The original Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC is great for my itty bitty hands—and now even better for your pocket with a new itty bitty price
Asus ROG Ally | handheld gaming PC | AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme Processor | 512 GB storage | 7-inch 120 Hz FHD 1080p display | 40 Wh battery | White | $649.99 $449.99 at Best Buy (save $200)
While overshadowed by its younger sibling, the Asus ROG Ally X, this handheld still has plenty to offer—now at a heavily discounted price. This first draft still offers great gaming performance, though that's tempered by a weak battery and storage constraints.
The office Steam Deck and I have had some good times. For one, playing 1000xResist for the second time on this handheld gaming powerhouse proved a far smoother experience than my first go around on the Nintendo Switch. For another, the Steam Deck screen really lets me appreciate just how tired The Thaumaturge protagonist Wiktor Szulski looks at the start of the game. If only chasing my own eternal sleepiness away was as easy as befriending a fiend from the other side.
Alas, I've kept the office Steam Deck zipped up in its case for longer than I'd like to admit. Why? It's just logistics—my poor little raptor claws get tired handling the heft of Valve's handheld through long gaming sessions. So, what snapped me awake—sharp talons and all—was this deal on the lighter weight Asus ROG Ally, now only $450 from Best Buy.
To be clear, we're talking about the original Asus ROG Ally released in 2023, and not the more refined Asus ROG Ally X that came out last summer. The Ally is a little older, sure, but still has a lot to offer; to start off on the best foot possible, our Dave wrote in his Asus ROG Ally review that «Asus has made a genuinely next-gen Steam Deck in the ROG Ally.» Considering the Steam Deck 2 is likely still a ways off, and the fact Asus' surprisingly lightweight handheld gaming PC boasts the same AMD Z1 Extreme APU as the Ally X, that statement isn't just hyperbole even today.
With 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a speedy PCIe 4.0 SSD to boot, games run beautifully. However, the real head turner on this handheld is the 7-inch
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