There have been many clones of the Steam Deck, but perhaps none as solid as the ASUS ROG Ally. The device was announced on April Fools’ Day, then ASUS confirmed it was not a joke. We now have a few more details on it, including more of its specs and a full reveal date.
The device was previously confirmed to be running an AMD chip, with no details other than it’s using Zen 4 cores, RDNA 3 graphics, and is “custom-built” for the platform in a similar fashion to the silicon in the Steam Deck. We now know that the silicon inside is the Ryzen Z1 series of handheld CPUs, which were also unveiled in a more detailed fashion by AMD today. The device will also sport up to 16GB of LPDDR5 dual-channel RAM and 512GB of (upgradeable) PCIe 4.0 storage, ensuring your games are pulled from your storage as fast as possible.
The device also comes with a 120Hz 1080p display, meaning that if you manage to go past the 60fps mark in your games, your eyes will thank you for it. And the handheld also has what ASUS calls “ROG Zero Gravity” cooling, which is a fancy name for fans and heatsinks that will keep your device cool regardless of what orientation you like to play in.
Some reviewers have already gotten their hands on the handheld, with some reviewers calling it the “most powerful handheld gaming PC yet.” However, there’s still no word on battery life. It’s possible the hardware given to reviewers isn’t final, so battery life estimates might be a worst-case scenario, or ASUS just doesn’t want anyone talking about battery life just yet.
We’re still missing a few key details — notably, price and availability date. Those will be unveiled on May 11, during ASUS’ full unveil keynote. All we know for now is that it’ll cost, in the words of an ASUS representative, surely “below $1,000.”
