Asus followed through on its promise and finally unveiled the prices for the ROG Ally, the portable console with which he will try to overshadow the Steam Deck. As some leaks advanced a couple of weeks ago, hardware hits the market at really attractive costs if we consider its promising specifications. Of course, there is a “but” that will surely cause some consumers to think twice before opening the wallet.
The Asus ROG Ally, in its basic version, costto $599 dollars. We must remember that this variant offers inferior performance compared to its older sister. It has an APU AMD Ryzen Z1 based on Zen 4 and RDNA 3 architectures. Its CPU is 6 cores / 12 threads with a maximum clock frequency of 4.939 GHz, while the GPU has 4 cores and reaches an average graphics performance of 2.8 teraflops. It will come with 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 512GB PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage.
But the model that is really stealing the spotlight, especially for its performanceis the ASUS ROG Ally with APU AMD Ryzen Z1 Extremewhich can be yours for $699 dollars. Its CPU has 8 cores, 16 threads and a clock frequency of up to 5.1 GHz. The GPU, for its part, grows to 12 cores. Its graphic performance, consequently, shoots up to the 8.6 teraflops. As for RAM and storage, it shares the same figures as the base variant.
It is also necessary to remember that the screen, in both devices, is 7 inches with 1080p resolution and a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz.
Both will be available, first, in the United States. ASUS ROG Ally with AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme is now available to pre-order at BestBuy and general sale will start from June 13. The entry model will wait until the third quarter of this year.
The Asus ROG Ally is temptingly priced, but…
On paper, both the specifications and the prices make us think that we are facing the most serious rival of the Steam Deck, right? Not so fast.
Just today, some media shared their analysis after having it in their hands for several weeks. In general, most agree that its performance is spectacular and significantly superior to the Steam Deck. The problem is that, as with any computer, more performance means more power consumption, and the Asus ROG Ally is no stranger to that.
The main drawback of the Asus proposal is, indeed, its battery. In The Verge mention that, in the best of cases, the ROG Ally can extend its autonomy up to 4 hours, but reducing the performance of the games. If you want to enjoy them to the fullest, it will last an hour -approximately-. The good news in this section is that Asus has included a 65W fast charging charger, so you can get to 50% in 40 minutes while you continue gaming.
The other upset comes with its software. First of all, Windows 11 is not yet optimized for these types of devices. On the other hand, ROG Armory Crate SE, the Asus software for quick access to games, still has bugs that hinder the experience. We’ll see if the company rushes to fix them.