This Steam Deck competitor – The ASUS ROG Ally with a 7” 1080p 120Hz display is heavily discounted this December. This Windows handheld is beautiful and would be a worthy addition to any gamer’s collection.
As spotted over at GameRant, Best Buy discounted the ROG Ally by $150. Which is a huge savings. The ASUS is a competitor to the Steam Deck but it is not the same. It runs Windows which is slightly more clunky to navigate than Steam’s flavour of Linux. However, ASUS has made serious inroads into optimising the Armory Crate software which gives users a console-like experience.
The ASUS ROG Ally running Windows is also a positive because players have access to a whole collection of Windows games that don’t run on the Steam Deck. It’s also significantly easier to run games from Game Pass and games with very strict anti-cheat or from other storefronts. The ASUS ROG Ally’s battery life wasn’t great at launch but it’s been improved since.
If you aren’t planning on running the most demanding Windows games then you can opt for the regular ROG Ally AMD Ryzen Z1 Processor which would make the Ally just $350. For reference, the discounted ROG Ally with the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme will set you back $500.
The ASUS Rog Ally is also a great emulation handheld if you are hoping to preserve your classic collection and instead play your digital backups. The ROG Ally can take advantage of all of the Windows emulation advancements that have been made in the past. Additionally, Microsoft’s focus on bringing an Xbox experience to everyone players can only benefit from having a Windows device.
If you’d like to find out more about the ROG Ally click here. If you’d like to check out the Best Buy page click here.