Skip to main content Tom's Guide Tom's Guide Search Tom's Guide View Profile Newsletters Best Picks Entertainment Prime Day Deals Switch 2 Restock Walmart 4th of July Sale Galaxy Z Fold 7 Best Mattress Best laptops Wordle Today Recommended reading Handheld Gaming Forget Switch 2, ROG Xbox Ally has Steam Deck in its sights — here's why Handheld Gaming Nintendo Switch 2 proves one thing — it's time for Nvidia to make a PC gaming handheld Handheld Gaming I bought a PS Vita instead of a Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025 — and I have no regrets After 3 weeks of daily use, these are the 4 things I love about my Nintendo Switch 2 — and the 3 things that bother me Handheld Gaming Nintendo Switch 2 — 3 reasons to buy and 3 reasons to skip Handheld Gaming 5 tips for buying a gaming handheld — decide between Switch 2, Steam Deck and more Handheld Gaming Lenovo Legion Go is now $100 off in this epic Best Buy deal — and it's the Switch 2 of handheld gaming PCs Handheld Gaming Nintendo Switch 2 was top of my gadget wishlist — then I played the Asus Rog Ally X Jeff Parsons 5 July 2025 Taking the plunge on a Switch 2 just got a lot harder When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Future) Hi, I'm Jeff. I'm on the wrong side of thirty-five and probably best described as a “lapsed gamer.” The most up-to-date system I own is the OG Nintendo Switch from all the way back in 2017 and, like a lot of us with jobs, kids and other commitments — I don’t get a whole lot of time to use it. Even so, I was lucky enough to get my hands on the Nintendo Switch 2 for a few hours before its release a couple of months back. Now it’s here, I figured I’d almost certainly hand over my hard-earned cash for the new system before long. Then I spent a week with the Asus ROG Ally X — and it changed everything. You may like Forget Switch 2, ROG Xbox Ally has Steam Deck in its sights — here's why Nintendo Switch 2 proves one thing — it's time for Nvidia to make a PC gaming handheld I bought a PS Vita instead of a Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025 — and I have no regrets Asus ROG Ally X: $899 at Best Buy It's hard to ignore the pure power the Asus ROG Ally X boasts, making it a beast of a PC gaming handheld. You get a superb AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, a massive 24GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 70Wh battery for extended gameplay sessions. With a $100 price cut, it's well worth it. To set the scene for just a second; I was facing a trip away with the family and idly wondered whether or not my Switch would make the cut for the carry-on. But the talk around Tom's Guide these days is all about handheld gaming over on the PC side of the aisle. Sensing an opportunity, I politely asked a colleague to fix me up with the Asus handheld. That way, I could strategically ignore family time with a bit of gaming under the pretext of doing it "for work." So, here we are — a week later and my first experience with a handheld PC has got me completely rethinking whether or not there’s a Switch 2 in my future at all. Let me explain. There's so much more choice (Image credit: Tom's Guide) For me, a handheld system offers the best gaming proposition. The TV in my house is frequently occupied by other members of the family and the portability of a handheld lets me throw it in a bag and take it on a trip, or to the office, and grab some gaming time as and when it presents itself. The Switch has always been good to me because it offered a nice blend of blockbuster and independent titles. I’m willing to look past technical shortcomings if the gameplay is good and experiences like Breath of the Wild and FIFA were enough for me. But then I fired up the Asus Rog Ally X and discovered I could pick up games not just from Steam, but also Xbox’s excellent Game Pass (you get three months alongside the Ally X) as well as the Epic Game Store and GOG. A whole world of gaming — and the option to catch up on years of missed titles — suddenly opened up. Asus ROG Ally X Review | BUY or SKIP?! - YouTube Part of my problem with the Switch 2 is that I don’t feel the need to replay yet another Mario Kart or Zelda game just yet. While it’s great to see Nintendo’s hardware improvements welcome more AAA third-party games to the system, the fact is many of these have been available on PC for a while. And thanks to frequent Steam sales, you can usually save some serious cash playing on PC, too. A tool as well as a toy (Image credit: Tom's Guide) Windows 11 catches a lot of flak from gamers, it seems. SteamOS is where it’s at and Microsoft’s clunky OS just brings down the entire experience. This is undoubtedly true from a game-playing perspective. However, I think the only silver lining to having Windows on the ROG Ally X is that if you’re traveling with it, you’ve got a fully functional PC in your bag. I don’t make much of a habit of working on vacation, and I’m not going to try and defend Windows on a gaming handset. But I did get a bit of a thrill from having a gaming system and a productivity machine in one device. All I needed to do was bring along a slim keyboard like the Logitech Keys-to-Go 2 and a mouse and I could get work on documents or tend to emails. The one thing this does throw up for me is the lack of a kickstand on the ROG Ally X. In my opinion, any handheld should come with a built-in kickstand so you can use it with a controller or keyboard in a tabletop mode. But that goes double when you can use this as a laptop replacement. The Ally X also feels more like a high-powered product with those ergonomic grips and aggressive ROG styling. It’s a little on the heavy side at 1.49lbs (which makes it all the more frustrating Asus didn’t add a kickstand) but the thumbsticks especially feel premium with a great range of motion and just the right amount of tension built in. Fun for (not) the whole family (Image credit: Tom's Guide) Nintendo has fixed itself firmly as “the family console” and is going even further with GameChat on the Switch 2. Even if you’re traveling with just the console, you can break off a Joy-Con and hand it to a friend or family member for some social Mario Kart racing. And that’s wonderful, if it’s what you’re looking for. Me? I want to use gaming as a way to get away from other people. The same way I don’t want to sit and read a novel with somebody else. I’ll throw on a pair of the best noise cancelling headphones, kick back in a chair and go on my own personal adventure with Indiana Jones, thanks very much. Plus, since Asus added a second USB-C port, you can really go to town with a pair of Xreal or Viture AR glasses and shut out the outside world entirely. Now if only the amount of time I had equated to the battery life on the ROG Ally X. Asus doubled the capacity compared to the previous ROG Ally to an 80Wh cell. My colleagues got over three hours of juice while running the Gaming PCMark 10 benchmark test and the handheld can easily go for longer than a couple of hours playing some of the most demanding games. Swipe to scroll horizontally Battery life hh:mm (Gaming PCMark 10) Asus ROG Ally X Lenovo Legion Go Asus ROG Ally Bottom line (Image credit: Tom's Guide) I’ve not just been impressed with the Asus ROG Ally X, I’ve been blown away by how far handheld gaming has come since the Nintendo Switch in 2017. Now, I’m not immune to the issues of the ROG Ally X. That $899/£799 price point is a bitter pill to swallow and there is definitely a bit of a learning curve when it comes to tweaking and organizing performance compared to the boot-it-up-and-play nature of console gaming. The Switch 2 is a fantastic gaming system, no question. But the chances of me getting one just became a whole lot smaller now I’ve had my first taste of gaming on a PC handheld. More from Tom's Guide Nintendo Switch 2 restocks live updates Nintendo Switch 2 review — no gimmicks, just a fantastic console Asus ROG Ally X review — here’s why it’s the best Windows gaming handheld Today's best Asus ROG Ally (Z1 Extreme) deals 179 Amazon customer reviews $549.99View Deal $649.99View Deal $919.99View Deal We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices Sign up to get the BEST of Tom's Guide direct to your inbox. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Jeff Parsons Social Links Navigation UK Editor In Chief Jeff is UK Editor-in-Chief for Tom’s Guide looking after the day-to-day output of the site’s British contingent. A tech journalist for over a decade, he’s travelled the world testing any gadget he can get his hands on. Jeff has a keen interest in fitness and wearables as well as the latest tablets and laptops. A lapsed gamer, he fondly remembers the days when technical problems were solved by taking out the cartridge and blowing out the dust. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Forget Switch 2, ROG Xbox Ally has Steam Deck in its sights — here's why Nintendo Switch 2 proves one thing — it's time for Nvidia to make a PC gaming handheld I bought a PS Vita instead of a Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025 — and I have no regrets After 3 weeks of daily use, these are the 4 things I love about my Nintendo Switch 2 — and the 3 things that bother me Nintendo Switch 2 — 3 reasons to buy and 3 reasons to skip 5 tips for buying a gaming handheld — decide between Switch 2, Steam Deck and more Latest in Handheld Gaming I love the MSI Claw A8, but its price proves PC handhelds are officially going off the rails — here's why 5 tips for buying a gaming handheld — decide between Switch 2, Steam Deck and more Hurry! The Lenovo Legion Go S with SteamOS is $50 off right now — perfect timing to ditch Windows gaming handhelds New benchmarks reveal SteamOS beats Windows on handheld gaming performance — here's the results Score! Lenovo Legion Go is $200 off on Amazon right now Is the Nintendo Switch 2 worth it? 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