The Asus ROG Ally is a portable gaming console that was touted as a direct competitor to the Steam Deck. The device features an 8-inch, 1080p touchscreen, an AMD Ryzen 7 4800H processor, a Radeon RX Vega 7 graphics card and 16 GB of RAM. Asus claimed that the Ally could run the latest AAA games at up to 120 Hz refresh rate.

But Wired magazine was not impressed by the Ally’s performance. They tested it with Doom Eternal, one of the most optimized games on the market. Doom Eternal runs well even on the Nintendo Switch, which has much weaker hardware. Wired said that Doom Eternal barely reached 30 fps on the Ally, and dropped to a barely playable 15-20 fps during combat. They had to make several compromises to make the game enjoyable, such as lowering the resolution, minimizing the graphics settings and limiting the refresh rate.

In contrast, the Steam Deck, which is in a similar price range as the Ally, offers much better performance. The Steam Deck has a 7-inch, 1280 x 800 touchscreen, an AMD Zen 2 processor, an RDNA 2 graphics card and 16 GB of RAM. The Steam Deck can run Doom Eternal at up to 60 fps with high or ultra graphics settings. If you turn on ray tracing, it still maintains playability at 30-40 fps.

Wired said that the Ally is not worth its price and falls far behind the Steam Deck. The Ally not only runs Doom Eternal poorly, but also other games such as Cyberpunk 2077 or Control. The Ally also gets very hot and noisy during use. Wired advised that if you want portable gaming, you should wait for the Steam Deck or get a Nintendo Switch.

The opinions on the Asus ROG Ally are divided in the media. The Hungarian press and especially the influencers have generally praised the Ally as a revolutionary innovation. But not everyone shares this enthusiasm. Some critics say that the Ally is too expensive, too big and too heavy to be truly portable. Others say that the Ally does not offer enough powerful hardware to compete with the Steam Deck or other consoles.

Wired magazine has been around since 1993 and has been covering the relationship between technology and society since the dawn of the internet. Wired’s articles come from renowned authors, journalists and thinkers such as Malcolm Gladwell, Steven Levy or Nicholas Negroponte. Wired has won several National Magazine Awards for both editing and design. Wired is one of the most reliable and influential sources on tech/gadget/geek topics. It’s no wonder that Wired’s opinion matters a lot in the success or failure of the Asus ROG Ally.

Source: Wired