ASUS' upcoming gaming handheld, the ROG Ally, is coming out on May 11, and the world-leading tech manufacturer has high hopes for its Steam Deck rival.

After much speculation, ASUS has officially confirmed the spec sheet for the ROG Ally and it's worth the hype. Powering the entire thing is a pair of AMD Ryzen Z1-series chips, likely for different variants. We can presume that the "cheaper" version will get the 6-core, 12-thread SoC custom AMD Ryzen Z1-series APU while the more premium version will come equipped with the Ryzen Z1 Extreme variant with eight Zen 4 cores and 16 threads.

ASUS is so confident in the device's powerful chips that it basically dissed Valve by saying it won't need a validation system, saying that the ROG Ally "should be able to play all games without needing validation from either our team or the game publishers."

On paper, the combination of the powerful Zen 4/RDNA 3 APU can guarantee smooth gameplay. But, we've learned over the years that real-life performance doesn't always reflect what's under the hood, or to speak.

Moving on, the ROG Ally sports a 7-inch screen with a 120HZ refresh rate and a 7ms response time. It's also pretty light at just 608 grams and it comes with "anti-gravity heat pipes" as well as dual fans to help keep temperatures manageable. And, lastly, the ROG Ally has HDMI 2.0 compatibility, a swappable SSD, as well as a fingerprint sensor for ease of access.

ASUS didn't confirm the pricing for the ROG Ally but it assured its customers (via PCgamer) that it won't sell the handheld console for more than $1,000. However, we're assuming this applies only to the "base" model. The more expensive version with the Ryzen Z1 Extreme eight-core processor should cost at least a couple of hundred more.

Ultimately, the ASUS ROG Ally is an impressive piece of gaming handheld that could very well give the Steam Deck a good run for its money.

Thanks to its powerful chips, advanced cooling system, and Windows 11 compatibility, the ROG Ally is a great alternative choice for PC gamers who want to game on the go.

We'll find out on May 11 if ASUS can deliver and threaten the Steam Deck or if Valve can continue laughing its way to the bank.