Asus unveils the ROG Ally, a handheld gaming console to rival Steam Deck

04 April 2023
Looks like a promising alternative to the Steam Deck but we still have lots of questions.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • 6cb
  • 05 Apr 2023

No samsung brand no buy

    AnonD-1086827, 05 Apr 2023Handheld consoles are a niche product and should be treated... moreYes. Handhelds are never going to take off because they simply aren't worth it.

    People don't want to buy a specialised device that can only do one thing and forces you to pay for games.

    Everyone already has a phone already and there are millions of good free games.

      • T
      • Trooper
      • mE0
      • 05 Apr 2023

      Daemon Targaryen, 05 Apr 2023I'm just waiting for the handheld that is as small as ... moreThat's never going to happen, we don't live in a perfect world...

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • Ke1
        • 05 Apr 2023

        Daemon Targaryen, 05 Apr 2023I'm just waiting for the handheld that is as small as ... moreTry 20-100 years, there no way to pack enough energy to last 10 hours at max settings and remain safe and legal for a consumer product, it would basically be a bomb, we would need some kind of basically magical generator that could pull waste heat and ambient heat into energy, making the SoC near 100% efficient and the only main energy usage being the screen and speaker powered off ambient heat energy

          Anonymous, 05 Apr 2023People are forgetting one thing. It will have Windows on Ar... moreYou bloody Muppets as usual have no idea what you talking about. Which Steam alike PC console runs on the Arm, name one? :d all of them running on the AMD apu's no exception for Asus Rog Ally, it will be x86 PC with custom AMD APU same like steam deck, except this one promises double the performance :)

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • UG4
            • 05 Apr 2023

            Daemon Targaryen, 05 Apr 2023I'm just waiting for the handheld that is as small as ... morePC Games are a HOG. Developers does not optimise it much, do not see the need to even, why bother when 99% of their target customer is plugged in?

            Nintendo’s developers have to squeeze every juice out of the system. Their hardware is lacking. But then again, because of the low specs, gamers can keep on gaming for a long time.

            Gamers blame developers why their games not coming or is lagging on Switch.. Then developer try to defend themselves.. saying the specs is not enough.. etc etc.

            Mobile gaming is the future, because nearly everyone have a phone.. and developers are serious to reach as many people as possible.. so they have to keep on optimising to keep up.. however their greed make them think of way to profit even more.

              This is what we needed double performance of steam deck, out pressure on Valve.

                I'm just waiting for the handheld that is as small as the base model Samsung Galaxy S23. Can give me 8 to 10 hours of gameplay at MAX settings instead of 1.5 to 2 hours. Why deal with visual compromises? Has great standby time like the Vita. Works well out of the box. No bugs from the OS. No need to tinker it like crazy just to play games perfectly. Could take us another 5 years.

                The current Steam Deck is like that first PlayStation or iPhone. It seems revolutionary. It's the first one. A game changer thanks to that affordable price. But over time, PlayStation and iPhone line got so much better. The iPhone 4 really took things to another level. The 4S through 5S kept raising it until the X really took iPhone to that next level we're in now. Google started modest too with the Nexus One. By Nexus 4 and 5, Nexus became pretty awesome.

                We're still in the beta stages of the Steam Deck and its competitors. There is just too much compromises and tinkering to get it to run to how you want it. Most of that will not appeal to the mass market. Switch might already be 6-years-old but it's still a more polished product with an established ecosystem. And many of these handhelds will deal with large games at 100 GB and upwards to download that a 2 to 3 TB Steam Deck will start to feel puny.

                Nintendo has been in this handheld game for 43 years dating back to the Game & Watch. They understand the portable market. Valve is still learning the way Sony was still learning with their PS1. Can't wait for the Steam Deck 2 in 4 to 5 years. I'm hoping it's at least the same size as the GPD Win 4 minus the keyboard. The GPD Win 4 is my favorite design and form factor among the portable Windows PCs released the last 5 years.

                Steam Deck's arrival is great for the industry. But there are still too many flaws with the handhelds we currently have to make them as mainstream as the ones Nintendo brings out.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • nDV
                  • 05 Apr 2023

                  To the other commenters: the AMD APU is an x86_64 chip, where are you getting the impression that this will run 'Windows on ARM'? It will run regular Windows 11 with vendor tweaks. The Steam Deck is not an ARM device, either.

                    • D
                    • AnonD-1086827
                    • ps9
                    • 05 Apr 2023

                    Daemon Targaryen, 05 Apr 2023My General Thoughts On Current Handhelds Steam Deck still ... moreHandheld consoles are a niche product and should be treated like one. Yeah, they are nice to have around, but not as single owned product for gaming (as many people want them to be).
                    One thing is to play Elden Ring for example on a 7" display (no matter how high quality that display is), and another thing to play it on a 70" TV, or even a 27"-32" Monitor.
                    Bottom line, if someone is interested and really likes gaming, they 100% have a console or PC gaming in the house. So, the handheld can be an extension of those things (used maybe from time to time), not a replacement.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • mEb
                      • 05 Apr 2023

                      Most people will be buying Steam deck because price of this will likely be 500+ dollars.

                      If this would have freesync 48-120hz display, starting 128gb fast ufs storage i could see this have some popularity for 599 dollars for people who want better 1080p screen and more power than what steam deck offers.

                      With Nintendo Switch 2 rumors i can see these pc alternatives to be tough sell because Switch 2 could offer 1080p display, better battery life(because arm soc), Nintendo library of games, cheaper price(like 399 dollars).

                      Valve have told that with Steam Deck 2 they are focusing on battery life instead of more powerful hardware which i think is a mistake because they could offer comparable specs(1080p 60hz display, 16gb ram, 128gb ufs storage etc) to Switch 2 with comparable price because they own their own marketplace so they can offer that device at cost, other oems like Asus are in bad situation because they need to make profit from hardware so they should offer more premium offers than Valve and Nintendo(1080p freesync 48-120hz display) for like 200 dollars more.

                        Anonymous, 05 Apr 2023half the battery lifeValve claimed that Steam Deck gets 2-8 hours while you can drain it from 100% to 0% less than 2 hrs. ROG Ally will not have 1-4 hrs of screen on time. Plus, Do remember that processing nodes and battery WH and MAH levels are a thing.

                          Anonymous, 05 Apr 2023People are forgetting one thing. It will have Windows on Ar... morewindows arm?? disgustang
                          worse than windows vista.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • XS%
                            • 05 Apr 2023

                            People are forgetting one thing. It will have Windows on Arm and that platform has serious issues. Steam Deck has an advantage there.

                              Great to see a Windows-powered handheld gaming console from an established company, but I doubt it'll cost the same as the Steam Deck. There's no way ASUS can make the ROG Ally similar to or cheaper than the Steam Deck unless ASUS use older-generation hardware.

                                Hemedans, 05 Apr 2023You mean legion? Rog is aliveWhoops my bad

                                  My General Thoughts On Current Handhelds
                                  Steam Deck still remains the best price for performance ratio in the gaming industry. For $400, you're basically getting a portable PS4 and PC with an already established ecosystem.

                                  With that said, I still do not think we're at point where we can ever get the right portability, battery life, and max performances for devices like the SD. There are still compromises. The OS for each of them aren't perfect whether it's Windows, Linux, or Android. You need to tinker with certain layouts with the UI and different menus. There's just too much legwork for a layman trying to play games from 20 to 30 years ago.

                                  Many Chinese handhelds for emulation with Android is a no-go for a lot of people which is already a niche demographic. So many videos, I watch the user needing to downgrade the settings to 30 fps or 40 fps. You'll get a worse-looking visual experience compared to the one you can play on your TV or monitor. And you need to do it to increase battery life.

                                  There are still big COMPROMISES when owning one of these large, powerful, PC handhelds. They're big and bulky. Outside the SD, they usually cost over $1000. Their battery life is crap across the board even with decent settings. Not like the Switch with weaker hardware was ever great at that either. Customer/aftermarket service is still questionable from the Chinese brands.

                                  I'm thinking this current generation of handhelds is similar to home consoles from the 4th gen through the 6th gen. Basically from Genesis/SNES era all the way up to Dreamcast/PS2/GCN/Xbox eras. Or in smartphones, from 2007-2016. There is still a lot of room for improvement.

                                  We're still living in a very progressive era where these handhelds aren't quite perfected yet. There is still going to be leaps in areas like GPU and battery life. This is why I love my Vita. When I want a handheld, I want good battery life and a comfortable, pocketable form factor. We have none of this with the Steam Deck, GPD Win 4, and so on.

                                  Steam Deck is as big as an Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear, and Nomad for goodness sakes. And battery life stinks like those 90s handhelds had. We're not quite there yet with the Steam Deck. It's still Valve's first handheld. It will only get better with future successors. But like the game show Bob Barker used to host: the price is right.

                                    • D
                                    • AnonD-1086827
                                    • nrH
                                    • 05 Apr 2023

                                    Anonymous, 05 Apr 2023Steam Deck needs an upgrade now. Sony should also release a... moreAnd it will receive an update. Is already rumored a version 2. But, people are still buying the Steam Deck. So, when the sales will be poor, they will do a refresh.
                                    The technology is certainly there to make an upgrade (in performance at least).

                                      • D
                                      • AnonD-1086827
                                      • nrH
                                      • 05 Apr 2023

                                      you have to suffer, 04 Apr 2023they did rival the steam deck. 720p vs 1080p screen.. dont... moreImagine how much it would cost an Oled 1080p 120Hz handheld console? This is not a smartphone.
                                      I would feel better if the features are compared to the Steam Deck, just to keep the price down.

                                      Also, as a side note, where are Sony and especially those "good guys" at Nintendo? The technology has evolved, so they need to make a refresh already of that Switch. Is been what, 6 years with the same hardware (which wasn't that powerful even for 2017 standards). Some games barely run on that ancient hardware and game developers need to do extra work to make it run at least at 30fps.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • vaS
                                        • 05 Apr 2023

                                        Steam Deck needs an upgrade now. Sony should also release a handheld console that can play all those exclusives PlayStation games.

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