Customer Ratings & Reviews

I recently got my hands on the Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme, and I have to say, it has been an incredible companion for my gaming adventures on the go. This beast of a machine not only plays most AAA games with satisfactory performance, but it also feels surprisingly light and comfortable, proving that size isn't everything. The OLED 120Hz screen is an absolute delight, delivering super crisp visuals that bring my games to life. While the battery life could be better, I'm happy to report that Asus has been actively releasing updates since I purchased it on June 16th, and things are looking promising. They seem dedicated to enhancing the overall experience, which gives me confidence in my purchase. All in all, I couldn't be happier with the Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme. It's been a worthwhile investment for me, and I highly recommend it to fellow gaming enthusiasts on the move.

This device is excellent at what it is designed for. That said, it's important to know what you're buying before you buy it. Many people compare this to the Steam Deck, and if what you're looking for is a console-like mindset, you need to understand something that separates this from the Steam Deck: The Ally is a PC first, and a console second. Your initial experience is going to be the same Windows setup that a new laptop would, except that once everything is loaded up, you have some additional built-in functionality with the controller inputs. As an experienced Windows user, this device is a joy for me to use. For the first month with it, I started leaving my laptop at home and carrying my Ally with a low profile keyboard in my bag as a trial. The touchscreen keyboard works surprisingly well for many things, but I don't like using any touchscreen keyboard for long typing sessions, and this didn't feel exceptionally different in that regard. The screen size is a noticeable difference from that of a laptop obviously, but that's where the divide stops; using it feels the same as any other PC, and I say that in a positive way to underline how minimal the difference is from a full-size laptop experience. The included menus are mostly intuitively laid out, and function well with the controls or with a traditional mouse. From a gaming perspective, it impresses. While I am used to mostly mouse and keyboard, I started sampling every game I have in my Steam library, as well as other libraries, which is where my next point comes into play: as a Windows PC, you do have access to other game launchers without having to do any trickery, to include the Windows-native Xbox app. As a PC Xbox Game Pass user, this convenience is nice. The controls themselves feel pretty standard. The sticks have smooth motion, the buttons feel crisp and, despite what I've heard from others, don't ever seem to have any issue sticking. This may be unit-to-unit, but I have put mine through a lot of use. I do like the paddle buttons being smaller, because on my Deck I do accidentally hit them sometimes and find myself disabling them in certain games. The smaller paddles on this device make them feel more like combination or "shift" buttons, which is more how I use them. Mostly out of curiosity, I did open it up to swap out the drive. Firstly, this type of thing is definitely important to be careful with if you're not used to handling the internals of any PC, so don't take this as a tutorial. But I do want to say the process of swapping out the drive was shockingly easy for the Ally. What impressed me more, though, was the fact that the new drive was able to be cloud restored from a UEFI feature built-in that pulls down the Windows recovery, as well as the Asus software, and loads it onto the device in a mostly easy process that only requires you input your wifi. This cloud recovery built-in to the UEFI was impressively easy and useful, and saved a lot of headache that can come with installing a fresh copy of any OS to a device with 1st generation hardware. I don't know who is going to use a device like this without headphones, but I will remark that the few times I have, the speakers have impressed me for the device's size. Again, though, I don't really make heavy use of this aspect. That's about it for my thoughts on what stands out; I wont sit here and list performance stats because you can find those pretty easily on YouTube, but I have genuinely enjoyed everything I've played on my Ally so far, and enjoyed it as a daily driver PC. I've heard a lot of chatter about sticking buttons and game crashes...but that has not been my experience. Still, be sure to read through other peoples' reviews to get a good idea of what to expect. Maybe I'm just lucky and got a outstanding unit, but regardless, it's definitely a purchase I'm satisfied with.

The ROG Ally is a great device with a comfortable grip. The only downside as far as the comfort goes is that the bottom corners are a bit sharp but not to a point where it’s uncomfortable to hold. The screen is absolutely gorgeous with colors that pop and 120Hz refresh rate. The audio is fantastic and better than my Legion 5 Pro laptop. PC games run smoothly as butter, as well as emulation. The sticks feel great although I do wish they had more tension. They are pretty easy to move, but I’ve gotten used to it. The face buttons feel great…nice and springy. The d-pad feels okay, but when playing 2D retro games, it’s easy to hit accidental diagonals and can be frustrating. Maybe I just need to get good, but I’d have preferred a d-pad like that Dualsense has or just a standard one at least. It’s fine though. The back buttons do feel cheaper compared to the rest of the inputs. The plastic feels like a step below in quality and they feel kinda loose, but they click okay and work fine. It just feels like it was a bit of an afterthought. But the triggers are easily the best feeling of all the inputs. They nailed it with these! Perfect tension and they are just so satisfying to pull. The volume buttons are in a weird spot, but I just have a secondary function added to LB + RB for volume down/up and that works perfectly. I really wish they would have added another USB-C port as I don’t get why they would think a single port for charging was enough, but that seems to be the norm and far from a deal-breaker. I also wish that the device had a bigger battery. I mean these are handheld devices meant for gaming on-the-go. A long-lasting battery should be a higher priority guys. Worst case scenario with max TDP, you get an hour. Performance mode will net you 1 1/2 hours. A solid power bank is a great accessory to have. As far as RAM goes, 16GB is okay for now but I would have liked to see 32GB for better future proofing. With RAM being as cheap as it is and games becoming more memory-hungry, there’s not really any excuse to only give 16GB on these devices with APUs that share memory. I’d like to have seen some options with more storage as well but that can easily be upgraded. I haven’t experienced any major issues, just some small bugs and Windows quirks like the keyboard not wanting to come up automatically on occasion. With that said, if you’re familiar with Windows, once you get everything set up and where you want it, you’re golden. Armory Crate SE is a lot better of an experience than I thought it was gonna be to be honest. Everything works as expected and the quick panel is nice. You can configure the buttons how you want and customize the secondary functions. My only gripe with AC is in the custom operating mode. It’s a pain to set fan curves and you should be able to mirror the settings but it’s okay and software will be updated over time. Asus has been regularly updating and improving the software. I have not had any issues with my SD card like some but I haven’t used the slot much. Overall, the ROG Ally is a great device with some minor flaws that can be overlooked if you’re looking for a powerful handheld gaming PC with a beautiful display, great audio, and are willing to deal with the quirks of Windows. I’m settling on 4 stars instead of 5 because it’s not perfect…but hardly anything is. Hopefully this review was helpful.

I recently snagged an open-box deal on the Ally Rog Extreme Handheld, and overall, I'm quite pleased with my purchase. Let's dive into the specifics. First off, the screen brightness is a standout feature. It's vibrant and crisp, making gaming sessions an absolute joy. Combined with the lightning-fast performance, the Ally Rog Extreme delivers an immersive gaming experience that's hard to beat. Speaking of performance, this handheld is a beast. Games run smoothly and load up in a flash, thanks to its impressive processing power. Whether you're playing casual mobile games or diving into more graphically demanding titles, the Ally Rog Extreme handles everything with ease. However, there's a glaring issue that can't be ignored: the battery life. Regardless of whether I'm conserving power or pushing the device to its limits, the battery drains at an alarming rate. It's disappointing, especially considering the otherwise stellar performance of the device. While it doesn't completely overshadow the great price I got on the open-box purchase, it's definitely a drawback that needs addressing. In conclusion, the Ally Rog Extreme Handheld is a solid choice for gamers looking for top-notch performance at a reasonable price. The screen brightness and speed alone make it worth the investment. However, the lackluster battery life is a definite downside that can't be overlooked. With some improvements in this area, the Ally Rog Extreme could easily become a must-have for gaming enthusiasts everywhere.

I love my new Rog Ally. If you always travelling, RA is so portable handheld gaming PC with a good lasting battery (but of course, you have to buy separate accessories). Rog Ally has it’s pros and cons against Steam Deck. When does RA > SD, - faster and better spec - lighter and a little bit smaller - higher fps - can run different apps like steam, epic, gog, xbox live, psn and many more without modding When does RA < SD, - doesn’t have touch pad - doesn’t come with a case - only 2 back flipper buttons Both can be attached to a big screen TV with a dock (bigger like nintendo switch) or the hdmi charger dock (smaller, more portable, and less hassle) and use a console controller/ mouse and keyboard. ***Since this is still a new release, it has a few minor hiccups, it can be fix with the updates from the windows, rog armor crate, and bios.***

I have been using the ROG Ally for quite some time now and I must say it's an exceptional device. The performance is top-notch with a powerful processor and graphics card. However, the battery life could be better, especially during heavy usage. That being said, the portability is great, and I've had no trouble carrying it with me on my travels around the world. Overall, I am extremely satisfied with the device and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a high-performing device with great portability.

On day one while downloading patches unit crashed to blue screen. I had to go into bios to restore it from scratch. The entire process took up an entire day. Afterwards it ran smooth playing Diablo 4 on turbo at 1080p. The battery lasted 90 minutes but unit ran hot. Disabled cpu boost to fix that issue. For the price they should have installed a 1TB drive. Especially with the SD card slot issue. At home I dock it and use it as a browser to look up builds while playing. If it was not for how good the games look and how well they run on the unit I would have took it back. Be prepared to buy a new SSD drive if you plan on running multiple games.

I thought there might be room in my life for both the SteamDeck and the ROG Ally. I was wrong. Unless you are planning to run only indie titles or older emulators at extremely low wattage, the Ally just performs better in every regard. It is also more comfortable to hold for an extended period of time, weirdly feels lighter even though it’s about the same weight, has a significantly better screen, and runs Windows off the bat so it’s compatible with every game. My only gripes about the ROG Ally are that you still start off with a bloated instance of Windows 11 and have to spend a half hour trimming the preinstalled fat and disabling various Windows features that impact performance while gaming. But just go on YouTube and find any of the many videos that walk through tweaking Windows for gaming and you’re golden.

I recently bought this handheld monster, it feels lighter than my Steam Deck. Here’s what I just found out though, before you buy it, BE AWARE: The battery lasts about 1.5 hour (gaming or more) to 4 hours (without gaming). I was really invested on the Ally but realized that I didn’t do my research properly. I still give it a 4 since it has great performance and fast response with using a gamepad and using the buttons. It’s been 3 hours (I did plug it in to charge) now and been playing Destiny 2 and battery life sucked it all out after an hour and a half. I do prefer the Steam Deck more but still, this one is still a beast of a handheld!

I’ve had my ROG Ally since release date and I am absolutely blown away by the sheer power and customizability with this fantastic device. It’s user friendly to those who have even the tiniest bit of tech knowledge and it’s not too complicated to maintain and keep the ROG in optimal conditions without completely messing up your ally. If you’re a console gamer who doesn’t want to spend an arm and leg for a laptop or a desktop and still wants to reach that high level gaming experience anywhere in your house? This device is a godsend for you. If you aren’t tech savvy I highly suggest you do a LOT of research before investing in the ally to see if it’s something you could get into, things like power wattages, manual profiles, controller configurations, updates, and more. On the surface it seems intimidating but the ROG team works diligently to provide these experiences to us customers as best as possible and delivering swift updates that improve quality of life usage for your Ally. This device is only going to get better and better and in the future I can see that eventually the Ally will become so user friendly to the point where someone with a basic knowledge of computer understanding can buy it and use its fullest capabilities right out of box. I for one have a lot of hope in ROG, they always deliver good in my opinion over other computer manufacturers and I would pick the Ally over Asus’s handheld competitors any day. I appreciate all the hard work that Asus does to deliver us all these experiences and hope that those of you who get one will do so in mind with the notion that there is so much more to the ally than what negative users might think. In terms of gaming; the ally is amazing yet again. Playing games like forza horizon 5, final fantasy 14, 15, streaming 16, mw2, saints row, assassins creed, and many more mainstreamed fan favorites can play on this device absolutely no problem with performance that will make your console seem unworthy of your gaming needs exceeding 60 fps and making your gameplay experience a smooth and satisfying session. The ROG ally is a windows device, so that also means with great power, comes great gamability; with the complete option to game, EXCLUSIVE PC games! Yes, with the Ally you can use it as a regular pc and even hook up a keyboard and mouse and get into your favorite pc games you’ve always wanted to play but never had the hardware to do it, hoping one day that the developers would make a console version. Those days are over. The ability to use desktop mode on handheld needs some work on but I’ve transitioned into using the joysticks for desktop without much trouble, the only thing that needs to be worked on which in my opinion isn’t all too bad right now — is the dead zone problem which you can find out all about that online. This doesn’t mean that these issues are set in stone, because the ROG team is working hard on all these fixes to make all the experiences more enjoyable and unproblematic. The ability to customize the Ally to add more storage or even mod the ally to fit your specific needs is easier than ever with absolutely no soldering needs, just a guitar pick, a screw driver, and your patience is needed to begin analyzing the inner skeleton of the Ally and make adjustments if necessary. I’ve seen crazy things that people have already done in hopes of modding the ally so let your imagination run wild and let your inner mad scientist go crazy! Just be extremely careful to not mess up your ally (the asus team encourages people to modify their ally and they mentioned that they enjoy watching the outcome of that and mentioned that doing so will NOT void warranty). The controls remind me of using a PS5 controller which I’m a fan of and proud owner of a PS5 (post scalper), and I could feel similarities in the buttons and overall texture touch. It’s comfortable in my hands but be careful of staying in the same position for too long, lest your hands may start to cramp. The touchscreen is very easy and fun to use sometimes over mouse or joystick, and sometimes will make what your doing go a lot faster for those who can’t use the joystick too well (due to dead zone issue). The ally charges extremely quick, I barely notice the times of when I plug it in to the times it becomes fully charged, and using the ally while charging and gaming isnt hard at all, (please pay attention to your temperature as it’s always a possibility you can fry something such as your SD card, you never want to reach temps of 85 degrees Celsius or higher and if you do you need to immediately take action into reducing the heat such as using lower wattages or reducing gaming graphics or screen brightness. I found that 69% screen brightness makes my ally become 4 degrees cooler). One thing that the ally does need is more accessories but I imagine many product manufacturers are scrambling to make some for the ally. In conclusion, the ROG ally is nothing short of innovative computer engineering and this is just the beginning, and so far in my personal opinion, Asus has the crown in the race for innovative handhelds. Happy gaming, and ALWAYS KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR TEMPERATURE!

Great product at great price. Already put 100 more hours in RDR2. It plays basically any game and I haven’t found one that hasn’t worked yet. Must buy over the steam deck which I also have, it’s not nearly as good as the ally. I easily swapped out a 2T SSD and it’s working amazing. 45 to 60+ fps on mid to high settings with the whole suite of AMD sharpening settings. It’s nice a light too. How it stays so cool idk. As of 12/8/23 the SD card slot does not work and will burn your card out, so go with a 1T or 2T SSD.

Excellent handheld for those who are familiar with windows 11. I can’t give it 4 or 5 stars because I had to return this due to having a bad fan. I would return it due to a bad left thumb stick, but I am beyond my 15 day return windows for Best Buy. The fan was whining. I can’t even give it 4 stars because the left thumb stick is Grinding against the plastic when I move the thumb stick in circles. Also the automatic turbo setting has bad fan optimization. It gets too hot at turbo (around 90 degrees Celsius). The fans should rotate faster at the automatic turbo setting. That being said the performance is amazing and it has a great 120hz screen. But that’s it. I been doing windows gaming for over 20 years. So the programming problems are no problem for me. The only problems so far are what i mentioned to you. I’ll have to replace the thumb stick myself and the thumb stick lights. The thumb stick is fairly easy to replace, but to remove the thumb stick lights i have to remove almost all internals. I cannot recommend this to any one not able to self repair their computer or handled or to anyone not experienced with Windows 11 and the programming and optimization of windows 11. I basically modded windows for the best gaming experience. However I can’t say that many folks can do that or even have the time to invest in that. Also the Windows experience is still windows. Expect things to crash occasionally. If your great with programming and replacing parts or are willing to RMA this and wait for it to get fixed and returned to you ( only has a 1yr warranty unless you pay for an warranty extension) then stay away because at $699, $740 with tax, you will have issues with it. Don’t expect it to work and stay healthy for 2-3 years. Murphy’s law: “What possibly could happen, will happen”. If your willing to except Murphy’s law prior to purchase then be my guest.

Great portable gaming station! I’m truly surprised with the performance, ergonomics and control Asus has presented within this device. You have a fully capable device that can keep up with more recent titles. I’ve been able to load up Black Myth Wukong, Ghost of Tsushima, Sekiro, Spider-Man Remastered among others. It definitely holds its own. Of course, it’s fully tweakable, you can set TDP profiles which control fan speed, the watt output, etc. You have full control over RGB as well. Depending on the title, you just have to lower the graphic qualities to either medium or high, depending on the game, but once you have frame generation and FSR enabled, each game looks great on this screen. As a previous steam deck owner, this is a tremendous upgrade. You can switch between 1080 P, 900 P, and 720 P resolutions, and can switch between 60 and 120 Hz refresh rates for the display. The fans are also more silent than compared to the Steam Deck, so when you play something more intensive, it is much quieter. The speakers on this device are also great, with a ‘spatial’ quality reminiscent to that of MacBook speakers. Even though the form factor is that of a portable gaming console, since this is Running windows 11, it is actually a fully fledged windows PC. You can apply mods to your games like you normally would, and the Asus handles it with ease. I was previously thinking about building a gaming PC rig, but the ease of use and portability of this device is second to none.

Worked great at the beginning. I changed the ssd to 2 tb and it was a lot it hard. Had to do multiple upgrades then instal the ssd. The battery log is not that great I see it drains only by using windows and install ing games. Hopefully a new update can fix that. Or I am thinking it is the normal life of the machine. Runs games great even emulators. I recommend it if you know it’s capabilities The plastic feels good. One screw (from the ssd) came stripped and had to change it. The stand that comes included is a joke and had to get another one. The controller feels a little bit akward

I bought this because I like to play fighting games on the go. So far, it has played my entire library of fighting games. There are aome compromises you have to make in certain games (MK1/MK11) but other than that, I can play all of my fighting games at 1080p. The sound is great and its lighter than the deck. The only caviat is that there are certain commands that can be triggered during game play. It can be solved by changing them but you can work around it. I did have one bad experience, the “Y” button did not work on the first unit i purchased but the second unit worked great.

Powerful Handheld but gets warm to hot! The ROG Ally is an amazing handheld gaming device. The screen is super sharp and smooth with the 120Hz refresh rate, and the Z1 Extreme chip runs all my games really well. It's lightweight and feels premium in the hands. It does get a little warm when playing demanding games or if you put it on performance mode, but it's manageable and expected for this level of performance. Overall, it's a great buy if you want portable PC gaming!

In the short time that I have had with the ASUS ROG Ally, it has really impressed me. I also own the Steam Deck so I can make a direct comparison. Be aware, this is a device I would say is more aligned with a power user to get the most out of it, whereas the Steam Deck delivers an almost console experience in its simplicity and user interface. If you are familiar and willing to do a little more exploration and tinkering around, you will find this is an exceptional device in all but battery life. The sound output is particularly full and vibrant. The screen is beautiful and the controls work well. Battery life has been poor, but understandable. If you are traveling, be sure to have a hefty battery pack!

Any game I throw at the Ally it handles it like a champ. If you are planning on gaming anywhere without a wall outlet then you'll need to tweak graphics settings (especially high demanding games) to get maximum playtime on battery. Since I'm always near a wall outlet I never have felt the need to experiment but even if you do find the best settings, I believe the battery will not last over 2 hours gaming. On turbo mode, I usually get a little over an hour on battery. The speakers are loud and clear. The 1080p 120hz screen is beautiful. Hardware buttons work as they should. Upgrading the internal storage is super easy. I plan on swapping to 2TB storage in the future. I highly recommend!

I've never been one to fall head over heels for an inanimate object, but folks, let me tell you about my whirlwind romance with the ROG Ally Windows 11 gaming device. From the moment I laid eyes on its sleek, futuristic design, I knew this was no ordinary handheld console – this was love at first sight. First off, let's talk about aesthetics. The ROG Ally is like the James Bond of gaming devices, effortlessly blending sophistication with a hint of danger. Its metallic finish gleams in the light, and the RGB lighting? Don't even get me started. I've never felt so fancy whipping out a gaming gadget in public – it's like carrying around a piece of the future in the palm of my hand. But it's not just about looks – oh no, this baby's got brains too. Powered by Windows 11, the ROG Ally is a multitasking marvel. I can seamlessly switch between crushing my enemies in Fortnite and drafting important work emails (read: sending memes to my friends) without breaking a sweat. It's the ultimate productivity tool for the discerning procrastinator. And let's not forget about performance. With its lightning-fast processor and crystal-clear display, the ROG Ally delivers a gaming experience that's smoother than a freshly buttered hotcake. Whether I'm exploring vast open worlds or engaging in epic multiplayer battles, every frame is buttery-smooth and oh-so-satisfying. But perhaps the most surprising thing about the ROG Ally is its battery life. I swear, this thing runs on pure magic – I can play for hours on end without needing to recharge. It's like having a personal gaming genie granting all my wishes, except instead of three wishes, it's unlimited gaming time. Score! In conclusion, if you're in the market for a handheld gaming device that's as stylish as it is powerful, look no further than the ROG Ally. It's sleek, it's sexy, and it's got enough horsepower to satisfy even the most hardcore gamers. Consider me smitten – I think I've found my Player 2 for life.

Steam Deck has brought portable gaming to the next level. ASUS with it's ROG Ally made it even more possible by bringing a device with more horsepower under the hood thanks to AMDs Z1 Extreme chip. Despite it's small SSD size and not great battery life when in Turbo mode, this is still a great device to use. Some people invest in modding it by swapping SSD and battery or adding more RAM or doing it all at once. I used this device more like a portable PC - connected to docking station with lots of USBs and HDMI for the external display. ROG Ally made my overlay 10hrs stops at Pilot/Love's more enjoyable.