2025 has arrived and there are a slew of new handheld gaming PCs coming to market, but if you want a great one right now Best Buy is running a killer sale on a classic.
I'm talking of course about the Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme for $449 at Best Buy, which is $200 off the usual $649 asking price. That leaves a nice chunk of change still in your pocket that you can use to buy games and accessories for your ROG Ally, which comes with the more powerful AMD Ryzen Extreme Z1 processor inside.
In fact, this deal temporarily makes the beefier Z1 Extreme Ally $50 cheaper than the less powerful basic Z1 Ally, which is still on sale for its full $499 asking price.
I've long had a soft spot in my heart for the Asus ROG Ally because it was the first big Steam Deck competitor, and while it doesn't always perform as well as the Steam Deck when gaming, I think the tradeoffs are worth it and make the Ally one of the best handheld gaming consoles on the market.
But frankly, there are more powerful competitors coming to market soon, so it's nice to see this classic handheld getting a big discount since it makes it a lot more palatable to buy as a fun toy or something to give your kids. While the price is temporarily low, don't lower your expectations: there are a lot of cheap handheld gaming devices hitting the market, but the Asus ROG Ally feels premium thanks to its 7-inch 1080p display with 120Hz refresh rate, RDNA 3 graphics chip, 16GB RAM, and 512GB of built-in storage.
The Z1 Extreme chip gives you enough muscle to run many of the best Steam games, and it can run even graphically demanding games pretty well if you optimize the graphical settings right (don't miss our 5 tips to game better on your Asus ROG Ally!)
Plus the Ally comes with Windows 11, which is both good and bad. It's good because this is a full-on Windows PC right out of the box, so you can plug a keyboard and mouse in (or use the virtual keyboard and touchscreen) and start doing anything on the Ally that you'd do with your own PC.
The trade-off is that Windows 11 is a bit more demanding than SteamOS which runs on competitors like the Steam Deck, and it's a little tricky to navigate on the Ally's 7-inch touchscreen. As such, you often have to do more work configuring settings to get the best performance from the Ally, and that 1080p screen (which is better than the 720p display on the Steam Deck) also eats into its battery life.
Even so, I've had the basic ROG Ally since it launched and I love it as a retro gaming handheld. Even though I have a weaker version than what's on sale at Best Buy (my Ally has the standard Z1 chip) I have plenty of fun downloading and playing all my favorite classic Steam games and retro hits on the handheld.
I think the Asus ROG Ally is a great device to have on long trips or boring flights, and right now is the perfect time to snag one at a sweet discount!
But if it's not right for you or the deal has expired, you can also check out our guide on the best PC gaming deals this month for more discounts!
