Customer Ratings & Reviews

Amazing device for playing on the go can connect to tvs if u use hdmi to usb c cord so almost like a portable pc that u can bring anywhere

Love it, if you're looking for the console and breaks the mold & dont mind working with computers this is the product for you!

Love this unit plays every game i want its a must have

It's very cool is just amazing, how amazing the comfort of the console is, it's exactly like an Xbox controller.

I love my ROG Xbox Ally console, it's super cool and I can take it everywhere, it's the best purchase ever.

Absolutely great handheld product. I love it a lot.

As the other truthful reviews will suggest: don't buy this product unless you: only want to play Xbox games or Xbox PC game well, only want cloud games to be functioning fairly well (which means they play well uninstalled only and are prone to connection issues), you have good internet because you will mainly be only doing cloud games, you want to continuously pay for Game Pass Ultimate forever (which is currently $30 a mo), and are okay with this thing playing only 30% of PC games well at low graphics only - and not on a monitor (on the handheld only). I called Best Buy and reached out to the manufacturer in a live chat before this purchase with all of my questions and was blatantly lied to. This does not play PC - false advertising. Here's what it can't play: It can't play Eve Online (came out in 2003), Star Wars the Old Republic (2011), Halo Infinite (unless cloud only - can't play installed its 30 frames max), Delta Force (the installed PC version) - and I only tried about 7-8 games and it failed 4 of them. It stutters, lags, skips, crashes, resets the device. I wish I can upload videos. Yes, I followed all the tutorials on how to best run the games from people online and the manufacturer - I have a computer sci degree so I know how to work computers. This is a fail, and a false advertisement - and I know I didn't get a dud because reddit conversations show me everyone is having these issues. Just look at what percentage of people would recommend this product - I'm returning it for a refund.

I grew up when video game consoles were uncomplicated which I think cemented my status as a casual gamer. Even though I’ve always owned the latest game systems I stick with titles that encouraging jumping in for a few minutes to clear the head and resume life. So, my wheelhouse is platformers, strategy games, sports, and racing. I’m more interested in a consoles intuitiveness than it having top specs that many AAA titles, especially first person, demand. This is the perspective of my review. It’s more about a Windows console newbie’s “out of box” experience with the ROG Xbox ALLY (ROG) than it’s technical performance. I think this is an appropriate and useful angle because, honestly, the ROG Xbox Ally is marketed to the casual gamer. If your interest is playing AAA titles at 1080p/60fps then look at the flagship ROG Xbox Ally X. The ROG is by far the most complex and capable handheld I’ve owned. There’s far more I can say about it than allowed review length here. So, truly, this is my basic experience. If you need fine details there are plenty of reviews and tutorials on social media. With that, after a week’s use, I’m sold on the ROG ALLY Xbox, but it took a week. Being a console rather than PC gamer I’ll point blank say, with this being my first Windows handheld I encountered a huge learning curve here. There were moments I wanted to drop kick the ROG. Despite the Xbox branding, it’s a tiny Windows computer that plays Xbox games (and others too), not a handheld Xbox. I made the mistake of assuming I could just turn it on and start playing like any other gaming console. Having only owned proprietary gaming handhelds like Gameboy, NEO GEO, Playstation Portable I wasn’t expecting the ROG’s laborious and labyrinthic setup experience. Social media tutorials educated me on things I would have missed. Once over this hurdle the ROG is a fun way to play PC games handheld. And because it’s Windows, you can use it to watch videos too. OUT OF THE BOX Lifting the box top the ROG is veiled with only the thumbsticks exposed. Such a tease. With the shroud removed I grinned deeply at its alluring, purpose-driven design. Most notable is its beefy handgrips. Once in hand those proved to not just be a pretty face. They are ergonomically contoured and comfortable for long sessions. ASUS nailed these. And while ROG is far from the lightest handheld I’ve owned, holding it over time isn’t exhausting. Perfection. The other essential gameplay elements are excellent too. All the input controls are accurate, tactile, and responsive. That should stay with hall effect included. If the thumbsticks do get out of wack you can re-calibrate. The handgrips have realistic rumble feel. Finger reach is great too, even with my relatively small hands. The thumbsticks have multicolor RGB backlights which is an engaging feature. They are completely user adjustable as to colors, flashing, and even syncing to a game. That said, it would have been more useful to me at least if the “A, B, X, Y” buttons were backlit. Even in normal room light they are hard to see which makes learning the Xbox system tougher for newbies like me whose muscle memory is set to Nintendo’s layout. The screen is a decently sized 7”1080p LCD. It’s plenty bright and colorful. I wish it was non-glare, but if you avoid playing under ceiling lights its fine. More importantly its 120Hz refresh rate seems to keep motion smooth even with the lower frame rates required for many games on the ROG. Audio quality is commonly an afterthought in handhelds, but again ASUS seems to have made it somewhat of a priority on the ROG. Background music and effects is amped but distortion free and spoken word is understandable. While the speakers are close together there is noticeable Stereo separation. Two USB-C ports are on the top edge that support fast charging and video out. Next door is a UHS-II Micro SD slot to store “vintage” or simple games and save space on the massively faster internal 512GB SSD for graphic intensive games. If you do (and you probably will) run out of internal storage, it is replaceable, though it doesn’t look like a simple task. The standard 512GB SSD doesn’t hold many AAA games. I only have one AAA game and two older ones and only have about 220GB left. The ROG’s 16GB RAM is more concerning to me though. Surprisingly (to me at least) is the ROG ships with a rather bulky “home” charger rather than a petite travel-friendly charger with folding blades and a removable cable. BOXED OUT While ROG’s unboxing was a sugar high for me, setting it up was the afterwards hard crash. When I unbox a game console I want the instant gratification of turning it on and playing. What I learned fast is ROG is not a game console; it’s a Windows PC. First power on means updating before use. Hours of updates. Then restart and update some more. I’m not being hyperbolic. I lost track of the exact time needed to get the ROG play-ready, but it was many hours and that’s with decent Wi-Fi speed too (300Mbps). I found this both frustrating and demoralizing and a terrible user experience, but Windows will be Windows. There’s still more pain though with other areas of the ROG requiring updates. In addition to Windows, other software that needs attention includes ROG’s Armoury Crate plus the Xbox Full Screen Experience and Windows Store. Big substantial time eating updates, not just minor fixes. Only then are you ready to download games and if they are big graphic intensive titles add a few more minutes to the clock. Fortunately, this is a one-time exercise. But babysitting the updates ruined my Day One experience to the point when they were finally done I just put it away to have a fresh perspective later. If you are buying this for yourself, you’ll figure out the out-of-box approach best for you. But if you are getting this as a gift for a kid I highly recommend opening it up before wrapping and getting all the updates done so it’s ready to go and buzzkill-free. THE OS EXPERIENCE After mentally recovering from the upgrade ordeal I was in for a whole new learning experience. Prior to this ROG, I’ve only used proprietary gaming handhelds with optimized “plug (or download) and play” games. Zero set up required (or allowed) other than audio volume and screen brightness. With the ROG, after Microsoft sign in, it initially opens to a Windows desktop not Xbox. You can then configure to always open in Xbox Full Screen Experience (recommend!), but that’s still just software running on top of Windows. Since these are PC, not Xbox console, games the user must configure the ROG’s hardware settings for each game for best performance. This includes screen resolution and frame rate but there are others that determine whether a title will even play. It’s a stark difference from proprietary systems where all the games are designed for that system’s capabilities. If you don’t like frequently mucking with settings based on a game’s age or complexity a Windows handheld, not just the ROG, may not be for you. Then there is the system’s navigation. Even after a week I’m baffled with the multiple layers to route through – Windows, Xbox, Armoury Crate. I’ve gotten stranded a few times and assume I’ll continue to until I finally get it into my memory. Fortunately, there are quick access hard buttons to Xbox and Armoury Crate but its still takes a bigger effort and understanding menus and navigation than a plug and play console. GAME INSTALLATION AND PLAY The most significant thing to know is while “Xbox” is in the ROG’s name it alludes to Xbox on Windows, not the Xbox console. Xbox Game Pass works, and a one a 3-month free trial of the “premium” tier is included for new subscribers. But not every available game is compatible, and all the games are the PC version. If you have Xbox console-only versions in your account they won’t work on the ROG unless they are labeled “Play Anywhere.” To ease confusion Game Pass notes which games are optimized, compatible, mostly compatible, or not compatible with ROG. In the games I’ve played “mostly compatible” is often linked to keyboard use or text legibility. “Compatible,” usually means 720p screen resolution and/or 30fps max. Steam and ASUS’s Armoury Crate are also preinstalled for game downloads, but since this is a Windows deck you can install any PC game platform such as Epic and Battle.net. You will even be prompted to install a platform if necessary. That is one of the “beauties” of having a Windows handheld, and really the reason I wanted the ROG. My download speeds were typical for what I experience with software downloads on my computers and Switch. For example, Forza Horizon 5 (150GB) took about 10 minutes to complete. I was only able to download in the background while plugged in, but I’m not ROG proficient yet to know if there is a setting to allow battery powered downloads in background. Gameplay is a hoot, but decidedly for casual gamers. On the most recent compatible AAA games expect to reduce resolution to 720p and frame rates to 30 or 60fps. That was certainly true of current titles like Forza Horizon 5 and Madden 26. The games are plenty detailed, smooth, stutter-free at these settings. I came across a few AAA games that would not play at all, but they were all first-person-shooter titles, not what I consider casual gamer focuses. If you like those kinds of games bump up to the flagship ROG. TV TOO & BOTTOM LINE I wanted the ROG ALLY Xbox to play casual PC games. But I got an unexpected bonus with Microsoft App Store compatibility too. While Office 365 on the ROG is ridiculous, streaming video apps are a fantastic added value with ROG’s bigger than a phone screen and almost as portable. Fundamentally, the ROG ALLY Xbox is a near perfect casual gamer PC handheld. It has enough power and excellent ergonomics. Once the set up hurdles are accomplished it’s a joy to pick up and use for a quick game.

The ROG Xbox Ally is Microsoft’s most focused attempt at a portable Xbox—though it’s not really an Xbox. It’s a Windows 11 PC with Xbox branding and a streamlined Xbox-like UI that hides the desktop and feels built for controllers. You get access to Steam, Epic, and Game Pass for PC, but only through Windows . Two models are available: the standard Ally, which is the subject of this review, and the higher-end Ally X. The standard model targets premium handheld gamers who want portability without sacrificing comfort or build quality. ASUS nailed the ergonomics—contoured grips, triggers, and impulse feedback make it feel like a stretched Xbox controller. Long sessions are fatigue-free. The 7" 1080p IPS display is excellent: 120Hz refresh, 500 nits brightness, and FreeSync Premium. While the screen supports full HD, most games run at 720p to balance performance and battery life. It’s still smooth, vibrant, and visible even in bright environments. No HDR, but it’s one of the best handheld screens out there.Performance from the Z2A chip is solid—Forza Horizon 5 runs at 40–45 FPS on low/medium with FSR, and indie titles easily hit 60+. It’s not built for maxed-out AAA gaming, but it handles mainstream titles well. Battery life is realistic: 2–3 hours for demanding games, 4–5 for lighter ones. The Xbox UI disables unnecessary Windows processes, boosting both performance and efficiency. And this UI isn’t exclusive—other Windows handhelds will get it too. Game library integration is strong once you install launchers in desktop mode. The Xbox app feels native, Quick Resume works, and Xbox Play Anywhere syncs saves and achievements seamlessly. Cloud gaming seems mostly reliable, however I had performance issues trying to play Doom: The Dark Ages. Other limitations? Again, it’s not a true Xbox console. You can’t play disc-based or console-only exclusives unless they’ve been ported to PC. And while the software experience is the best Windows handheld implementation I’ve seen, it’s still Windows—occasional driver hiccups and launcher quirks remain. Bottom line: If you’re deep in the Xbox ecosystem and want a polished, portable way to play your Game Pass or Steam libraries on the go, the ROG Xbox Ally delivers.

This version of the ROG Xbox Ally will provide plenty of great 1080p gaming at a cheaper price. It comes with 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB M.2 drive as the major differences from its more expensive version. The other main difference being the X has better CPU. The memory can’t be upgraded, but the M.2 can. This is a Windows 11 PC with an Xbox overlay, the standard Windows one, on by default. It can play games from any game service since it’s Windows. So, Steam, Xbox, GoG, Origin, etc etc. Whatever Windows can run, the Xbox overlay can pickup and run directly from its interface. Think of it was a small laptop with a built-in controllers. As 1080p gaming can be done by most processors now, it is great at playing games with most features on or up. The Device comes with a charger and small stand. The white color was smooth and looks nice. For hardware, the Ally has a the same 7” screen as the X. The screen is vibrant and does colors well. The controls are responsive and felt good in my hands. Spacing was good, and you have buttons under the body too. There is an Xbox button to get to the Xbox setup when you need to and get to games. You need to do upgrades on the Xbox, Asus, and Windows software. Make sure you do all to stay fully up to date. Asus is done though the Asus Armory Crate, and My Asus programs. Windows is through the usual Windows update. Although connecting a Bluetooth (BT) Keyboard and Mouse can make things easier, navigation by the controllers and buttons is possible for most navigation. The sticks and D-pad all work smoothly and react fine in games. You can use Windows and Armory Crate to enhance performance and make changes to settings as you want. First startup is like getting any new Windows machine. Go through the setup and you’ll get done. For my setup, I opened up the device, and installed a 2TB M.2. There are 7 small screws you’ll need a 00 Phillips screwdriver to remove. 4 under the body deep set, and 3 on the side. Then run a tool or thin plastic knife down the seams and it’ll pop open. Once open, you’ll need to disconnect the battery cable. The latch moves horizontally; it does not pop up. Next, you’ll have to remove the M.2 cover and some sticky tape. The M.2 is in a pouch, you do not need to peel it open. Once the M.2 screw is out, the M.2 will slide out of the pouch. You can swap out the M.2 and then reinstall the battery cable. The battery cable can be tricky. Make sure you firmly press it into place and push the connector on. If you reboot and it shows 0% battery, it’s not connected correctly. When it’s back together, power on with volume down and power. I found after it starts you can release the power button and keep the volume down button depressed. This will boot you to the BIOS. There, go to advanced settings and in the second menu, choose Asus cloud recovery. This will install windows on the new M.2. Everything will be lost from the previous drive unless you backed it up somewhere. Make sure a Wi-Fi connection has already been made, or use a dock or adapter with an Ethernet connection. I used an Ethernet connection. The download and reinstall can take up to an hour depending on your speeds. Next, I upgraded Windows to Pro and was ready for gaming. The ROG Ally page has a good walkthrough on upgrading the M.2. I used games from Steam and Xbox for testing. Doom: The Dark ages worked well on the Ally. It ran smoothly and looked great. Buttons covered all of the options, or you can customize them. In the benchmark I got between 30 and 65 FPS for the first level. Xbox picked up all of the Steam games I downloaded and launched them with no issues. In Xbox full screen mode, you can just get by with controller input. Racing games work really well with the Ally. I used a dock and opened up some more options. Including displaying to a monitor, and external sound, and ethernet. Games run just as smooth on monitors as it stayed in 1080p mode for games even if the monitor could do more, but I’m not sure if that is a limitation or I couldn’t find the right way to do it. With a USB-C cable you can play while plugged in for best performance. Unplugged I got about 50% through the battery in just over an hour on some more intensive games. The Ally never got hot in my hands, but the exhaust got hot over time. The device is a great 1080p gaming machine and more since it’s a full Windows device. Keeping up with all of the upgrades could be a pain, but most of it will be done automatically by default. With its overall size and weight, it will be easy to take on the go for gaming. The screen may be a little small for some windows options, but it’s not what its meant for. Upgrading to Windows Pro lets you play on it remotely and integrate into a network easier. Loading up a VPN, and other windows basics is simple to do. Although the X version has more to it, this version kept up fine for 1080p gaming at a cheaper cost.

If you’re lucky depending on the AAA game you play you’ll get 50fps on LOW settings. I was deeply misled on the performance of the device by YouTubers. If you play only AAA games do not buy this. I will be returning this and getting the X. 3 games and the storage is pretty much used up. Wouldn’t recommend to anyone unless you play indie games.

This is my personalized in depth account of the ROG Xbox Ally 7'' FHD 120 Hz Gaming Handheld, what it's like to have for some time using it and not just reading its specifications. In case you are thinking about purchasing one (or even whether you should), then this is what struck me as good, bad, and otherwise. When taken out of the box it feels like a high end handheld. The grips are comfortable to hold, the structure of analogue sticks, bumpers/ triggers, ABXY buttons and D-pad are well designed. It is comfortable to play for a long duration of time because of its ergonomics. The 7 inch screen size makes the device small and portable it does not make you feel that you are carrying a mini-console. The 7 inch FHD (1920x1080) display with the 120 Hz refresh rate implies that to most games everything will be very smooth. The large refresh rate makes particularly fast paced games more fluid, and the resolution is comfortable to use on handheld. Flexibility of software / Game libraries. The device is not confined to a single store or ecosystem because it runs windows. You are able to access your Xbox Game Pass library, Steam, Epic, and so on. Cloud gaming is seamless, local installs run smoothly with the help of the Ryzen Z2 chip. Moreover, the fact that the UI is defined as being handheld/game controller based input (through the "Xbox Full Screen Experience" overlay) makes the device look more console like and yet PC. Performance in lighter titles / general use The performance is good in most games (particularly those that are not that demanding). Running on the high-end with FSR on, "For za Horizon 5 ran at about 50 FPS. Destiny 2 remained between 50 FPS in most areas. The Z2 A does not pursue excessive power. It focuses on efficiency.Thus when playing something with average requirements the experience is good and pleasant. What I dislike Battery life is modest and a restraining factor particularly when it is highly loaded With battery life reducing to approximately 2 to 3 hours, game titles with large amounts of graphics, or titles that are AAA intensive, the battery life reduces significantly. That is when you have planned long sessions without a charger, then you may find that you are more than you want plugging in. The device has the AMD Ryzen Z2 A (in this model) which is effective, but at a time of pushing it to very demanding games the results are not as impressive.Difficulties with games that are larger in size and more challenging to play, and it is not that convenient to play without an Internet connection in hands. The Z2A is slightly only 5-10% superior to the contemporaries And as such, in case you desire the high-end portable performance of the latest ultra demanding titles it may not be the final option. The screen has been made 7 inches, which is smaller and is portable to many users although some may find it to be small in comparison with the larger handhelds. Therefore, it might be that the 7 inch is a bit of an imposition to you in case you want a bigger screen or like playing games. The fact that it is a windows machine at the core means that you will have to deal with windows updates, background services, driver modifications etc. These things may be frustrating to the extent that you have a higher expectation of it being console plug and play. All of that around is exasperatingly complex. The user interface is superfluous with clutter. This will not be an issue if you are quite accustomed to using PCs you might feel some losses in case what you are looking forward for some simple experience. Ideal for you if: You mostly play indie titles, middle-class AAA titles, or subscribe to cloud gaming / Game Pass, instead of trying to play ultra-high settings with the latest triple-A at the native maximum. You appreciate the value of mobility and desire a gaming device that can be picked and played anywhere. You are used to Windows and you are not so annoyed by frequent updates and adjustments to settings. You like a quality construction, excellent ergonomics, and freedom in what you install and execute. Less ideal if: You desire lots of battery life when you are using it heavily without having to plug in. You want handheld performance that is as good as a full Desktop PC and you want to be able to push it to the limits at native resolution in the latest heavy games. You (or one of your family members) desire something very basic, plug-and-play, no-tweaking. You want to have a bigger screen than 7 inches when you are going to spend longer time or read UI/text in comfort. The ROG Xbox Ally 7'' is a powerful PC/gaming handheld. It felt very good in my usage, when I booted up some simple games (platformers, indie, eSports titles), or streamed through Game Pass it felt smooth and comfortable and ready to play. When I attempted more challenging content I saw the trade-offs the battery was drained quickly, I had to reduce the settings, or I had to accept reduced frame rates. this gadget is a sweet spot to a specific type of gamer namely those who seek to have a portable, high-quality, handheld capable of running PC games (and Game Pass etc.), but would be honest that it is not always going to be as fast as the most desktop class device.

There is a lot to love with the Asus ROG Xbox Ally, but you have to work for it. There is a lot of settings and it takes a lot of time to learn and remember where everything is. Out of the box, there are a couple of hours of updates that need to be done for both Windows and the Asus device itself, first. After that, signing in/linking all your accounts, learning your way around and how things work and then customizing the device to be what you want it to be takes a lot of time. To fully optimize battery life and to get it running to its full potential, you will want to do all this, though. Likewise, you should decide what you want to use this device for and then uninstall the rest of the programs you will never use. I’m sure most of us are here for gaming so you will want to get rid of all the pre-installed Windows software you will not want running or taking up storage. I only mention this because of the fact that it is Windows 11, you CAN run your usual Microsoft apps like office and whatever else in case anyone out there is interested in that. Being familiar with Windows 11 helps a lot with all this, but it's a slightly different experience on a handheld. Overall, there are a lot of settings to customize in Armoury Crate, Command Center, Windows itself and each individual game launcher. But don’t let all this scare you because once you get through doing so, it’s worth it in the end. I did a lot of research online and I recommend reading and watching some guides to get through it all faster. Especially if you are like me and haven’t gamed on a PC in years and are only used to consoles. Being an Xbox player for years, the Xbox Full Screen Experience is nice. Other than the occasional button press not registering, everything works smoothly and it helps make it feel like an Xbox device. The Xbox app feels really familiar and I can move around and change settings using just the controls, effortlessly. You can make Xbox your main game hub but you aren’t forced to. You can default to the Armoury Crate app upon startup if you prefer, use their library and launch your selective storefront from there. While in Full Screen mode, turning on “Compact Mode” provided the best experience for me. Compact Mode puts all the settings in a single bar you can scroll through using your controls, although you can use the touch screen in tandem as well. This also shuts off the Xbox Game Bar which I personally find annoying. Not using Compact Mode activates the Game Bar and separates all the settings in their own windows all over the screen. It all starts out as a complete mess upon activation. Large windows pop up everywhere, overlapping each other. You can customize their positions at least but switching to each one is not intuitive at all. I currently have a bug where the Xbox chat window is stuck off screen and I can’t close out of it, too. It takes up almost half the screen. Speaking of, I love the screen on this thing. 7” feels like a sweet spot and the visuals look great. Everything is vivid and clear. I get immersed in whatever I'm doing or playing and I never feel like it's too small or like it's distracting in any way. As far as performance goes, I downloaded and tried a couple of larger titles natively to test the device’s limits and it appears to be game dependent and how well optimized it may be for handheld. For examples, AC Mirage both played well and looked really good but Starfield was much less so unless you lower the settings significantly. CoD: WWII played great with considerably high settings, though. Less involved games like Disney Dreamlight Valley or Little Kitty, Big City play flawlessly natively with no problems. Non AAA titles like this will mostly be my main focus when it comes to installs. Unfortunately, Xbox installs are limited to “Play Anywhere” games which is a smaller library than I even realized. But Xbox cloud gaming worked great no matter what I played like Star Wars Battlefront 2 and Dragon Age: Veilguard, as well as Starfield which was a big improvement over playing via install. It was just as well because I was having trouble with VERY slow downloads. AC Mirage installed pretty fast but anything else was an issue. Research online has shown this is a common problem with the Allys. I tried every fix I could find and still, nothing. Hopefully this will get resolved at some point. Storage wise, with games being easily over 100GB each, you can only install so many games anyway. But the option for a microSD is a huge plus, especially for this base model. If not, the SSD can also be upgraded fairly easy from what I have read. While you do get a lot in a small and portable package, the battery is decent. If you expect to play higher demanding games often, you’re going to want to just play with the device plugged in. Otherwise, if you do the work optimizing the system and the battery, you will get up to several hours of game time with other games. I find streaming games gives you the most play time by far. But charging speed definitely makes up for any lack of play time. The device seemed to fully charge in an hour or so each time. I have my Series X to play more serious titles anyway so overall I’m pretty happy with the battery life. One of the biggest selling points for the Xbox Ally was the physical design itself. Being an Xbox gamer for years, it was really appealing to know they designed the shape with that in mind. After using it for a fair amount of time so far, I can say the ergonomics are really good but not perfect. The handles and main four buttons do indeed feel familiar compared to an Xbox controller which is great, but the way my bottom fingers need to wrap around the grips, what feels like lower than is intended, leads me to feel some eventual discomfort. To hold up the device properly, I need to place my ring and pinky fingers under the middle part of the device to hold it up securely. The triggers while also placed right, feel just slightly too high like I have to reach for them a bit because of this. When resting on a surface, I can hold it higher and everything feels great otherwise. But I do appreciate the basic cardboard stand this came with. It’s something, at least. I think when I get some kind of skin that both adds grip and makes the whole thing slightly thicker it will feel just right. But I wonder if it could have been tapered just an additional quarter inch more in the “armpit” areas, it would have been perfect. This very well could be a me problem, though. Having the Xbox button is nice however I was disappointed that it was one of three buttons I was not allowed to remap. The top left and top right button also cannot be remapped. You can map both your single presses and long presses for all the other buttons which offers a lot of potential customization. The top right is the Library button which can be changed to open either the Xbox or Armoury Crate libraries through options, at least. The top left is the Command Center. Long pressing either of these two buttons opens up copilot which I don’t care to use what so ever but we’re stuck with it. Steam used the Xbox button upon install for some weird reason and when I disabled it, it now opens the Command Center just like the top left button. Otherwise, long pressing brings up all open windows which is nice but I would have preferred to rebind it to gaming related things only. The RGB lights are fun, I really like how you can customize the pattern and colors. I just wish the brightness settings weren't limited. It's either low (33%) medium (66%) or high (100%). Low is still too bright to me, especially if playing in a dark room so I have them turn off after a short time. I also worry how much they effect the battery so being able to set it to like 10% where it's not too bright and I could leave them on would have been nice. Considering conserving battery life is significant on these devices, I'm not sure why it's limited. A very small wish this device also had was an adaptive brightness feature or at least the ability to set up different profiles. There is a Night Light mode through windows and an Eyecare preset through Armoury Crate, at least. But something like this would have been useful on a gaming handheld. I currently have an 8 month old so I either don’t get to or sometimes I’m just too tired to sit down in front of that console much anymore. Being an Xbox fan, I was extremely excited for the launch of the ROG Xbox Ally. I love being able to jump on and off it during small chance windows and being able to play in the comfort of my own bed before sleep. It lets me get some time back to game again. Between the shape and the integrated Xbox experience, it sure feels like it could be their dedicated handheld but one that also can play PC titles. Though keep in mind it’s a PC handheld first and foremost. There have been so many titles I’ve been longing to play but wasn’t keen on what it takes for PC gaming but using this will make it easy. Besides the several things I mentioned I found issues with, overall, I’m very happy with this device. Asus really nailed this product for someone like me.

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.

The ASUS ROG Xbox Ally is a Windows handheld game console with arguably the best ergonomics of any handheld game console currently out in the market. It looks and feels like an Xbox controller and feels extremely comfortable in my hands. With its attractive white color, it’s the perfect companion to my Xbox Series S. The main specifications are: AMD Ryzen™ Z2 A Processor 16GB LPDDR5 memory 512GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD (2280) 7-inch 1080p 120Hz IPS touch screen MicroSD card slot (supports SD, SDXC and SDHC) 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports supporting DisplayPort 1.4 and Power Delivery 3.0 1x 3.5mm Audio Jack Package Contents The package comes with the game console itself, a 65 watt USB-C power adapter, stand, and warranty pamphlets. Setup Experience Being a Windows device, setup was almost exactly the same as setting up any Windows laptop. It took me about 2 hours to get through the updates and install my first game from my Steam account. User Experience The ASUS ROG Xbox Ally comes with the Xbox full screen experience (basically a front end to Windows) that almost makes it feel like you are using a portable Xbox console. It’s not perfect but with time, I think it will get better and better. There is some awkwardness when transitioning from a console-like experience to a Windows desktop-like experience and vice versa. There were times where I expected to be able to use the D-Pad or joystick to navigate through the UI and menus to enter information but had to resort to using the touch-screen instead. I also found it a little confusing using the console buttons (Xbox, Command Center, View, Library, and Menu buttons) to jump around from Xbox Game Bar, ASUS Armoury Crate, and Windows Desktop to configure and update the console to my liking. A lot of times, I had difficulty remembering which button does what. Some buttons are only available during a game. There’s something that feels a little inconsistent to the user interface. Physically, the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally feels really great in my hands. The Xbox controller-like handles make the console feel light and balanced. The screen is gorgeous with very bright and vivid colors. To be honest, most displays these days look really good and this is no exception. The front-facing speakers are also surprisingly good and support Dolby Atmos. Fan noise is extremely quiet when gaming. I can feel a slight breeze coming out of the console so I knew a fan was on but I had to bring my ears next to the unit in order to actually hear the fan. The Xbox full screen experience lets you run games from PC and Xbox, and has apps from other game stores such as Steam, GoG Galaxy, Battle.net, Epic Game Store and Ubisoft Connect PC etc. Once you download and install the app and enter your account information, all your games are shown and installable and playable in one place. It’s a really nice concept and implementation. Since it’s really a Windows machine, it doesn’t run all Xbox games – just the Xbox Play Anywhere games. Gaming Experience For testing, I mainly played with Spider-Man Remastered from my Steam library. I feel this is the type of game where a gaming console excels at. I got around 40 to 45 fps at 1080p and I had a blast. The graphics looked fantastic and the buttons and triggers were very accurate and responsive. There were a few occasions where I noticed a micro stutter but I wasn’t bothered by it. And these glitches seemed to occur less and less frequently as I received several updates during my testing. I also ran an older game (Forza Horizon 3) from my Xbox library. I ran it at low settings at 720p and I got around 90 to 120 fps. Even at low settings, I thought the graphics looked great on the screen and everything ran super smooth. Summary Overall, from a value perspective I think the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally is one of the better gaming handhelds out there. It’s not the most performant Windows gaming handheld but I’m the type of person who is perfectly happy with 30 fps for most of my games as long as it is consistent. One benefit of a less power hungry processor is that battery life should be better compared to a gaming console using a more powerful processor. I also really like that it’s relatively easy to upgrade the internal SSD. I kind of feel 512GB is a little too small considering how large many games are now. Just a few games take up a lot of space. And if you don’t feel comfortable upgrading the SSD, you could always insert a microSD card for expanded storage. In my experience, storing games on a microSD card was perfectly acceptable in terms of performance. And lastly, I really like that the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally can function as a PC in a pinch just by adding a keyboard and mice along with an external monitor. Overall, I think it’s a great value for all the things that it can do.

TLDR: Extremely convenient for portable game play, but manage your expectations. PROS: Nearly silent Upgradeable nVME drive 7" Screen is Sharp CONS Limited GPU Power Short battery life Full Windows 11 with Windows 11 Bloat Has to phone home to China KEY SPECS 7" 1080p screen 60Wh Battery BT 5.4 & Wi-Fi 6E 512GB HDD 16GB LPDDR5-6400 RAM GAME PERFORMANCE Ninja Gaiden 4: 35fps Low Quality Call of Duty Black Ops 6: 60 fps Low Quality Battlefield: 60fps Medium Quality Forza Horizon 5: 30fps High Quality SET-UP The ROG Ally is a unique product. It really is a full blown Windows 11 computer, running a copy of Windows 11 Home. There is no custom WIM or a light version of Windows 11. It is a full 64-bit build. Because of this, initial set-up is extremely easy. It is no different than setting up any new computer. Initial configuration took only minutes and then like every other new computer, you are greeted with mandatory driver, app, and Windows updates. Which, I must add, went without issue. Surprisingly, with limited GPU/CPU power and limited RAM, the Ally does quite well with its OS. Things are much speedier than I thought they would be. I've used many low power products in my day and have been woefully slow and inadequate. So slow, that it completely ruins the user experience. The Ally does quite well with normal Windows tasks and its XBOX app. I admit that I was surprised at just how snappy and responsive the performance is. APPS Like I mentioned earlier, the Ally runs a full Windows 11 OS. Because of this, all your PC apps install on the Ally just as they would with a laptop or desktop. All apps I installed functioned properly; XBOX, EA, Discord, Steam, etc. They had no clue they were operating on a handheld console. Same with games. Buyers have full access to their existing app and game libraries. SCREEN At only 7" and a full HD, 1080p resolution, the screen is very sharp. Even with the tiny font squeezed down to such a small space, words are still very legible. While the screen does support a 120Hz refresh rate and is AMD FreeSync compatible, it is overkill for the most part, there isn't enough GPU power to make use of all that refresh rate. SSD This Ally ships with an extremely small 512GB nVME SSD. By the time Windows gets installed, there isn't much room left for many games. 2 or 3 at the most. Games like Forza 5 eat up close to 200GB alone and current AAA games are getting larger by the day. Luckily, it isn't too hard to swap out the SSD. Asus uses a common 2280 Gen 4 drive. This is one of the very first things I did. I swapped the 512 for a larger 2TB nVME. I now have 6 games on the Ally and have room to spare. BATTERY LIFE Using Performance Mode in the Radeon control panel, I am able to get a good 1.5 - 2.5hrs of gaming. Give or take depending on the demands of the game. Graphically demanding games like the new Ninja Gaiden 4 will put my time to the lower end, while simple games like Microsoft Solitaire will achieve over 2hrs of play time. Luckily, charging is fairly quick and uses a common USB-C interface. Thank goodness. Good job Asus. With USB-C charging, a person needs only 1 power adapter instead of a separate one just for the Ally. Super smart! EXPANSION The Ally comes equipped with 2 USB-C 3.2 Gen-2 ports, a microSD card slot, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.4. With being a full Windows build, users can add peripherals just like any other computer. The Ally will reach out and get any drivers necessary to make those peripherals work. Keyboards, controllers, external monitors, etc. can all be hooked up via the USB-C ports or via Bluetooth. Asus claims on their website that they will be releasing an Enhanced Docking solution for larger monitors. I'm not sure what this is, whether it is a software upgrade or hardware add-on. I do know that I tested the Ally with my LG Ultra Gear 49" OLED 4k monitor. Yes, the Ally can output 4k resolution, but it is locked at 30Hz. Actually, all output resolutions are locked at 30Hz. I'm not sure if this is a software limitation or bandwidth limitation from the weak USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. NEGATIVES First. Because of the low power GPU/CPU, don't expect most games to run with a lot of eye candy. When installing, most games default to Low or Medium settings. Fully expect to utilize AMD Frame Generation and Super Resolution to help boost visuals and frame rates. One nice surprise was Forza Horizon 5. The benchmarking tool recommended High settings. The Ally only achieved 30fps, but at high setting the game looked nice and crisp. Because the screen is so small, buyers won't really notice the poor quality visuals. Even at Low and Medium settings on most games, the AMD Super Resolution and image sharpening algorithms cleaned up images fairly well. Second. The small 512GB SSD. It is way too small for big AAA games. I was able to install Ninja Gaiden 4 and Forza Horizon 5 before it filled up. After removing a few Phillips screws, I was able to pop the back off and swap out the SSD. But there in lies my second complaint. Asus gives you the option of doing a Cloud Restore in the Bios. It uses an internet connection to phone home and download a WIM (Windows Image) and install it on the Ally. However, it doesn't work all that smoothly. Why? Because those servers are located only in China. My ISP blocked Cloud Recovery instantly. I had to download the entire 22GB image on a 5G cellular connection. It took roughly 3 hours to download and install. Painfully slow. CONCLUSIONS The Ally is a unique product. It is an XBOX and a PC all in the palm of your hands. It reminds me of the old saying: Jack-of-all-trades, but a master-of-none. What is nice is that regardless of your gaming ecosystem, the Ally can handle it. Steam, EA, Xbox, etc. if it can be installed on your computer, it can be installed on the Ally. In a pinch, you can even use the Ally as a quasi-laptop for surfing etc. But, the small touchscreen is hard to manipulate. Still, the Ally could technically fill the bill as a laptop during travel, saving packing only one device that is lighter and more travel-friendly. Would I buy an Ally? Yes, I think I would. As long as you temper your expectations, I've found it to be a good way to pass time in the car and on flights. Offering just enough performance to keep games interesting without being so overly slow its off-putting. RECOMMENDED

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.

The ASUS ROG Ally stands out as a powerful and highly versatile handheld gaming PC. Its core appeal lies in the freedom to access multiple platforms (like Steam and Epic Games) combined with a genuinely comfortable form factor. Unlike some other Windows handhelds that suffer from clunky software, the Ally offers an excellent user interface and notably comfortable grips, making long play sessions a breeze. Its performance is impressive for the price, capably handling most current games at medium settings. For more demanding titles, expect to make some graphic adjustments, but the power is certainly there. The Ally functions as a full PC. It features an upgradable SSD and a MicroSD slot for storage expansion. With an HDMI adapter, it easily connects to a monitor or TV, turning into a compact desktop using a Bluetooth controller. The custom Xbox experience overlay further enhances the console-like feel for accessing PC-compatible Xbox and Game Pass titles. Unfortunately, you can’t access your entire library you can only access the windows versions of the xbox library so you don’t have access to some titles. This device shines for the player looking to tackle their single-player backlog while traveling or relaxing in bed (the "pick up and go" factor is fantastic). The main drawback is the price, especially the high-end model, which creates a significant barrier to entry in what is a already a niche market. Buyers should be aware that the device only accesses the PC-compatible portion of the Xbox library. Despite the cost, the ROG Ally delivers excellent performance-to-price value for those committed to the PC handheld experience.

This will not play Xbox console games!!! It's not an Xbox Console, it's a handheld PC that runs full Windows 11. Unboxing was a good experience, and it comes with a little bit of recyclable material that you can use for a stand, in a pinch. The screen is a good size for a handheld, I cannot imagine wanting a bigger screen for this purpose. I had to plug it into a charger before I could turn it on and get onboarding, the battery was completely drained. It starts up in desktop mode and you set it up like any Windows 11 machine. It will take you a bunch of time, just like a laptop or desktop to get your account signed in, WiFi selected (it used my 6ghz WiFi6E/7 band no problem, very fast). The power button is also a finger print reader you can setup in Windows Hello and works very well for coming out of sleep mode back to the Fullscreen Xbox PC App experience. You will want to run through the updates/setup in this order. Do all the Windows updates first. While you are doing these, you can also download and install Epic Games, and Good Old Games launcher, GOG Galaxy if you have games on those services. Steam was preinstalled, but it will need an update of course. Restart when updates are done and you will probably have a second round of Windows updates. While it is doing that, start up the Microsoft Store and do the updates on that. It will probaby update the Xbox PC app. After that is updated, launch that and start installing any games you own through there or through Xbox Gamepass if you have that. It does come with a trial of Xbox Game Pass Premium to get your feet wet. Premium is one step below the top tier, which is Ultimate. After Windows updates are done and any restarts, launch MyAsus app which probably got updated through Windows Updates or the Microsoft Store updates. MyAsus will let you register your product with them and setup a Asus/Rog account if you don't have one already. There might be an update or two available left for your device you can install through the MyAsus app as well. Finally launch Armory Crate and there will be a lot of updates to do here including a reboot. After rebooting and double checking that Armory Crate has no more updates, be sure to set the button functionality for the two back buttons M1 and M2. Reboot your machine and if it doesn't auto start up in Xbox App mode, you will need to select in the Xbox App settings for it to start in that Mode and then restart again. So after a couple hours, you are now ready to play your games. All of your installed Xbox PC games from Game Pass and that you won (Play Anywhere or stand alone PC titles) will show up on your installed list. Owned games have no icon badge on the image, Game Pass games, Steam games, GoG games, and Epic games have badges to let you know which version of the game is there. You cannot install the games directly from the Xbox PC app yet, but you can open a game page and launch the extension for Steam/Epic/GoG Galaxy right from there without going into full desktop mode. You can always swipe up from the bottom of the screen to close any extensions you had open, and this is also where you can switch to full desktop mode. If you want to switch back to Xbox PC App mode, you will need to restart. I installed Horizon Zero Dawn from Epic game store, and it defaulted to playable settings (mostly medium) and I didn't have to adjust anything. Games through the Xbox PC App have a portion of the title page where they show if they are fully compatible with Handhelds, Partially Compatible, or Not Compatible. Some Game pages also will have an extra line on the Compatibility portion where it will state that it should play well on your machine with playable frame rates. I was able to install Fallout 4 GOTY from GoG and then install the one click free mode Fallout: London and that played well at default settings, I didn't have to change a thing. I installed and played games I own from Xbox PC App, Xbox Game Pass games, GoG games, Epic games, and Steam Games. All played well. The Xbox Controller like handles/grips, triggers, and buttons make you feel right at home if you are used to Xbox Controllers and the two back buttons are configurable for whatever you want, most use them to mimic A/X or B/Y so they can keep their thumbs on the sticks at all times. The storage is half a terabyte stick drive. You can upgrade the capacity by installing another one in there, but you have to open up the console. Battery life and performance is pretty good for the wide range of games you can play on this device. I would recommend this for anyone wanted an Xbox style PC Handheld, for on the go, unplugged serious gaming fun.

I’m going to review this in two parts; one for the hardware and another for the software. It will also be informed from a Steam Deck comparison – this is a new device on the market, yes, but I would argue that it is a challenger to the existing king. How does it compare? For starters, in the box you get the unit, some documentation, and a 65-watt power adapter. The unit itself is very nice – it reminds me of an Xbox controller with a screen in the middle of it. The button presses are about the same sound and the handles of the device are about the same ergonomic angle. Overall, very nice to hold in the hand and doesn’t cause a ton of fatigue after playing for hours on end. This is unlike the controller in that it has a screen in the middle of it (of course…) and the analog sticks have an RGB dial around them. Everything I’m reading says that apps should be able to set the colors as they see fit, but I was unable to find an app that could manipulate them. The result? A random selection of colors in your choice of pattern around the analog stick; cool for some, waste of battery for me. I can see this being a cool feature when apps begin to support it, but not yet. I do want to pause real quick to discuss the ports – you get two USB C ports which is a nice touch. During setup I was able to plug in a keyboard/mouse combo and the charger at the same time and not have an issue while it charged for the first time. This is something that I’d say is missing on the Steam Deck and I commend ASUS for thinking ahead and adding a second USB C port. The battery life matches my expectations perfectly – I was able to play Gears of War: Reloaded for about six hours without needing to charge the battery. This will vary depending on the game you’re playing and the brightness of the screen, but it’s right about where I would expect to see it given a game running on higher quality settings. The screen is bright and vibrant – out of the box it is configured to run at 720p for battery life, but you can kick it up to 1080p using the ASUS command center (more on that later). ASUS also added a fingerprint sensor to the power button, which is a cool feature. It lets you log in to Windows with a tap instead of having to type in a PIN or password. The only problem with it is that it is too small to get a comprehensive fingerprint. This means almost every attempt to login requires two attempts as the first one is just not enough to log in. Onto the software, this is an Xbox machine, meaning it runs Windows. It’s got a custom skin over Windows to make it look more handheld friendly, but it is still Windows with all its features and flaws. During testing I found that putting the Ally to sleep while gaming was a dangerous proposition as about 15% of the time the running game would crash when the console resumed from sleep. On first power-on, you get the classic Windows Out-of-Box Experience. It is made _significantly_ more difficult by having to use the touchscreen keyboard for the several dialogs that require user information. In the end I found this process to be frustrating, so I grabbed a mouse and keyboard combo and sped through the process. Microsoft has introduced a new feature called “Xbox Fullscreen Experience” which acts as a shell replacement for your traditional explorer interface. Similar to the Steam Deck, you can escape this experience at any time and fall back to the classic explorer interface. The custom experience works well with the Ally, but I found it somewhat frustrating to use at times. For instance, right out of the box there are no games present, and, in my case, I had to download nearly 200 gigabytes of game data. The hardware could do it and I had the space to use, but I had to hover over the Ally because it kept falling asleep and pausing the download. I have never had this problem with my Steam Deck – yes, the screen sleeps, but the device stays awake enough to successfully download the title. Microsoft has attempted to do their homework with this new experience however. Like many of you reading, I am sure that you built up your Steam collection (or Epic Games collection). The Microsoft launcher can detect _any_ game installed on the system and launch it accordingly. Meaning you can still install Steam and your favorite games you already paid for. The integration is not perfect (Steam pops up the desktop variant while loading the game), but it is as seamless as I would expect it to be. I was able to launch Balatro on Steam via the Microsoft launcher – it performed better than any previous time I’ve played it before with a framerate smooth as butter. Unlike the Steam Deck, every time you pick up the Ally you need to log in. Not so bad if the fingerprint reader worked consistently, but still frustrating that you can’t just hit the power button and be in a game. This is a major frustration for me. I can “break” Windows to allow me to not have to log in, but that requires spelunking through hidden settings dialogs to enable the functionality. One piece of software I found installed on the machine that I really liked was the ASUS command center. From a single button press, you are able to change the performance characteristics – things like resolution and processor speed. It’s roughly the equivalent of the ellipses menu on the Steam Deck, just designed for Windows and quickly does what it says it will do. Overall, this is a Windows machine. It’s got a pretty launcher for Xbox (and other services), but you’ll still find yourself frequenting Windows dialogs. I wish it was a single pane of glass to both play games and administer the device – perhaps in a future update the two will come more in line. As for my recommendation, I’d encourage people to look elsewhere. The device itself is great, but unless you are an Xbox gamer who has a library already built up for the PC, there are better choices that can be made at a very similar price point. I appreciate the game compatibility that is offered by running Windows, but the entire experience feels more like a barnacle on Windows than the immersive experience that is offered by competing consoles.