The ROG Xbox Ally now has tailored per-game profiles and I never thought I'd say it but as a SteamOS user I'm quite jealous

Asus ROG Xbox Ally X handheld gaming PC — (Image credit: Future)

The Asus ROG Xbox Ally is one of our favourite handheld gaming PCs, and it would easily sit in the top spot if it weren't for a couple of things: price, and the existence of SteamOS handhelds. On the latter front, though, Microsoft seems to be doing what it can to improve the new handheld-oriented version of Windows towards, well, handhelds, and the latest here is that it's now introduced 'Default Game Profiles.'

If you have an ROG Xbox Ally or ROG Xbox Ally X, with this update you should now be able to select profiles for different games tailored to balancing performance and battery life. Xbox says:

I'm personally a fan of default per-game profiles, provided they're done well. That view isn't ubiquitous, though. For instance, while I like many of the per-game profiles SteelSeries provides in its software for its Arctis GameBuds, my colleague Andy wasn't entirely convinced of the same feature for the Nova 5X. I suppose, here, it will all boil down to whether the default profiles truly balance smooth gameplay with decent visual performance and battery life.

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This update can be applied via Asus Armoury Crate and then toggled on/off using the Armoury Crate Command Center Game Bar widget. So ensure you have Armoury Crate updated if you want this feature.

You can already make your own per-game profiles in Armoury Crate, but this will add an easily togglable option to give you pre-made profiles, so you have to do less tinkering yourself. There will, of course, be gamers who prefer to find the right settings themselves, but I reckon many will like the option to have Xbox do this for them.

I've been wanting such a feature out of SteamOS for a while now. I managed to achieve something similar using Decky plugin loader on the Legion Go S, but the solution I found just shows community-made tailored game settings, and I have to then implement these myself—plus it's a little janky.

In this regard then, this is one feature I think the Windows handheld experience, at least for the two Xbox devices, might be at an advantage over SteamOS handhelds. And with the Xbox full screen experience now rolling out to other Windows devices than just handhelds, we have some pretty strong evidence that Microsoft is committed to improving the platform.

Best handheld PC 2025

1. Best overall:
Lenovo Legion Go S SteamOS

2. Best budget:
Steam Deck

3. Best Windows:
Asus ROG Xbox Ally X

4. Best big screen:
Lenovo Legion Go

5. Best compact:
Ayaneo Flip DS

👉Check out our full handheld gaming PC guide👈

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Jacob got his hands on a gaming PC for the first time when he was about 12 years old. He swiftly realised the local PC repair store had ripped him off with his build and vowed never to let another soul build his rig again. With this vow, Jacob the hardware junkie was born. Since then, Jacob's led a double-life as part-hardware geek, part-philosophy nerd, first working as a Hardware Writer for PCGamesN in 2020, then working towards a PhD in Philosophy for a few years while freelancing on the side for sites such as TechRadar, Pocket-lint, and yours truly, PC Gamer. Eventually, he gave up the ruthless mercenary life to join the world's #1 PC Gaming site full-time. It's definitely not an ego thing, he assures us.

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