The Best Black Friday Gaming Handheld PC Deals Are Now Live, Including the New Asus ROG Ally X

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Best Buy drops $100 off the recently released Asus ROG Ally X, bringing the price down to $699.99. In our Asus ROG Ally X review, gaming guru Jacqueline Thomas wrote that "the Asus ROG Ally X is simply the best handheld gaming PC on the market right now. With more and faster memory and double the battery as the original Ally, the Ally X will run any modern game without dying in an hour and a half."

The Asus ROG Ally X improves on the original ROG Ally in several ways, the biggest upgrades being a much bigger 80Whr battery with nearly the runtime, more RAM, a beefier cooling system, double the storage capacity on the base model, and better controls. It's not inexpensive starting at $799.99, but it's definitely an incredible piece of hardware.

Lenovo is teasing Black Friday with not one, but two excellent deals on the Lenovo Legion Go gaming handheld. The 512GB model is down to $499.99 (originally $700) and the 1TB model is $549.99 (originally $750). This was our pick for best Windows-based gaming handheld before the ROG Ally X came along. Even so, at a price that's $150-$200 less, this handheld is a very convincing purchase. The Legion Go shares similar specs as the Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme model, but with a bigger and sharper display, detachable controllers, and a larger battery.

Best Buy is taking up to $200 off ASUS ROG Ally models. The more powerful AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme edition is priced at $499.99, however My Best Buy Plus members get an extra $50 off. If you don't have the paid membership, I'd suggest you wait until Black Friday proper begins. This deal should be available to the general public at that time. The AMD Ryzen Z1 (non-Extreme) edition is down to $349.99, which is easily the best price we've seen and the cheapest cost of entry to the world of PC gaming handhelds.

Is This a Better Choice For You Than the Steam Deck?

We wrote up a guide comparing the pros and cons of an Asus ROG Ally versus a Steam Deck. The Steam Deck is an easier handheld to use for anyone who doesn't like to tinker and just wants everything to work right out of the box. The SteamOS interface is simple and intuitive. The ROG Ally and Legion Go have all the advantages and disadvantages of the Windows operating system. You'll get to run games that run on clients apart from Steam (like Mihoyo games, Battle.net, Origin, Xbox Game Pass, and more), and you'll benefit from more powerful hardware, but you'll need to deal with compatibility issues.

Must-Have Accessories for Any PC Gaming Handheld Owner

If you end up getting a gaming handheld PC, we'd definitely recommend picking up a portable power bank for extended travels and a Micro SD card if you think you'll be running out of space even with the 1TB of storage. Fortunately, there are already a few options that are discounted for Black Friday.

As part of the Amazon Black Friday Sale, you can pick up the Anker PowerCore 737 24,000mAh 140W Power Bank at the best price I've ever seen. Right now, the price is down to $79.99 after a nearly 50% off discount. This is one of the best Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally X chargers you can get. I've actually owned this power bank for over a year now for ROG Ally and my kids' Switches; it has been on multiple flights and road trips and is still lasting strong.

Amazon is also offering the Anker Prime 20,000mAh USB Power Bank for only $77.99 after you clip the 40% off coupon on the product page. This is the best price we've seen for 2024 (the previous lowest price was $89.99 on Amazon Prime Day). The Anker Prime is the successor to the Anker 737 with a couple of noticeable upgrades like a higher power delivery output (200W vs 140W) and a higher charging rate through USB Type-A (65W vs 18W).

If you thought a 1TB Micro SD card was big, think again. Amazon currently has a massive SanDisk Ultra 1.5TB Micro SDXC Card for only $88.99. We've seen a 1.5TB Micro SDXC card drop below $90 only a few times this year, and it's fully compatible with the Steam Deck, Legion Go, and ROG Ally.

When Is Black Friday 2024?

The actual date of Black Friday in 2024 falls on November 29 this year, but the deals season began a lot sooner than that. Leading up to the big event, retailers have begun to open deals online. (This usually starts in the last week of October, just before Halloween.) Each week leading up to the event will slowly roll out more deals, which ultimately leads to massive discounts on Black Friday. Retailers will not reveal their biggest Black Friday deals until the big day, but most general deals will be available well in advance.

Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.