Asus ROG Ally X could actually be a major upgrade – maybe one that'll worry Nintendo and its Switch 2?

New hands-on experience with an engineering sample for the upcoming Asus ROG Ally X reveals some surprising improvements over the original model, which prominent hardware leakers have further expanded on. 

The Verge recently went hands-on with a prototype for the Asus ROG Ally X, which is scheduled for an official unveiling on June 2.

This was a limited hands-on, mind, as Sean Hollister of The Verge could not power on the device or use it for an extended period. However, it's reported that the Asus ROG Ally X is a black unit instead of white, featuring improved ergonomics and smaller grips. It's also believed to be heavier owing to a larger battery inside. It's reportedly thicker at 1.5-inches compared to the original's 1.27-inches, too. 

Then we get into the purported specs and pricing for the Asus ROG Ally X from hardware leaker MysteryLupin on X (formerly Twitter). The base specs appear to be nearly identical to the first iteration with a reported AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme CPU and 7-inch 1080p 120Hz display. However, there's supposedly a bigger 1TB SSD and a staggering 24GB LPDDR5X RAM for the system. 

In terms of battery life, the new handheld is rumored to boast up to eight hours of longevity. As a frame of reference, the Asus ROG Ally currently features up to a 512GB SSD and 16GB LPDDR5 RAM clocked at 6400MHz. That means the next system could have double the storage space and significantly faster memory onboard. It's rumored price is $700 in the US (around £550, AU$1,050). 

The existing Asus ROG Ally is technically capable of around six hours of battery life, but demanding games can seriously drain the battery. It's not a unique issue to Asus' device, as the Steam Deck and Lenovo Legion Go also have this problem, but a larger battery could go a long way to alleviating it. 

It still looks like iteration over innovation

From what we can discern from the hands-on notes and hardware leaks, it appears as though the Asus ROG Ally X will be more of a stopgap between the current handheld and a true successor. We expected that from previous rumors, though, and if the unit should feature double the storage and 24GB of RAM, there's no doubting it will be a superior experience to the original (albeit lacking any truly exciting upgrades).

We've seen hardware revisions happen in the last year in the handheld gaming scene, most notably with the Steam Deck OLED appearing around a year after the original. This new model also bumped the storage capacity up to 1TB, but featured a vastly improved and significantly brighter display of 1,000 nits with HDR that's yet to be beaten. 

Regardless, all will be revealed in a few weeks with the Asus ROG Ally X launch event scheduled for just before Computex 2024. Whether it can hold a candle to Valve's second machine, or flex dominance over the MSI Claw and Lenovo Legion Go remains to be seen. Or indeed whether the new device will give Nintendo something to worry about in the portable gaming arena, for that matter.

We'll keep you posted, of course, but these early signs are promising enough.

Via VideoCardz

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