Asus ROG Mothership Is a Huge Surface Pro Built for Gaming

And now, a Surface Pro for gaming.

Asus today announced the new ROG Mothership, a gaming laptop that’s built for portability and gaming on the go. The device is essentially a bigger Surface Pro, with more power and bulk. The device packs a 17.3-inch FHD display with NVIDIA G-Sync and a refresh rate of 144Hz. The device has a kickstand, much like the Surface Pro, and a keyboard that can be detached.

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The kickstand allows the device to stand on itself, and all the internals of the device is included on the back of the device. That allows for much better heat dissipation, and the device comes with factory overclocked chips, and so Asus has included eight heat pipes within the device for the thermal energy to get out of the inside of the device much more easily.

Of course, taking out the kickstand by your hand on a 17.3-inch device can be quite hard, and so the kickstand automatically extends as soon as the device touches a surface. That’s a really cool idea, to be honest.

The keyboard on the device can work wirelessly when detached, and you can use it while attached to the device, of course. And if that’s not comfortable enough, you can simply detach it and connect it via a Type-C cable to ensure fast response times and avoid input lag.

Specs-wise, this thing is packed with all the latest goodies. You have the Intel 8th-gen Core i9-8950GK, the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 with 8GB of GDDR6 RAM, NVMe SSDs, and up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM. The device notably includes Windows Hello facial recognition, too.

All of that comes in a package of 10.36lbs, so around 4.7kg. That’s way heavier than something like a Surface Pro (around 4x, in fact), so you can imagine the amount of engineering that went into this thing for the kickstand alone. The ROG Mothership will be available later in the Q1 of 2019, pricing is yet to be announced.

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Conversation 17 comments

  • dailyblogging

    07 January, 2019 - 4:30 am

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    07 January, 2019 - 4:30 am

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  • Daishi

    Premium Member
    07 January, 2019 - 4:56 am

    <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Hmm… … that’s… that’s great… but, um, why?</span></p>

    • jaredthegeek

      Premium Member
      07 January, 2019 - 11:32 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#392436">In reply to Daishi:</a></em></blockquote><p>For LAN parties to play Descent.</p>

  • Demileto

    07 January, 2019 - 5:03 am

    <p>"Your scientists<span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> were so preoccupied with whether or not they&nbsp;</span><strong style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">could</strong><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, they didn't stop to think if they&nbsp;</span><strong style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">should</strong><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">." – Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park</span></p>

  • justme

    Premium Member
    07 January, 2019 - 5:12 am

    <p>Sorry, how is this a Surface Pro for gaming? Its big, its heavy. A Surface Pro is neither of those.</p>

  • Rob_Wade

    07 January, 2019 - 8:55 am

    <p>Everyone seems to be coming out with "gaming laptops". I'm clearly not the market for these things. Gaming is absolutely the LAST thing I want to be doing when I'm not at home. I have a fantastic tower PC built to handle all my gaming and production needs. I can't conceive of a time when I'd need that out and about. I have a 5th gen Surface Pro common work I may need to do or opportunist movie viewing while traveling.</p>

    • prjman

      07 January, 2019 - 9:22 am

      <blockquote><a href="#392466"><em>In reply to Rob_Wade:</em></a><em>Travel?</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • ben55124

    Premium Member
    07 January, 2019 - 10:52 am

    <p>But can it be used as a skateboard?</p><p><br></p><p><img src="https://thetechndroid.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/microsoft-surface-skateboard.jpg?w=610"></p&gt;

  • ubelhorj

    Premium Member
    07 January, 2019 - 10:52 am

    <p>That's awesome. I don't want one.</p>

  • jaredthegeek

    Premium Member
    07 January, 2019 - 11:33 am

    <p>What's the battery life? 32 seconds?</p><p><br></p><p>Also I have seen at least one other surface clone that had the kickstand open when placed on a surface.</p>

  • Bats

    07 January, 2019 - 1:04 pm

    <p>Wait a sec…where's the answer to the most important question here? Is it Gorgeous? (lol)</p><p><br></p><p>I like this machine. I really do. For me, bigger is better. I hope this is a trend where we will see bigger mobile computers.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>For me, there are only 3 types of computers: Desktop, Mobile, and Smartphone/Pocket.&nbsp;LOL…none of this "2-in-1" or "tablet" category. It's either desktop, mobile, or pocket.</p><p><br></p><p>I am not a PC gamer, but the fact that one can easily lug this around and easily unpack it is great. The current designs of 360 degree "2-in-1" computers is only ok. It's kinda corny that to go in tablet mode, the keyboard has to face down on the surface or the whole computer has to look like a tent.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Portability for a 10+ lb machine like this isn't a problem if the owner uses a rolling case in the form of a carry-on luggage on wheels. If you ask me, that's much better than putting a lighter computer on a shoulder bag.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p>

  • T182

    07 January, 2019 - 1:32 pm

    <p>If this has touch/pen support, my CAD guys will be very interested in this. </p>

  • SYNERDATA

    07 January, 2019 - 2:38 pm

    <p>Microsoft should have made this long ago.</p>

  • joeaxberg

    Premium Member
    07 January, 2019 - 5:18 pm

    <p>My initial reaction about this machine was one of "why? who needs this?" But now that I've thought about it…I dunno, maybe this thing makes sense.</p><p><br></p><p>This isn't a supersized Surface Pro … this is a portable/backpackable All-in-One.</p><p><br></p><p>I'm a Mac user primarily, but have an Alienware 15R3 for gaming. I hesitate to call such laptops "mobile." They are <em>portable </em>all-in-one gaming PC's. I could see this Mothership as a decent alternative. At the house the Alienware is hooked up to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse – unless maybe I'm on the couch or something. If I take it somewhere – to game at my buddy's place for example – I hate using the Alienware's keyboard. This is a really thick machine. I use an external Corsair mouse, because using the trackpad for gaming is pointless (for me anyway)</p><p><br></p><p>But here we have a portable all-in-one (kinda really what it is) where the keyboard is detachable so you can place it wherever and I assume it isn't all that thick. One could throw a different keyboard in the backpack too, like a small mechanical gaming keyboard.</p><p><br></p><p>I dunno, I originally poo-poo'd this thing. Now I'm like ok, sure. P</p><p><br></p><p>Price I'm guessing is sure to be breathtaking though…and I say that as an Apple user.</p>

  • disco_larry

    08 January, 2019 - 1:29 pm

    <p>Does stuff like this sell well, or not well but it's immensely profitable?</p><p><br></p><p>I don't play video games, so I'm obviously not the target. A while ago I was walking around Fry's and couldn't believe how much $$ a lot of stuff marked as 'gaming' (Mice, Keyboards, etc.) was. I was curious as to how much they actually sell. Even among hard-core gamers, I can't imagine a portable &gt;10lbs selling like hotcakes.</p><p><br></p>

  • Steve Martin

    Premium Member
    08 January, 2019 - 3:17 pm

    <p>Pricing is yet to be announced because they are still trying to revive the first people they told the price to.</p>

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