The Asus ROG Ally is on sale this weekend at the lowest price yet

Now that the new and improved Asus ROG Ally X has hit the market, we are seeing some solid deals on its predecessor, the Asus ROG Strix GL502VWNow through August 19, for example, the Windows-based gaming handheld is available at Best Buy with a Z1 Extreme chip for the rock-bottom price of $499.99 ($150 off). That’s almost half the price of its successor, which costs $799.99, making it a good alternative if you’re on a tighter budget. The cheaper model with the Z1 chip is also on sale for $379.99 ($120), but given the performance hit, we recommend sticking with the Extreme configuration.

At that price, the standard Asus ROG Ally model offers good value for money, even if it didn’t impress us as much as the ROG Ally X in terms of comfort, performance, or battery life. However, it’s still more powerful than Valve’s Steam Deck, thanks to its Z1 Extreme chip and improved performance when the handheld is plugged in and in “turbo” mode. It also has a quieter fan and a larger 1080p display with a variable 120Hz refresh rate, the latter of which is surprisingly smooth for its size.

Unfortunately, the battery only lasts a mediocre four hours, which is disappointing considering it’s designed as a portable gaming PC. It also limits Windows 11, as it’s not well suited to small, handheld-like devices. However, Valve is working on adding support for SteamOS on competing handhelds like Asus’ ROG Ally, so we may see an alternative operating system running on it down the road.