How We're Empowering Ultra-Portable VR

Virtual reality has taken the game industry by storm. While VR headsets aren’t yet a household item, collaborative VR gaming spaces have begun appearing worldwide, and VR was everywhere on the PAX West exhibition hall floor this year. There was even a station where you could try Star Trek Bridge Crew, a collaborative VR simulation.

Over at the Republic of Gamers booth, we had a few VR tricks up our own sleeves. To start, we had several VR Minecraft demo stations, pairing the Oculus Rift with the deceptively-powerful, small form-factor G20 desktop. Players at the ROG booth could enter the virtual world of Minecraft to build and explore their own environments, including experiencing the intensity of the Minecraft world at night. The G20 is proof that you don’t need a giant gaming PC to have amazing VR performance.

Beyond the super-cool Minecraft stations, we were also demoing some of our other favorite, VR-ready machines. In fact, every computer at our booth was VR-ready. And, if you’ll allow us to geek out for just a few moments, we’re pretty proud of them for a few reasons.

Power comes at a cost

One of the major drawbacks to VR today is that PC-based systems like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive require a wired connection to a powerful gaming computer. A powerful CPU, GPU, and plenty of RAM are especially critical because any stuttering or framerate issues can cause motion sickness. The problem is that powerful gaming PCs don’t usually come in small packages. So, unless you’re regularly hauling your big gaming rig to LAN parties, this can be a huge pain—particularly if you have aspirations to take VR with you everywhere.

VR gamers seeking liberation from wired computer connections have been eyeing mobile phone-based solutions like the Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard. But these systems’ graphics simply aren’t comparable to the higher-powered (and higher-priced) PC- or console-based options. And, although some folks are waiting for wireless VR that’s on par with the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or PS4 VR, only prototypes exist today.

Making VR mobile

So, how do you make a mobile, immersive, high-quality VR experience without a wireless VR headset?

We had a few ideas of our own, and we decided to show off some machines demonstrating these concepts at this year’s PAX West.

First off: for gamers who want a super-lightweight VR-gaming solution, we demoed the GL502—an incredible laptop featuring the VR-ready NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 GPU, a graphics card which Brian Crecente at Polygon recently named “the graphics card you’ve been waiting for.” This surprisingly light 2.3kg laptop still manages to pack a punch with its Intel Core i7 quad-core processor and support for up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM. All told, it’s a gaming powerhouse that makes ultra-portable virtual reality, well, a reality.

Then there are the insane G752 and GX800 laptops. The G752 is one of our best-selling VR-ready laptops, boasting the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 and with an exclusive vapor-chamber cooling system for peak VR-performance. It's just as easy to pick up and put in a backpack or messenger bag to take your VR game on the road.

Meanwhile, the watercooled GX800 runs two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 SLI GPUs. Its incredible visuals exceed 90 FPS on each of the left and right eye displays for silky-smooth VR gameplay, and, like all of the other options above, it's perfectly portable.

Last, but certainly not least, the G20 got a chance to strut its stuff. Not to play favorites or anything, but we love demoing Minecraft VR on this small form-factor desktop. Large gaming rigs can be annoying to lug around, but there’s no reason you can't take a powerful PC with you when you have a mini-ITX PC like this one. The adage “good things come in small packages” has never been truer: the G20 is slim and VR-ready with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080. In fact, we even partnered with Oculus on it. Its super-slick design has also received critical acclaim, including the 2015 CES Innovation and iF Design award.

Looking to the future

For some, the pipe dream is completely portable VR: taking your immersive entertainment with you anywhere, even if it means compromising on graphics in today's world. For others, the golden standard is the most immersive experience, even at the cost of mobility.

As for us? We decided to take a “best of both worlds” approach by targeting both mobility and power. Above all, we wanted gamers to be empowered with incredibly immersive VR anywhere. Although high-quality wireless VR may not be here just yet, we've got the next best thing: ultra-portable, VR-ready laptops and desktops with incredible performance and immersion. If you’re around at the next convention, come by and give it a try: we guarantee your mind will be blown.

 

By Kimberly Koenig