Asus ROG Ally already has an official price: will it outshine the Steam Deck?

Asus has delivered on its promise and finally unveiled laptop pricing. HORN ally, a portable console with which he will try to outshine Steam Deck. Since there were some leaks a couple of weeks ago, hardware enters the market at really attractive prices given its promising characteristics. Of course, there is one “but” that will surely make some consumers think twice before opening a wallet.

Asus ROG Ally in the basic version costTo $599. We must remember that this option offers lower performance compared to its older sister. He has an APU AMD Ryzen Z1 is based on Zen 4 and RDNA 3 architectures. Its CPU consists of 6 cores / 12 threads with a maximum clock speed of 4.939 GHz, and the GPU has 4 cores and achieves average graphics performance 2.8 teraflops. It will ship with 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 512GB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage.

But the model that really grabs everyone’s attention, especially because of her performancethis is an ally of ASUS ROG with APU AMD Ryzen Z1 Extremewhich can be yours $699. Its processor has 8 cores, 16 threads and a clock speed of up to 5.1 GHz, while the GPU in turn increases to 12 cores. Its graphical performance consequently soars to 8.6 teraflops. As for RAM and storage, they have the same performance as the base variant.

You also need to remember that the screen in both devices is 7 inches with a resolution of 1080p and a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz.

Both will be available first in the United States. ASUS ROG Ally with AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme is now available for pre-order on BestBuy and general sale starts on June 13th. The entry-level model will wait until the third quarter of this year.

The Asus ROG Ally is temptingly priced, but…

On paper, both the specs and the prices make you think that we are facing the most serious rival of the Steam Deck, right? Not so fast.

Just today, some media outlets shared their analysis after having it in their hands for weeks. In general, most agree that its performance is impressive and vastly superior to Steam Deck. The problem is, as with any computer, more performance means more power consumption, and the Asus ROG Ally is no stranger to that.

The main drawback of Asus’ offering is, indeed, the battery.. IN edge we mention that at best, ROG Ally can extend its autonomy up to 4 hours, but will reduce the performance of games. If you want to enjoy them to the fullest, it will last an hour -approximately-. The good news in this section is that Asus has included a 65W fast charger, so you can get 50% in 40 minutes by continuing to play.

Another frustration is related to its software. First, Windows 11 is not yet optimized for such devices. On the other hand, ROG Armory Crate SE, Asus’ software for quick access to games, there are still errors that interfere with the experience. Let’s see if the company rushes to fix them.