ASUS ROG Mothership GZ700GX review: Is this a Surface convertible for gaming?

Introduction

ASUS made this simply because they can

The ASUS ROG Mothership turned quite a few heads when it was first announced at CES 2019. It defied categorisation – was it a giant convertible laptop or an all-in-one machine? But wait, it doesn't even have a touchscreen, so it's not actually a giant Surface Pro, despite looking every bit like one, down to the kickstand and detachable keyboard.

Either way, the Mothership looks more like a concept device than an actual product. It's made up of various incongruities, trumpeting its credentials as a desktop replacement and portable gaming machine in the same breath. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, and I'm not sure what need it fulfills. At S$9,998, it's also insanely expensive. But if you had that kind of money, you could also build two super powerful gaming desktops with top-end hardware.

Here's an overview of its specifications: 

• 17.3-inch 3,840 x 2,160-pixel IPS-type 60Hz G-Sync display (100 per cent Adobe RGB coverage)
• Intel Core i9-9980HK processor (2.40GHz, 16MB L3 cache)
• 64GB DDR4-2666 RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB GDDR6
• 3x 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD in RAID 0
• 90Wh Li-ion battery
• 410 x 320 x 29mm
• 4.8kg

Who is the Mothership for? Is it even for anybody? Follow us as we take a closer look at it.