Asus ROG Ally X leaked at $799 but here's why it's still worth it
The Asus ROG Ally X was revealed last Thursday, but specifics have been up in the air as we anticipate the official June 2 breakdown.
On Saturday, X leaker Arsène Lupin offered a couple of tidbits of information we didn't know, revealing the device's $799 price point and 1TB of SSD storage.
The leaker also confirms information we already knew, including its AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, 7-inch, 1080p panel at a 120Hz refresh rate, and a black exterior.
If that were all we had to go on, the Asus ROG Ally X would be a hard sell. But we do know from the initial reveal of the handheld gaming console that it will also feature improved RAM, greater battery life, and physical changes.
But if the $799 price point is true, what can the Asus ROG Ally X do to justify its price?
How the Asus ROG Ally X can justify its price
If the leak is accurate, $799 is a steep price increase if the only selling point is an increase to 1TB of SSD storage. However, we do know a few other things that can and should justify this price bump.
In the announcement video titled The next Asus ROG Ally is coming, it was specified that there are "improvements to RAM." While your first instinct might be to assume that this means the RAM will bump up to 32GB (which would be huge), the vagueness of that statement could mean that this is nothing more than a speed boost.
However, the current Asus ROG Ally has 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM at 6400MT/s, which is the highest you'll often find when dealing with LPDDR5 RAM. It's possible that this could be boosted to 8000MT/s, but it's incredibly unlikely and far more plausible that the boost will be to add 32GB of RAM. A Verge exclusive on the device claims that the device "should" have more than 16GB of RAM, but it's not explicitly confirmed.
Beyond that, the video also confirms massive changes to the battery life. The same Verge exclusive with Asus SVP Shawn Yen stated that the company is not seeing "30 to 40 percent more capacity," insisting that it is instead "way more than that."
On the Laptop Mag battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits, the Asus ROG Ally lasted 5 hours and 51 minutes. On the PCMark 10 test, which simulates actual gaming conditions, it lasted 1 hour and 43 minutes. With more demanding titles, this will likely shrink closer to an hour.
If we're expecting more than a 40 percent increase in longevity, it could bring the PCMark 10 above three hours. That would be incredible and could do enough to combat complaints about lacking battery life in the original model. It would also be more than enough to justify spending as high as $799 for an upgraded model.
How this will impact the original Asus ROG Ally
Considering all the potential changes coming to the Asus ROG Ally X, it would be shocking if the original models remained at their current cost. The AMD Ryzen Z1 is $499 and the AMD Ryzen Extreme is $699. However, if the Asus ROG Ally X is $799 with 1TB of SSD storage, potentially 32GB of RAM, 40 percent or greater longevity in battery life, and physical improvements to the device, it would be surprising if all of those came for only $100 more.
As a result, the launch of the Asus ROG Ally X will be good news even for those who don't plan on buying this high-end model. It will likely come alongside the original Asus ROG Ally models each receiving a $100 reduction in price. This is especially because those models are often discounted by that much anyway.
