ASUS ROG XBOX Ally X20 Review
Conclusion
Conclusion
The big benefit to small volume production such as the ROG Ally X is how quickly things can be upgraded. It’s not like the first edition was particularly lacking, and the hardware behind the scenes remains the same here on the 20th Anniversary model. So if you liked that, but found stock low, here’s another opportunity to get on board.
But we spoke of upgrades and the ROG Ally X20 has them in four key areas. Or four key areas and a few others, if you want to get pedantic.
New Screen
The big ticket item is unquestionably the 7.4 inch OLED screen. 1920 x 1080 @120Hz with 1400 nits peak brightness. It has all the elements you’d hope on a modern setup, whilst remaining efficient enough for portability. 1920 x 1080 is still the most popular resolution with 47.91% of Steam gamers running 1080P, and the most popular multi-monitor setup is two of those at 3840 x 1080. We might live in a world of 4K, and most people reading this are enthusiasts too. The average person on the street still lives in a 1080 world.
The OLED screen here also supports Variable Refresh Rate technology, minimising tearing. At this it does an admirable job. Obviously the 120Hz refresh rate helps tremendously if you’re running something light enough to not hit a hardware frame limit. HDR is excellent, as it always is on a good OLED panel. If you can afford it, you owe it to yourself to get one. Even if you can’t, pop to your local emporium and see one in the flesh. No hardware trickery can make a regular panel look like an OLED. They just drop jaws. The Ally X20 is no exception.
What Else?
Also new are the controls. The sticks themselves have had a tweak, with a much tighter deadzone and stronger magnetics to eliminate drift. Got a Switch? Then you’ve got stick drift and will appreciate the crispness on display here. The DPAD is also revised, with a simple way to swap between 8way and 4way. Should you like to run emulators with the ROG Ally X20 in Windows 11 mode, you’ll appreciate the ability to tie your DPAD down. Authenticity is everything.
Lastly the case and thermal design has been revised to give 20% more airflow than the initial model. With 24GB of LPDDR5X-8000 memory coupled to the 8C16T Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme CPU and the OLED display there is a lot to cool. The new solution works beautifully, being significantly cooler than the OG Ally X, despite the addition of the OLED panel. If you live somewhere cool you’ll appreciate how warm your index fingers get.
Minor New Things
Also new the XBOX logo lights up the right shade of green. Comparatively a small thing, but attention to detail is King. The sticks have a four LED RGB setup so you can really make sure you have the correct lighting for your taste. Main XBOX buttons (XYAB) have a lower profile design. If you’re playing one of those games where combined buttons is important, if only for dodge rolling whilst sprinting, you’ll appreciate this ergonomic improvement. Although unique to this ROG Ally X 20th Anniversary edition, we love the translucent case and gold accoutrements too. Swish.
We’re not going to pretend this is a product for everyone. Especially as ASUS are too cheap to give us a charger so we had to spend the thick end of £80 on one. But if you want something that is more powerful than a Switch, more portable than a laptop and annihilates a Steam Deck in nearly every department, the ASUS ROG Ally X20 is the perfect weapon of choice. The original Ally X was great, this OLED Ally X20 is transcendent.
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