After some confusion on whether the ASUS ROG Ally was an elaborate April Fools’ joke, the company has confirmed the handheld portable PC is getting a launch event on May 11. In a release, ASUS formally announced the ROG Ally that is powered by an AMD Ryzen Z1 series processor with RDNA 3 graphics and will run on Windows 11. Without a doubt, this is probably the best competitor to a Steam Deck we’ve seen yet, but its price tag will determine whether or not it belongs in the conversation.
According to a PC Gamer report, the ROG Ally will be priced under $1,000 — but that could technically mean $999.99. Still, based on its specifications and possible performance, it may well be worth the price. The handheld PC features a 1080p, 120Hz display with FreeSync Premium support with a maximum brightness of 500 nits. The touchscreen also makes it easy to navigate the Windows desktop, especially since there are no touchpads like the ones found on the Steam Deck. ASUS says the unit weighs 608 grams, which is about 1.3 pounds.
The use of Windows 11 makes the ROG Ally particularly interesting, because unlike the Steam Deck, the Ally is capable of running Xbox Game Pass natively. In fact, ROG is bundling a 90-day trial of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with the Ally.
Pre-orders will likely go live on May 11, and it does appear there will be different configurations available, with up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and up to 512GB PCIe GEN4 storage. The Ally will have a built-in MicroSD slot for additional storage.
The official ASUS ROG Ally launch event will take place May 11 at 7:00am PDT or 10:00am EDT.
