On April 1, Asus announced it was bringing a handheld gaming system to the market called ROG Ally.
Because of the announcement timing, many thought Asus was pulling an April Fool’s joke, but it wasn’t: the ROG Ally is very real, and sounds rather nice.
According to YouTuber Dave2D (thanks, RPS), who received an early unit, the ROG Ally runs on Windows 11, features an AMD Zen 4/RDNA 3 chip, and sports a 120Hz, 1920×1080 screen. The system’s cooling fans are rather quiet, and the system is a light 608g in weight.
While it sounds like a worthy competitor to Valve’s Steam Deck, Asus hasn’t announced the final specs and, more importantly, a price.
Valve’s handheld will run you $399, $529, or $649 depending on the chosen options, so it’s unknown at present how competitive pricing will be; however, Asus isn’t known for being inexpensive as some of its ROG (Republic of Gamers) laptops can run you in upwards of $2700 depending on the year and model.
While the company’s laptops can be rather expensive, in our opinion, they are beyond reliable. Our Asus laptop is a 2014 model and is still going strong, and despite how outdated it is (it has a Nvivida 860M, for instance), it still plays plenty of games. And we’re also partial to Asus motherboards and refuse to purchase another brand when building a PC.
So again, it could all come down to price as to whether the system will be able to compete with the Steam Deck, that, and possibly brand awareness and loyalty.
Stephany Nunneley-Jackson
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