Up till now, Xbox used to be the one main platform overlooked of the gaming hand-held area. Valve’s Steam Deck we could avid gamers play their Steam library at the move. Nintendo has the vastly a hit Transfer and Transfer 2. And Sony just lately made a comeback into the hand-held area — harkening again to the PSP and Vita days — with the disappointing PlayStation Portal.
Now, Microsoft has in spite of everything stepped as much as the plate with the ROG Xbox Best friend X, the long-awaited collaboration between ASUS ROG and Microsoft’s Xbox department. The brand new Xbox hand-held guarantees to help you play your Xbox and PC video games at the move, and it even includes a new processor, the AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Excessive, which provides extra energy than earlier ROG fashions. It’s additionally a whopping $1,000 — $350 greater than the Steam Deck and $550 greater than the Nintendo Transfer. On the other hand, it’s nonetheless less expensive than the beginning value of the new Lenovo Legion Cross 2 at $1,099, which may be a Home windows hand-held.
So, finally the hype, is the ROG Xbox Best friend X value it? Right here’s our in-depth evaluation of the ROG Xbox Best friend X after spending over two weeks with it. You’ll be able to additionally take a look at our interview with Sarah Bond, the President of Xbox, who instructed Mashable the brand new hand-held is a preview of the way forward for Xbox consoles.
How does the ROG Xbox Best friend X really feel?
Proper manner, the ROG Xbox Best friend X appears like an Xbox instrument.
Credit score: Matt Fornwald / Mashable
I like the ergonomics of the ROG Xbox Best friend X, and I am positive Xbox avid gamers will agree. The built-in grips simulate the texture and luxury of a typical Xbox controller. Earlier ROG Best friend iterations didn’t have most of these grips, in order that makes this a step up already in that side.
Proper out of the field, the ROG Xbox Best friend X is a little bit at the heavier aspect at 1.5 kilos, extra very similar to the Steam Deck reasonably than the lighter Transfer 2 or PS Portal. Its dimensions are similar to the Steam Deck and PS Portal. On the other hand, the Transfer 2 is awesome with its fairly extra compact design, particularly when its Pleasure-Cons are indifferent.
Clockwise, from most sensible left: ROG Xbox Best friend X, Nintendo Transfer 2, Ps Portal, Steam Deck
Credit score: George Yang / Mashable
The buttons are completely spaced out and feature a lovely, clicky feeling when pressed. The path pad is superb as smartly, which makes this gaming hand-held a good way to play platformers. The thumbsticks are fairly diagonal from each and every different, very similar to an Xbox controller.
The RGB lighting fixtures underneath the thumbsticks is a pleasing aesthetic contact as smartly, including a splash of colour towards the all-black external.
Total, the ROG Best friend X will really feel very acquainted to avid gamers within the Xbox camp, in an effective way. The instrument even has a fingerprint reader, including a layer of safety whilst offering a very easy approach to bounce proper again in and play. Total, we liked the design, ergonomics, and controllers.
Putting in place the ROG Xbox Best friend X
Credit score: Matt Fornwald / Mashable
When booting up the Best friend X, it wastes no time telling you that it’s essentially a Home windows PC hand-held. The acquainted blue Home windows consumer interface had me choose a language, set up some updates, after which in spite of everything took me to the Xbox app referred to as the “Xbox Complete-Display screen.” It’s a brand new interface for the hand-held this is designed to be extra streamlined, like a console, however it appears strikingly very similar to the Xbox app on PC. I want it had been extra distinctive to the Best friend X, one thing the Steam Deck does smartly.
The Xbox UI is straightforward to navigate, however it sort of feels to be afflicted by a little bit of lag and is at risk of freezing. Every now and then, I’d attempt to open up the Microsoft Retailer or Xbox Sport Go App, and the hand-held would stay unresponsive.
Within the menu at the proper, you’ll see your 3 number one assets of video games: Sport Go, your present library, and Cloud Gaming. Sport Go is Xbox’s signature gaming subscription style, which just lately noticed a worth hike. I’m an Final tier subscriber, so I’ve get right of entry to to Microsoft’s first-party video games. Thru it, I downloaded a number of video games, together with Doom: The Darkish Ages, Avowed, Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I additionally downloaded a number of video games I already personal — Lies of P and Resort Barcelona — either one of which can be Play Any place video games.
‘Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle’ performed flawlessly for me.
Credit score: George Yang / Mashable
It’s essential to notice that the one video games that may be immediately downloaded are ones to be had thru Sport Go and Play Any place titles. The latter is a program that permits you to purchase a virtual recreation as soon as thru Microsoft, and play it on each an Xbox console and a Home windows PC. In most cases, you’d need to need to pay two times if you wish to play a recreation on other platforms, however the Play Any place program is a handy and consumer-friendly initiative. In contrast to the Steam Deck, you’ll’t lift all of your library at the move, sadly.
At the left aspect of the instrument, there’s a button with the Xbox brand on it. Through urgent it down, you’ll transfer between other launchers, together with Xbox, Steam, and Epic. As a Home windows-based hand-held, it helps all PC launchers so if you wish to play launcher video games like Steam’s Counterstrike 2 or Epic Video games’s Fortnite, you’re ready to take action. Getting access to all of those other launchers very much expands the Xbox ROG Best friend X’s library of video games in comparison to its competition.
As an example, the Steam Deck is Linux-based, that means the one get right of entry to it has to Xbox video games is thru Xbox Cloud Streaming thru a internet browser in its Desktop mode. This provides the Xbox ROG Best friend X an enormous leg up, with the ability to obtain each Xbox and Steam video games natively, while the Steam Deck can most effective do the latter.
Taking part in video games at the ROG Xbox Best friend X
Credit score: Matt Fornwald / Mashable
Relating to taking part in video games, I have discovered thus far that efficiency between titles is inconsistent. Doom: The Darkish Ages and Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle carried out flawlessly. Doom is the fastest-paced recreation out of all the ones I’ve attempted on the hand-held thus far, and having the facility to kill demons within the palm of my fingers felt immensely enjoyable. Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle’s framerate held secure and used to be buttery clean, making it probably the most immersive enjoy I’ve had but.
Lies of P performed impressively smartly. In spite of some preliminary lag when transporting and loading thru other spaces, my gameplay sooner or later smoothed over. There are many difficult Soulslike video games on Xbox, as their fast moving nature and tough fights call for exact efficiency. So Lies of P operating in most sensible form truly demonstrated how a lot energy the Xbox ROG Best friend X had.
However, video games like Expedition 33 and Avowed had framerate and stuttering problems. Expedition 33’s battles require exact timing to dodge enemy assaults, so once I overlooked button presses because of those efficiency issues, it negatively impacted my gameplay. Avowed is a real-time motion recreation, the place a extra strong framerate would permit me to react quicker.
Whilst it’s a little bit of a sadness that the ROG Xbox Best friend X has an LED display screen as a substitute of an OLED one, that doesn’t imply video games don’t glance nice. I booted up Metaphor: ReFantazio, and the sport’s unbelievable artwork path and vivid colour palette truly pop throughout the instrument’s show. I additionally performed A Plague Story: Innocence, and the sport’s extra muted and darkish tones had been richly saturated. The hundreds of generated rats crawling round regarded menacing, even thru a hand-held display screen.
Credit score: Matt Fornwald / Mashable
That is the place the Lenovo Legion Cross 2 outshines the ROG Xbox Best friend X. It options an OLED display screen that makes colours extra colourful, which is helping justify its upper ticket in comparison to the ROG Xbox Best friend X.
I additionally attempted out the Cloud Gaming features for a little bit and performed about half-hour of Borderlands 4. With a forged WiFi connection, Borderlands 4 carried out simply high quality with minimum hiccups. Borderlands 4 isn’t to be had on Sport Go, and it’s additionally no longer a Play Any place name. Should you’re a Sport Go subscriber, the usage of Cloud Gaming is an incredible approach to circumvent the ROG Xbox Best friend X’s library barriers through letting you immediately move video games out of your Xbox account. On the other hand, the caveat this is that cloud capability is most effective to be had on a case-by-case foundation, so that you’ll want to take a look at whether or not the sport you need to play thru Cloud Gaming is conceivable through checking its web page at the Microsoft Retailer.
As for the battery existence, it truly relies on the sport you’re taking part in. Extra graphically in depth video games will drain the battery quicker. I left Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 frequently operating at the instrument’s Efficiency mode (17W), and it came over to be simply round 3 hours. You’ll be able to additionally move into the Armoury Crate, ASUS’s instrument managing app, and permit the ROG Xbox Best friend X’s Turbo mode (25W) to squeeze the utmost quantity of graphical constancy out of it. Doing so cuts down the instrument’s battery existence (with Expedition: 33 taking part in within the background) all the way down to about two hours.
Credit score: Matt Fornwald / Mashable
Previous this yr, Microsoft offered Copilot for Gaming, an AI-powered assistant for Xbox avid gamers. It’s nonetheless in beta trying out, however its goal is to assist information avid gamers throughout the video games they play in case they get caught. It’s a useful software for amateur avid gamers, because it can give directions or recommendation with no need to near the sport or open some other instrument to seek for a information. As an example, when I used to be taking part in A Plague Story: Innocence, I used to be navigating a cave. Once I requested Copilot what to do subsequent, it merely instructed me to proceed ahead and make my manner out of the cave. It’s once in a while reasonably obscure and normal, however provides simply sufficient steering.
On the other hand, in case you’re skilled or a seasoned gamer, I am not positive you can get as a lot mileage from it. If you wish to have very explicit directions on the right way to defeat a md, then the overall pointers that Copilot delivers will not be very useful. After all, this might trade as Copilot improves, and your mileage might range.
What can the Xbox ROG Best friend X beef up on?
The largest caveat to the Xbox ROG Best friend X is that it doesn’t play each and every Xbox recreation, regardless of what the selling subject material says. You’ll be able to most effective obtain video games which can be on Sport Go or the Play Any place program. Which means although you purchased a virtual recreation throughout the Microsoft Retailer, there’s no be sure that it’s a Play Any place name. As an example, in case you bought Monster Hunter Wilds at the Microsoft Retailer, you’ll’t play it at the Xbox ROG Best friend X because it’s no longer a part of this system. Different hand-held gadgets like Steam Deck and Nintendo Transfer 2 have it beat right here, as you’ll obtain each and every recreation purchased thru their respective ecosystems. Whilst Xbox Cloud Gaming is usually a workaround, the gaming enjoy relies for your web connection. Taking part in video games natively will all the time be the easier possibility.
As a result of this library limitation, this additionally approach you’re not able to obtain any backward-compatible Xbox 360 and unique Xbox video games. Backwards compatibility is likely one of the most attractive sides of Xbox’s ecosystem, and it’s a disgrace that it’s no longer a part of the Xbox ROG Best friend X. With a bit of luck, a long run instrument replace can treatment this. Should you’re ready to obtain any Xbox recreation out of your library, then the ROG Xbox Best friend X can be a hand-held behemoth.
Nonetheless, the ROG Xbox Best friend X has an outstanding library for a tool that simply introduced. There are a lot of indie and mid-tier video games to play, and also you additionally produce other launchers like Steam and Epic Video games at your fingertips at the Home windows aspect. For Xbox avid gamers, it’s a little bit of a combined bag, however there is no scarcity of titles you’ll obtain or play by way of the cloud. Simply keep in mind that most effective Xbox Sport Go and Play Any place video games may also be downloaded immediately to the hand-held, so take a look at to look in case your digitally bought video games fit.
The Home windows 11 enjoy
You’ll be able to transfer between the Home windows OS and an Xbox gaming UI.
Credit score: Matt Fornwald / Mashable
Because it stands, the ROG Xbox Best friend nonetheless feels too similar to a Home windows PC enjoy. The Xbox Complete Display screen has stuttering problems. The explanation why other people gravitate in opposition to consoles is they’re simple to make use of. You don’t need to take care of updating drivers or understanding what’s fighting your recreation from booting up. It simply works.
I in truth skilled this factor with Doom: The Darkish Ages. I had put in the sport throughout the Xbox app, however Home windows error pop-ups saved happening. For some unbeknownst reason why, the sport ended up booting up and taking part in high quality, however the ones mistakes aren’t what I be expecting for this type of enjoy.
For a staggering $1000, I anticipated a smoother enjoy navigating a top class hand-held instrument. The irritating lag impedes the waft of downloading video games and updates, which finally ends up feeling like a while wasted.
Is the ROG Xbox Best friend X value it?
The ROG Xbox Best friend X marks Microsoft’s long-awaited access into the hand-held gaming area. The ergonomics, construct high quality, and function of many video games are spectacular, and the design feels at ease and acquainted to Xbox avid gamers. On the other hand, the total enjoy is let down through instrument problems, akin to interface lag, insects, and Home windows-related mistakes. In spite of its nice energy and content material selection, the associated fee tag and restricted Xbox library get right of entry to make it really feel like one thing of a piece in growth.
Should you love Xbox’s Play Any place titles or need to play video games on an extended flight, then it is going to smartly be definitely worth the splurge, particularly as an alternative choice to a dear Home windows gaming pc or PC. However $999 shall be tricky promote for numerous avid gamers.
The brand new ROG Xbox Best friend X introduced on Oct. 16 for $999.99. You’ll be able to acquire the hand-held at Absolute best Purchase, Microsoft, and ASUS, even though it is been onerous to seek out in inventory every now and then.
ROG Xbox Best friend X gaming hand-held: Through the numbers
This gaming hand-held has some spectacular specifications:
Processor: New AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Excessive processor
RAM: 24GB
Garage: 1TB SSD
Running Gadget: Home windows 11
Refresh fee: 120Hz
Ports: Twin USB-C, 3.5mm audio jack, microSD
Show: 1080p LED
Weight: 1.58 kilos
Our preliminary evaluation of the ROG Xbox Best friend X used to be printed on Oct. 16; we have now now printed this complete evaluation after spending time beyond regulation trying out the instrument.
