The ROG Xbox Ally X, demonstrated at the 2025 Summer Game Fest, features a stunning 7-inch display but suffers from being noticeably heavy. After a short play session of Gears of War: Reloaded, the discomfort in forearms highlighted the trade-off between power and portability in handheld consoles. The design challenge is to ensure the console is powerful enough for AAA games while remaining light enough for comfortable portability, a balance that the Ally X seems to struggle with according to early impressions.
The most noticeable thing about the ROG Xbox Ally X was, unfortunately, how tired my forearms were after just 20 minutes of playing.
Designing a handheld console is a tightrope walk... it needs to split the difference between being powerful enough to run contemporary AAA games... and yet not so powerful that it weighs down your travel bag.
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