What we thought to be an April Fool’s Day prank turns out to be a real product. A couple of days ago, the Taiwan-based computer maker officially announced the ASUS ROG Ally. This ROG’s first Windows 11 gaming handheld device is powered by an all-new AMD Ryzen processor for 1080p gaming.
With next-gen hardware, the ASUS ROG Ally will let you enjoy full HD AAA titles from any platform, including Steam, Epic, Xbox Game Pass, and more. Speaking of Xbox Game Pass, it includes 3 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate out of the box to get you started.
Powered by an all-new AMD Ryzen Z1 Series processor, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme, which boasts 8 cores, 16 threads, and up to 8.6 teraflops of graphics processing power, the Ally support FidelityFX Super Resolution and AMD Radeon Super Resolution upscaling technologies for excellent performance and stunning visuals in demanding AAA and indie titles.
You can choose to play solo as a regular handheld or connect to a TV to play with family and friends, or you can turn it into a gaming PC by hooking it up to the ROG XG Mobile suite of external GPUs:
“When paired with an XG Mobile external GPU sporting up to an NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4090 Laptop GPU, the Ally becomes a true gaming powerhouse for living room couch gaming or a high-end experience with mouse and keyboard. Gamers can play AAA games at 4K with ray tracing and DLSS 3, or take down the competition in high-framerate esports titles.”
So, this device is kind of a good alternative for gamers who have always wanted the best of both worlds. However, the financial outlay is going to hurt your wallet quite a bit. More on that in a bit.
Key tech specs include a 120 Hz 7” FHD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) 16:9 IPS-level glossy touchscreen display, 500 nits of peak brightness, Gorilla Glass Victus, Gorilla Glass DXC, support Dolby Vision HDR, support AMD FreeSync Premium, 16 GB LPDDR5 RAM, 512 GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD, ROG Aura Sync, built-in fingerprint sensor a 3.5 mm combo audio jack, an ROG XG Mobile Interface and USB type-C combo port (with USB 32. Gen 2, supports DisplayPort 1.4), a UHS-II microSD card reader, Dolby Atmos, built-in array microphone, 2-speaker system with Smart Amplifier Technology, AI noise-canceling technology, Hi-Res Audio Certified, tri-band Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, a 40 Wh battery, and a 65 W USB Type-C PD 3.0 power supply.
Pre-orders for the US$699 ASUS ROG Ally AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme Processor started on May 11. The device will go on sale worldwide starting on June 13, 2023. If you are looking to turn it into a gaming PC, you will need to pick up the XG Mobile with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU for US$1,999, or the XG Mobile with an AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT for US$799.
But before you dive into it, you may want to know that there is a Ryzen Z1 variant will be available later in 2023 with 6 cores and 12 processing threads, which will sell for US$599.
Images: ASUS.
