The Asus ROG Ally is now available

The Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC is available now from Best Buy, following a pre-order period that kicked off in May. The new gaming handheld is equipped with AMD’s Z1 Extreme processor, and a 512 GB SSD for $699.99 — only $50 more than Valve’s most kitted-out Steam Deck. A less powerful version is coming for $599.99 in Q3 2023.

Following the ROG Ally’s slightly misguided debut on April Fool’s Day, of all days, we’ve had a chance to give it a full review. Just as we expected, the pairing of its AMD Z1 Extreme processor and 16 GB of speedy LPDDR5 RAM can run PC games with fewer visual compromises than what we’ve become accustomed to on the Steam Deck (which itself is no slouch). Not to mention, its 1080p display is a higher resolution, and it doubles the refresh rate — up to 120Hz — for smoother-looking gameplay.

It's worth noting that, since our review launched, Asus made a number of pre-launch improvements to the ROG Ally, boosting its performance and stability. The patches improved the performance of the ROG Ally while operating at higher wattages, providing some games with as much as a 20% performance boost versus what the old firmware was capable of. Its efficiency with games at lower wattages has been improved, too. As noted by The Verge, as well as by YouTube personality, Dave2D, the ROG Ally is now substantially better at running games at 9W or 15W — something the Steam Deck excels at. Asus claims to have improved the battery life, as well.

Where can I purchase the Asus ROG Ally?

Best Buy is the sole retailer in the U.S. that is selling the ROG Ally, and you can buy it right now for $699.99. The Best Buy listing is live for the $599.99 model with the AMD Ryzen Z1 processor and 512 GB of storage, but it won’t ship until Q3 2023. We’ll be keeping an eye out for links at other retailers.

Update (June 13): Now that the ROG Ally is available for purchase, we’ve updated this post with relevant information about updates the handheld PC has received ahead of its launch.