So, ASUS is getting a knack for making April Fool’s announcements that look like it could be a joke, that then turns out to be a very real product. It started in 2023 with the ROG Ally, which has gotten enough popularity to warrant this year's ROG Ally X refresh. And now, they've done it again with the ROG Mjolnir.
The Mjolnir is a gaming UPS with enough juice to power an RTX 4080 gaming system for up to an hour, which is quite the feat, but that’s not all. The Mjolnir is also supposed to be a portable outdoors system with support for solar panel recharging and is designed to look exactly like the namesake hammer of a certain Norse god of thunder. Surely, this had to be a joke.
Well, I had a chance to test my worthiness at Computex 2024, as I bore witness to the very-real greatness ROG Mjolnir. It features a chunky 768W Lithium-ion phosphate battery (LiFeP04), which as mentioned before, can power an RTX 4080 (700W) gaming system for up to 1 hour, or a 1200W system for up to 30 minutes. As a UPS backup, the ROG Mjolnir boasts of a speedy 10ms switchover capability when your main power is cut to keep your PC going. It has an LCD display with real-time info about its current power draw and remaining battery life.
It has four AC outlet plugs with a maximum load of 1200W, two USB-C PD ports supporting 100W PD charging, and two USB-A Quick Charge ports supporting up to 16W.
The handle of Mjolnir is actually a magnetic, detachable torchlight, which fits the theme as I’d expect you’d want to have a torch handy if the power goes out. In a clever bit of design, the torch charges wirelessly when attached; the base actually supports Qi 2.0 charging and is MagSafe compliant, so you can charge your phone too.
These are very respectable specifications for a gaming UPS, but let’s be honest. The real draw is in its design as Thor’s hammer. If it was a classic UPS box, it would probably be overlooked. As is however, it was definitely a crowd-pleaser as there was a constant stream of people wanting to have a go at it. If I were to level any initial criticism, it's that I wish the flashlight was tougher and brighter, in the vein of a Maglite tactical torch. Otherwise, this is a solid attempt at designing a fan service product with real-world practical use.
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