Customer Ratings & Reviews

This handheld pc is the best product I’ve ever bought from Best Buy. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for in a gaming pc, because this is my first gaming pc/handheld. If ROG comes out with another one I may get that one too.

A very good console, it's just what i needed. The console arrived in excellent conditions. Some reviews said that it is very large and not very ergonomic, I feel that it is very comfortable to play

Sold my steam deck and got an open box for a very good deal. One of my best decisions of 2023. The only thing I don’t like about it is that the thumb sticks should be stiffer. Aside for that it is perfect for me in every way.

When you can play an entire library if Steam games already purchased and not have to invest $60+ per game for a new system, that alone pays for itself. Amazon graphics, sound, controls and that says a lot coming from someone who games on a 4090 gaming PC

Bestbuy has always been my go to for anything electronic! Online or in-store the purchasing process is always easy and enjoyable! Thank you so much for continuing to provided outstanding customer service!!

It's a great handheld, plays games from steam, xbox, etc. My only issue was that it needs to stay plugged in if you're going to play for a couple hours straight.

I love it I play ghost recon wild lands and days on it with no issues.

I pay $699 for 45 minutes gaming that the battery life and most game lag run madden 24 on 18 FPS …my rating is 6/10

The Asus ROG ALLY was visibly used which means it was a prior review unit.The Ally's box was cut into by a knife but didn't damage the screen from what I could tell.I didn't even want to touch it and didn't power it on.I had to go to my local Best Buy just to exchange it right after working my 8hr shift and skip eating my dinner until I got back home.The shipping box had barely any packing material so the Ally was just flopping around inside.

This is an amazing device, and it stands up to all the hype. Being able to play my video games at this amount of clarity and fps we’re astounding. This is a really top notch device and I’ve already considered getting a second one for my wife to play.

It’s a powerful device for a handheld console. Colors and graphics are amazing. I’m not a PC gamer, I pass from my Switch to this console and the different is huge. I’m playing triple A games while laying on my bed in turbo mode and it looks fantastic.

Dannnngggg its too goooodd for me eventough the fan is noisy

A very powerful portable PC. I love the different fan modes. The controls feel great. Many games are compatible these days.

powerful yes it is a fast and powerful machine but i dont think it is the right investment to pay more than a conventional console for a team where you basically join to play in the clouds you can download demulators but they dont work in full just the retro ones and no i will pay so much money to play super nintendo or ps1 emulator you can buy games or pay memberships like xbox live and play station.

The product arrived extremely well, I am quite happy with my purchase at Best Buy, it was my first purchase and it will not be the last

Great product for the price, I would recommend the extreme as the processor is faster

My honest opinion is , be patient, play with it, take your time to use all the different fixtures this thing has to offer , I went from almost returning it because I couldn't deal with it to taking it with me everywhere I go .

I am still learning about this decice everyday. With that being said I am very comfortable with this purchase. Wish Asus would’ve made a better case to protect the decice.

ASUS’ new ROG Ally is one of the most hyped products of 2023. Following the lead of small, boutique PC manufacturers from around the world, and some large gaming brands’ in-house offerings, ASUS enters the market with what’s arguably the highest-spec’d handheld PC available today, and certainly the most powerful for the money. In contrast to other manufacturers, the Ally’s big advantage is a native Windows installation with full driver support, allowing virtually any Windows app to run that would falter on other operating systems from anti-cheat or DRM software. Unfortunately, its biggest strengths are also its biggest weaknesses. Just like Italian roadsters of old, you’ll spend more time under the hood tinkering, adjusting, testing, trying different solutions, perhaps uncovering quality control issues…and once everything’s running the tank drains much faster than you’d like. But when it all comes together, gaming on the ROG Ally is an experience like none other. - Unboxing and Setup The ROG Ally ships with just the essentials: a 65W power cable and a cleverly-packaged stand made out of its recyclable cardboard box. ASUS touts the lightness of the Ally and compared to its larger rivals, the difference in weight and size is quite noticeable. It uses good quality plastics and contours to feel much better in the hand than you might expect, even for those with large hands. All of the buttons and triggers activate with good feel and just the right amount of resistance, force, and clickiness - though I would say they’re more on-par with a $30, third-party console controller than an official one. The D-pad could have a better topper but it’s plenty precise otherwise. Plug in the Ally, power it on, and you’re greeted with the familiar Windows 11 setup sequence, which immediately highlights its biggest shortcoming. Windows’ support for touchscreen-driven devices has always been lackluster, and here the problem is compounded by the small screen. Entering text with the on-screen keyboard is cumbersome and slow; I ended up connecting a keyboard and mouse through a USB hub to speed setup along. Once complete, expect quite a few updates to run as ASUS is rapidly pushing new drivers, software, and even BIOSes to the Ally. Keep the latter up to date as they deliver higher system performance and longer battery life; ASUS and AMD are still tuning the system’s power efficiency. Since it’s running Windows 11 natively, the Ally supports nearly every game and software application made for Windows PCs since the 90s. However, this does not mean that they work out of the box, nor that the ones that do will be preconfigured for the system and ready to play. This is still a gaming PC at its core, and you’ll need to take some time to configure most titles to run well and look their best, especially when running below max power. - Gaming Performance & Power Modes The AMD Z1 Extreme APU at the heart of the ROG Ally is an incredible chip. At full power (typically 25 watts), CPU performance is right in-line with AMD’s flagship desktop processors sharing the same Zen4 architecture, and the integrated RDNA3 GPU is so strong it rivals dedicated desktop GPUs in the $150-200 range - regardless of which DirectX version or Vulkan core is used. I had no trouble running every one of the PC games I tested at 1080p, high details, averaging as near to 60FPS as makes no difference. When they couldn’t quite hold that number, the AMD FreeSync panel took care of those imperfections to keep the action consistent. Forza Horizon 5, Wreckfest, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Mortal Kombat 11, and more all held to their 1080p60 High target through long gaming sessions at 25W. ASUS has opted for user-switchable performance modes on the ROG Ally that change the power target of the Z1 Extreme. User-configurable as low as 7 watts, default modes are Turbo (25W battery, 30W on AC), Performance (15W), and Silent (10W). Performance mainly pulls back GPU performance, while Silent pulls both CPU and GPU power down to maximize battery life. I found Performance to be the best balance of power consumption to graphics muscle; even though synthetic benchmarks show graphics performance down 30% against Turbo, the difference in games felt much smaller - almost unnoticeable. Perhaps FreeSync working some magic? While you can go past 25W on AC power, the razor-thin gains I saw running at the full 30W were statistically insignificant, and I noticed no difference in games. - Noise & Thermals More impressive than the APU performance, the cooling fans on the ROG Ally are excellent. The two top-venting fans move a surprising amount of air even in their lower speed modes, efficiently venting heat at any of the Ally’s power modes. I haven’t modified fan curves from stock, but even at full 25W power with the fans ramped up after half an hour of nonstop gameplay, they produce so little noise to the point of being inaudible under any gameplay sounds. Unlike some thin and light gaming laptops, the noise they produce is not high-pitched or whistle-like, and shouldn’t bother people nearby. Thermal performance varies based on the power mode in use, but in all circumstances the Z1 Extreme is kept well within operating limits. I saw a peak of 84C at 25W power, which while warm is more than 15C below the chip’s throttle point. Since the APU is located centrally with heat pipes and fans located away from where your hands are when gaming, the Ally never feels hot to the touch outside the exhaust vents. - Screen & Battery The Ally’s 120Hz, IPS, 100% sRGB panel is gorgeous to behold, and though its FreeSync implementation is not the best I’ve used, it definitely helps keep the noticeable framerate dips to a minimum. The panel can be manually toggled to 60Hz mode for better battery life. Of course, battery life is the one thing that the ROG Ally lacks. At full 25W power with the screen at 120Hz and brightness at half, I saw less than 90 minutes of gaming; at some points I was noticing nearly 15% drain in 10 minutes. Configuring the power mode and screen for your purpose will be crucial, but even forcing the machine to run at 7W, 60Hz display, and low brightness I was only able to get about 5 hours of video streaming on a charge. Keep a power bank handy if you’re planning to game for long periods away from AC power. Note that these battery results are from the latest BIOS available as of June 15, 2023. Extra life may be gained through future BIOS updates. - ASUS Control Center & Armoury Crate SE These two programs ship built-in to the ROG Ally’s Windows installation, and both are immediately accessible via shortcut buttons next to the screen. Control Center is an overlay that allows quick toggles of the most common system settings, and can be configured to display any combination of them. The overlay worked reliably in my testing, letting me change power modes and control schemes on the fly - including the ability to toggle the controller buttons to a “Desktop” mode, where the right stick controls the mouse and shoulder buttons click. Each of the controller buttons can be configured to custom bindings or macros and saved to individual app profiles. Armoury Crate SE is a handy launcher and control profiler that consolidates game shortcuts automatically - unifying multiple storefronts and local installations into a single launcher that can be called at any time. Though not a flashy launcher, once games have been installed and configured for play it’s nearly seamless to boot the Ally, play games, and shut the system down without seeing the Windows desktop. Of course, you can configure the Ally to use any other launcher or overlay you prefer, though whether other apps can be called using the hardware buttons is another question entirely. - Quality Control, Serviceability Unfortunately, ASUS’ reputation for so-so quality control has reared its head once more here with the Ally. I encountered both hardware and software issues in my time testing including a couple system hangs coming in and out of Sleep, the touchscreen not working at all on a boot, and Armoury Crate SE itself failing to launch when called, to name a few. But the biggest issue I ran into was that the right speaker sounded like it was blown from the factory - crackly, intermittent audio is all I could get out of it. This did give me an opportunity to open the Ally up, however, and inside the design of the system is compact but elegant. All major controls like the joysticks are on daughterboards for easier repair and replacement, and components are installed with standard, easy-to-access screws. Within minutes I had the battery out (take note - this required removing a “warranty void if removed” sticker; at least the M.2 2230 SSD is openly accessible otherwise) and found the culprit of my speaker issue - the wiring was pulled so taut around some of the plastic and components it was breaking the connection. Giving the wiring a little more slack from elsewhere resolved the sound issue. - Bottom Line There’s a price to pay for power, and with the ASUS ROG Ally that price is being prepared to configure each and every game yourself. For tinkerers who want only the fastest thing like it, this device will be a dream to those willing to accept some QC teething issues, but if you’re looking for a pick up and play experience like traditional gaming consoles, you’ll get frustrated very quickly. Nevertheless, the ASUS ROG Ally represents the first major OEM to enter the handheld PC gaming space, further legitimizing a market once seen as a novelty and is now quickly approaching mainstream. I can’t recommend it to everybody, but those who want to be on the bleeding edge will be very satisfied with the Ally, and if ASUS learns its lessons from warranty claims and customer feedback, the next one could be a total stunner. Recommended!

Battery life is decent, good deal for open box. Looking to possibly get the ally x though