The gaming handheld space has been heating up the last few years, but one of the hottest early entries still remains our favorite Windows-powered handheld. The ASUS ROG Ally is an excellent way to begin your mobile PC gaming journey, and the most affordable version is at its most affordable for a limited time. I do mean limited, too, as you can get the ASUS ROG Ally for only $389.99 at Best Buy with fewer than 10 hours remaining on the deal at time of writing.
This is an early Black Friday deal you really don’t want to procrastinate on.
🎃The best early Black Friday deals🦃
An incredible gaming handheld, an even better price
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At this point, I probably don’t need to regale you with all the reasons the ASUS ROG Ally is one of the best (and most popular) gaming handhelds you can buy today. Following the monumental success of the Nintendo Switch and the surprise arrival of the Steam Deck, ASUS joined the race with a full-blown mobile gaming PC powered by Windows. That approach has its pros and cons, but the total sum of its parts makes the ASUS ROG Ally an incredibly capable and versatile gaming handheld.
I’ve been using an ASUS ROG Ally for months — and recently even upgraded to the new and improved ASUS ROG Ally X that my colleague Rebecca Spear reviewed. Despite obviously not boasting anywhere near the power of my Xbox Series X or dedicated desktop gaming PC, the ROG Ally has been great fun to use with Steam and PC Game Pass. I genuinely love this handheld (both versions I’ve used), and it doesn’t take much searching to see many people feel the same.
If you want a gaming handheld that can play or emulate more games than the Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch, or that can double up as your actual PC for getting real work done, the ASUS ROG Ally may be your best choice. The battery life isn’t the greatest and Windows is absolutely awkward on handhelds, but ASUS is consistently at the front of the pack when it comes to updating the ROG Ally and making its user experience better over time.
Gaming handhelds are expensive, though. Very expensive. In fact, ASUS just opened preorders for a 2TB version of the ASUS ROG Ally X that costs $900. That’s not a typo. The entry-level ASUS ROG Ally that’s on sale here boasts the less powerful AMD Ryzen Z1 rather than the Z1 Extreme of its more expensive siblings, and that means you may have to dial down settings a little more to enjoy great performance in games. Even then, this handheld debuted at $500.
We’ve seen it go on sale for as low as $400 a number of times, but this steep of a sale is something new. The ASUS ROG Ally is only $389.99 at Best Buy right now, which is the best price we’ve seen for a brand-new ROG Ally. You don’t need a My Best Buy membership to take advantage either (we’ve seen that exclusive deal before). That’s honestly an incredible price, but there is a catch — at time of writing, there’s only 10 hours left on the deal before it disappears, and who knows when it’ll return.
If you’ve been on the fence, this is the time to pull the trigger.
How do I upgrade my gaming handheld SSD?
Every gaming handheld is a little different, but the overall process for upgrading your SSD and transferring your data should be similar. We have a guide on upgrading your ASUS ROG Ally SSD and another guide for upgrading your Steam Deck SSD to help you get started, but the general guidance is the same either way — make sure you’re comfortable opening your device, and prepare ahead of time with the tools you’ll need to get the job done.
When is Black Friday?
Black Friday is technically on Nov. 29, 2024, but this sales event seems to start a little earlier each year. Retailers increasingly get more aggressive in terms of when discounts start in order to entice consumers ahead of the main event, so you can see early Black Friday deals as soon as October. Black Friday itself can feel overwhelming and be limited by stock shortages, so it’s often a great idea to take advantage of those early sales ahead of time.
When is Cyber Monday?
This year, Cyber Monday falls on Dec. 2, 2024. This continuation of the Black Friday weekend was once the online-version of the aforementioned sales event, but as more retailers go online it’s not uncommon to see Black Friday and Cyber Monday blend into one another. If you miss out on sales on Black Friday, you may have another chance on Cyber Monday. Better yet, though, is staying ahead of the curve and getting your holiday shopping done weeks in advance.
