GoKawiilThe Asus ROG Xbox Ally has an appealing price point and a comfortable design, but it has sleep/wake issues and doesn't offer better performance than the Steam Deck OLED. But it is regularly in stock, which the Steam Deck is not these days.
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Gaming handhelds aren't affordable anymore. Many of them go for $999 or more. And, crucially, the Steam Deck OLED, the best handheld gaming PC and a price leader at $549, has mostly been out of stock as the component crisis continues.
That makes it a great time to look at the Asus ROG Xbox Ally, a $599 Windows-based option with, spoiler alert, a chip that looks a lot like the one in the Steam Deck – at least on paper. The Ally shares a lot in common with the far more expensive ROG Xbox Ally X, but it's still distant enough from the Steam Deck, and has a few technical issues that makes it still feels compromised.
Design of the Asus ROG Xbox Ally
The ROG Xbox Ally's design is effectively identical to its more powerful sibling, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X . That's hard to complain about, as that machine had superior ergonomics compared to many other gaming handhelds thanks to prongs that feel like they're part of an Xbox controller.
There are, though, two major aesthetic differences. The first is that this handheld comes in white, while the Ally X is black. I owned white Xbox 360 controllers back in the day, and those got gross even in the best of circumstances. Granted, I'm now an adult who takes better care of his stuff, but I can't look at this and not worry about what will happen to this thing if I don't wash my handsevery time before I touch it. Despite my best efforts, it did get a bit dirty during my review period, possibly from my hands or just from sitting in my bag.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
On the bright side, the cheaper model has colored buttons that match an Xbox controller, which the all-black X model doesn't.
The other difference is that at 1.48 pounds (670 grams), the Xbox Ally is slightly lighter than the Xbox Ally X at 1.58 pounds (715 grams). Putting them next to each other, I could definitely tell. The Steam Deck OLED is even lighter at 1.41 pounds (640 grams).
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