We live in a period of gaming where the barriers between platforms are slowly coming down, and the new range of Xbox-branded handheld PCs, the ROG Xbox Ally, is a good example.
This joint venture between Microsoft and Asus is a premium product that packs some pretty impressive horsepower into a (relatively) small form factor, with Xbox branding giving it an official feel.
While it isn't an Xbox, strictly speaking, it is if you ask Microsoft — and, naturally, you can play Sony's PC ports on the system.
So, how does it fare?
Well, YouTube tech analysis channel ElAnalistaDeBits has made a comparison video, showing off Marvel's Spider-Man 2 running on Steam Deck, ROG Xbox Ally X, and PS5 (performance mode):
It's an interesting comparison; in pretty much every respect, the device seems to be a cut above the Steam Deck. The PS5 version naturally looks the best overall, with higher resolution, level of detail, better reflections, and so on. Still, the ROG Xbox Ally X isn't that far off.
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The question is whether you can stomach the $1,000 price tag for this higher end model (or, indeed, $600 for the standard one).
It's also worth paying attention to devices like this, because rumours from various sources claim that the PS6 will be available not only as a typical home console, but will also offer a handheld version, not dissimilar to the Ally or Steam Deck.
The jury's out on the finer details (and the rumours could still prove false of course) but it may be worth considering whether a portable PS6 is something you'll want when the time comes.
Anyway, what are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source youtube.com]





Comments 57
A $1000 for an handheld is just way too much, especially one that's not as powerful as a $400 console. Hopefully Sony doesn't follow this pricing otherwise I won't be buying it. I'd rather stick with my Portal and want Sony to let us cloud stream games we own and not just the ones on Playstation Plus Extra/Premium.
What a weird comparison. The settings on PCs like SteamDeck and Ally X can be changed, and FSR frame generation only on Ally X is just unfair: numbers look better, but gameplay feels worse.
An Xbox logo handheld made by a third party company.
Watching the video. Paying $1000 for a 2 year old game to look like that. Naw I’ll pass. There isn’t anything close about it.
I understand it’s a handheld but that is reaching to say the least.
@UltimateOtaku91 Cloud gaming in PS Premium was so fantastic on the Portal but I couldn't justify Premium just for that
Agreed, I wish we could Stream owned games, Portal is such a great way to game
All Steam has to do is announce Steamdeck 2 and that will be that.
I fe like these hand helds are trying to achieve something that just isn’t cost effective and viable. I personally don’t see the value in what you get out of them vs the cost, Steam Deck hit the mark but if your after raw power these are not the answer
It’s obviously this is where the Xbox will go with their next home console, if we can officially call it that.
You will have a front end Xbox UI for older games from series x and backwards and game pass ultimate for all Xbox studio games and some third parties on a PC UI, then of course the PC UI will allow the use of PC games from Sony.
It should be more powerful than a Steamdeck, its more than twice the price of the base version of it. If this was actually an Xbox and could play more than just 13 of my 170+ Xbox digital games, I'd be more inclined to look at it. As is, its just a very expensive handheld PC that I have very little use for.
I am interested in that rumoured PS6 handheld though
These are going to bomb at that price. No idea how anyone could justify this
1K is just way too much.
@UltimateOtaku91 Well, it's a portable gaming PC, which isn't locked into an ecosystem, isn't subsidized, can play games from multiple storefronts from the past 40+ years of PC gaming, most of the games being sold for less than what they cost on console digital storefronts and doesn't require a subscription to play online.
I also think the entry price is quite high for a gaming device, but it's technically a fair price given the tech inside.
Sorry, thats not even remotely close - it needs frame gen to reach the fps the PS5 version does (when you uncap the fps, which for some reason they don't as they just state 60fps for PS5), the resolution is a massive reduction from 1080 at minimum on PS5 to 540p, and it misses the RT present in the PS5 version.
I know its a handheld, but $1000 seems far to high for this level of capability.
£800 for something with a tiny LCD screen that plays games worse on every metric going?
puts stupid head on "Yes, I'll take two of them my good Sir!"
@TrollOfWar It’s also made by ASUS whose gaming hardware is pretty much all plagued with issues. Good luck trying to RMA any of that or get warranty work
I wouldn't get anything with the word xbox on it. But I do want a handheld to play my pc games.
PS5 + PS Portal and you have a very similar (somewhat better) experience for around half the price.
I can't wait to see what the PS6 portable can do, that intrigues me much more then the actual console right now.
£1000 gtfo 😂😂 taking the piss
Still not worth $1000 to me.
If I want to enjoy Spider-Man on a portable device, I can play it on my Steam Deck OLED via remote play from my PS5 Pro on an OLED display with HDR that looks similar to my LG C1 OLED TV on a handheld screen. Running at 60fps with some ray tracing.
I'll wait for Steam Deck 2 and the rumored PS6 portable.
So my choices are to play from the comfort of my plush armchair watching the action unfold on a gorgeous 4K@144Hz OLED…or hunched over this thing with one eye on the battery indicator and the other on a fuzzier resolution with cut down settings?
Its only 20% better than a rog ally X so is it like goin from a ps4 to a ps4 pro?
@Balaam_
Only 144 hertz? Lmao mines does 380 hertz
@Max_the_German Its still double the price. Impressive yes but at €1000
I’ll never spend 1k on a console hand held or otherwise. It’s not that I can’t afford it. I’m just not a sap.
I really hope Sony don't follow everyone else and jump down this "on the go" bandwagon, especially at these prices.
If I ever need a handheld, I'll just wait for the PS6 Portable so that I can play my existing digital PS backlog anywhere. $1K seems way overpriced anyway.
I don't really get the pc handheld Vs ps5 comparison. It's like comparing a vespa with a muscle car.
What is however quite telling is the miniscule difference between the 3,5 year old steam deck and a new, 1000€, big company backed handheld. The pc handheld market has just pushing prices upward, seeing what they could get away with, and it's just sick.
Another point that irks me is just how ***** the x86 (classic PC) architecture is. You got arm (android) processors running more current pc games, emulated, at passable to well playable performance at good battery runtimes. Just imagine that! The average pc handheld will get you 1-2 hours with only slightly better performance. And we're still talking early days of android pc emulation. Just go check out some emulation footage on a snapdragon 8 elite via game hub... it's a game changer.
At this point, why are we still even considering x86 for handhelds, or even console/desktops.
@Balaam_ Yeah, but try taking the TV with you. I have to travel a lot and if it wasn't for the Steam Deck I would play way less games. Heck, due to this, if I wasn't a huge Final Fantasy fan I wouldn't even have bought a PS5.
@tameshiyaku No, no no! This Apple Arm nonsense must stay away from both Gaming and Productivity PCs. Arm is simply too underpowered for serious gaming or for serious anything.
As for the other stuff you mentioned I agree. The new Ally does not seem to be a generational leap from the first Ally or the Steam Deck. And you cannot really compare it to a PS5 or a gaming PC.
@tameshiyaku i mean , people compare the switch to home consoles, so what’s the difference
@belmont it's a question of mass adoption. The gaming market is brute forcing graphics on PCs with unoptimized games, where so much unused power hungry performance is not properly used. Consoles are more elegant with a closed system that doesn't need to be scaled. But Arm can seriously be the future, perhaps even paired with beefy GPUs if one really needs all that performance when stationary. There has barely been a noteworthy leap within the x86 APU space as this video shows. The next step up would be that beefy amd ai max+, but that thing is too power hungry and doesn't go well with low TDPs. No, I don't want to see an apple hardware future, but open platform Arm is a good thing.
@nomither6 sure, there's always some captain obvious who looks at both and enlights us all how the switch looks like crap next to a home console or pc. But what should I say... twits.
I'll just stream my ps5 to my oled steam deck if I need to. Works perfectly and looks great.
Always wanted to pay 1000€ to play games on a screen the size of my wallet.
I wish all these sites would start putting Asus in the headlines seeing as that's who makes this, not Microsoft.
Huh, I kinda expected to be more impressed than I was. I'll stick with my Switch 2, but a dedicated Sony handheld definitely interests me. I would say $500 is still my upper limit for a gaming device, though.
It's not an Xbox Console - its an Xbox PC.
Microsoft started with Windows and building Games on Windows PC but 25yrs ago, to go mainstream, created a Console and branded it 'Xbox' for the first decade or so, they focussed solely on building up their Console Gaming and neglected their own Windows Platform allowing other Gaming Platforms to 'take over' and establish themselves - Steam, Battlenet, Epic, GoG etc..
About a decade ago, their XB1 was a 'flop' and other than scrapping it, they merged it into Microsoft instead of a 'side project'. They started releasing every game Day/date on their PC platform (and competing PC platforms like Steam), buying studios, created Play Anywhere and Game Pass to get people on 'their' platform - regardless of whether you played on cloud, bought their console or bought a Windows PC. Xbox is built into Windows as Xbox is their Gaming Brand regardless of whether that's Cloud, PC or Xbox Hardware.
This boots to the Xbox FSE and all the games, game pass and/or store games are 'Xbox PC' games - but you can load up alternative platforms like Steam or Epic, but, like on a Full Windows desktop, you don't 'need' to load up a 3rd Party Platform, although in fairness, its been a 'better' option in the past because MS 'neglected' their own PC Platform
Windows and Xbox team have and will continue to refine 'Windows' for Gaming - which should also benefit 3rd Party Platforms, but a device like this also reminds people that base 'windows' is an Xbox gaming Platform, the Xbox bar is built in and you don't 'need' to use 3rd Party apps like steam, but they are 'open' to buy games that some Publishers refuse to put into MS's PC store for example and you can understand why with Sony.
Asus make the Hardware, but using a lot of Microsoft design and format, using Microsofts OS and boots up to Xbox FSE and the Xbox PC platform...
That price and not even an OLED display and no HDR support?! Jesus...
It’s getting great reviews which is nice to see. But i don’t game on handhelds much. Switch 2 a little bit in bed sometimes. So i won’t be getting one, but i am excited for next gen Xbox and PS6.
I was intrigued and I said I would wait for pricing and reviews. The pricing put me off, but the reviews are solid. Sometimes you should just give credit where credit is due.
@AdamNovice
Pure guesswork from the leaked specs.
From a GPU point of view Im assuming its just a bit more capable than a Series S, though it will likely use AI/ML to improve image quality.
The CPU is a much bigger unknown - it could be OK, but my guess is it might be more limited than the PS5.
If it is a weaker CPU, and considering the frame time cost / picture improvement of AI upscaling if used, I suppose we could be looking at it being maybe not quite as good as a PS5 in 30fps modes, but 60fps modes might be limited to more basic games.
The switch 2 is the only handheld console ill ever need other than that ill stick to my ps5 1 grand is a lot of money
Well this is one way to shoehorn in an article about an MS/Xbox product on a PlayStation site.
Unsurprisingly, it's getting a kicking in the comments. In reality it's got some great reviews.
Personally it's too expensive for me.
If this is going for $1000, then I can't imagine how much a PS6 portable would cost. 😬
If Sony announced a $1000 handheld console, people would surely buy it just because it's Sony.
@UltimateOtaku91
If Nvidia would enable the installation of GeForce Now on the PS Portal, that would be great
@B_Lindz probably a lot less, Sony would undoubtedly subsidize it & cut some corners to hit closer to Switch 2 price. This is sold at $1K for profit with both Asus and MS taking a bite of that margin.
It's a neat piece of tech, just prohibitively expensive.
I wish the comparisons were clearer here, it would be good to at least know the power profiles used for both machines.
Nothing wrong with options, this community is exhausting.
For a handheld it's pretty impressive imo. When viewed on a 7" screen this will look great... not so much blown up on my 34" monitor.
It's currently the best handheld PC... but it costs $1000 USD, that's too much for most. It also doesn't play most Xbox games, other that those with Xbox / PC compatibility, a small subset only.
Its looks great for the most part, the $1000 is still a very hard sell however. People mocked the PS Portal but more and more I can see why they went for a barebones streaming device to keep the cost manageable. Both devices are good at what they do, but I just don't think I would ever pay the premium price asked for a PC Handheld.
@UltimateOtaku91 ive seen so many people say that about the rog ally but nobody says it about the msi or legion go etc
Not sure why they keep putting the price like its crazy in the title it's still cheaper then it's competitors
They lost when they decided implementing FSR
DLSS is way ahead.
The fact it comes with 'Teams' pre-installed tells me everything I need to know.
No thanks.
You can't compare an unplugged 20w machine to a plugged-in 100+w machine.
The price is in line with other Windows handhelds in the market.
If Xbox does an open-access Console PC hybrid at a mass market price, then Sony is in trouble with their locked ecosystem, and they know it.
@CallMeDuraSouka you can By remote play with your ps5
@darylb24
You can sort of compare the Portal (streaming only) with any other device. I just fired up The Invincible (novel by S. Lem made into a game) and the results are so good apart from occasional stutters.
It is only the most hardcore gamers that a) have several libraries and b) feels an urge to have all at the ready on one device. Unfortunately, that's where M$ has felt a need to go, the absolute niche markets.
I’ve watched the video and having played on the steam deck - there is no way the performance or upgrades justify the price at all. As a handheld version of a current gen game the steam deck price is almost unbelievable. The Xbox price is not so much.
I love Xbox but this device is a strange one
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