On April Fools’ Day, Asus introduced that it could be getting into the gaming handheld market with the Asus ROG Ally – going face to face with the likes of Valve’s Steam Deck and the Nintendo Swap, in addition to the much less famend (however no much less spectacular) AyaNeo 2.
Whereas there are quite a lot of particulars concerning the ROG Ally which have but to be disclosed by Asus, our personal Allisa James has been fortunate sufficient to get some hands-on time with the brand new handheld – sufficient time to supply an early Asus ROG Ally evaluate which you’ll be able to take a look at proper now.
Nevertheless, pricing and launch date (in addition to precise efficiency stats) haven’t been launched by Asus, so there’s lots up within the air proper now – we can’t be calling our judgment on the ROG Ally till we have acquired our personal evaluate unit and brought the time to check it out correctly.
Nonetheless, we have collated every thing we all know up to now proper right here, to your searching perusal. We’ll dig into the technical particulars additional down, however for now let’s simply say that should you’re contemplating selecting up a gaming handheld just like the Steam Deck, you actually may wish to maintain off till the Ally arrives…
Asus ROG Ally: Minimize to the chase
- What’s it? Asus’s new handheld gaming console
- When will or not it’s obtainable? Someday in 2023, with a launch date reveal on Might 11
- What is going to it value? Under $1,000, though a number of fashions with totally different costs will probably be obtainable
Asus ROG Ally: Launch date
Though there isn’t any official launch date for the Asus ROG Ally but, we will probably be studying extra concerning the handheld in a livestreamed panel dialogue from Asus on Might 11, and we’re anticipating to right here a launch date throughout that occasion.
We would not rule out a shock launch on Might 11, however do not get too excited – it appears to be like like preorders is likely to be going dwell that day as an alternative, so we could be ready a bit longer. On the very least, we should always have a concrete launch date in a matter of days.
Asus ROG Ally: Value
Asus hasn’t formally disclosed the pricing of the ROG Ally gaming handheld simply but – that is additionally anticipated to be revealed on the livestream occasion on Might 11. Nevertheless, one Asus exec has confirmed that the pricing will certainly be “beneath $1,000”.
That is not essentially the most reassuring assertion – particularly since the costliest mannequin of the Steam Deck solely prices $649. As you will see within the Specs part beneath, there will probably be a number of fashions of the ROG Ally, however we do not know precisely what these will appear like but, nor what number of there will probably be.
It is secure to imagine that we’ll see no less than two variations, utilizing the 2 totally different AMD processors we all know will probably be obtainable within the Ally. That “beneath $1,000” determine means the high-end mannequin may feasibly value as a lot as $999, however we hope to see two fashions across the $600 and $800 marks – dearer than opponents, however much more highly effective too.
Asus ROG Ally: Specs
Though the opposite sections of this breakdown is likely to be a bit mild on particulars proper now, we do know lots concerning the specs that the Asus ROG Ally will boast. Let’s begin with the guts of this handheld: the processor.
AMD just lately revealed its new Z-series of APUs, cut up into the Z1 and Z1 Excessive. These systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) will use AMD’s Zen 4 CPU structure and RDNA 3 built-in graphics, with the Z1 that includes a 6-core/12-thread CPU and 4-core iGPU whereas the Z1 Excessive makes use of an 8-core/16-thread CPU and 12-core iGPU.
That 8-core distinction within the RDNA 3 on-board graphics means we may see a reasonably vital efficiency gulf between the 2 chips, though the distinction in whole cache reminiscence could be very small (22MB to 24MB). Because the figures beneath present, AMD believes that each chips will have the ability to crack 60fps within the majority of video games at 1080p Low settings utilizing Radeon Tremendous Decision 2 upscaling know-how.
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Past the processor, we all know that the ROG Ally will characteristic as much as 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM (the identical you’d discover in a thin-and-light machine among the many finest gaming laptops) together with as much as 512GB of high-speed PCIe 4.0 storage – no sluggish eMMC drives right here, just like the one you will discover within the most cost-effective mannequin of the Steam Deck.
The show additionally closely outclasses the Steam Deck. It is a 1080p panel with a 120Hz refresh fee and 7ms response time, and it boasts 500 nits of most brightness in comparison with the Deck’s 400. Sound is dealt with by a pair of front-firing stereo audio system with Dolby Atmos assist.
The Ally will weigh 608g – that is heavier than the Nintendo Swap, however a bit lighter than the Steam Deck. And naturally, the glossy design options RGB lighting across the analog sticks and many perforations for cooling – though we have seen that it could possibly get fairly toasty whilst you’re gaming.
Lastly, the Ally is totally appropriate with present ROG peripherals, so you may simply sync it up together with your Asus headset or gamepad whereas it is docked. It may also be related to the Asus XG Mobile (opens in new tab) exterior GPU to spice up it up with an RTX 4090’s price of graphical energy – although why you’d really want to try this is anybody’s guess.
The underside line right here is that the Asus ROG Ally might be going to demolish each different gaming handheld in the marketplace proper now with regards to efficiency – no less than, till Nintendo and Valve get their fingers on these shiny new AMD chips.