Asus Teases 24-Inch Monster Laptop; Making Room For A PSU?

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Asus’s Republic of Gamers (ROG) division released a blog that hinted at the creation of a premium gaming laptop capable of upending an Nvidia GTX Titan X in 3DMark11.

The blog was tagged with the term “24-inch laptop,” indicating that Asus’s glimpse into the future of ultimate gaming laptops has plus-sized aspirations in addition to ambitious performance goals. With the advent of the Nvidia GTX 1080 and GTX 1070, many are speculating that this is the debut of a mobile Pascal-based Nvidia GPU. However, there is another possibility for the new concept gaming laptop.

As it happens, I was just working on a beast of a laptop known to the world as the MSI GT80S Titan SLI, a mammoth 18.4-inch gaming notebook with a mobile Intel Core i7-6920HQ processor and two desktop-class GTX 980 graphics modules in SLI. Not to give too much away, but without overclocking the MSI Titan, it was capable of performance relative to (if not greater than) a desktop Titan X. However, one of the drawbacks to the massive laptop was that it was incapable of overclocking, because the power supply was limited to only 330 watts of juice, and any further strain on the graphics subsystem resulted in lower performance.

Conjecture: Perhaps Asus’s new concept laptop measures up to 24 inches not just for a larger screen, but for a larger power supply–one capable of powering two desktop-class GPUs in SLI with room for overclocking. Generally, a 330 W PSU has been the limit for the largest, most powerful laptops sporting either desktop GPUs or desktop processors, but the combination of both (desktop CPU with a GTX 980 SLI setup) with overclocking headroom does not yet exist.

If Asus’s new challenger for the desktop-replacement laptop throne isn’t the debut of a mobile Pascal-based Nvidia GPU, then it is highly likely to be a GTX 980 SLI configuration, possibly with an unlocked desktop CPU, with a higher power ceiling and thermal dissipation to accommodate the high-performance components. It could also be a laptop sporting a desktop GTX 980ti Matrix GPU (it was tagged in the blog as well), but all of that’s just a guess based on Asus’s cryptic blog. We'll have to wait until Computex to see what it's really all about.

Derek Forrest is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom’s Hardware. Follow Derek Forrest on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

Derek Forrest
Derek Forrest
Derek Forrest is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He writes hardware news and reviews gaming desktops and laptops.
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22 Comments Comment from the forums
  • big_tiger
    Is there really someone looking for this high end of a computer and needs it to be "compact?" This has to be targeted to the 'more money than sense' crowd.
    Reply
  • Jeff Fx
    Is there really someone looking for this high end of a computer and needs it to be "compact?"
    Yes, anyone wanting to do off-site Vive demos, but only if it has one fast GPU, since SLI is useless for VR at the moment.
    Reply
  • precursors
    This is more a "suitcase" than a "laptop"
    Reply
  • robodan918
    Is there really someone looking for this high end of a computer and needs it to be "compact?"
    Yes, anyone wanting to do off-site Vive demos, but only if it has one fast GPU, since SLI is useless for VR at the moment.
    It's VERY niche but yes - for those people it makes sense
    unfortunately OP has a point: most people who buy these will not need it for a good purpose - they just have more money than sense
    Reply
  • JackNaylorPE
    Is there really someone looking for this high end of a computer and needs it to be "compact?" This has to be targeted to the 'more money than sense' crowd.

    People who work for a living and spend a significant amount of their time traveling.
    Reply
  • g-unit1111
    At what point is a laptop not a laptop? And if this is for VR purposes why not just buy an all in one? I would think that would be easier to transport than a desktop would.
    Reply
  • SlipperyFetus
    http://www.tweaktown.com/news/52215/nvidia-rumored-launch-geforce-gtx-1080m-notebooks-computex/index.html

    Graph look familiar?
    Reply
  • JackNaylorPE
    I would say most of the time ... in the office I multitask, using both ... at home, I use either depending where I am sitting. Under none of those instances has the laptop been "on my lap". One buys a computer to fit ones needs. People however have a compelling need to put "labels" on things, and "potable desktop replacement" just doesn't work cause they don't want to use that many words. The fact that "laptop" remains in the lexicon is unusual in that, outside of planes and trains, it's rare to actually ever use it on ones lap.

    A Gaming Laptop is, in essence, an oxymoron as a gaming laptop w/ any oomph will run a bit too warm for comfort on one's lap.

    Among the examples would be one of our own ... We uses 17 " gaming laptops as our main tool in the field to create As-Built Drawings on construction web sites. Contrary to popular belief, peak 2D and 3D CAD performance is obtained using GTX GFX cards (not Quadro, which excels in rendering). It's used in our vehicles, it's used in office trailers, inside buildings under construction, it's used in water / wastewater and electric plants on the nearest flat surface. And as the day goes on, it may be used in a dozen different locations, some w/o power.. As opposed to an "All in One", it's also a lot easier to travel with.

    As for moving to 24", I'd find that a bit unwieldy for many of the above uses, but on those site where, for example, where we had access to a 40' portable office trailer, the extra real estate (disappointed no mention of resolution) would certainly come in handy.

    Reply
  • targetdrone
    A laptop that consumes so much power it's forever tied to a powe routlet.

    Unless Asus has discovered naquadah power cell or mini ZPM technology.
    Reply
  • falchard
    It's made for those companies that want to 1-up MSI.
    Reply