Asus ROG Ally Gaming Handheld Launches on June 13 for $699.99

Asus Rog Ally

The Asus ROG Ally, the first Windows 11-based gaming handheld powered by AMD’s new Ryzen Z1 series chips will launch on in select markets on June 13. In the US, it will start at $699, which is $300 more expansive than Valve’s $399 entry-level Steam Deck. A slightly less powerful model will be available for $599 in Q3 2023.

The Steam Deck was pretty much the first gaming handheld to make PC games playable on a Nintendo Switch-like device, and the ability to install Windows 11 on it made it much more versatile than Nintendo’s console. However, Asus ROG Ally will bring even better specs on the same handheld form factor.

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With their 8-core Zen4 CPU and integrated RDNA3 graphics, the AMD Ryzen Z1 Series chips on the ROG Ally will deliver 8.6 teraflops of computing power. When you add the 16GB of DDR5 RAM, the ROG Ally is actually more powerful than Microsoft’s Xbox Series S console on paper (the Series S only has 10GB of RAM and a 4 teraflops RDNA2 GPU).

The ROG Ally will also be available with a slightly more powerful Z1 Extreme chip, which will add $100 to the base price. Users will be able to modify the chip’s TDP to maximize performance or battery life when playing in handheld mode. Otherwise, the 65W HDMI adapter will provide maximum performance when hooking the ROG Ally to a TV or monitor.

The ROG Ally includes many features PC gamers should expect including a 7” 120Hz 1080p screen with AMD Freesync Premium, as well as upgradeable storage options via a MicroSD card and the ability to replace the 512GB M.2 SSD. It’s also possible to connect the ROG Ally to an external GPU to get even more performance. The ROG Ally also includes a fingerprint sensor for Windows Hello, and it ships with Asus’ Armoury Crate SE software that lets users access all their games in one place, customize settings, and more.

The ROG Ally is available for pre-order on Best Buy today, and the device will also ship with 3 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. The various reviews that have been published today highlighted the performance improvements compared to Valve’s Steam Deck, though battery life isn’t nearly as good and there are some software bugs that still need to be fixed. Still, it’s great to see another company add its stone to the exciting gaming handheld category.

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