Since arriving late last year, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X has proven a popular pick for those looking for an alternative to the market-leading Steam Deck OLED. However, it looks like it might face competition from outside the handheld arena, with new testing revealing that the REDMAGIC Astra 2, an Android gaming tablet, could be just as viable an option for PC gaming on the go.
The new details are courtesy of YouTuber Dame Tech, who tested the ROG Xbox Ally X against the REDMAGIC Astra 2 by running some pretty demanding games on both. At very high settings in GTA V, the Astra 2 went toe-to-toe with the Asus handheld, offering a relatively stable 70 frames per second. In another Rockstar best-seller, Red Dead Redemption 2, the REDMAGIC tablet actually beat the Xbox Ally X at high settings and 720p visuals in terms of performance and power draw, requiring just 20W of power versus the Xbox Ally X at 40W.
This testing is possible thanks to the REDMAGIC Astra 2's PC game emulation software, one of the many factors that make it a top pick from our guide to the best gaming tablets. There is a slight caveat, though, in that Dame Tech points to the tablet reaching slightly concerning temperatures while running PC games - upwards of 100°C - so it seems that the Astra 2's advanced cooling tech is designed for running Android games, rather than the demands of some of the big-name PC games.
Funnily enough, I've just spent the last month putting this tablet through its paces in our REDMAGIC Astra 2 review, and honestly, these results don't surprise me. It's a seriously powerful tablet, capable of taking any of the top picks from our guide to the best mobile games in its stride, even at the highest possible settings. All it takes is to combine the Astra 2 with a gaming controller wide enough to fit it in - I used the Razer Kishi Ultra - and you've got a tablet that doubles for a gaming handheld. It also helps that the REDMAGIC tablet is launching at a lower price than the Xbox Ally X at just $749 for the cheapest configuration.
This testing isn't just good news for REDMAGIC. It also highlights the pure processing power of the tablet's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 CPU. It's no secret that mobile processors are catching up with the power of handheld PC gaming processors in terms of the gameplay experience, but this benchmark testing suggests that the gap is closer than ever before. That has us even more excited about what Qualcomm's next chip, likely the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, could be capable of when it arrives.