Developer Valve has shaken up the market for handheld consoles with the Steam Deck. Where previously the Nintendo Switch reigned alone, more and more competitors are now trying to gain a foothold again. One in front of that is Asus, known for its gaming-focused Republic of Gamers series—ROG for short. The first handheld console ROG Ally should convince with versatility and high performance – but does it succeed?
First of all: the market for handheld gaming was never really dead. After all, Chinese manufacturers such as GPD and Ayaneo have already carved out a not inconsiderable niche. But apart from the special position of the Nintendo Switch, it was never enough for the mass market. That’s all changed with the Steam Deck, which offers plenty of power at an affordable price, making gaming accessible to everyone. Asus takes the same line with the ROG Ally, trying to exploit the deck’s weaknesses. TECHBOOK has extensively tested the console.
You can also see the test here in the video:
ROG Ally performance and battery life
In a direct comparison with the Steam Deck, it quickly becomes clear that the ROG Ally has significantly more power reserves. Asus not only relies on the newer AMD microarchitecture for the processor and graphics. The configuration with eight processor cores with a 5.1 gigahertz boost frequency, supplemented by 12 compute units with a 2.7 gigahertz boost for graphics acceleration, is far superior to the Steam Deck:
| ASUS ROG Ally | ValveSteam Deck | |
|---|---|---|
| processor | AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme 8 cores / 16 threads 5.1 gigahertz boost AMD Zen 4 | Customized AMD Ryzen 4 cores / 8 threads 3.5 gigahertz boost AMD Zen 2 |
| graphic | up to 12 compute units up to 2.7 gigahertz boost AMD RDNA 3 | 8 compute units 1.66 gigahertz boost AMD RDNA 2 |
| screen | 7 inches with 1920×1080 pixels 120 Hertz 500 nits | 7 inches with 1280×800 pixels 60 Hertz 400 nits |
| R.A.M. | 16 gigabytes of LPDDR5 | 16 gigabytes of LPDDR5 |
| Storage | 512 GB NVMe SSD expandable via MicroSD | up to 512 gigabyte NVMe SSD expandable via MicroSD |
| Audio | Front-facing stereo speakers Dolby Atmos | Front-facing stereo speakers |
| measures and weight | 280mm x 111mm x 32mm 608 grams | 298mm x 117mm x 49mm 669 grams |
In reality, this is quite noticeable – but less than expected. Asus has installed a higher-resolution Full HD screen, which can also increase its refresh rate to up to 120 Hertz. In theory, this makes for a better, smoother picture. Like the Steam Deck, ROG Ally has multiple power profiles that dictate how much power the hardware can draw. Users thus have the option of increasing performance with Turbo mode, but at the cost of battery life.
Large battery, little endurance
Although the Ally has a 40 watt-hour battery, in our test we were far from gaming sessions lasting several hours – even in moderate performance mode. The console gave up after just over an hour with demanding titles such as “Dead Island 2” and “The Last of Us Part I”. “The VergeAccording to Asus, although they have made some adjustments and thus extended the battery life, they apparently also reduced the performance.
We can’t replicate this claim on the test unit provided to TECHBOOK by Asus – especially since it’s a pre-production unit (more on that later). We’ve tested extremely demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Dead Island 2, and The Last of Us Part I on the ROG Ally, with excellent results. Even the “heavy hitters” run at 1080p resolution with frame rates between 30 and 60 FPS – and that’s on high settings. We only had to lower the resolution to 720p and settings to “Medium” for “Dead Island 2”.
For those who need even more performance: the Ally can be used with the external graphics dock ROG XG Mobile. A dedicated PCI-e port on the top allows you to connect the dock that houses the high-performance GeForce RTX 4090 GPU. This turns the small console into a fully-fledged gaming PC. However, it all comes at a price – and that is 2500 euros!
Also interesting: What is the handheld console Steam Deck good for?
Asus handheld console haptics and feedback
For gamers, of course, the handling and feel is also an important point. After all, with a handheld console you’re not just holding a controller, but laptop hardware and a large screen. At 608 grams, the ROG Ally is definitely lighter than the Steam Deck, which weighs around 669 grams. And although the Ally is ergonomically shaped better in the hands, it is far from the light 319 grams of the Nintendo Switch OLED.
ROG Ally’s button and joystick layout is reminiscent of the Xbox controller – including the eight-directional D-Pad. Like many other reviewers, we had problems with the ABXY buttons on our test device, which got stuck in the housing. According to “The Verge”, Asus has now fixed the problem for the sales version by protruding buttons further out of the case.
Unlike the Steam Deck, the joysticks are on the outside and are therefore easier to use for people with slightly smaller hands. Speaking of joysticks: these come with RGB lighting, which is activated directly when the console boots up. Visually a cool feature, but of course it doesn’t change much in terms of functionality (at most with the battery capacity, which can be expanded anyway). If you find the whole thing rather annoying, you can also deactivate the lighting via the settings. Also vibration motors similar to those in controllers on board. Haptic feedback is crisp – if not quite on par with the PS5’s DualSense controller.
In addition to the aforementioned PCIe port for an external graphics card, the ROG Ally has a USB-C port for charging and accessories such as USB hubs and a 3.5mm jack for headphones. A MicroSD card reader is also on board – an easy way to expand the memory. A nice touch over other handheld consoles is a fingerprint sensor built right into the power button that works with Windows Hello for login.
software
Speaking of Windows, yes, ROG Ally comes with Windows 11 installed. This gives Asus gamers the opportunity to install games from stores of their choice, such as GOG, Epic Games and the Steam Store. In addition, Microsoft’s cloud gaming service Game Pass is directly available natively on the console. So if the performance is no longer sufficient, a fast Internet connection and a subscription are sufficient to play even demanding titles.
In reality, the Windows base is both a blessing and a curse for Ally. Because Windows is simply not suitable for operation via a 7-inch touchscreen. Buttons are too small, the logic of the operating system is rarely optimized for pure finger control. Asus tries to cover up this disadvantage with its own software called Armory Crate. The program manages all installed stores and games, and the performance profiles and individual operating patterns can also be defined here. A dedicated button on the front of the console leads directly to the interface, which is optimized for control via the buttons and joysticks – could stand here. Instead, the Armory Crate is hardly any better to use than Windows itself. Sometimes the input only works via the touchscreen, sometimes only via the controller – and sometimes not at all until a restart. We hope that Asus will show improvements here with updates.
Furthermore, we miss some features that Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch spoil you with. This includes, for example, the ability to freeze games at the touch of a button in order to continue playing them later. The ROG Ally is a Windows device and therefore cannot emulate this function. We also always know which games are running on the Steam Deck because Valve is gradually testing and verifying the titles in the store for compatibility. With the Ally, the installation is done at random – either it works or it doesn’t. At least the verified Steam Deck games can give you a clue as to what’s running on the Asus console.
Our verdict on the ROG Ally
Big potential
“All in all, I really enjoyed the Asus ROG Ally. I was able to test the device for almost five weeks. Especially in comparison to the Steam Deck, the handling was much easier for me – small hands and such. Overall, the performance has fully convinced me, especially in terms of graphics. This makes the ROG Ally as far superior to my beloved switch as anything.
And the biggest advantage, in my opinion, is of course the flexibility that you get with the Windows system. Whether Steam, GOG or Epic Games – everything runs smoothly and can be reached directly via the Armory Crate. There were never any problems with cross-device saves etc.
At least in my test, it was also noticeable that Asus still has to work on its ROG Ally. For example, there was no indication of which games are compatible with the console controls. In some cases, you could not control the console using the buttons and joysticks, but had to switch to the regular operation of the touchscreen. And the battery in particular was a real pain point, which, due to its short lifespan, swallowed up a large part of the flexible character of a handheld console.
But since Asus has already made improvements here, I’m hopeful that the device will develop into a real all-rounder in the foreseeable future. Speaking of which: I also liked using the device for streaming.” – Marlene Polywka, editor
Lots of power and room for improvement
“The facts speak for the ROG Ally – a potent handheld console with all the extras you could wish for. Triple A titles in Full HD resolution with stable 30-60 FPS? No problem! Unfortunately, the software side gets in the way of the great hardware. Some of this can be fixed with an update. But for more fundamental issues like Windows dependency, I have more concerns that Asus can find satisfactory solutions.” – Adrian Mühlroth, editor
Availability and price of the Asus ROG Ally
The handheld console from Asus is currently only available in the variant with the more powerful AMD Z1 Extreme and costs 799 euros. There is also 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD storage. The cheaper version with AMD Z1 is currently only available in selected markets.