Asus Prepares Ally To Crush Steam Deck On June 13th
Asus has announced its new generation handheld gaming console series, Ally, with a launch date of June 13 via BestBuy. Pre-orders may be placed immediately by those who wish to reserve one, but let’s first consider the greatest reason that you might want one:
| AMD Handheld APUs | Cores/Threads | RDNA Gen | Compute Units | Teraflops | Cache (MB) | TDP (W) |
| Ryzen Z1 Extreme | 8/16 | 3 | 12 | 8.6 | 24 | 9-30W |
| Ryzen Z1 | 6/12 | 3 | 4 | 2.8 | 22 | 9-30W |
| Steam Deck APU | 4/8 | 2 | 8 | 1.6 | 8 | 15 |
The version of the Ally that launches on June 13 has the fastest of the two new APUs, and both of those make rubbish of the previous-gen part used in the Steam Deck. We’re talking about over five times the performance for a $50 price difference.
Did that just make you do a double take? We certainly did: The Ryzen Z1 Extreme version of the Asus Ally, including its special antiglare coated screen and 512GB 2230 M.2 drive, is priced at only $699 here in the US. Meanwhile, the 512GB Steam Deck is $650.
| Model | ROG Ally |
| Operating System | Windows 11 Home |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen™ Z1 Extreme Processor CPU: Zen 4 architecture, 8-core /16-threads, 24MB total cache ,up to 5.10 Ghz boost GPU: 12 RDNA3 CUs, up to 2.7GHz, 8.6 TFlops, default 4GB RAM capacity APU Power: 9-30W |
| Display | 7-inch |
| FHD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 | |
| IPS-level | |
| glossy display | |
| 500 nits peak brightness | |
| sRGB:100% | |
| Gorilla® Glass Victus™ | |
| Gorilla® Glass DXC | |
| Touch Screen (10-point multi-touch) | |
| Refresh Rate:120Hz | |
| Response Time:7ms | |
| Support Dolby Vision HDR | |
| AMD FreeSync™ Premium | |
| Memory | 16GB LPDDR5 on board (6400MT/s dual channel) |
| Storage | 512GB PCIe® 4.0 NVMe™ M.2 SSD (2230) |
| I/O Ports | 1 x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack |
| 1 x ROG XG Mobile Interface and USB Type-C combo port (with USB 3.2 Gen2, supports DisplayPort™ 1.4) | |
| 1 x UHS-II microSD card reader (supports SD, SDXC and SDHC) | |
| Control and Input | Gamepad controls: A B X Y buttons D-pad L & R Hall Effect analog triggers L & R bumpers View button Menu button Command Center button Armoury Crate button 2 x assignable grip buttons Thumbsticks: 2 x full-size analog sticks with capacitive touch Haptics: HD haptics Gyro: 6-Axis IMU |
| Audio | AI noise-canceling technology |
| Dolby Atmos | |
| Hi-Res certification | |
| Built-in array microphone | |
| 2-speaker system with Smart Amplifier Technology | |
| Network and Communication | Triple band Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) 2 x 2 Bluetooth 5.21 |
| Battery | 40WHrs |
| Power Supply | 65W USB Type-C PD 3.0 power supply Adapter: 65W AC Adapter, Output: 20V DC, 3.25A, 65W, Input: 100~240V AC 50/60Hz universal |
| AURA SYNC | Yes |
| Weight | ~608g (1.34 lbs) |
| Dimensions (W x D x H) | 28.0 x 11.1 x 2.12 ~ 3.24 cm (11.02″ x 4.37″ x 0.83″ ~ 1.27″) |
| Xbox Game Pass | 3 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate included2 |
| Security | Built-in Fingerprint Sensor Microsoft Pluton security processor |
Get it at Amazon
(click for availability)
Unlike some other sites that spoke of dollars and Euros, we at the northern border were privy to the US and Canadian press releases: Our sympathies go out to Canadians who are being asked to pay $200 more.
