Surprise, the Asus ROG Ally just got a Ryzen Z1 Extreme driver update, but I'm still suspicious

Good news, Asus ROG Ally owners: a Ryzen Z1 Extreme driver update just dropped. That means the former best gaming handheld contender hasn't been cut off from AMD patches quite yet, but I'm worried about the portable PC's future with the chipset within.

Concerns over AMD cutting off Ryzen Z1 Extreme handhelds from driver updates last week were originally tied to the Lenovo Legion Go S. According to a Korean customer rep, there are no plans to push graphics driver updates to that particular portable, and discussions among players eventually led me to check the last ROG Ally patch date.

On Monday, the last Ryzen Z1 Extreme update listed for the ROG Ally was August 6, 2025. However, Asus is now rolling patches out to handhelds as of February 24, so it's anything but officially cut off from chipset updates. That said, Videocardz notes that it still isn't receiving the same public branch as other Radeon devices, as it's using a 22.0.29 package rather than the Windows 11 32.0.23 build.

The whole situation is largely tied to how device makers are treating their Ryzen Z1 Extreme handhelds in 2026. This is the reason I suggested taking the original reports and online speculation with a grain of salt, as AMD hadn't officially announced any plans to end support for the 2023 chip. Instead, we're in a situation where players might have to rely on other update methods like generic builds or Windows updates (ew).

It's not ideal to see Ryzen Z1 Extreme updates slow down in any case, but it doesn't mean you should avoid portables with the chipset. In fact, if you can find a 2023 ROG Ally for the right price, I'd snatch it up, considering the Steam Deck is AWOL and the Xbox Ally is the only handheld I can find for under $600. I can't speak for the OG Legion Go yet since we don't know if the messaging from Lenovo Korea applies to other regions, but as mentioned above, there are still ways to technically update your drivers if worst comes to worst.

As a handheld reviewer, I'm bracing for a pretty rough 2026 thanks to RAMageddon and other price-hindering factors. I wouldn't say we were even in a good place before that, considering all the top options like the ROG Xbox Ally X come in at around $1,000, and the closest rivals we have to the Steam Deck OLED on price, like the Lenovo Legion Go S, cost more than their excellent Ryzen Z1 Extreme predecessors while packing less of a punch. I do remain hopeful we'll see some proper competition in the space eventually, but seeing shaky support for two-year-old models doesn't help the situation.

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