ASUS ROG Ally Could Launch Sooner Than Expected

[GFreeman]

ASUS is keeping the hype up for its upcoming ROG Ally handheld console, and now it has confirmed the worldwide release and teased that it could come sooner than anyone expected, which is pretty impressive. Announced on April 1st, the ASUS ROG Ally has impressive specifications, running on yet to be detailed AMD 4 nm custom APU based on Zen 4 CPU and RDNA 3 GPU architecture.

The ASUS ROG Ally measures at 280 x 133 x 39 mm and weighs 608 grams, making it shorter, narrower, thinner, and lighter than its competitor, Valve's Steam Deck. It has a 7-inch display with 1920x1080 resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate, 5 ms response time, and 500 nits of brightness. According to earlier hands-on previews of the prototype from Dave2D and LinusTechTips, ASUS did a great job with the dual-fan cooling solution, making it very quite. It will also have a dedicated PCIE Gen 3 x8 XG connector, which allows it to connect to the recently launched XG Mobile GPU, an external RTX 4090 GPU which retails at $1999.99 in the US. Linus also noted that the ROG Ally will offer 50 percent higher performance at 15 W and twice the performance at 35 W, compared to the Steam Deck. As noted, ASUS has now confirmed that the ROG Ally will launch worldwide, and that it might be sooner that we expect, linking to Best Buy for those that live in North America.



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[natr0n]

I appreciate these gaming devices. Really amazing how far tech has come.

 

[vbq7qK68eyYAH4iR]

I've been keen to get a Steam Deck, but they aren't available in my country. I look forward to this being a world wide release and installing HoloISO onto it.

 

[Space Lynx]

I'm guessing it will cost triple that of my $360 steam deck? what's our guess lads? $799 launch price?

too rich for my blood.

 

[vbq7qK68eyYAH4iR]

I'm guessing it will cost triple that of my $360 steam deck? what's our guess lads? $799 launch price?

too rich for my blood.

It was said to be price competitive with the Steam Deck. I'm guessing $649, because I'm an optimistic fool.

 

[Space Lynx]

@GFreeman Do you know if this has freesync?

 

[enb141]

It was said to be price competitive with the Steam Deck. I'm guessing $649, because I'm an optimistic fool.

Yep, that's the leaked pricing, which could be fake but that should be the starting point.

 

[Imouto]

My bet is $1k+ and leaning towards $1.2k.

For ASUS "Competitive with the Steam Deck" means that since it's x2 as powerful they can charge twice as much and be thankful they aren't adding any extra in other concepts.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Well it's way quieter than the steam deck and 50-100% faster if we just look at it in gpu terms that's like going from a 6750XT to a 6950XT at 15w and like going from the same 6750XT to a 4080 at 35w lol

So $700-1000 usd is my guess

 

[P4-630]

I looked at the asus thingy with "subwoofer" which attaches to your phone...

 

[Camm]

I'm interested, but I have a feeling that it'll be too underpowered to justify the price ASUS will ask for it. That said, still interested in what it is powering it, my hope is for a 4+4 with as many RDNA3 CU's as possible.

 

[Thorsthimble]

If it comes out at $649,then I will be incredibly interested. I'm very dubious of that price rumor, but we'll see.

 

[enb141]

If it comes out at $649,then I will be incredibly interested. I'm very dubious of that price rumor, but we'll see.

Well Razer, did an pretty decent pricing with their handheld, $400 for a gaming cellphone sized tablet with keypads and buttons.

 

[Klemc]

Time to switch

 

[Space Lynx]

Well it's way quieter than the steam deck and 50-100% faster if we just look at it in gpu terms that's like going from a 6750XT to a 6950XT at 15w and like going from the same 6750XT to a 4080 at 35w lol

So $700-1000 usd is my guess

just an fyi, I have the latest version of the steam deck (got it on the $360 sale), and they must have changed some stuff in my version because I have played loads of games on it, but its quiet as can be.

that being said, if this comes in at $649 and has zen 4 and RDNA 3... I will be a little sad... double the price, but also much much better quality. 1080p 120hz in this form factor would be awesome too...

I wonder if you can put Steam OS on this little device... or if you are forced to use WIn 11...

 

[oxrufiioxo]

just an fyi, I have the latest version of the steam deck (got it on the $360 sale), and they must have changed some stuff in my version because I have played loads of games on it, but its quiet as can be.

that being said, if this comes in at $649 and has zen 4 and RDNA 3... I will be a little sad... double the price, but also much much better quality. 1080p 120hz in this form factor would be awesome too...

I wonder if you can put Steam OS on this little device... or if you are forced to use WIn 11...

Yesh my buddy got the most expensive steam deck configuration recently he's also bummed and likes how this is looking.

His is loud unless capped at 30fps in most games although that's probably subjective to the user.

 

[watzupken]

just an fyi, I have the latest version of the steam deck (got it on the $360 sale), and they must have changed some stuff in my version because I have played loads of games on it, but its quiet as can be.

that being said, if this comes in at $649 and has zen 4 and RDNA 3... I will be a little sad... double the price, but also much much better quality. 1080p 120hz in this form factor would be awesome too...

I wonder if you can put Steam OS on this little device... or if you are forced to use WIn 11...

The beauty of the Steam Deck is really the light and gaming centric OS. So while the hardware on the Steam Deck pales in comparison with the latest AMD SOC, the OS is a lot less taxing than 1 running an uber bloated Windows. And truth to be told, current AAA titles are getting so taxing on the GPU, and I am not sure even a RDNA3 iGPU will be able to handle them. So the high refresh rate display is not going to be meaningful since there is no way you will get close to 120 FPS.

 

[Chrispy_]

IMO the Steam Deck doesn't need any more power. I find I'm getting 4h+ out of the lighter games, and the 7" screen is too small to really care about the difference between highest and much lower settings in AAA games.

Unless it's a physically bigger device (which hurts its portability) the screen resolution doesn't need to increase, nor do we need 120Hz because that's just going to kill runtimes. I run most AAA games at 12W and 48Hz just to push battery life to 3h - finished Dishonored 2 on a 4h train journey last weekend and had I been pulling 25W at full power, full brightness, 60Hz, I'd have been out of battery in 100 minutes.

Realistically I think the deck could benefit from a slightly bigger battery, and a more efficient APU on 4nm wouldn't hurt, but anything that pushes the price too high will be more of a detriment than a benefit. Where the deck excels is emulation of much older titles, anyway.

 

[Klemc]

It perhaps uses a solar portable recharge system to keep playability in FHD@120hz... why not

 

[GreiverBlade]

I'm guessing it will cost triple that of my $360 steam deck? what's our guess lads? $799 launch price?

too rich for my blood.

oh, 799$ price would place it right directly between Steamdeck price for me ... the cheapest is 599chf/$ and the higher model is 899.90...

well that would also mean 25% more on the 799, since i never see other countries pricing or MSRP (unless exceptional situation happens like whith my 6700 XT )


but i would prefer that one over the steamdeck ... due to analog stick placement being as they are.

 

[GFreeman]

@GFreeman Do you know if this has freesync?

ASUS has yet to reveal official specifications and features and there were no details about Freesync in those prototype previews.. Hopefully, we'll hear more soon.

 

[Space Lynx]

oh, 799$ price would place it right directly between Steamdeck price for me ... the cheapest is 599chf/$ and the higher model is 899.90...

well that would also mean 25% more on the 799, since i never see other countries pricing or MSRP (unless exceptional situation happens like whith my 6700 XT )


but i would prefer that one over the steamdeck ... due to analog stick placement being as they are.

I don't know how anything could be more comfortable than the Steam Deck. Honestly hope you get to hold one someday. It's truly a genius design. That is the thing I most skeptical about with the ROG Ally. How comfy will it actually be.

 

[Chrispy_]

If anything, the left analogue stick on the Steam Deck is in the perfect, most comfortable position. I tried some 8-bit stuff using the d-pad and found it way less comfortable.

I'm saying this as a lover of the XB360 and XBOne gamepads, which have the opposite left-side layout to the Steam Deck.

Clearly, it's all about relative position to the sculpting of the grips, and also YMMV based on the size of your hands. I can one-hand catch a basketball though so any controllers look like children's versions around me....

 

[Space Lynx]

If anything, the left analogue stick on the Steam Deck is in the perfect, most comfortable position. I tried some 8-bit stuff using the d-pad and found it way less comfortable.

I'm saying this as a lover of the XB360 and XBOne gamepads, which have the opposite left-side layout to the Steam Deck.

Clearly, it's all about relative position to the sculpting of the grips, and also YMMV based on the size of your hands. I can one-hand catch a basketball though so any controllers look like children's versions around me....

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I think the track pads on the steam deck are a little gimmicky, they do work ok to be honest, especially if you don't want to smudge your screen with fingerprints, but actually using them in games that only support mouse is not fun at all.

that is really my only complaint with steam deck though. the actual placement of the sticks I agree with you on, the steam deck is just made for adult hands, so damn comfortable.

 

[MrDweezil]

teased that it could come sooner than anyone expected

What if I expect it to come out in the next 5 minutes?