ASUS ROG Ally 7" 120Hz Gaming Handheld - Ryzen Z1 Processor - 16GB - RAM 512GB SSD - White with Dockztorm Hub

Unfortunately they didn’t check to see what usb adapter came with the original rog I have a usb-a hub instead of the included USB-C connector which is only an issue because there is no USB-A port on the device. Other than that the rog ally is great

I am writing this review to try and help future consumers understand that this is a handheld gaming PC. Mine is the ASUS ROG Ally 7" 120Hz Gaming Handheld - Ryzen Z1 Processor - 16GB - RAM 512GB SSD. Yes, I have loaned mine out quite a few times to friends and family so they can try it out for themselves besides standing in store with no games loaded. I have convinced 5 people now, almost got my 6th person, to buy this one or even the Z1 Extreme. These are the main points I go over before they make any decisions.1 - Only purchase the model you require. If you play high FPS games, don't but the cheapest model. If you are playing low end or simple games, the base model is the perfect choice.2 - Understand you storage limitations. If you bounce back and forth between large games, you are going to want to spring up for the 1TB or larger, but if you only play a couple games, the 512GB model works great and will save you money.3 - The battery is not going to last you all day. Be sure to have the charger with you when needed. I can get at least 1.5hr of playing Fallout 4 straight before I need a charger. Most gaming laptops don't last much more than 2 hours at costs above $1000.4 - Don't install unnecessary software or mods. The most common error with any gaming PC is when you load it up with junk and don't realize that it takes away from the device's overall performance. Just because you click out of it doesn't mean its off. It most likely has processes running in the background. Keep it simple and just use it for the games.5 - Buy a simple storage/carry case. You will thank me later when it still looks new after 6+ months and makes it harder to lost the charger.6 - This device takes a USB-C 65 watt charger. I bought a simple USB-C dock for the Rog and alike handhelds as well as a 65 Watt charger. No issues.Its great for vacation, road trips, waiting to get your tires mounted and balanced, watching your kids out in the yard. I love mine and the only way I would get rid of it is if I was buying another. Keep in mind that I chose this model after a few hours of research into the Steam Deck and the Lenovo Legion Go. Asus has never let me down for the past 17 years of building custom computers. The Rog Ally came out on top in most of the side by side comparisons. The issues I have heard from people regarding why they returned their Rog Ally was because they did not do their research or some of the cases, they bought used / refurbished. Just buy it new for the extra 50 bucks. That way you get the satisfaction of being the first person to open it and use it. I wish I could sell these things for a living.

Listen this machine is sick If you wanna run Steam. But for a machine that comes with Gamepass it sure as hell does not run games you've downloaded from it. There's a definite breakdown of the game licenses and Microsoft doesn't recognize this machine and therefore any Gamepass game won't run. Just got it today and have spend 8 hours troubleshooting and nothing works. Just a heads up.

This handheld is awesome. There are enough reviews out there like that, so I'll get to the helpful part: If you get the BitLocker blue screen when you boot up you can try this:1. Restart (this fixes it for some)2. Get a USB hub and connect a keyboard and enter your Recovery key (should be available on your Microsoft account page). You cannot use the onscreen keyboard at the BitLocker screen.Games I have been playing in both handheld and PC mode: Fortnite, Crab Champions (so good), Call of the Wild, and Hearthstone. Getting ready to take Valorant for a spin.

I love ❤️ this item and it's cool 😎

There is a lot to like here as well as, well wonder about. Essentially what we have here is a handheld PC 'married' to a Xbox controller.What to like? It has a bright 1080P screen (sadly 16:9 aspect ratio) and (depending on model) 512GB of storage, 5G+2.4G+Bluetooth radios, decent joy sticks and buttons.Before digging deeper we need to keep in mind the important things when it comes to “PC's” in general and also need to keep in mind what is important in “portable electronics” and specifically “portable gaming” systems.Believe it or not, when it comes to “PC's” the input/output devices (you interact with) and its performance & ability to run software are important. The “output” is generally the screen your looking at – how good (or not!) it looks as well as the resolution & refresh rate. The “input” generally (in a PC) is the mouse/joy pad and the keyboard. “Performance” is the CPU/GPU/Memory/Storage all grouped together.“Portable Electronics” additionally include size, weight, run time on battery along with what you can use it for. “Portable Gaming” includes all the above along with “FPS” and “Graphic details”.If you have read this far and have come to the conclusion that “Portable PC Gaming” might be HUGE “shoes” to fill, you are not far from the truth!Given that non-gaming 'ultrabook' class laptops can run office applications and/or stream WiFi content for +10hrs on a single charge (many tablet's have similar run times) however once you start taxing the iGPU's on these devices with even rudimentary games the run times on battery get cut in HALF fairly quickly and if we add a dGPU to the mix the run times fall to a few hours if you are lucky!So what about the portable handheld gaming systems?In order of performance we have the Ally Z1, Steam Deck and Ally Z1 Extreme.The Ally Z1 is the slowest of the bunch. ~%13 slower than the Steam Deck and ~%37 slower than the Z1 Extreme. (Keep in mind that the 'Z1 Extreme' is roughly equivalent to a GTX 1050 or RX 560 desktop graphics card (which is quite the accomplishment!!) and the non-Extreme Z1 has 1/3 the GPU cores that the Extreme version has.)The Web is FULL of benchmarks with the Z1 Extreme with claims of unbelievable performance however much (if not ALL) of these were with 'plugged in turbo mode' (+30W) instead of ~15W battery powered mode. :) (and of course with the much better 'Extreme' version)So the reality is that with less demanding games and/or 720P (or lower!) and medium to low graphics settings you MIGHT be able to get playable frame rates with the Ally Z1. (keep in mind we have 1/3 of a GTX1050 here to work with)The GOOD NEWS here is that outside of the APU (CPU/GPU) chip everything else on the two versions of the Ally (Z1 Extreme & non-extreme) are the same. Meaning you get the same great ~500nits, 120hz, 1080P screen, good controls and 50WH battery.Ok so what are we left to wonder about here?First off I'd have to question the mere 50WH battery. Granted as a portable device they have size+weight to juggle however with the 15-30W system power requirements running games this leaves the user with 1-3hrs (possibly less/more?) run time on battery. Is that really enough?Secondly I'd question the release of the non-extreme version at all. Granted some gamers favor less demanding games. IMHO $200-400 is the 'sweet spot' for portable electronics and handheld gaming. Thus while the 'top of the line' version is to expensive the 'gimped' version has been discounted to an attractive price.Last but not least I question the use of WIN11. On the plus side it allows the inclusion of everyones 'game store' to shop from however why Asus did not do more to pair down the added bloatware that is WIN11 by investing more in their 'launcher' or by cooking up their own Linux distribution that can run Windows games is beyond me.I suppose in the grand scheme of things these handheld PC's that can play games at all is rather amazing. A quick look at Bestbuy's 'gaming pc' lists are a mere <$200 for 'casual games' to ~$600-700 for a laptop with (weak&dated!) RTX2050 'medium' and one would have to layout $1600+ for a modern 'high end' laptop gaming rig.So while what that ~$400 can buy you in 2024 is rather amazing I would not expect miracles. As time goes on I'll expect the AMD APU's to find their way into larger form factors that might accommodate much larger battery packs (longer run times) and with the addition of keyboard+trackpad could be used for much more than just gaming. (hence be an easier sell for those spending other peoples $$$)The question becomes what are the possible use cases for a device like this?Those that don't own a “PC” (much less one that can run PC games) this is a fairly inexpensive entry point. With the combined controller&system a user can get a taste of the PC gaming experience “on the cheap”. While playing 'tethered' to a power source ether at home, in the car or out in the wild the battery life would not be an issue.Running on the internal battery will limit the play/use time depending on how demanding (or not) the games the user is playing are. Here ether multiple very short play sessions or a single few hour 'binge' session might be all that is needed or wanted out of the device to fill.To be fair I loaded my Ally with 3 games: Stray, Medieval Dynasty & SaintsRow4. The first two played fine @ 720P with medium graphic settings however SR4 needed to be sub-720P. YMMV.All played with a 100W USBC cord & 60W USBC power source. In the car the same cord with a decent lighter-2-USBC adapter can allow you to use/play on the Ally Z1 for as long as you'd like. :)All in all an 'entry level' gaming PC+controller that is also portable.

Love the Portability and Ease of use works great for a desktop as well Better than description basically new.