Customer Ratings & Reviews

It ALMOST does so many things. It's portable but the battery burns out in under 2 hours under most use cases. It performs well when plugged in to 65W plus USB C, but they nerfed the TDP to 30W sustain so its not great, and it still runs at 95 C. It can dock and upgrade the storage, but if you dock it, it needs a 100W USB C adapter. The SD card reader WILL die if you use it when in performance mode, its just a matter of time. I had 2 die within 3 weeks of heavy use. The screen is beautiful and 120HZ, but almost nothing you run will actually capitalize on that frame rate, other than indie titles that also run great on steam deck. The ROG Ally is in a weird place. You can run more games with less intervention than the steam deck, and most of them run faster, but you have to be tied to a wall outlet to use its full potential. At that point i wish they unlocked more power so you can really use it, but runs too hot. The Joysticks are good but they will eventually drift. The DPad is terrible. Im constantly pressing up when i don't want to when playing Tetris effect, street fighter 5, or emulators. Its not good enough for any platformers. You can dock and plug a controller in, but at that point why not just get a laptop, or 2 in 1.

There were some performance issues before BIOS fixes and it’s worth noting the SD card placement can cause them to overheat in Turbo mode. I’d advise removing the SD card during demanding games and store lighter/easier to run games on them, ones that run well in 15W mode. This is after all a first generation product. There’s still a few issues to iron out via drivers and software. There’s still more potential to open up. Asus seems to be looking into every issue as it comes up and providing what I would consider timely fixes. It can’t touch the battery life of the steam deck but it will run games the deck simply cannot or will not run. If you are okay with about an hour of battery in demanding titles (Diablo 4) or close to 2 and a half in light games (Stardew, Transistor, Cult of the Lamb) this might work for you. Of course you can plug it in or use a battery bank to extend that time. If you are only playing light games on the go the Deck might still be a better option. It has the potential to be the best handheld right now but limited performance in 10W mode keeps it from being the best on the go. For my own use, 1 hour train rides or close to a plug/battery bank it’s easy to choose over the deck for the amazing screen (smooth refresh rate) even turned down to 720p and performance in such a small device. Asus should have partnered with iFixit and another company to offer direct Hall effect joysticks for this as an upgrade. That way folks had the choice to keep the cost down or upgrade via verified means. I hope they make the battery and other components available to the public because this is an easy system to work on if you are tech savvy and ever need to open it.

This is a great device, but it's not quite perfect. I'd give it 4.5 stars if that was an option. Pros: It can play pretty much any game out there at decent fps, if you tinker a little bit with in game settings. Which is impressive for a handheld, considering how many games today are poorly optimized and designed with dedicated graphics cards, or current gen consoles in mind. The screen is beautiful and in the small format, 1080p and even 900p feel super sharp and beautiful, and even 720p looks totally decent. Good controls. They feel responsive and accurate. Reasonably quiet and reasonably cool, for a device you are holding in your hands. Good driver support from Asus so far. cons: Windows adds versatility and it makes things like modding games easy, and it can even serve as an emergency workstation if you were stuck without a laptop and really needed to get something done. However, overall the windows experience on a handheld is negative. Innitial setup takes hours, with windows and bios updates, with notifications, banners, warnings, security prompts, etc. popping up. Even after initial setup, most of the time it feels like the operating system is just getting in the way of the true purpose of the device, which is gaming. For me it's not a deal breaker, but if you are not a big windows fan, be prepared to like it even less on a handheld. The battery life is not great, but then again, you can't expect it to be. It's a battery that has to fit in a small device, not get too hot, and run and cool a powerful little chip. I expect future generations will try to focus on making the device more efficient, as SD has done, but theres only so much that can be done with today's technology.

First things first: I love being able to play my PC games on a handheld system! The performance on the Asus ally is really something when you consider the size of this thing when compared to a traditional PC set up. It would never replace a full gaming PC, but if you just want to lay on the couch and play... This is as good as it gets! Red Dead Redemption 2, Elden Ring, The Quarry, Death Stranding have all run great for me. The speakers aren't anything crazy but they get the job done. The look and feel of the system in your hand is also great. Now the not so great. Out of the box, I had a lot of trouble getting set up. For some reason I couldn't get it fully set up. I tried a couple of soft/factory resets and it just wasn't cutting it. Ultimately I had to do a full BIOS reset. This took a couple of hours, which was after a couple of hours of trying to do a soft reset... And I hadn't even installed a game yet! Second negative: the battery life on this is atrocious! On RDR2 or The Quarry you get maybe 45 minutes on the 25w performance setting. You can lower the performance setting but it would really only buy another 5-8 minutes. I get it, those are graphically intense games but it would be nice to have a couple of hours of game times before having to plug in. Especially when you are relaxing in a chair, on the couch or in bed: it would be nice to not HAVE to be plugged in. I love this thing, I am super glad that I bought it and I have no buyers remorse. But just like any relationship, you have to get over a few flaws to make things work.

I love the Ally. I see a lot of people go back and forth about returns and issues, and I wont lie, I had to go through 3 exchanged before I finally got a working unit. Asus is known for poor quality control so I already anticipated this. That being said, once I got a working unit, the rest was history. This thing is a beast. The performance is better than my Steam Deck. I still do have my SD because i wanted to keep it but I haven’t used it since I got the Ally. An amazing screen, great performance even at 15 watts (better than SD at 15 watts). 30 and you’re really on your way. Some consumers need to understand this is not an “open box, start, and play” kind of device. Its a literal computer. Windows and all. You need to tinker with settings, just like your average computer. You want a portable you don’t have to mess around with settings too much, then I would say to go for the Steam Deck. I will say though, once you have configured the Ally properly, it truly shows that RDNA 3 performance. For a handheld device, I can take all my AAA titles on the go without any issues. Getting a game to play at the screens 120hx refresh rate isn’t impossible, but don’t expect that from a new AAA game. Indie titles, yeah, you’ll get that or close to it. AAA titles like Baldur’s Gate 3, Dying Light 2, etc.. you can easily get 60+ fps, you just need to change a few in game settings and lower your resolution down to 720p. Getting this thing set up is the main issue though. A lot of updates, a lot of uncertainty when updating which caused one of the consoles to brick itself. Again, Asus is not known for amazing Quality Control. This device needed to bake a bit after launch (prior would have been ideal but we are passed that) but Asus has been providing constant updates which has lead this to being my go to handheld. I emulate and everything on here. Sold my switch, steam deck is still around though as I like it too much to part with it even though I haven’t touvhed it since the Ally released. For those looking to buy, try out an open box model if you’re hesitant. Go to youtube and search up tutorials on setting the device up. From there, you’re golden.

This thing hold up really well with AAA games and online games! I play on this more then my gaming pc with super ultra wide screen due to portability and convenience. Only downside is the short battery life, so most times you are tethered to power cable for best gaming experience. Worth buying!

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

Being my first handheld PC gaming device (I skipped the Steam Deck), and 2nd overall handheld after the Nintendo Switch, I have to say that I am overall enjoying the ASUS ROG Ally. The screen clarity is wonderful. Sound is powerful. Paired with a 1TB Micro SD card, I can install a hefty ton of games on this. Not just games though, since it runs on Windows 11, I can also install other applications like Discord, or even Office 365 to do some work while on the road. The first game I picked up was No Man's Sky from my Steam account, which I was able to log into and use flawlessly. NMS plays great with little to no hiccups (when you play on performance mode, wither 25W on battery and 30W plugged in). Which brings me to the gripe, battery life. Read any write up online and the #1 problem is the battery life. Sure, you can play a game that isn't intensive and turn the power usage down to get some extra play time, but if you choose to use the 25W mode, you won’t be playing for more than 2 hours. Overall, it's a lightweight and powerful device to enjoy those 1st/3rd person shooters and 2D scrollers on. Keep a charger nearby though.

Portable power like I've never experienced, and my favorite handheld PC to date. But as an overall product, is it perfect? No. Battery drain, clunky Win 11 experience, killed an SD card within one week's time, right shoulder button would only depress about 95%, leading to the button not functioning in some games (which I was able to rectify on my own with built in proprietary software).. Returned for another, and this model has had no issues. SD card going strong, buttons all function as they should, took a few hours to set up but I'm super happy. I share this in advance because you'll want to spend a lot of time with your model for the first 2 weeks making sure that it's functioning as a new $700 toy should. With that out of the way.. Diablo 4, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Destiny 2, and almost any other new game I've thrown at it all have 60+ stable frames with some tweaking (mostly play in 720p with higher settings like AA turned up, and looks amazing). Plugged in gives it that extra performance boost (it's the only way I play). Speakers are amazing, analog sticks feel great, the screen is gorgeous, and it's honestly exceeding all of my expectations for what I bought it for. I use my Steam Deck if I know I'll be on the road and need a few hours to play on battery, but I use this bad lad in bed, plugged in, for a top tier gaming experience while the wife watches a show or is reading a book. It has its place in my eco system, and for a first gen product, I'm very happy with it. And as they continue to make further tweaks, I'm confident the user experience will only get better. If you're looking for something that'll work right out of the box with minimal tweaking, or don't want to spend time really digging into whether or not you have a fully functioning system, I wouldn't recommend at this time. If you're willing to devote the time to making sure you have a fully working, functional product, and to customize both the unit and the games you play to get the most out of the experience, you will NOT be disappointed. For me, and despite the flaws I've mentioned, still 5 stars overall.

If you’re familiar with Windows and don’t mind the fact you need to set this up like a PC, but on a tiny screen it’s a solid machine. This has the capacity to run Battlefield 2042 online with large maps and anything along the likes of that. The processor and GPU built into it is pretty incredible considering it’s size and cooling. 512GB is a problem for space. You will fill this up in a heart beat. Asus failed to design this with a standard 2280 size ssd in mind so you can almost forget upgrading. The controls are very good. I mainly used for Diablo 4. They don’t get hot, the air is directed away from where your hands are. The areas where I would not recommend this is: If you think this is anything but a smaller gaming laptop that needs to essentially plugged in to get the performance. If you think because it has a battery it will give you any reasonable amount of gaming time unplugged If you don’t want to tinker with windows or set this up on a tiny screen just to get going. And if you want to install multiple large games. In conclusion this offers great performance in a hand held with windows games, well beyond the capacity of a steam deck but with terrible battery life. If you cant play this plugged in don’t bother. And do not expect to fit a bunch of games on here. You will need external storage if you do. Personally the price should be $599 or $549. It’s a great stepping stone to the future but we’re not there yet.

First one had a defect out of the box with the hardware. Exchanged for another which is going strong. Love being able to play games on the go without having to take a bulky laptop with me. Battery life sucks but thats to be expected for something as powerful as this. Can play most AAA games without an issue. I was able to play MSFS2020 on high settings while running around 40 FPS. SSD size is a little small for gaming though. Wish they made a 2TB option. However its easy to install a 2 TB.

I purchased the extreme variant of the Ally after spending some time with the base model. For my needs the performance boost justified the 100 price increase. However, if you play less demanding games or don’t mind 720p, the base model of the Z1 would most likely be perfectly fine for you. The ally is also the most comfortable handheld I have ever used. Much more comfortable than my steam deck. The screen, while not OLED, has pretty good colors that surprised me at first. In games that can take advantage if it, the 120hz looks amazing. The only complaint I have is the sound of the vibration. You can hear a distinct rattle at times, which I thought might just be my device but i have tried 2 separate Ally devices and they both had the issue. I even find myself turning off vibration sometimes because it can be distracting. Storage is meh but can be upgraded later. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who travels a lot or just likes to lay in bed and play some games. Keep an eye out for any open box deals.

The last gaming handheld I owned was a Nintendo DS. I saw this came out earlier last year, but I was not interested in owning one until the black Friday sale came up, and I thought I would give it a go. Does this replace your gaming PC? Not for me, I have a PC with a 4090, and gaming on a PC with high graphics is a must for me. Don't get me wrong, this device is great when you have set expectations on what it can do.. it runs almost every game I throw at it with the appropriate settings. It's been getting updates from ASUS, and there are a lot of guides to get the best use out of this thing. The speakers on these things are fantastic... I'm a big headphone user for almost all devices, and the speakers on these are high quality as if I am wearing headphones. VRR is another nice feature to have as well as its able to sync the frames and able to show us smoother gameplay without any stuttering when frame dip occurs. It does come with a 512gb SSD which could be enough if you are trying to use this device every now and then and you primarily game on your PC like me but if you intend to use this as your main device, I would suggest getting a 2tb SSD wether it is 2230 or 2280 (there are tutorials on how to do this) but I upgraded to an SN770m 2230 when it was on a BF sale. Overall great product, very impressed with how far the tech has improved, and we are getting portable Windows gaming devices on these. The only cons are sometimes the keyboard popup when you try to log in can become a bit messy, but I guess that's just Windows 11 I haven't had any other issues other than that.

Tldr, I wound up returning mine. The Ally is a great device if you know exactly what you're looking for in a handheld and you're willing to work around its potential issues. The big issues for me that eventually scared me away were the potential sd card issue, and Asus' consistency when it comes to updates and how they communicate them. For a device at this price, the risk of frying my sd card is just unacceptable, and it's an issue they still haven't entirely solved. Other things that aren't necessarily negatives but you may want to consider are the lack of a trackpad, which isn't so bad since the touchscreen is quite nice but would have been nice considering it's running windows, and the battery life. It's not a long lasting handheld but really with the performance you can get with it, especially at higher tdp settings, that's the tradeoff you have to make. That said, if the above doesn't matter to you it is a very nice device in all other aspects. It felt good in the hand, the speakers are surprisingly good, and the display is gorgeous.

I enjoy using my Ally pretty frequently. The cons you've already heard are still true, the battery life sucks, you might not have a working SD card if you use the SD card reader on this thing, and you're not able to max out the graphics settings on it. But if you can play the Ally near a wall outlet where battery isn't an issue, it's fantastic. I'm able to play AAA games and emulated older nintendo games fantastic. While the AAA games aren't at max graphics and 120fps, they're at a decent enough graphics quality for me that I'm happy that I can play them either at 120fps or 60fps. I don't regret the Ally at all, especially with the prices that I'm seeing on them now. Only recommendation I would make would be to upgrade the storage, get a screen protector, and play near a wall outlet.

The Asus ROG Ally is a fantastic gaming PC that you can hold in your hands. It's equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 6800U processor and 16GB of RAM, making it capable of handling even the most demanding games. The 7-inch 1080p display is sharp and vibrant, and the built-in speakers offer excellent sound quality. Additionally, the ROG Ally boasts a long battery life, allowing you to play for extended periods without worrying about running out of power. One of the standout features of the ROG Ally is its software. It runs on Windows 11, providing access to a wide variety of games and apps. You can also install custom drivers and software to optimize your gaming performance. However, the ROG Ally does have some drawbacks. The controller is not as comfortable as the one on the Steam Deck, and the battery life is not as impressive as that of some other handheld gaming PCs. Furthermore, the software can be a bit buggy at times. Overall, the Asus ROG Ally is an excellent handheld gaming PC. It offers power, portability, and long battery life. However, if controller comfort and flawless software are top priorities for you, it may be worth exploring other options. Here are some alternative handheld gaming PCs you might consider: Valve Steam Deck GPD Win 3 Aya Neo 2 OneXPlayer Mini These devices provide different features and benefits, so it's advisable to conduct thorough research before making a purchase. For me personally, I have to say that I'm really enjoying the Asus ROG Ally, and in my opinion, it far surpasses the competition. The gaming experience it provides is just on another level. The performance, coupled with its sleek design and impressive features, truly sets it apart. From the powerful hardware to the stunning display and immersive sound, every aspect of the ROG Ally seems to have been crafted with the gamer in mind. It has definitely exceeded my expectations and has become my go-to choice for portable gaming.

[Employee of bestbuy] So definitely some issues right, hop on reddit and you’ll see immediately that the micro SD card slot is useless because either software or hardware wise, no one knows for sure, your card becomes unreadable at some point. Could be 20 mins in could be 3 weeks. Definitely a bummer considering some of us aren’t interested in opening this guy to upgrade teSSD. Youll need to do some tinkering to settings out of the box, but armory crate does a solid job of helping with that. Theres some other windows settings you need to change as well to maximize performance but all quick fixes and nothing that same reddit thread cant help you find and do. In terms of gaming really wnjoyed most of the games i played oni. The onky one that wasnt great was cyberpunk but it was constantly getting 35-45 fps on 1080p with medium settings, so not bad, just not great. Rocket league, Fortnite, batman arkham city, COD, skyrim all played great and felt good. even used it to run some emulators with fantastic performance. The device really shines when it comes to that for sure. Flawless for any of the maybe 10 i ran. Overall a great gaming experience but battery life (less than an hour unplugged) and the SD card slot issue make it a 7.5 out of 10 experience. For 499.99 this thing would be an absolute steal. You just expect more for 700.

Best investment ever. As a middle aged gamer, I appreciate the ability to take PC level gaming anywhere! It does get a bit hot and I would highly highly encourage an SSD upgrade. At least 1 TB. I will be getting the Sabrent 2TB. Graphics are amazing. Framerate sits at around 45-55 for AAA titles even on high settings. IT CAN BE USED AS A PC REPLACEMENT. Nuff said.

Good product works well only cons i would say are the small battery and the micro sd card slot being almost unusable.

Dont get me wrong; it does take some time to get it properly up and running, but once youve got it going, and even more so when you grow accustomed to it, it’s just amazing. It has ACTUALLY all but replaced my gaming laptop. I basically only use my gaming laptop for 3D modeling-related stuff. Is the battery the best ever? No, but neither is the one in the NINTENDO SWITCH, WHICH YOU CAN EMULATE on this thing. Its like… okay, so for me, its like the Gameboy Advance for “today’s kids.” The gameboy advance was my first portable gaming device when i was a kid, and i was just stunned i could play games like that on the go, and getting this device up and running, and playing my games on it - its like im reliving that experience for the first time again. Yes, a lot of people have returned them, but most of those people, i assure you, didnt know what they were actually buying and certainly didn’t know how to get it to where its supposed to be for the proper experience. All in all, id recommend this to ANYONE who likes portable gaming 100%. At this price point, while yes the Steam Deck is easier to use, there’s just isn’t anything quite like the Ally. Get it, give it some time for you to adjust to it and get it up and running - i can almost guarantee you, if you enjoy portable gaming, you WILL love… the ASUS ROG Ally.