6 things other gaming handhelds should copy from the ROG Ally X

Asus must read XDA because they took our wishlist for the ROG Ally 2 and turned it into the mid-cycle refresh ROG Ally X. With a long list of quality-of-life adjustments, it’s the best PC gaming handheld by a country mile and sets a blueprint for future handhelds. Asus got so many things right that other companies should take note and, in the best traditions of technology advancement, copy what they can see. I’ve used one for a few weeks, and it’s also my favorite Windows handheld, although I find I go back to the LCD version of the Steam Deck to get my portable gaming fix. That’s more because I like SteamOS, but Valve and every other handheld manufacturer need to copy these features from the ROG Ally X on future releases.

6 The desktop-sized SSD

Seriously, stop with the weird form factors already

One problem with many gaming handhelds is the lack of capacity on the internal SSD for installing games. Seriously, 256GB or 512GB is not enough today, and the problem at launch was made worse by a lack of compatible SSDs. That’s because the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and MSI Claw used 2230-style SSDs, which are tiny and didn’t have much of a market before handhelds. The Legion Go used 2242-style SSDs, confusing the situation even more.

SSD manufacturers have caught up, and you can get a wide range of 2230 or 2242-style SSDs, but the ROG Ally X changed things again. Asus used a standard-sized 2280 SSD in the new handheld, which is the size that desktop PCs and laptops have used for years. No more worrying about finding a compatible drive, and while 2230 and 2242 SSDs seem to be limited in capacity to 2TB, 2280-style SSDs can be found at up to 8TB capacities. This should be the standard for every gaming handheld in the future, making things easier for manufacturers and consumers, who shouldn’t be expected to hunt for niche SSD sizes.

5 The huge battery capacity

Some handhelds forget they’re supposed to be portable

Asus didn’t just increase the ROG Ally X’s battery capacity over the original; the company doubled it to 80Whr. That’s a considerable increase, and as it kept the same AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, we knew it was going to be a winner for battery life. Every other gaming handheld uses a smaller battery, and it shows. Even the long-lasting Steam Deck uses a 40Whr battery, which is helped by the relatively low-powered AMD APU and the customized Linux operating system. The Legion Go has a slightly larger 49.2Whr battery capacity, and the MSI Claw has a somewhat larger 54.5Whr one. Every gaming handheld maker needs to get on board with the path Asus blazed here because smaller batteries just won’t cut it.

Worryingly, even companies that were late in releasing their first PC gaming handheld have gone for relatively low-capacity batteries. The Acer Nitro Blaze 7 was announced at IFA with a 50.04Whr battery, which might be okay for a first attempt, but with a laptop-class AMD processor, it won’t get the same battery life as the lower-powered Ryzen Z1 Extreme. Ayaneo is the only PC gaming handheld maker that has an 80Whr battery inside some of its models. Still, these are also heavier than the ROG Ally X, reducing the time you can hold them comfortably.

4 Multiple cooling fans

Twice the cooling, half the sound

I’ve used many of the gaming handhelds on the market, and the ROG Ally X has been the best for keeping thermals in check with a minimum of noise. That’s mostly because of the well-designed cooling solution that uses large heatpipes and two fans to send heat out of the case. Two fans are always better than one, which is why the Legion Go is so noisy on anything but the lower TDP settings. The single fan just can’t keep up. The Steam Deck isn’t immune to this either because of its single fan.

A single fan isn’t enough to cool a laptop, and it shouldn’t be enough for gaming handhelds. Some signs of this change happening have already landed, with VideoCardz noticing the Legion Go product page changed to mention “dual fans.” Whether that’s referencing a mid-cycle refresh or a new device, we’re not sure, but it does show that Lenovo is listening to the feedback from the first device. Nobody wants to game on a handheld that gets hot and stays hot, and fan noise will always be an issue when using integrated speakers. Put two fans (or even more if there is space!) and keep the next generation of handhelds cooler while gaming.

3 The ergonomics

I’m not sure some handhelds realize they’re meant to be held

When Asus decided to put an 80Whr battery into the ROG Ally X, it also had to make it slightly thicker than the first iteration. That’s a good thing, as the extra heft makes it feel more like a console controller and more ergonomic. The grips are a different shape, and the back buttons are well, more normal and better centered, so they’re less prone to accidental pressing. The joysticks are now lighter to touch and are slightly different in shape. They’re not Hall effect, which would improve the experience, but maybe the next generation will have superior joystick sensing technology. The face buttons are higher to make them easier to press, the D-pad is bigger, and the triggers are wider, all adding up to a better feel in the hand.

I’m not saying this is the definitive shape that a handheld gaming console should use. There will always be enough differences in personal taste and hand sizes that no one shape will win. But, it’s in the right ballpark. The only other handheld that’s even close is the MSI Claw. I love my Steam Deck but the D-pad and button placement is kinda odd, and the stretch to the touchpads is even stranger. The Legion Go is way too thick, as are its controllers, and the rest of the market is using odd niche designs that don’t feel designed for the mainstream audience. Maybe that’s okay too, but as the console market shows, the winning designs are often “the same, but slightly different.”

2 A crisp 1080p display

The goldilocks size for handhelds

While I’d love an OLED screen on every gaming handheld, I have to concede that they use slightly more power than IPS panels. The 1080p, 120Hz display used on the ROG Ally X is the sweet spot between enough resolution for games, desktop tasks, and battery life. The Steam Deck’s 800p resolution is fine for gaming, but a struggle when trying to use SteamOS on the desktop without docking it to an external display. The Legion Go’s 1600p, 144Hz screen goes too far the other way, draining the battery too quickly even on 2D games that don’t tax the CPU that much. The Nintendo Switch has a 720p screen when handheld, but it doesn’t have a desktop mode to need a higher resolution. Until battery life is increased, or components become even more efficient, 1080p with a variable refresh rate is the way to go for handheld gaming consoles.

1 More memory

16GB is not enough for CPU and GPU use

The ROG Ally X increased the total available RAM to 24GB, which is an acceptable amount when you need to feed both the CPU and GPU from the same pool of memory. Earlier gaming handhelds almost all included 16GB of memory, which might be enough for the Steam Deck while running SteamOS, but for Windows-based handhelds it was a balancing act between desktop performance and in-game FPS. Every upcoming gaming handheld should use at least 24GB, as it gives you 8GB for the GPU and 16GB for the operating system and CPU tasks. I’d like to see future devices get more. RAM is cheap, so why stop there and start putting 32GB into handheld consoles? ​​​​​

The first generation of handheld consoles was great, but the next-gen will be even better

It’s an exciting time for on-the-go gamers, as the first generation of PC gaming handhelds showed that it isn’t just Nintendo games people want to play on a smaller screen. The market is roughly in the mid-cycle refresh period, with devices getting quality-of-life improvements or new screen types. The second generation won’t arrive until new mobile processors arrive, probably explicitly designed for gaming handheld power and performance needs. I hope that the upcoming models use the lessons learned already, like Hall effect joysticks and triggers, normal SSD sizes, and lower-power displays to heart, and we also get some improvements to Windows for the smaller screen sizes.