All three models of the Asus ROG Ally are on sale just in time for Cyber Monday at Best Buy. This deal expires tonight at 10 PM PT/1 AM ET.
The Asus ROG Ally with AMD Ryzen Z1 chip is discounted to $350 (was $500), matching the lowest price ever for a portable gaming PC.
The more powerful ROG Ally Z1 Extreme is on sale for $500 (was $650) at Best Buy. But you can get it for $450 with a My Best Buy Plus membership. If you’re not a member, we recommend signing up as it only costs $50 per year. You’re essentially getting your membership for free. Best Buy is also offering $100 off the ROG Ally X, which offers a more substantial performance boost.
$350 (was $500)
The base model ROG Ally comes with a sharp 1080p screen, AMD’s Ryzen Z1 processor, 16GB LPDDR5 6400 RAM, and an internal 512GB NVMe SSD.
If you don’t have enough space, you can always use a microSD card to quickly and inexpensively upgrade your storage. Alternatively, you can upgrade your internal SSD with a WD Black SN770M 1TB or 2TB drive available at Best Buy. If you’re looking to upgrade your SSD without spending more than $100, get the Corsair MP600 Core Mini 1TB SSD for just $70 on Amazon.
ROG Ally delivers impressive performance for the price. Although you won’t be able to play graphically demanding games at high settings, you’ll still be able to play many AAA titles at 1080p resolution at at least 30fps. It’s a great little machine, especially for older AAA titles and indie games that would feel at home on a handheld.
It’s worth noting that Windows can be cumbersome on portable gaming consoles unless you’re using it with an existing mouse and keyboard setup. When you need to perform complex tasks within Windows, you may want to consider purchasing a budget-friendly docking station so you can use your device like a regular desktop PC. Asus also makes a 65W charger dock with ports for USB-C, USB 2.0, and HDMI 2.0.
Asus has a proprietary app called Armory Crate that provides a more traditional console-like interface for gaming. This is very useful after you have cleaned everything up on the Windows side.
ROG Ally with the Z1 Extreme chip features two additional CPU cores and a better GPU, which can make a difference in newer, more graphically demanding games.
The Z1 Extreme chip is also used in the ROG Ally X, a new addition to the Asus handheld PC family. The ROG Ally
Asus will release a $900 edition with a 2TB SSD on December 9th.
