Desktop Ryzen CPU Graces Asus ROG Strix Laptop

Although most recent laptop Ryzen news has been about the launch of Ryzen Mobile, Asus has added a different kind of Ryzen beast to its ROG Strix group of gaming laptops. The new ROG Strix GL702ZC has a desktop AMD Ryzen CPU inside.

Model GL702ZC-WB74 is powered by the octo-core AMD Ryzen 7 1700 desktop CPU with 16GB of DDR4-2400 RAM. Asus said that the CPU is able to hit its maximum turbo frequency of 3.7GHz, but this statement doesn’t come without caveats. Modern CPUs have complex self-overclocking and throttling routines. These may be more developed on mobile CPUs, but they still exist on desktop parts. Asus has a history of innovative laptop cooling solutions, but only extensive benchmarking can show how much the GL702ZC’s cooling system can pull from its 65W CPUs.

Adding to the cooling load is a Radeon RX 580 4GB GPU. This is technically also a desktop part, but as with the CPU, there’s more to the story here. AMD has followed Nvidia’s footsteps with regards to its latest laptop discrete GPUs. Starting from the Maxwell generation, Nvidia began offering specially binned, destined-for-laptop desktop GPUs. These GPUs are physically identical to desktop GPUs (except for different power circuitry), so they bear the same name (instead of being denoted with a ‘M’). Self-throttling determines the steady-state performance difference between the laptop and desktop versions. The AMD RX580 in the GL702ZC is the same deal--technically very similar to the desktop RX 580 on paper. Again, only extensive benchmarking will tell how close it really is.

Asus took advantage of AMD’s ecosystem by giving the GL702ZC a FreeSync-enabled 120Hz FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS screen. Its standard, 72% coverage of the NTSC gamut means this isn’t an HDR-capable screen, however, so we’re still not seeing any of AMD’s fabled HDR-capable FreeSync 2 technology. The FreeSync capability extends to the external display ports, too (HDMI 2.0 and MiniDP).

Being unquestionably a desktop replacement, the GL702ZC has ample room for drives and ports. For the former, there’s a 256GB M.2 SATA SSD and a 2.5-inch 5400 RPM 1TB hard drive. There’s also three USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, an RJ45 LAN jack, a combo audio jack, an SD card reader, and the aforementioned HDMI and MiniDP ports.

Finally, being an ROG laptop means that the GL702ZC comes with requisite gaming features. Its backlit keyboard has 30-key rollover and is built to be extra durable. Asus’ Sonic Studio and Radar software audio processing also enhance sound playback and recording.

In truth, having any desktop CPU is a rarity among notebooks already. The fact that it’s a Ryzen CPU makes it doubly rare. The RX 580 GPU only adds to the exclusivity. The HP Omen 17, for example, uses the same GPU but paired it with a mobile quad-core i7-7700HQ CPU.

The ROG Strix GL702ZC-WB74 is available now at $1,499.