ASUS has been very busy launching new products at IFA 2015 in Berlin. The well known Taiwanese PCs, devices and components maker has launch a wide range of products; from smartwatches and smartphones, through tablets, laptops and PCs, plus a side serving of peripherals. Among the highlights of what was launched are the ROG GX700 Water-Cooled 4K Gaming Laptop with G-Sync and the ASUS VivoStick PC. If you want to see the whole ASUS IFA press event it is available now on YouTube (1hr 25m)
ASUS ROG Gaming products
ASUS ROG launched at least seven new products including laptops, graphics cards, monitors and headsets. Perhaps the most interesting new addition to the ROG lineup was the ROG GX700, pictured below. ASUS claims this is the "world's first water-cooled gaming laptop". With the ROG GX700 there is literally an elephant in the room… Accompanying that laptop is a hulking 'Hydro overclocking system'.
As you would expect from a powerful new gaming laptop it is powered by a new 6th-generation Intel processor. ASUS has chosen an overclockable 'K' series processor. This is paired with one of the latest Nvidia GPUs "for incredible gaming performance". A 17-inch 4K/UHD in-plane switching (IPS) display completes the package. Unfortunately the link pointing to the ROG GX700 product page wasn't live at the time of writing.
Other ASUS ROG products on show were a more conventional gaming laptop called the ROG G752. This also boasted of 4K Gaming capabilities and a built-in G-Sync display. A new curved 34-inch 3440×1440 IPS gaming monitor called the ROG Swift PG348Q was on show, again boasting G-SYNC compatibility. ASUS showed off the 9.5-litre ROG G20 Special Edition gaming PC (pictured above, beside the ROG Swift PG348Q), the ROG Maximus VIII Extreme/Assembly Z170 motherboard, the ROG Matrix GTX 980Ti Platinum graphics card and the ROG 7.1 surround gaming headset.
Other ASUS computers
Turning from the gaming product range, ASUS presented the Zen AiO S series of all-in-ones. The 23.8-inch Zen AiO S Z240IC and the 21.5-inch Zen AiO S Z220IC are premium products with components up to and including 6th-generation Intel Core i7 processors and gaming-grade Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M graphics with up to 4GB of video memory.
These sleek new PCs feature a unibody design and modern technology including the latest USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, up to PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 SSD storage, and up to an Intel RealSense camera. Buyers can choose a display up to a 4K/UHD 10-point multi-touch IPS display with 100% sRGB gamut.
We saw the ASUS VivoStick back at Computex. Then it was called the PenStick, now it has been launched and we have the full official shipping specs. ASUS says that, measuring just 137.9 x 34.0 x 14.9mm, weighing only 68g, VivoStick PC can also be used for essential daily computing, with full connectivity including fast 802.11n Wi-Fi, two convenient USB ports, an audio output jack, plus Bluetooth 4.0 for connecting a keyboard and mouse. It is powered by a Cherry Trail Atom processor accompanied by 2GB of RAM. It will retail for $129, but we don't have an availability date yet.
Other ASUS devices
ASUS also launched smartphones, tablets, and the "world's fastest Wi-Fi router", pictured above. The RT-AC5300 tri-band router delivers up to 1000Mbit/s on the 2.4GHz band and up to 2167Mbit/s on each of the two 5GHz bands, for a combined total of up to 5334Mbit/s. It has eight external antennas to offer coverage up to 500sqm. Furthermore AiRadar beamforming focuses the Wi-Fi signal, giving faster, clearer and stronger Wi-Fi performance for each device.
Of the smartphones launched a highlight, for me, was the ZenPhone Zoom which is the "world's thinnest smartphone to feature a 13MP camera with a 3X optical zoom". This smartphone camera is enhanced further by OIS and uses a Panasonic SmartSFI sensor combined with laser auto-focus. The ZenPhone Zoom is powered by a 2.5GHz Intel Atom Z3590 quad-core processor with 4GB RAM.
