Xbox Ally X review – early owner spills the beans on the new console's performance

We're just a couple of weeks away from Xbox's first official handhelds arriving and anticipation is building. The Asus ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X will be in the hands of eager gamers from 16 October – and T3 will bring you our full review(s) when it's nicely baked.

However, if you don't want to wait that long to get a taste of what to expect, one customer has seemingly received his preorder of the flagship Xbox Ally X early. And he's posted his own quick review online.

Taking to Reddit, user hmika59 (via Pure Xbox) claims his Xbox handheld has not only arrived, but he's used it already. It was reportedly sent via Amazon France.

Comment from r/ROGAllyX

He followed his original post with a detailed first impression review, which included comments on the performance of the handheld. Others have since shared the same review under their own Reddit usernames, but this one seems genuine.

He claims that the Xbox Ally X maintains "reliable performance" when running games at 900p to 1080p at medium to high settings. And that gives you up to 40fps at 25W.

However, with FSR enabled, the frame rate can be boosted to around 80fps – which is highly impressive.

The only gripes so far seem to be that the display is small in comparison with other PC gaming handhelds. Even though it's 1080p and 120Hz, at 7-inches it's more in line with the Nintendo Switch OLED model than many rivals. Admittedly, the original Steam Deck display is also 7-inch, but that was boosted a touch when the Steam Deck OLED model arrived.

In addition, by not launching with an OLED panel, the Xbox Ally X does feel a little behind some others. It "feels like a step down once you've used OLED", the Redditor says.

However, most will be pleased to hear that the performance is promising. That could be the most important thing, after all. You can read hmika59's full review below.

Comment from r/ROGAllyX

We'll be bringing you our own full review of the Xbox Ally X (and hopefully, the Xbox Ally) in the near future.

And we'll keep you up to date on any further developments until then.