I'm certainly enjoy my Rog Ally (Z1E) more than my Switch 2 at the moment. But PC handhelds are rarely going to come close to a new console on price/performance. The $999 ROG Xbox Ally X doesn't get you much bang for your buck, especially when you can find Z1E handhelds for less than half the price. Better optimisation for the specific hardware is definitely helping the Switch 2 a lot here. Though as games become more demanding on the CPU and RAM that will move the needle in the direction of the ROG Xbox Ally X, which has a FAR more powerful CPU than the Switch 2.

I take your point that some people will use the Steam Deck docked but surely 99% of the point of the device is portable gaming. It makes a great portable gaming system but a rubbish docked system. I've only recently got a steam deck so bear that in mind but have no intention of ever using it docked as I have much more powerful PCs to play games on. As for frame generation I can see it being worthwhile but I can also see it not being worthwhile I guess it really depends on the game and how much input latency it adds. Some games seem to have extra frames at very little cost, maybe some spare CPU or GPU resources that can be utilised. It still seems strange to me to compare systems clearly designed for portable use with regard docked performance. Yes I realise you can't get hdmi output on Switch 2 with portable gaming mode (I assume) so really it needs to be shown with the use of a camera to be realistic. Maybe they should all be shown with camera footage to be fair. Digital Foundry stated in a recent video that the Switch 2 frame rate tanks under really extreme fire fights with a lot of people on screen and outside and that would be also good to show in a video how the game fairs under more extreme load. I have a mini pc with a Ryzen 7 5700u and even that with its Vega graphics has upscaling and frame generation as you can see from this video and can deliver a good Cyberpunk experience at 720p. It was only £130 from Aliexpress in 16GB/512GB storage configuration however it came with one single 16GB sodimm so had to buy another to get dual channel memory which was £16 I think from CEX to get full performance. The point is this doesn't even have the RDNA 2.0 graphics of Steam Deck. Cyberpunk well configured on PC can perform far better than Switch 2 in my opinion. The 5700U is twice as powerful as Steam Deck in CPU performance but doesn't have the quad channel memory of Steam Deck and also the GPU gflops is about 2 Teraflops on 5700U rather than the 1.6Teraflops on Steam Deck but its on inferior Vega graphics architecture. Of course its docked performance only for me although from what I understand the 5700U chipset can deliver as much as 3hrs of gaming on the right laptop. I personally would expect the Steam Deck to deliver a more robust portable gaming experience than Switch 2 with the correct configuration but that is against Switch 2 portable performance not docked performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19dMQILFQ-o

Seems like Switch 2's GPU is much more advanced/efficient, and DLSS is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Official FSR4 support could make a significant difference though.

SteamDeck was quite impressive for its launch date and price. ROG Xbox Ally X is just not. But I expect the next ROG/Xbox handheld to be RDNA5 based, which could be a massive '"per dollar" upgrade.

I'd be surprised if they skipped straight from RDNA3.5 to RDNA5. Surely AMD is going to release Z3 RDNA4 handheld chips in 2026/2027. OFC Asus could just skip that and not release anything with the Z3 chips... But I think we may get a new ROG Ally with or without Xbox branding in the next 2 years.

Judging how AMD has stuck to the old RDNA 3.5 in the new Z2 chips, and RDNA5 rumoured to not come till 2027 it wouldn't surprise me if we're waiting till 2028 for RDNA5 powered mobile chips for PC handhelds. In fact the first handheld device utilising RDNA5 may be the rumoured PS Handheld.

Well, 65w or 100w battery banks are not exactly expensive either.

I bought this one last year for €39 and it is awesome! Loads all of my mobile devices (Android phone, iPad Pro M2, Steam Deck OLED, Switch 1 OLED and Switch 2) very very fast:

And thanks to the two USB-C ports of the Switch 2, it is more easier than ever to connect the USB-C-cable without causing a disturbance.

Eurogamers isn't sure whether the Rog Ally X is an XBox or not. Still Windows quirks while trying to use it as an XBox and it doesn't simply play all your XBox console games.

https://www.eurogamer.net/rog-xbox-ally-x-review

If you found the Steam Deck to be not console-like enough, then you might want to reset your expectations for the ROG Xbox Ally X.

Imagine Steam's Big Screen mode and implementation on Steam Deck, but not quite as slick. While this fullscreen mode does well to keep Windows and its multitude of apps out of sight, it does pop up, sometimes quite visibly.

The biggest issue here is Xbox's Play Anywhere initiative, which was designed so that you can buy a game in the Xbox ecosystem and can play it on all Xbox devices. In practice it's some way off being ideal, and requires players to inform themselves as much as possible to avoid disappointment.

Let's take CD Projekt Red's two biggest releases, The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 - games I'm keen to play on this powerhouse of a handheld. I own both of these games on Xbox, the games being playable on my Xbox Series X. Despite owning these on the Xbox ecosystem, neither game is available on the Xbox PC store and they aren't Play Anywhere titles, so I can't play them on the ROG - not unless I want to stream them in via cloud gaming.

Specific ROG settings, too, shatter the Xbox illusion. On the ROG there's a Command Center that operates aside from the Xbox app. The toolbar version is harmless enough, but to delve deeper you must open the app fully and leave the Xbox familiarity behind. Updates to apps and services are also handled separately to the main Xbox app, which I feel could have been integrated more seamlessly.

At £800 this isn't a cheap handheld - for comparison the basic Steam Deck is £349. The ROG Xbox Ally X is more powerful than a Steam Deck, by a considerable margin that does make playing those more demanding releases a far more pleasant experience. And it's got a nice VRR 120Hz screen, plus better battery life providing you aren't pushing the GPU too hard (I got about 90 minutes play time while maxing out performance, but in excess of six hours in less demanding games). But it's not quite as high-end as you might expect.


It's an attempt, about as much as the windows store's attempt to win people over.

Yeah this seems to be a clear case of diminishing returns, we’re at the point where being over double the price doesn’t result in a massive improvement. I’m willing to bet most people don’t notice the differences without being shown/told.

It seems that according to that leaked roadmap, they are sticking with RDNA3.5 til 2027, when we should see first RDNA5 APUs.

Hasn't that always been the case with console vs PC. A comparable pre-build PC being at least twice the price of a dedicated console. What's missing here is the ability to 'click' your own PC handheld together.

But it's the same difference in the end, walled garden, games optimized for one hardware spec (Switch 2), vs a general PC environment running an XBox app, but also any other PC store you want.

The tricky part for Asus and Xbox here is that while there is direct support for the Xbox (PC) store and Game Pass, they also have support for other stores, including Steam, Epic, EA, Ubisoft, GOG, and Battle.net - plus everything else you want to do - If you really wanted, you can even hook up a keyboard, mouse, and monitor and use it as a proper PC.

A true Xbox ecosystem experience without the need for game-by-game tweaking would be wonderful, but access to all PC gaming stores, with downloaded games all aggregated in one serviceable app, is worth the trade offs if you are more excited about PC gaming than Xbox gaming.

And you can upgrade it as well:

If you do want to spend more, though, it's possible to transform this handheld into a tiny beast of a gaming PC - the ROG XG Mobile (2025) external GPU costs £1400, but promises performance up to a GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU. Hook that up and connect to a TV or monitor and you've got a lot of power to play with.


Marketing this as an XBox handheld is the mistake. Kinda like how WiiU came over as an overpriced peripheral for Wii. And the ROG XBox won't even play all your XBox games natively.

I mean having played both versions in handheld mode they are roughly comparable now that the FSR4 INT8 model leaked. Before that the SW2 had a clear advantage. The Switch 2 version is running at a higher average internal resolution in quality mode and roughly comparable average internal resolution in performance mode. On both platforms they're 30fps experience with significant drops, unless you use the "Golden 40" settings for Steam Deck, but then the game looks very much worse because you need to use FSR 2 to achieve that. 

Performance on Switch 2 handheld is roughly comparable to Switch 2 docked, if not slightly better. It's mostly internal resolution that differ between handheld and docked, in this game and most others. 

Switch 2 also has better battery life than LED Steam Deck in this game.