ASUS released a short video of a new handheld ROG Ally based on the Windows platform on the official channel on April 1st. Although it is often regarded as a spoof when it is selected on April 1st, ROG Ally may really be ASUS ROG’s plan products, because even after April 1st, the pre-order notification registration page for Best Buy in North America provided by the official community and YouTube has not been removed, and there is a banner ad marked Game Pass and Windows 11, Juan Jose Guerrero, senior marketing manager of ASUS North America, also emphasized in the unofficial public community that it is not an April Fool’s joke; if it is estimated based on the time point, it is not ruled out that ASUS will make further announcements at Computex at the end of May, Microsoft’s Xbox event in mid-June, or Gamescon at the end of August relevant information.
Best Buy product pre-order notification registration page: ROG Ally
▲ Juan Jose Guerrero emphasized that it is not a joke
▲The size may resemble Steam Deck or be slightly narrower
As mentioned in the introduction video, ROG Ally adopts a white body design. It is a handheld product with a Windows system and a customized processor. It is analogous to the mushroom head and the Slash line on the back of the machine with RGB light effects, but it is not currently available. There is no further introduction on the specifications, and it is not ruled out that ASUS will use a newer generation of customized processor solution than Steam Deck, and it will be equipped with a dual-fan cooling system; The arrangement of mushroom heads is analogous to Xbox’s left-upper-right-bottom layout. The size may be similar to Steam Deck, or narrower than Steam Deck. In addition to the shoulder button and trigger button on the top, there is a set of buttons on the back.
▲The eGPU can be expanded through the same special PCIe 3.0 x 8 connector as the ROG Flow series
▲The button layout is similar to that of an Xbox controller
Although many Chinese brands invested in Windows handheld products before Steam Deck, and after the success of Steam Deck, these manufacturers have prompted these manufacturers to launch a new generation of products; however, it is worth noting that ROG Ally is reserved for gaming with ROG Flow The notebook series is the same, and the special PCIe 3.0 x 8 port with higher bandwidth than the current Thunderbolt can be used to connect the XG Mobile eGPU external graphics card, and can further improve the graphics performance. This will be the comparison between ROG Ally and other competing products important selling point.