Microsoft and Asus Open Pre-Orders for Xbox Ally — X Priced at $999

Today, Microsoft and Asus officially open pre-orders for the portable gaming consoles ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X in the USA, priced at $599 and $999 respectively. In Canada, the prices are $799 CAD and $1299 CAD, in Europe — €599 and €899, in the UK — £499 and £799, and in Australia — $799 AUD and $1599 AUD. Both models will be available for purchase on October 16.

In the USA, the Xbox Ally X will be available exclusively at Best Buy, Asus Shop, and Microsoft stores, while the Xbox Ally will be sold more widely — on Amazon, Walmart, Ant Online, and other platforms. The prices may seem high, especially compared to traditional consoles. Even the basic white version of the Xbox Ally costs about $150 more than the Nintendo Switch 2, which has faced criticism for its price, and is $100 more expensive than the Xbox Series X at launch in the USA.

In Europe and the UK, the weaker version of the Xbox Ally is priced the same as the Xbox Series X. The difference is that the Xbox Ally is a portable console that can be played on the go. This makes it appealing to PC gamers, as these devices run on a new version of Windows that hides the desktop and Explorer, freeing up memory for games and allowing control of the device solely with the controller.

Portable gaming devices are becoming increasingly expensive. At $999, the Xbox Ally X can compete with the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus or the Lenovo Legion Go 2, which is priced at $1349 and features the same AMD Z2 Extreme processor as the Xbox Ally X.

The convenient design of the new devices is particularly noteworthy, having received approval from experts. It is important to remember that the $599 version is equipped with a unique Ryzen Z2 A processor, similar to the Steam Deck chip. It has 4 Zen 2 CPU cores and 8 RDNA 2 GPU cores with a TDP ranging from 6 to 20 watts, providing lower performance compared to more powerful models.

Reviews of the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X are planned for the coming weeks. Microsoft reports that these devices will be available in Australia, Canada, Europe, Asia, and other countries, including Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, UAE, UK, USA, and Vietnam. Eventually, the devices will appear in Brazil, China, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Switzerland.