ROG shows how gaming laptops can double as creative powerhouses at IFA Berlin 2019

More gamers than ever are diving into serious content creation, from producing their own gaming or art streams to developing original games of their own. That growing need for machines that can push out high frame rates and accelerate creative workloads pushed ROG engineers to reimagine the ideal gaming laptop experience.

Creating powerful devices with the versatility to go beyond gaming is a major theme for ROG, which is why we’re showing off our most versatile new gaming laptops at IFA Berlin 2019, from September 6 - 11.

Brightening up with Glacier Blue

As the gaming audience grows and changes, so too must the look and feel of our gaming machines. ROG helped define the dark aesthetic that became synonymous with PC gaming hardware, and while that styling has strong appeal for hardcore gamers and blends well in professional environments, we’re intent on adding more options to our color palette.

For our first foray into color expansion, we painted and anodized some of our most creator-centric machines in an energetic shade of Glacier Blue. In late May, we announced the new tint for the Strix G, which elevates core gaming essentials in an affordable yet potent package, as well as the Zephyrus M and Zephyrus S, which are heavy-hitting hybrid powerhouses for serious gaming and work. These lighter, brighter machines offer the same hardcore performance and useful features as their blacked-out counterparts, but are dressed in a new color to help bring the Republic of Gamers to a wider audience.

Versatility for any task

Available with up to a 9th Gen Intel Core i7-9750H processor, these Glacier Blue machines are geared to accelerate all kinds of tasks far beyond gaming. The new 6-core CPU can hit frequencies of up to 4GHz on a single core with Turbo Boost 2.0 technology, and offers Hyper-Threading that can enable up to 12 parallel threads for speedier video editing, 3D rendering, and other CPU-intensive processes. Add up to 32GB of DDR4-2666 memory, and each one of these machines can masterfully handle heavy multitasking for gamers and content creators. Creative professionals can work on multimedia projects more quickly, while gamers benefit from the ability to broadcast high-quality streams, chat with the channel, and play the latest titles all at the same time.

In addition, the Zephyrus S GX502 features a GPU switch that toggles between smoother gaming with NVIDIA G-SYNC or better battery life with Optimus, making it uniquely geared for gamers who use their laptops for everyday work and productivity too. NVIDIA’s Optimus technology extends battery life by turning off the GPU when it isn’t needed, letting the GX502 reach up to four hours of web browsing and nearly five hours of video playback.

Battery life can be stretched even further on the GX502 and GU502 with USB Power Delivery. While the default 230W adapter is made for hardcore gaming, it’s relatively heavy and consumes a formidable amount of power. For everyday tasks like web surfing and office productivity that don’t need the discrete GPU, users can forgo the heavier charger for a standard Type-C adapter up to 65W. USB Power Delivery improves the overall portability of the ultra-slim Zephyrus laptops, and combined with a resilient and lightweight magnesium-alloy chassis, it’s easy for gamers to travel, game, and be productive anywhere.

Speed without sacrifice

Display technology provides the canvas of pixels that dictates how a gamer experiences their games and apps. It paints the vivid colors and sharp details that they see, affects the fluidity of movement that they feel, and controls how clearly they can perceive the world in motion. Gamers and content creators alike depend on a pristine visual experience, which is why ROG is dedicated to equipping our machines with the latest display technologies available.

The Zephyrus S and Zephyrus M are calibrated at the factory to guarantee the Pantone Validated color accuracy required for serious creative work. Their IPS-level displays cover the full sRGB color space over wide viewing angles that simplify sharing the screen with coworkers and friends. When it’s time to play, the Zephyrus laptops offer high-refresh options up to 240Hz so that gamers can fully experience insanely fast frame rates and silky smooth gameplay, while a 3ms grey-to-grey response time keeps the picture crisp and free of motion blur. The 15.6-inch panels are framed by slim bezels that are only 6.2mm wide on either side, and the narrow border works in tandem with the vibrant visuals for a more immersive experience overall.

A fast display needs a powerful GPU that can pump out the frame rates needed to saturate the screen, and the leading-edge NVIDIA GeForce RTX™ GPUs featured in the Zephyrus and Strix laptops are well-equipped for the task. Based on the Turing architecture, these GPUs feature a cocktail of cores that can accelerate a huge range of tasks, from hardcore gaming to 3D modeling to deep learning. Combined with the carefully tailored Intelligent Cooling systems in each ROG laptop, these GPUs can be pushed to their top clock speeds, wattages, and even beyond for smoother high-FPS gaming and faster execution of GPU-intensive work.

The Zephyrus M’s sleek body houses discrete graphics up to the GeForce RTX 2060, with effective cooling allows us to clock it up to 1435MHz at 90W in Turbo mode with ROG Boost. The Strix G and Zephyrus S are equipped with up to GeForce RTX 2070 graphics that pushes pixels fast enough for fluid frame rates with detailed graphics in demanding AAA titles.

Creator-ready machines

The GeForce RTX 2060 and RTX 2070 GPUs equipped in these new Glacier Blue laptops feature NVIDIA Creator Ready Drivers that improve performance for creative apps and programs, such as the Adobe Creative suite, CINEMA 4D, and Unreal Engine.

Everyone from graphic artists and 3D animators to game designers and video editors can speed up their work with drivers that deliver maximum performance and stability thanks to NVIDIA’s extensive multi-app creative workflow testing. ROG machines come with these drivers pre-installed in order to better serve a growing audience of artists, streamers, and creators of every stripe.

Eye-catching new color options, creator-certified displays, rock-solid drivers, and powerful internals mean that ROG notebooks can do more than game: they can elevate your creations to the apex of your craft. Be sure to explore all of our creator-ready ROG notebooks at IFA 2019.