Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Ally is much more powerful than I anticipated. I bought it for my 8yr old thinking along the lines of a Nintendo switch. It's much more powerful than that. Its more like a handheld laptop. Having said that, the setup is much more involved than a normal game system. As a professional IT even I was shocked at the complexity of the setup. Thats why I gave 4 stars instead of 5.

In many ways, the ROG Ally is an interesting device, even though it’s not the first of its kind, it does a lot of things well. Basically, this handheld gaming machine is like a portable personal computer, it runs on Windows 11, it has a specially made CPU or “Processor” (more on that in a moment) and there is a little bit of tinkering You have to do first, you don’t just insert a game cartridge or download a game right away and start playing. There’s going to be some updates, you have to download, maybe even button mapping depending on the game. AMD Z1 Processor: So basically this is a Lower tier Ally model, for $100 less you get the AMD Z1 processor instead of the more powerful Z1 Extreme. Now while I don’t have any experience with the extreme, or how well each one competes with the other, I can tell you that this device runs pretty good on its own. It’s able to play older games and most indie games at full settings, now as for the newer AAA titles, such as Warzone 2 or Starfield, you can still play them, but the settings have to most likely go down to medium or even low. there’s lots of ways to download games to the Ally, You can go to your favorite video game website and start downloading games from there, websites like Steam, and Xbox are perfect places to start. Screen: beautiful, clean, crisp 7inch 1080p resolution, very nice screen, no complaints here. RGB lights: they look good, and are a nice touch to the Ally, I personally don’t have any problems with them. And finally the battery, overall, the Ally has a nice battery, depending on the game, you play and settings, determines how long the battery will last, there is lots of variables here, but overall it should last you an an hour or two on higher settings, but much longer than that if you play less demanding games. Oh, one more thing, the sound is outstanding on this little device.

This my friends is a steam deck competitor and so far it has proven in a number of ways how it is better than other available competitors. Out-of-the-box this thing has windows 11 setup on it ready to go minor updates need to be applied to bring the device current. This would be one of the main slowdowns during initial setup. Asus has come a long way with their “Armory Crate” app in trying to develop a one-stop-shop for gamers to go to for access to all games across various platforms may be seen and played. While this may seem true you are still required to have the various gaming platforms that provide the games installed on the device. Initial overview of the device has a nice and clean design with some added unique touches for a sleek look. The thumb-sticks are RGB, with extra grip buttons, pro buttons on the bottom. There’s an extra lighting prism effect on the bottom, that first does not look like much, but grows on you. There are hologram stickers on the sides, play buttons are various colors and clear. The AMD Ryzen processor handles very well all around from gaming to basic use as a PC when connected to an external screen. This is one of the few handheld or full PC out-of-the-box compatibility ready devices on the market. It was noticed, during use, the exhaust port for the heat passage next to the microSD card does get fairly warm, especially if taxing the processor heavily. By luck, it has been adult durability tested by taking a few drops while coming off mass transit. While some minor chassis damage has occurred, battle damage, the screen has survived with no damage. Along the top of the Rog, you will find the power button with touch unlock, device interface options for USB-C, proprietary port for Asus add-ons, micro SD slot for storage expansion, and the headphone input. Issues/Concerns noticed. At times when the device is in a sleep state mode, the thumb-sticks will glow dim continuously. Light control can be adjusted through the command center and control change for Windows mode. The location of the micro SD card slot is right next to the heat exhaust of the unit. Under heavy use you will have around approximately 2 hours of battery life; this may be extended by dialing down the turbo settings and to a medium state for almost all games. The provided stand is a piece of fancy cardboard, ehile nice, one crush and done. The travel charger plug pins do not fold into the power brick. Overall, feel this is an easy replacement for anybody that's very familiar with gaming on windows a windows machine. It checks a lot of boxes in a number of ways for gaming from customization of controls, resolution changes, and being able to use it as a PC for general use.

This is without a doubt the hardest review I have ever done. Up front, if you are looking forward to playing the latest games at a full framerate, go with the Z1 extreme model. Performance is better in every category. With that out of the way, here is my review of this product if it existed by itself, without being in the shadow of it’s more powerful older brother… I’m a gamer to the core. I have several gaming laptops, all the consoles, as well as several portables. I bought the steam deck the second it was available. I jumped at the opportunity to review the Rog Ally. While much negative press exists about the “downgraded” model, there is very little objective information of how it performs on its own. Having an extensive Steam library as well as Gamepass, I loaded the Ally with a wide variety of current and retro titles. Spider-Man remastered, Starfield, Ninja Turtles - Shredder’s Revenge, castle crashers, stray, the Batman Arkham Asylum games, etc. Performance wise, all the heavily taxing games like Starfield, Halo, and Spider+man played flawlessly on low to mid settings. Frame rates (which is all people seem to care about these days) hovered between 37 and 45 fps. Everything looks fantastic. Colors are bright and even at mid settings the image looks great on the 7in screen. Modern technology is amazing. To go from the Gameboy of 1989 to playing Cyberpunk on a train is just a blessing people seem to take for granted today. Audio quality is fantastic on the Rog Ally. The speakers sound much bigger than they really are, and the Dolby Atmos actually manages to weakly simulate spatial sound in games. Quite amazing for a handheld device. Ergonomics are decent. The weight and grips are comfortable enough that I can game for an hour or two (maximum one can do per charge anyway) and not feel discomfort. Asus really did their homework. For storage, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND upgrading the internal memory. At the time of this review, there have been dozens of reports of the Micro SD card reader “burning out” presumably due to its close proximity to the heat exhaust vents at the top. Because of this, I didn’t want to risk damaging a perfectly good SD card. With a full suite of Windows 11 and all the game launchers, the included 512GB gives you room for about 4 to 6 AAA titles. Swapping out the SSD takes 15 minutes. The process to format the SSD and reload Windows and proprietary Asus layers takes about an hour. Windows 11. Well… it’s the operating system, for better or for worse. You can play just about any windows game, but Windows doesn’t like being constrained by touch screens or controllers. Have a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse ready for emergency use. Overall it’s a great 1st generation of hopefully a long line of mobile gaming PCs. It’s had several hiccups along the way, but it’s off to a great start. If you play independent games like Cult of the Lamb, Hades, Star Ocean, etc… or if you are fine with frame rates around 30fps on games like Farcry 6 or The Last of Us, the regular Z1 is fine. If you have any desire to hit frame rates closer to 60 or higher, or like graphics settings at mid to ultra, spend a few more dollars for the Z1 Extreme edition.

I’ve been really impressed with this handheld. Games run smoothly, the screen looks great, and the 120Hz display makes everything feel responsive. It’s powerful enough to handle a wide range of games, and having Windows gives a lot of flexibility for installs and settings. The controls feel comfortable, and it’s easy to pick up and use whether for short sessions or longer play. Overall, it’s been a fun and capable device that delivers exactly what I was hoping for.

Great product. there are limits to consider in the battery and processing capacity that ultimately creates heat. You can still run AAA games unplugged on this but be wary that medium settings at 720p/10w to 15w should be your limit. Personally i'm fine with these settings while gaming on a small screen and i occasionally go higher on the resolution with casual browsing.

ASUS ROG Ally 7" 120Hz FHD 1080p Gaming Handheld - AMD Ryzen Z1 Processor - 512GB - White Included- The ASUS gaming device, power adapter, manual PROS       Portable       Versatile       Lightweight       7" HD touchscreen       AMD's Ryzen Z1 processor       512G storage with ability to add more with a MicroSD card       Ability to customize your controls       Dolby Atmos sound technology CONS       Large and somewhat difficult to hold       Case not included       Expensive For the casual gamer, I think the device is a great option if you want to access any of your Windows based game while taking them on the go. It includes multiple gaming platforms- like Xbox, Android and Steam, it's a win-win. I also like that it converts into more of a console when you hook it up into your tv and you can have your friends play with you or even a gaming PC if you connect a keyboard and mouse. It's very versatile. I appreciate the big screen display- the visuals are great but I also feel like the device is pretty large for small hands. It's a lot to hold up for an extended period of time even though it's very lightweight. I don't play too many video games so I'm maybe easily more impressed and my kids are too. They're excited it's similar to the Xbox controller and can access all their games when they want to (and I let them. lol)

Was a little hesitant to buy the slower model but after getting it and all the updates asus has done this is as fast if not faster than the steamdeck at 15w and at turbo its a bit faster. Seems to run everything great. Getting 60fps in just about everything. Use it when I wanna just chill in bed or on the couch.

My wife bought me this for Christmas and I instantly fell in love with it. It's definitely not plug and play and I would only recommend it for power users, as my first few hours with it was spent configuring and updating it, and waiting for Windows to finish initial setup. It's definitely a toy for a power user, as it's basically a PC (remember netbooks?) and you can spend a whole day tinkering with it, with at least three stock programs that handle different hardware settings (MyASUS, Armoury Crate, AMD Control Panel). I absolutely loved this thing. The speakers are way better than I expected, the controls feel great. Software experience could be improved and there were times where it would randomly switch for desktop to controller mode or vice verse (which didn't happen during gaming in my short experience). The battery life isn't great, you'll get about 2-4 hours of play but the USB-C port is in a spot that doesn't make it uncomfortable to hold and I don't find myself in a lot of situations where I won't be near a charger. The grip does get a bit uncomfortable in my hands after about an hour and it does feel heavy in the hands. The screen looks nice and touch input is accurate. It's really easy to work on (the back shell is held on with 5x 00-Philips screws and 1x 00 captive Philips screw, and tabs around the shell that are easy enough to open with just your finger nails. The battery is really easy to get to, the nvme ssd drive is right there on top, and the joy sticks are easy to replace daughter boards in case you ever have a problem with those. Now for why I'm giving it one star: After set up, I ended Christmas day with a two hour long session of Skryim. I put it away and went to bed. The next day when I went to use it I noticed the battery was at 8% so I plugged it in. When I came back later the battery was at 6% and I realized something was wrong. I tried the stock charger and other 65w+ chargers I had around the house and it didn't recognize any of them. I tried restarting it a couple times and doing a battery diagnostic. At that point the battery was completely dead and the Ally wouldn't power on at all. I researched online and tried a number of tricks, such as holding down the power button for 45 seconds to reset the EC/BIOS, reseating the battery cables and leaving it on the stock charger for several hours. My research online indicated that this is a somewhat common issue with the device and unfortunately because the battery was flat there was no other way for me to attempt to revive it. The serial number must be tied to Best Buy because when you try to RMA it through ASUS, they tell you to take it to Best Buy's Geek Squad, which I did on 12/28. The Geek Squad manager confirmed it was defective and told me they can try to repair it, which could take weeks, or I could exchange it for another new one. Upon checking their inventory they informed us it wasn't in stock and none of the near by stores had it in stock, and told us it was likely sold out due to the holiday. They issued my wife a refund and printed an invoice with the sales price and a note that I returned a defective unit, it wasn't in stock to exchange, and to honor the sales price, and that we should keep an eye on the website and come back in to buy it when it comes back in stock. I checked Best Buy's website later and unfortunately there's no notify med when it's in stock option, and I'm worried that Best Buy discontinued this SKU because it says only open box options are available. Meanwhile, I'm left heart broken because I don't think I've been this excited about a present since I was a child.

I purchased the (Non Extreme) version, for $399. It is an absolutely amazing device. From God of War to Spider-Man Miles Morales I was easily racking in 1:45 on 15w TDP low settings. 

Bought mine about a week ago and have played it almost daily. With a little bit of easy tinkering in the settings and debloating the Ally runs fantastic. Its a great buy for me cause I can play anywhere. Which isnt a luxury I have with my Series X. Does it have the same graphics capabilities as my Series X? No but it has a very sharp and color rich screen that makes best use if the capabilities it does have which is pretty substantial. Catching it on sale for $599 is a fantastic buy. I would definitely recommend it for anyone like me with kids that still wants to sit down and game whenever or wherever the chance arrives.

I was born in the 80’s and have grown up on Gameboys and Game Gears so I’ve seen gaming technology come a long way. But 30 years ago, I would have never dreamed we’d have a mobile PC gaming system that fits in your hands with 100’s of games at your disposal at any moment. The ASUS ROG Ally is an impressive piece of equipment that demands your attention. Initial unboxing and setup of the Ally was very straightforward. What surprised me from the get-go is that the Ally is basically a small computer in your hands. It runs a full version of Windows 11 that is user friendly even without a mouse or keyboard. I loaded all my games and apps and updated drivers through the My Asus app and we were off and running. First impressions of the device itself are nothing but positive. The 1080P 7 inch touch screen is bright and beautiful and responsive to the touch. The unit itself feels light and comfortable in your hands. Joysticks, bumpers and trigger buttons are well placed with customizable RGB lighting. The fingerprint sensor on the power button is a nice touch. Theres also a slot for external memory cards, and a USB3.2/DisplayPort/Power plug and an ROG XG Mobile interface that I’ll get to shortly. Battery life for the Ally is substantial for a handheld especially with Asus’s customization ability in their Armoury Crate. Their app allows you to completely configure the Ally exactly how you want it. You can change Operating Modes, Game Visual Modes, customize controller mapping for all your game apps, the list goes on and on. It really is a gamers paradise with an ROG product. One of my favorite features is the Command Center button which allows you to customize different quick functions like brightness and volume along with getting to your Desktop, game modes, game profiles and even pull up a keyboard on the fly. But all of this wouldn’t matter if the gaming experience isn’t what it should be, and thankfully the Ally passes the gaming portion with flying colors. I have Ultimate Game pass and instantly that along with my steam collection gives me instant access to 100’s of games. The Ally hooks into your WIFI but does also allow offline gaming as well and ASUS has done a good job explaining how to get those settings on their website. I loaded up Starfield to really push the Ally to see what it could do, and it handled the game beautifully. Visually the game looks great, and the controls are just as good as any handheld I’ve played before. Games like Shredders Revenge are an absolute joy to play on the Ally and I find myself gaming a lot more frequently lately because of it. The 512 GB of space that comes with the device does get eaten up quickly so I would invest in a good SD card. One of the cooler features for the Ally that I haven’t used yet is the ability to hook it up to other devices to expand its capabilities. The ROG Gaming Charger Dock will turn the Ally into a home console by charging and connecting to any tv or monitor with a 120hz 1080P or 60hz 4k Refresh Rate. There is also a pricier XG Mobile station that will turn your Ally into basically a gaming powerhouse. Both are incredible features that only add to the flexibility of the Ally. All in all, I can’t recommend the ASUS ROG Ally enough. If you’re a serious gamer looking for a flexible mobile gaming solution the Ally is a clear-cut winner for me. It is an impressive feat of technology that packs a lot of ability in a small package.

Its a good pc portable device, its a big difference between the steam deck being a little bit more new and having a slight increase on preformence.

The base Z1 model really surprised me. I wasn't expecting much from it considering how so many people talk down on it, but it's been able to handle all of the games that I want to play perfectly fine. I'm not looking to play the latest games on it since I have a gaming PC for that, so the power that this provides is plenty enough for my needs.

The priority and what features gamers choose to focus on and emphasize are as varied as the games themselves. What are important features and must haves to me may not be the same as yours. Me, High framerates and cutting-edge graphics aren't the be-all-end-all for me. Obviously, these things have to meet a minimum threshold, but as long as things aren't game breaking or continually interrupt the gaming experience. I like using PC gaming as a way to enjoy older games that I don't have the console for anymore. Most games I tried on the ROG Ally were older titles such as Fallout: New Vegas, KOTOR 1&2, and older popular titles from past console generations. I had some kiddos in the family play Roblox, Fortnite, and various kid games on Xbox Game Pass. The Ally was a great way to enjoy these types of games and I can say that everyone of us fully enjoyed our time with the Ally. I like being able to switch between clock speeds/performance modes. The more intense the mode, the shorter the battery life. On average I was able to get around 2 hours of pure gameplay on a full charge. If there's a cooling fan in the Ally, you could have fooled me. I didn't notice any fan noise during any of my play time and while it did get warm, it wasn't too warm to cause alarm. Ergonomics and button quality are great. Firm responsive clicks and no soggy presses hampering the experience, even during button mashers like Brutal Legend. Quick menus were smartly implemented. You can quickly and with just a few presses, bring up things like digital keyboard, screenshots, performance modes, etc. The touchscreen is fast and accurate. The screen is bright, vivid, and I didn't see any edge bleed. The speakers and sound really stood out to me. It was like having a mini soundbar centered right in front of you. I could make out every sound effect and soundtracks came across with full intention. High marks for sound. The ROG Ally was enjoyed by all age types in our household, as a gaming device but also as an entertainment/ multimedia device as well.

This little thing does it all. You can access your steam, epic, or game pass library by just clicking on the tile. The battery life can be draining if you play on the highest settings, i.e. 2 hours or less. The only complaint I had was that it took over three hours to get everything up to date when I first took it out of the box but it is a small price to pay given what this machine can do. I highly recommend getting the protective screen and a carrying case.

With any new decive it has its hiccups. This decice had a fairly rocky start with the software bugs and then burning up the Micro SD cards. Although, having had it since lauch its been a great device with a beautiful screen and plays just about anything you throw at it! Just be sure to keep an eye on the temps if you are running games off a card. Otherwise its a great buy if you want to take your games on the go.

Love my ROG Ally! Great Handheld, nice performance at an excellent price. It runs as expected and would definitely recommend it though it's not the Extreme version. I bought it as a refurbished item and it's in perfect conditions and works perfectly for the price I paid. Thank you Best Buy for the great deals!!!

Recieved this as a gift, had so many issues from the get go ended up returning roughly 24 hours after opening. Cons -Less than ideal wifi connectivity (having to mess with drivers to get more than abysmal speeds) -Battery life isn't great -Game launching is for those with patience -Speakers leave something to be desired -Bios update caused all inputs to stop working (touch and buttons) Pros -Great looking screen -Buttons and analog sticks feel good -LED lights are a nice touch All in all would have been a fantastic handheld system if it worked as expected unfortunately, it missed the mark by a long shot.

Great handheld that shines at 15W, kept the resolution and framerate low for 3d games. 2d games like hollow knight and mana spark are awesome at 1080p. I typically play on work breaks, so i cant speak too much on battery life. I havent ran into battery life woes in my use case.