Asus Has Recently Entered The Field Of Handheld And Portable Consoles With The Release Of ROG ALLY and has provided features that can attract users’ attention in competition with Steam Deck.
We are currently witnessing the growth of the handheld console market because companies have been stimulated to experiment in this area after the success of the Nintendo Switch. This sector became less popular after the failure of the PS Vita console and the growth of mobile devices, but now it has a wide range of new projects.
Nevertheless, Valve proudly decided to expand its catalog with a Steam Deck-capable device. Valve’s portable is a portable computer that acts like a console and, with the correct settings, runs most of the Steam catalog.
There used to be brands like Logitech and Razer for handheld consoles, but for the most part, they were for cloud gaming. There are reports of a PlayStation Portable console, but the first real Steam Deck competitor has appeared in the form of the ASUS ROG Ally.
ASUS has surprised the community by introducing ASUS ROG Ally.
This device is the first product since Aya Neo to take Valve’s exact approach to Steam Deck, fully featured and ready to compete with Steam Deck. While the ROG Ally was announced on the worst day to report the news, April 1st, contrary to popular jokes of the day, the launch was not an April Fool’s lie, and with a sleeker design, according to the new spec list, it has many advantages.
InsiderGaming has published a new list of Asus ROG Ally specifications. Most of the console specifications have already been published online, and it can be said that the capabilities of this device are very similar to a personal computer. Therefore, it seems that ASUS is serious about releasing this product.
This information was revealed in a Twitter post. Although the post was later deleted, it can never leave the web. You can see the following specifications:
The specifications of the ASUS ROG ALLY console are as follows :
- Processor): AMD Ryzen Z1 series (specs not confirmed)
- Screen: Full HD with 1080p resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate (500 nits and 7 ms response time)
- RAM: 16 GB dual-channel LPDDR5
- Internal memory: M.2-2230 with a capacity of 512 GB PCIe Gen4
- Weight: 608 grams
According to rumors, the Ryzen Z1 is a custom Ryzen 7 7840U. How the Z1 series differs from other similar products is unclear. But with the official unveiling, we expect to know more about it. In any case, the typical processor has eight cores and 16 threads. In addition, its base clock speed is 3.8 GHz, and in Boost Clock mode, up to 5.1 GHz. However, since this is a portable device, it is expected to be slightly lower than the PC version. Otherwise, the processor can quickly drain the device’s battery.
After all, Asus claims the ROG Intelligent Cooling system is on the ROG Ally. Therefore, it should be optimized in such a way as to establish a balance between performance and energy consumption. Additionally, the device will have a micro SD memory card slot for increased storage, Dolby-Atmos compatible speakers, Armory Crate SE with critical remapping support, and more.
Is this system better than the steam deck?
The ROG Ally will be better, at least in some areas. It has a 1080p display, while the Deck only has a 720p resolution. Additionally, the Ally comes with a 120Hz refresh rate, while the Deck only works in undocked mode at a 60Hz refresh rate. The Deck has an AMD Zen 2 processor, up to 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage with a Micro SD card.
The ROG Ally also comes with Windows 11 instead of a fancy proprietary operating system. With that said, the console easily supports Game Pass, Steam, Epic Games, GeForce Now, and anything else a Windows PC can handle.
The theory is that you can run emulators on this console – meaning it’s capable of retro gaming and even Switch gaming. There have been rumors of an optimized version of Windows 11 for portable consoles, but only time will tell if Microsoft is looking to pave the way for the ROG Ally.
According to rumors, the ASUS ROG Ally will launch in October 2023 with a price tag between $649 and $899.
That’s much more than the Steam Deck with 512GB of storage, retailing for $585 in the US.
Valve also offers the base model of this device with 64GB of storage for around $359 and the 256GB version for $476. Despite the price difference, it’s safe to say that you get as good a product as you pay. The ROG Ally has advantages over its competitors, at least in theory, but it remains to be seen if these specs are enough to gain popularity among consumers. slow