Ally X - an updated and improved sequel to their first step into the handheld PC market.

While the space has largely been dominated by Valve's Steam Deck - especially following the release of the OLED model - ASUS looks to respond with numerous improvements, alongside the claim that the Ally X will play 'all your games'.

ROG Ally X set to drop in July

Scheduled to officially launch on July 22, 2024, the ASUS ROG Ally X certainly has a lot going for it, with numerous enhancements that'll definitely appeal to new and existing holders alike.

At the forefront are a number of technical improvements that should enhance the performance and overall usability of the console. Boasting a 1TB NVMe drive, you now have double the space to store your games - which is increasingly more important as the biggest titles only grow in size.

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Alongside this, you'll now find that the device houses a whopping 24GB of DDR5 RAM rated at 7500MHz, which will ensure top performance in even the most demanding games. This is due to the nature of an APU, as a larger memory bank will keep the system's video memory free to improve performance overall.

What will delight everyone no matter how demanding your games are though is the enhanced 80 Whr battery, which like the storage is double that of the previous console. This can make a significant improvement to the actual usage experience of the device, as the last thing you'll want to do in an immersive gaming session is stop playing to put it on charge.

ASUS claims the ROG Ally X will play 'All Your Games'

One of the biggest downsides of handhelds compared to the more traditional console or PC platforms is the compromises that you'll have to make when it comes to the biggest games. If you can play the latest AAA titles at all, you'll have to set them to suboptimal resolutions and experience framerates that are less-than-ideal.

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This could change with the Ally X though, as ASUS are pushing heavily on the message that the device will indeed play all your games, no matter how demanding they are. If this is true it could certainly win some dedicated Steam Deck users over as you can struggle to run some recent games - even just from the perspective of battery life.

While you might not be compromising on performance, you will have to take a dent when it comes to price - especially compared to the Steam Deck. It'll set you back $799/£799, which is over $200 more than the most expensive model from Valve, so it's certainly a steeper commitment.

However, there are plenty of people out there who just want the best performance you can get and are willing to fork out extra to secure it, so I would be surprised if this increased price is that big of a factor overall.