Asus is going head-to-head with Valve's Steam Deck, the company has announced. While the announcement had some fans thinking it may have been an April Fools' joke, it turns out the Asus ROG Ally is real, and it's set to be a serious competitor to Valve's handheld, especially if Asus' performance claims are to be believed.

The company is claiming that the Asus ROG Ally featured twice the performance of the Steam Deck, courtesy of an AMD Zen 4-based APU with RDNA3 graphics, which would put it a generation ahead of the Steam Deck. But that's not where the improvements end. Asus also boasts 1080p resolution for its 7-inch display, and it comes with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, making it that much better for more avid gamers. The potential downside is that the display has a wider 16:9 aspect ratio instead of 16:10, but 16:9 is still the most common aspect ratio for gaming, especially for consoles. The screen is also brighter than that of the Steam Deck.

Not only did Asus announce this device, though, but some YouTube content creators, such as Dave2D (whose real name is Dave Lee), have had the chance to go hands-on with it. Performance metrics are still a secret since this is pre-production hardware, but the Asus ROG Ally does have some advantages, according to Lee's early impressions. For one thing, the device can run games at higher graphics settings and with a smoother framerate, but it can also do so more quietly. Lee compared the noise levels of the Steam Deck to the ROG Ally, and while Valve's handheld measured at 37dB, Asus' device come in at just 20dB. Additionally, you can easily see that the ROG Ally is much smaller, thanks to the absence of the touchpads on either side of the screen.

If you want even more performance out of the ROG Ally, Asus has also been smart enough to build in the ROG Xg Mobile connector, which has been featured on the ROG Flow series in the past. That means you can connect an external GPU to the console to run more demanding games or turn up the graphics settings.

Actual hardware specs have yet to be revealed, but those interested in the ROG Ally can already sign up on Best Buy's website to be informed when more information is available. Unfortunately, pricing has also yet to be revealed, and that's going to be the main factor to consider here since the low price of the Steam Deck is what makes it so impressive. Asus doesn't have a digital platform where it can make money after selling the device, and it just ships with Windows 11, so it's facing an uphill battle in this department.

Source: Asus ROG (Twitter)