Handheld Xbox might not be all it seems, but it’s a great portable PC

Xbox has been a gaming brand of note for 24 years, and has never before released a handheld console. By some measures, it still hasn’t. But the Xbox Ally X is an important device in connecting the Xbox consoles of the past to the PC-centric Microsoft gaming of the future.

It’s also a device that addresses a clear demand for more competent Windows handhelds. And most importantly, it’s a great machine to play on if you don’t mind jumping through some of the still-remaining PC gaming hoops.

Is it the perfect PC gaming handheld? Of course not. All of these devices require choices and sacrifices to get modern games running on light machines powered by small batteries, and I don’t agree with all the choices made for the Xbox Ally X. For many players, Valve’s Steam Deck will provide a smoother experience at a lower price.

But, for a whole range of reasons, there are others who want a machine to be running Windows rather than Linux. Not coincidentally, that includes folks who have invested in Xbox games and subscriptions. And of the gaming handhelds that come with Windows pre-installed, this just might be the best. At $1600, it’s also one of the most expensive.

Everything is an Xbox

Though it says Xbox all over it, and though it’s clearly designed to bring players from both the PC and Xbox console worlds to a common middle ground, the Ally X isn’t manufactured by Microsoft.

This might be confusing to consumers who haven’t been hanging on every detail of the tech giant’s dealings, but the machine also isn’t a portable version of the Xbox Series X, and just because you’ve bought a game on Xbox consoles doesn’t necessarily mean you can play it here (or vice versa).

Xbox consoles as we know them may be on the way out, with Microsoft moving towards Windows as its gaming platform of choice.

Xbox is on its way to becoming a collection of game services rather than a line of consoles, and this machine is a step along that journey. It’s a custom version of the ROG Ally X, manufactured by ASUS, running Windows 11. Like a desktop PC, it plays games from the Microsoft Store (which the company has increasingly integrated with the Xbox console store since 2016), but also from any other store or source of PC games.

Of course the sticks, buttons, triggers and touchscreen make it all feel a lot more like a console than a PC when you’re actively playing games, and there are three main things the Xbox Ally X has going for it over most other Windows handhelds, including from ASUS.

First, the Xbox-inspired grip handles and wide, textured triggers make for a very comfortable device. Ergonomically it does feel like Microsoft and ASUS have collaborated to make the best of both worlds between their machines. Though aesthetically it retains a bit too much ROG for my personal liking. I would have been fine if it resembled an Xbox device more closely, in a visual sense.

The Xbox Ally lets you bring games from Steam, Epic and other stores into the Xbox app, so you can avoid Windows altogether.

Second, Microsoft has delivered a workable software solution to using Windows for handheld gaming. My biggest issue with all previous Windows-powered handhelds is that trying to use the operating system with just a small touchscreen — no keyboard or mouse — is insufferable. Here the system boots into a custom full-screen version of the Xbox app. You can buy games from the Microsoft Store or other supported apps (including Steam, Epic and GOG), browse through the ones you own or have installed, check out the Game Pass subscription library and launch into any game, all without leaving this console-like interface.

And third, it’s extremely powerful. As with all PCs, you’ll inevitably find yourself tweaking settings to strike your favoured balance between fidelity, performance and battery life, but that’s a nicer experience here than on other Windows handhelds, and you have a lot of overhead. The default profile uses 17W of power and that’s a good option for getting four hours of continuous play from a less-demanding game. Up it to turbo mode however (25W on battery, 35W while you’re plugged in) and it’s a performance beast.

There are other elements of the system I’m not as positive on. The display is 1080p with a 120Hz refresh, which sounds like what you want for video games. But it’s a 7-inch, 16:9 LCD panel with no HDR support, meaning it looks small and dull compared to a lot of the competition. The Steam Deck OLED for example has a far richer display, while its lower resolution and 90Hz refresh is totally appropriate for a handheld.

I also find ASUS’ armory crate software pretty lacking, and here it clashes with Microsoft’s generally slicker experience. I was able to do the basics like change the RGB lighting, configure the gyro for motion controls in games and set power profiles, but it’s all very fiddly and feels like it should be integrated into the Xbox app. And speaking of which, the top priority for the software teams should be getting all of the system’s updates (across Windows and ASUS elements) into one spot because it’s currently a headache.

Jumping in to games

I like playing on consoles because all the optimisations and settings are done for you. That’s never the case on PC, but things are getting better.

Loading up the brand new Outer Worlds 2 on the Xbox Ally X, the game measured the hardware and loaded up a suitable profile that seemed designed to get it running at 60 frames per second. It worked, and players less annoyingly particular than myself might not have changed anything, but I could see it was using some ugly and aggressive AI upscaling. With some tweaks, I had it looking great and running at a solid 30 frames. Plugging into power for the 35W turbo, it can do 60.

Games from at least five years ago tend to be the best experience because you can just run them at high settings. I played the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2 and it was both gorgeous and smooth. Cyberpunk 2077 also made it to 60 frames per second just fine at mostly high settings.

Balancing out the need to tinker is PC’s huge flexibility. You can stick to the Microsoft Store, and if you have Game Pass you’ll have hundreds of games to play instantly. But you can also access everything you’ve ever bought on Steam, or got for free on Epic.

If you want to play games from stores not included in the Xbox app you’ll need to switch to full Windows mode, which is still annoying to navigate, but it works. Obviously, some PC games are designed to work with mouse and keyboard and won’t be great experiences here. Steam and Microsoft Store both have verification systems to warn you about these before you buy. Or you could connect a mouse and keyboard. (And a display, and a Bluetooth headset, it’s a PC after all.)

For most games, you can pick up where you left off on PC or console. But you can also use the Ally as a console by plugging it into a TV.

If you’re coming from an Xbox console, you may be wondering what the move to PC means for you, and the truth is it depends on your library. If you mostly play from Game Pass, and any games you’ve purchased have supported Play Anywhere (a Microsoft feature that entitles you to a game on console and PC when you buy it on either), your games may all come over. Most have cloud saves that automatically sync between the Microsoft Store and Xbox console, so your progress will remain.

There are holes in this system, however. For example I own Star Wars Outlaws on Xbox, but it doesn’t support Play Anywhere, so I would need to purchase it again on PC to play it natively on the Ally. Older games, for example games that were originally released on Xbox 360, are also rarely present on the PC Microsoft Store. You’d have to buy them on Steam if they’re available at all, and save data doesn’t carry over.

Microsoft’s stopgap for this is streaming. Game Pass subscribers can stream supported games from the cloud to their Ally, and these are the Xbox console versions. So I can technically play both Outlaws and 2010’s Viva Pinata on the Ally, as long as I have stable internet.

Overall, though the Xbox Ally X is expensive, its take on Windows gaming is a big improvement and its performance and battery life are very impressive. With Microsoft now publishing its games on all platforms, and planning to use a similar Windows approach for future consoles, I hope the Ally benefits from software refinements and any future methods of playing Xbox console games on PC.

But even if its niggles are never addressed, this is an excellent portable games machine, especially if you’re interested in keeping one foot in the Xbox ecosystem while exploring other PC options.

[Disclosure: ASUS provided an Xbox Ally X for evaluation, on a loan basis]

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