ROG Ally

Not really feeling it - I also agree that this thing will likely be priced above $1k due to its specs. The external GPU support is cool, but I wonder how long that sort of setup would last before the CPU starts holding the GPU back.

What they should've done: use the custom SOC, pair it with a OLED (leave it at whatever resolution they can source for the cheapest, 720p or 1080p), remove the superfluous bits to save cost (glowing sticks, high refresh rates), add SteamOS support and price it in the ballpark of a Steam Deck at a slight premium.

That type of config I can see selling well for them, and then later on, when they've built some goodwill with the community, they can release their ROG version with the superfluous bits back on.
 
SeymourGore said:
Not really feeling it - I also agree that this thing will likely be priced above $1k due to its specs. The external GPU support is cool, but I wonder how long that sort of setup would last before the CPU starts holding the GPU back.

What they should've done: use the custom SOC, pair it with a OLED (leave it at whatever resolution they can source for the cheapest, 720p or 1080p), remove the superfluous bits to save cost (glowing sticks, high refresh rates), add SteamOS support and price it in the ballpark of a Steam Deck at a slight premium.

That type of config I can see selling well for them, and then later on, when they've built some goodwill with the community, they can release their ROG version with the superfluous bits back on.
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The CPU will already be holding back a higher end GPU I bet. It is only a 30w CPU at most I believe.
 
They´ve released the info on April Fools Day.

So no Westerner was included in the descision chain.

Asus products nowadays have atrocious wording.

Even on the hardware itself.

For Southeast Asian minds those wordings may makes sense.

For Westerners it simply sounds stupid, childish, sometimes pittifull and retarded.

As childish as they make their products look at the moment.

I can´t take their prices and marketing ideas seriously at the moment.

Hard pass for me.
 
Press Release from AMD:

Marees said:
With a Z1 Extreme, if you’re playing at 720p with low settings like you might comfortably do on a seven-inch handheld, AMD claims you can cross the 60fps line for games as demanding as Red Dead Redemption 2 and more than double that for Forza Horizon 4 — all upscaled to 1080p with AMD’s Radeon Super Resolution.

With a Z1, you lose the edge in some of the most demanding games, but the numbers aren’t bad! “I think what’s going on here: it’s not the CUs that are the limiting factor, it’s the LPDDR5,” says AMD senior technical marketing manager Don Woligroski. “The fast memory is, a lot of these cases, what these games are really hungry for.”

all these benchmarks were run in the Ally’s “Turbo Mode,” which lets the processor draw up to 30 watts, depending on the game. The Steam Deck’s processor runs at just half that and can typically make it to the two-hour mark in all but the most demanding games with its 40 watt-hour battery.

AMD says the Z1 and Z1 Extreme are temporarily exclusive to Asus but that we may see other partners in the future with these or future Z chips — the Z handheld gaming PC branding is here to stay. Currently, it’s a partnership between AMD’s gaming group (which handles Radeon GPUs) and client (which handles Ryzen processors).

In a press release, AMD writes that Asus will announce ROG Ally pricing and “more information” about availability on May 11th

https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/25/23696722/amd-ryzen-z1-z1-extreme-rog-ally
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Asus ROG Ally hands-on: Windows but tiny​


https://www.theverge.com/23695254/asus-rog-ally-handheld-gaming-pc-hands-on-preview

Overall, performance on the device itself was impressive. Running was smooth, jumps were explosive, colors were brilliant, and there was nary a stutter to be seen. I can’t emphasize enough how different of a gaming experience it is from the Steam Deck, which is lower in resolution, dimmer, and maxes out at 60fps (but will realistically only hit that on low graphics settings for many games).

Asus claims that the Ally’s battery life is comparable to that of the Steam Deck when both are running at 15 watts and that the Ally’s processor will default to 15 watts right out of the box. Fair enough, but the device was running at higher wattage during many of my demos — and AMD is sharing benchmark results for its Ryzen Z1 and Z1 Extreme processors today based on its close to 30W “Turbo” mode, not 15 watts.

z1_extreme_rog_ally_bench_amd.jpg

According to AMD, the Asus ROG Ally’s chip posts impressive FPS results, admittedly at an upscaled 720p and low settings. Image: AMD

z1__rog_ally_bench_amd.jpg

The vanilla Ryzen Z1, also seemingly coming to the ROG Ally, only significantly falls behind in more demanding games. Image: AMD
If the Ally actually sucks at running games at 15 watts — there’s precedent for that — and anyone who’s serious about their frame rates will be juicing up the GPU power a bit, that’s probably the more relevant battery life figure. The ROG Ally does let you tweak the TDP in several distinct ways, so stay tuned for more analysis from Sean in our review. For what it’s worth, AMD says the Ryzen Z1 Extreme is projected to hit 8.6 teraflops of GPU performance, which is much closer to a PS5 (10.28 teraflops) than a Steam Deck (1.6 teraflops).
 

Hands-on: The ROG Ally is a Steam Deck competitor with more power and options​


https://www.pcworld.com/article/179...r-gamers-who-want-more-power-and-options.html

An Asus representative told me that in testing they managed to get an average of about 90 minutes of game time, maybe two hours if they turned down the visual settings.

Asus wasn’t prepared to nail down a price for the Ally at the preview event. Unconfirmed leaks have pegged a base model at $650 and an upgraded version at $900. Frankly, that’s very optimistic. None of the early Windows-based Steam Deck alternatives have managed to come in under $1,000 and even with Asus’ access to incredible economies of scale, I’d be shocked to see it priced at anything less than a grand for a base model.
 

After trying the Asus ROG Ally, I’m ready to ditch my Steam Deck​


From a more comfortable design to a vastly improved screen, it’s the first device of its kind that doesn’t feel like a first-pass experiment. This could be the true start of the handheld PC era so long as the price is right.

When maxing out Forza Horizon 4, it seemed like I was on track for the battery to run out within an hour. That’s nothing to sneeze at though, considering a lot of high-end games tap out around there on Steam Deck, but with much lower performance.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/asus-rog-ally-hands-on-impressions/
 
It's going to come down to price, plain and simple. If the Ally is ~$500 it competes against the Deck, and sure, you lose the slick Valve experience but you get better hardware. If it's $1000, it competes against AYANEO and OneXPlayer, and while it will completely obsolete all of the no-name Shenzhen companies the $1000 handhelds aren't exactly selling like hotcakes and I don't think it's because they aren't Asus-branded...

The funny thing is Valve wins either way because you're probably installing Steam and buying games :)
 

The ASUS ROG Ally is sounding like a Steam Deck on steroids​

Depending on what RYZEN Z1 chip it gets, it could have a GPU performance that's not far off of the PS5. (Imo, probably PS4 pro rather than a PS5, lol )

Given what we know about the ROG Ally now, it sounds like it’s going to be a rather expensive gadget. As said earlier, ASUS may be looking to make the Ally a premium alternative rather than a direct competitor to the Steam Deck.

https://www.androidauthority.com/asus-rog-ally-2-3317132/
 
It will not be competitive with the deck. The Ally will be at least $1000. At that price point I think handhelds are pointless. Can get a far more powerful laptop.
 

Asus ROG Ally or Steam Deck? We tried them both to see which wins​


Although we’ve seen various Steam Deck alternatives, the ROG Ally seems uniquely positioned to challenge Valve’s handheld. Coming from a major brand with decades of experience in gaming laptops, it could provide some stiff competition.

The biggest hurdles right now are price and battery life. The Steam Deck offers an excellent valve with its $400 base price, and although the battery life isn’t perfect, it’s still manageable. The ROG Ally, if it wants to take on the Steam Deck, needs to have a decently low price and many tools to preserve your battery.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/asus-rog-ally-vs-steam-deck/
 
Leak: The Asus ROG Ally will cost $699.99 with an AMD Z1 Extreme

https://www.theverge.com/23700094/asus-rog-ally-price-amd-z1-extreme

That’s according to data shown to The Verge by reliable gadget leaker Roland Quandt, and an earlier leak by SnoopyTech. The data we’ve seen leaves little room for confusion — even the product number associated with the $699.99 gadget identifies it as the Z1 Extreme model with 512GB of storage, and we’ve got a long list of marketing claims in our possession that also look legitimate. I’m pretty sure it’s the real deal. Though it’s always possible the price is a placeholder; we won’t know for sure until May 11th.
 
vegeta535 said:
The CPU will already be holding back a higher end GPU I bet. It is only a 30w CPU at most I believe.
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Max 30w is for apu including both cpu & gpu

There is a setting to decrease it to 15w but no performance benchmarks at 15w just a vague comparison to steam deck
 
SeymourGore said:
Not really feeling it - I also agree that this thing will likely be priced above $1k due to its specs. The external GPU support is cool, but I wonder how long that sort of setup would last before the CPU starts holding the GPU back.

What they should've done: use the custom SOC, pair it with a OLED (leave it at whatever resolution they can source for the cheapest, 720p or 1080p), remove the superfluous bits to save cost (glowing sticks, high refresh rates), add SteamOS support and price it in the ballpark of a Steam Deck at a slight premium.

That type of config I can see selling well for them, and then later on, when they've built some goodwill with the community, they can release their ROG version with the superfluous bits back on.
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The price is too high! I think you can find a similar handheld at a lower price!
 
sk3tch said:
Frankly sounds too good to be true - especially since ASUS really doesn't have any kind of "walled garden" (like Steam does with their shop) to monetize? I'd be all over it at $700 though!
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right. I have a 512 SD and love it, no complaints at the price point. But, if the Asus comes in at those price points. Definitely may bite.
 
$599 for the base model, and $699 for the Z1 Extreme confirmed at ASUS ROG Ally livestream event.



Impressive pricing, and I like the ability to pair it up with a (albeit mobile) external GPU.

ETA Prime Hands-On

 
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I like the 700 dollar price point. I wish they would have used the 7500mt DDR5 instead of the 6400mt for added performance. I also don't like the 512gig of storage as the max option, even the GPD Win 3 I bought came with one TB. I am on the fence with this one with the price point.

Edit : I have also looked at the AOKZOE A1 Pro. Has similar CPU 7840 but the low version comes with 32 gigs of ram with a max of 64 gigs. Same 6400mt though. I also like the 8 inch display on that one but dont get the 120hz. I also say the new Win MAX is using the same 7840 APU but with the 7500mt DDR5.
 
ASUS Rog Ally reviews:

IGN (8/10): https://ign.com/articles/asus-rog-ally-review…

The Verge (5/10): https://theverge.com/23719210/asus-rog-ally-review…

Ars: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/05/the-asus-rog-ally-runs-windows-eats-battery-and-needs-time-to-cook/…

PCGamesN: https://pcgamesn.com/asus/rog-ally-review…

Tom's Hardware (3.5/5): https://tomshardware.com/reviews/asus-rog-ally-ryzen-z1-extreme…

Tom's Guide: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/asus-rog-ally

Polygon: https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23718673/asus-rog-ally-review-steam-deck-what-to-buy

Xbox Wire: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2023/05/11/asus-rog-ally-hands-on/

PC Mag (4/5): https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/asus-rog-ally

Dexerto (3/5): https://www.dexerto.com/tech/asus-rog-ally-review-2141703/

Digital Trends: https://www.digitaltrends.com/gamin...er&utm_medium=socialorg&utm_campaign=rss-feed
 
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After looking a little more at the Ally one major thing I dont like is one usb-c port and thats it besides the external video card port. This is terrible, it could have at least used a USB-A port. I would much rather see 2 usb-c ports with a usb-a so I can have it hooked up to power, my tv, and a xbox wireless controller.
 
relapse808 said:
After looking a little more at the Ally one major thing I dont like is one usb-c port and thats it besides the external video card port. This is terrible, it could have at least used a USB-A port. I would much rather see 2 usb-c ports with a usb-a so I can have it hooked up to power, my tv, and a xbox wireless controller.
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It's not like the Steam Deck has that either. Just buy a USB hub or docking station. I'm sure an unbranded Steam Deck dock will work just fine.
 
Retro Game Corps less technical more actual use experience and direct Deck comparison Some interesting nitpicks. My son and I went half on the preorder. Neither of us looking to replace the Deck.
 
The battery life is pretty rough, nothing a 10ft power cable couldn't resolve to still make it very mobile. Not sure why it is up against the steam deck other than the fact it is the only competitor even if it is apples and oranges in terms of performance.
 
deaedius said:
The battery life is pretty rough, nothing a 10ft power cable couldn't resolve to still make it very mobile. Not sure why it is up against the steam deck other than the fact it is the only competitor even if it is apples and oranges in terms of performance.
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Agreed. The Ally does not seem like a true mobile gaming unit as we see SteamDeck outpace it at lower power modes. The Ally seems more like an at home gaming device to be plugged in while your are relaxing wherever and want higher end gaming. Nothing wrong with that, just figure your use case.

The bigger two takeaways I saw were a repeatedly malfunctioning X key on the production unit Ally, and the nearly 100% lack of 3rd party repair on the Ally, and Asus is not exactly known for opening is ecosystem.
 
A fool and his money are soon parted. Anyone who buys this deserves to lose their money.
The GPU is barely enough to push the 720P screen in anything semi recent. What makes you think it will be able to push something at a MUCH higher resolution?
 
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Asus ROG Ally vs Steam Deck: can powerful new tech deliver a game-changing handheld?​

Out-specs Steam Deck - but battery life and bugs are problematic.

Silent mode targets 9W and I found that pretty much any modern 3D game to turn into a slideshow here - the Z1 Extreme processor is starved of power. More worrying is that performance is drastically under par here, where in a Fary Cry 2 benchmark, the Deck performed 48 percent faster (!). Performance mode targets 15W, but general operating power draw across the system is closer to 22-30W fully unleashed.

the Asus ROG Ally delivers reasonable-but-rarely-spectacular gains over Deck in the 15W performance mode, but it's only in turbo mode that you see a game-changing improvement. And if you map that 37W-48W power draw to the 40WHr battery, you end up close to where you were with the AyaNeo 2 we reviewed a while back: brilliant gaming, but not for long. The Ally in portable turbo mode can exhaust the battery in just 45-50 minutes of play.

https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2023-asus-rog-ally-vs-steam-deck-review?page=2

To put some comparisons together, I opted to start a new game of God of War on the Deck, Ally and Air Plus and to see how long they lasted until gameplay expired. I used the 15W performance mode in all cases and noted that with unlocked frame-rates, they all ran for much the same time. The disappointment here is the AyaNeo Air Plus, which actually has a 46WHr battery up against the 40WHr in the Deck and Ally.

Battery LifeSteam DeckAsus ROG AllyAyaNeo Air Plus
Unlocked FPS81 Minutes82 Minutes79 Minutes
30FPS Cap136 Minutes101 Minutes79 Minutes
Running a triple-A game unlocked isn't a great idea, so on a second run I ran all of the devices with a 30fps cap. This didn't help the Air Plus much as it was running at circa 30fps anyway - but it should help both Deck and Ally. What surprised me is that despite the Ally having more GPU headroom left over (as it runs much faster than the Steam machine unlocked), it's the Deck that gained the most battery life with the 30fps frame-rate cap in place - a dramatic improvement over the Ally's more modest, disappointing gains.
 
Falkentyne said:
A fool and his money are soon parted. Anyone who buys this deserves to lose their money.
The GPU is barely enough to push the 720P screen in anything semi recent. What makes you think it will be able to push something at a MUCH higher resolution?
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Older games could certainly benefit. I will admit it does seem relatively niche.

I almost ended up in the position of buying one of those screens. My Deck dropped out of the case onto dirt and rocks, with the screen facing the ground. I don't recall my case being unzipped at any point when I had it in the vehicle. I quickly put it back into the case without looking at it and put it away for a few days. Finally ended up looking at it and there's not a single scratch on the device. Bravo, Valve.
 
How to optimize battery / TDP for ROG ALLY (but Resolution has to be dropped to 720p & frame rate capped between 40 & 60 hz)

 
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