Asus was the first major vendor to make a real competitor to Valve’s Steam Deck. And even though Windows-based gaming handhelds still aren’t as well-regarded as Valve’s SteamOS-based original, the ROG Ally is probably the best of the first batch.
And it just got a whole lot more interesting because Valve has confirmed that it’s working on a build of SteamOS for this machine, too. If you find that exciting, then today’s your lucky day: Best Buy is offering a big discount on the original Ally, bringing the price down to $500.
This is the Ryzen Z1 Extreme variant of the ROG Ally, which has a considerable boost in performance over the chips in both the Steam Deck and the cheaper non-Extreme Asus design. Highlights include a 7-inch 1080p screen with 120Hz refresh rate, 512GB of upgradeable M.2 storage, and 16GB of non-upgradeable LPDDR5 RAM.
The original Ally can output video over USB-C or use its proprietary connection to beef up graphics with an external graphics card, though it’ll cost far more than the handheld itself.
Windows 11 combined with a suite of custom Asus software may not be the most nimble of operating systems, but at least it gets native access to software like the PC games on Xbox Game Pass and your mountain of freebie games from the Epic Games Store.
The upgraded ROG Ally X from earlier this year is an improvement on the original in just about every way… but it’s also $800. If you’re deal-hunting and you know the base-model Steam Deck isn’t for you, then this discounted ROG Ally might be a winner.
Save $200 on the Asus ROG Ally todayAuthor: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he's covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he's always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.