No April Fools' Joke: Asus's Steam Deck Rival Is a Real Product
It turns out the handheld gaming PC that Asus introduced on April Fools’ Day is no joke, but a real product slated to go on sale.
The upcoming product is called the ROG Ally, and it’s poised to be a competitor to Valve’s Steam Deck, another handheld gaming PC that starts at $399. But for some reason, Asus decided to debut the Ally on April 1st, when tech companies have a long history of unleashing fake products on the infamous holiday.
Hence, many users on social media assumed the device was bogus, especially since the company’s video(Opens in a new window) about the product contained several corny jokes. But on Monday, Asus’s social media accounts clarified(Opens in a new window) and said the ROG Ally is real.
That'll be a relief to numerous users who saw the company's initial announcement. “I don't even get the joke,” wrote(Opens in a new window) one user on Facebook. “Handheld gaming devices are more popular than ever. This seems like something ROG should be doing.”
What’s enticing about the ROG Ally is how it’ll run Windows 11 while using the “fastest AMD APU yet.” YouTuber Dave2D adds(Opens in a new window) the product will specifically run an AMD Zen 4-based APU for “double the performance” of the Steam Deck. In contrast, Valve’s Steam Deck features an older AMD Zen 2 APU processor, but the device itself runs the Linux-based Steam OS, which is capable of playing Windows games.
Another improvement is how the ROG Ally features a 7-inch 1080p 120Hz screen, over the Steam Deck’s 720p 60Hz display. Other features include a fingerprint scanner, a microSD card slot and built-in speakers. In addition, the product can be connected to ROG’s external RTX 4090 GPU to add even more graphics horsepower.
There’s currently no
Read more on pcmag.com
