Customer Ratings & Reviews

I am a Steam Deck owner (I love my Steam Deck), and I picked up the Ally as well. I am very pleased with the screen quality and overall performance of the Ally. I enjoy the ease with which I can launch Epic, GOG, Battle.net and EA games without having to jump through a bunch of hoops (like I did on the Steam Deck.) I have mostly played Valheim and Diablo IV, and both run flawlessly. There is a noticeable improvement in performance over the Steam Deck when playing Valheim. The user experience is a little rocky, as Windows is not optimized for a device like this, and ASUS did not fully think through the UX. The initial setup is particularly frustrating, as there is no virtual keyboard to use to connect to Wifi UNLESS the user knows to set up a second keyboard during setup. It is not intuitive at all. The battery life is atrocious, as I usually only get 1.5 hours. HOWEVER, this is typical of ANY gaming laptop. Pros: Screen brightness and resolution Performance Game launcher compatibility Look and feel Light weight (compared to Steam Deck) Cons: Battery life User experience is clunky Very few case/skin/accessory options (as of writing this)

So I have had this device for 2 weeks now. I confess I never saw myself getting a handheld. Even with my son having a Steamdeck, I just figured even an entry level gaming laptop would server me better. But after a bit of research, my curiosity was piqued. Things I like I like it running Windows. My son's Steamdeck works well enough but when you get into Steam games that need to use Ubisoft or EA's launcher, I have had some behaviors where it has even messed up my game licensing between multiple launchers. I have never had this issue with Windows. Windows just works. I think Valve has a better console like experience but I am just more knowledgeable with Windows and I don't want to try and figure out how to do something in Linux. If I need to uninstall or reinstall something, I know how to do that in Windows. With Linux, beyond my expertise. It has a nice screen. I have heard the Steamdeck OLED looks better and is brighter. Sure, I get that. My daughter's Switch OLED looks better than my OG Switch. Still this is plenty bright and pretty. Sure, Variable Refresh Rate, 1080P, technical blah blah. It is truly pretty to look at and use. It feels well built and is comfortable to hold. It seems to have a decent amount of horsepower compared to the Steamdeck. I am currently playing AC Unity and Immortals Fenyx Rising. Both games I own via Ubisoft Connect. I can get both games to run with medium settings at 900P between 40-60FPS. Again, I'm looking for it to be a nice playable experience, not to cater to the benchmarking crowd. I bought it to give me a good game playing experience and it seems it will do that more so than the OG Steamdeck. Upgradeability. Just from watching videos on Youtube, in my opinion, changing out the internal 512GB NVME with a bigger capacity NVME appears to be easier then it is with the Steamdeck. Getting inside the unit is 5 screws and a pry tool. Removing the 2230 form factor NVME is one screw. Swap it out, close it back up and use the internal cloud recovery tool and it downloads and puts the unit back to factory default and the larger capacity NVME SSD is resized to use the extra storage space. The Steamdeck has more internals to disassemble and I saw one horror story of a guy not parking the battery bricking his Steamdeck. So this looks like a better choice for internal storage upgradeability. Things I do not like First and foremost. Battery life is really bad. I think this is a combination of a more powerful APU coupled with Windows power management and Asus Armory Crate SE power profiles. It is all beyond confusing. It gives you a lot of flexibility to set power when on AC power vs battery. I think out of the box, you can kill the battery in under an hour. This just needs to be a better experience. I think Valve has gotten this right. Whether the Steamdeck has a more efficient APU, less power draw due to lower resolution display or other factors, the Ally battery life and power management is just a mess. You're fighting Windows and Asus. Power Management as a separate issue. It took me a god bit of effort to tinker with power plans in Windows and Armory Crate SE to stop the Ally from hibernating after 3 minutes. With games being multiple GB's in size, it needs to stay awake long enough to download those games. Updates are in three different places. Between Windows, Armory Crate and My Asus. I think this could be tightened up and all moved into Windows Update. My Dell laptop would even get firmware updates from the Windows Update channel. I have not even looked into the SD card slot debacle. I may pick up or put an SD card in there to see if it has failure issues. I think the best option is to just replace the internal NVME. Final Thoughts I really like this form factor device as a PC more than I thought I would. The fact I can sit on my couch with the wife and play PC games or even use it as a PC is just awesome. And it's not the bulk of a laptop. I also have the MS Xbox app installed and I do my daily MS Bing Rewards PC activities on the Ally. Now on a weekend, I do not need to power up a desktop or laptop. I can do my Windows desktop searches on the Ally. I can play a Game Pass PC game on the Ally and get the points for that too. I can see real value when I travel to family where space is tight. Instead of dragging along a laptop and laptop bag with all the accessories, where when I get to a crowded in law house and I can't even find a flat surface to set up said laptop, all I need is a recliner, couch or chair close to an outlet and I can play PC games. One last thought. I primarily like to play games on the PC. I like my switch. I like my Xbox Seris X. I like my PS4 PRO. But the PC is king just for the versatility. If I am playing a game like the aforementioned AC Unity or evne now where I am just starting playing a Steam copy of Ori and the Blind Forest DE I purchased, my saves just work. Whether I am on desktop, laptop, or handheld Ally, those clients sync and pick up regardless of which PC I use. Try doing that between Switch, Playstation, Xbox and PC. Sure newer games may have cloud sync between platforms baked in now, but if I stay in the PC ecosystem, those clients just sync and work regardless of the form factor of the PC. Even with my quibbles, I really like this device and look forward to seeing this segment mature and supporting it as it goes forward.

I'd like to preface this review by saying two things: 1. I also own the original 512GB Steam Deck and the new 1TB OLD Limited Edition Seam Deck 2. This is not intended to be a VS review or which is better, as both devices have their advantages and this will strictly be about the Ally. Pros: Can handle all PC gaming launchers with ease, most can be accessed from within the ASUS Armory Crate and others from the desktop Can run pretty much any game on at least medium settings Comfortable to hold, lightweight, and honestly an overall beautiful device Great buttons, sticks, and d-pad Fantastic screen and refresh rate Cons: Battery life SD Card Concerns - I haven't even used my SD card, I just immediately upgraded the internal storage to 1TB and called it a day. But not being able to use it in fear of it going out is honestly my only complaint about the device, as the battery life is to be expected. Overall, I would only be happier with the device if it didn't have the potential SD card issues. That aside it's an amazing device and I'm glad I got it. I'll be mostly using it for my games on GOG Galaxy. If you're on the fence it's definitely worth picking up!

Love it! Decided to go with this over a Steam Deck because of Windows 11. I have this hooked up to a Dell dock and use it as my daily desktop setup. Unplug one cable and I'm off wherever I want to go. Was worried the screen would be too small, but no issues at all. Excellent color and clarity. Pros: - Affordable - This was actually cheaper than the non-extreme version when I bought mine. Closest in price was the MSI Claw 7, and reviews did not make me feel good about going that route. - Display - Clear and vibrant! - Portable - Big enough to be usable, but not so bulky it's a pain to travel with. - Full Windows 11 - I'm able to use it as my daily driver for email, desktop gaming, and most other non-intensive tasks. - Game availability - It's Windows! What doesn't it have!? Cons: - Battery Life - This is my main complaint right now. It does not last as long as advertised. Looking to get a battery bank for traveling. - More of a wish list item than a con, but I wish it had a native Oculink port instead of the ROG proprietary XG port for use with an external GPU. In summary, for a handheld gaming PC, I have very little to complain about. Have a tested it extensively on all the big name games? No. Has it let me down in the games I've tried so far (Fortnite, Fallen Order, Rocket League, and a few others)? Absolutely not. Is it going to perform as well as the gaming PC I built with a dedicated GPU? No, but I didn't expect it to. I bought it to travel, and so far it's way more convenient than bringing along my laptop.

The ASUS ROG Ally is a good handheld gaming PC. It is powerful, portable, and has a great display. However, the battery life and software could be improved. If you are looking for a powerful and portable gaming PC, the ASUS ROG Ally is a good option. However, if you are looking for a long-lasting gaming PC with a bug-free software, you may want to consider other options. User Reviews: • "I love the performance of the Ally. I can play most of my favorite games on it, and it even handles some newer titles pretty well." - u/The_Gaming_Nerd • "The display on the Ally is amazing. It's bright, clear, and has great colors. I really enjoy gaming on it." - u/Avid_Gamer • "The battery life on the Ally is pretty short. I only get about 3-4 hours of gaming on a single charge." - u/GamerGirl123 • "The software on the Ally can be a bit buggy at times. I've had some issues with games crashing or not launching properly." - u/PC_Gamer Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Recommendation: The ASUS ROG Ally is a good option for gamers who are looking for a powerful and portable gaming PC. However, if you are looking for a long-lasting gaming PC with a bug-free software, you may want to consider other options.

After playing the Deck, Legion, and Ally, the Ally is my personal favorite. Haven’t yet found a game that I can’t play on it. Great for on the go however as others have stated you’ll eat through the battery on 25w playing a demanding title so plugging in is preferable in those scenarios. That’s usually not a bother to me as there’s typically a spot to plug in when you’re sitting down playing anyway. The few things I’d do immediately are get some thumbstick extensions and at least a 1tb SSD to replace the stock one (which is pretty easy to replace if you follow a step by step on YouTube) and you’ll be ready to go. I wish there was a way to upgrade the ram but maybe we’ll get that in the next generation. For now, this is a great handheld/basic gaming pc!

The ROG Ally is or seems to be light years ahead of any handheld console that I have seen. I own competitor consoles and they have been lack luster. The ROG has solved an age old problem, “How do I came at high fidelity while preserving some sharp graphics, without burning up my system and allowing it to heat up so quick?” The solution is that the Ally has dual fans, its light, the new AMD Ryzen Z1 should be used for more consoles if these results can be yielded again. The design is immaculate and everything I wanted. The bright white with the color changing joysticks, the nice black accents and the holographic color stripe on the back is a sweet little pop of color. The image quality and sound again are years ahead. I literally have a laptop that boasts these expensive speakers but the company put them in an awkward spot under the device. The Asus + Ally team really understood the mobile gaming experience and added Dolby Atmos with sound sensing technology so it adapts to your environment. The screen colors are amazing, the crisp picture has captivated me on Fortnite and it being a new season I can’t put the Ally down. I have a standard gaming console and now the Ally’s graphics and processor react so much better than my home console it is taking some time to adjust to how quick I can get an elimination! At first I was in awe because it didn’t make sense. Now I am just kicking butt and getting those wins! Tonight I played for two hours and the device never got hot, as soon as the battery was depleted I plugged it in and it went into/detected that it could go to max power. So rest assured it can sense and change gaming modes as needed. The Armoury Crate makes it easy to play games from all sorts of platforms using Windows 11 while the competitors try to figure out how to play their own games on their systems. I’ve been an Asus fan for sometime and now I can totally see my family jumping in on the fun. If you’re into gaming, enjoy cutting edge tech, and want to expand how you can play games, then the ROG Ally is for you!

Let me be clear and say this is NOT a “plug and play” type device, it is literally a handheld gaming laptop and needs to be fine tuned to the owner’s preferences. That said, this thing is AMAZING for exactly what it is, this is the future of handheld gaming, though it’s got much room to grow and improve and we all gotta be patient through these growing pains. Memory isn’t anything to write home about and neither is battery life but there are ways around this comfortably(being near an outlet or a power bank for battery “issues” and upgrading the SSD with a 1 or 2TB one for memory) this thing blows the Steamdeck out of the water performance wise and they won’t ever match this type of performance!! *to be fair there was/is a bit of a hang up with the SD Card slot but like most high performance tools of this nature, measures are and will be in place to fix this. This isn’t the first time anyone has had to go through the motions and update firmware/BIOS. PATIENCE!!!

TLDR: This thing is so powerful I gave it 3 stars even though it’s a pile of trash in every other way. Software: AWFUL. I “upgraded” from a steam-deck for this because the struggle is real with some newer games on the SD. This thing was nothing but problems out the gate. Turn it on and you are instantly put into this horrible set-up and updating process. Windows setup sucks but Armory Crate updates were MUCH worse. Every update it said it needed in Armory crate would either not respond at all when clicked or would fail. I had to reformat the whole thing and that seemed to almost work except for 1 update that it still wouldn’t respond to click. Battery life: Actually playing the thing at 15w it ran much much worse than Steamdeck and got similar battery life. At 30w we are talking 40 minutes of battery life which is completely unacceptable. Performance: Woweee this sucker GOES. Games were butter smooth 60FPS in almost any thing I threw at it. And you can make it so crystal clear. The screen is FANTASTIC and truthfully rivals/beats the steamdeck even with the OLED panel. The features are what bring it over the top (120hz freesync and 1080p). This thing also Absolutely demolished the SD at 30w in performance. At 15w as stated above it sucked and ran much worse for the same amount of battery consumption than the SD. Ergonomics and feel: Bad. Feels a little cheap and the sticks feel like mashed potatoes. The button feel is really crappy and the overall experience is very sub par. The jutting corners also destroy my hands. 15 minutes in bed with this thing and my hands were numb because the jutting corners at the bottom. XG mobile: I bought the XG mobile in hopes to use this with it to replace a desktop. Horrible idea. If you think you want that you do not. It’s egregiously loud, runs good on paper but bad in reality and pretty much broke my Ally. Go look at my XG mobile review, spoiler.. it’s 1 star.

Look, graphically this thing isn't going to compete with any updated pc. I've got a 3080Ti and it doesn't quite get to that kind of quality, but it's darn close (plugged in). As far as the battery goes, you've probably got a solid hour of quality game time playing a AAA game title before you are about out of juice on the top performance battery setting. You could get a bunch more play time by turning down the wattage and lowering the game's graphic settings though. All platform shops work great straight from the Armory Crate app including battle.net, EA, Epic, etc. You could easily set this thing up as a portable retro gaming machine as well. I will say, I've never owned a steam deck, so i can't make comparisons between these two devices. Using the cloud and your phones hot spot, you can continue gaming sessions from stationary to portable pretty easily. This is an amazing machine and totally worth the price to keep playing your games while on the go. I recommend!

Let me say this I have a gaming desktop and a laptop (vivobook) I enjoy this handheld very much I only play my desktop for CSGO everything else I can play handheld any room any house any place I go it goes with me Pros Great gaming on the go Good screen quality Great triple A titles everywhere you go Quality controls and buttons Mappable back buttons Overall very quality build Cons Battery life is on the low end as in dies quickly running on high Micro sd card is not working tried 3 different cards and the rog ally cooked every single one Overall great device and highly recommend for people who wanna step away from their desktop still game or even someone who travels a lot and wants to play on the go

Writing this review after my 1st exchange since the first one had issues with the controls squeaking and having drift, definitely a great product If you get a great unit and give it a shot. Definitely gave me Childhood Christmas feelings that I haven’t felt in a long time. Pros: -Sold at Bestbuy -Powerful and runs on Windows -Screen is definitely the best compared to others -Display is still great in sunlight -Great Loud Audio even for music -Lightweight even after playing for hours -Charges fast -Huge Online community for support Cons: -Battery Drains fast if you don’t manage well -Joystick not as great as other controllers -Software is still new and still has some issues but will eventually be better - -

Hey, this thing is amazing. It is literally just a laptop in the palm your hands. The portability is great, its powerful and can run games with 40-60 fps no problem depending on the settings. Confusing to set up at first, but thats what Youtube is for. I will say, the battery life is absolutely atrocious. Even if playing or using it with low wattage, It will die within the hour. You'll most likely need to keep it plugged in or docked. Or, buy yourself a new battery, or a portable battery of some sort. All in all, if you like using Windows, and you're also a gamer, this thing is a beast.

The ROG Ally makes for a very solid option when it comes to portable PC gaming. Based on my experience with the device, I can tell you that if you want the next best step above the Steam Deck this is your option; but with some things to consider. Those are: - The battery life is not in good supply so if you buy this, you'll also want a power bank to accompany it. - Getting used to Windows on a handheld takes a little bit but pretty straightforward after that. Outside of those things, you get a really solid portable option with 120 Hz display and Variable Refresh Rate, a feature missing in many alternatives. You get a pretty comfortable and light handheld that is also pretty simple to improve as far as storage is concerned. I can say that the unit I received had no issues with the MicroSD slot as well, but whether the problem has been fully solved I cannot say one way or the other. Regardless, this is a good choice for an option after experiencing the Steam Deck. If you are coming into the portable PC gaming experience, I would say you should experience the Steam Deck first but if you want an option that gives you the compatibility of Windows in your hands; this is what you should consider, especially on the sales you can get it at a lower price.

Fuest impressions were really good and it runs and works great. A few things that I dislike is: 1.) The amount of storage is not great but it is super easy to upgrade for a cost. 2.) The battery life is around 2 hours on half decent settungs which for most people is ok, not for avid gamers and 3.) If you have larger hands you will experience the numb or sleepy hand syndrome. I do really love my ally, after a few improvements it is sooo much better.

the ROG Ally is worth considering, especially now that prices have come down a bit and firmware/software have improved. It’s powerful for what it is, and provides more flexibility than many handhelds. But I’d go in with tempered expectations: expect to tweak settings, manage battery, maybe deal with heat, and possibly SD card issues. If those trade‑offs are acceptable, it can deliver a strong experience

The ROG Ally Z1 Extreme was a really good experience for me, but I ended up selling it because I didn't find myself using handheld gaming devices as much as I thought I might. It was great for a vacation or two, but I found myself either at home where I preferred my desktop gaming PC or out places with other tasks in mind, and so didn't use it. Cool features to know: it's Windows 11 based, and pretty much any program that runs on Windows runs on this, including all the major DRMs (I used Steam, EA, and GOG). It will also run screen accountability software if your children are using it and you want to monitor what is coming across the screen. The screen was superior to the 1st gen Steam Decks, and the processor was faster. The audio quality of the built in speakers was amazing as well. Opportunities for growth. Not as many control options as a Steam Deck, the battery life was shockingly short, and the device got hot in the hands regularly with basic games. Overall, it was a good experience.

The device is powerful with a great screen, and the dual fans really keep the noise down relative to other handheld gaming PCs. Fingerprint login is a nice touch, and custom power profiles can be setup. Can be used as a mini desktop PC with custom 43 Watt profile for the APU providing great performance. Sound quality is great, and ergonomics are great (you will want to pick this up more than bulky devices like the Steam Deck, as it’s just lighter and way smaller). Only downside I believe is the SD card reader malfunctioning if the device is run at very high wattages for long periods of time…but if you are installing your steam games to an SD card I question your sanity in doing so. Buy a bigger nvme drive and only use the SD card sparingly and you will be golden.

The Ally is a very good handheld gaming console. My biggest problem and why I returned it came down to the screen size. I've used larger handhelds like the onexplayer with its 8.4 inch screen and it makes a huge difference and its hard to go back to anything with a smaller sized screen. Gaming screen size was almost passable but anything to do with windows 11 was frustrating for me. My eyes arent perfect but they arent that bad either. Just too much of a compromise for me with the ally on the 7 inch screen and as of now, I'd probably need go for the legion go and wait for a good deal as the discount on the Ally for the holidays made it a huge impulse buy. Either that or spend over the top money for something like the 8.4 inch ayaneo kun. As far as gaming performance, the ally was great. Really happy with the FPS on all of my games and its now a very polished device. Battery performance I also felt was a bit of a compromise coming from a 53mah battery on the onexplayer and even running at the native 2560x1600 for older games like the dead space trio or older modded games in the need for speed category, I still saw an extra hour of gaming vs the ally. Only other concern was the ongoing issue with microsd cards, but if i had held on to it id have just upgraded the ssd, which looks really easy to do on the ally. Bottom line, if it wasnt for the screen size, i'd have held on to it, because the quality of the screen, the performance, the weight, and the controls were all top notch and now i find myself just waiting to see what comes out in 2024 as an alternative. Either that or wait for a deal on the legion go and hope they improve their software over time as I'm afraid with my current eyesight, anything less than a 7 inch screen is a non starter for me.

I am really impressed with this handheld. I have a Steam Deck, but was able to get a deal on this device and though why not give it a try. I was surprised, I actually prefer it over the Steam Deck and find myself picking this up every time over the Steam Deck mostly because it can play more of my games and I find game text easier to read since the screen is sharper. Pros: Plays all my games (they aren't kidding with that tagline), powerful, sharper resolution screen, runs Windows (this would seem like a con, but if you are a Windows user, it makes this device easy to use). Cons: Really short battery life, not as ergonomic as the Steam Deck, software could use some more polish.