As both someone who tests the best gaming handhelds and an unapologetic Steam Deck OLED lover, I have nothing against the white Xbox Ally. It's true, as while I do think it piggybacks off the performance expectations set by its beefy ROG Xbox Ally X sibling and its Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, the budget model is actually the only portable PC standing for $600 amid RAMageddon.
Normally, I'd grumble that the ROG Xbox Ally is $567.81 at Amazon right now, especially since it just jumped up from its December $499 price cut. My typical dance involves namedropping the original Asus ROG Ally before pointing out that the seemingly now supportless Ryzen Z1 Extreme is far punchier for around the same money. But, unless you're willing to wait out the RAM shortage storm sparked by the AI industry, this Microsoft-flavored portable is your only option at this price range.
I should stress I've also been banging the "we need more sub $500 handheld options" for years at this stage to avoid this exact situation. If there were more lower-priced bastions than the Steam Deck out there, or even if Ryzen Z2 devices like the Lenovo Legion Go S could stick to the same price point as Valve, picking up a portable PC would be a much more pleasant experience.
As things currently stand, though, the Legion Go S is allergic to dropping under $500. That's despite the existence of a SteamOS version and models with the same 16GB/1TB combo specs as the Deck, as despite being geared up to challenge Valve on price, I've only spotted Lenovo's portable for under $500 once in the past. That was, ironically, the 32GB/1TB Windows version, and I suspect we won't see a similar discount for quite a while, given the current manufacturing circumstances.
All of this might sound like I'm telling you to buy a ROG Xbox Ally with gritted teeth. I guess that's sort of true when it comes to the not-so-impressive price right now and the performance gap between the white model and the Ryzen Z2E flagship. However, Asus and Microsoft's collab handheld is actually a solid option if you want fully Windows 11 compatibility, comfortable controller-like grips, and enough of a punch to run indies and your backlog.
The Xbox Ally also retains mostly everything that made the OG Asus handheld so great, like its 1080p 120Hz screen and solid controls. The real kicker with this specific option is that it's being used to forcefully replace a device that can boost fps higher while typically costing more on average, and the fact that we didn't get an APU that's more powerful than the Ryzen Z1 Extreme for under $600 is a hard pill to swallow.
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