Asus ROG start pre-order ROG Ally handheld, talk about keeping us on our toes! Asus initially announced a handheld gaming device as an April Fool’s prank (ASUS ROG ALLY Portable Gaming and AMD Join Forces to Introduce the Windows Handheld).
The ROG Ally’s lookin’ to give Steam Deck a run for its money, last night, Asus lunached the ROG Ally handheld globally without so much as a heads up. The ROG Ally comes loaded with a Z1 Extreme processor, either Z1 starts at $599, Z1 Extreme version $699, available globally on 13 June.
ROG’s first foray into handheld gaming, ROG Ally’s rocking an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U with RDNA 3 graphics, 16GB of 6400MHz LPDDR5 memory, and a 7-inch 120Hz 1080p display. Throw in Wi-Fi 6E and up to 8.6TFLOPS of power, and the Ally’s primed to deliver max performance for serious on-the-go gaming.
The Ally offers players a choice of four modes: Performance, Overclocked, Plug-in Overclock (for wall outlet warriors) or Quiet. Early benchmarks show the Ally trouncing the Steam Deck, GeekBench scores peg the Ally at 2468 single-core and 11041 multi-core, the Deck just 1212 and 4233 points.
Of course, the ROG Ally extra horsepower comes at the cost of battery life. ROG rates the Ally for 4 hours per charge compared to the Deck’s 7 hours. For players wanting the most powerful handheld gaming rig, though, the tradeoff may well be worth it.
