{"video_id":"cm9pDNdO2vc","title":"It might FINALLY be time to upgrade - XBOX ALLY X Unboxing","channel":"ShortCircuit","show":"ShortCircuit","published_at":"2025-11-05T14:58:16Z","duration_s":822,"segments":[{"start_s":0.08,"end_s":6.16,"text":"As an ROG Ally Z1 Extreme owner, I skipped the X. It wasn't much of an","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":4.0,"end_s":14.08,"text":"upgrade. But now that Xbox and Asus have teamed up to give us the ROG Xbox Ally","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":10.32,"end_s":16.08,"text":"and Xbox Ally X, I might be due for an","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":14.08,"end_s":21.279,"text":"upgrade. Let's look at the box here. We've got ROG Xbox Ally. This is the the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":19.439,"end_s":25.76,"text":"white one is the Ally, which is the weaker one. It's got a Z2A processor","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":23.6,"end_s":30.56,"text":"instead of the new Z2 Extreme. Uh, but we'll get more into that later. Their","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":27.359,"end_s":32.48,"text":"code name is RC73 YA. I'm actually","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":30.56,"end_s":37.44,"text":"writing the review for these units now. And uh that's why my unit is actually","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":35.6,"end_s":41.84,"text":"already opened. The main difference between a fully new experience and what","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":40.399,"end_s":45.68,"text":"I've got here is there's normally some plastic that kind of covers the device.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":44.079,"end_s":50.64,"text":"You just peel that off and there's some plastic around the box. That's it. Uh","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":48.16,"end_s":54.16,"text":"for this SC, we're doing a more of just, you know, open the thing, check it out,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":52.64,"end_s":58.239,"text":"take a look, and see if it actually feels or plays any good. If you want the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":56.16,"end_s":63.6,"text":"more full review, check it out on LT. We've also got similar to the ROG Ally","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":61.12,"end_s":70.479,"text":"and Liix. It does come with a little stand from Asus. Otherwise, that's it in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":66.56,"end_s":72.799,"text":"here, but past the handheld itself, we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":70.479,"end_s":76.479,"text":"get our charger. Yep, 65 watt right there. My only complaint here is that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":74.56,"end_s":80.159,"text":"the prongs aren't retractable. Let's see how long this cable is. Probably about 6","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":78.4,"end_s":84.08,"text":"ft. Definitely long enough for you to plug this into an outlet and then stay","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":82.4,"end_s":86.799,"text":"tethered to the wall. Then, what's in this other box? actually never even","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":85.52,"end_s":91.92,"text":"looked through these when I opened it. I had all the cables I needed, so I just kind of like took the handheld out and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":89.6,"end_s":95.92,"text":"started using it. A little gaming handheld guide. That's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":94.479,"end_s":99.2,"text":"basically it. That's what you get in the box. And honestly, the big standout for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":97.68,"end_s":104.56,"text":"me is the kickstand. It's got a little soft","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":102.479,"end_s":109.119,"text":"piece of like felt or something on the front here or foam so that you're even","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":106.479,"end_s":113.84,"text":"though your screen is uh sliding into it, you're not going to damage it. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":110.96,"end_s":117.52,"text":"while it is covering part of the screen, uh, that's actually really just the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":115.04,"end_s":121.759,"text":"bezel and the ROG logo. So, you're not even losing any screen real estate when","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":119.119,"end_s":125.6,"text":"you pop it in here. So, overall, really nice inclusion. You don't need it, but","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":123.759,"end_s":128.8,"text":"hey, I'd rather they include it and not need it than need it and not have it.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":127.2,"end_s":132.8,"text":"But, there isn't just the Ally, there's also the Ally X for a significantly","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":131.039,"end_s":136.48,"text":"higher price that we'll touch on later. And unlike the white one, this one's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":134.239,"end_s":139.599,"text":"black. Also, the unboxing experience is basically the same. You've got your card","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":138.0,"end_s":144.16,"text":"here. The whole device is wrapped in some plastic.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":141.92,"end_s":146.959,"text":"Also includes a 65 watt charger and I believe the kickstand as well. And","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":145.599,"end_s":152.08,"text":"otherwise, yeah, it's the same. You just pull the device out and there you go. Look at these little guys. Aren't they","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":149.68,"end_s":155.76,"text":"cute together? They're almost the exact same aside from the black and white","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":153.519,"end_s":162.64,"text":"color schemes. We'll start with the regular Ally NonX.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":158.72,"end_s":164.16,"text":"672 g. Okay, very good. And then our","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":162.64,"end_s":169.12,"text":"Xbacks, 720 g. So, yeah, there's a not","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":166.879,"end_s":173.12,"text":"insignificant difference in weight, and that's probably because of the 80watth","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":171.92,"end_s":178.239,"text":"battery that's in here, which is going to be a little larger than the 60Wh battery in this guy. But what it cost","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":176.72,"end_s":183.12,"text":"you in weight, it makes up for in performance. But we'll get to that later because first I want to tell you guys","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":181.04,"end_s":186.8,"text":"about the rest of the construction and everything. I actually had a really cool","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":185.44,"end_s":192.319,"text":"uh meeting with ASUS where they showed us all the different like prototypes they built um and the internals of this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":190.56,"end_s":197.599,"text":"thing. So, I've seen it torn down. is pretty uh repairable with just a few","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":195.44,"end_s":200.08,"text":"screws. I think one of them's captive. The only thing that you might have to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":198.959,"end_s":203.76,"text":"worry about if you're going to open these things and change out the SSD or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":202.319,"end_s":206.8,"text":"swap the sticks or something like that is there's a tiny ribbon cable that you","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":205.599,"end_s":213.04,"text":"want to watch out for when you're opening it. So, when you do get the shell separate, don't rip it open. Just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":211.2,"end_s":216.0,"text":"slightly lift it up and then look for the cable, disconnect it, and you're","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":214.319,"end_s":219.68,"text":"good to go from there. Aside from the obviously different controller grips,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":218.0,"end_s":223.12,"text":"which we'll talk about later, this is very similar to an ROG Ally. So, if","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":221.92,"end_s":229.04,"text":"you've seen one of those, then you've already kind of seen one of these. The main differences are the face buttons","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":226.959,"end_s":232.959,"text":"are nice and big and chunky like a real controller. Your preference may vary. I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":231.44,"end_s":237.92,"text":"prefer these bigger ones. Lionus doesn't like them, but that's, you know, to each","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":235.44,"end_s":243.599,"text":"their own. The thumb sticks feel significantly better than the ROG Ally.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":240.72,"end_s":246.959,"text":"They're not nearly as loose and uh I was playing a lot of skate on these things","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":245.2,"end_s":252.56,"text":"and it just oh my god it was night and day playing on this versus my ally. The","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":249.439,"end_s":256.0,"text":"screen is the same. It's still a 7 in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":252.56,"end_s":257.44,"text":"1080p 120 Hz display. IPS it's not bad.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":256.0,"end_s":262.479,"text":"Obviously it's not an OLED. I know everyone wanted this thing to be OLED even at the price point. But I promise","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":260.32,"end_s":265.84,"text":"you if they made it OLED it would cost more than it already does. As for the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":264.4,"end_s":271.199,"text":"top IO, we've got our power button and fingerprint sensor, headphone jack,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":268.16,"end_s":273.04,"text":"micro SD card slot on the other side of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":271.199,"end_s":278.32,"text":"the device like they fixed with the Alli X volume rocker. Then we've got our two","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":275.6,"end_s":285.68,"text":"USBC ports. The one right here is USB 3.2 Gen 2. And then this guy with a nice","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":281.919,"end_s":286.8,"text":"little 40 next to it is Thunderbolt 4.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":285.68,"end_s":291.28,"text":"So, you're going to be able to connect this to an eGPU no problem. They've","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":289.12,"end_s":294.56,"text":"taken away their XG Mobile connection and uh now we're just using Thunderbolt,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":293.04,"end_s":299.28,"text":"which is way more universal and easy to use. And then on the bottom there's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":296.32,"end_s":304.96,"text":"nothing but screws. I love having the second USBC port. That's actually a huge","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":302.08,"end_s":308.4,"text":"improvement over my uh Alli Z1 Extreme because now I can connect both a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":306.4,"end_s":312.32,"text":"keyboard and a mouse if I wanted to. Or, you know, you can charge it while you've","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":309.68,"end_s":315.12,"text":"got a keyboard attached because mouse fine. I can deal without having a mouse","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":313.84,"end_s":319.52,"text":"on these things, but without having a keyboard, it is really a nightmare to type in like passwords and stuff like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":318.08,"end_s":323.919,"text":"that. As for the rest of the shell and the plastic itself, uh, we've got this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":321.52,"end_s":327.84,"text":"little ASUS logo down here. And then something I'm actually just kind of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":325.039,"end_s":331.68,"text":"noticing now on the black one. Yeah, I never noticed this once on the white","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":329.199,"end_s":336.56,"text":"one. It's almost impossible to see. Uh, but on the black, it's super obvious.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":333.28,"end_s":338.16,"text":"You've got this like Xbox ROG scribed","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":336.56,"end_s":341.84,"text":"all along it. I don't know how well the camera will pick it up. That's just kind","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":339.84,"end_s":345.12,"text":"of a nice little touch. And then the back is actually textured really nicely.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":343.759,"end_s":350.56,"text":"So you feel like you've got a good grip on this thing. I mean, you're going to kind of need it because like holding it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":347.759,"end_s":354.96,"text":"like this is fine, but I can tell you there's a scuff on this guy because I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":352.32,"end_s":358.4,"text":"was holding it like that and it snick snagged on my jeans and it uh it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":356.8,"end_s":361.919,"text":"dropped. It hit the floor. It's okay. >> Don't worry about it. >> Then we've got our couple of front","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":360.4,"end_s":365.36,"text":"speaker grills here. I don't think they did a major update on the speakers, but","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":363.919,"end_s":369.039,"text":"they're pretty solid. We'll get to those later. One thing they have seemed to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":367.199,"end_s":372.88,"text":"improve is the rumble. I don't know if it's just having it in a bigger handle","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":371.12,"end_s":376.08,"text":"that I feel it more, but or if they've actually improved the rumble in it, but","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":374.56,"end_s":381.6,"text":"it's significantly better than the other units. And then the final kind of touch","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":377.68,"end_s":382.96,"text":"is just just like ROG on the side here.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":381.6,"end_s":388.16,"text":"What's actually really surprising me that I didn't notice while gaming on it, and it's only once I've started looking","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":385.759,"end_s":394.479,"text":"at it more closely, is how much like ROG and ASUS stuff is on this thing. Like","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":390.479,"end_s":397.6,"text":"ROG, Asus ROG logo. They've got the ROG","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":394.479,"end_s":399.919,"text":"logo on the back here. And then for Xbox","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":397.6,"end_s":403.36,"text":"or Microsoft for that matter, you've literally got the Xbox button right","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":401.6,"end_s":408.24,"text":"there. And then for the nonX, it's almost the same except these USBC ports","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":406.4,"end_s":414.72,"text":"are a little different. Instead, both of them are USBC 3.2 Gen 2 and the display","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":412.72,"end_s":420.16,"text":"port that we get on the DisplayPort one is only DP 1.4, unlike the 2.1 we're","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":418.16,"end_s":422.96,"text":"getting on the other guy. To be clear, these things are, unless you're hooking","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":421.44,"end_s":426.96,"text":"it up to an eGPU, I don't think they're going to need anything bigger than DP","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":424.639,"end_s":429.599,"text":"1.4, for, but uh you know, it's nice to have it and not need it than need it and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":428.24,"end_s":433.199,"text":"not have it. Pretty much the only thing left to talk about these guys before I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":431.28,"end_s":436.96,"text":"turn them on is the specs and the price. But if you want to protect yours a lot","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":434.72,"end_s":441.12,"text":"better than I didn't protect mine, check out Dbrand for their own kill switch","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":439.44,"end_s":444.479,"text":"case for this thing. Dbrand's kill switch cases are basically the gold","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":442.96,"end_s":447.44,"text":"standard when it comes to handheld gaming. I've even got one on my Switch,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":446.08,"end_s":454.0,"text":"too. And now you can get one for your very own Asus ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":451.68,"end_s":457.84,"text":"Fun fact, Dbrand is an official Xbox accessory partner, and this is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":455.44,"end_s":461.12,"text":"officially designed for Xbox. Honestly, it's pretty comfortable. The grips are","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":459.44,"end_s":465.599,"text":"super grippy, even grippier than they were before. And all the cutouts are in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":463.44,"end_s":469.12,"text":"the exact spot that you want them to be. Look, there's a ton of air flow back","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":467.36,"end_s":472.96,"text":"here. They've got a kickstand, so you can use the much better kickstand than","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":471.199,"end_s":476.639,"text":"the one that comes in the box for free. And then they've got all Yeah. all these","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":474.479,"end_s":479.84,"text":"little airflow ports. There's also a little hidden SD card holder down here.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":478.479,"end_s":484.08,"text":"This thing's great. You know what? If I buy an Xbox Alli X, I'm probably buying","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":482.4,"end_s":488.24,"text":"a kill switch for it as well. And I'm going to get mine from my bosseshort.com.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":486.72,"end_s":492.0,"text":"But if you're scared of the internet, you can just walk into a Best Buy in the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":490.479,"end_s":495.52,"text":"United States and pick one of these cases off the shelf. Thanks, Dbrand. All","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":494.16,"end_s":503.039,"text":"right, enough about design. Let's talk about power. And unfortunately, uh","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":498.639,"end_s":506.96,"text":"there's only a Z2A in the white nonX","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":503.039,"end_s":509.68,"text":"Ally versus the Z2 Extreme in the Black","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":506.96,"end_s":513.519,"text":"Ally X. And there's a pretty massive performance difference between the two,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":511.36,"end_s":519.2,"text":"both on the CPU side and on the GPU side. At $599 on the Ally NonX, you are","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":517.12,"end_s":524.399,"text":"essentially getting a beefed up Steam Deck. With the Z2A chip, you're getting","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":521.68,"end_s":529.76,"text":"four cores, eight threads on the CPU. And then for the GPU part of that APU,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":526.64,"end_s":532.8,"text":"it's RDNA 2 and you're only getting","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":529.76,"end_s":535.12,"text":"eight cores. And while this has the same","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":532.8,"end_s":540.48,"text":"1080p display I mentioned earlier, this one's only going to go up to a max of 20","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":537.44,"end_s":542.64,"text":"watts because it just it can't go higher","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":540.48,"end_s":546.0,"text":"than that. It that is 5 watts higher than the Steam Deck. So, I was being","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":544.16,"end_s":550.48,"text":"very serious when I said it's a juiced up Steam Deck. Whereas with the Xbox","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":548.24,"end_s":559.12,"text":"Ally X, you're getting an 8 core 16thread chip and 16 RDNA 3.5 graphics","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":555.519,"end_s":563.44,"text":"cores. This thing is kind of a beast.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":559.12,"end_s":565.44,"text":"And yeah, it's $1,000. Um, but to be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":563.44,"end_s":569.76,"text":"clear, if you want something higherend than that, you're almost doubling the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":567.279,"end_s":574.24,"text":"price. As for memory and storage, the white one's got a 512 gig SSD, which is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":572.88,"end_s":577.839,"text":"fine. You're going to be playing more, you know, double A or indie games on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":576.56,"end_s":582.88,"text":"this thing, and most of those aren't very big anyway, versus the 1 TBTE that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":580.72,"end_s":587.92,"text":"comes with the Ally X. The nice thing about both of these is they've got 2280","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":585.2,"end_s":591.68,"text":"mm NVMe drives back here. So, if you do want to make an upgrade, it should be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":589.44,"end_s":596.32,"text":"relatively easy. They've got micro SD cards, so buy a 1 TB micro SD card. If","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":594.959,"end_s":602.72,"text":"you're really worried about storage, pop it in and never worry about it again. And then the nice thing about the Xbacks","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":599.839,"end_s":606.8,"text":"is that this thing can juice up to 35 watts. That's a lot of juice. But enough","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":605.36,"end_s":611.519,"text":"about the numbers. Let's turn these things on. Now, they are basically","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":609.519,"end_s":616.079,"text":"Windows devices. So, that's the thing is to be very clear here. Xbox is making a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":614.16,"end_s":619.68,"text":"lot of mistakes recently. Don't worry about that. Just look at this as a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":617.92,"end_s":623.519,"text":"Windows handheld and you're totally fine. You don't need to use any of the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":621.12,"end_s":628.48,"text":"Xbox related stuff at all. Uh, one major difference if you do already own an Ally","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":625.6,"end_s":632.24,"text":"or an Ally X, they swapped the buttons for like Armory Crate and pause and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":630.16,"end_s":635.76,"text":"stuff. Really annoying. It didn't take me super long to get used to it, but I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":633.839,"end_s":638.8,"text":"did a lot of like, oh, pause the Nope, that's not pause at all. Oh, that's not","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":637.2,"end_s":642.24,"text":"Armory Crate at all. It's pretty cool. You can have your device set so that it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":640.48,"end_s":646.0,"text":"just launches straight into Xbox mode, so you never even see a Windows desktop.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":644.32,"end_s":652.399,"text":"It's not super seamless. if you go to launch a game that you own through Steam, uh, for example, it does keep","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":649.2,"end_s":654.079,"text":"your entire library in one space. So,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":652.399,"end_s":656.88,"text":"it's really easy to keep all your games together, even if you have multiple","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":655.44,"end_s":661.6,"text":"different platforms that you go to. But if you go to launch a game and you're booting the system up for the first","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":659.2,"end_s":664.079,"text":"time, uh, it'll then go to launch Steam and then so you're actually like waiting","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":662.88,"end_s":667.76,"text":"for a little while. Like, it even tells me Steam, Steam, Steam, Steam. It's not","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":666.24,"end_s":671.519,"text":"perfect. If you want a bit of a deeper dive, uh, definitely check out the LTT","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":669.839,"end_s":675.76,"text":"cuz, uh, me and Linus both have our own list of complaints. But, uh, overall","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":674.079,"end_s":678.56,"text":"it's better than I expected it to be. And if you don't want to use this at","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":677.12,"end_s":682.88,"text":"all, cuz you don't have to, you just hold the Xbox button and then instead of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":680.56,"end_s":688.399,"text":"Xbox full screen experience, you hit Windows desktop. Continue. Boom. Now I'm","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":686.48,"end_s":692.0,"text":"Windows handheld. Super simple. It doesn't always do a seamless transition.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":690.16,"end_s":696.16,"text":"Uh, but Skate was loading, so I expect it to be a little upset with me right","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":693.519,"end_s":700.24,"text":"now. You know, FSR quality, everything else is set to low. 30 FPS target frame.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":698.8,"end_s":704.399,"text":"Let's, you know, I'll put it to 60. See if it can do it. I don't think it can.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":702.0,"end_s":706.8,"text":"uh 720p feels a little floaty, but that's also just kind of skate. There","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":705.6,"end_s":711.76,"text":"was a big update, so I wonder if it's changed at all. But we'll try it on the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":708.64,"end_s":715.519,"text":"X afterwards because yeah, 20 watts. I'm","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":711.76,"end_s":717.279,"text":"getting like 80 75 FPS, which is totally","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":715.519,"end_s":720.56,"text":"pretty solid. Oh yeah, this already feels better. Oh, and I'm only on 13","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":718.8,"end_s":724.24,"text":"watts, dude. Man, this thing is such a beast. I'm going to blame Linus for this. He didn't update the device","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":722.88,"end_s":727.92,"text":"properly, so we don't have all of our FPS numbers showing properly, but like I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":726.16,"end_s":732.88,"text":"can tell you right now, all the settings the same. It's handling so much","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":730.88,"end_s":736.32,"text":"smoother. God, everything feels so good. Yo, I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":734.399,"end_s":739.92,"text":"like your beard, Bill. It still feels a little floaty, so I'm not sure if I'm","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":737.839,"end_s":744.16,"text":"just used to playing on PC. This feels great. If you want to see actual proper","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":742.48,"end_s":747.76,"text":"game benchmark results, please check out the LT that we're also uploading today.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":746.32,"end_s":751.839,"text":"But what I want to know right now is how good these speakers are. Oh, we'll use","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":749.76,"end_s":756.0,"text":"Microsoft Edge cuz there's no Chrome on this bad boy yet. It should be the same","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":754.079,"end_s":760.399,"text":"speakers on both devices. And on top of the vibration feeling pretty solid in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":757.6,"end_s":765.079,"text":"the grips, there's also in the Alli X vibration motors in the triggers as","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":762.079,"end_s":765.079,"text":"well.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":765.76,"end_s":769.32,"text":"That's pretty solid.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":771.36,"end_s":776.88,"text":"They're pretty good. Now, I'm pretty sure they're the exact same speakers,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":774.72,"end_s":780.959,"text":"but we'll check it out on the NonX as well.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":780.959,"end_s":788.72,"text":"That sounds the same to me. If you're picking which one to buy, it's kind of a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":785.519,"end_s":794.079,"text":"tough call. But the real big improvement","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":788.72,"end_s":797.12,"text":"is just the Z2 Extreme versus the Z2A. I","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":794.079,"end_s":798.639,"text":"don't really recommend the nonX. I think","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":797.12,"end_s":802.48,"text":"that if you want this level of performance, you're kind of better off","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":800.24,"end_s":806.56,"text":"just buying a Steam Deck for like 320 bucks. Especially cuz, you know, the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":804.32,"end_s":809.68,"text":"OLED Steam Deck is like what, $600? So, it's around the same price as this.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":807.839,"end_s":813.2,"text":"Anyway, if you're out there struggling to make up your mind right now, make","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":811.2,"end_s":816.72,"text":"sure to check out the LT for a bit more in-depth benchmarking and information.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":815.2,"end_s":819.68,"text":"And if you want to check out any other handhelds that we've looked at over the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":818.24,"end_s":823.6,"text":"past couple of years, check them out on ShortCircuit. We've unboxed a lot of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1}],"full_text":"As an ROG Ally Z1 Extreme owner, I skipped the X. It wasn't much of an upgrade. But now that Xbox and Asus have teamed up to give us the ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, I might be due for an upgrade. Let's look at the box here. We've got ROG Xbox Ally. This is the the white one is the Ally, which is the weaker one. It's got a Z2A processor instead of the new Z2 Extreme. Uh, but we'll get more into that later. Their code name is RC73 YA. I'm actually writing the review for these units now. And uh that's why my unit is actually already opened. The main difference between a fully new experience and what I've got here is there's normally some plastic that kind of covers the device. You just peel that off and there's some plastic around the box. That's it. Uh for this SC, we're doing a more of just, you know, open the thing, check it out, take a look, and see if it actually feels or plays any good. If you want the more full review, check it out on LT. We've also got similar to the ROG Ally and Liix. It does come with a little stand from Asus. Otherwise, that's it in here, but past the handheld itself, we get our charger. Yep, 65 watt right there. My only complaint here is that the prongs aren't retractable. Let's see how long this cable is. Probably about 6 ft. Definitely long enough for you to plug this into an outlet and then stay tethered to the wall. Then, what's in this other box? actually never even looked through these when I opened it. I had all the cables I needed, so I just kind of like took the handheld out and started using it. A little gaming handheld guide. That's basically it. That's what you get in the box. And honestly, the big standout for me is the kickstand. It's got a little soft piece of like felt or something on the front here or foam so that you're even though your screen is uh sliding into it, you're not going to damage it. And while it is covering part of the screen, uh, that's actually really just the bezel and the ROG logo. So, you're not even losing any screen real estate when you pop it in here. So, overall, really nice inclusion. You don't need it, but hey, I'd rather they include it and not need it than need it and not have it. But, there isn't just the Ally, there's also the Ally X for a significantly higher price that we'll touch on later. And unlike the white one, this one's black. Also, the unboxing experience is basically the same. You've got your card here. The whole device is wrapped in some plastic. Also includes a 65 watt charger and I believe the kickstand as well. And otherwise, yeah, it's the same. You just pull the device out and there you go. Look at these little guys. Aren't they cute together? They're almost the exact same aside from the black and white color schemes. We'll start with the regular Ally NonX. 672 g. Okay, very good. And then our Xbacks, 720 g. So, yeah, there's a not insignificant difference in weight, and that's probably because of the 80watth battery that's in here, which is going to be a little larger than the 60Wh battery in this guy. But what it cost you in weight, it makes up for in performance. But we'll get to that later because first I want to tell you guys about the rest of the construction and everything. I actually had a really cool uh meeting with ASUS where they showed us all the different like prototypes they built um and the internals of this thing. So, I've seen it torn down. is pretty uh repairable with just a few screws. I think one of them's captive. The only thing that you might have to worry about if you're going to open these things and change out the SSD or swap the sticks or something like that is there's a tiny ribbon cable that you want to watch out for when you're opening it. So, when you do get the shell separate, don't rip it open. Just slightly lift it up and then look for the cable, disconnect it, and you're good to go from there. Aside from the obviously different controller grips, which we'll talk about later, this is very similar to an ROG Ally. So, if you've seen one of those, then you've already kind of seen one of these. The main differences are the face buttons are nice and big and chunky like a real controller. Your preference may vary. I prefer these bigger ones. Lionus doesn't like them, but that's, you know, to each their own. The thumb sticks feel significantly better than the ROG Ally. They're not nearly as loose and uh I was playing a lot of skate on these things and it just oh my god it was night and day playing on this versus my ally. The screen is the same. It's still a 7 in 1080p 120 Hz display. IPS it's not bad. Obviously it's not an OLED. I know everyone wanted this thing to be OLED even at the price point. But I promise you if they made it OLED it would cost more than it already does. As for the top IO, we've got our power button and fingerprint sensor, headphone jack, micro SD card slot on the other side of the device like they fixed with the Alli X volume rocker. Then we've got our two USBC ports. The one right here is USB 3.2 Gen 2. And then this guy with a nice little 40 next to it is Thunderbolt 4. So, you're going to be able to connect this to an eGPU no problem. They've taken away their XG Mobile connection and uh now we're just using Thunderbolt, which is way more universal and easy to use. And then on the bottom there's nothing but screws. I love having the second USBC port. That's actually a huge improvement over my uh Alli Z1 Extreme because now I can connect both a keyboard and a mouse if I wanted to. Or, you know, you can charge it while you've got a keyboard attached because mouse fine. I can deal without having a mouse on these things, but without having a keyboard, it is really a nightmare to type in like passwords and stuff like that. As for the rest of the shell and the plastic itself, uh, we've got this little ASUS logo down here. And then something I'm actually just kind of noticing now on the black one. Yeah, I never noticed this once on the white one. It's almost impossible to see. Uh, but on the black, it's super obvious. You've got this like Xbox ROG scribed all along it. I don't know how well the camera will pick it up. That's just kind of a nice little touch. And then the back is actually textured really nicely. So you feel like you've got a good grip on this thing. I mean, you're going to kind of need it because like holding it like this is fine, but I can tell you there's a scuff on this guy because I was holding it like that and it snick snagged on my jeans and it uh it dropped. It hit the floor. It's okay. >> Don't worry about it. >> Then we've got our couple of front speaker grills here. I don't think they did a major update on the speakers, but they're pretty solid. We'll get to those later. One thing they have seemed to improve is the rumble. I don't know if it's just having it in a bigger handle that I feel it more, but or if they've actually improved the rumble in it, but it's significantly better than the other units. And then the final kind of touch is just just like ROG on the side here. What's actually really surprising me that I didn't notice while gaming on it, and it's only once I've started looking at it more closely, is how much like ROG and ASUS stuff is on this thing. Like ROG, Asus ROG logo. They've got the ROG logo on the back here. And then for Xbox or Microsoft for that matter, you've literally got the Xbox button right there. And then for the nonX, it's almost the same except these USBC ports are a little different. Instead, both of them are USBC 3.2 Gen 2 and the DisplayPort that we get on the DisplayPort one is only DP 1.4, unlike the 2.1 we're getting on the other guy. To be clear, these things are, unless you're hooking it up to an eGPU, I don't think they're going to need anything bigger than DP 1.4, for, but uh you know, it's nice to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Pretty much the only thing left to talk about these guys before I turn them on is the specs and the price. But if you want to protect yours a lot better than I didn't protect mine, check out Dbrand for their own kill switch case for this thing. Dbrand's kill switch cases are basically the gold standard when it comes to handheld gaming. I've even got one on my Switch, too. And now you can get one for your very own Asus ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X. Fun fact, Dbrand is an official Xbox accessory partner, and this is officially designed for Xbox. Honestly, it's pretty comfortable. The grips are super grippy, even grippier than they were before. And all the cutouts are in the exact spot that you want them to be. Look, there's a ton of air flow back here. They've got a kickstand, so you can use the much better kickstand than the one that comes in the box for free. And then they've got all Yeah. all these little airflow ports. There's also a little hidden SD card holder down here. This thing's great. You know what? If I buy an Xbox Alli X, I'm probably buying a kill switch for it as well. And I'm going to get mine from my bosseshort.com. But if you're scared of the internet, you can just walk into a Best Buy in the United States and pick one of these cases off the shelf. Thanks, Dbrand. All right, enough about design. Let's talk about power. And unfortunately, uh there's only a Z2A in the white nonX Ally versus the Z2 Extreme in the Black Ally X. And there's a pretty massive performance difference between the two, both on the CPU side and on the GPU side. At $599 on the Ally NonX, you are essentially getting a beefed up Steam Deck. With the Z2A chip, you're getting four cores, eight threads on the CPU. And then for the GPU part of that APU, it's RDNA 2 and you're only getting eight cores. And while this has the same 1080p display I mentioned earlier, this one's only going to go up to a max of 20 watts because it just it can't go higher than that. It that is 5 watts higher than the Steam Deck. So, I was being very serious when I said it's a juiced up Steam Deck. Whereas with the Xbox Ally X, you're getting an 8 core 16thread chip and 16 RDNA 3.5 graphics cores. This thing is kind of a beast. And yeah, it's $1,000. Um, but to be clear, if you want something higherend than that, you're almost doubling the price. As for memory and storage, the white one's got a 512 gig SSD, which is fine. You're going to be playing more, you know, double A or indie games on this thing, and most of those aren't very big anyway, versus the 1 TBTE that comes with the Ally X. The nice thing about both of these is they've got 2280 mm NVMe drives back here. So, if you do want to make an upgrade, it should be relatively easy. They've got micro SD cards, so buy a 1 TB micro SD card. If you're really worried about storage, pop it in and never worry about it again. And then the nice thing about the Xbacks is that this thing can juice up to 35 watts. That's a lot of juice. But enough about the numbers. Let's turn these things on. Now, they are basically Windows devices. So, that's the thing is to be very clear here. Xbox is making a lot of mistakes recently. Don't worry about that. Just look at this as a Windows handheld and you're totally fine. You don't need to use any of the Xbox related stuff at all. Uh, one major difference if you do already own an Ally or an Ally X, they swapped the buttons for like Armory Crate and pause and stuff. Really annoying. It didn't take me super long to get used to it, but I did a lot of like, oh, pause the Nope, that's not pause at all. Oh, that's not Armory Crate at all. It's pretty cool. You can have your device set so that it just launches straight into Xbox mode, so you never even see a Windows desktop. It's not super seamless. if you go to launch a game that you own through Steam, uh, for example, it does keep your entire library in one space. So, it's really easy to keep all your games together, even if you have multiple different platforms that you go to. But if you go to launch a game and you're booting the system up for the first time, uh, it'll then go to launch Steam and then so you're actually like waiting for a little while. Like, it even tells me Steam, Steam, Steam, Steam. It's not perfect. If you want a bit of a deeper dive, uh, definitely check out the LTT cuz, uh, me and Linus both have our own list of complaints. But, uh, overall it's better than I expected it to be. And if you don't want to use this at all, cuz you don't have to, you just hold the Xbox button and then instead of Xbox full screen experience, you hit Windows desktop. Continue. Boom. Now I'm Windows handheld. Super simple. It doesn't always do a seamless transition. Uh, but Skate was loading, so I expect it to be a little upset with me right now. You know, FSR quality, everything else is set to low. 30 FPS target frame. Let's, you know, I'll put it to 60. See if it can do it. I don't think it can. uh 720p feels a little floaty, but that's also just kind of skate. There was a big update, so I wonder if it's changed at all. But we'll try it on the X afterwards because yeah, 20 watts. I'm getting like 80 75 FPS, which is totally pretty solid. Oh yeah, this already feels better. Oh, and I'm only on 13 watts, dude. Man, this thing is such a beast. I'm going to blame Linus for this. He didn't update the device properly, so we don't have all of our FPS numbers showing properly, but like I can tell you right now, all the settings the same. It's handling so much smoother. God, everything feels so good. Yo, I like your beard, Bill. It still feels a little floaty, so I'm not sure if I'm just used to playing on PC. This feels great. If you want to see actual proper game benchmark results, please check out the LT that we're also uploading today. But what I want to know right now is how good these speakers are. Oh, we'll use Microsoft Edge cuz there's no Chrome on this bad boy yet. It should be the same speakers on both devices. And on top of the vibration feeling pretty solid in the grips, there's also in the Alli X vibration motors in the triggers as well. That's pretty solid. They're pretty good. Now, I'm pretty sure they're the exact same speakers, but we'll check it out on the NonX as well. That sounds the same to me. If you're picking which one to buy, it's kind of a tough call. But the real big improvement is just the Z2 Extreme versus the Z2A. I don't really recommend the nonX. I think that if you want this level of performance, you're kind of better off just buying a Steam Deck for like 320 bucks. Especially cuz, you know, the OLED Steam Deck is like what, $600? So, it's around the same price as this. Anyway, if you're out there struggling to make up your mind right now, make sure to check out the LT for a bit more in-depth benchmarking and information. And if you want to check out any other handhelds that we've looked at over the past couple of years, check them out on ShortCircuit. We've unboxed a lot of"}