Asus ROG Ally standard edition release date – when you can buy the new version

18 September 2023 , 19:38

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The good news is that the Asus ROG Ally standard edition will be available next month (Image: Asus)

Following the launch of the Asus ROG Ally Extreme earlier this year, gamers will finally be able to get their hands on the more affordable standard edition version next month.

Coming in at £599 / $599 / AU$1,000 (AU pricing approx) the Asus ROG Ally standard edition will be slightly more affordable than its more powerful cousin, the Asus ROG Ally Extreme, which is currently available for £699 / $699 / AU$1,299. The good news is that the Asus ROG Ally standard edition will be available next month, with Asus confirming today that it will be released on Tuesday, October 3 worldwide, and will be available to pre-order soon.

Asus ROG Ally standard edition is a specs-tacular disappointment

As you would expect, the Asus ROG Ally standard edition features a less powerful APU, which has two fewer cores, four fewer threads, 2MB less cache, boosts to 4.90 GHz rather than 5.10 GHz and, more significantly, only boasts four compute units compared to the Asus ROG Ally Extreme's 12. This means we're expecting a pretty significant drop in performance.

But the Asus ROG Ally Standard Edition still features the same 7-inch 1920x1080 120Hz screen that you get in the Extreme model meaning Asus could be expecting a similar level of output, at least enough to justify a full HD screen. You'll also get the same LDDR5 memory, 512GB of PCIe Gen 4 storage, a microSD card slot to expand storage capacity, and WiFi support.

• Processor: AMD Ryzen Z1
• Operating System: Windows 11
• Memory: 16GB LDDR5 RAM
• Storage: 512 GB PCIe Gen4 SSD with MicroSD slot for expansion
• Weight: 608 grams
• Display: 7 inches, 120Hz, 1080p, touchscreen
• Sound: Dual front-facing speakers powered by Dolby Atmos

The downgraded chip puts it rather close, specs-wise at least, to Valve's Steam Deck, which is significantly cheaper as it starts at just £349 / $399 / AU$599 for the 64GB edition, although the Asus ROG Ally features 512GB SSD as standard.

Steam Deck could be done for with new Asus ROG handheld PC coming soon

The Asus ROG standard edition will launch in an ever-expanding gaming handheld market, following the recent Lenovo Legion Go reveal, which got us excited based on our hands-on preview of the device. But, this will likely compete with the Extreme rather than the standard edition since it features the same APU.

Nathan Bliss