The ROG Ally is Asus’ answer to the Steam Deck. The company announced its gaming handheld on April 1, but after some questions about the device’s authenticity, the company assured the world that the ROG Ally was not an April Fool’s joke. It’s a real gaming handheld that will go on sale at some point.
Asus says the ROG Ally has a customized AMD Ryzen chip which it claims is the fastest AMD APU yet. The ROG Ally has a “high-performance” display and is compatible with the ROG XG Mobile, which is Asus’ mobile GPU. YouTuber Dave2D, who went hands-on with the device, says he believes Asus' claims about the handheld's powerful performance.
The ROG Ally could be quite a powerful handheld gaming device — and perhaps be capable of challenging the Steam Deck. Here’s what we know so far.
Asus ROG Ally: Price and release date
Asus hasn’t revealed when the ROG Ally will launch or how much it will cost. You can sign up to be notified when pre-orders go live at Best Buy. This could indicate the handheld might arrive this year, though we can’t say that for certain.
Asus says the ROG Ally will be "competitively priced," according to Dave2D. The highest-end Steam Deck with 512GB of storage costs $649. Competitors like the GDP Win 4 and AyaNeo 2 are more powerful than the Steam Deck but cost more as well, hovering around the $1,000 mark.
If the ROG Ally is comparable to these machines it may have a similar price tag, but that remains to be seen.
Asus ROG Ally: Design
The ROG Ally has a similar design to the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck. On the left side, you’ll find an analog stick and a D-pad. On the right, you’ll find the face buttons and another analog stick (at an offset angle). Each side has two vents and two buttons for navigating the user interface.
Along the top, you’ll find power and volume buttons, a PCIe port to connect to the XG Mobile, a USB-C port and a headphone jack. There are also more air vents up top. Lastly, there are two buttons on the handheld’s back and more air vents.
According to Dave2D, the ROG Ally measures 11.0 x 4.4 x 0.5 inches and weighs 1.3 pounds. In contrast, the Steam Deck measures 11.73 x 4.60 x 1.93 inches and weighs 1.5 pounds. Overall, Asus' handheld is smaller and weighs less than the Steam Deck.
It’s too early to tell how the ROG Ally feels when you’re playing but by the sounds of things, it should be as comfortable to use as a Switch or Steam Deck.
Asus ROG Ally: Display
The ROG Ally has a 7-inch display 120Hz 16:9 display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. Asus says it can hit 500 nits of brightness.
The Steam Deck also has a 7-inch display, but it has a maximum resolution of 1280 x 800 and a 60Hz refresh rate. Valve says the Steam Deck can hit 400 nits of brightness but it peaked at 170 nits of brightness in our lab test.
Asus ROG Ally: Performance
According to what Asus told Dave2D, the ROG Ally supposedly has double the performance of the Steam Deck. The aforementioned AMD chip powering the handheld is a custom Zen 4 RDNA3 4nm APU, which he says allows you to play games at higher graphics settings without sacrificing performance.
Dave2D couldn’t go into further detail, but he says he’s inclined to believe AMD’s performance claims, based on his experience with the device.
Asus ROG Ally: Features
The ROG Ally is a Windows 11 handheld and should allow you to install a variety of applications and programs. This is also true of the Steam Deck. The high level of customization should let you run all manner of games.
One of ROG Ally’s potential secret weapons is the ability to connect to the ROG XG Mobile, which is an external GPU that’s compatible with the company’s Flow laptops. Powered by an RTX 4090 laptop GPU, the XG Mobile could give the ROG Ally a serious performance boost. In addition, the device has a slew of ports — which is great considering the handheld only seems to have a single USB-C port. However, the mobile GPU’s steep $1,999 asking price will no doubt be a major barrier to entry for many people.
Asus ROG Ally: Battery life
The ROG Ally uses the same ROG Intelligent Cooling technology utilized by Asus’ laptops. This could presumably give the Ally a long-lasting battery life, though it’s too early to say whether or not it will surpass the competition.
The Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch can last between two to seven hours, depending on what you’re playing. If this handheld can deliver a consistent five to six hours, that should make most customers happy — especially if they’re able to play graphically-demanding games for that long.
Dave2D said that he barely heard the ROG Ally's fans, even when he ran graphically-demanding games. According to his testing, the Steam Deck's fans reach 37 decibels on load while the ROG Ally reaches 20 decibels. The difference you can hear in the YouTube video is rather remarkable.
Asus ROG Ally: Outlook
Based on what we know about the ROG Ally, there’s reason to be optimistic about this device. It could give the Steam Deck true competition if it delivers better performance and battery life. The ROG Ally might command a higher price than Valve’s handheld, but if it's an objectively better device, the potentially high cost could be justified.
Stay tuned for more information about the ROG Ally.
