ASUS teased its first handheld gaming machine earlier this month, the ASUS ROG Ally designed to take on the Steam Deck with a promise of better gaming performance thanks to custom AMD Ryzen silicon.
What we know about ASUS ROG Ally
Hardware
The APU at the heart of the ROG Ally will be from AMD and follow the Ryzen branding, same as the Steam Deck. The big difference is that the APU in the Ally is a custom SKU through collaboration between the two companies. ASUS says the Ally is able to perform up tp 2x better than the Steam Deck at 15W, suggesting the hardware is a lot more powerful, and the price will likely reflect.
Control interface
ROG Ally has a very conventional controller interface with all the buttons, thumb sticks, d-pad, rear paddles, and triggers you’d expect. ASUS has chosen to not follow the Steam Deck with the two touchpads making mouse movements a little harder to do, but this should be bad for games that support controllers.
Display
The handheld console features a 7″ display capable of display games at 1080p. We also know the display is said to be high motion, suggesting it is capable of more than 60fps, likely 120fps.
Operating system
The ROG Ally will run on Windows 11 and use ASUS’ Armoury Crate app for the gaming interface. The Armoury Crate app on the Ally is visually similar to the Steam Deck, showing all your games in a grid fashion.
As the system runs Windows 11, you can expect games from all stores to work without any of the Linux issues faced on the Steam Deck. Games from Steam, Epic Games, GOG, and more should all work as they would on a desktop PC.
Price and release date
There is no set pricing or release date at the moment. However, we do know that the ROG Ally will first be a Best Buy exclusive. Best Buy currently has an active page that allows sign ups to be notified when pre-orders start.
Based on the Ally being on BestBuy, it is likely it will be a North American exclusive console. Leaving others in the United Kingdom, Australia, Europe without another handheld gaming device. It will be interesting to see how ASUS plays the regional availability as it has the reach to be able to take over countries the Steam Deck is not officially available in.
ROG Ally specifications
| Dimensions | N/A |
| Weight | N/A |
| APU | Custom AMD Ryzen |
| Storage | 1x internal 2230 M.2 SSD, 1x MicroSD slot |
| Display | 7″ Full HD 1080p |
| Software | Windows 11 with Armoury Crate app |
| eGPU compatibility | ROG XG Mobile eGPU |
| I/O | 1x USB-C, 1x ROG eGPU port, 1x MicroSD slot, 1x Combo jack |
| Thunderbolt support | Thunderbolt 4 not supported |
| Availability | BestBuy, unknown release date |
