ASUS has officially provided the specs behind its upcoming ROG Ally handheld gaming device, and they are decidedly impressive.
“Driven by the cutting-edge AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor, the ROG Ally can breeze through AAA games and indie titles in 1080p with ease, whether you’re playing alone or with friends,” ASUS said in a press release. “With robust support and partnerships throughout the industry, the Ally is poised to be the ultimate handheld gaming machine.”
While the ROG Ally has the same size screen as the Steam Deck, it comes in at a higher resolution at 1920×1080 with a 120hz refresh rate. And with a GPU sporting 12 RDNA3 CUs, up to 2.7GHz, 8.6 TFlops, and a default 4GB RAM capacity, ASUS says it’s stronger there, too.
With specs like these, the price point is a potential concern, but ASUS is selling this behemoth for $699.99, which is just $50 more than the most expensive version of the Steam Deck.
“Our team has spent over a decade developing the technologies necessary to enable the Ryzen Z1 Series of processors. Working with visionary partners like ROG, we’ve designed a platform that redefines mobile gaming,” said Renato Fragale, senior director of product management for the consumer and gaming client business at AMD. “We’re excited for gamers to experience the first device powered by Ryzen Z1 Series processors with the launch of the ROG Ally.”
The ASUS ROG Ally also shines in that it comes with Windows 11 as its operating system, which immediately opens up the possibilities for which games can be played on it. Valve’s Steam Deck runs on Steam OS, meaning it’s more of a Steam machine than anything.
The Steam Deck can be tweaked to change operating systems, but the ASUS ROG Ally, out of the box, is already more flexible and that could make it more appealing for gamers looking to enjoy certain games that are limited on the Deck.
The ROG Ally also comes with a touch screen, built-in fingerprint sensor, 512GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD, and a microSD card reader to expand storage to allow for further games with today’s ever-growing install sizes.
With all that power, it seems like it may be a bit heavy for a handheld, but the ROG Ally actually comes in lighter than the Steam Deck at 608 grams vs. 669 grams for Valve’s handheld.
As an added bonus, the ROG Ally also comes bundled with three months of Xbox Game Pass included.
“Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members have access to hundreds of games, including hits like Minecraft Legends, Grounded, Age of Empire IV and many more,” said Roanne Sones, CVP, head of Xbox hardware. “With the ROG Ally and Game Pass Ultimate, we can’t wait for people to discover and play their next favorite game on the go, whether it’s playing native PC games with Windows or streaming console games with Xbox Cloud Gaming.”
The ASUS ROG Ally can be pre-ordered starting today at Best Buy and will be available for sale worldwide on June 13.
