OPINION : Asusrevealedits first handheld equipment earlier this hebdomad and it wasa act of a stack . But , apart from that , the Asus ROG Ally look hugely impressive . It actually looks too impressive , and that ’s why it wo n’t top theSteam Deck .

technical school YouTuberDave2Dgot some hand - on time with the ROG Ally and was able-bodied to reveal the gadget is pose to feature a 7 - in 16:9 display , with a 1920 x 1080 resolution that can give up to 500 nits . It ’s all exceed off with a 120Hz refresh rate .

All looking expert so far ? These glasses might gloss you with envy if you ’re a Steam Deck owner , with Valve ’s console maintain just a 1280 x 800 , 400 nits and 60Hz board .

The Steam Deck on a desk with red and blue lighting

Let the envy continue , as when it get to lugging these portables around the ROG Ally has the Steam equipment beat too . The ROG Ally is lay out to count 608 gram , compared to the Steam Deck ’s 669 gm , and the dimension correspond to 280 millimeter x 113 mm x 39 millimetre for the Asus , up against 298 mm x 117 mm x 50.5 mm .

you may expect unattackable execution too , with the ROG Ally using a chip with AMD ’s latest Zen 4 architecture andRDNA 3graphics – versus Zen 2 and RDNA 2 on the Steam Deck . And , it was n’t just Dave2D who get to check out the Asus ROG Ally butLinusTechTipshad some time with the new twist too . Linus pointed out the ROG Ally ran quieter than the Steam Deck . The Asus handheld will also be able to be couple up with the ROG XG Mobile eGPU and a television to greatly boost gaming power .

I ’ve spent the first half of this article telling you why the Asus ROG Ally looks so expert , so what ’s the catch ? Well , it ’s about what we do n’t know . First , there is the battery life . We do n’t know what the capacity will be or the expectations for how long it will lean and the signs are n’t great . Everything I ’ve mentioned thus far – the strong stipulation – are going to put plenty of breed on whatever size battery is here .

The Steam Deck on a desk with red and blue lighting

The Steam Deck is a wondrous machine but battery life is n’t its best lineament . Our review article examination saw it only managing around 2 hours for AAA titles , but supervise to stretch out to 8 hours for less demanding game . So , add onto that a higher resolution and higher refresh rate show , along with a small body , it seems unbelievable the Asus will shine in this department .

The most significant unknown is price . The gamey - oddment Steam Deck cost £ 569 . Looking at the Asus ROG Ally specs , it seems unlikely the base price will be all that unaired to that , and that ’ll put it well above the entry - horizontal surface Steam Deck , at £ 349 . Things get even more daunting when you front at another rival to Steam ’s gadget – theAyaneo 2 . this simple machine frolic some similar higher - end specs to what we ’re expecting from the Asus ROG Ally and has a starting price of $ 1,099 ( ~£962 ) .

I ’d be stunned if Asus handle to get this machine to within £ 100 of the top - end Steam Deck , and even that feels hopeful . As such , the ROG Ally is simply in a unlike family of portable microcomputer gaming that requires a much higher investment . Whether it runs games in a much skillful manner than the Steam Deck or not , it wo n’t be in direct competition .

The Steam Deck on a desk with red and blue lighting

That does n’t mean it ’s not worth getting aroused about though , if powerful hybrid portable microcomputer play has been top of your leaning of desire then the ROG Ally could be the twist for you . The lower Asus can keep the price and the longer it can make the battery aliveness will just be an added bonus .

Ctrl+Alt+Delete is our weekly computing - focussed opinion pillar where we delve deeper into the world of computers , laptops , components , peripheral equipment and more .   Find it on entrust review every Saturday good afternoon .

The Steam Deck on a desk with red and blue lighting

The Steam Deck on a desk with red and blue lighting

The Steam Deck on a desk with red and blue lighting

The Steam Deck on a desk with red and blue lighting