At Computex 2014 Asus launched an extended range of consumer products, including the impressive Transformer Book T300 Chi, which I looked at earlier this week. For the gamers out there though, Asus launched a few new gaming products at Computex as well to add to their Republic of Gamers (ROG) line.
One of the products which I'll touch on briefly is Asus' new gaming desktop, which is a relatively small form factor machine with an aggressive design. Inside you'll find up to an Intel Core i7 'Haswell' CPU and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 graphics card, plus an intricate cooling system that keeps the unit near silent. It had no trouble playing Watch Dogs as a demonstration of its graphics power, and will go on sale for $800-$1700.
Originally the G20, and its companion the GR8, were supposed to launch as Steam Machines. With Valve delaying the Steam Machines project, Asus will go ahead and release them anyway, just not branded as Steam Machines.
Anyway the system that caught my eye more than the ROG gaming desktops was the new 4K gaming laptop announced at Computex, the GX500. It's a beautiful-looking 15.6-inch laptop with a 3840 x 2160 display, weighing just 2.2kg and coming in at 19mm thick. It isn't as slim or light as current Ultrabooks, but it's very portable for a gaming-oriented system.
Internally we're looking at an Intel Core i7 'Haswell' processor, up to four SSDs, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M GPU. Compared to Gigabyte's 17-inch Aorus gaming laptop, Asus' GX500 is both thinner and packs a larger battery (96 Wh), plus it has a display that looks fantastic.
I do have to wonder how capable the GX500 will be if you're gaming at the display's native resolution: 4K resolutions are still a challenge for some powerful gaming desktops, so I wouldn't expect this laptop will be capable of gaming at high levels of detail at 4K. Luckily going down to 1080p will look pretty good on this display, and you have the extra resolution for non-gaming tasks.