How to pre-order the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X ahead of October 16

Microsoft has finally revealed how much the ROG Xbox Ally handheld consoles will cost you, now that they’re available for preorder. The ROG Xbox Ally X, which the company describes as the “ultimate high-performance handheld” that’s “built for the most demanding players,” will set you back $1,000. Meanwhile, the ROG Xbox Ally is “for everyone from the casual player to the avid enthusiast.” That model costs a more palatable $600.

ASUS + Xbox

Microsoft unveiled the devices during the Xbox Games Showcase at Summer Game Fest in June, with the promise that they’d be available by this year’s holiday shopping season. It was revealed a couple of months later that the consoles will be on store shelves by October 16. However, they hadn’t announced their prices until now.

Microsoft teamed up with ASUS’ ROG division to develop the handhelds. They’re powered by Windows 11 and lets you play any Xbox game you’ve purchased, whether you bought it on your console or your computer, as well as PC games from any store that you install directly on the device. You can use it to stream Xbox games from your console anywhere in your home or from the Xbox Cloud Gaming service. And yes, you’ll be able to continue where you left off when you jump from one device to another. At launch, Xbox will mark thousands of games as Handheld Optimized or Mostly Compatible to indicate if they play well on handhelds.

Specs

Digging into their specs accentuates those differences. The ROG Xbox Ally uses an AMD Ryzen Z2 A chip, while the ROG Xbox Ally X has a more powerful AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme. The standard model has 16GB RAM (6,400 MT/s), while the premium version has 24GB (8,000 MT/s).

The ROG Xbox Ally has a 512GB SSD; the ROG Xbox Ally X boosts that to 1TB. However, they each have a microSD slot to help you store more games. (And they both use upgrade-friendly M.2 2280 SSDs.)

The premium model has a larger battery, measuring 80 Wh. The entry-level version has a 60 Wh one. But that doesn’t necessarily mean longer battery life. We’ll have to wait for extended testing to know that.

Each variant has two USB-C ports, but (again) you get a higher-end version in the higher-end model. The Xbox ROG Ally includes two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. The Xbox ROG Ally X has one of those, along with a USB 4 Type-C port. The latter is more versatile, supporting Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort 2.1 and eGPUs.

Each model has a seven-inch 1080p, 16:9 display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of brightness. They’re anti-reflective, use Corning Gorilla Glass Victus and support FreeSync Premium.

How to pre-order

The standard ROG Xbox Ally is more readily available. In the US, you can pre-order it from Xbox, Microsoft Store, Asus, Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart. Meanwhile, the ROG Xbox Ally X is only available from Microsoft (“sold out” at the time of publication), Asus and Best Buy. Both handhelds are more expensive than their non-Xbox counterparts, which range between $500 and $800.

A SanDisk microSD card designed specifically for the handhelds and a SeaGate SSD that supports Microsoft DirectStorage are now also available for preorder.

The devices are also available around the world. You can also preorder the consoles in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Slovenia, South Africa, Thailand and Ukraine.

All these markets, including the US, are getting the console on October 16. The handhelds will also be available in additional markets in the future. These will include Brazil, China, India, Luxembourg, Malaysia, the Philippines and Switzerland.

ASUS

Pre-order the handheld ahead of its October 16 arrival.

$600 at Amazon