ROG Xbox Ally X Pre-Orders Are Now Live, And It Costs $1000

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Ever since the steam deck, the handheld PC market has only been growing. It’s been awesome seeing more and more companies get into the market, with Asus and Lenovo being some of the first. While a little later than I expected, Xbox is now getting into the handheld space, partnering with Asus to come out with the ROG Xbox Ally X. I’ve been quite curious and excited to see how it would perform and what price it would be at, and I was hopeful that it wouldn’t be as pricey due to Microsoft’s involvement. However, pre-orders have just gone live, and we got our first look at the pricing, and I may have been wrong.

Both the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X pre-orders just went live today, which I initially found weird that they didn’t announce it during their showcase. Now, after seeing the prices, I can see why. The Xbox Ally, which sports 16GB RAM and a Z2 APU, will be $599.99, while the Ally X, which has 24GB RAM and a Z2 Extreme APU, will be $999.99. The leaks prior mentioned $899.99 for the X, so I was a little surprised to see the increase. Both devices will start shipping on October 16.

I’ll admit, I’m a little bit disappointed. The Z2 extreme APU is definitely an improvement over the Z1 Extreme, but this is a tough price to swallow. It might be worth it for the unified UI, which I heard mixed feelings about, but it is also coming to older devices and other handheld with windows on it, so that may be a moot point. There are definitely going to be some performance improvements, but they will be minor compared to the price increase. Some games, like Borderlands 4, may be a little bit more playable, but it will be minor and still have issues.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a device with the Z2 extreme APU to test, so I can’t say exactly what the difference will be, but I do have an AYANEO 3 handheld, which has a similar APU that is slightly more powerful than the Z2 Extreme. It does offer some solid improvements, but I wouldn’t say enough to justify anything close to $1000 when you can get a Z1 Extreme handheld for $600. I would say the Xbox Ally with a Z2 chip is going to be the most appealing for those getting into handhelds and want windows with more power then the Steam Deck. It’s similar in power to the Z1 Extreme handhelds. However, at the $1000 price tag, I would probably recommend waiting and looking into handheld like the GPD WIN 5, which sports an insane APU that will demolish the competition, the AI Max+ 395. It is a little pricey, coming in over $1500, but I would consider it way more future proof than the Xbox Ally X.

You can pre-order the Xbox handheld over on the Xbox Xbox website.

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