On May 11 the world will know one of the best competitors for the Steam Deck – the ASUS ROG Ally. The market of “handheld” gaming PCs is trending since the launch of the Steam Deck and the rise of cloud gaming. ASUS saw the opportunity to launch its own portable PC with enough hardware to run AAA games. The device comes with the cutting-edge AMD Z1 chipset using the Zen4 architecture. It surpasses the Steam Deck hardware in many ways, but we have been curious about its price. After all, without the right price, it would not be a real competitor. A few days ago, we discovered the price for the ROG Ally version with the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme. Now, it’s time to check the price of the base model.
ASUS ROG Ally – Base Model’s price has been revealed
The Extreme Model brings more performance, however, the regular will also be able to handle most AAA titles without any hassle. In fact, it already outpaces the Steam Deck’s hardware. As per SnoppyTech, the ASUS ROG Ally will bring a price tag of just $599.99. That’s a good price when you take in mind the processor, and that it comes with 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256 GB of NVMe M.2 SSD storage. Besides the internal storage, you can also expand it via a micro SD card slot.
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Specifications and Features – A New King for Handhelds
The price of the Steam Deck floats depends on the country and retailer. However, in the US, the 256 GB variant’s price floats around $475. If you take in mind everything that the ROG Ally offers, the difference is easily justified. Besides the stronger APU, it also brings a 7-inch display with a 120 Hz refresh rate and 1080p resolution. For comparison, the Steam Deck is capped at 1,200 x 800 resolution when in handheld mode. It is also stuck to the 60 Hz refresh rate. So the ROG Ally has a higher resolution and a smoother frame rate. The handheld will also pack a 16:9 aspect ratio and up to 500 nits of brightness.
The ROG Ally will run Windows 11 OS. That means that it can easily handle any PC game from Epic Games or Steam Deck. It can also run Xbox Game Pass, GeForce Now, and anything that a regular PC can do. In fact, you can even install some emulators to enjoy this hardware.
The only mystery is the battery life. However, ASUS states that the battery life is on par with the Steam Deck. The console will come with a USB Type-C port and 65W fast-charging support.
The ROG Ally will also bring a side-mounted fingerprint scanner and Dolby Atmos audio support. There will be multiple accessories like the ROG Raikiri Pro Controller, ROG Cetra Earbuds, and Travel case. The console has a heat pipe with two-element heat sinks. There is also a connection port for ASUS XG Mobile external GPU. The handheld has shoulder buttons and a 3.5 mm audio jack.
