Everything is an Xbox, don’t believe me just ask Xbox.
We have now seen more than previews but hands on with the New Asus ROG Xbox in 2 version. Reviewers far luckier (not ready to say more talented yet) than myself got hands on with the new device in Santa Monica this weekend.
The first impression reviews are coming in taking over Switch 2 unboxings in my feed. I didn’t think I would get sick of Switch 2 unboxings but the vast quantity of them is becoming overwhelming.
It seems those leaked FCC filings with pics of dirty handhelds were correct. You can find my post about those here. Microsoft was however able to hide the Ace that might be the most important part of this launch.
Frontend
The “Xbox Full Screen Experience” aside from the name might be the game changer Xbox needed for launching games. This gives the handheld a slick interface that launches directly upon startup instead of full blown Windows 11. Automatically the XFSE frees up 2GB of working RAM which can be seen vanishing when Windows 11 is launched.
If you want to stay in the XFSE and play games that is definitely the way to get the most out of your Gamepass Ultimate subscription. You can however launch 3rd party launchers if you want, it will just require you to login to Windows in order to use something like EPIC or Steam.
After Windows got smoked during the Legion Go S launch it feels almost dirty to have Microsoft make you load a bloated Windows 11 to access your library of owned PC games. I’m sure they totally didn’t have a software engineer think of that while building this new frontend.
Power
The specs are almost exactly what has been talked about. The more affordable version coming with a CPU based off that of the current Steam Deck and the “X” model coming with an AMD RYZEN Z2 Extreme, 24GB of memory and 1TB of storage. The X version definitely being an upgrade from last years.
When it comes to hardware both versions have the handles from Xbox co trollers strapped to the sides. If nothing else this handheld looks really comfortable to play. You could argue that the current Ally X is already ugly so even though the handgrips are doing this new handheld no favors, they aren’t hurting like I thought they would either.
Price
Right now they are throwing around some very affordable pricing. I don’t really want to quote any of it here after the Legion Go Ss made that dramatic price increase at launch. So I’m going with I think they will be priced similar to the current lineup. My best guess is that the Ally Xbox X will be between $800-$1000 with the current 1TB ROG Ally X coming in at $799.
Once we get closer we will review this pricing again, we still have a few months before launch.
As always once I know more I’ll share it with you here.
GameOn
CellPhish
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