Customer Ratings & Reviews

It's an absolute powerhouse and I love the open accessibility that you get with Windows 11. It's basically a computer and it's faster than many lower end machines, but with that being said, there are still some minor glitches and performance stutters, but because of the open format, you can tweak a lot of how the system operates. The battery life and temperature of the handheld leaves alot to be desired but for what it is, its pretty great. I can play call of duty modern warfare 2 and most of the games in my steam library in bed, which is pretty awesome. As long as youre somewhere with outlets and access to wifi or mobile hotspots with decent connection youre good to go.

I see a lot of returns strictly based on people expecting a Switch like experience. The Ally and all other PC handhelds like it are not a Switch. They are all Windows based computers in a handheld format. If you understand that and know what PC entails then you are in for a real treat! I have not come across a single game I can't play, from any storefront etc. Its a godsend of a gaming device for parents who can't lounge on the couch anymore and game or sit at a desk with a tower pc. BUY IT

Purchased it as open box saved 40 bucks. I was skeptical of this handheld seeing the display hot as af and the demo of Forza horizon 5 could barely play. The plastic doesn't feel cheap, the d-pad and triggers feel nice. The screen is a beautiful 7" display with bright colors. The system is light weight even lighter than the Steam deck. The gaming performance is awesome with little tweaking. I recommend manual mode at 25 watts for cool temps 67 70 of you go 30 watts it's up in the 90s with little to no performance boost. I keep the screen res at 120 and 8 gb ram mode. I can play Forza horizon 4 at 60 fps high graphics with no issues. The system turns on fast and I can be gaming with in a minute unlike the steam deck unfortunately. I don't have to worry about concert updates thankfully maybe once a week. The Asus ROG ally plays what ever I throw at it.

Title: "My In-Depth Review of the ROG Ally: A Gamer's Dream Come True" Hey fellow gamers! I recently got my hands on the ROG Ally, and I couldn't be more thrilled to share my thoughts on this gaming powerhouse. Let's dive into the nitty-gritty details. **Design and Build Quality:** The ROG Ally's design is a showstopper. The sleek and futuristic aesthetics instantly caught my eye, and the build quality is top-notch. The attention to detail is evident, and the RGB lighting adds that extra flair that every gaming setup needs. **Display:** Gaming on the ROG Ally's display is an absolute delight. The high refresh rate and vivid color reproduction make games come to life. Whether I'm exploring open worlds or engaging in intense battles, the display never disappoints. **Performance:** This beast is powered by some serious hardware. The processor handles multitasking seamlessly, and the graphics card ensures smooth gameplay even on demanding titles. The ROG Ally truly lives up to its reputation as a gaming powerhouse. **Cooling System:** One of the standout features is the exceptional cooling system. Even during marathon gaming sessions, the temperature remains in check. The well-designed ventilation keeps the internals cool, ensuring consistent performance. **Keyboard and Trackpad:** The keyboard is a dream for gamers and typists alike. The tactile feedback and customizable RGB lighting enhance the overall gaming experience. The trackpad is responsive and accurate, making it a breeze to navigate through menus and applications. **Battery Life:** Considering the powerful components, the battery life is surprisingly decent. Of course, for optimal gaming, it's best to have it plugged in, but the ROG Ally holds its own when you need to go mobile. **Audio Quality:** Immersive audio is crucial for any gaming setup, and the ROG Ally doesn't disappoint. The speakers deliver crisp sound, and the audio customization options allow me to fine-tune my gaming experience. **Port Selection:** The variety of ports available is a big plus. From USB-C to HDMI, the ROG Ally provides the connectivity options I need for all my gaming peripherals and external devices. **Software and Customization:** The ROG software ecosystem is robust and user-friendly. It allows me to tweak settings, customize RGB lighting, and optimize performance effortlessly. The level of control I have over my gaming experience is impressive. In conclusion, the ROG Ally is more than just a gaming laptop; it's a gaming experience. From its stunning design to its powerful internals, every aspect has been carefully crafted with gamers in mind. While it comes with a premium price tag, the performance and features justify the investment for any serious gamer. If you're looking for a laptop that can handle the latest titles with ease and turn heads while doing it, the ROG Ally is the way to go. Happy gaming!

The Asus Rog Ally is great! It took a little while to figure out the keyboard when needed, but it works great for Steam gaming and browsing if you do not want the Steam Deck!

I have been looking at all the portable PC's coming out lately and really wanting one. After researching about them all, decided the ROG Ally was the one for me. How much you like this little guy will come down to your patience with windows and your desire to tinker. Im perfectly fine with windows and love to tinker so Ive been in love with the Ally. So far it plays a huge portion of my gaming library, and the ability to have any game launcher really seals the deal with me. Only real downside is the battery life on these is a bit on the sad side. Again though, if you are down for some tinkering there are ways to improve the life with the included battery, and if you are willing to get your hands a little more dirty you can replace the included battery with one double the size. Condition was marked as -Good- (or whatever the middle one was) but the unit I got was pretty much mint, included the whole box, all thel wires, and the unit itself was very clean.

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.

This is a great handheld gaming PC. This is the 3rd handheld I've had and by far one of the best. Be warned if you are not interested in PC gaming, and want more of a console experience this is not for you. But if you don't mind checking drivers and doing the occasional trouble shooting it is fine. You will need to read up on what Bios and drivers people are using to get yours set up good. But I have been on vacation and on the road playing Automic Heart with medium settings getting 50-60fps and runnning for around an 1.5 hours before needing a charge. Now that doesnt sound like a long time, but this is a AAA game running on a handheld. Literally nothing else is going to do that. Now on less demanding games like WH40k Boltgun, you are going to get around 3 hours of run time. It all just depends on how demanding the game is. Cheers, I would buy this again.

I own the Steamdeck and the Ally. The Ally works very well if your used to working with Windows, its handheld every game I have thrown at it and the plus side you dont have to check for compatible like the Steamdeck but you need to be comfortable with playing around with game settings to get your best performance. This not a gaming console its a portable gaming PC. Battery life can be a bit low if you like high performance and push the Ally to its ability but you can find a nice balance with settings and increase the time the battery will last. If you couple up the Ally with the optional charging/dock and a some xbox wireless controllers youll have a grate gaming setup you could take over to friends and play your games on a tv. Well worth the money would recommend to anyone looking to play games on the go or just chilling and playing on the tv.

My prmary reason for buying this versus a Steam Deck was the timing. I could go down to Best Buy and pick this up the day I decided to buy it. To that end, I bought an open box edition of this device and have had no problems. I'm just using it to play games from Steam and have found that any game with a decent playable or verified rating works fine on this device. My only complaint is the lack of battery, but reviews of the Steam deck suggested the same problem. So far, I've been fortunate to be able to play while plugged in. So the battery isn't much problem. I bought it as a handheld gaming device to manage stress while traveling. It looks like it will work well for that. Ps. There does seem to be a problem where the Microsoft os doesn't understand the controller input 100%, but the touch screen fills in those problems easily.

PROS 1. Can install games from any Windows-compatible library 2. Steady performance in most gaming scenarios 3. Armoury Crate SE has potential 4. Lighter than the Steam Deck 5. More powerful than a Steam Deck 6. Quiet fan with customizable curves 7. Fast charging 8. Very nice 1080p display CON 1. Janky Windows interface 2. Relatively short battery life 3. More expensive than Steam Deck 4. No LTE option 5. Not as ergonomic as the Steam Deck 5. The powerful processor still struggles to run Windows on a handheld 6. Many games require lower graphics settings for smooth performance

The ROG Ally is a wonderful windows handheld that is both powerful and portable. I have been able to enjoy just about every game I own with little to no hiccups. Games run as smooth or as beautiful as you let the Ally run them. There is only one major con and two small ones. The battery life is pretty horrendous. If you’re by an outlet or need a quick session, it won’t be much of an issue. It is slightly hard to get comfortable with for long sessions and I periodically encounter minor game launching issues. Besides that I absolutely recommend this. More so if you can get a good open box deal!

Let me start by saying the steam deck is really really good, however the Ally is on another level in my opinion. This thing hits all the things the steam deck can’t. When it comes to performance it’s amazing and the screen is amazing. The only downside to this thing is the battery life but it’s easy to just be sitting on a couch and plug it in and play. The fact that it’s windows based is a huge deal for me. Gamepass and any game you want to play runs perfectly. I think the steam deck might be a little more polished but with time the Ally will get there. Overall I highly recommend this if you are a gamer and don’t always want to sit at your computer or you want to game on the go the ally is the thing for you.

Plays a wide variety of games, and seems to perform well with all of them. From BG3, D4, to oldies such as ffix, it's been great going handheld. Light and feels great. Screen sharper than my old steam deck

Love this thing. Portable PC that runs anything you can throw at it. If you arent good with PC gaming then it may be overwhelming. But having an Ally on a plane ride or a long car ride is so awesome. It makes the ride tolerable. The Allys screen is great even only being a LED. You can pick one up for cheap now. The only thing that isnt good is the battery, so maybe look at the Ally X for that.

Pros: Comfortable Runs Windows 11, so in turn you can run any launcher. Great screen. Cons: UI is clunky and glitchy at times Runs hot Durability issues(with the model I received) Joystick feel Battery life If you’re willing to look past the Ally’s short comings the device is truly wonderful. Amazing graphics and access to games at the tip of your fingers. But if you want to play on the go you’re better off looking elsewhere.

 The ROG Ally does a really good job of playing all my video games from my Steam library to play in a very high-quality. There is some tinkering to be done internally before you get started, but it is definitely replacing my steam deck when it comes to portability and accessibility. Battery life has been one of the main issues that everyone is encountering but this is only when you’re playing very heavy demanding games there is a way to tinker this and change your settings so battery life int consumed so much but I haven’t found this to be a issue since I’m always near a plug while playing the Ally. Really look into this device via YouTube reviews and doing your own research about messing with the settings of this device. If this is your first time using a PC, this will be a new venture for you.

It's best to think of the ROG Ally as a Windows PC built inside of a controller. However it may look, it's still a computer and all the annoying Windows things come with that. Out of the box I had to plug in a keyboard to make it through setup. There may be a way to bring up the virtual keyboard but it wasn't made obvious. Upon first boot I had to install updates through Armory Crate, Windows Update, as well as the ASUS companion application. If you're used to gaming on PC this is probably not a big deal but it will be a hassle for anyone looking for a more console-like experience. ASUS has attempted to improve the Windows experience by integrating a game launcher into Armory Crate and it works fairly well. It picks up your installed games from Steam, Game Pass, etc and presents them in grid-based interface. It's passable but a more feature-complete 3rd party tool like Playnite makes the Ally even more enjoyable to use. The screen is really beautiful for an LCD. The blacks are much deeper than I would have expected. The sound is pretty great too. Performance-wise it's phenomenal for the price, You obviously won't be running games on ultra but for a device this small, on a screen this small, most games are going to look and run great. Since it runs Windows you're also going to get access to all of the online multiplayer games that run anti-cheat, if that's what you're into. Negatives for me are that the grips could be a bit fatter. It's not super comfortable to hold. It doesn't have trackpads which makes playing some genres more difficult than it could be. The sticks are too small and too loose with too large of a dead zonefor me to play any kind of shooter. I'd recommend the Ally to anyone who's looking to run more demanding games, Game Pass, or games that won't run on Linux for whatever reason.

The system does it all. You can play Gamepass, Steam games, GOG, Epic launcher, PlayStation remote play. This is a much more robust system than the Steadeck. The audio and screen are fantastic. There are a few odd design choices, the microsd slot is by the exhaust fan and that can cause those cards to overheat or worse warp in the drive. Windows 11 is not ready for a smaller form PC but that will be good with updates. 512 on board memory is small with modern games. Most of the games I have played run well and it helps plane rides fly by.

I have faith that it’ll eventually be finished baking but if you buy one, temper your expectations as this is a first generation product in a new form factor from a company who has never made one of these before. As of 6/16/23, there ARE bugs, there ARE driver issues, there ARE bios issues, etc. So far it’s been getting updates pretty regularly pre launch to post launch to help with these issues and I think ASUS will eventually work all these kinks out. Biggest issue for me is the minimum stick deadzones in Armoury Crate are atrocious. For now a good workaround is to set the deadzones in Steam to override them (Steam deadzones have to be at least one tick up from 0 or this won’t do anything). Sticks also have very little tension but I’ve gotten used to that aspect so that’s not really a big deal to me. If you’re trying to use a third party cable for charging, pay attention to the rating of the cable, it needs to be rated for 65w minimum for the Ally to allow full turbo. Third party charging bricks are even more of a mixed bag, research on google and Reddit before buying. Overall I’m pretty happy with the Ally. It blows my mind that you can have this much power in a handheld, for that reason temper your expectations on battery life, expect only an hour or less for more demanding games. Luckily the charger that comes with it is plenty long so it’s not difficult to just keep it plugged in when playing at home. Gaming laptop owners will understand lol. The screen and speakers are spectacular. Just don’t expect to hit the full 120hz in most games. You can hit 120 at good settings on older titles but most modern games I’m getting between 40-80 at 1080p low-medium, sometimes higher if it’s set to 720p low-medium with RSR turned on. Games I’ve tested and gotten acceptable performance from are Death Stranding, DOOM 2016 (great), Bioshock Remastered (great), Destiny 2 (acceptable), Farcry 5 (not great but playable), Cyberpunk 2077 (acceptable), Loop Hero (2D so duh lol) and Cult of the Lamb (not as good performance as I expected but still good). Also if buying an SD card, don’t cheap out on one. Get at least a U3 card. After getting burned by a cheap but large Sandisk drive on Amazon I picked up a 512GB Samsung Pro Plus from Best Buy and it works soooooo much better, night and day difference. If you’re already a PC gamer you shouldn’t have a lot of issues getting the Ally up and running. If you’re not already a PC gamer expect to have to figure stuff out. This is DEFINITELY a Windows gaming experience with all the good and the bad that that entails. Keep updated in Armoury Crate, My Asus app as well as in Windows update. Expect to be updating this thing for a good long while immediately after getting it out of the box, as some updates are needed to unlock even further updates. With all that in mind, I absolutely love this thing. Never thought that I’m my lifetime we’d have this much performance in a handheld at a reasonable price, this thing is has more power than the first mid-range gaming PC I built in late 2015 and it just blows my mind