What started as a an April fools day gaff but later turned out to be a real product, ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) has officially unleashed their latest beast, the ROG Ally. This bad boy is a Windows 11 gaming handheld that’s packing some serious heat with the supercharged AMD Ryzen™ Z1 Extreme processor. The Ally promises impressive performance in AAA games and indie titles, all in glorious 1080p up to 120Hz.
Starting from June 13, 2023, you’ll be able to snatch up the ROG Ally with 512 GB of storage from stores in Australia and New Zealand. It’s gonna set you back AUD$1,299/NZD$1,499, which seems a lot but given what this thing can do, it’s likely to be worth every penny.
The ROG Ally is a next-gen handheld that’s all about delivering Full HD (FHD) gaming on the go, a feat not even the impressive Valve Steamdeck can achieve. And unlike that console, the Ally runs on Windows 11, meaning you can play games from any platform including Steam, Epic and Xbox Game Pass.
Want to take your gaming to the big screen? No problemo. Just connect the Ally to your TV via HDMI and enjoy upto 4K output. And if you really want to kick things up a notch, grab yourself the ROG XG Mobile suite of external GPUs for some RTX 40-series enhanced gaming.
Powering all this is the custom AMD Ryzen Z1 Series processor. This powerhouse, built on the “Zen 4” architecture with AMD RDNA 3 graphics, is similar to AMD’s already successful desktop and laptop APU’s. It comes in two flavours; the Z1 Extreme with 8 cores, 16 threads, and up to 8.6 teraflops of graphics processing power and the Z1 variant with 6 cores and 12 processing threads. Both models support AMD FidelityFX™ Super Resolution and AMD Radeon Super Resolution upscaling technologies, so you know you’ll still be able to get excellent framerates.
And with 16 GB of high-speed LPDDR5 6400 MHz memory and 512 GB of PCIe® Gen 4 storage, you’ll have all the space you need for your gaming adventures. The Ally also supports UHS-II MicroSD card for easy and affordable storage buffs.
Keeping everything cool in the Ally is the new ROG Zero Gravity thermal system. It’s got a dual-fan setup, ultrathin heatsink fins, and high-friction heat pipes that work together to keep things chill by venting hot air out the top of the Ally and away from the player.
Oh, and let’s not forget about WiFi 6E support, ensuring a rock-solid connection even when the networks get crowded. So whether you’re crushing it in a multiplayer match or streaming games on Xbox Cloud Gaming or AMD Link, you’ll be locked in and ready to dominate.
The ROG Ally has a 120 Hz FHD (1080p) touchscreen display with AMD FreeSync Premium tech for excellent motion clarity, zero tearing, and no stuttering. With a maximum brightness of 500 nits, you’ll have no problem keeping track of the action even under the blazing Aussie sun. And guess what? The touchscreen display also makes navigating Windows 11 a breeze. Changing settings or installing your next game has never been smoother.
The ROG Ally is all about versatility, allowing you to play solo on the commute to work, or connected to a big screen TV with the optional ROG Gaming Charger Dock. And when you’re in the mood for some “PRO Time,” pair the Ally with an XG Mobile external GPU sporting an NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4090 Laptop GPU for some 4K gaming with ray tracing and DLSS 3.
ASUS ROG has teamed up with Microsoft, game publishers, and individual studios to ensure that your gaming experience is top-notch. You’ll have full support for Steam, the EA App, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, the Epic Games Store, GOG Galaxy 2.0, Android apps, and more. And as a little bonus, the ROG Ally comes bundled with a free three-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate code so you’ll have access to Microsoft’s game library right out of the box.
Roanne Sones, CVP, Head of Xbox Hardware, said, “With the ROG Ally and Game Pass Ultimate, we can’t wait for people to discover and play their next favorite game on the go, whether it’s playing native PC games with Windows or streaming console games with Xbox Cloud Gaming.”
Pricing and Availability
The ROG Ally (Z1 Extreme and 512 GB) will be available for AUD$1,299 and NZD$1,499 on 13th June. Preorders are open now at the following retailers:
