Customer Ratings & Reviews

Terrible buggy software. I can’t get over how difficult this thing is to operate. I had to find a workaround on initial setup as the screen keyboard wouldn’t populate. I would wait for a future better version of this. Couldn’t even effectively run emulators.

I play a lot of games on a variety of consoles and platforms. If I’m not playing a game that’s exclusive to a console, I always opt to play on PC. For that, I have a desktop, a gaming laptop, and a Steam Deck. The Steam Deck is at its best when the game is supported and purchased on Steam. Other launchers such as GOG, Epic and EA Play Pro require you to tinker in Linux to get them to work, it’s not the best experience and the game is still not guaranteed to work. Xbox Game Pass is not available on the Deck at all, unless you settle for Cloud gaming. So up until this point, my primary gaming device on the go was a laptop, but that requires me to carry not only a bigger bag, but its proprietary charger, a controller, and a good set of ANC headphones to drown out the fan noise. Then I need a table to set it on. For me, the Asus ROG Ally is exactly what I was looking for. It runs a fully baked version of Windows, just like any other gaming PC. It supports Steam, Epic, Xbox Game Pass, EA/Origin, Ubisoft, GOG Galaxy, Microsoft Store, Minecraft Launcher...anything. It’s easy to carry as it is smaller than a Steam Deck and obviously any laptop. I can easily use it sitting, standing, in the car, in bed, or on the couch. It charges with the same USB-C chargers and battery packs I already have. Because it’s a regular PC with a web browser I can even stream music or watch Netflix, if I wanted to. Armory Crate, the software Asus designed to use with the Ally works well in this first iteration but I’m hoping Asus can add more to it with updates. At the present time, it serves as your gaming hub and allows you to start a game or storefront with a more touch friendly interface than you would have with Windows alone. It’s also where you will adjust the gamepad/key bindings and adjust what quick settings you see in the Command Center, which is an in-game overlay that gives you access to things such as Power Settings and is accessible by clicking the lower button located immediately to the left of the screen. The button opposite of it on the right of the screen will take you out of game and back into Armory Crate or vice versa. Apart from Jedi Survivor, which is a broken game that doesn’t even run well on my RTX 4090 desktop, every game I tried was playable at 1080p resolution and looked incredibly sharp on this screen. Rocket League was one of the first things I installed and it played superbly. Fortnite, I played on the medium preset which kept the framerate above 60 FPS. Forza Horizon 5 looks so good on this little screen but I did need to turn it down to Medium as the High preset caused it to not only take forever to load but to throw some out of memory errors as well. Madden 23 gave me no problems and playing on the handheld just makes me excited for the upcoming season of football. Cyberpunk 2077 was about the only game I had to put to low just to maintain an above 30 FPS Avg. However, low still looked incredibly good and was very much playable. Most of my gaming was done at the “Turbo” setting which allows the APU to draw around 25W of power. There is also a Silent (10W), Performance (15W), and another Turbo mode (30W) that is only available if you are connected to a 65W power adapter. This gives control over fan speed and battery life, the latter of which I estimate to be only 1.5-2 hours of playtime before needing to charge. However, even in the most demanding modes, Asus’ advanced cooling system does a great job at maintaining minimum fan noise. Sound quality is good enough that I don’t feel the need to carry headphones with me. Another thing I really enjoy about the Ally is that the controller layout is very similar to that of the Xbox Elite controller which is what I normally play with. I enjoyed playing Team Slayer in Halo Infinite as I could simply rely on muscle memory. The ABXY buttons are just shy of full sized and the spacing between them and the right thumbstick is nearly identical to the Xbox controller. Similarly, the left thumbstick is positioned well compared to the D-pad. The only downside to the controller layout is you only get two remappable buttons on the back instead of four. Also, it couldn’t be called ROG without some RGB bling and Asus gives you just that with LED rings around the thumbsticks that are customizable in Armory Crate. I did also try a few games that I typically play with mouse and keyboard such as Frostpunk and Surviving Mars. Even though I could play them with the controller I opted to try the “Desktop Mode” which binds controller buttons to mouse and keyboard actions and tried to play that way. It was not a great experience, but the biggest impediment was actually the smaller screen. Strategy games are just not suited for such a small screen. While Windows is a blessing, it’s also a curse here. Setting up this device can be a chore as you must go through a typical Windows setup process followed by a round of updates. Seasoned PC gamers will be fine, but folks who have never used a PC, or are coming from console will probably have a harder time. I think Asus should work on making the setup process much more “console-like”. During the Windows setup process you’ll be asked to configure Wi-Fi and other sensible things like the language for your keyboard. However, you’ll also be asked things that don’t really make sense on this device such as installing Microsoft Office or syncing with an Android phone. There’s also preinstalled Windows apps that have no place here like Todo and Teams. Once you get past Microsoft's setup of Windows you will need to update the device and unfortunately there are three places you need to check: Armory Crate, MyAsus, and Windows Update. Either of these could have an update waiting for you, which is not intuitive. When you first get the device it’s likely all three will need multiple updates. Typing on the on-screen keyboard is not as refined as it is on today’s mobile phones. Half the time the keyboard covers what you are trying to type and you need to move it around constantly. The biggest point to take away here is that Windows on a tiny touch screen is just not a great experience. The more time you can stay out of Windows, the happier you will be. Which means use Armory Crate to launch your games. 512GB seems like a lot at first but I could only have the games installed that I listed above (minus Jedi which didn't work and I had uninstalled) and am already maxed out. You can add more storage with a microSD card but I know that's not going to be as performant as the speedy internal SSD. And the fastest UHS-II cards are incredibly expensive. I wish Asus would offer a 1TB version which I think would be perfect for me and a lot of people. One minor thing to note is that although it has a Wifi 6E adapter it would never connect to my 6Ghz network, only 5Gz. Not a huge deal but just odd. Every other 6E device I have works fine. Pros: Fully-featured Windows PC Ryzen Z1 Extreme CPU is Impressive Beautiful 7” 1080p 120hz LCD Screen FreeSync Support Plays Most Games at Medium Preset or Better Quiet Fans Armory Crate Launcher Helps Unify Gaming Platforms Excellent Ergonomics Can be docked to monitor, mouse, and keyboard UHS-II MicroSD Slot USB-C 65W PD w/ Fast Charging Windows Hello Fingerprint Login Good Sound Quality RGB Thumbsticks Cons: Windows =) Battery life is short Not The Best for Mouse/Keyboard Games. 512GB is Not Big Enough Overall – Despite whatever shortcomings it might have, I am absolutely floored with the fact that the Ally enables me to play my PC games anywhere and anytime. My Ally is my new best friend and will be coming with me everywhere until Asus releases the next version!

It's great. But crashed So many times after one week. As the first generation it need time to be developed.

The Ally caught my eye a few months ago but I couldn’t justify the high price tag given the fact I already have a ps5 and a custom built pc. However, I had a few Best Buy gift cards and that coupled with the Black Friday deal when I purchased, I bit the bullet and impulse bought it. First impressions were good, the rgb lighting, how it fit in the hand, and picture quality were all great. I’m more of a casual gamer, I play when I can and not for extended periods of time. So after a day or two playing it, I questioned whether or not this would become a purchase that sits on a shelf until I decide to pick it up again, so I contemplated returning it. That being said, I thought it’d be nice to have something more portable so I decided to keep it for a week or so and go from there. I’ll save you the trouble of reading a rambling on post on the back and forth I had with myself so let’s just get to the point. The good: Performs great on all titles I’ve played. Forza Motorsport, MW3, Hitman 3, and even beam ng. Great graphics, I actually like the fact it runs on windows, and it has good performance. I recommend maxing out the RAM dedicated for gaming for best gaming experience. The bad: Battery life isn’t great in my opinion, it does get hot, especially where the micro sd slot is, which I’ve heard causes problems. 512gb SSD just isn’t enough, so I will be upgrading the internal SSD at some point. Load times for some titles are slow, but I’m comparing that to my pc which isn’t really fair to compare a handheld pc to a full blown desktop. Final thoughts: If you’re interested in portable gaming, and want something robust enough to play any title you’d want, I would recommend it. Make sure you cough up the extra cash for z1 Extreme. I’ve read other reviews that compare the two processors and the extreme is a huge upgrade.

This is a total powerhouse for a handheld. The graphics and framerate are great for any triple A title. The battery life is very very short though, but if you are near an outlet while traveling or have a powerful enough charging bank then it’s a great addition for when you travel. The heat sink butts up to the SD card reader which has led to it overheating and frying out the component. I’ve had to send mine in 3 times for repair. I ultimately upgraded the HDD to 2 TB and everything has been great since.

Not happy with it. I have a ASUS rog Tuf laptop and it is great. Being happy with the laptop, I purchased the Ally and it is complete disappointment. Constant freezing with games like forza, and it crashes American truck simulator every time I try to load it. I do not recommend. I also purchased the dock plug and the usb C has a very unstable connection, which is very annoying..

There is a lot to this device, and I think it's important to know what it is, and what it's not. It is a portable computer designed for gaming. It's Asus's first foray into this, in partnership with Microsoft. So yes, it's Windows. If you have a particular disdain for Windows, the Ally isn't for you. But, if you're used to Windows and don't mind its quirks, there is little else that is difficult to talk negative about this. But, also keep in mind, this is a brand new product. There are a ton of updates and setup that needs to be done out of the box. You won't be playing games for an hour or two. It's a little unfortunate that all the updates are spread across Windows, myAsus, Armoury Crate, and the AMD app. There are also still bugs with some of the performance and software, but Asus appears to be really engaged and committed to fixing all the issues. But, none of the issues Make the ROG Ally unusable or any game unplayable. The bundled Armoury Crate software actually isn't terrible, and lets you really tweak and configure the Ally. You can remap all the buttons, and create specific controller and performance configurations per game, and launch your games from AC. The GamePass app and Steam are pre-installed. Everything else (Epic, GOG, EA) you have to download and install separately. The built-in controller is basically a modified Xbox Controller; it shows up in Device Manager and in games as an Xbox controller. So, in general any game that supports a controller works perfectly out of the box. I did install PS Remote Play, and of course that requires a PlayStation controller. So, something like reWASD is required to get full functionality (without connecting an actual controller). Now, for what's really great about this. First, the screen is beautiful and sharp and bright. Precicsely 0 issues with the display, it's amazing. I was able to play with max brightness on a bright sunny day (in the shade) with no issue. The other shockingly good aspect is the speakers. I think it surprises most people. Now, this is still a mobile device, and the bar to clear for mobile gaming device sound is pretty low, but they cleared that hurdle and set a pretty high bar. They are loud, clear, and not tinny or muddled. You're still not going to get wild bass, but you probably won't be reaching for headphones right away for most games. Performance is obviously going to depend on the performance mode you have it set on. If you have it plugged in, there is no reason to not have it on max performance ("Turbo, 30w"). In this mode, many modern games you can usually get in the 30-60fps range on medium or low settings. In Forza Horizon 5, it works beautifully on the default low graphics settings. And it still looks great. Only older or lower demanding games will you be able to inch up to medium or high graphics settings. But that's ok, this is not a bleeding-edge gaming machine... it's a portable one. But, I think in most cases, once this has matured a bit, performance wise this will be the best-performing mobile gaming platform, until the next one comes along. Now, for portability, you can set it to Performance or Silent mode. In silent mode you'll get the best battery life, but most games you'll have to really crank down the graphics settings. Some games this is fine, some it's maybe better to just use performance mode. In performance mode, you're not going to get earth-shattering battery life. 2-3 hours is probably what you'll see. But, there is still reason to believe that future driver and software updates will improve this to at least some degree. Heat and fan noise is basically a non-issue. In the most demanding games, at best it gets warm, but not where you're holding it. And fans are virtually silent. Asus did a really good job here. Now, as far as holding it, I've seen some reviews complain about it being difficult to hold, but I've not had an issue. But, I guess it all depends on the size of your hands and fingers. Some have complained about accidentally touching the touchscreen while using the right joystick. Not an issue for me. But, the touchscreen is VERY sensitive. Which, I guess can be a double-edged sword for some. It's good news though that means screen protectors probably won't degrade touchscreen responsiveness in any meaningful way. But, all the buttons, triggers, and joysticks, feel really nice. I never got frustrated with the gamepad. And with the added buttons on the back (which do not show up as a part of the xbox controller), you can create some neat macros or shortcuts. I mapped one to the xbox button, since the Ally doesn't have a naitive xbox button. But you can map them to keyboard shortcuts or keys, or use them as a macro button to do things like open task manager. The more I use the Ally, the more I enjoy it. Setup is a bit painful, some of the bugs are mildly annoying, but this thing has a ton of potential, and I'm enjoying the competition we're seeing in the true mobile gaming space (I'm not talking phone games).

PROS: - Great performance - 1080p 120Hz display - Excellent speakers - ROG XG Mobile connection - Easy to upgrade storage - Excellent emulator performance - Dock/console mode is great CONS: - Battery life isn't great == SETUP == The ROG Ally is basically a small laptop without a physical keyboard, so you will go through the standard Windows 11 setup as any other PC (but using only the touchscreen unless you use a USB-C dongle to connect a mouse+keyboard). Once you log into Windows and update all your drivers, the ROG Ally will load into Armory Crate (this is where you'll primarily switch between games) every time you power on the Ally. The Ally comes with a 65W USB-C charger in the box and a cardboard-like "stand". If you want to get even more out of the Ally, you'll want to get a USB-C dock to go along with it. ASUS does sell a 65W charger dock that supports HDMI 2.0 (lets you connect your Ally to a TV/monitor and keyboard+mouse/controller). I'm currently using a 3rd party USB-C dock to achieve the same result. Using a USB-C dock (either from ASUS or a 3rd party option) will let you use the Ally as a desktop PC or a living room console. You can also buy one of the ROG XG Mobile external GPU dock to greatly improve gaming performance. == GAMING PERFORMANCE == I'm really impressed with how well the Ally performs for not having a dedicated GPU. Several "older" games that I enjoy playing, as well as many indie games, run at 60+ FPS while using "Silent" (10W) mode. You will have three power options: "Silent" (10W), "Performance" (15W), and "Turbo" (25W on battery and 30W while using the included charger). My favorite games to play on the Ally have been older games and indie games, primarily so I can keep the Ally in 10W mode to help battery life. I can play Ori at 10W with FPS in the up 90s and lower 100s (which is great with the Ally's 120Hz display) at 1080p. I can even play WoW (with an addon for key bind mapping for a controller) at 10W with FPS in the upper 60s and lower 70s. With more demanding AAA games, such as Cyberpunk 2077, the games run very well at 25W at 1080p with a mix of low and medium settings (Cyberpunk also has a Steam Deck graphic setting which works very well on the Ally) with FPS in the mid 40s. One HUGE advantage of ASUS using Windows as the OS for the Ally is that it makes emulation so much easier/convenient. The Ally becomes the ULTIMATE handheld gaming system, allowing you to play all your current favorite games, as well as all your favorite games from the past (and from previous consoles). == BATTERY LIFE == There are so many factors to what will impact your battery life, but the biggest factors are what performance mode (wattage) you're using and what game you're playing (and what settings you choose). If you're going to be playing Cyberpunk at 25W, you're not going to be away from an outlet/battery bank very long. Just to give a general idea of battery life: I was able to play Cyberpunk using low-medium settings (AMD FSR enabled) at 15W (getting mid 30s FPS) with screen brightness at 60% and drained the battery from 100% to 10% in a little over 1.5 hours. Compare that with playing "Ori and the Blind Forest" at 10W (getting high 90s to low 100s FPS) with screen brightness at 60% and drained the battery from 100% to a little under 60% in 1.5 hours. The included 65W charger will help with getting the Ally from about 10% to full in about an hour. However, if you're traveling and want to play more demanding games, I would HIGHLY recommend buying a high capacity battery bank and keep it in your backpack with you. == BEYOND HANDHELD GAMING == The ROG Ally is just a Windows PC in a handheld form, so connect it to a USB-C dock (with a monitor and mouse+keyboard), and you have a standard desktop PC experience. I'm actually writing this review on my Ally while it's connected to a USB-C dock. If you really wanted to use the Ally as your primary/only PC, it's super easy to do so. I have installed VS Code and an Ubuntu VM on mine, so I can just connect my Ally to the dock if I want to get some work done or play games at higher wattage with a monitor and keyboard+mouse. You can push the performance and functionality of the Ally even further if you get one of the XG Mobile external GPUs. == BOTTOM LINE == I love my ROG Ally. This is honestly an amazing device that may help change mobile and PC gaming forever. There isn't another device on the market that can match the Ally. If you want to get into the PC handheld world, and want a device that can be more than JUST be a handheld, this is it.

Overall I like it. There are a few quirks but before I get into it I do recommend the device. On that note it does have some tradeoffs though. The thumbsticks feel a little loose, sometimes my right shoulder button sticks in a weird way. I do wish it had more ram and storage. The battery life isn't great either... yes I know you can just PlUg It In but cmon, it's supposed to be portable and at this point I think we can agree the thickness would be okay. The micro sd card slot is a bit too close to the heat, I've seen some reports on that causing issues. I haven't personally had issues yet, but it is worth mentioning. But it actually has an sd card slot. My new phone doesn't even have that. Sometimes textures in doom don't load in properly, but dude its a handheld that you can play doom on. Like fr. Text in games is a bit small but its a full fledged laptop with a controller built into it. It's great. I do travel a lot and this definitely comes in handy. It's not perfect by any means, but especially compared to the steam deck I definitely prefer this. And the battery life is short, but it's not even that far off from the steam deck and the performance is far better. Since it's a windows machine more games are supported too.

something came broken inside  and one of the back panels didn’t work  I mean the box had a little dent in it, but that should have messed with anything the only possible thing that could’ve happened it’s such a great fall to break something inside. 

The Good: Plays games better than I expected. I will admit I haven't fired up any multiplayer games on it (I'm way too competitive for that) and you're not going to be playing Monster Hunter Wilds on it, but you could def play Monster Hunter New World. It light and easy to hold. My hands don't ache after playing. It's versatile, which is probably its best feature. I love that I'm not stuck with one option for games. I can download from Steam, GOG, Xbox, anything and just play. It's set up with Microsoft so you do you. Cons It's set up with Microsoft.... It has its issues. When you purchase it just plan on looking up a guide for optimizing so you can delete all the bloatware and learn how to cntl+alt+dlt on a controller. You're probably going to be tethered to a wall. Which is why I'm calling this a handheld gaming system and not portable. With optimization I can max out my battery at 4 hours and that's better than anyone I know. The typical gaming system with regular settings can drain your battery in less than an hour. So being next to an outlet is handy. The stand it comes with is actually laughable. It's cardboard. I kinda think they would have been better off not putting a stand in there than claiming it comes with a stand and putting something that cost $.02 to make in there for a $400-700 product.

When to choose laptop, desktop, or Ally? Here's a few scenarios as the Ally most likely isn't ready to be your ONLY device. I want to... 1. Carry my device from place to place and plug it into docks that already have peripherals (monitor/mouse/keyboard) setup... All 3 devices can do this, but to do it with a desktop is stupid. Why carry the big heavy thing around? Laptop is a bit heavy and bulky and takes up a lot of desk space. Rog Ally wins by being the smallest and performing no different than the other 2. ROG ALLY (LAPTOP ALSO WORKS) 2. Write emails, work in spreadsheets, do general work/school-related tasks in a coffee shop. Desktop automatically loses. Rog Ally's screen is small and you'll either need portable monitor, mouse, and/or keyboard, or be confined to a small screen with digital keyboard. Laptop wins with larger screen, physical keyboard, and comfort -- can easily put it on your lap or table (duh). LAPTOP 3. Play games on an airplane... Desktop... just no. Laptop is big and bulky, you can do it, but won't be comfortable. Rog Ally is small, comfortable to hold, clear winner. ROG ALLY 4. Watch a movie on an airplane... Desktop, again no. Laptop and Rog Ally are a toss up. Personally, a laptop is more comfortable, I can adjust the screen however I like and not very worried about how much space it takes up as I'm sitting and watching a movie. But if you need to get up and go to bathroom, Ally is easy to move -- the screen is small but not terrible, and you can get a 3-pack of sturdy, plastic stands that can hold it nicely on amazon for $10. LAPTOP OR ROG ALLY 5. Play games in a car... ROG ALLY 6. Play games silently without sacrificing much performance... Rog Ally actually excels very nicely here. No matter it's power setting, the Ally is nearly silent. It achieves this by basically letting its components get really hot, but not dangerously. You can't do this in a laptop on your lap, but can let same thing happen on another surface, same with desktop. Still, neither will come close to the Ally in this fight. (Macs actually can get real quiet, but you're not gaming on a Mac). ROG ALLY 7. Have many large games installed... Realistically, all 3 devices can support this. Desktop is more likely to have multiple M.2 SSD slots, so it wins here. BUT, laptop can still have large storage spaces easily enough. The Rog Ally falls behind a bit, coming in with a 2230 M.2 which is still far more expensive than it's bigger 2280 counterpart for desktops and laptops. With that said, you CAN replace the 512 GB SSD with a 1 or 2 TB version easily -- but it will cost you more. As for using a micro SD card for more storage, you do NOT want to put games on it. MicroSD cards are literally 500 times slower than some M.2's. DESKTOP, then LAPTOP, then ROG ALLY 8. Get the best performance for the cheapest price... Rog Ally is NOT upgradeable -- except for an E-GPU that will set you back another $800 or so, which defeats the purpose of portability. High performance laptops are very expensive and will still be outperformed by most desktops. Desktops are by far the cheapest option -- being able to build a strong desktop for under $1,000 easily these days. Cheaper means you can buy better parts, so you'll perform better, and usually have better thermals as well. DESKTOP 9. Video edit, graphic design... other creative services... All 3 can do this quite well. But the Ally needs peripherals to do this comfortably. So if you have a dock with external mouse/keyboard/monitor then all 3 can do this easily. But the more complicated designs on things like AfterEffects will be easiest to render on a better GPU, so the Ally falls behind eventually. DESKTOP, LAPTOP, ALLY Stars breakdown: Performance is fantastic for such a small device. But for the price, desktops can still outpace it -- for now. Storage capacity is downright terrible for modern games -- with many taking up 100 gb alone. With that said, 2230 M.2's aren't very popular, so give the market time to adjust and this problem can be easily solved. Though the best solution would be to fit a full sized 2280 M.2 in the device. Controller: I'm a mouse and keyboard person. So I have virtually no experience with the controller. That said, it feels great for someone who knows it won't be as good as mouse and keyboard, but could still be a lot worse. Also, the ASUS software is very intuitive and helpful. Let's hope it stays that way!

The system crashed and had an irreparable error the first 48 hours of owning it. I did a complete reset, reinstalling all software and have had no issues since. I used this during a trip to game. Storage capacity is low for top games, it runs hot, and its battery capacity is short lived. I keep an extended battery block, external SSD, and make sure it can breath when in use. Its performance and graphics are good. It’s easier to carry than my laptop and powerful for its size. I play Diablo IV, Forza Horizon 5, and some lower games with no issue. Be sure to put it in offline mode and download what you need before heading out of service though.

windows OS clutter, steam games unstable constantly crash

Excellent hardware! Meh software. Don't buy this unless you like tinkering to make things run just right. Pros: Solid build quality, b e a u t i f u l screen, lightning fast performance. Cons: Potentially breaking SD cards, short battery life on demanding games, Armory Crate software is very buggy and needs time to mature.

It looks and feels great but the device is bad, softwareissues and buggy interface, the games do not run well at all and the controller layout never maoes sense

I was on the fence with purchasing a gaming handheld and when I noticed a sale on the ASUS ROG Ally Z1 Extreme, I figured I'd take a chance. While I haven't tried out any other gaming handhelds, I'm very happy with the Ally. The screen is very sharp and and unit itself is very light. It allows me to get away from my desk and still do what I enjoy which is PC gaming. I'll admit, Windows on such a small device was a little difficult to get used to but the Armoury Crate software does a great job of allowing you to pretty much bypass having to maneuver in Windows. The battery life isn't the greatest but a bigger battery would make it not only heavier but chunkier. As it is, it's fine just have an alternative power source available if you're going to do any heavy gaming. I want to note that I did purchase an open box unit that was listed as "good" condition. I really couldn't find anything wrong with it other than a very minute scuff on the back of the unit. The savings was worth it and contacting Asus so that I can register the handheld to my account seems to be a simple process.

[TIPS & TRICKS] **Deactivate the startup sound** This setting is hidden, and I hope they can create a tile for it in Command Center to toggle the boot-up sound. Press the power button, let it go when you see the splash screen, then hold [Vol -] until you reach the BIOS. Go to Advanced, select Animation Post Logo Configuration, then choose [Disabled] in the dropdown. **Reorder Tiles in Command Center** Use a mouse to drag and drop the tiles where you want them. It will be much quicker than deleting all the tiles and replacing them in the desired order. First, if you are a PC gamer, you will feel right at home using this device. You are already someone used to tweaking settings or figuring out why things don't go as they should, and your gaming library is spread across distributions other than Steam. As a handheld gaming PC, the RoG Ally RC71L truly outclasses all handheld consoles in every way. Be ready to deal with Windows quirks and challenges, but the potential and possibility are endless with the Ally. Things were pretty rocky at first, but I attribute that to Windows and the endless patches and updates needed for ALL laptop initializations. This will be the best form factor for PCs in the future as we travel lighter and want more mobility. Many of us have monitor or TV setups where we are most. Why carry a laptop unless you need the power for more intensive tasks? This with a dock is a user's dream and a low-key productivity beast! What's in the box? The unboxing experience is simple and straightforward, but it excites you as you peel the plastic and cut the seals. You will get a 65w charger, a "stand," and the RoG Ally handheld device, all neatly packed and presented in the box. The "stand" is pretty pathetic. It is made of recycled cardboard paper mâché, yet fakes a plastic-finished side on the top. Functionally it works, but durability is compromised. This is cost-cut #1; there should be plastic for a device in this price range, not paper. Most will buy an aftermarket dock, but Asus missed an opportunity here to provide value. The charger specs are TYPE-C, 65W AC Adapter, Output: 20V DC, 3.25A, 65W, Input: 100~240V AC 50/60Hz universal. The cord is quality, and the length is plenty; however, NO FOLDING PRONGS - come on! This is cost-cut #2 and inexcusable for a portable/travel device at this price. The cord doesn't separate from the base either, which makes this a rather not-so-portable travel companion. The Ally is built solid, and everything is where you expect it. The weight is surprisingly light compared to what I expected, tipping the scales at 608g or 1.34 lbs. The added security of a fingerprint sensor incorporated into the power button and Microsoft Pluton security processor help with peace of mind. Hardware and Performance The Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip with integrated AMD RDNA 3 GPU and soldered 16 GB DDR5 RAM is superb. The controller leaves much to be desired, but the buttons and analog sticks differ from my expected quality. The analogs have a dead zone you need to get used to. The 6-Axis IMU gyro for another gaming and function layer is nice. Play up to 1080p 120hz with VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and enjoy more precise text, vivid colors, and picture quality unmatched visuals in a handheld. The installed Micron 512gb M.2 2230 PCIe Gen 4 NVME drive provides fast speeds of 4308/MBs write and 1638/MBs read in my benchmark. A UHS-II MicroSD card slot handles up to 2TB cards and is excellent for emulators, videos, photos, or other files you may need. Only a single USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C port can DisplayPort 1.4 and DC Power input. I wish there were another port somewhere, but you can unlock a whole desktop experience with a dongle or dock. Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6E Triple Band 2x2 are all present and powered by a 40WHrs 4S1P 4-cell Li-ion battery. Battery life is not a strong suit here, but power banks and fast charging offset this. Depending on my work or game title, I get anywhere from 1.5 to 4 hours on a charge. If you're gaming and enjoying this in all its glory, plan on 1 hr 15 mins before you need a charge. My charge times were 0-56% in 30 mins and 0-100% in just under 83 mins. Color and Display The display is the differentiator here, and it isn't even close! This is a beautiful glossy 7" IPS LED 1080p 120hz capable panel with a responsive 10-point multi-touch screen by Gorilla® Glass Victus® with DXC Coating. The response time is 7ms, so it is decent but not exceptional, and there are a plethora of color profiles to dial in your specific look for your activity or game at hand. The screen is the show's star, and the 120hz makes this a joy to play on. It hits 500 nits for some sunlight but still could benefit from 1000 nits for direct sun. This screen is quite bright at the low end, so if you game at night near your significate other, they will complain. This lights my bedroom on the lowest setting! Running this at 720p 60hz offers an excellent compromise closer to other console handhelds to extend the Rog Ally's battery life. It boasts 100% of sRGB and 75.35% Adobe color space coverage. Sound Quality and Speakers Asus REALLY killed it in the sound department. They included a Dolby Atmos license, so you get excellent booming simulated surround sound from these front-firing speakers; no sound is wasted, and everything is directed towards the player for clear and powerful sound. The sound is loud and clear and quite shocking to me for a handheld. There is also bass in the low-end and clean highs with detail in the mid-range. Did I mention this? Get LOUD! At 100%, you will think you have a full-sized laptop with high-end speakers and clean amps - which you do. Software and User Interface/Experience Windows bloatware, NAMELY Microsoft OneDrive, kills this gamer vibe, but we are all used to it with Windows 11 integrations like OneDrive. Armory Crate is the saving grace when functioning as the skin to make Windows more cohesive. Although there is no amount of skinning that will make Windows run right, this helps, and the Command Center button and Armory Crate buttons make things easier. Change resolutions, frame rates, color profiles, performance, and power levels with tiles you preset to your liking. DRM games are useless here without the internet, so keep that in mind. Most games need the internet to verify ownership, so connectivity is a big part of the gaming experience. As a result, consider GoG or other digital distribution for offline times. The Ally is a BEAST for emulation, so if you can set that up, you will have the best battery life and fun without restriction due to the internet. With all the potential, we are definitely at the early adopter stage of patches and fixes. If you like to feel progress, tinker, and test while you figure things out, this is for you! If you're in the entry-level budget gaming PC market, start here first. Recommendations -add a webcam and camera for streamers and those needing to scan QR codes for logins and website authentication—meetings and streaming in one device - wow. -backlight all the keys and buttons along with the sticks for a better experience at night. When playing in the dark, you must memorize buttons and guess at the beginning. -I suggest making a unit in the future with swappable batteries like many headsets are incorporating now. -dark colorway would be nice. -power brick w/ folding prongs and detachable cable. This is meant to be portable. -add a screen protector preinstalled as an added value for spending over $700 on this. Intermittently Issues -SD card speed inconsistencies. Speeds are all over the place, and performance is handicapped at a fraction of the overall speed rating. This has improved since launch, but I would like advertised speeds, please! Again, this is driver related and still comes up now and then. -Crackling sounds while playing. This happens more and more infrequently, but it still happens. I don't know why it does or what I can do to replicate it, but it is software-related. I don't know if it is Dolby Atmos-related, but that is active when playing my games. -Battery life. Keep your cord with you because you will need it. Battery life varies based on what you are playing and the speeds, so keep that in mind. -Sleep/Hibernation states. Any time this goes into sleep or hibernation, it acts Differentiators Fast Charging. 0-100% in under 1.5 hrs. 0-50% in around .5 hrs. Emulation. This is the ultimate gaming machine with emulation to counter those times without the internet. This is a perfect hybrid setup joining retro with next-gen gaming. Compatibility. Windows natively supports all your games and is platform agnostic. If the specs can handle it, you can play it. Cooling. The Ally is the quietest, coolest experience. The airflow reminds me of jet exhaust, yet you only hear fans at work once you push into Turbo 25w+. Adaptability. This is for work AND play. There is profound power here, so try making this a desktop replacement and see how it goes. The RoG Ally can serve many people, from gamers to students and professionals to content creation. The Asus RoG Ally RC71L is a glimpse into the future of PC gaming - and quite possibly the King of performance right now! I see this being the new "laptop" for students since this is a full-fledged PC you can set up as a desktop with a docking station to create the traditional desktop. Under the hood, this is spec'd to perfection and designed with cooling at the core. I won't bore you with specs, but there is a ton of power and performance. Once Windows 11 releases optimizations for handheld PCs, firmware and driver updates evolve, and Armory Crate SE gets final polish, this will easily be the best out and the most powerful handheld. Most definitely, you will want to look here first if you want to game on a mobile platform. A solid buy from me if you can handle early adoption woes.

Three weeks in on the Ally. Have Game Pass, Steam and Epic Games loaded. Great little unit, but it has some pretty big challenges 1. the location of the SD card reader - lot of heat coming from that area and the design has been known to cook SD cards. I bought a 1TB card put pulled it immediately fearing my $120 investment may go up in smoke. My workaround was to purchase a SD card reader that I can plug into the USB-C port, but creates more issues which I will explain in a bit. 2. The unit has 1 single USB-C port. This single USB-C port handles charging so you have to pick what you are going to do with that single port. If you are playing a AAA that requires heavy lifting you will only get 30-45 minutes of gameplay on a charge so it is key to be able to connect to a charger for extended sessions. If we go back to my workaround for the lethal SD card port I mistakenly loaded my triple AAA games on the card. There is no way to have an extended session if the charger and SD card are fighting the same/only port. 3. Battery life is not very good. I can get 1.5 games of FIFA in on a full charge. Seems like the unit is constantly on the charger. 4. Windows 11 is a bit challenging to navigate through with a small screen. It is also not the most touch friendly OS. I am satisfied with my purchase so far. The unit feels much better to hold than the Steam Deck. I also appreciate that I am able to load all of my gaming services on the unit. Graphics are very impressive, though the most it has been pushed is with the latest Forza game for a few minutes until I lost interest. I have been enjoying so me lighter games on it like Sleeping Dogs and Broverse. It also runs FIFA 23 very well, though it seems to struggle with rendering hair, but if I up the performance setting then that resolves the issue. I have loaded a few FPS games as well. Far Cry 5 ran fine, but it did not recognize the onboard controls. I ran Battelfield 3 for a little bit and ran great. I really enjoyed playing Battlefront 2 on the Ally, but the game takes up a fifth of the of the hard drive. Next week I will be picking up a Lenovo Go which I hope addresses the issues that I am currently experiencing with the Ally.

I love this thing. I did have an issue with the OS and button function right out of the box, but factory resetting it solved it, so be prepared for that(according to what I was seeing online that frequent issue). Compared to other handhelds like the steam deck it requires a little more effort and knowledge with IT issues and windows troubleshooting, but anything you don't know you can find online without much effort. Plays games at mid-high settings with decent frame rates. It won't be top tier, but it's optimized better then the Legion GO when I tried one of those. The controls feel pretty good and they don't get hot. They did a good job venting the heat away from your hands. Space isn't great because of Windows taking up more space then you want and games being so large these days, but upgrading the SSD was very easy as well. I ended up getting 2TB with faster speed then what was pre-installed and it went smoothly restoring the system wasn't to bad. Everything is done on the device through the internet with tutorials online. MicroSD is useless if you want to use one for games, so I'd not waste time on it; it just doesn't get the speeds you will want and tends to bog down the system when trying to run them. Battery life isn't very good. maybe 2-3 hours of time depending on the game and settings. So expect to have to plug it in it, but that tends to be avg for handhelds currently on the market. A single USB-C port which you will use most of the time for charging is a little lackluster, which they added second one in the newest model. sadly you will be limited if you have a device to hook up unless it uses Bluetooth. It will work well with Steam, Xbox and any other game software launchers or apps just like a PC. It has a built in software for customizing controls and hardware functions that works pretty well with a single button for quick access, make sure to update windows and other software before installing games and other apps. Probably go through and uninstall anything you won't use to free up space. Price point isn't ideal for what you get, I'd wait until it is on sale to buy it. $650 is just a bit to much for since you will need to spend about $150 to get a new SSD which is highly recommended. I picked it up for $450 on sale at the store and I only even did that since I felt $450 was a good price for what it was and I do not regret it. I have a Gaming Desktop and Gaming Laptop and I still use this quite often and haven't come across a game yet(even new ones) that it doesn't run pretty well. So it feel worth a $450 price tag. All in all it's great device if you want a handheld that is windows based. Depending on what you play and your budget the new model of ROG is better and newer handhelds are sure to be out soon. If you can't get this on sale wait until it is.