Asus ROG Xbox Ally deal knocks $100 off Microsoft’s handheld in a world where everything is going up in price
A surprising discount on gaming hardware
💰 Best Buy has knocked $100 off the Asus ROG Xbox Ally handheld in a surprising deal
🎮 This is the base model Xbox handheld, complete with AMD Ryzen Z2 A processor, 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a 512GB SSD
💪 It’s got enough power to play games at 720p or 1080p, which is ideal for its 7-inch 1080p 120Hz IPS screen
🤗 The ergonomics are familiar to anyone used to Xbox controllers, with a similar feel and comfortable profile in-hand
Best Buy has slashed the price of the base Asus ROG Xbox Ally handheld by $100 in a welcome deal.
Currently, you can pick the handheld up for $499 at Best Buy, rather than its usual $600 retail price, saving you a fair bit on the most affordable Xbox handheld you can get.
The ROG Xbox Ally provides the same core experience as the dearer Asus ROG Xbox Ally X model that we love, although with slightly different internals. This model comes with AMD’s Ryzen Z2 A processor, which is essentially the same chip you’ll find in the Steam Deck in overall performance, meaning we’re getting reasonable performance in games at 720p or 1080p, depending on the game chosen and settings.
Stick with more mid-tier graphics settings in the likes of Forza Horizon 5, Rainbow Six Extraction, and you should be pretty good with the base model.
This is paired with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and a 512GB SSD out of the box, although you can upgrade to a bigger M.2 2280-sized drive if you want to – that’s the same size as the most common PC SSDs, so an upgrade is easier than you may have initially thought if you find yourself caught short on storage.
The ergonomics of the ROG Xbox Ally are identical to its beefier brother, with the same feel – it’s essentially as if someone has cut an Xbox controller in half and fixed a 7-inch display between the two halves. That means familiar button placement if you’re used to modern Xbox controllers, with solid thumbsticks and tactile main buttons, plus some additional buttons around the screen for calling up Asus’ ROG Armory Crate settings menu, the Xbox Game Bar, and other settings.
The screen also slopes downwards to make this more comfortable to use if you’re hunched over in a chair, which is a nice touch, plus the grips are big, chunky and comfortable to use for extended periods.
On the point of the screen, the ROG Xbox Ally comes with a 7-inch 1080p 120Hz IPS panel that provides enough detail at a smaller screen size, plus smoother and zippier motion with a higher refresh rate.
The kicker with this handheld is that it was the first to ship with Microsoft’s revamped variant of Windows 11 with the Xbox Full Screen Experience that can pull in games from other libraries, such as Steam and Epic Games into one interface, so you can launch games without having to go out of the Xbox app and into the respective launchers just for a single game.
Even if it isn’t perfect against the likes of SteamOS, it’s a lot more optimal than using desktop Windows 11 on a touchscreen, which is becoming less of a concern since Microsoft announced Xbox FSE would be coming to more handhelds to provide more of a console-like experience on PC.
For $500, it’s hard to argue with the better value proposition that the Asus ROG Xbox Ally has become against its $600 retail price, plus with component prices sky-high, it’s a real surprise this deal is even here in the first place.
Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.