Steam Deck Competitor Asus ROG Ally Confirms Superior Specs

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Taiwanese tech company ASUS has confirmed the specs of its upcoming handheld gaming PC, the ROG Ally, and while its price point has yet to be revealed, it will seemingly be a worthy competitor to the leading Steam Deck, as it is clearly superior in nearly every way.

As relayed by Rock Paper Shotgun, The ROG Ally's screen will allow for 1080p resolution, as well as a 120Hz refresh rate, as opposed to the Steam Deck, whose screen only reaches 800p and a 60Hz refresh rate. Though many argue that higher resolution doesn't matter much on smaller screens due to pixel density (essentially, it's harder for the human eye to notice the difference), it is still an improvement over the Steam Deck, especially for games that surpass 60FPS.

The ROG Ally will have a PCle 4.0 512GB SSD. The SSD storage size for the Steam Deck varies between its different offerings, but even on the highest priced Steam Deck ($649), its 512 SSD has a PCle 3.0 drive, so the one on the ROG Ally should result in faster loading. The ROG Ally also features UHS-II microSD support, which essentially means that data will travel faster from a game that's stored in your microSD card, if you choose to get one for more storage.

The wait is almost over! 👏
We are thrilled to announce that we will be unveiling our the ROG Ally's specifications, availability and pricing on May 11 at 10AM ET.

Save the date & tune in live on ROG's YouTube & Twitch!
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— ROG Global (@ASUS_ROG) April 25, 2023

Finally, the ROG Ally will also feature AMD Ryzen Z1 chips for its processors. There will be at least two skews, one with a standard Z1 chip and one with the so-called Z1 Extreme. As reported by PC Gamer, The Z1 can reach up to 2.8 teraflops, while the Z1 can manage a whopping 8.6. Both are higher than the Steam Deck, which peaks at 1.6 teraflops. As confirmed above, more information about the Ally will be revealed on May 11.

Another bonus for the ROG Ally, aptly mentioned by Rock Paper Shotgun, is that it will natively run Windows 11, so players will be able to easily play non-Steam games, as opposed to on the Steam Deck, where players must first either download a different OS or download a third-party launcher in a roundabout way.

The popularity of console-level gaming on handheld devices has been on the rise ever since the release of the Switch in 2017, but it reached a new level when the Steam Deck hit the market, as that allowed for never-before-seen performance and fidelity on handheld devices. Numerous other tech brands have attempted to compete with Valve by launching their own handheld gaming PC, but none have gotten even close in popularity.

The ROG Ally may be a worthy competitor in terms of specs, but it probably won't have the same mass-market appeal, as it will likely be priced much higher. However, PC Gamer states that ASUS's Global Marketing Director, Galip Fu, confirmed the device will be priced under $1,000.