The Asus ROG Ally is back on sale for only $400 at Best Buy. This price applies to the ROG Ally Z1, the base model of Asus’ Windows gaming handheld that normally goes for $600. It’s a fairly powerful handheld, especially for the price. The ROG Ally is one of the best devices in the burgeoning portable PC market that has experienced immense growth in recent years thanks to Valve’s Steam Deck. The Linux-based Steam Deck is an all-around great gaming machine, but if you’re partial to Windows, Best Buy’s ROG Ally matches the best offer we’ve seen yet. If you want more power–which certainly comes in handy for more demanding AAA games–the ROG Ally Z1 Extreme model is on sale for $600 (was $700).
Asus ROG Ally Windows handheld deals at Best Buy
- Asus ROG Ally Z1 — $400 ($
600) - Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme — $600 (
$700)
The $400 ROG Ally comes with a sharp 1080p screen, AMD’s Ryzen Z1 processor, 16GB LPDDR5 6400 RAM, and an internal 512GB NVMe SSD. If that’s not enough space, you can always make use of a microSD card for a quick and cheap storage upgrade. Alternatively, you can upgrade the internal SSD with the WD Black SN770M 1TB or 2TB drive, which is on sale at Best Buy, too. If you want to upgrade your SSD without spending over $100, the Corsair MP600 Mini 1TB SSD is discounted to its best price yet at Amazon ($70).
What makes the ROG Ally stand out from the Steam Deck is that it runs on Windows 11, allowing you to play virtually any PC game in your collection from a wide range of storefronts. That includes Steam, the Epic Games Store, GOG, Prime Gaming, Itch, and more. Best of all, you can run the Xbox app on the ROG Ally, so if you have a Game Pass subscription, you get a massive library of games that you can take on the road with you. There’s a standard array of inputs arranged over the white shell, some handy paddles on the back, and the handheld charges via USB-C.
In terms of power, the standard Z1 is a solid middleweight contender to the heavyweight champ that is the Z1 Extreme. It can easily play the latest indie games and many older AAA titles, but more demanding, newer games will require some graphical concessions to get running on it. In comparison, the Z1 Extreme offers a considerable performance boost. It has eight Zen 4 CPU cores (the Z1 has six) and a better GPU that allows for modern games to work brilliantly at 1080p on it.
That’s not to say that the base model Z1 isn’t a great handheld PC gaming console, but if graphical fidelity is a priority for you, you’ll want the Z1 Extreme model. The Lenovo Legion Go, a $700 handheld with detachable controllers and an 8.8-inch display, also uses the Z1 Extreme chipset. Meanwhile, the recently released MSI Claw is equipped with Intel Core Ultra 7 processor and starts at $750
For the price, however, you really can’t beat the $400 Asus ROG Ally Z1 if you want a handheld Windows PC.
