Tempting as the extra performance ROG Ally promises over Steam Deck is, its price left it out of reach for many in search of a handheld gaming PC. However, Asus’ device is now more affordable than ever thanks to an early Black Friday deal, courtesy of Amazon. So much so, in fact, that it now edges out the value of Valve’s offering.
ROG Ally (Z1 Extreme)
“Featuring AMD’s Ryzen Z1 Series processors, ROG Ally is an incredibly powerful RDNA 3 graphics powered handheld gaming machine.”
Over on Amazon UK, ROG Ally is available for just £399, no additional pennies required. This not only makes it 21% (£103.80) cheaper than its previous price, but it’s also the lowest amount the device has been on sale for period. This isn’t the naff Z1 version of the handheld either, but the full-fat Z1 Extreme model instead.
So, why spend another £50 on an ROG Ally instead of a Steam Deck? There are plenty of reasons. To start with, Asus’ handheld boasts a sharper and smoother screen, with a 1080p resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. You’d be surprised the amount of less-demanding and older games that can run at these specs on the device, making for a superior gaming experience.
However, the major reason to opt for ROG Ally comes down to its APU. The handheld’s Z1 Extreme chip boasts Zen 4 CPU cores and RDNA 3 graphics, which are each far more performant than the Zen 2/RDNA 2 processor in Steam Deck. Its advantages will naturally vary title-to-title, but you can generally expect higher frame rates at the same resolution or similar performance at 1080p.
Furthermore, you get a 512GB SSD out of the box with ROG Ally, doubling the 256GB you’d get with Steam Deck. You needn’t worry about conserving your storage, though, as you can bolster it via a microSD card or your own aftermarket drive.
ROG Ally also uses Windows rather than the Linux-based SteamOS. This affords it the ability to natively run games, removing the fiddliness that can sometimes arise from the Proton compatibility layer. Most pertinently, you won’t have to worry about whether the handheld works with a particular anti-cheat.
