The wait is over, and ROG Ally has finally revealed much about the ROG Ally, including the price and where to preorder it. The ROG Ally will launch at $700 and provide three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. This will be the more powerful of the two device and will be available as of June 13, 2023. This version will utilize a custom AMD SOC called AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme (8 cores, 16 threads), AMD Radeon RDNA 3 GPU (4GB VRAM), a 7-inch 1080p 100hz LCD screen, 512GB of storage, MicroSD slot, 16GB of RAM, and a 40 watt-hour battery that provides up two 2 hours of heavy gaming performance and 6 hours of light usage, such as web surfing or media consumption.
There’s another version priced at $600 that will be available during Q3 2023, and it will utilize a scaled-down version of the CPU, the AMD Ryzen Z1 (6 cores, 12 threads). Both versions will also allow you to replace the 512GB NVMe PCIe 4 M.2 SSD, and according to ROG, the process to replace it is pretty straightforward.
Unlike the Steam Deck, the Asus ROG Ally will be powered by Windows 11 and a customized version of the ROG Armoury Crate, Armoury Crate SE, which is a game launcher.
You can preorder the $700 version of ROG Ally at Best Buy in North America, though the devices will supposedly go up for order at other locations at a later date.
ROG Ally AMD Z1 Extreme – Best Buy
ROG Ally AMD Z1 – Best Buy
While we did get a lot of spec talk about the ROG Ally, the big question regarding the performance is left to be seen. Sure, the device is more powerful than the Steam Deck, but hows that equate to hands-on performance? Will this completely blow the Steam Deck and similar handhelds, such as Ayaneo’s, out of the water? I’m also a bit skeptical when it comes to using Windows 11 as the OS, especially when using it to navigate and the power demands.
That said, I’m curious to see how this stacks up to the Steam Deck, and we look forward to getting our hands on one to compare the two. Be sure to check back on June 13, 2023, as we’ve already preordered one and can’t wait to share what we learn.
