One thing to stay up for: The ROG Ally is the best choice for these looking for an alternative choice to the Steam Deck for moveable PC gaming, and Asus intends to mark the machine’s first anniversary by addressing lingering points based mostly on person suggestions. Nonetheless, it is price noting that this would possibly not be the ROG Ally 2 as the hand held maker is opting to attend till the {hardware} is prepared for a real next-generation successor.
Asus just lately confirmed to The Verge that it’ll launch a {hardware} replace to its ROG Ally handheld PC this yr. The brand new mannequin, the ROG Ally X, will obtain a full unveiling on June 2. Pricing particulars will seemingly be revealed then, however the firm confirmed that the revision might be costlier, whereas the usual mannequin will see value cuts.
Asus will retain the identical AMD Z1 Excessive SoC and 7-inch 48-120Hz 1080p VRR display screen, so efficiency will stay largely unchanged. Whereas the improve will not be as in depth as Valve’s Steam Deck OLED, Asus is making important enhancements to battery life, reminiscence, storage, and different areas.
The subsequent Ally is coming �’�
Catch us dwell on ROG YouTube and Twitch for a particular announcement on June 2!
#ROGComputex2024 #HappyBirthdayROGAlly pic.twitter.com/CiYlGS5QE5– ROG World (@ASUS_ROG) May 10, 2024
Enhancing battery life was the largest request Asus acquired relating to the Ally, and the corporate claims that the Ally X will ship a rise of “far more” than 40 p.c. The unique mannequin theoretically had house for a bigger battery, however Asus prioritized weight in its preliminary design. Reversing this resolution will make the Ally X heavier.
Extra unified RAM can also be coming, however Asus will not disclose how a lot. As for storage, the Ally X will characteristic an enlarged M.2 SSD slot to accommodate 2280 drives, that are longer however typically cheaper than the 2230 items supported by the present mannequin and the Steam Deck.
The Ally X may additionally tackle what some customers suspect is a crucial flaw in its predecessor’s SD card slot. Whereas Asus will not admit that the system could possibly be inflicting reminiscence playing cards to overheat, the revision will transfer the slot away from the vent.
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Different minor changes will impression the D-pad, triggers, and grips. The joysticks might be replaceable and upgradeable, and an replace to Asus’ Armory Crate software program will make booting up video games and sharing controller configurations simpler.
Nonetheless, regardless of criticisms, together with from TechSpot, citing the Home windows interface because the ROG Ally’s largest weak point, Asus plans to proceed utilizing the working system to entry non-Steam gaming platforms extra simply. Valve would not license the Steam Deck’s SteamOS to different {hardware} distributors, however Ayaneo gives a variant of its handheld that ships with a clone of the working system.
MSI additionally just lately entered the hand held PC enviornment with the Claw. Upon its early March launch, the machine’s Intel chipset struggled with efficiency in comparison with the AMD-based competitors, however a current driver replace improved framerates by as much as 150 p.c for some titles.
