Editor's Note: We have given the Asus ROG Ally a provisional score of 3.5 stars. In our battery section, you'll note that we had intermittent issues charging the machine while it was powered on, but that it worked normally while sleeping or off. This did not begin to occur until after our benchmarking period, which is to say it didn't have any problems when we first received it. Asus claims that it has not seen this issue on other samples, and that it will send us a second unit to check out.
Ever since Valve's Steam Deck showed what a handheld gaming PC was truly capable of, we’ve been wondering when a high-end Windows-based competitor would show up. (Aya Neo and similar companies have made plenty, but they're not exactly household names). The first major player to arrive is Asus, partnering with Microsoft and AMD for the ROG Ally ($699.99 as tested) with Windows 11 and new Ryzen Z1 chips — including the top-end Z1 Extreme in our review unit.
Windows 11 brings many benefits — basically every game you'd want to play is compatible without emulation, and game streaming works great. But Asus had to build on top of Microsoft’s OS with its Armoury Crate SE software. And while Asus’ is largely very good, it’s not perfect. SteamOS is still king when it comes to useability on a PC gaming handheld.
That said, the Ally shows up the Steam Deck tremendously with its bright 1920 x 1080 screen, which is also faster at 120 Hz, though those specs raise questions about battery life.
It's good to see Asus knocking at Valve's door, even if Windows 11 isn't exactly meant to be stuffed into a design like this.
