Asus has stepped up to challenge Valve’s dominance in the handheld gaming market with the ROG Ally, the first major competitor to the Steam Deck. Despite Windows-based handhelds not yet matching the widespread acclaim of Valve’s SteamOS-based device, the ROG Ally emerges as the strongest contender among the early arrivals.
The ROG Ally has recently become even more intriguing with Valve’s announcement of a custom SteamOS build for the device. If this development excites you, now is an opportune moment: Best Buy is offering a significant discount on the original ROG Ally, reducing the price to $500.
This discount applies to the Ryzen Z1 Extreme version of the ROG Ally, which offers substantial performance gains over the chips used in both the Steam Deck and the less expensive non-Extreme version of the Ally. Notable features of this model include a 7-inch 1080p display with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, 512GB of upgradeable M.2 storage, and 16GB of non-upgradeable LPDDR5 RAM.
The ROG Ally supports video output through USB-C and has a proprietary connection for attaching an external graphics card, though this setup can be quite costly compared to the handheld itself. While Windows 11 and Asus’ custom software may not be the most streamlined OS, they offer native access to a vast range of software, including Xbox Game Pass titles and a plethora of free games from the Epic Games Store.
Although the newer ROG Ally X offers enhanced features and performance, it comes at a premium price of $800. For those hunting for a deal and who find the base-model Steam Deck lacking, the discounted ROG Ally offers an attractive alternative.