Customer Ratings & Reviews

While I was extremely excited to get my hands on the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally, now that I’ve spent some time with it, I have mixed feelings about it. I appreciate many of the features, and it’s built well, but overall, I feel like the execution leaves quite a bit to be desired. Right out of the box, you can tell that this is a high-quality piece of tech. The build quality is exceptional, with all of the material used feeling very high end. I especially like the considerable grips, which make it feel like you’re holding an Xbox controller. The screen is quite beautiful, and displays your content in 1080p detail. I love the 120Hz refresh rate, which makes fast paced games look even smoother in the heat of the action. The controls feel pretty good, but I do think that the placement of the right-side buttons could be better. I noticed that I had to slightly move my whole hand to reach up and press the “Y” button, and it seems like every other button was easily pressed with my hand in one position. The thumb sticks are great, very responsive, and I didn’t notice any problems with them. I also felt like the left side D-Pad was a bit harder to reach, compared to everything else. For reference, I have pretty long fingers, so I feel like this problem would only be more noticeable for someone with smaller hands. The shoulder buttons feel excellent, and I think these are one of the high points of the system. These truly feel like console-controller buttons, just on a portable handheld. Additionally, there are mappable buttons on the rear of the console, which allows for even more customizability. As for the buttons on the front, there are quite a few, and one of them turned out to be a problem during my testing. More about that later. When it comes to an operating system, this is a portable Windows 11 PC. They claim it is an Xbox, but I found this title very misleading. You can access Xbox PC game, Steam, Gog, and just about any other game service imaginable, which is nice. However, when it comes to Xbox, this thing is real let down. I have been playing Xbox since 2004, and I’ve built up a collection of digital games, of roughly over 100 titles. I was very excited to be able to download and play these games on the go! Imagine my disappointment when I learned this device does not natively play Xbox games, only Xbox PC games. Of all of my titles, only about 6 had the feature that let me essentially own them on PC, since I bought them on the Xbox over the years. I personally am not going to buy games AGAIN on PC, just to be able to play them on the ROG Ally. But, this device does play Game Pass games, so maybe it’s a win there. Well, sort of. From my testing, not every title is even PLAYABLE natively on this console. I downloaded the Elder Scrolls Oblivion remaster, and got an error message saying that my system couldn’t run the game. Specifically, it stated that: “My CPU has 4 logical processors, and the game needs 6. My system memory is 10 GB, and the game needs 16 GB or more.” Now, it said that I could still attempt to run it, but I was pretty shocked that it listed reasons as to why my system wasn’t powerful enough. And I thought this console had 16 GB of system memory, but maybe its divided or allocated to separate areas? Considering this is a Microsoft branded console, attempting to play a Bethesda (Microsoft owned) game, it seems a bit crazy that it can’t run on the ROG Ally. But hey, it can play Steam, right? That is true. However, as you use this console, you quickly come to realize the downsides to its UI when it comes to navigating services. First, there is the Xbox console UI, which is the “main” UI of the console. Underneath that, is the Windows 11 section, where you will have to go to fix settings, get updates, and other important things. There is also the ASUS Armoury Crate, which is ASUS proprietary system, and houses your drivers, and some device settings. Then you have access to Steam (or any other game service), meaning you are constantly juggling or switching between 2,3, or 4 different user interfaces and systems. Additionally, any updates you need are SPECIFIC to each system, which means you can’t just click 1 button to get all of your updates. I suppose none of this would be so bad, but there are MANY glitches when using this system. Switching between UIs is not always smooth, and some problems persist. For some reason, I have NEVER been able to get Steam to register my button or thumb stick inputs, when using the Steam library and browser. Now, when I go into a game, it registers perfectly. But when I’m looking at my games, downloading them, or exploring the Steam app, I have to use the touchscreen. Oh yeah, this console has a touchscreen, which is pretty necessary when none of your built-in controls register on whatever screen you happen to be on. There are other hassles as well. When installed a micro-SD card, it doesn’t tell you ANYTHING at all. You have to go into the PC side, and format it there, and I found no instructions on how to do this multistep process. Thankfully, I did it right, but this sort of exemplifies how this console works. Since it’s a portable PC and NOT an Xbox, you will have to adjust, tinker, and mess with multiple settings to get things how you want them. I almost forgot to talk about the front facing buttons, near the screen. The problem I have is that on the right side, there is a “library” button, directly above the “start” button. This is a problem when you are playing a game on Steam, and you accidentally press the “library” button. For some reason, this causes your game to glitch, and when you do reenter your game, the display will typically be completely wrecked, if not totally unplayable. This means whenever I was playing on Steam (which was often), I had to be very intentional with what button I was pressing, or I would have to force quit restart my game. Gameplay is also…interesting. Some games certainly play better than others, but overall, I felt that the performance was pretty underwhelming. The first game I downloaded was Fallout 4, which is almost 10 years old, but I know it like the back of my hand, so I always like to see how it runs. I was surprised that it auto detected and chose “ultra” quality settings, and it then seemed like it had trouble running on these settings. There was quite a bit of stuttering, frame drop, and just didn’t look great for what is essentially a decade old game. I moved the graphics down to “high” quality, and this helped a bit. I also adjusted the ASUS built in FPS limiter, and set it to 60 FPS max. This too, seemed to help smooth out the performance quite a bit. Still, I’m a little bit shocked that I had to tweak this many settings just to get Fallout 4 to run somewhat well. That’s the thing, even with everything adjusted, I still wouldn’t say it was running at max FPS at all times. I did find that some games ran surprisingly well. Older titles like Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas ran pretty much flawlessly at Ultra settings. Cyberpunk 2077 ran nicely after some tweaking with the settings. The game started and was set to “Ray Tracing – Low,” which was just too much for the Ally, it performed terribly. Once I toggled this off, it ran smooth, and I suspect if you really spent some time adjusting things, you could get it running even better. I was impressed with the performance of the Outer Worlds 2, which looked pretty incredible for this system. It’s still a shame that I couldn’t run Oblivion remastered, though. I should note that the Xbox Ally runs much better when plugged into its massive charging block. On battery, it runs in “performance” mode; on power, it runs in “turbo” mode, and you can definitely see the bump up in quality, smoothness, and framerate. I do feel that this kind of negates the point of this truly being a handheld, as if you are out and running on just battery power, you aren’t getting the system’s full potential. Overall, I don’t think I would recommend this system. Microsoft claims “This is an Xbox,” well I am here to tell you, “This is NOT an Xbox.” If you can’t play your digital library of XBOX GAMES, then I’m sorry, this is just a handheld PC with an Xbox style user interface. Additionally, being unable to play games (looking at you Oblivion) that would undoubtedly play on an Xbox console just doesn’t make any sense. As far as I can tell, you can’t upgrade the processor or the memory, so you just won’t get a title like Oblivion Remastered to run properly. Add in the numerous glitches, problems with inputs, and questionable design of certain buttons, and this is just not a good value at any price. I’m disappointed with both Microsoft and ASUS, as I feel this console could have been done so much better. When all is said and done, I’d give this 2 stars, and would NOT recommend it.

I got mixed results regarding performance. I installed Forza Horizon 5, Mortal Kombat 11, and Stalker 2 for my testing. The grip is great. Performance: Performance was not up to par with installed games. I tried with the above games and got mixed results. There are three performance settings to choose from, Silent, Performance, and Turbo in that order that changed the watts used. From my testing, Silent is unusable for anything but the simplest games. Performance and Turbo seem the same. There is a status bar that you can enable which shows things like battery left, temperature, and FPS. This is off by default and must be enabled in settings to show. Installed Forza Horizon 5 (which is an Xbox first party title): It was not playable at all. When starting the game, it complained there wasn’t enough available memory even though all that was running were the Xbox and Asus apps. Attempting to play it anyway caused a consistent jitter while driving. Installed Mortal Kombat 11: This was the only game that performed well. It played smoothly at 60FPS with no issues found. Installed Stalker 2: It was playable but with a poor frame rate of 15-20FPS. Fortunately, it didn’t really feel like the FPS was that bad and could be played by accepting the low frame rate. All other parts of the game worked as expected and you could read the text on the screen. Streamed Forza Horizon 5: This plays very well and very smoothly, probably the best of all the tests. I could spend time playing this game in this format. As far as performance goes, really the only way to play on this device is by streaming with Game Pass. Installing the games could go either way but likely no way. Game Pass: If you go through the Game Pass library on here, many of the titles are not compatible or have been tested with issues. This is what it warns you about before installing a particular game. This shrinks your game choices considerably. The good news is that Game Pass allows you to stream games, which is the only reliable way to get things to work. Windows: Windows is the OS used on this, but it is 90% hidden by the Xbox app so you mostly can’t tell, except the login screen. SSD: This is a small SSD of 512GGB. With no games installed, you get around 460GB free. This is enough to install maybe three larger games. If you buy this to install games, plan to upgrade the SSD to a larger one or add a fast large microSD card which it supports. Display: The display looks very good with vibrant colors and a good enough resolution that you can even read small text on the screen which is impressive since other portable systems I’ve used you can’t read small text. It is also a good size to play with, big enough to play with and still portable. This is also a touch screen which works as designed, except if you press too hard, it will not register. Speakers: The speakers get the job done. They are very tinny with a volume that can’t be turned up very loud. Consider these to be on par with small laptop speakers. Given the size of the device, it is not surprising. What is surprising is that I have used many laptops and ASUS laptops always have the best speakers, much better than you would expect from small speakers and laptops so I don’t know what happened here. Thermal: The fans are very quiet on this, and you can barely hear them unless you put it up to your ears. The system ran around 60c when playing everything which is reasonable and safe. Battery: I could get around 1 hour 15 minutes when playing something like Mortal Kombat which is performance hungry but still will work here. Now, there is a setting that only allows the system to charge up to 80%, which cuts play time but protects the battery from early failure. I am always happy when a rechargeable device has this, and I always enable it. It comes with a small USB-C power brick that is easy to transport with the system. Lights: There are RGB lights around the thumb sticks and that is what you get. You can set the colors within the ASUS app. Apps: This has the Xbox app and if you have ever used it, you will recognize it here. It allows you to see games you have bought and can install. If you have Game Pass, it will show all the library of games to choose from and if they need to be installed or played from the cloud. This has the ASUS app and if you have ever owned an ASUS gaming laptop, you will also recognize this. You can change a bunch of various settings typical of any gaming system, change the performance mode, and change the lights. Buttons and Grip: It has all the standard controller buttons and triggers along with two back buttons. There is an Xbox button to bring the app to the front. There is also a button to bring the ASUS side panel out to change various settings and change performance mode. The grip is great and is very easy to hold for long gaming sessions, probably one of the best features of this system. I can’t stress this enough. There is a power button and volume buttons on the top of the system as well as two USB-C connectors, one used for charging, a headphone jack and microSD port. Case: It doesn’t come with one but an OEM one will set you back $70, a good quality hard case but pricey. Finally: This is a system for a very specific audience, people with Game Pass that can stream their games, or people that play very simple games. That’s it. The performance is not enough to play bigger AAA games when installed, and the SSD is too small to hold more than a couple of them. The grip and display are probably the best parts of this system, especially the grip. If you have Game Pass, it will be connected to the Internet, and can stream your games, this is a very good device to have. Others should stay away.

I’ve been really impressed with the ASUS ROG Ally as a handheld gaming device. Performance is excellent for the size, and it runs games smoothly with sharp visuals and responsive controls. The screen looks great, and the overall build feels solid and comfortable for longer sessions. What I like most is the flexibility—being able to jump into Xbox Game Pass and play a huge library on a handheld feels like the best of console convenience with PC freedom. Setup was straightforward, updates were easy, and once everything is tuned, it’s a reliable daily driver for gaming at home or on the go. If you want a premium handheld that can handle modern games and pairs perfectly with the Xbox ecosystem, this is an easy 5-star buy.

I bought the ROG Ally and I am very happy with this device. The performance is very fast and smooth. I use it for gaming and daily use, and it works very well. I tried many games, and all of them run good without problems or lag. The device is easy to use and comfortable in my hands. The screen is clear and bright, and the colors look very nice. The sound quality is also good and clear while playing games or watching videos. The battery life is strong for a handheld gaming device. I can play for a good amount of time before charging. The charging speed is fast, which is very helpful and convenient. I like that this device can do many things. I can play games, use apps, browse the internet, and do normal computer tasks. It feels powerful and reliable. Overall, the ROG Ally is a great product. It is fast, powerful, and fun to use. I am satisfied with my purchase and I recommend it to anyone who likes gaming and portable devices.

I have 1 month with this device and have no bad comments, obviously is a small device that doesn't have the same features as a gaming laptop, is portable that's mean that the battery life is around around 2 hours depending on what kind video-game are you playing, the display have the right size for this kind of device, the graphics are very good, not excellent, it's a portable device The sound is surprisingly loudly and have a good definition, it's better than I expected.

It's a great product but due to the ram size and and storage space it's worth paying the extra 500 dollars for more ram and storage and get the ally x but if your wanting something for the kids or for light gaming this is a great device.

This was a great purchase for travel or wanting to game from inside my home but not at me office. I installed Parsec on my local gaming PC and the Parsec client to use my home desktop as streaming source to improve battery life. gaming on it using only its hardware is acceptable so long as you're not looking to play modern AAA titles. Overall a great purchase, you could probably even turn this handheld into a retro gaming device if you wanted too!

The ROG Xbox Ally Gaming Handheld is a powerful device that offers a great gaming experience. Unboxing and setup – The handheld is nicely packaged and well protected. The initial setup is fairly straightforward; although it is a little time consuming between the Windows setup/login and required updates. Remember to check for additional updates in Armory Crate (ie: bios updates). It maybe took 15-20 minutes from starting to being able to download my first game but this may depend on your internet speed. It boots into a full screen Xbox UI/experience and feels similar to the Xbox console. Software – The Xbox full screen UI/experience is well designed. Multiple apps are available to download to access your favorite games including Battle.net, Epic Games Store, GOG Galaxy, Steam, and Ubisoft Connect PC. Once games are downloaded, they all show up under the library tab with a symbol denoting which app they are from. Armory Crate can be accessed for additional performance/lighting settings by hitting the respective button in the top left corner. Holding down the Xbox button is similar to alt tab on a computer. It shows everything you have open and allows you to access the Windows desktop. One thing to keep in mind is by opening the Windows desktop mode additional processes are loaded into the memory. This can decrease gaming performance while in the full screen UI. The only way to fully unload the memory is to restart the device. Lastly, many of the preinstalled Windows programs such as LinkedIn, Word, Outlook, etc are totally unnecessary. Yes, this is a Windows based product, but the number of users who will actually utilize these programs has to be incredibly small. Gaming experience – I have played both Indian Jones and Arc Raiders. The gameplay was surprisingly smooth, averaging 40-50 fps. This device uses the AMD Ryzen Z2 A processor. It is best designed for 720p gaming. If you are looking for 1080p gaming, you should consider the ROG Xbox Ally X variant instead. Battery life is respectable. After about 45 minutes of intense Arc Raiders gameplay utilizing turbo mode I had about 50% left. The controller is fantastic and in my opinion the best when compared to the competition. It is well integrated into the device with examples including the initial passcode screen and system prompts being mapped to the buttons. Additionally, despite being a large device, it feels incredibly ergonomic. I am able to play for extended periods of time without any significant hand fatigue. Overall, I really like ROG Xbox Ally Gaming Handheld and I would recommend it to anyone getting into the handheld market. It is an incredibly powerful device.

I'm a big Xbox fan and being able to have this level of gameplay and accessibility on the go is great for me. Beautiful screen and a dedicated Xbox button are great. This system boasts big sound as well. I wish there were even more games available as I have collected a lot over the years but I appreciate the ones that are there and they look fantastic! You'll need additional memory for gaming on the go but you can stream a bunch over Wi-Fi from gamepass. They play flawlessly (even Fortnite) and you will save memory. I bought an extra 1tb micro SD card for when I won't have a connection and a case for travel. Love it!

Definitely worth buying! I play casual games but the battery last pretty much 4/5 hrs. It definitely worth it in my opinion. The customization for the gaming is awesome too. Not a fan of Windows but still would buy again

The ROG Xbox Ally has completely changed the way I game. The performance is incredible for a handheld AAA games run smoothly, load times are fast, and the visuals on the screen are sharp and vibrant. It truly feels like having a high-end gaming PC in the palm of your hands. What really stands out is the versatility. Being able to access Xbox Game Pass, Steam, and other PC platforms makes this device incredibly powerful and flexible. The controls are responsive, the ergonomics are comfortable even during long sessions, and the cooling system does an excellent job keeping everything running efficiently. Setup was straightforward, and once customized, the Ally becomes a seamless part of your gaming lifestyle whether at home, traveling, or on a quick break. Xbox and ROG team absolutely delivered with this device. If you’re looking for premium portable gaming without compromises, the ROG xbox Ally is worth every penny.

I’ve been blown away by the performance of the ROG Ally. The AMD Ryzen Z2 A processor handles everything I throw at it AAA titles, emulators, and even some light productivity work . The 7” FHD 120Hz display is stunning; games look incredibly smooth and vibrant, and the refresh rate makes a huge difference for competitive play. The build quality feels premium and comfortable to hold for long sessions, and the controls are responsive and precise. I also love that it runs Windows, which gives me the flexibility to install any launcher or app I want work flawlessly. Battery life is solid for the power it packs, and the quick charge gets me back in the game fast. Overall, this is hands down the best handheld gaming experience I’ve ever had. If you want desktop-level gaming in a portable form factor, the ROG Ally delivers in every way.

My husband bought this handheld Xbox thing (I don’t even know what it’s officially called, probably “The Best Purchase Ever,” according to him). All I know is that ever since it arrived, he’s been completely entertained, and I’ve been able to actually get things done around the house. Battery life? Long enough for me to fold laundry, clean the kitchen, and maybe even sneak in a nap. Graphics? He says they’re “amazing,” but the real beauty is the sound of silence while he’s playing. 10/10 would recommend, especially for anyone who needs a break from being their partner’s main source of entertainment.

The ROG Ally shines as a handheld gaming device, delivering smooth performance and crisp visuals in a portable form factor. It’s perfect for single-player adventures, indie titles, and retro gaming, where comfort and convenience matter more than ultra-demanding online shooters. The ergonomic design and bright display make long sessions enjoyable, while its versatility ensures you can dive into your favorite games anywhere. For handheld-focused players, it strikes a great balance between power and portability without overcomplicating the experience.

As long as your expectations are tempered, this is a wonderful Handheld device, the Ryzen Z2A is basically a Steam Deck APU with higher clocks and power targets delivering a comfortable gaming experience at 1080p, and a fantastic battery life for gaming on the go, the fact that this device supports DisplayPort pass through means that you can transform this from a little handheld device to a full desktop style setup with a monitor, mouse and keyboard with only one USB dock, absolutely recommend for anyone who travels or is looking for a small gaming device without the hassle of juggling cables and space for a laptop

This is a decent budget model handheld PC with the best form factor for comfortable handheld gaming on the market. It's Xbox marketing will disappoint a lot of people who will fine the Windows Full Screen Experience (FSA) a shallow replacement for an actual Xbox experience, but it does run a surprising number of top tier games just fine....notably Microsoft published titles like Horizon 5, Gears 5 and Gears Reloaded, Halo Master Chief Collection, etc. all run pretty well on this, but other games may struggle. It's hampered by only 512GB of storage, and the expansion slot for an SSD is often insufficient for running modern games, but I use the SSD slot to load older games and less demanding titles. Get this thing on sale if you can find it and want a Steam Deck replacement, and aren't too worried about high end performance (say, you prefer indie titles and older titles for gaming). But if you want performance and can save up to get something better (such as the Xbox Ally X) I suggest you do that. My personal preferred handheld is the Legion Go 2, but you can buy like 2 and 1/2 of these for the same price so YMMV.

I’ve been using the ROG Xbox Ally handheld for a bit now, and here are my honest thoughts: What I Like Great ergonomics & screen: It feels comfortable in the hands for long gaming sessions, and the 7″ 1080p display with 120 Hz looks sharp and smooth. Windows + Xbox experience: I love having access to all my PC games and Xbox Game Pass titles in one device — it’s like a portable gaming PC and console in one. Good for indie & casual titles: Games that aren’t super demanding run great, and cloud gaming through Game Pass also works really well.

his product exceeded my expectations. The build quality feels solid and comfortable, and the performance has been smooth and reliable from day one. Setup was easy, controls are responsive, and everything works exactly as advertised. It’s clear a lot of thought went into the design and user experience. I’ve been using it regularly and have had no issues at all. Definitely worth the purchase and I would recommend it to anyone considering it.

Ordered my Xbox Ally day one. Takes time to get all the updates and learning curve on tweaking the settings but once you do this game can handle pretty much everything. Playing Hogwarts Legacy, Diablo IV and MK 11 with no issues. Setting are low anything more you will deal with stutter but I got this to play on the go. High end graphics is on my Series X

1. The performance is much better than I expected. Even when running demanding games like BG3, it still feels smooth. 2.It’s not too heavy, so I can play for hours without feeling sore or fatigued. 3. The screen is beautiful, colors look accurate, and the sound quality is solid.