Asus has expanded its innovative (and generally nice) ROG Flow lineup to include a 16-inch model. It’s named the Flow X16, and it appears to be a multimedia and high-end gaming 2-in-1 beast.

The debut of two high-performance gaming models from the ROG Strix and ROG Flow series, as well as a new line of ROG Slash backpacks and clothing, and a first-person parkour game for the ROG Citadel XV platform.

While the 13.4-inch X13 and Z13 tablets were capable of some gaming, they couldn’t play games at high settings without the costly, powerful XG Mobile external GPU-meets-docking station. The X16, on the other hand, appears to be a capable gaming laptop in its own right, with AMD’s Ryzen 9 6900HS and Nvidia’s RTX 3070 Ti options (100W maximum graphics power). It can also accommodate up to 64GB of 4,800MHz DDR5 RAM.

A Mini LED glass-covered touchscreen with up to 1,100 nits of peak brightness, 100 percent DCI-P3 gamut coverage, and support for VESA’s DisplayHDR 1000 standard is available. As if those specifications weren’t impressive enough for a gaming laptop, this lineup also includes QHD displays with a 165Hz refresh rate and 512 dimming zones. The lineup features 16:10 aspect ratio displays surrounded by slim bezels, with enough room at the top of the display for a 1080p Windows Hello webcam.

There aren’t many gaming laptops with a 360-degree hinge that allows for greater versatility like the X16. It also has stylus support, which makes it stand out. This is a model to keep an eye out for if you want something lightweight (it weighs about 4.4 pounds). The X16 also has a plethora of ports, including a USB 4.0 Type-C port, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, a headphone jack, and a microSD card slot. It also supports the proprietary XG Mobile eGPU dock if you want to spend more than $1,000 on a portable version of the RTX 3080 or Radeon 6850M XT.

There aren’t many gaming laptops with 360-degree hinges.

I put the Flow Z13 through its paces with the 3080-equipped XG Mobile, and it does improve gaming performance. However, in addition to being expensive, having to carry around an eGPU defeats the purpose of purchasing a portable machine. The X16’s price is the key component missing from Asus’ announcement, but we’ll update this post once that information is available.

Asus has indeed launched a special edition of the Strix Scar 17 with minor surface-level design changes and support for Intel’s 16-core Core i9 12900HX processor with a 65W maximum power draw. It also supports Nvidia’s RTX 3080 Ti graphics card (175W of maximum graphics power). It appears to be far more powerful than the Strix Scar 17 that I examined previously. However, it appears that this announcement is only for Asus diehards.

SCAR Runner is being released alongside a contest to win prizes worth over $20,000, including a Strix SCAR 17 SE laptop and ROG Slash accessories. From May 17 to June 30, 2022, the promotion will run.