This came in handy for my son when we were stuck living in a hotel and he didn't have access to be on PC. This is probably his new favorite gaming device even now with access to his PC he still will plan on this instead. well worth the buy!!! My son's response to this is-Right out of the box, it’s easy to tell this is a premium piece of technology. The overall build quality feels excellent, and the materials used give it a very high-end feel. One thing I really liked was the large grips, which made it feel similar to holding an Xbox controller. The display also stands out, offering sharp 1080p visuals. The 120Hz refresh rate makes fast-moving games look especially smooth during intense gameplay.

The controls are mostly solid, but I do think the layout of the buttons on the right side could be improved. I found myself having to slightly shift my hand to comfortably press the “Y” button, while the other buttons were easier to reach without moving my grip. The thumb sticks felt responsive and worked great overall. On the other hand, the D-pad on the left side seemed a little awkward to reach compared to the rest of the controls. Since I have fairly long fingers, I imagine this issue could be even more noticeable for people with smaller hands.

The shoulder buttons are one of the strongest features of the system. They feel very similar to the buttons you’d find on a full-size console controller, even though this is a handheld device. There are also customizable buttons on the back, which adds more flexibility for different play styles.

As for the operating system, this device is basically a portable Windows 11 gaming PC. It’s marketed as an Xbox, but I think that description is somewhat misleading. It does give you access to Xbox PC games, Steam, GOG, and many other gaming platforms, which is definitely a plus.

After the setup and playing it I'm 100% content with his purchase!! Do not listen to the naysayers...

"It's not the best of the best, it's a sweet spot of perfection." I would argue the best value handheld gaming system.

What you're looking at From a gameplay perspective... Is a power a little bit better than a "PS4 Pro" But significantly under A PS5. The graphics are good!! You have access to I would argue 98% of games, if it's on Xbox or PC you can play it.

It's not a mini Xbox, it's a mini gaming PC that's partnering with Xbox ( Microsoft).. so this mean you can also add mods and emulators( the ability to play games like Pokemon that would normally be Nintendo exclusive).

At the moment of this review as a Casual Gamer you realistically have three options.

1. Take the cheap route and limit yourself to Nintendo games... and get the switch 2

2. Get the Xbox Ally, have a good quality game with good quality graphics and the ability to play almost anything for under $600.

3. It's spend over $1,000 and get the Xbox Ally X if you're obsessed with getting the best of the best.

Point of view: the Xbox Ally has only been out for 6 months which means there are huge updates and optimization coming that will make this even better while it gets cheaper!! Meaning there's a bright future.. games consoles like the steam deck oled 2 years old.. it's known to be slightly better but there will be no significant future improvements.. it's entering into the outdated stage.

The last thing I want to mention and one of the most unexpected quality Improvement of this game that I would have never thought of is the sound... it's the first handheld that I actually had to turn down and somehow they figured out a way to give it a surround sound illusion.. it really messes with your brain because it makes you feel like you're hearing it from your side even though the game is literally in front of you.. it's one of the most underrated mind-blowing features.

This device is seriously impressive. The first thing you notice is the build quality. It actually feels like they took an Xbox controller, split it in half, and put a powerful PC in the middle. The grips are comfortable, natural, and make long sessions easy without feeling awkward or cramped.

The screen is excellent. The 1080p resolution and 120Hz refresh rate make everything look sharp and smooth, whether you’re playing locally or streaming. Colors are vibrant and the overall image quality stands out right away.

Performance has been great for what it’s designed to do. It handles games well, and where this really shines is streaming. Using it with Xbox Game Pass and PS5 streaming has been smooth and responsive, which opens up a ton of flexibility.

Battery life has also been better than expected, especially depending on how you’re using it. For a handheld PC, it holds up well and doesn’t feel like you’re constantly tied to a charger.

Bought this for my wife since I asked Valve when the Steam Deck OLED would be back in stock and got a laughing emoji back as the answer.

This little handheld is a neat piece of tech. It's far more powerful than I expected, playing games my OG Steam Deck would start crying if I even attempted to try them. Battery life is solid, visuals and performance are amazing depending on the game, and getting it on sale for 500? Honestly a difficult deal to argue.

HOWEVER.

I'm gonna warn less tech savvy users here. This thing requires a bit of work at times. Whereas something like the Steam Deck or a Switch come out of the package ready to play Elden Ring or any other games you may have, the ASUS leans more to the computer side of its tech. Which means: you're going to have days where nothing works. You're going to have days where it suddenly works again and when you mess with it it gets worse. You're going to have days where you need to delete software and redownload.

Thus far in the month my wife has owned it I had to adjust its power output because it was lagging so bad, even the menus took several seconds to load and move. Just yesterday Steam refused to acknowledge the internal controller, either on the store front or in their games. I still don't even know how I fixed it, it just started working again. And I do fully expect things to stutter again and be an hour of fixing.

My wife has fully admitted that if I wasn't here, she wouldn't know what to do since she's not great with PCs, and I only have a basic understanding. So don't buy this expecting the ALLY S to work right out of the box, this thing takes finagling.

PROS:

Excellent battery life.

Plays demanding games at decent resolutions and frames.

Moddable, allows for parts to be switched out.

Built in integration for XBOX, Steam, GOG, Epic, Ubisoft and EA.

CONS:

Treated like a computer, updates and driver care a constant.

Regular price is a little steep, at least when the Steam Deck OLED comes back into stock.

Unforseen tech issues that will drive you nuts.

Window 11.

I have been looking the device for a while because I thought it would be heavy and it wasn’t. It’s super lightweight and the appearance is awesome! I would have loved another color but the colors that are offered are great! I love being able to bring it with me on the go but if I am home I have the time to use it and build my mouse and keyboard skills. The games are great they will tell you if it would be better in specific modes or not! The screen is fantastic and great to work with! I like it because I am so used to Xbox controllers and that connects to it easily but also it’s similar to how a gaming pc would run with the fans and everything. It’s fantastic

I waited a few months to write this review, about 6 months so I could write something accurate for this model. This is my first Windows pc purchase in over 13 years as I switched to Mac after my last laptop died and I wanted to try something better. I got this because I wanted to be able to play my Steam games and Mac falls short on options with that.

This unit seemed extremely cool when I first got it. Like any new car, once the feel and the new car smell wore off there were issues I noticed. First I noticed the battery is not very strong for this having an Xbox built in. Several times I found myself verifying that I actually got the Ally X most recent model because the battery life is so short when gaming. Secondly, I noticed part of the issue with short battery life, even after changing power settings to that of a potato powered clock, the device doesn’t switch all the way off. Not even when powering the device off through the power button or the setting menu power button. It seems that the Bios is set for fast boot on the device and like with your flatscreen tv, this setting keeps part of the device awake tallow for a quicker startup. I had to remove some of the bloatware this thing shipped with. I have an Xbox built in so what do I need with windows standard games being shipped? The AI function isn’t helpful either. There is also the issue with extreme thermal discharge from the device. Sometimes it doesn’t want to turn on because the sleep feature seemed faulty and yet the device, in a powered down state was generating a LOT of heat behind the screen that isn’t on. I had to resort to fans blown air into the intake vents to push the heat out and then it would sometimes start right up. I would catch it powering on the LED control knob lights every once in a while while supposedly powered completely off.

The fact that it was cheaper for me to buy the 512gb version and upgrade the drive later was part of why I got such a small drive. I could supply my own as needed and it be a drive I choose for reliability. That said, the Ally shutdown two weeks ago and stayed down. Down hard. It only booted to the bios screen and didn’t recognize the installed drive. No drops, no lightning strike, no damage. Just didn’t want to power on, even on the transformer power supply that shipped with it. The weird overheating issues this thing operated with turned out to be a sign of a bigger issue. It may also have been what was shortening the battery power cycle each time I played anything. So realizing the drive wasn’t being seen at all, I had no choice but to either send it in for service and pay a lot for shipping to fix ASUS’s issue, or do it myself since I still had a new NVM.e laying around. After watching an instruction video on ASUS’s site, that wasn’t 100% accurate to their own model specs, I decided this would be easier than others have said. I’ve done memory and drive upgrades before. Once I got the cover open I checked for damages and saw nothing alarming. The drive wasn’t being seen still fully seated but I removed it anyway and was surprised to see what was mounted wasn’t a brand name or even a generic-named drive if ever heard of. Most likely the drive had failed due to poor quality and why would a name brand system have a bottom class generic drive inside when the system is designed for performance??

So I dropped in a 4TB Samsung 990 Pro and went though the task of setting up the new drive from the backup that you should have made on day 1. After about an hour or two of the reinstallation, the system works fine. It even works better with the new large drive in. I am no longer experiencing heating issues or battery life problems like I had. While I do with there is a larger capacity battery I could install, I now see the battery drain slower than it used to.

Had I known this device ships with such a crappy NVMe installed, I probably would’ve bought one of the other SteamDeck alternatives out there that got good reviews. This was supposed to be the better one for my needs and after seeing that paying for a larger drive at purchase would’ve wasted a lot of money from me picking my own drive to install, I would definitely have returned this within my Amazon return window with the issues it was having.

So far there are few titles out of about 290 I play on Steam that don’t really function all that great. They are larger apps requiring full hey oars support so they are portable apps anyway. The Samsung 990 Pro seems to have put new life into this warranty covered device when it had a drive failure due to a subpar NVMe in a high-end portable gaming computer. Don’t waste your money if you can’t change your own drive out, a SteamDeck will work all the same for you then.

Ive had a steam deck twice, not the oled version, and I've gotta say it's a solid machine, and the track pad is a great feature. I was hesitant on getting the ROG Ally Z2 because I was sceptical of the sale. Turns out I actually PREFER the ROG Ally Z2. I knew I wasn't getting the flagship handheld and I'm not playing AAA titles, Fifa26 runs with some tweaks, NFS heat is smooth, Skyrim is flawless, I'm not sure if it'll run BF6, but I haven't tried. It's plastic and very lightweight, display is bright and sharp, it runs quietly and I'm running it on maxed out settings 90% of the time The SOUND is definitely TOP TIER, I play at 35/100 it's crisp and powerful. Setup takes a few updates but I was online in a couple hours. Steam, EA, Epic, Xbox, Web games, emulators, no limits. I love it, I got it for $300. My PC rig is in a box, in the closet for now and I don't feel the need to get it out. This thing SCRATCHES THE ITCH.

It’s a low end gaming machine so if that’s kept in mind, it’s good. It works better with SteamOS on it, but that limits some games from being played. It works fine with Windows and they’ve made good steps for handheld devices, but in my opinion SteamOS is still just the way to go. It’s very easy to install over Windows.

Screen is just ok. If an anti glare protector is put on though, that helps a ton. Otherwise the screen angles and reflections are pretty bad. Honestly a good anti glare protector helps fix most all of that, and improved the device a lot.

Initially I tried this, didn’t like the power, got the X, and the power is a lot better but the price is a lot worse. Settled on this device as it’s basically a turbo’d Steam Deck with better ergonomics, price, and more software OS options, so more game options.

Steam Deck OLED has the “best” screen but I find that matters less since this has VRR and 120hz. Also $599 vs $750+ now, this is the better machine.

It’s important to note that though this machine is 1080p native, it’s a 720p performance device. All games need to be run at max 720p resolution unless it’s the lightest of Indy games. Even then I’d still recommend just limit it to 720p always. No real reason on a 7” screen to go higher.

Docking a star for the screen quality, but it’s more of a 4.5 star review really.

Funcionamiento muy bueno , se tienen que cargar aplicaciones para simuladores , no puede emular mame

ممتازه

Llegó en excelentes condiciones y va estado funcionando de maravilla!! :3

Muy bien todo funciona al 100