To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand, Asus has just launched the ROG Xbox Ally X20 – a new handheld gaming PC. It’s on sale now, with a 7.4-inch OLED screen and AMD’s Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme inside a translucent black shell with gold parts showing through, Asus announces.
Asus pitches the see-through plastic as a throwback that gaming veterans (read: people like you, and us) will fondly remember. That’s a polite way of saying you’re old, to be absolutely clear (pun unintended).
Asus calls the display panel on the Xbox Ally X20 the ROG Nebula HDR. It runs at 1920 x 1080 and 120Hz, with variable refresh rate (VRR) from 30Hz to 120Hz to cut tearing when frame rates dip.
HDR highlights reach 1,400 nits, and the screen carries VESA’s DisplayHDR True Black 1400 rating, the product page says. Two display modes come with it: HDR Native keeps a game’s original colors, and HDR Vivid pushes them harder.
Its joysticks use magnetic TMR sensors, built to cut the risk of stick drift, with a tight 3% dead zone. A new algorithm stops the sticks from snapping to the four main directions.
The D-pad lifts slightly and turns 90 degrees to switch between strict 4-way input for retro and indie games and 8-way for fighting games, with no tools.
For cooling, it gets larger fans with fewer blades, which Asus says move 20% more air, and 11% more fin area on the heatsink. Air now runs down three paths: behind the screen, through the fins and straight to the processor.
The Armoury Crate SE software adds a Travel Mode that caps charging at 65W for seat power outlets on planes and trains, and turns on by itself with Airplane Mode.
ROG Xbox Ally X20 key specs
- Display: 7.4-inch OLED (ROG Nebula HDR), 1920 x 1080, 120Hz, VRR from 30Hz to 120Hz (FreeSync Premium Pro), 600 nits SDR and 1,400 nits HDR, 100% DCI-P3, Dolby Vision HDR, anti-reflection coating, Gorilla Glass Victus, touch
- Processor: AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme, 8 cores, 16 threads, up to 5.0GHz; NPU up to 50 TOPS
- Memory: 24GB LPDDR5X
- Storage: 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD; microSD Express card reader
- Battery: 80Wh
- Charging and ports: 68W USB-C adapter (whether one is included varies by country and model); USB4 (Thunderbolt 4 compliant, DisplayPort 2.1), USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 3.5mm audio jack
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4
- Software: Windows 11 Home, Armoury Crate SE
- Controls: TMR joysticks, transforming D-pad (4-way or 8-way), Hall effect analog triggers with impulse haptics, two assignable grip buttons, HD haptics, 6-axis gyro
- Size and weight: 30.0 x 12.1 x 2.75–5.13cm; 756g
- Other: fingerprint sensor, Microsoft Pluton security processor, two speakers with Dolby Atmos, translucent black shell
The ROG Xbox Ally X20 costs $1,299 (about Php 82,000) just on its own, about $300 more than the original Ally X for the same chip, 24GB of memory, 1TB of storage, and 80Wh battery. The $2,499 (about Php 157,600) bundle adds ROG XREAL R1 Edition 20 AR glasses, which show a 171-inch virtual screen at 4 meters, a dbrand Killswitch case and a Pelican Protector case.
The original ROG Xbox Ally and the Ally X stay on sale at $599 (about Php 37,800) and $999 (about Php 63,000). Watch out for all three to appear at your nearest local gaming retailer.
