It was back in June that Microsoft announced a massive partnership with ASUS to officially make two ROG Ally handhelds under the Xbox flag. With their October release date now almost here, Microsoft has finally attached official pricing information to the products.
The latest announcement has the high-performance ROG Xbox Ally X with the AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor priced at $999.99. Meanwhile, the more casual gaming orientated ROG Xbox Ally has a $599.99 price tag and sports the AMD Ryzen Z2 A processor.
Pre-orders for both handheld gaming PCs have now gone live across 38 countries, including newly supported territories Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Slovenia, South Africa, Thailand, and Ukraine.
The ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X pre-orders can be found on the Microsoft Store and the ASUS eshop, as well as via local marketplaces in supported regions. Microsoft says it is working to expand the reach of the hardware to other parts of the world too. For those wanting to protect their new ROG Xbox Ally a bit more, ASUS is also offering a carrying case as a separate purchase, which comes with a water-repellent exterior and even a detachable pouch for a 65W charger.
"One of our core goals with the Xbox Ally was to deliver a distinctly Xbox experience in the palm of your hands," said Microsoft regarding its latest advancements in the handheld gaming mode of Windows. "With the Xbox Ally X and Xbox Ally, you can look forward to an approachable gaming experience that travels with you wherever you go, featuring several new and first-of-their-kind features on both devices."
Check out the complete hardware specifications for the two handhelds in our previous coverage over here.
Microsoft is taking lessons from its Xbox consoles when designing the full-screen experience on these Windows 11 handhelds. It says that these changes "minimize background activity and defer non-essential tasks," letting the hardware dedicate more of its resources to games.
Don"t forget that recent updates to the Xbox app have also made it a universal launcher for games and applications installed on the operating system, ditching the need to use the desktop when selecting games to play.