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Handheld gaming PCs have begun to take off after the overwhelming success of the Steam Deck. While there are a few on the market from Chinese vendors, the latest have come from well-known PC makers such as Asus.
Thankfully, the brand was nice enough to lend us one for a review, and here’s my experience after spending the past few months using the Asus ROG Ally.
Key specs
Display: 7-inch 1920 x 1080 120Hz LCD touchscreen with 500 nits brightness
CPU: AMD Ryzen™ Z1 Extreme Processor (“Zen4” architecture with 4nm process, 8-core /16-threads, 24MB total cache, up to 5.10 Ghz boost)
GPU: AMD Radeon™ Graphics (AMD RDNA™ 3, 12 CUs, up to 2.7 GHz, up to 8.6 Teraflops)
Memory: 16GB LPDDR5 (6400MT/s dual channel)
Storage: 512GB PCIe® 4.0 NVMe™ M.2 SSD (2230)
Battery: 40WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion
Ports: 1 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack; 1 ROG XG Mobile Interface; 1 USB Type-C combo port (with USB 3.2 Gen2 support DisplayPort™ 1.4); 1 UHS-II microSD card reader (supports SD, SDXC and SDHC)
Networking: Wi-Fi 6E(802.11ax) (Triple band) 2*2 + Bluetooth® 5.2
Dimensions: 11.02 x 4.37 x 0.83 ~ 1.28 inches
Weight: 608g
Design
The Asus ROG Ally has a lot going for it. It’s one of the most compact PC gaming handhelds on the market with a large, bright, and vibrant 7-inch display. Compared to a couple of other handhelds I’ve used, it was a pleasant surprise at how beautiful the display is on the ROG Ally. The front-facing speakers were also welcomed and provided a wonderfully immersive experience while gaming.
Furthermore, the ROG Ally feels great in the hand. It’s not too heavy or large, but it’s still thick enough to provide a nice grip while maintaining a small footprint. The face buttons, trigger buttons, and analog sticks all performed perfectly. My only nitpick is that I wish Asus would have gone with Hall effect sensors to prevent the likelihood of stick drift in the future.
You are a little limited port-wise. There is only one USB Type-C port, but that’s not uncommon for handheld PCs, which is why a dock really comes in handy. At least there is a 3.5mm audio jack and the ROG XG Mobile Interface for the addition of an external GPU.
The power button houses a fingerprint sensor that works well and never gave me any issues. It made logging into Windows quick and convenient so I could get back to gaming as soon as possible.
While the ROG Ally comes with a beefy 512GB drive, tech-savvy users will be pleased to know that replacing the drive is an easy task. There are six Philips screws on the back, making it simple to open up and swap out the drive. This also allows quick access for repairing or replacing other parts.
Setup
The Asus ROG Ally runs Windows 11 making it stand out from its biggest competition, the Steam Deck, which runs Steam OS based on Linux. The reason this is important is because that means the ROG Ally runs games natively, while the Steam Deck needs to run them through an emulation layer.
To put it simply, the ROG Ally is able to essentially run almost any game that is compatible with Windows, while the Steam Deck can run most games through software emulation, but not all. That is why you’ll often hear of games getting Steam Deck verified, while the ROG Ally doesn’t need games to be verified. If it runs on Windows, it’ll most likely run on the ROG Ally.
Running Windows has its benefits, but it also has drawbacks. Windows is not built to be used on handheld devices with a controller, nor is it 100% touchscreen optimized. There are several occasions where having a mouse and keyboard will be beneficial when using the ROG Ally, especially during the initial setup.
I found it much easier to set up my Windows login, download all of the game launchers I required, log into them, and start downloading and installing all of my games with a mouse and keyboard. It would still be possible with the touchscreen alone, but far more tedious. It’s better to put the ROG Ally on the included stand, connect a wireless mouse and keyboard, and get everything ready to go before switching over into handheld mode.
Plus, you’re going to need to install all of the Windows updates, Asus firmware updates, and go through several restarts before you can start gaming anyway. Might as well put it on the stand, plug it in, and get settled in while getting it set up. A third-party dock comes in really handy for this since you’ll be able to charge and connect other accessories at the same time given that the ROG Ally only has one USB Type-C port.
User experience
Navigating around the Windows desktop on the ROG Ally is made simpler by using the right analog stick to move the pointer and the left analog stick to scroll up or down. The right bumper simulates a left mouse click, while the right trigger simulates a right mouse click. This will help you easily traverse the desktop and the on-screen keyboard will automatically pop up in many cases when needed, or it can be opened manually with the command center.
The command center will become an essential part of your ROG Ally experience. It gives you quick access to many convenient shortcuts that can be customized and rearranged, such as an end task button, overlay controls, brightness controls, power menu, performance settings, and much more.
Bonus tip, long pressing the command center button will bring up the ctrl+shift+del menu. There are several other shortcuts that will come in handy while using the ROG Ally. However, it is much easier to do the initial setup using a mouse and keyboard as I recommended above.
Once you’ve got all the updates and your games installed, you’re pretty much ready to switch over into handheld mode full-time. Asus tries to make this as user-friendly as possible with the Armoury Crate front end. Overall, it does a great job of making the ROG Ally feel more like a gaming handheld than a Windows PC, and it makes it far easier to use with a gamepad.
From the Armoury Crate software, you can install game stores, add shortcuts for installed games, launch games, adjust performance settings, customize the audio and video settings, control the RGB lighting around the joysticks, calibrate the controller, and more.
Asus has created an impressive piece of software here to help bridge the gap between Windows PC and gaming handheld. Regardless, the ROG Ally is not a gaming handheld with a dedicated OS like the Steam Deck. That means it can be cumbersome to hop back and forth between Armoury Crate and Windows while you try to manage all of the constant Windows updates or for when you need to tweak settings.
On the flip side, users who are comfortable using Windows will enjoy the flexibility of having full access to the OS with the ability to change settings or run it like a desktop PC when docked. In regards to docking the ROG Ally, I experienced some trouble connecting an external controller and navigating around at times. I had to ensure that I disabled the built-in controller and had Steam Big Picture mode opened for the external gamepad to work, even when it wasn’t a Steam game. Basically, it works, but it’s not as simple as docking and connecting a controller and can be a bit of a hassle.
I also have bad news for those of you who planned on relying on the microSD card slot to expand the included 512GB of native storage. There have been many reports of the SD card slot failing. It is believed this is due to heat, and in response, Asus has increased the fan speed with an update along with offering to fix the hardware without charge for those who are affected. Supposedly, the latest models have some shielding that should help prevent this from happening, but I’d still advise caution when using the microSD card slot. I used it a handful of times without issue during my review, and thankfully, 512GB of internal storage holds enough games to keep me happy when I’m offline. Still, it’s important to inform potential buyers of any common flaws when making your purchasing decision.
Performance
The performance of the Asus ROG Ally will greatly depend on the graphics settings and resolution you choose. I found the ROG Ally was perfectly capable of running games like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey or Death Stranding at 1080p with most settings at high with FPS while plugged in. Both of these games are a few years old but it shows that the hardware is capable of running Triple-A games with acceptable frame rates and high graphics settings when maxed out.
However, the tradeoff is that the fan will run at max speed and be extremely audible the entire time. It would also result in battery life that will limit your gaming time to 30 minutes or less if you unplug the ROG Ally.
Instead, I suspect many users will opt to strike a balance between performance and power draw. At least, that’s what I did. Most of the time, I would run the ROG Ally at 900p instead of 1080p, and drop the graphics settings down to medium or low. The graphics didn’t look stunning, but it was good enough on a 7-inch display and gave me much more time to enjoy my games.
If you’re choosing to run docked instead, then feel free to crank the settings up and push the ROG Ally. It won’t give you great performance for modern Triple-A titles, but running them at 1080p at 30FPS with a mix of medium to high settings should be feasible. Even 60FPS should be achievable, but you’re going to have to spend more time adjusting various graphics settings.
Battery life
The battery life is not one of the ROG Ally’s biggest strengths. In my testing, I found that you’ll usually get close to 90 minutes of consecutive playing time when running Triple-A games at 15W with low graphics settings. That’s not a whole lot if you mainly play big-hit games.
However, this can be increased to nearly 150 minutes when playing smaller indie titles at 10W with graphic’s settings set to low. Making the ROG Ally much more friendly for indie gaming.
I also tested the ROG Ally with cloud gaming, and when using services such as Xbox Game Pass or one of my current favorites, NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW, you can squeeze almost 240 minutes or four hours out of the battery. This should be no surprise given that all the processing is happening in the cloud and that allows for much longer play sessions while running games at higher graphics settings.
One thing is for certain, you’re going to want an external battery pack if you plan to play on the go. Something such as this Anker power bank will work perfectly or the Shargeek Storm2 that I previously reviewed for the site. These both pack a lot of power with enough output to charge while you play.
Final thoughts
PC-based gaming handhelds are still in their infancy. This first generation from major players shows a lot of promise though. The Asus ROG Ally, in particular, is a capable Windows-based gaming handheld that has only gotten better over the past few months thanks to software updates. During that time, Asus has increased performance, fixed bugs, and added additional features—which shows that it is committed to supporting the device over time and improving the experience.
Should you buy the Asus ROG Ally? It’s difficult to compete against the refreshed Steam Deck OLED handheld, but the ROG Ally still manages to stand out in some key ways. It runs Windows for users who prefer a Windows-based OS or want to use it as a Windows PC when docked.
Additionally, the ROG Ally is more compact, weighs less, and supports an external GPU for increased performance while docked. Besides the microSD card flaw, I’d say there’s still some compelling reasons to pick up the ROG Ally, and I’ve personally enjoyed my time with it.
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