Yup, you heard us right. ASUS is not screwing around. Their latest “New Ways of Gaming” launch event revealed the mother of all gaming laptops — the ASUS ROG Mothership (GZ700).

This black behemoth is ASUS’ rendition of a true desktop replacement. Drawing inspiration from its “true” laptop brethren, the Mothership, at first glance, looks just like any regular laptop. Its clamshell design allows you to close it and it can fit into a backpack.

However, while you can lug it around and maybe use it on the go, it functions best at your work/study table or at the office. Its mammoth 4.8kg weight certainly justifies that, as does its keyboard design, which has been shifted all the way to the front, much like the ROG Zephyrus S GX531.

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The ability to fold up means that you no longer have to worry about unplugging cables and what have you on conventional desktops — the Mothership simply takes off without much hassle.

The Mothership’s standing design allows for much better airflow. As an incredibly powerful machine with its innate Intel 9th-gen 8-core i9 CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 GPU, conventional cooling systems will not suffice. As such, the keyboard area is lifted to allow for cool air to circulate.

The Mothership’s keyboard is detachable to provide you with some much-needed versatility and flexibility when working or gaming since it is also wireless. It can even fold in half for even more added utility.





Detaching the keyboard also reveals a set of speakers at the bottom of the screen.

The ASUS ROG Mothership (GZ700) stands tall at a whopping S$9,999. It will be available from June 2019 onwards.

Aside from the Mothership, there are other nifty new gaming laptops that debuted as well. The new ASUS ROG STRIX Scar III (GL531) offers a powerful new option for dedicated Esports pro gamers.

The STRIX Scar III resembles its Scar II predecessor in many aspects, but delivers much more on the graphical and processing end. Equipped with the 9th-gen Intel i9 CPU and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 series GPUs, the STRIX Scar III boasts enough firepower to match desktops with similar configurations.

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Its 15.6-inch display can be outfitted with a refresh rate of up to 240Hz, enabling it to keep up with the most frantic of movements on competitive esports titles such as Apex Legends, Overwatch and PUBG.

Perhaps the most interesting feature here may be the new ROG Keystone. This amber-coloured attachment serves as a new way to personalise your laptop. This functions just like a wig; dock it to any other ASUS ROG laptop that supports the ROG Keystone, and you’ll be able to use that laptop as if it was yours, complete with all your keyboard profiles and macros saved onto the Keystone.

The ROG Keystone also functions as a security measure for your most important files, with a secret Shadow Drive that hides and encrypts whatever files you store in it.

The ASUS ROG STRIX Scar III (GL531) will retail from S$2.698 onwards, and will be available starting June 2019.

The third most interesting new entry on this lineup is the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S (GX502). The Zephyrus S series is famous for marrying a super-streamlined look with powerful hardware that makes it popular among gamers and content creators.

Like its Zephyrus S brethren, the GX502 possesses a sleek magnesium alloy body with a matte finish that is sturdy yet lightweight. However, unlike the more desktop-oriented keyboard layout of the Zephyrus S GX531, the GX502 assumes a more traditional layout that makes it easier to use on the go.

To pander to both gamers and content creators, the GX502 possesses a PANTONE Validated display that enables the colours displayed to be at their most accurate.

As the icing on the proverbial cake, the GX502 uses a lightweight USB-C charger instead of a traditional DC charger.that makes it super portable.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus S (GX502) will retail for S$3,398 onwards, starting from June 2019.

Among these new releases are several other cool debutants, most notably the new ROG PNK LTD range. This set of pink-themed gaming peripherals seems to be ASUS’ answer to Razer’s Quartz gaming peripheral range.

In any case, the aforementioned ASUS ROG Mothership, ASUS ROG STRIX Scar III and the ASUS ROG Zephyrus S (GX502) will be available in June at authorised retailers, as well as the official ASUS Lazada flagship store.

Specifications

Model ROG Mothership (GZ700) Processor Intel Core i9-9980HK Processor 2.4GHz Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB GDDR6 Display 17.3-inch UHD (3840×2160), IPS-level panel, 60Hz, 100% Adobe RGB. G-SYNC Memory 64GB DDR4 2666MHz Storage 3x 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe x4 SSD RAID 0 OS Windows 10 Dimensions 41 x 32 x 29cm Weight 4.8kg Price S$9,999

Model ROG STRIX Scar III (GX531) ROG Zephyrus S (GX502) Processor Intel Core i7-9750H Processor 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-9750 Processor 2.6GHz Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GDDR6 (RTX 2070 option available) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GDDR6 (RTX 2070 option available) Display 15.6 FHD 144Hz 3ms IPS-type Anti-glare (240Hz option available) 15.6-inch FHD 144Hz 3ms IPS-type PANTONE validated anti-glare w/ G-SYNC Memory 16GB DDR4 16GB DDR4 Storage 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (1TB option available) 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD OS Windows 10 Windows 10 Dimensions 36.0 x 27.5 x 2.49cm 26.0 x 25.2 x 1.89cm Weight 2.6kg 1.99kg Price From S$2,698 From S$3,398

Marion has a serious RPG addiction. Sometimes it bleeds into real life; he forgets to sleep because he thinks he has a Witcher’s body clock. Forgive him in advance if he suddenly blurts out terms such as “Mind Flayer” and “Magic Missile”, because never once does he stop thinking about his next Dungeons & Dragons game.

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