The ASUS ROG Ally, a handheld gaming console, will be released on 11 May globally, including in Malaysia. It’s powered by a custom-made AMD Ryzen Z1 APU, which is the heart of the device. Initially, there was little information about the console, but now we know more about what to expect from this portable gaming machine.
The ROG Ally can be equipped with one of two AMD Ryzen APUs: the standard Z1 or the more powerful Z1 Extreme. The Ryzen Z1 has 6 cores, 12 threads, 4 AMD RDNA3 Compute Units, and a cache size of 22MB. The Z1 Extreme has 8 cores, 16 threads, triple the RDNA3 Compute Units, and a slightly larger cache of 24MB. Both CPUs are built on the smaller and more powerful 5nm process node. The Z1 delivers up to 2.8 TFLOPS of graphics performance, while the Z1 Extreme provides over 8.6 TFLOPS of power, which ASUS claims is “double the performance” of the Steam Deck. At 15W of power, the ROG Ally can achieve about 50% better performance.
The ROG Ally has a 7-inch Full HD display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, a 120Hz refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 500 nits. It has a 40WHr internal battery, which is expected to be power efficient due to the up-to-date hardware. The console uses a dual-fan configuration called ROG Zero Gravity for cooling. The controller layout is similar to an Xbox controller but with proprietary buttons at the edges of the display. There are two paddle buttons on the back, and the console has Wi-Fi 6E connectivity.
The ROG Ally has a power button cum fingerprint scanner, volume rocker, a USB4 port, a microSD card slot, and an XG Mobile dock. It can connect to ASUS’ eGPU. It runs on Microsoft’s Windows 11 OS, which ensures compatibility. It weighs 608g. The price of the ROG Ally is not yet known, but ASUS hinted that it will be competitive with the Steam Deck, which is priced at US$700 (~RM3122). The console will be available on May 11, and more information will be available after it is released.
