New 3080 and 3070 notebooks: Asus ROG presents the Zephyrus S17 and M16
Republic of Gamers has presented two new Zephyrus gaming notebooks with top-notch hardware. A well thought out design and cooling concept in the S17 and M16 allow the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080/3070 and next-gen Intel SoC to unleash the tiger inside. Or something like that.
Asus ROG has introduced two new Zephyrus gaming notebooks with the motto «Unleash the Tiger Inside». The S17 is a thin 17-inch laptop with a well thought out cooling concept, a next-gen Intel CPU and a GeForce RTX 3080 running at up to 140 watts. The M16 with the RTX 3070 has an almost borderless 16-inch display housed in a thin 15-inch chassis.
Asus ROG Zephyrus S17
The Zephyrus S17 has a slim, 2 cm magnesium-aluminium chassis and comes with a next-gen Intel SoC. It features Thunderbolt 4, up to three 2TB PCIe SSDs in an array, up to 48GB of DDR4-3200 RAM, and a choice of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, 3070 or 3080. You can choose either a WQHD 165Hz panel with G-Sync and Advanced Optimus or a UHD 120Hz panel. Both are responsive at three milliseconds, pre-calibrated for 100% DCI-P3, Pantone Validated and include Dolby Vision.
In order to get peak performance out of the best Intel CPU and RTX 3080, there’s a sophisticated cooling system on board. Instead of thermal paste, liquid metal is used for cooling. In addition, there are six heat pipes, additional air intakes under the keyboard and arc flow fans. This allows the RTX 3080 to reach a clock rate of up to 1545MHz at 115 watts. Dynamic Boost allows the GPU to even draw up to 140 watts, meaning the CPU can get up to 50 watts. And if the graphics card isn’t being used, the processor can even get up to 90 watts.
When you open the notebook, the optical mechanical keyboard lifts by five degrees. In addition to contributing to the cooling system, this also helps with ergonomics. There’s also an additional control element in addition to the RGB keys and large trackpad – a multifunctional wheel on the upper left. The fact that the keyboard includes a number pad is delightful. A fingerprint sensor and a webcam are also included.
To ensure an enjoyable listening experience, the notebook continues to feature the world’s best gaming laptop speakers. At least that’s what ROG claims. There are a total of six speakers, including two woofers, with Dolby Atmos.
Asus ROG Zephyrus M16
Asus ROG has realised that thick edges are out. So the Zephyrus M16 fits a 16-inch display inside a 15-inch chassis. More specifically, it’s a responsive WQHD 165Hz panel in a 16:10 aspect ratio with Adaptive Sync, 100% DCI-P3 colour space representation, Pantone validation, and Dolby Vision. The chassis is just 19.9 mm thick and is also made of an aluminium-magnesium alloy.
It also features a next-gen Intel CPU. Good connectivity is guaranteed thanks to Thunderbolt 4, among other things. When it comes to memory, you can select an SSD with up to 2 TB as well as up to 48 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM. A second SSD slot is available for further upgrading. As for the graphics card configuration, we know the top variant of the M16 comes with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070.
On the M16, it’s not just the keyboard that lifts a bit when the lid is opened, but the entire base. This improves airflow to the rear vents. Aside from the additional openings under the keyboard in the S17, the M16 uses the same cooling design including six heat pipes and liquid metal.
The Stealth Type keyboard features extra quiet keys – keystrokes are supposed to stay below 30dB. In addition, there’s a large touchpad, fingerprint sensor and an integrated webcam.
The M16 also has the supposedly world’s best notebook speakers, complementing the display, which is perfectly pre-calibrated for movies.
So when will the new gaming notebooks from ROG be here?
Unfortunately, the exact configurations as well as availability and pricing details are not yet known. However, I can reveal that the notebooks will be available on digitec sometime on 16 or 17 May 2021. An update to this article including all products will follow as soon as possible.
I find my muse in everything. When I don’t, I draw inspiration from daydreaming. After all, if you dream, you don’t sleep through life.