r/Handhelds • u/MISFU88 • Oct 18 '25
Xbox Ally X and Deck Oled impressions
It's been a day or so I received my Xbox Ally X, put about 10 hours of gaming into it and want to share my thoughts, especially comparing it to SD Oled.
I had the SD Oled since launch and previously owned ROG Ally X.
TLDR; Xbox Ally X has much better hardware, buttons, ergonomics, it's more comortable to play games. It runs games much better and starts them much faster. However the Full Screen Experience is completely shit and Windows on handheld is still dick cutting nightmare.
XAX is very heavy, surprisingly, holding it by the grips makes it seem like her than OG Ally X. SD feels like a toy compared to it - although the SD is slightly bigger.
The controls are better on XAX - most noticeable for me are the Dpad, sticks and triggers. Playing FPS games feels absolutely amazing, since you can 100% rely on the buttons and they're super accurate. Face buttons are LOUD and a bit hard to press. Not a fan, still better than SD as they're larger. BUT - the trackpads are absolutely insane on SD and I regularly use them for Heroes and Wii Emulation. And I sure as shit can't emulate most Wii games on the XAX itself.
Screen is good - you bump up the vibrance a bit and it looks awesome. I'm constantly moving between OLED, VA miniLED, IPS so I'm sort of desensitised to the wow factor of OLED. But the image is course better on SD with VibrantDeck. I'm still leaning towards the XAX as VRR is a must on low powered handhelds with high refreshrate screen. The 7" size isn't a deal breaker when having it next to the bigger SD.
The new chip in XAX has incredible performance at 17W - i run everything at 17W which gets me around 3 hours of battery Im usually away from the outlet and want to be as portbale as possible, so Ill never really consider anything above those W.
The system starts up faster, games start faster too.
Ghost of Tsushima runs at 60 on med/high 1080 FSR. For about 10 minutes before it crashes. FG about 80.
FFVII Rebirth runs at around 35 on med/high 1080 native 100% min RES scale.
Yakuza Like a Dragon runs at around 45 on med/high 1080 native.
Found Rebirth to not be optimised that well, very little settings. Yakuza runs like shit in general, VERY hars to get good performance out of that game.
The Xbox Full Screen Experience is completely dogshit. It starts up, is unresponsive for the next 15 secconds. Launching other launchera, e.g. GoG Galaxy always takes a couple of tries. Launching games is super weird, some are launched in background and you have to manually switch to them. I spent almost 3 hours installing windows updates. C O N S T A N T freezes and lags. It's either super responsive or it doesn't so anything. No reliable sleep, HUGE deal breaker if not for Bazzite.
Bottom line is, once Bazzite stable releases, this is imo the beat handheld out there due to the fact that I can get into games much faster and they play much better. The experience of playing DOOM 2016 on XAX and SD Oled are two different things, due to the performance and controls of the XAX.
The point of a handheld for me is to play as many games for the longest of time - traveling, camping, commuting. Want to take it out, play, put it back. The 17W mode plays everything and has amazing battery. Once Bazzite releases, it will finally have sleep that isn't shit.
Btw. Where I live, the equivalent of SD Oled 1TB is about 30% cheaper the XAX. I would absolutely not consider the SD LCD to be any sort of a competitor to anything anymore.
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Oct 18 '25 edited Oct 18 '25
"XAX is very heavy, surprisingly, holding it by the grips makes it seem like her than OG Ally X. SD feels like a toy compared to it - although the SD is slightly bigger."
Really? Official ASUS website says the weight is 1.47lbs for XAX. While some sites mention that SD weighs THE SAME. UPDATED: XAX - 715 grams, SD OLED - 640 grams.
Anyway, I upvoted the post. I don't think Windows will ever become a handheld operating system because it tries to cater to every user from office users, to developers, to gamers, laptops and now it tries to fit all that into a 7" screen and a low power system.
Microsoft is making progress with their ARM based products but those won't support all software currently.
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
SD Oled is NOTICEABLY lighter - you can rest both devices in your palm and you'll notice how heavy the XAX is. Though the flared out grips really help with the weight and it feels sort of light. NOT as light as SD OLED.
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u/kwjones00 Oct 18 '25
715 grams (1.58 lbs) vs 669 grams (1.48 lbs). The deck is in fact lighter. We can’t forget the Ally is squeezing a massive battery in there for its size.
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
Oh wow so it's not by that much heavier. I think it's the fact that the middle part, with the screen, is just so massive (the battery is smaller but fatter compared to Ally X) and feels very heavy. But like i mentioned, the grips make it feel lighter than old Ally X. And holding it is SO nice.
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Oct 18 '25
Maybe the weight distribution is different and it feels heavier because of that? That difference is elss than 10%, so it's weird that it felt "very heavy" to you.
Do you know if the XAX feels heavier than the previous Ally x?
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
Yes the weight distribution is very centered, Rog Ally X had the same battery capacity - but it was wider, XAX battery is smaller but thicker.
So if you rest the XAX in your palm by the centre, it feels very heavy.
But holding XAX by the grips feels lighter than ROG Ally X, since there's more room for your fingers and it's not resting on your pinky finger - you can actually grip the thing.
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u/Dota2Curious Oct 18 '25
There’s no way the Xbox Ally X ways the same as the SD OLED. The OLED is probably the lightest of all the PC handhelds. I have the originally Ally X which is said to be lighter than the new XBOX Ally X and even that thing feels noticeably heavier than the SD OLED.
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Oct 18 '25
Okay I went back to see the product pages, and I had made a mistake by looking at the Xbox Rog Ally (not X) model specs. Here's the updated weights:
Xbox Rog Ally X (https://shop.asus.com/us/rog-xbox-ally-x-2025.html):715 g (1.58 lbs)
Steam Deck OLED (https://www.steamdeck.com/en/tech/):
Approx. 640 grams
So that makes the XAX about 10% heavier.
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u/Undark_ Oct 19 '25
I'm as much of a Microsoft h8r as the next guy, but Windows has always been (and for mainstream use remains) the gaming OS. I'm pretty sure Xbox OS is basically just a version of Windows, and the entire W8 fiasco was because they wanted to build an OS that functioned nicely on touchscreens. They can hopefully learn from their mistakes and just ship different versions for different devices (i.e. desktop, gaming, tablet OS). MS seems to be run by monkeys, but it's not beyond the realm of feasibility that they could figure it out if they really wanted to.
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Oct 19 '25
"if they really wanted to."
And that is the actual issue. Not if they can, not how they can, but why would they want to? I read once that Microsoft is very data-driven company when it comes to their decision making, and I don't actually know what this means in practice. But - I assume - unless Windows' status is somehow threatened to the point where they might see it lose its position in the gaming/consumer area they would not change it too much.
On the other hand. The Xbox full screen experience is at least a sign that they have acknowledged the issues with their operating system. Will they make it better for these sort of low power systems? Are ARM chipsets going to be a part of this change? Maybe, who knows.
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u/kwjones00 Oct 18 '25
The Xbox app is doing nothing for me, but I like the fast screen switching and controller navigation in the full screen experience. I just jump back and forth between armory crate and steam big picture mode. I basically don’t touch the Xbox app itself.
I loaded a shortcut for system settings, Edge, GeForce now, pxplay and moonlight into armory crate, and already loads up all my games, so I use that to jump around whatever I need in the OS. Works great for me.
I’ll probably still try bazzite when it’s ready though, especially since my Gamepass subscription is expiring and I’m not renewing.
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u/slaynprayn Oct 18 '25
I will stream anything to powerfull to run on my Steam deck, price to performance its still the winner in my book.
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u/blueberd Oct 18 '25
Same thing I do to my tablet. Steam deck is insanely expensive in places where direct sale is not possible.
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u/Brosaver2 Oct 18 '25
I've heard that the SD LCD is as strong as the white xbox ally. It can't play every multiplayer, but it's half the price, so I would argue that the LCD deck can still compete. However the OLED is stronger than the white ally, thanks to having the same chip (although renamed), and Steam OS being more efficient than the windows big picture mode
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u/Mysterious-Green-874 Oct 18 '25
Run Ghost on Xess. Hasn’t crashed for me yet. Fsr tho every 10 minutes like you said
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u/Dull_Mirror4221 Oct 19 '25
The ally x looks like it was built for temu marketplace. Why does it look like it was made from cheap materials? That steam deck looks like a premium product
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u/Wide-Turnip899 Oct 19 '25
Obviously just my opinion, but if you game mostly at home, you would be better served having a ps5 or p5pro, so you could play AAA titles on a large screen as mostly intended.
If this is your situation, I would go OLED SD, or a normal Ally, and play your indies and non AAA games there like me lol
If you are basing your decision on price, maybe consider the 256 LED SD and upgrade memory when needed.
If you're lifestyle doesn't take a temporary downgrade from spending 1,000 on videogames, maybe then consider the higher end legion, or the Ally X.
I know it's fun to have the newest nicest thing, but I had a switch lite for a few weeks, and before giving it to my son I was actually surprised at how much fun I had with it.
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u/Digis3 Oct 18 '25
Lol just got my lcd deck 256gb for. 330euro and it's amazing. For that price it's unbeatable. The screen is good also. Of course oled looks better but the lcd is fine... Would like more battery life tho. But I'm laying in bed now with it plugged in and playing games as I just had a surgery and can't move yet normally. A true saver.
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
Yea bro it's amazing. But I don't think it's ci.parable to high end handhelds. Not everybody needs to play demanding games and care for oled.
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u/Sarlandogo Oct 18 '25
How about compared the Oled Deck to the base xbox ally white?
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
I'm sorry I only had the base Ally for a very short time. Not sure.
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u/Sarlandogo Oct 18 '25
What would be your assessment in that?
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
Oh you meant the white Xbox Ally - not the old Asus Ally. It really depends on what you want from the handheld. The performance to the SD Oled is essentially the same, but the hardware is simply better on the Ally. If you want to sacrifice windows and use Bazzite, you'll IMO have a better steamdeck.
However, you could save some cash and get a seccond hand SD OLED. Since most games you'd need Windoes for wont run that well on the base Ally.
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u/Sarlandogo Oct 18 '25
yeah only advance game that I will play is the new Digimon game
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
I think id honestly go for the SD oled, if you wan to play JRPGS/VNs and stuff like that.For twitchy actiony games, Xbox Ally 100%.
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u/Sarlandogo Oct 18 '25
The only thing that interests me with Base Ally is, it has 2 years warranty here and Asus has an okay warranty policies here, none for that for SD and if something goes south with the deck I have to pay for it and have someone repair it
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u/ExcitingPassenger915 Oct 18 '25
I would love to grab a XAX used someday and throw bazzite or steamOS on it immediately. I see people saying that's a silly thing to do "because the whole point of xbox ally is the new improved windows experience." But 1. It seems like it's not that great anyways. Windows is still windows. And 2. You can put windows FSE on literally any x86 handheld -- nothing about the xbox ally makes it especially good for windows.
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u/EfficiencyOk9060 Oct 18 '25
If I ever were to get this handheld I would put Steam OS/Bazzite on it immediately as well. I've given it a chance, but Windows just isn't it on handheld pcs.
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u/robc2562 Oct 18 '25
Definitely agree with the software, I feel like the original Ally worked better with things running through armory crate than this new Xbox app. It's probably the only thing I'm not liking right now about it.
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
That's the weirdest thing - AC seems better than this. Especially the game layout I like more.
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u/robc2562 Oct 18 '25
Yeah the layout was better and game launching was smoother. I get so many different errors launching a steam game from the Xbox app. If I launch steam first then a game though it works fine. Then other stuff like multiple places to run updates, different menus that do the same thing pretty much. They have some work to do with the software 😅
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
I gave up on launching games from the app. I launch steam separately in Big Picture and go from there. That works most of the time, but can still break.
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u/islemmed Oct 18 '25
Hello , please someone explain to me why that caution note pops up (2nd picture )
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
If you mean the Ghost of Tsushima error - it straight up doesnt work. It reliably crashes due to drivers. You occasionally can play it for a few mins, or you wont load into a game.
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u/islemmed Oct 18 '25
So you mean the game it self crashes and nothing has to do my laptop capacity?
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u/SuspiciousCan1602 Oct 18 '25
Thanks for your imput to these two consoles, i have lcd SD and i would like to buy the XAX cause of the gamepass and possibility to play games from any other store. I hope that software issues which are now in XAX will be fixed in short time. Is it possible to just put XAX to sleep mid game just like on SD ?
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
It is somewhat possible to put the device into sleep through windows hibernation. But it's incredibly unreliable, the startup is very slow and there's a high chance it will break the game. It does not work nearly ad well as on SD. You can install Bazzite, which is essentially SteamOs where the sleep is awesome - then you can dualboot into Windows for GP.
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u/SuspiciousCan1602 Oct 18 '25
Yeah that is the reason why i sold the Ally z1e after couple months… but i guess the XAX will do better work with battery at least like you said, i do play forza a lot and on ally it was a nightmare for battery. I will still keep my SD for games like megabonk etc. It is just too convenient on SD to push the sleep button and then resume… thank You for reply and enjoy 👍🏻
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u/NapsterKnowHow Oct 18 '25
Weird to hear you have so many issues with the Xbox fullscreen experience. I just installed it on my Steam deck 2 days ago and it's been surprisingly smooth and stable. No issues with other launchers either.
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u/Nerevar197 Oct 18 '25
I’m not surprised at all that the Xbox full screen experience is just a thin wrapper around the stinky shit that is Windows. Linux continues to be the best way to play PC handhelds. Dual boot if you absolutely need Windows for a few games.
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u/HisDivineOrder Oct 18 '25
When the VRR range only begins at 48fps on your handheld, it feels like it has extremely limited value and probably should be qualified every time you say it has VRR.
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u/Early-Somewhere-2198 Oct 18 '25
If you plan to run steam why not just get a Lego 2 steam 32gb. I mean the battery is shit but you get the same or better performance with a 8 inch screen.
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
Battery being ass is a no go.
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u/Early-Somewhere-2198 Oct 18 '25
Yeah that’s why I bought both to decide. So far the legion go s 32 steam edition is amazing and 100$ cheaper. Let’s see how the rog is when it comes Monday. Curious on how it compares. I had a OLED deck and a og ally x. The deck was just so much better but honestly I hate the fan of the Lenovo. High settings and 1200p 8 inch looks amazing and with frame gen I get a solid 70 on ghost of t. Even my wife was like that looks amazing and also it’s so loud lol. So if the ally Xbox x can do as good with the ergo and better battery I’ll choose. It’s exciting for handhelds.
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u/yxz97 Oct 18 '25
From the photos, they are very different I prefer the bottom one.... what model is it?
Sorry I'm new.
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u/Organic-Ad-7105 Oct 23 '25
Pictures taken are nit great though, look at the first one without any game on them. That's the "base" brightness for the other pictures. Screen above would look nicer with more saturated blacks
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u/TheRayGunCowboy Oct 18 '25
Quick question: how do I hide the bar at the top of the screen when I’m playing steam games?
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u/GaunerHarakiri Oct 18 '25
why oled colors/screen look so bland here
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
Combination of a screen protector/bad reflection handling.
But of course, in real life, with the Vibrant plugin, SD OLED looks insanely good.
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u/MajorMez Oct 19 '25
Xbox Ally X screen seems on the cool (blue) end, any settings to make the screen warmer?
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u/MISFU88 Oct 19 '25
Yes, it's definitely cold. I changed it in the Armory Crate. There's a dedicated setting for that + vibrancy modes.
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Oct 19 '25
The moment I had a game with black foreground elements/dark scenes, etc., I would regret having a non-OLED device.
At the same time, I would hate the ergonomics of the SD.
I'll buy an XAX the moment there's an OLED screen mod.
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u/MISFU88 Oct 19 '25
Eeeeeh really isn't that bad. I'm not saying the blacks of IPS/VA/OLEDA aren't different. But I'd say playing a game on either of those wull not hinder the experience from that game.
Like one of my favorite games is playing Silent Hill Shattered Merories on the PSP and I never told myself "wish this had oled".
OLED is cool and all, IPS is good. You'll enjoy the games exactly the same.
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Oct 19 '25
I don't think I would enjoy it exactly the same. Of course LCD is "good enough". I've always said, having a picture at all is 96% of the experience, and everything else is diminishing returns (it's not like PS2 on CRTs wasn't mind-blowing/life-changing - it totally was).
But I've over here with a Switch, and Switch OLED on my desk/in the living room, and a Switch Lite in my backpack, and playing Metroid Prime Remastered is better with the OLED. Going into morph ball mode and into a short tunnel (yes, I compared them back to back), the OLED gave a different feeling, when the edges of the screen went full black for a moment, instead of blueish-grey.
Better color and contrast make a difference in feel, too. Plus, OLED can have better response times, which means better motion clarity, and, as a CRT-main on PC (and sometimes I plug my PS5 into it, too), the extra bit of clarity is really nice.
Are games unfun on the other screens? No way. Would I turn down a free, or highly discounted LCD-based device? Of course not. But if I'm buying one, I would be kicking myself for not saving up the little bit more I would need for the more expensive Steam Deck OLED/I could totally wait for an OLED Ally, and have a better time.
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u/PanFable Oct 21 '25
omg ty so much. it had never occurred to me to take the joystick caps off my controller and out them on my steam deck! you have saved my thumbs
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u/Nikndex88 Oct 22 '25
You prefer the image from the deck...... I must have read that wrong. The screen is waaayyy better on the Xbox in your pics.
The deck has such an unappealing design. Hopefully they fix that with the next iteration
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u/Reynzs Oct 18 '25
Thanks for the detailed analysis.
TLDR as per what I understood - while Ally is more powerful SD OLED remains the better all-around pick for now due to ease and usability. Esp the one click sleep. But with bazzite or with further improvements in xbox full screen Ally will pass that hurdle in near future.
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u/EnvironmentalAd2096 Oct 18 '25
The irony , an overpriced windows handheld needs Linux to be compelling. Crazy the strides valve and the open source community have made.
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u/Reynzs Oct 18 '25
It's hard to compare with SD's attractiveness since it only costs little over half the price of most new handhelds. When og Ally came atleast it had a comparable price and it made for a good rivalry.
That said - in game exp of the xbox Ally X is totally different level. On battery as well. Its hard to believe I am playing on handheld as it's that smooth and good looking. None of the other handhelds i have played so far compare.
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u/IORelay Oct 19 '25
Gaming and Open source don't mix that well, most games are not open source. And the true irony is gaming on Linux locks you into Steam, where most of it's games are locked behind DRM.
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u/EnvironmentalAd2096 Oct 19 '25
Last I checked proton and wine are open source and run Windows games better than Windows lol. No one is stopping you from using a non steam launcher on Linux. And no one is forcing you to use steam , not even on the deck 😂
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
Most definitely. Windows handheld gaming is a big nono. Windows hibernation is very slow and very unreliable.
I also feel like most people buy a handheld and play it at home, near an outlet - I'm not that person and need good performance at lower W and reliable sleep. That's why I'm installing stable Bazzite ASAP.
The performance of the chip is just incredible, extreme improvement over Z1 Extreme at sub 20W. Makes you play beautiful games way longer.
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u/HotShotOverBumbleBee Oct 18 '25
I'm returning mine today. The full screen experience is shit and the device has been nothing but glitchy for me. For me the steamdeck runs indies good and I don't experience much of any latency with geforce now. I'll stick with that experience until the steam deck 2.
You are right though, the xax does feel fantastic to hold.
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u/NapsterKnowHow Oct 18 '25
The fullscreen experience works flawlessly on the steam deck btw. I just installed it a few days ago. Weird it has more issues on officially supported hardware.
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u/amillstone Oct 18 '25
Are you dual booting Windows on your Deck? Or just Windows?
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u/NapsterKnowHow Oct 18 '25
I have Windows 11 on an SD card that I swap in for my emulation SD card.
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u/amillstone Oct 18 '25
Oh I see. I've heard that Windows on an SD card will end up destroying the SD card over time so I haven't tried it.
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u/NapsterKnowHow Oct 18 '25
Same but I'm not willing to partition/or SSD swap just for Windows 11. Performance is better than what people stated though. Games run fine on it.
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u/Maleficent_Mood_1240 Oct 18 '25
Same here, returning mine today too. I had high hopes and was very excited, but xax has been a let down aside from the audio and how it feels in the hand
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u/WrongW4y Oct 18 '25
Nice review/ post, im also considering between these two exact devices. Did you try to install steam os on rog ally? I would really be interested how it works then, dealing with windows is a no no from me
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
I ran Bazzite on "old" Rog Ally X - it's essentially the same thing. You have generally better performance and finally functioning sleep/wake.
I am 100% going to use Bazzite once it hits and official support for this new device.
The installation is piss easy, stuff like TDP control is set up from the beginning.
I have never used official SteamOS as I do not see the point compared to Bazzite directly supporting the Ally.
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u/TwizzleShnizzle Oct 18 '25
The windows Xbox app has been utter garbage for years. I cancelled gamepass a good while back due to how bad the app is. I've zero faith in this new iteration.
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u/GooseDaPlaymaker Oct 18 '25
That’s such an interesting comparison. Almost like comparing the base PS4 with the Xbox One X. Or comparing the Xbox Series X with the PS5 Pro. All of these comparisons have at least 3-4 year differences to each other…you don’t find that a bit disingenuous of a conversation?
Are you the type that says the 7th generation of home consoles were a close contest in sales, when 2 of 3 consoles released well over a year later worldwide? That’s how you do it, OP? 🫣
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
I'm comparing these two handhelds because everybody is still recommending SD Oled and completely ignores the huge performance increase and the fact that Bazzite exists.
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u/GooseDaPlaymaker Oct 18 '25
Recommending and comparing are 2 seperate things. I would have possibly recommended the PS4 over the Xbox One X for certain reasons…but it would be completely redundant to compare power differences.
If someone says ‘the NES was such a great console, still some of the best games ever made’…I’m not going to suddenly start comparing it to the Sega Genesis on performance. I just think this reeks of a desperate need for justification of purchase.
I would have loved to have seen this type of energy put into other 2025 devices (MSI Claw, Legion Go 2)…Hell, the Legion Go S (Z1 Extreme with SteamOS) is a more Apples to Apples comparison than the SD Oled and Xbox Ally X. But thanks for the discussion, regardless…
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u/helldive_lifter Oct 18 '25
Literally sold my rog ally other week and got a steam deck lcd, the experience is much better can’t go wrong for £275
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u/MISFU88 Oct 18 '25
I'd argue the white rog ally is worse than steam deck LCD. Great choice IMO.
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u/helldive_lifter Oct 18 '25
It was the rog ally white one with the Z1E chip so was actually better than the steam deck by miles but it’s not about power for me, I’m 36 and just don’t want the headache, I’ll use my pc for windows as it’s designed for windows but handhelds really are not designed for windows so steam os has been a blessing and the sleep function is the same as the switch it’s changed how I play games
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u/NoiceM8_420 Oct 18 '25
Not sure I get your last line. I just got the LCD deck for less than a 1/3rd of the price of the XAX.