STEAM DECK NEWS – Asus’ refreshed handheld PC isn’t cheap, but it’s been thoroughly refreshed in many ways.

Asus’ machine has been upgraded a bit, giving the ROG Ally X a better design, more RAM and better usability. With Armoury Crate SE 1.5, there’s also a new customizable games library, and the cooling system has been improved: 23% smaller fans, but with better ventilation and a third vent near the top for 24% better ventilation and improved temperatures. The height of the device has been increased by 4.5 mm to provide a better grip, so you can play more comfortably for longer.

The new handheld PC case is black and much rounder. The buttons and analog sticks have been moved around a bit for better ergonomics, so it’ll take some getting used to if you’re switching from the previous model. The macro buttons are smaller, the springs in the analog sticks are stiffer, and they have a longer lifespan of five million cycles. There’s also an extra USB-C port that’s Thunderbolt 4 capable, so you can use non-installed docks and possibly external graphics cards with the machine.

There’s 24GB of LPDDR5 compared to the previous 16GB of RAM, and the clock speed has also increased from 6400 to 7500 MHz, and while the APU is still the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme, performance is improved due to the better RAM. Thanks to the motherboard redesign, you can now fit a larger 2280 form factor NVMe SSD, but you also get 1TB of storage by default (double the amount of the first model). The most important improvement, however, is the battery: it has doubled in capacity and lasts twice as long with its 80Wh battery, but with the larger battery, the weight has also increased by about 68 grams.

We left the price until the end. The Asus ROG Ally X starts at $800 in the US.

Source: WCCFTech