ASUS has finally priced the ROG Ally in the US, and it might be more affordable than you think — if you’re willing to wait. It’s now known that the gaming laptop starts at $600 for the base version with an AMD Z1 processor and 512GB of storage. At present, though, Best Buy only takes Pre-orders for the $700 version with the Z1 Extreme chip. This form should be available on June 13th.
Both configurations include a 7-inch, 120Hz, 1080p touchscreen, 16GB of RAM, and a microSD card slot. And if the integrated graphics aren’t powerful enough, it can also connect to external ASUS GPUs.
ROG Ally is ASUS’ answer to Valve’s Steam platform, not to mention offerings from Ayaneo and GPD. It’s supposed to be twice as powerful as Steam Deck while still offering a higher quality screen. And because it runs Windows 11 instead of Valve’s custom Linux interface, it can run games from a bunch of stores without a compatibility layer that might limit performance. In theory, you’re only missing out on the more advanced touchpads and analog sticks.
There are still unknowns, like true battery life across a wide range of games. With that said, this might be the portable to get if you’re frustrated with Steam Deck’s limitations but want the support that comes from a major brand like ASUS.
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