ASUS ROG Ally is a handheld gaming device from ASUS. Although the announcement took place on the 1st of April, it has been confirmed that the device is indeed real. They have even sent out units to Youtube content creators as well. On paper, the device looks to slide right into the top slot where devices like Valve’s Steam Deck lie. There are also other competitors like Ayaneo 2 and devices from GPD and OneXPlayer.
ASUS ROG Ally Specifications
One of the major ingredients to a successful recipe for a handheld gaming device is the display. ASUS has upped the game and has included a 7″ FHD+ IPS LCD panel with a 16:9 aspect ratio. It has a 120Hz refresh rate and 500 nits peak brightness. Moreover, it is narrower, thinner, and lighter than Valve’s Steam Deck. Furthermore, another major point of discussion when you talk about gaming devices is the chipset. It will be powered by an AMD customized processor. The processor uses AMD’s Zen 4 architecture with next-gen RDNA 3 graphics.
On the software side, Windows 11 is the choice made by ASUS for their first handheld gaming device. Moving on, you will also get a 3.5mm headphone jack and a Micro SD Card slot built-in. For security, there is a fingerprint sensor baked into the frame. ASUS ROG Ally is 608 grams heavy and measures 39mm thick. Lastly, you will get a USB-C port to charge the device, and the charging speeds supported by the device are capped at 66W.
Comparison with Valve’s Steam Deck
Firstly, there are some differences in the display. Steam Deck has a 16:10 aspect ratio display with 400 nits of peak brightness. Moreover, it only has a refresh rate of 60Hz and a resolution of 800p. All specifications are weaker on paper.
Furthermore, the Steam Deck is heavier at 669 grams and weighs 50.5mm which is a lot more than ASUS ROG Ally. Another difference seen by the users is that the ASUS handheld’s cooler is a lot quieter at 20dB while the Steam Deck by Valve runs at 37 dB. Software stability will only get tested when ASUS launches the device for the public. You can stay updated on the pre-orders on Best Buy.
