Over the weekend, when many companies put out prank announcements or acquisitions for April Fools, Asus announced and released the ROG Ally. ROG Ally boasts to be not just a competitor to the Steam Deck, but also a superior version of a handheld console itself. It boasts a 120 HZ refresh rate making it a handheld that can actually reach 120 fps on games. Granted it is mainly going to help with indie games and lower-resolution games.
Introducing ROG’s first gaming handheld console!
Taking your PC games out of your gaming room is no longer a fantasy!Play wherever you are, whenever you want. With the #ROGALLY, you’ll never have to stop gaming again!
Notify me 👉 https://t.co/ljc2GNN0UU#ROG pic.twitter.com/6iqyGbTGa4
— ROG Global (@ASUS_ROG) April 1, 2023
If you are someone who is a tech person and wants a better breakdown for this console itself, check out Linus Tech Tips video on his first hands-on impression.
ROG Ally is exactly 608 grams because it was a number the team loved due to it meaning personal growth. It sounds like Asus was working on a bunch of handheld type blueprints and after seeing the Steam Deck selling some serious numbers decided to get their foot in the door. Asus is known for a lot of different types of computer and laptop hardware. This allows them to work with higher end equipment and test with more settings. One of the reasons the ROG Ally runs so well is it has two different heatsinks in the back having two exhausts creating a more balanced distribution of heat.
The operating system is Windows based with its new gaming type compatibility of Windows 11. That has a variety of pros and cons for those of you who have tested Windows 11 and gaming on computers with it.
One of my favorite parts of the ROG Ally I have read and seen is its ability to be connected to Graphics Cards via the XG Mobile device that also allows you to dock the ROG Ally and play higher end games on larger TVs and monitors. Even if the internal RDNA 3 chip won’t hit 4k, you can plug in a new high end graphics card and instantly make it a 4k 120fps device.
The early release prototype previews weren’t allowed to reveal everything like the official FPS stats, micro sd card speeds and internal speeds or even the wifi network adapter speeds, but it does look promising. There is also the problem that the ROG Ally doesn’t have an official price point yet, but with these specs I would bet it is more expensive than the Steam Deck.
As more information about the ROG Ally is revealed, we will post about it! Until then you can sign up for Best Buy alerts when it becomes in stock.