Asus ROG Ally X refresh specs have been leaked featuring upgraded memory, storage, and battery. The latter is probably most notable as it will allow users to enjoy their games for longer.
The revised Ally X gets an upgraded 24GB of LPDDR5x-7500 RAM alongside 1TB of storage instead of the original’s 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. This is similar to the RAM speed chosen by a modder who modified his ROG Ally, though the latter squeezed in more capacity at 32GB total instead of the Ally X’s 24GB. Asus didn’t modify the processor, staying with the tried-and-tested AMD Z1 Extreme. Same for the FHD 120Hz screen and wireless connectivity.
While a processor upgrade is what many would consider a worthy change as it has the potential to bring the highest performance uplift, moving from 16GB of LPDDR5-6400 to 24GB of LPDDR5X-7500 will also have a positive impact. As we saw in the past, AMD APUs tend to like fast RAM since their iGPU uses it to store graphics data like textures. Furthermore, games that use high-resolution assets will find more room to store said data without shuffling it back and forth.
All of this is nice and all, but the part that most will notice is the upgraded battery life. Moving from 40Wh to 80Wh is a massive jump that should double the playtime. You can have the most powerful gaming machine in the world, but if you can only run it for 30 minutes after each charge, you won’t have fun. Thanks to this 80Wh pack, the ROG Ally X should get you around three to four hours of gaming depending on the title – more if you use lower resolutions.
In my opinion, gaming handhelds should be built around the battery. In other words, all should have the maximum flight-authorised 99Wh packs. This way you can be sure the only way to get more playtime is by tuning the SOC or by reducing resolution and settings.
Now, all that is left to know is pricing, which should be revealed by Asus during Computex. The word on the street points to $799 which is $100 more than the current flagship model powered by AMD’s Ryzen Z1 Extreme CPU.