Late last night, the ROG Ally was officially launched but from the announcement video, it seems that the latest handheld gaming console will appear in the US first. We are pretty sure it will get to Malaysia someday (since we had a preview), but first, let's talk about the features.
Powered by an all-new AMD Ryzen Z1 Series processor built on Zen 4 architecture with AMD RDNA 3 graphics, it was revealed that the ROG Ally will come in two variants - one with Ryzen Z1 Extreme and a standard Ryzen Z1. The memory configuration is 16GB of LPDDR5 dual channel RAM and 512GB PCIe Gen 4 of storage (which is upgradable). You may slot in a UHS-II microSD card for more space too.
According to AMD during the presentation, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor features 8 cores, 16 threads, and up to 8.6 teraflops of graphics processing power. An AMD Ryzen Z1 variant will be available later in 2023 with 6 cores and 12 processing threads, and both models support AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution and AMD Radeon Super Resolution upscaling technologies.
Besides that, the IPS display is 7 inches with a 16:9 aspect ratio in 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. That's not all, it also has 500 nits peak brightness, 100% sRGB, a 120Hz refresh rate, a 7ms response time, Dolby Vision HDR and AMD FreeSync Premium. The display is also protected via Gorilla Glass Victus and DXC.
The ROG Ally also features a ROG Zero Gravity thermal system which uses a dual-fan system to keep the device cool. WiFi 6E connectivity is on board to ensure gamers play multiplayer or stream their games, and lastly, it runs on Windows 11 which allows gamers to open all the gaming platforms like Steam, Epic Games Store, EA Play, Ubisoft Connect, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, and more.
Alternatively, gamers can get an optional Gaming Charger Dock to connect the ROG Ally to a TV and charge at the same time but that would mean you need extra controllers too. ROG also announced the ROG XG Mobile GC33 and GC32 for $799 (~RM3576) and $1999 (~RM8949) respectively for the gaming console to achieve 4K with Ray Tracing and DLSS 3.
At the moment, it's now available for pre-order for $699 (~RM3129) on 11 May 2023 and will be on sale at Best Buy on June 13. On the other hand, the ROG Ally model with the vanilla Ryzen Z1 processor will be available later this year for $599 (~RM2681). For pre-order information, visit the ROG Ally Ryzen Z1 Extreme product page on BestBuy.com.
