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ASUS has today formally revealed all about their handheld gaming PC, the ROG Ally and it's releasing in June with a pretty competitive price. It runs Windows 11, so for the GamingOnLinux followers, it may not exactly be what you're after. However, with handheld PC gaming rising, especially with the Linux powered Steam Deck, it's good to keep an eye on the competition right?

Today they revealed the pricing after many leaks:

  • AMD Ryzen Z1 model: $599 - launching in Q3.
  • AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme model: $699 - launching June 13th.

Picture source - ASUS YouTube

Goes without saying really but I will anyway: I will be sticking to the Steam Deck and desktop Linux. Just because something new comes along, doesn't mean I'm going to instantly jump towards it. Not everyone has money to burn every time something a bit more powerful comes along.

IGN already have a review of it up and it sounds overall like a good device, with battery life also not long when playing bigger games like the Steam Deck. They do make a point that the initial experience with Windows 11 and ASUS Armoury Crate being a nuisance.

It will definitely be interesting to watch how this will affect the Steam Deck though. Competition is absolutely good! It benefits everyone and it pushes all sides to do better. Plus, the more companies that show there's a demand for handheld gaming like this, the better the future will be for it, including a potential Steam Deck 2.

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Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Hardware, Misc
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89 comments
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elmapul May 12, 2023
Quoting: Pecisk. Essentially, even XBOX is not that interesting to them. It is not a huge money maker.

i dont know, spending 70 billion on a company is much even for microsoft standards.
emphy May 12, 2023
Quoting: Guest8.6 tflops is crazy number for a handheld device, it is twice bigger than ps4pro, on par with rtx2070 tier GPU, and just a bit behind current gen consoles. you literally can replace a decent gaming pc with it

It's also being severely restricted by memory bandwith. Even asus's and amd's own marketing materials show just how much of a waste of silicon those extra tflops are.


Last edited by emphy on 12 May 2023 at 3:15 am UTC
slaapliedje May 12, 2023
Quoting: TheRiddickStill cheaper to get a Steam Deck $399usd and upgrade SSD for $50-70 since NVME/SSD suitable are getting a lot cheaper now, its not so much of a expense.

Sure you miss the etched glass but honestly I don't think its worth it given basic LCD.

Quoting: EikeAs usual... Linux is just more user friendly! :D

No it's not, but that is not the issue. Linux can be much more customized and optimized for a handheld and doesn't have MS services and DRM baked in.

Valve technically own their spin of Linux via SteamOS and no other company can come along and go, hey lets insert some analytics here and a edge advertisement here, and weather app over there... lol
Linux is definitely more developer friendly. And I wouldn't say it's less or more user Friendly, all depends on the user!

But as you point out, you can customize and optimize it in a way you can't with Windows. If you watch LTT's latest review on the Ally you can tell a lot of the ways the Deck beats the Ally is definitely because it's optimized for that lower resolution and hardware of the Steam Deck, as like for like in resolution / settings, the Deck performs better.
elmapul May 12, 2023
Quoting: slaapliedjeit's optimized for that lower resolution and hardware of the Steam Deck, as like for like in resolution / settings, the Deck performs better.

no one forces you to use the ally in max resolution that the screen support.




Quoting: stormtuxFor now Valve has one year head start on the software: UI workflow, performance optimizations, drivers, integration with the Steam environment, the compatibility evaluation system etc
the issue is, the end user dont know about this, UX is only relevant for the people who currently own an product, not the ones who gonna purchase it.
unless the reviews come and talk about those issues.
elmapul May 12, 2023
Quoting: PeciskI feel this device has drawn attention because a) Windows gaming fans feel threatened because I have never understood why

there are a few reasons for that, linux users trash talking windows dont help much...
fanboys will defend their favorite platform no matter what, especially when its attacked by others, an playstation fanboy might not have anything against xbox, but if he saw an xbox fanboy trash talking playstation the trend will be for him to start hating xbox.


a lot of people have their reasons to love windows/microsoft (emulation, backward compatibility and everything being compatible with it) and dont have a good impression on linux, it didnt help much that we tried to promote linux since it was in a... barebones state, i mean didnt had much support for games and stuff.
Liam Dawe May 12, 2023
For those also not paying attention, which I forgot to mention, ASUS have been doing some seriously anti-consumer stuff.

"I'm sorry ASUS... but you're fired!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ-QVOKGVyM

"Scumbag ASUS: Overvolting CPUs & Screwing the Customer"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbGfc-JBxlY

And so on and so on...

Who is going to trust them when the Ally breaks?
Eike May 12, 2023
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Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: TheRiddickStill cheaper to get a Steam Deck $399usd and upgrade SSD for $50-70 since NVME/SSD suitable are getting a lot cheaper now, its not so much of a expense.

Sure you miss the etched glass but honestly I don't think its worth it given basic LCD.

Quoting: EikeAs usual... Linux is just more user friendly! :D

No it's not, but that is not the issue. Linux can be much more customized and optimized for a handheld and doesn't have MS services and DRM baked in.

Valve technically own their spin of Linux via SteamOS and no other company can come along and go, hey lets insert some analytics here and a edge advertisement here, and weather app over there... lol
Linux is definitely more developer friendly. And I wouldn't say it's less or more user Friendly, all depends on the user!

But as you point out, you can customize and optimize it in a way you can't with Windows. If you watch LTT's latest review on the Ally you can tell a lot of the ways the Deck beats the Ally is definitely because it's optimized for that lower resolution and hardware of the Steam Deck, as like for like in resolution / settings, the Deck performs better.

Which video, this one?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=qLVgr29NMA0
kaktuspalme May 12, 2023
Quoting: Guest8.6 tflops is crazy number for a handheld device, it is twice bigger than ps4pro, on par with rtx2070 tier GPU, and just a bit behind current gen consoles. you literally can replace a decent gaming pc with it
It's really just a number. What I see so far is that in real life the Z1 Extreme is only a little bit faster than the Z1 due to bandwith limitation to the RAM.


Last edited by kaktuspalme on 12 May 2023 at 11:41 am UTC
Tuxee May 12, 2023
Quoting: psycho_driverASUS generally makes good to great hardware. You can't really go wrong with their motherboards.

Perhaps you should ingest some recent videos on Gamers Nexus and JayzTwoCents...
Mohandevir May 12, 2023
Just speaking about the value of the Ally... From what I read from different sources, I'm totally unconvinced... Like most of the PCGamers, I already have a more powerful PC... That's why I use my Steam Deck in handheld mode 95% of the time. The other 5% is for couch coop gaming and these games are not usually resource huggers. In my case, battery autonomy is make or break. If all this raw power is wasted because you need to cap everything to gain minutes of playtime... What are you getting? A little more powerful Steam Deck with less input options, unreadable 3rd party apps, crapy os interactions and still worse battery autonomy (the Steam Deck's autonomy is already to the limit)?

If it's a handheld as long as your power cord (who first said that? 😉), It kinds of defeat the purpose and makes it feel like a big marketing smokescreen, to me.

If so, I'll wait for the Steam Deck 2, in this case.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 12 May 2023 at 2:55 pm UTC
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