Okay, so there’s this wild scene happening with gaming handhelds lately. Not gonna lie, it’s a bit of a madhouse. You’ve probably heard about the Nintendo Switch 2, right? It kinda came crashing in and everyone’s losing their minds, setting the standard or whatever. Meanwhile, there’s Asus pushing their ROG Ally handheld — with the Z1 Extreme processor — up for grabs at Best Buy for $499. It’s like their middle child or something, sandwiched between the ROG Ally Z1 and ROG Ally X.
But wait, here’s the kicker — it’s battling alongside Valve’s Steam Deck, the MSI Claw, and Lenovo Legion Go. It’s like a mini war or something! And oh, rumor has it, Asus is cooking up an Xbox version of the Ally. Could be a game-changer. Who knows, might drag prices down when the next-gen stuff lands, but for now, this Windows 11 baby’s deal is kinda sweet. Past sales showed similar discounts, so that’s comforting, I guess?
Now, not to go all tech-nerd on you, but this Z1 processor? It’s magic. Works wonders on battery. Crank up the screen settings just right, and you’re golden. Hours of game time ahead. Plug it in though and wowza! It punches above its weight, frames per second flying — puts Steam Deck in the dust there.
We tinkered around with the Ally — this souped-up Z1 version. Loved how light it felt against the Steam Deck and the display? Like, super bright. It’s Windows 11 under the hood, playing nice with all your PC games. Sort of like a laptop but way cooler.
Oh, and if you’re itching for deals, do a deep dive into our Best PC Hardware section. You can go nuts on SSDs or wander into Graphics Card Deals — whatever floats your boat, really.