ASUS has unveiled a bunch of new products under its Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand at CES 2021. The company is bringing three new notebooks including the dual-screen ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE, Strix SCAR 17, and the unique 13-inch ROG Flow X13 gaming laptop with the XG Mobile external GPU. ASUS has also announced some new accessories including the ROG Claymore II gaming keyboard and the ROG Gladius III Wireless gaming mouse. Lastly, we have the new 32-inch ROG Swift PG32UQ 4K 144 Hz gaming monitor with HDMI 2.1 for console and PC gaming.

ROG Flow X13

Last year, ASUS launched the ROG Zephyrus G14, a unique ultra-portable gaming notebook powered by AMD’s Ryzen 4000 mobile processors. This year, the company is going a step ahead with the ROG Flow X13, a 13-inch ultra-portable gaming laptop offered with either a 120Hz FHD panel or a high-res 4K panel protected by Corning Gorilla glass and features a narrow-frame design with support for touch and stylus input. Both displays have a 16:10 aspect ratio, support Adaptive-Sync and are Pantone Validated. The notebook also comes with a convertible design so you can flip the screen around as well.

The ROG Flow X13 is powered by up to an AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS mobile processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics. While it is said to last up to 10-hours when used for light work, the 100-watt USB-C PD charger can charge the notebook’s battery to 60% in just 39 minutes.

ASUS ROG XG Mobile eGPU product image

To give a boost in graphics power, the machine brings support for an external GPU. This is similar to what Razer did a few years back, but what ASUS is presenting right now is a considerably compact mobile external GPU enclosure called the XG Mobile. It can accommodate up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics which sounds pretty crazy considering the size. Combining the ROG Flow X13 with the XG Mobile transforms the notebook into a performance beast that is said to be equivalent to full-sized gaming rigs. The XG Mobile comes with a proprietary eGPU connector that offers 63Gbps of bandwidth exclusively to graphics, which is technically faster than Thunderbolt based eGPUs. The XG Mobile also features a dedicated USB 3.2 Gen 2 link, that expands the I/O connectivity options and it also has an integrated 280W AC adapter, so it can charge the notebook at the same time.

ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE

The new Zephyrus Duo 15 SE is an upgrade to the Zephyrus Duo 15 from last year featuring a similar wide secondary screen, the ROG ScreenPad Plus. ASUS says that by using the secondary display, gamers get the advantage of more usable onscreen space for gaming and productive tasks. Just like the previous model, the ScreenPad Plus raises up by a few degrees when the laptop display is opened at a comfortable viewing angle.

The notebook will be offered with up to an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX mobile processor and up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics. The display will be offered with a 120Hz 4K panel with 100% Adobe RGB color space coverage or a 300Hz FHD display with a 3ms response time and 100% sRGB color space coverage. Both panels will be PANTONE Validated and feature thin-bezel designs and Adaptive-Sync technology.

Apart from using the secondary display to browse the web, read emails, chat over instant messaging apps, ROG has worked closely with developers as well as partnered with XSplit Gamecaster to allow gamers to monitor their streams while gaming on the main display. For creators, ROG has partnered with Adobe for additional content creation tools available on the ScreenPad Plus. Other notable features include a  two-way AI Noise-Cancelation feature for clear communication, Dolby Atmos, and an upgraded Active Aerodynamic System Plus (AAS+) cooling system. The notebook also features new Arc Flow fans that are said to increase airflow by 13% over the previous generation, and ASUS is also using a liquid metal thermal compound, to cool the AMD CPU.

ROG Strix SCAR 17

Next is the ROG Strix SCAR 17, a powerful gaming notebook powered by the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics and up to an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX mobile processor. This can be configured with up to 32GB of DDR-3200 MHz memory with the new Arc Flow fans and liquid-metal cooling. ASUS is aiming for premium eSports players with the SCAR 17. It comes with a 17-inch 360Hz FHD panel offering 3ms response time or an optional 165Hz WQHD panel with a DCI-P3 color gamut. The notebook also comes with a 90Whr battery that is said to last up to 12 hours of video playback on a single charge, along with support for 100-watt USB Type-C power adapters.

For the ones who care about aesthetics, the new SCAR 17 is said to be more compact than its predecessor, with a higher-density RGB light bar around the front edge of the chassis, an additional light strip under the display, and a set of three user-swappable hinge caps. ASUS is also introducing an optical-mechanical keyboard on the notebook featuring per-key RGB lighting, 1.9 mm key travel, and zero debounce delay. Other features include a quad-speaker design and Dolby Atmos sound enhancement, and a two-way AI Noise-Cancelation feature.

ROG Swift PG32UQ

We just witessed Acer announcing what it calls the first-ever 40-inch 4K UHD, 144Hz, HDR400 monitor with HDMI 2.1. Today, ASUS has launched the ROG Swift PG32UQ which is being touted as the world’s first 32-inch HDMI 2.1 gaming monitor. This one also comes with a 144Hz refresh rate with a 1ms moving picture response time (MPRT). It comes with two HDMI 2.1 ports to support up to 4K visuals at up to 120Hz on the latest gaming consoles - the Xbox Series X|S and the Sony PlayStation 5.

The monitor also comes with Display Stream Compression (DSC) technology, a compression standard for transporting ultra-high-definition video streams across a single interface at high speed with no perceptible loss of visual quality. Essentially what that means is that the monitor supports 4K 144Hz via a single DisplayPort 1.4 connection. Other notable features of the monitor include G-SYNC compatibility, DisplayHDR 600, 160% sRGB, and 98% DCI-P3 color gamut support, and is said to be factory pre-calibrated to ensure Delta E < 2 color accuracy.

ROG Claymore II and ROG Gladius III Wireless

ASUS also introduced its first mechanical RGB gaming keyboard with its own ROG RX Blue Optical Mechanical Switches. These switches are designed in a way to offer improved all-around RGB lighting, as well as near-zero debounce delay. ASUS also ensures a 100-million-keypress lifespan and the keyboard comes with a magnetic wrist rest and a detachable numpad. One can use the keyboard with wired USB-C or 2.4GHz wireless connections. The 4000mAh battery on the keyboard is said to provide up to 40-hours of use on a single charge, while the USB-C connection supports fast charging or USB passthrough for other devices. The keyboard comes with wireless Aura Sync lighting and will be offered with ROG RX Red Switches.

Lastly, the ROG Gladius III Wireless gaming mouse is the newest peripheral option from ASUS ROG which is said to offer 19,000-dpi. It comes with tri-mode connectivity with wired, wireless 2.4GHz RF, and Bluetooth modes. The mouse comes with a new Push-Fit Switch Socket II that supports both traditional 3-pin mechanical and 5-pin Omron optical micro switches, allowing easy swapping of switches. There is zero-click latency and the mouse features a flexible, low-drag ROG Paracord cable.

Pricing and Availability

All three notebooks including the ROG Flow X13, ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE, and ROG Strix SCAR 17 will be available in the first quarter of 2021. The new ROG Swift PG32UQ gaming monitor and new peripherals will be made available in Q2 2021.