Asus ROG Ally 6 Months Later: Better Than Steam Deck OLED?!

The Asus ROG Ally (Z1 Extreme) might very well be the best gaming handheld in 2023. After 6 months, software has gotten better, and the overall performance has gotten more stable. I love the 7-inch 120Hz VRR display, I love the Armoury Crate software, and everything the Ally just feels so polished. The only downside is that the battery isn't the best, the microSD slot tends to fry cards which I don't think will get fixed until a proper redesign happens, and the joysticks aren't Hall Effect joysticks to prevent stick drifts. Besides that, gaming on the ROG Ally is pretty much perfect.

My recommended power settings for the ROG Ally:

TDP: 15W
CPU Boost: Turned On
Battery Power Mode: Efficiency

Games should be set at 900P at low-medium settings if you want constant 60 frames per second. Some games tend to play better at 25W but battery will drain a lot quicker.

My Video Gear:

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Hi! My name is Mark Linsangan. I make lifestyle tech videos that are informative and look beautiful. I lived in NYC for two years, but I'm originally from Washington DC, but now I'm living in LA. I'm a big fan of traveling/exploring, tech, social media / biz and finding interesting topics on the line (online). Subscribe & say hi to me on Twitter, and Instagram @HeyMarkL
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[smokeyarcade]

I LOVE my Ally. I use it multiple times a week.Upgraded the SSD to 2TB. My alienware M17 R4 from 2021 finally died and the repair shop couldn't fix it, so I went with an Asus ROG Strix 18" and so far, i'm loving it too. The Ally is the perfect for it.

[pixelman]

6 months day 1 owner here. It's a perfect handheld PC for me. Sure in 6 months I had some hiccup but not a major one and still have a functioning SD card reader. Spent tons money on accessories and mostly play games on this everyday and already abandon my PS5 and PC at this point. Only to use them for work and Netflix lol

[Xander]

this thing blows the steam deck out of the water

I havnt touched my original deck since

[spaofun]

I love my Ally, but I don't hear people talking about the triggers or sticks having issues. My triggers got squeaky after a couple months, so I had to open it and lube the springs with chapstick. I then noticed the rubber trigger stops had fallen out, so I had to glue some pieces in myself. Then I noticed my left analogy stick was getting ground out of shape by the LED ring, so I had to open it yet again to wrap the stick shaft in capton tape.

It's great now, but I'm surprised I don't see people talking about these issues.

[FaiiLixTV]

I bought one from eBay used buts its like new with a WD 2TB SSD for only €490 best deal for me👌

[hakaiyou]

its a BEAST! i love this thing so much! Did upgrade to 1TB, and used the 512 Gb one in a nvm.2 portable case with USB c, so i can use it as external drive on it., And bought the Jsaux RGB docking.. man it's amazing let me tell you! And lets not forget the VRR! butter smooth gaming!

[RoquetteAttaquer]

Its almost 6 months old, I really want to buy handheld consoles I think ROG ALLY is the best now

I wish the new ALLY 2 coming out next year or 2 with minor upgrade like

1. Bigger and better battery
2. Maintain the beast performance Z1 extreme chips no need to upgrade, just upgrade the storage to 1TB option
3. 1080P 120hz is already amazing if they added OLED screen with low power efficiency, 7.5 or 8 inch max screen size I would be happy
4. SD card moved to the bottom
5. Black color console

[dis]

I have the Ally and I’m going to return it for a Steam Deck. It’s a nice device with better hardware but for a handheld, I want quick pick up and play. Windows 11 doesn’t allow that with it being non handheld friendly. No sleep mode, the apps freeze up and I have to reload them and stupid updates. The battery life is awful too lol

[ShawnSoth]

I love my Rog Ally, even though it killed all my micro SD cards.

[RubenNeves]

What can i say about the Ally, the only issue i had was the Micro SD not working, but added an 2 tb 2280 and with all the updates this thing is amazing, rock solid performance either 15w or 25/30w, the new 900p mode is a game changer, everything looks and runs amazing, well above 60fps at 15w, 25w an extra 15-20fps depending on the games, the hand-held pc itself feels amazing in the hand, added the Spigen case this just feels rock solid, either Resident Evil Franchise, Halo Infinite, The Last of Us Part 1, Crysis Remastered Trilogy, damn this little machine does it all, and mostly no need to add low settings, mostly mid-high runs great.

To me ? The Ally is far better than the Steam Deck, 15w isn't enough in some of the heavier titles like tlou, re4 remake etc you can really see the deck struggle, even though I would love to see a beautiful oled screen on the Ally but i think the higher resolution and refresh rate make up for it, probably best in class for an LCD screen, the Ally just does it all better at a higher resolution and frame rate, still praise the Deck for it's better battery life

[Ramms]

welcome to micro SD Card burner device everyone !! 1 terabyte? 2 terabyte? pyroally would do u all ~
Cheers :{D

[MicahMane]

A lot of people skip saying this or just don't know but for other casuals like me I learned that all the games I've played work fine if you have the right settings. I've been playing Arkham Knight and Apex and I have to play Apex on lower settings(don't know all the technical terms off top just yet) where as Arkham Knight works perfectly fine on the default settings.

[faderg]

Can’t wait for razer to start experimenting

[kevondouglas]

I put a cooling pad on the sd card housing and it stay cool and it doesn’t fry the sd card anymore

[Medicbobs]

I love it. Just wish it would run a few games I like better.

[rmwilliams]

I’ve had mine for about 3 days. I love it. Lower your expectations and it’s very good. It’s not a bum either, very impressive for a handheld. Smokes the steam deck.

Playing Skyrim in bed at 1080p is so good. I have it on the Switch also, doubt I’ll ever play it on the Switch ever again.

Triple A titles it can decently handle too

[BigEandem]

Any tips on emulating? This is my first ever “pc” and I really wanted to play games on an emulator like resident Evil and silent hill franchise. But I never emulated before and really confused

[TheProjectManager]

Can you play any PC game on this Ally? Are you also able to use Wemod on the Ally if you want to load cheats? Thank you.

[Ne-yoh]

Really? Because I still can’t use my micro sd card reader 😅

[nicoleburns]

What i want to know dose it run RUST. CALL OF DUTY. FORTNIGHT ?