The ASUS ROG Ally PC handheld device will start selling at $599, according to respected leaker SnoopyTech, with its basic edition featuring AMD Ryzen Z1 APU, 16 GB LPDDR5 RAM, and 256 GB NVMe M.2 SSD.
SnoopyTech had previously leaked the price of the most expensive edition, which comes equipped with the Z1 Extreme, the same amount of RAM, and 512 GB NVMe M.2 SSD for storage, for $699.
AMD officially detailed the differences between the Ryzen Z1 and Z1 Extreme APUs a few days ago. Both were specifically created for high-performance PC handheld devices, though they are a custom version of the new AMD Ryzen 7 7840U APU that will also power upcoming products like the AOKZOE A1 PRO/A2 and the AYANEO 2S. In all these cases, AMD's new APUs couple Zen 4 CPU technology with RDNA 3 GPU technology.
According to AMD, the Ryzen Z1 has a 6 core/12 thread processor, 4 RDNA 3 graphics cores, 22MB of total cache, and an estimated 2.8 Teraflops of computing power. The Ryzen Z1 Extreme is much more powerful thanks to its 8 core/16 thread processor, 12 RDNA 3 graphics cores, 24MB of total cache, and an estimated 8.6 Teraflops of computing power, which is slightly more than the PlayStation 4 Pro home console.
AMD also shared some benchmarks, effectively providing the first look at the performance of the ASUS ROG Ally. At low settings and a 1080p resolution (720p native upscaled through Radeon Super Resolution), the Z1 Extreme offered 60 FPS or more in the following PC games:
- Far Cry 6
- Company of Heroes 3
- Borderlands 3
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- DOTA 2
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Forza Horizon 4
- CS: GO
The Z1, on the other hand, lagged behind with frame rate in some of these games, such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Red Dead Redemption 2, Grand Theft Auto V, and Forza Horizon 4. Still, it should offer a playable experience, albeit with a few more compromises.
The ASUS ROG Ally is said to be relatively light (608g, 60g less than the Steam Deck). It also has a native 16:9 1920x1080 7-inch screen featuring a 120Hz refresh rate, Adaptive Sync support, and 500 nits of brightness (way more than competitors and supposedly enough to combat sun glares). The audio component is covered by front-facing dual speakers with Dolby Atmos support. Cooling is handled with a dual-fan design that promises 'quiet operation'.
The device comes preinstalled with Windows 11 and a customized edition of the ASUS Armoury Crate software. Lastly, the ASUS ROG Ally can even be connected to the ROG XG Mobile eGPU, an external graphics dock that adds the mightiest graphics card (the GeForce RTX 4090) to your configuration.
More information will be officially revealed by ASUS on May 11th. At this point, the most critical tidbit is the device's battery life; if ASUS can deliver on that, too, Valve may finally have a serious rival for its Steam Deck.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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