Best Buy's ASUS ROG Ally Price Reveal Positions Handheld As A Steam Deck Killer

A product advertising leak, which appears to have surfaced via US tech retail giant Best Buy, has allayed our darkest ASUS ROG Ally fears today. The listing shows the highly anticipated AMD Z1 Extreme APU packing handheld will launch at $699. Some will be pleased at this price, as it makes the new Steam Deck challenger from ASUS just $50 more expensive than Valve’s top SKU. This feels like getting a Steam Deck 2 for original Steam Deck prices, allowing for a bit of inflation.

We have enjoyed the depth of pre-launch features and specs that ASUS has openly shared for its ROG Ally gaming handheld. It has almost made us forgive it for the April Fools’ Day timing. However, there has been a nagging fear in the back of our minds that we would see ROG-pumped prices. The newly revealed high-spec ROG Ally SKU with the AMD Z1 Extreme APU at $699 is quite pleasing, though. To provide some full context to what ASUS’s handheld gaming PC offer represents, we think a comparison table is called for, which more clearly illustrates what an extra $50 over Valve's Steam Deck can get you. See below.

Remember, in addition to the model outlined above, ASUS will be marketing another version of the ROG Ally based on AMD’s Ryzen Z1 (non-Extreme) SoC. The processor is significantly cut down to 6C/12T and 22MB cache. Probably more important to gamers, though, will be the loss of 8 CUs from the iGPU, meaning the Ryzen Z1 powered ROG Ally will only have 4 RDNA 3 Compute Units at its disposal. Another spec cut is going to be in storage, with the cheaper ROG Ally packing only 256GB of SSD space. With these reductions, there would have to be a very significant price cut to appeal to rational buyers who enjoy 3D PC gaming, but it could still find appeal with retro and indie game lovers.

We are pretty happy with the pricing for the desirable Ryzen Z1 Extreme version of the ROG Ally. Moreover, the $699 price looks set in stone now, with the BestBuy listing unearthed by Khumail Thakur, on top of previous leaks of the same price by WinFuture’s Roland Quandt, plus SnoopyTech’s great track record with all things Ally so far.

ASUS has lined up a full launch event for Thursday, May 11.