The ASUS ROG Xbox Ally released in late 2025 and was marketed as an Xbox device (remember This Is An Xbox?), but it’ll play mostly everything in your Steam library—providing the hardware specs allow it—and it even plays nice with the Epic Games Store. It was the lesser spec’ed of two Xbox Allys: the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X is the more premium model and PC Gamer’s Dave James reviewed it favourably, though it is extremely expensive, especially in light of a February price hike.
Not wanting to fork out AU$1,799 for the ROG Xbox Ally X is totally understandable, but if you’re after a decent handheld that’ll play the vast majority of indies plus a lot of modern blockbusters, the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally will probably suit you. Its launch price was AU$999, but right now Amazon is selling it for AU$769, shipping included.
It’s not the cheapest handheld gaming PC on the market: that would be the OG Steam Deck LCD, which Valve is selling for AU$649 at the moment until stock runs out, at which point it’ll be gone for good.
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So which should you get? I love the Steam Deck, and have written about how indispensable its trackpads have become for me. Performance between Steam Deck LCD and Xbox Ally are pretty similar, though the Xbox Ally has a 7 inch 1080p display with a 120Hz refresh rate, while the LCD has a 7 inch 800p display. The Xbox Ally has double the storage of the Steam Deck LCD at 512GB.
Leaving performance aside, the hugest point in the Xbox Ally’s favour is that it runs on Windows 11. That’s not good for a lot of reasons, but it’s ideal for players who predominantly play online games that implement anticheat that’s incompatible with Steam’s Linux-based OS, such as Marathon or Destiny 2. The Xbox Ally is a clear winner in that department.
If you’re in the market for a handheld gaming PC and don’t mind spending more, check out our roundup of the best handheld gaming PCs.
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