ROG equips Strix and Zephyrus gaming laptops with RTX 50 series GPUs, XG Mobile sees refresh

As CES begins, so too do the flurry of new product announcements, with ASUS ROG announcing its 2025 lineup of gaming laptops and devices. On the list are new Strix, Flow and Zephyrus laptops, with the biggest updates being all-new Intel, AMD and NVIDIA silicon, including the new RTX 50 series of GPUs. With the release of NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs, the XG Mobile line of eGPUs also sees an update.

Cutting-edge Strix laptops

Beginning with the Strix lineup, the headlining change with the new Strix Scar 16 and 18, as well as the new Strix G16 and G18, are the new graphics cards, with options available up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU (if you have the cash to shell out for them, considering that a last-gen RTX 4090 Scar 16 cost S$5,699).

This is partially dependent on CPU choice, however, as the G14 and G16 also come in AMD variants that are notably scaled down as far as GPU power is concerned. In particular, the AMD variants of the G16 and G18 get the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5070 respectively.

Speaking of the CPU, the Scar 16 and 18 only come with Intel CPUs, with the top-tier options being the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX. This is the same for the Intel variants of the G16 and G18, and a similarity the four Intel-powered laptops share are two USB-C Thunderbolt 5 ports. The AMD variants of the G16 and G18 support USB4, unfortunately, but they do have a top spec of an AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D.

One additional feature that doesn’t show up in the spec sheet, though, is what ASUS ROG touts as the “first tool-less bottom panel available in a gaming laptop”, with a bottom panel removable through a single button. 

This should definitely help with repairability, a welcome feature considering the potential cost of these machines. It should also be a boon to upgradability as well; the Scar laptops especially with their support of up to 64GB of DDR5 memory and a 2x2TB SSD configuration in RAID 0.

The Zephyrus gets the RTX 50 series treatment

Moving over to more portable options, the Zephyrus lineup is seeing refreshes in its spec sheet as well, with the G14 and G16 series seeing numerous upgrades. The smaller G14 will be configurable with a CPU up to an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, while the G16 opts for an Intel option, with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H as the most powerful option available.

Both laptops will also come with NVIDIA RTX GPUs, with the G14 going up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU, while the G16 will be available with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU. Being targeted at professionals, the two laptops also come with ROG's OLED Nebula Display, with the G14 sporting a 3K@120Hz display, while the G16 gets a 2.5K@240Hz display.

ROG notes that, with its 2nd Gen Arc Flow Fans, the new Zephyrus laptops should see 23% more efficiency compared to previous models.

Mobility is the key with the Flow Z13 and XG Mobile

Finally, the ROG announcements are topped off with two mobility and portability-focused devices getting refreshes of their own, and the Flow Z13 is the first among these.

A gaming tablet, the Flow Z13 sees multiple design improvements to fit more power into a smaller chassis, including a unified quad-channel memory design (which should be useful given the total pool of 128GB onboard memory), improved power-delivery components, and a new vapour chamber design, which, built with both stainless steel as copper, ASUS says offers 54% more coverage of the mainboard compared to previous generations. The Flow Z13 also sports the same 2nd Gen Arc Flow Fans as the Zephyrus.

On the spec sheet, the Z13 appears to ditch NVIDIA's GPUs, instead adopting an integrated GPU that comes with the latest AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 CPU. In the press release, ROG states that for this top-spec option, the Ryzen's RDNA 3.5 should give it an equivalent gaming performance to an AMD Radeon 8060S. 

Finally, ROG's XG Mobile eGPU is also seeing an update, with the headlining change being support for Thunderbolt 5.

The new XG Mobile, which last saw a 2023 iteration with RTX 40-series GPUs, has two models for you to choose from: An NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU, as well as an RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU. The 2025 XG Mobile also sees a size reduction, with a chassis that is 25.4% smaller and 18.2% lighter than the previous generation. A reason for this, ROG says, is due to a new stainless steel vapour chamber design.

Indeed, according to the ROG spec sheet, the weight of the new XG Mobile now sits at 956g, compared to the 1.3kg of the previous version. The dimensions have also been reduced to 20.8 x 15.5 x 29.6cm.

Pricing and local availability is not out yet for these new devices, but given their high profile, we should expect to hear about them soon.

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