Hey, so here’s the scoop on this whole Microsoft handheld thing, right? We’ve been hearing whispers, and now it seems like they’re finally flipping the spotlight onto what they’re calling Project Kennan. It’s rolling out as a twist on the ROG Ally 2 gig. Shoutout to 91mobiles and, uh, someone named Huang514613 on X for pulling back the curtain.
So, Asus—those gaming fanatics—are cooking up not one but two flavors of this ROG Ally 2 thing. There’s this black variant, all decked out with an Xbox button, which kind of screams, “Hey, I’m the cool kid here!” And then there’s a more basic white one. Guess they’re playing it safe, appealing to the mainstream crowd.
Project Kennan’s been a thing for quite some time now, and honestly, the details were fuzzier than my eyesight before coffee. But thanks to this new leak, it’s like they finally handed us some magnifying glasses. Apparently, once they spilled the model ID beans, these handhelds popped up on the US FCC’s radar. Déjà vu to the original ROG Ally days—same kind of vibe. We’re talking AMD’s Z1 with 4 CUs and a beefier Z1 Extreme with 12—yeah, there’s a $100 difference if you’re counting. But hey, sticking with x86—smart move. Why reinvent the wheel when the wheel’s rolling just fine?
And that Xbox button thing—is it necessary? I mean, seems like a cool nod to Project Kennan, but if it’s just running Windows 11 like everything else, is it really changing the world? Maybe it’s a shortcut to the Game Bar? Like, wouldn’t that be sweet if they tossed in some funky software-level quirks? Guess we’ll find out when they drop the big official word.
Anyway, enough tech lingo—oh wait, hold up, there’s more under the hood. Kennan’s packing this gnarly AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, supposedly. Eight-core setup, mixing in some Zen 5 and Zen 5c action—throw in a 16 Compute Unit iGPU, and you’ve got a serious powerhouse on your hands. It’s got 64GB LPDDR5x-8533 memory—say that five times fast—and a 2TB NVMe SSD. Not to mention 100W charging plus a 7-inch touchscreen running at 120Hz. Pretty slick, huh?
Now, the white model? Taking a different route with some mysterious AMD APU, labeled “100-000001835″—I know, riveting stuff. This one’s hanging back with 16GB of RAM and a 65W charge capability. The APU’s alleged name is Aerith Plus—sounds like a video game character to me. Anyway, it might be the successor to AMD’s Von Gogh, like what we’ve seen on the Steam Deck.
According to this leaky boat of info, the white model’s chip, called “Ryzen Z2 A,” could rock a quad-core layout, with a 6W to 20W TDP—though who’s to say what’s really going on there architecture-wise. Hopefully, AMD or Asus will clear the air at Computex. Fingers crossed.
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