The Steam Deck is easily one of the most impressive and spectacular handheld gaming PCs on the market, but you shouldn’t look past the Asus ROG Ally. The Windows-based console has some minor design faults, but it provides great performance, and – in a few ways – it’s even better than Valve’s market leader. If you’ve been looking for a reason to get a handheld, this Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme deal isn’t one to pass on, dropping the fantastic bit of tech to below $450.
Capable of playing the best Steam Deck games, the Asus ROG Ally is one of the best handheld consoles, despite initially suffering from a few minor problems – namely an issue with the MicroSD port being in a rather hot part of the device. However, the AMD chipset within offers terrific performance, and while SteamOS is a glorious operating system for Valve’s handheld, Windows opens a lot of doors for handhelds… or windows, I guess.
For instance, some of the best gacha games typically don’t support Linux, leaving Steam Deck players to find workarounds or hope for a future update. However, those using some of the best Steam Deck alternatives, such as the Asus ROG Ally, can run those games with ease. Or perhaps you’re into the best sci-fi games like Destiny 2, which notoriously doesn’t work on Steam Deck but runs just fine on the ROG Ally.
Of course, having support for more games alone isn’t enough, but the Asus ROG Ally shines in a lot of regards. In our Asus ROG Ally review, we called the console “powerful and gorgeous” as well as complimenting the handheld’s display. Admittedly, we had some gripe points with the device, but after almost two years of driver and BIOS updates, Asus has resolved many of our early concerns.
I own both a Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally, and I have to say that I use the latter more often than Valve’s offering. While SteamOS is much better than Windows on a handheld right now, the ROG Ally’s streamlined design alongside the ability to play the best action games via the Game Pass games library is amazing. The battery life isn’t the best, but running hefty triple-A games on any small-ish device will drain the battery.
If you’ve been waiting for the right time to grab a handheld PC, then this Asus ROG Ally sale is it. Right now, you can grab the Z1 Extreme version of the device, the more powerful and more expensive model, for just $449.99 at Best Buy, which is an incredible $200 saving. Notably, it’s cheaper than the base model, which is still $499 on Best Buy.
For those looking to grab an excellent deal in the UK, you can grab the Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme from eBay, with a reputable seller dropping the price from £699 to £489 right now. Don’t worry, it’s a listing for a new console instead of anything pre-owned, and with over 124k reviews and a 100% positive, rating you’re in for a bargain here.
So, if you’ve been looking for a great Asus ROG Ally deal, I’d definitely suggest grabbing it at this price. Alternatively, you can take a look at our Asus ROG Ally X review to see how the successor holds up or find out all of the details we have on the possibility of a Steam Deck 2 if you want to wait for a new model from Valve.