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I figured the white ROG Xbox Ally, the cheapest version of Asus and Microsoft's handheld gaming PC, would fall in price sooner or later. What I didn't see coming was a discount that knocks over $100 off the portable before 2025 comes to a close, and now that it's under $500, I'd be more comfortable buying it over the now-discontinued 2023 model.
To grab the ROG Xbox Ally at its cheapest, you'll want to mosey on over to Amazon. The retailer has chopped the portable to $489.99 from $599.99, beating Best Buy's competing offer by $10. As someone who's consistently lobbying for more of the best gaming handheld contenders to arrive with a sub $500 price tag, this debut discount is giving me hope.
I want to stress that the handheld on offer isn't the black ROG Xbox Ally X. The white version is more or less the same handheld with a few cost-cutting tweaks, the biggie being that it's armed with a lower spec Ryzen Z2 A chipset. That actually means it's more of a Steam Deck OLED rival rather than something that can keep up with premium portables like the MSI Claw 8 AI+, and it also can't boost fps as far as the OG ROG Ally from 2023.
At least, that's certainly the case without any AI tricks enabled, as while the Xbox Ally should be graced with Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR) in the future, it natively sits between the Ryzen Z1 Extreme and the Ryzen Z2 Extreme within the Xbox Ally X model. That doesn't make it a bad handheld by any means, but there is a sizable gap between what the flagship can achieve at 1080p and the cheaper white model.
Of course, with the Ally X, you're also getting 24GB RAM and a 1TB SSD, whereas the white version sticks with 16GB and 512GB storage. Throw in the 7-inch 1080p 120Hz, and you've pretty much got the same formula as Asus' first handheld gaming PC. In truth, it's still the version I'd buy for the right price, but now that the OG ROG Ally is seemingly discontinued, all we can do is hope the Xbox Ally stays down in price.
That said, it does feel like the realm of affordable handhelds is going backwards in 2025. I'm not quite sure why we didn't at least get an Xbox Ally model with performance exceeding the original, and while I love its controller-inspired ergonomic grips, they're not worth paying more than you would for the original with a discount last year. I'm not saying that's a reason to snub deals like this when they arise, especially since RAM pricing chaos will likely cause all tech to skyrocket soon, but I am hoping more options arrive for at least under $600 in 2026.
- More handheld PCs at Amazon
- Handheld accessories at Best Buy
Already got Valve's powerhouse? Swing by the best Steam Deck accessories and best Steam Deck dock options to craft the ultimate TV mode setup. You'll want to peek at the best retro handhelds, too, for ways to play classic capers on the go.
