Razer's Naga series has always been a bit eye-catching. Slapping tens of buttons on a gaming mouse will naturally make it stand out in the looks department, but having owned two Nagas in my lifetime, I can see it only really takes an evening to get why people love 'em.

MMOs are notorious for demanding lots of shortcuts and macros, and it's just not feasible on most keyboards to reach over to the nine key every thirty seconds. When considering the hundreds of hours MMOs tend to eat up, that's an awful lot of stretching time. You can make do with custom controls, but MMO mice offer not only out-of-the-box usability, but specifically crafted ergonomics.

The Naga V3 Pro follows on pretty routinely from its predecessor with the exact same dimensions, but a lighter weight and different internals. As such, it's a pretty by-the-numbers upgrade and will fit at home in the palms of a Naga V2 Pro owner. But is it really worth $180 just to get a better sensor, cleaner clicks, and doubleshot moulded keycaps? The answer for anyone but the most hardcore (and well-off) MMO gamers is 'probably not, but it's pretty neat anyway'.

And still, I'd say it's the nicest MMO mouse I've ever used. Thanks to the addition of a love-it-or-hate-it switch sound (I personally quite dislike the noise), it's not the best in every single compartment, but taking it for a spin in all manner of games shows it's no slouch in even non-MMO use cases, and for its price, it's gotta be.

Features

Being very similar to the Naga V2 Pro, you likely won't be shocked by the V3 Pro's solid feature set. It comes with three faceplates with different button layouts: twelve, six, and two. Being magnetic and super easy to swap out, the point is to flit between button layouts depending on your game.

The 12 button layout is perfect for Final Fantasy 14, making it easy to control all major skills, plus a few extra from the mouse. Elder Scrolls Online, with its smaller pool of skills, is best fitted for the six button layout. Then, for shooters and everyday use, the two button setup is king.

Its raw specs are super solid, with a max DPI of 50,000, speed of 930 IPS, and both an optical sensor and optical switches. It only comes with 1,000 Hz polling out of the box (though you can pay extra, via the Mouse Dock Pro or HyperPolling dongle, for 8,000 Hz), and though 8,000 Hz is unnecessary for most people, I still would have expected the option at this price point.

Even without the 12-button faceplate, the V3 Pro is loaded with extra buttons: two DPI switches on the left click, two under the scroll wheel, and one on the right-hand side. Even with just the two-button faceplate, you have 13 different buttons to play with overall.

The Naga V3 Pro is kitted with some other neat features, too, like its Hyperscroll Tilt Wheel Gen 2, which is one of the best scroll wheels I've used. You can scroll it without any nasty notching, or you can set nice notches for better precision in Razer's Synapse software. I like a little bit of both. Notches, but it'll spin freely if I go HAM. The wheel can be pushed to the left and right, which is neat for scrolling particularly big webpages, or, in my case, scrolling the timeline in DaVinci Resolve.

It's probably no surprise to you that the mouse with 23 buttons has a dedicated AI button, it being 2026 and all, but I swiftly swapped that out for a different control and never looked back.

Also, being 2026, you are getting the option to swap between wired and wireless (Bluetooth or 2.4 GHz), and the box comes with a USB Type-A to USB Type-C connector, which is a solid extra. The dongle, without the adapter, plugs in via USB Type-A. You aren't getting a wireless charger or charging dock with the Naga V3 Pro, but the 155 hours of battery life is enough that most users would only need to charge it every month or so.

If that battery life is more than you were expecting, you have Razer's FrameSync technology to thank. As we've explained before, think of it sort of like what G-Sync or any variable refresh rate tech does. It synchronises the hardware with the polling from your system, which means it only captures as much as is necessary for low latency. In turn, it becomes more efficient and drains the battery less. In case you're worried (and spoilers for the performance section), I found the sensor to perform very well.

Ergonomics

The Naga V3 Pro is a rather heavy beast (though lighter than its predecessor), being 112 g at its very lightest. It balances the weight well. With a very slight curve in the faceplate, it's easy to pick up with my thumb, and a groove for the ring finger on the right-hand side makes it a very accommodating shape for my rather large hands. The faceplates are well designed too, with the 12-button one curving inwards around the middle of the numberpad to give a natural groove to place the thumb. This groove also allows me to find my place without having to look at the mouse.

Importantly, that weight actually gives the Naga V3 Pro a great sense of comfort. Given you will be spending a lot of time hitting the left-hand side with your thumb, it has to be steady to avoid misclicks and poor aim in the middle of a game, and it does it well. The mouse feet are plenty smooth, and all buttons are easy to hit.

Thanks likely in part to its weight, the V3 Pro is a very sturdy mouse too, and one I wasn't afraid of breaking if it dropped off my desk. In fact, with a small compartment under the faceplate for the 2.4 GHz receiver, it's a decent mouse to throw in a backpack and use on the go too.

Though it takes a little time to get used to, the 12-button plate is far easier to use than you might otherwise think. With it counting up in threes, it's pretty easy to remember which number is which if you know your times tables, and muscle memory started to form for me very quickly.

The six-button and two-button faceplates are a little high for my liking, being near the top of the faceplate, but both have clearly defined buttons. The six-button layout also has a curve into the middle, which is great for finding a position for your thumb.

Given the button for the ring finger on the right-hand side, there's a specific way that you should hold the Naga V3 Pro to take advantage of its shape. The claw grip and fingertip grip both feel a tad awkward, but the palm grip feels perfect to me. The mouse holds the fingers well, and is well balanced to allow me to easily hit all of its buttons.

Performance

One of the biggest differences between the Naga V2 Pro and V3 Pro is in the 50,000 DPI optical sensor, and it performs really well. It's snappy, smooth, accurate, and is the same sensor used in the incredible Viper V4 Pro. Naturally, the added weight means you aren't getting competitive-level speed from physically moving the mouse, but its sensor is top-notch.

One place it does fall significantly under the Viper V4 Pro is in its polling rate, with the Naga V3 Pro reaching a max 1,000 Hz polling out of the box. You can pay extra to get 8,000 Hz via the Mouse Dock Pro or HyperPolling dongle, but I'd argue it's not worth the extra price and hit to battery life for that polling rate, especially when the Naga V3 Pro is already plenty expensive.

In Final Fantasy 14, I found the Naga V3 Pro to be a genuine boon to gameplay, allowing me to hit almost every key I want without having to stretch, and without even customising the mouse. With some smart custom controls, I managed to make the mouse even more useful in-game, with the ring finger button opening the map, and the click under the scroll wheel opening inventory.

Given its weight, I was concerned it would feel a tad sluggish in Counter-Strike 2, but I was happily proven wrong. It certainly requires a bit more effort than a super light mouse, but I found myself more accurate holding down lines of sight.

The optical switches in the Naga V3 Pro are immense, being both accurate and feeling great under the finger. In fact, all of the buttons on the mouse perform really well, and it's clear how much thought has been put into feel and function. But my biggest gripe with the Gen 4 optical switches under the left and right click is that I really dislike their sound. Both of them have a high-pitched, plastic-sounding ping that is near shrill to my ears. At a distance, it's fine, though a little loud, but clicking away at them all day for both games and work has driven home how much I dislike the sound of Razer's latest switch tech.

In fact, I had the chance to mess around with the Basilisk V3 Pro and its older Gen 3 switches, and I think the sound is so annoying that I'd almost pick those switches instead.

Aesthetics

It might seem like a tough challenge to make a 23-button mouse look good, but actually I think Razer has nailed it with the Naga V3 Pro, much like it nailed it with the Naga V2 Pro. There are better-looking, sleeker mice out there, but none that hold so many buttons, and visually, I think it's leagues ahead of Corsair's blocky Scimitar Elite Wireless SE (which is also an MMO mouse).

The side buttons, plus scroll wheel and base, have RGB lighting in them, which is customisable in Razer's software. They do a good job complementing the black of the rest of the mouse, and even look decent when turned off.

Software

Razer's software, like software from most major hardware brands, has always been inconsistent for me, but Synapse has worked almost perfectly in my time with the mouse. In the first hour or so, the profile system did fail (with it taking forever to save a profile), but after a reset, it has not had any problems since.

You can use it to customise RGB, swap between polling rates and DPI, and most importantly, you can swap what all of those buttons do. It's all rather intuitive and easy-to-use, and my only other complaint is that the web software doesn't yet support the Naga V3 Pro (or most of Razer's mice, for what it's worth).

Thanks to the breadth of buttons, I finally found a use for profiles. Though I'm happy to have them, I rarely use multiple profiles on my gaming mouse, but one profile is my everyday profile, another is for MMOs, and the last is for shooters. For the most part, swapping profiles mostly just changes what the 12 buttons on the faceplate do, but they also change the sensitivity of the scroll wheel's free scroll function.

Value

The first time I heard the Naga V3 Pro's price point, I heard myself exhale a little too loudly. $180 is so much money, and though it is using the latest Razer sensor, it is at just a standard polling rate. And the Viper V4 Pro has the latest sensor and switches, plus it's a lot lighter, offers 8,000 Hz polling out of the box. And is still $20 cheaper.

Then, if you're looking for an MMO mouse, Corsair's Scimitar Elite Wireless SE is $40 less at MSRP, but is regularly less than half the price of the Naga V3 Pro. Giving it 89% in our review, it is currently our pick for the best MMO gaming mouse. It doesn't have a swappable faceplate, but it has chunkier side buttons that are designed to work as a mini Stream Deck.

And if you're willing to go more budget, the likes of the Naga V2 Hyperspeed is often under half the price of the Naga V3 Pro, and comes with the same scroll wheel technology (though last gen), Razer's 30K optical sensor, and 250 hours of battery life (though it uses swappable batteries). You aren't getting the swappable faceplates and the latest sensor, but for all intents and purposes, it's still a very solid MMO mouse.

So, for the same price, you could pick up a Naga V3 Pro alongside Corsair's uber lightweight Sabre V2 Pro, four and a half Mchose G3 V2 Pros, or just under 14 months of Final Fantasy 14. And that is a heavy price to stomach for any gaming mouse, even though the Naga V3 Pro is genuinely great.

If you are someone who occasionally plays MMOs, I don't think the Naga V3 Pro is necessarily for you, but if you want the best and play Final Fantasy 14 like it's your second job, I don't think I'd be recommending anything else. Though I would probably recommend cranking the speakers loud enough to drown out the clicks.

Asus's ROG 20th anniversary edition gear is pretty much all about extravagance. Just look at the $600 Azoth Extreme Edition 20. The Harpe II Extreme Edition 20 is much the same, with gold plating and a whopping 65,000 DPI. It is bougie in feel, look, and price.

I couldn't possibly call it a bad gaming mouse, because taste aside, it's a bit of a beast. It's just not a feasible buy for someone only looking for a competitive-level gaming mouse, and that's before mentioning the weight increase that comes with shoving gold inside it.

Feeling like it's ripped straight out of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I think its smattering of blacks and golds looks super clean. I'm normally pretty cynical about gold, aesthetically speaking, but in this mouse, it feels like the appearance is really considered among the black and transparent sides. The 24K gold detailing is part of the ensemble, and not the centrepiece itself.

The scroll wheel and side buttons aren't actual gold (though they look it), but the internals are. That's why it has a transparent shell. The body of the mouse also hides an ROG 20th anniversary logo, which the RGB shines through when turned on. The whole thing looks great, be it turned on or not.

You can even argue the mouse's flair has utility too. The glass skates are super smooth, and the metal scroll wheel and side buttons are both satisfying to hit. In fact, I'd say the scroll wheel and side buttons are among the nicest I've used.

The mouse is sleek to the touch too, with a super smooth shell, and it feels great in the palm. Unfortunately though, that does make it a fingerprint magnet. The idea of getting a $250 gold-plated gaming mouse grubby makes me feel a bit nauseous, so it needs a quick wipe-down every few days.

It might get grubby, but strong materials make me feel confident that throwing it in a backpack won't do damage to it. The side walls don't bend under pressure, and as a result, it feels very sturdy.

Like the Azoth Extreme, it comes in packaging that is itself a statement. The box is a puzzle box-like triangle, with a smaller transparent display case in it, and that makes it easy to show off on a desk or shelf. The box comes with the wireless receiver, a USB extender, glass mouse feet, the cord, a thank you card, and a cleaning kit.

The Harpe II Extreme Edition 20 is pretty killer in the specs department and feels great in game. The AimPoint Pro sensor is snappy and fast, and though I'd never need a 65,000 DPI, and likely won't get much benefit from the 8,000 Hz polling, it's nice to have it in such an expensive mouse.

In fairness, I'd advise turning the mouse down to 1,000 Hz for anyone but the most competitive gamer, as the 70 or so hours of battery life take a hit as a result. And 70 hours is right around the middle of the pack, as it stands.

Though its specs make it a competitive-level mouse, the weight doesn't. 82 g is nearly double the 49 g in the Razer Viper V4 Pro, which is our current pick for the best gaming mouse, and Asus' offering is $90 more. Even the standard Harpe II Ace, which is a pretty similar mouse in looks and feel, weighs in at 48 g and is currently half the price of the Extreme Edition.

In-game, the Harpe II Extreme Edition 20 performs very well in my hands. The fast-paced, precise shooting of Counter-Strike 2 is a breeze, and the mouse clicks are not only well defined but very responsive too. I could see some not liking just how much the glass feet and smooth top slide, but for me, I find it to be just what I need to spring around quickly or snap onto heads.

That does mean it feels a tad overengineered for the likes of Slay the Spire 2, or other similarly slow games, but I wouldn't call that experience bad either. It feels like shooting a bullet at an ant. It will get the job done, but it's a bit flashy, isn't it?

Painting simulator Such Art is a classic mouse testing game for me, as it requires fine movement and has a slower pace. The mouse needs to feel comfortable; it needs to slide smoothly, and the sensor needs to send data to the computer at a consistent rate to perfectly draw, well, whatever my meagre art skills are capable of. I'm happy to report the Asus passed with flying colours here, proving the only obstacle to me making good art is myself.

The actual design of the mouse feels a bit more plain than I would expect for such a flashy mouse. You aren't getting extra functions here, or even anything like the Hyperscroll wheel Razer shoves into the Razer Naga V3 Pro. It has a DPI and pair button on the bottom, plus the option to swap from wired to wireless, and that's it. But as such, other than the smooth feel, there's not much to get used to. It's a typical gaming mouse, just one that's luxuriously built and luxuriously priced.

But let's be honest, the Harpe II Extreme Edition 20 is not a gaming mouse you buy simply because you wanted something with competitive specs. You can get equally competitive or even better choices for cheaper. For the same price, you can get one and a half Razer Viper V4 Pros or just under eight Mchose G3 V2s. In fact, as we noted recently, you can pick up an entire desk setup for less money than this mouse alone.

But if you have the cash to spare and want something to celebrate Asus ROG's 20th anniversary, the Harpe II Extreme Edition 20 does not rest on the laurels that are its gold trimmings. It's a very solidly made gaming mouse, and viable in both competitive and non-competitive games. It looks great, feels great in the hand, and comes with tons of little extras in the box. And should you want to put it away, the display case looks great too.

Perhaps the biggest compliment I can give Asus on its Harpe II Extreme Edition 20 is that I don't dislike the mouse nearly as much as I thought I might, based on the price and look. The notion of paying over $200 for something that has gold in it certainly makes my wallet retch, but boy does Asus do a lot to justify that price tag.

It's simply infeasible for the average gamer, but that's not who this is for. Like the Azoth Extreme Edition 20, Melgeek's Centauri 80, or MSI's Godlike X motherboard, it being over the top is the point here. But if your blood is a bit richer than mine, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I've only recently upgraded to an OLED monitor, but let me tell ya, I wish I'd done it sooner. This thing is gorgeous. Though it's only recently we've seen prices really plummet for these excellent panels, which might go some way to explaining why sales are through the roof right now.

According to analyst firm TrendForce, shipments for OLED panels have increased 26.1% in the past three months. Comparing to last year's figures, they're up 98%. And the firm chalks that up to gaming, specifically, noting that adoption is strong for 27-inch QHD monitors, which sit at the top of the increasingly large pile of panels for popularity.

TrendForce says these "results underscore the rapid penetration of OLED technology in the gaming and premium display markets."

In the first three months of the year, TrendForce reckoned shipments for OLED panels increased 78% year on year. This suggests OLED monitor shipments are still on the rise through 2026.

The analyst firm lists the biggest companies in the space by market share, as it stands today: Asus at the top, then Samsung, MSI, AOC, LGE, and the rest. Samsung slipped due to a "gradual withdrawal" from the Chinese market, while MSI made some waves. Panel supply is said to be improving, too, with new brands entering the market as a result.

Though it's worth noting that most OLED panels for gaming monitors are made by Samsung and LG, even if rebadged under another company's name. We have seen some new developments in recent weeks regarding OLED panels from Chinese goliath TCL making their way into MSI's professional lineup; however, for gaming, we're mostly all in on those Korean-made panels.

Nevertheless, OLED monitors are becoming way more accessible for PC gamers as the technology develops and new products make it to market. Once upon a time, most OLED gaming monitors would demand upwards of $600–$1000. Yet our best budget OLED, the Alienware AW2726DM, has an MSRP of $350. That's brand new. Sure, it's an older panel tech than the very latest panel as found in our top pick, the MSI MPG 322UR X24, but an OLED looks fantastic either way.

We've said it a whole lot lately, but monitors are one of the few good deals left in PC gaming. You can thank the memory crisis for everything else sucking. That pox hasn't touched the monitor market. Prices are still coming down, the technology is still rapidly developing, and OLED monitor deals are still to be found.

Our James checks for deals every week and he's spotted this Samsung Odyssey G50SF for $350 over at Amazon. There's also this AOC Agon Pro for $350. Both 27-inch, 1440p monitors as was suggested to be the most popular by TrendForce. Though even the 4K-capable MSI MAG 321UP is down to $700 over at Newegg.

It's just nice to see a healthy market that's actually serving to the benefit of us regular consumers right now. Demand is high, supply is sufficient, and there's loads of competition; which all feels like a bit of a rarity right now.

Every time a new OLED gaming monitor comes out of late, it seemingly poses pretty much the same question. Is this the one, is this the model that effectively "completes" the task of gaming monitors, that represents 2D panel technology perfected? Give it up, therefore, for the latest candidate, the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCWM, a 32-inch 4K model.

There's a lot to keep up with when it comes to OLED panel technology developments, but big news here is the inclusion of a new LG Tandem WOLED panel with RGB-stripe subpixel structure. We've already seen LG's Tandem WOLED tech in 32-inch 4K trim recently in another Asus monitor, the Asus ROG Strix XG32UQWMS. But that didn't get the RGB-stripe version of the new panel type, instead retaining the additional white subpixel LG has long used to boost brightness in an "RGWB" configuration.

In theory, then, this new panel has it all. You get the very latest LG Tandem WOLED panel generation with all the benefits that brings, but applied to a pure RGB-stripe subpixel structure. That's it then, job done, the perfect OLED gaming monitor?

Not quite. It's not all pros with this RGB-stripe panel. There are some cons, too, at least on paper. The RGB-stripe subpixel structure—or red, green and blue subpixels arranged vertically in that order—should mean more precise rendering, especially for elements like fonts that rely on addressing the panel at subpixel level to achieve maximum crispness. It also promises more accurate colours and a wider overall colour volume, too.

However, LG has been using the white subpixel on all of its previous OLED panel generations for PC monitors for a reason. And the consequence of removing it is that this RGB-stripe 32-inch Tandem WOLED panel has lower full-screen and peak HDR brightness ratings than its RGWB cousin.

So, where the Asus Strix model was rated at 330 nits full screen and 1,500 nits peak HDR in a 2% window, this RGB-stripe Asus Swift clocks in at 250 nits and 1,000 nits respectively. It also makes do with DisplayHDR True Black 400 certification instead of True Black 500.

Just to confuse things, this new RGB-stripe panel tech is also being used in the new Alienware AW3926QW 39-inch 5K2K monitor, a review of which we also have coming. That has exactly the same pixel density, but somehow Alienware has managed to squeeze 300 nits, 1,300 nits and HDR True Black 500 from that panel. Odd.

Anyway, it should also be noted peak brightness specs aren't the whole story, in any case. As I've explained before in reference to monitors using Samsung's competing QD-OLED panels, which have never used white subpixels at all, peak brightness ratings are for pure white.

But panels with lower brightness ratings thanks to using pure-RGB subpixel structure can actually offer superior colour brightness. Put another way, if you want to show pure and accurate red, for instance, the white subpixel isn't much help in boosting brightness.

Speaking of QD-OLED monitors, it's notable that the likes of the MSI MPG 322UR X24 uses a Samsung panel with no white subpixel to achieve 300 nits full screen and True Black 500 certification. What's more, Samsung has also announced an even better 32-inch 4K QD-OLED panel with 360 Hz refresh and True Black 600 certification. Samsung hasn't quoted panel brightness, but the True Black 600 tier requires 350 nits full-screen at minimum. Like I said, it's a lot to keep up with.

One last note on the panel tech. LG's branding for all this stuff is getting really confusing. The "W" in Tandem WOLED doesn't refer to the white subpixel, hence its use here. It refers to the fact that each subpixel emits white light that is then passed through a colour filter. And the "Tandem" equally doesn't actually mean two full OLED panels stacked atop one another, but instead refers to additional emissive layers, again within the subpixels.

My actual final note on the panel is that it's glossy, not matte, which isn't always a given with LG-based OLED monitors. Anywho, aside from the panel specs, this is an Asus "Swift" model, which makes it more premium than the Strix version I reviewed recently and that has implications for the feature set. First up, that includes a 480 Hz 1080p "Dual" mode to complement the 240 Hz native 4K refresh rate.

Connectivity wise, you get full 80 Gbps DisplayPort 2.1, two HDMI 2.1 ports, plus USB-C with 90 W of power delivery. There's also full KVM switch support. Further gaming-friendly features include ELMB motion blur reduction and VRR anti-flicker. Oh, and there's not only HDR10 support, but Dolby Vision, too, albeit Dolby Vision is more relevant to HDR video than HDR gaming.

It's all wrapped up in a premium chassis that includes height, swivel and tilt adjustment, RGB lighting, including a down projector, and some nifty design elements. Most unusual is the partly transparent rear chassis cover.

It's a lot like the see-through rear cover on devices like Nothing's smartphones and headphones. It's pretty neat, albeit you're obviously not going to see it day-to-day on a monitor sitting up close to a wall.

Without further ado, then, how good, exactly is this new RGB-stripe Tandem WOLED panel? Pretty darn good, but not quite perfect, is the short answer. There's some subjectivity in this, but I have never personally much liked LG OLED panels with the added white subpixel. They lack colour vibrancy and suffer from slightly green-tinted white tones.

That's all fixed with the RGB-stripe panel. To sum up the experience, it's a lot closer to a Samsung QD-OLED panel in terms of how pleasing and punchy the colours are. But you don't have to worry about the purple tint that even the latest QD-OPLED panels suffer from in bright ambient light.

This RGB-stripe WOLED also has a more accurate and neutral colour balance compared to the slightly warm colour temperature of QD-OLED panels. Add in the precision of the RGB-stripe subpixel structure, especially as applied here to a super-sharp 4K panel, and all the usual OLED upsides, including ridiculously fast 0.03 ms pixel response, perfect lighting control and very wide viewing angles and, well, you have one heck of an experience.

For the record, the banding or "dirty screen effect" that some other lower resolution Tandem WOLEDs suffer from is more or less invisible here. So, that's good. And if you are wondering, yes this monitor does have something akin to MSI's EOTF boost mode that essentially enables maximum available brightness in both brighter and darker HDR scenes.

Asus calls it "Adjustable HDR" on this model, but it does basically the same job and works well enough, albeit with some limitations, which we'll come to in a moment.

Now, I know I go on about this routinely when it comes to OLED monitors. But the night time HDR scenes in CyberPunk 2077 really do look spectacular on this panel. Let me give you an example to get across the experience. You know those neon lights and signs that populate many of Cyberpunk's moody urban scenes? They don't look like images of neon lights and signs. They look like actual light sources.

That's actually the point of HDR done right. To recreate the true dynamic range of reality and that means light sources that look like actual light sources.

The reality is that most supposedly HDR-capable screens can't really do HDR. Well, this one can, and it looks epic at its best. But what about at its worst? Brighter gaming scenes inevitably show up the limited full-screen punch.

Again, we're into subjective territory here. Do you really want the screen to light up at 500 nits and beyond across the whole screen? That wouldn't actually be comfortable for extended use. But it cannot be denied that 250 nits full-screen is not hugely punchy and there are moments when this monitor can look a bit, well, dull.

Overall, I'd definitely take this RGB panel over the RGWB alternative. Where the choice becomes more tricky is versus a QD-OLED. I think the latest QD-OLEDs are still a touch punchier in brighter scenes and on the Windows desktop.

If you disable uniform brightness in order to max out the visual pop in SDR mode, there's more apparent dimming according to how much bright content you are showing with this LG RGB-stripe panel than a Samsung QD-OLED.

That dimming, as more and more of the screen is lit up, is also apparent in HDR mode when the Adjustable HDR setting is maxed out. And that dimming is more significant than you'll see on the latest QD-OLED panels, including that MSI MPG 322UR X24, which is something to think about.

On the other hand, there's no purple tint to contend with and, like I said, the colour temperature is more natural. In the end, it's now a very close run thing between this LG panel and the QD-OLED alternative. That's a major step forward given I'd have taken QD-OLED easily, before.

Really twist my arm and I'd probably pick this panel. There, I've said it. Wait, can I take that back? I've just remembered this LG RGB-stripe dims a tiny bit more than I like. Argh. Ultimately, it's probably too close to call. Both of the current LG and Samsung options have their own slight shortcomings, but both are also great panels.

More to the point, however, 32-inch 4K OLEDs of any stripe—pun fully intended— make fantastic all rounders. They're big enough to be really immersive, in-game, but also have sufficient pixel density to look crisp and sharp for daily computing.

So, really the main problem for the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCWM is how the value proposition stacks up. At $1,299 or £1,099 this is a very expensive display. You can typically get a first-gen 32-inch 4K QD-OLED for somewhere in the $600 to $700 range, currently. Yes, this new RGB-stripe Tandem OLED is better by several metrics. But not that much better.

Then there's the comparison with that Alienware AW3926QW. That isn't quite on sale yet, but it's expected to come in at $1,100. Okay, it doesn't have USB-C connectivity. But it's not only brighter, but larger at 39 inches and offers that ultrawide 5K2K upgrade.

Of course, you're going to need one heck of a GPU to drive this display at its full 240 Hz refresh at 4K and that challenge is only going to be stiffer with a 5K2K panel. But perhaps that's a separate issue to the reality that you're paying more for less with this Asus compared to that upcoming Alienware. The choice is yours, but I'd want a look at that Alienware before pulling the trigger, that's for sure.

Asus Armoury Crate is not my favourite bit of software. It looks all high-tech on the surface, but any time I use it for more than five minutes, I'm reminded of the fact it's rather messy. It's also hit the headlines previously for patched security vulnerability issues—and good news, folks, here we go again.

Per the Asus security advisory board, Armoury Crate, Asus GPU Tweak III, and GPU Tweak II should all be updated to ensure "optimal protection," after the discovery of a new security vulnerability.

Listed as CVE-2026-8917, the issue has been given a score of 8.4 out of 10, with a "high" severity rating. Which is, funnily enough, the exact same rating as the previous issue we wrote about last year. "An IOCTLY vulnerability allows a local attacker to write a specific value to an arbitrary memory address, potentially leading to privilege escalation," says the posting.

Well, that sounds like something that should be patched up at the earliest possible moment. The CVE listing doesn't mention Armoury Crate specifically, but the Asus page mentions that "a component used" by the software is part of the update, so time to get installing.

GPU Tweak III, II, and AI Suite 3 will need the latest versions installing from their respective support pages, whereas Armoury Crate can be updated from within the app itself.

As an aside, Asus isn't the only company that patches out security vulnerabilities for its software on a regular basis, so if you've got something hanging around in your system tray from another hardware provider (particularly system/mobo software that came with your machine), it's a good idea to check for updates on a regular basis.

It's a dangerous world out there, and new security holes are patched all the time. Get thee to the update menu, and keep your ear to the ground.

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 2026 is a fantastic 16-inch gaming laptop. There you go, review over, we can all go home. But wait, because it's got a serious flaw that should make you hold your fire before pressing the order button. And that flaw, as those familiar with the ongoing memory crisis may have already guessed, is the price.

Asus has sent me a 64 GB LPDDR5, RTX 5080-equipped machine for testing, and the same-specced model is currently listed for an astonishing $4,800. Cheaper models with more reasonable amounts of RAM are available—but even the 32 GB, 1 TB version is currently listed at Best Buy for $4,400.

I'm sorry, but that's simply too much to pay for an RTX 5080 gaming laptop. Even one as lovely as this. Particularly as the phenomenal Razer Blade 16 (2026) in RTX 5080 trim is $400 cheaper, with the same Intel Panther Lake-based chip.

If you can find the new G16 for the same money as the Razer Blade 16 during the sales, the choice becomes a lot more difficult. The Asus machine is a worthy competitor, what with its excellent chassis design, stunning 240 Hz OLED display, and superb portability. It's a gaming laptop I've enjoyed testing, particularly as it's capable of knocking the MSI Stealth 16 AI+ for six in certain gaming benchmarks.

Better still, it's got excellent battery life. This is a machine I would happily take on the road with me, gaming in bliss as I go. But when it's this expensive, I can't give it the wholehearted recommendation my heart desires.

Money matters, and when the G16 is listed for such teeth-chattering prices, I have to dock some precious points off the score.

The memory crisis has affected gaming laptops particularly badly in recent months—and by the looks of things, it's not going to get better any time soon. My hope for the G16 is that the sales periods will bring it down to more reasonable figures, in which case you'll find me shouting its virtues from the nearest rooftop. But as things currently stand? It's simply too pricey to gain a top spot.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) features

The new Zephyrus G16 looks much the same as the old model, but under the hood it's had some significant tweaks. The largest of which is the addition of a Panther Lake-based Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor, the same as you'll find in the new Razer Blade 16.

It's a 16-core chip, breaking down into four Performance cores, eight Efficient, and four Low Power Efficient beasties. As with the new Blade, that core loadout might seem a little underpowered at first, but the Core Ultra 9 386H makes a compelling case for itself as a powerful gaming CPU tucked inside a slim laptop frame.

My particular review sample comes with a ludicrous 64 GB of LPDDR5X-8533, paired with a… 1 TB SSD. I'm not sure who'd spec out a G16 this way, as I'd much rather have half the RAM and double the storage space, which is more traditional for a high-powered gaming lappy. Still, that's what Asus sent me, so that's what I'll be testing.

The 2026 G16 comes in many flavours, with up to an RTX 5090 crammed within its aluminium chassis. This one's got an RTX 5080 mobile, with a raised TGP of 135 W compared to the older model's 120 W limit. It can be pushed all the way up to 160 W in Manual mode within the Asus Armory Crate software—but I've mostly tested it at 135 W in Turbo mode, as your average user isn't likely to dive too far into the manual settings.

That being said, on paper, it's an impressive max power limit for such a slim and sleek machine.

Asus has made a few tweaks to the keyboard, too. The deck has been reinforced to prevent flex, and the keycaps now have an anti-fingerprint coating, which feels rather grippy underneath my fingertips.

The hinge also uses two torsion springs to make it easier to lift, which is a nice touch. It's full of little bits of refinement, sprinkled on top of what was already an excellent design.

The 240 Hz OLED panel has also received some attention, as it now features a peak brightness rating of 1100 nits and VESA TrueBlack 1000 HDR certification. It's a sumptuous 1600p display, and a rival to the Blade 16's similarly-specced screen.

Overall, the G16 looks and feels near-identical to the old model when you pass it around in your hands. It's still got a large slash of tasteful LED lights on the lid, it's still one of the best-looking (and feeling) super-portable 16-inch gaming laptops you can buy, and this new version has received some tasty hardware upgrades. A strong start, I would say.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 performance

At 1080p, the new G16 puts on a good showing against the other RTX 5080-equipped, slim-as-you-like gaming machines in my charts—although the much chonkier Legion Pro 7i looms menacingly at the bottom.

Still, the fresh-faced Asus lappy is often significantly faster than the old model. This becomes obvious in our CPU-heavy Baldur's Gate 3 test, where the new Panther Lake chip beats the older Core Ultra 9 285 H quite handily.

1080p gaming performance

This chart shows average and 1% low frame rate results in various tested games at 1080p resolution

Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p RT Ultra)Baldur's Gate 3 (1080p Ultra)Black Myth: Wukong (1080p High)F1 24 (1080p Ultra High)Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (1080p Ultra)

Avg FPS

1% Low FPS

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

52

39

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

50

44

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

55

32

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

66

44

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

68

38

020406080

Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p RT Ultra) Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	52 Avg FPS, 39 1% Low FPS
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	50 Avg FPS, 44 1% Low FPS
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	55 Avg FPS, 32 1% Low FPS
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	66 Avg FPS, 44 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	68 Avg FPS, 38 1% Low FPS

Avg FPS

1% Low FPS

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

78

43

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

69

41

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

68

39

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

83

41

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

96

55

0255075100

Baldur's Gate 3 (1080p Ultra) Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	78 Avg FPS, 43 1% Low FPS
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	69 Avg FPS, 41 1% Low FPS
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	68 Avg FPS, 39 1% Low FPS
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	83 Avg FPS, 41 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	96 Avg FPS, 55 1% Low FPS

Avg FPS

1% Low FPS

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

102

83

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

88

64

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

73

47

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

110

84

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

99

84

037.575112.5150

Black Myth: Wukong (1080p High) Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	102 Avg FPS, 83 1% Low FPS
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	88 Avg FPS, 64 1% Low FPS
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	73 Avg FPS, 47 1% Low FPS
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	110 Avg FPS, 84 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	99 Avg FPS, 84 1% Low FPS

Avg FPS

1% Low FPS

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

101

76

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

93

60

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

100

50

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

120

92

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

126

51

037.575112.5150

F1 24 (1080p Ultra High) Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	101 Avg FPS, 76 1% Low FPS
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	93 Avg FPS, 60 1% Low FPS
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	100 Avg FPS, 50 1% Low FPS
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	120 Avg FPS, 92 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	126 Avg FPS, 51 1% Low FPS

Avg FPS

1% Low FPS

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

102

53

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

94

50

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

102

42

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

126

64

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

140

72

037.575112.5150

Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (1080p Ultra) Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	102 Avg FPS, 53 1% Low FPS
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	94 Avg FPS, 50 1% Low FPS
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	102 Avg FPS, 42 1% Low FPS
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	126 Avg FPS, 64 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	140 Avg FPS, 72 1% Low FPS

The 2026 version of the G16 handily beats its predecessor in every benchmark at 1080p, and often beats the similarly-specced MSI Stealth 16 AI+ to boot. The much-chonkier Lenovo, however, wins the day overall.

It also scorches ahead in Black Myth Wukong, beating the new, similarly-specced MSI Stealth 16 AI+ by a massive 29 frames. In fact, it's only eight frames behind the new RTX 5090-equipped Razer Blade 16. Admittedly, the G16 still gets mopped up by the Razer in many of my other benches, but still. Small wins for the 135 W RTX 5080 mobile, and all that.

1600p gaming performance

This chart shows average and 1% low frame rate results in various tested games at 1600p resolution

Cyberpunk 2077 (Native res. RT Ultra)Baldur's Gate 3 (Native res. Ultra)Black Myth: Wukong (Native res. High)F1 24 (Native res. Ultra High)Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (Native res. Ultra)

Avg FPS

1% Low FPS

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

31

24

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

28

21

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

34

22

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

39

30

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

40

28

010203040

Cyberpunk 2077 (Native res. RT Ultra) Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	31 Avg FPS, 24 1% Low FPS
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	28 Avg FPS, 21 1% Low FPS
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	34 Avg FPS, 22 1% Low FPS
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	39 Avg FPS, 30 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	40 Avg FPS, 28 1% Low FPS

Avg FPS

1% Low FPS

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

80

46

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

66

36

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

67

39

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

81

45

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

96

42

0255075100

Baldur's Gate 3 (Native res. Ultra) Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	80 Avg FPS, 46 1% Low FPS
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	66 Avg FPS, 36 1% Low FPS
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	67 Avg FPS, 39 1% Low FPS
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	81 Avg FPS, 45 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	96 Avg FPS, 42 1% Low FPS

Avg FPS

1% Low FPS

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

75

66

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

76

55

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

57

49

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

76

48

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

111

80

037.575112.5150

Black Myth: Wukong (Native res. High) Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	75 Avg FPS, 66 1% Low FPS
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	76 Avg FPS, 55 1% Low FPS
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	57 Avg FPS, 49 1% Low FPS
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	76 Avg FPS, 48 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	111 Avg FPS, 80 1% Low FPS

Avg FPS

1% Low FPS

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

63

53

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

57

44

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

62

43

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

78

67

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

77

55

020406080

F1 24 (Native res. Ultra High) Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	63 Avg FPS, 53 1% Low FPS
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	57 Avg FPS, 44 1% Low FPS
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	62 Avg FPS, 43 1% Low FPS
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	78 Avg FPS, 67 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	77 Avg FPS, 55 1% Low FPS

Avg FPS

1% Low FPS

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

68

46

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

68

41

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

74

48

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

95

56

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

96

65

0255075100

Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (Native res. Ultra) Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	68 Avg FPS, 46 1% Low FPS
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	68 Avg FPS, 41 1% Low FPS
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	74 Avg FPS, 48 1% Low FPS
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	95 Avg FPS, 56 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	96 Avg FPS, 65 1% Low FPS

At 1600p, the 2025 G16 catches back up to its younger sibling in several of my tests. We're now out of CPU limited territory and into a zone where the GPUs can more freely compete, and as a result the mere 15 W difference between the two Asus machines means they track fairly closely. Apart from BG3, of course, which still takes all the CPU grunt you can throw at it.

The MSI Stealth, however, finds a sudden burst of speed in the Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition benchmark, jumping ahead of both G16s by a full six frames in the averages. It's still way off the pace in Black Myth, though, albeit slightly ahead in Cyberpunk 2077.

And yes, it's time to talk about those two beasts lurking at the bottom. Our Razer Blade 16 sample might be an RTX 5090-equipped monster, but it's worth mentioning that it's available for the same cash as this particular spec at the time of writing. It's got the G16 firmly licked in three of my benchmarks, although pulls roughly level in the averages in BG3 and Black Myth.

And then there's the rocketship that is the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10. It's not a slim model, and it's got pretty awful battery life, as we'll see in the charts later. But I've thrown it in as an example of what a much less portable, full-fat gaming laptop can do when pushed to the limit. Dare I point out it's significantly cheaper, too? Food for thought.

Real-world gaming performance

This chart shows average and 1% low frame rate results in various tested games at 1600p resolution with Quality upscaling enabled, and frame gen. where applicable

Cyberpunk 2077 (Native res. RT Ultra + Quality upscaling, 2x FG)Black Myth: Wukong (Native res. High + Quality upscaling)F1 24 (Native res. Ultra High + Quality upscaling, 2x FG)

Avg FPS

1% Low FPS

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

95

79

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

85

48

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

97

53

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

112

75

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

124

83

037.575112.5150

Cyberpunk 2077 (Native res. RT Ultra + Quality upscaling, 2x FG) Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	95 Avg FPS, 79 1% Low FPS
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	85 Avg FPS, 48 1% Low FPS
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	97 Avg FPS, 53 1% Low FPS
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	112 Avg FPS, 75 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	124 Avg FPS, 83 1% Low FPS

Avg FPS

1% Low FPS

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

84

72

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

76

55

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

87

74

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

98

59

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

111

80

037.575112.5150

Black Myth: Wukong (Native res. High + Quality upscaling) Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	84 Avg FPS, 72 1% Low FPS
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	76 Avg FPS, 55 1% Low FPS
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	87 Avg FPS, 74 1% Low FPS
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	98 Avg FPS, 59 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	111 Avg FPS, 80 1% Low FPS

Avg FPS

1% Low FPS

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

144

125

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

130

66

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

147

56

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

185

103

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

184

91

050100150200

F1 24 (Native res. Ultra High + Quality upscaling, 2x FG) Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	144 Avg FPS, 125 1% Low FPS
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	130 Avg FPS, 66 1% Low FPS
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	147 Avg FPS, 56 1% Low FPS
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	185 Avg FPS, 103 1% Low FPS
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	184 Avg FPS, 91 1% Low FPS

Interestingly, with upscaling enabled, the MSI Stealth 16 AI+ inches ahead of the new G16 by a few frames on average. It's still miles off the pace of the Razer and Lenovo machines, though.

Turn on the upscaling (and frame gen, in certain benches) and something rather interesting happens. The MSI Stealth 16 AI+, a lappy that's performed rather inconsistently across our gaming tests up until now, suddenly comes out on top versus the other lightweight RTX 5080 machines—at least when it comes to average frame rate.

It's not by a whole lot when compared to the new G16, and the MSI's 1% lows are often all over the place, but still. Not too shabby. And yes, the Blade 16 and the Lenovo rule the charts once more.

The Razer lappy stomps ahead by 15 frames on average in Cyberpunk, but the Lenovo goes another 12 frames further than that. It's a shame it's harder to shove one in your shoulder bag, isn't it?

Overall, it's a fairly impressive set of gaming results for the new G16. However, the price of this particular model keeps ringing in my ears. Yes, it's got 64 GB of RAM, and yes, the 32 GB version is $400 cheaper. But squaring these prices relative to the performance? It's a lot of cash for these sorts of frame rates, even if the portability factor is off the charts.

CPU performance

CPU performance figures taken from the Cinebench R24 single-core and multi-core benchmarks

Cinebench 2024

Multi-core index score

Single-core index score

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

1215

124

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

1171

125

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

1221

124

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

1200

124

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

2039

138

07501,5002,2503,000

Cinebench 2024 Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	1215 Multi-core index score, 124 Single-core index score
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	1171 Multi-core index score, 125 Single-core index score
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	1221 Multi-core index score, 124 Single-core index score
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	1200 Multi-core index score, 124 Single-core index score
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	2039 Multi-core index score, 138 Single-core index score

The 2026 Asus G16, MSI Stealth 16 AI+, and the Razer Blade 16 all have the same CPU, and it's pleasing to see how closely they track with each other. The mighty 24-core chip in the Lenovo, however, flexes its muscles once more.

Hey, look at all those near-as-makes-no-difference Cinebench figures. All the Core Ultra 386H chips perform almost identically here, although the elder Core Ultra 9 285H in last year's G16 creeps ahead by a single point in the single-core scores, and drops slightly behind in the multi-core index figures.

Cinebench R24 can be a little twitchy, so I reckon if I ran all our Panther Lake machines through these benchmarks hundreds of times, you'd see them trade places by small amounts. One thing I would bet on, though, is that the 24-core Arrow Lake chip found in the Legion Pro 7i would beat them all no matter what.

Again, what we're seeing here is the difference between a chonky gaming laptop, and an ultra-portable machine. Larger chassis designs mean better airflow, and that means more thermal capacity for fire-breathing, ultra-fast components.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 thermals

One of my major issues with the 2025 version of the Asus G16 is the fan noise. That might sound slightly odd, as all gaming laptops can make a racket when pushed to their limits; however, the old G16 liked to spin up its fans at a moment's notice. Then spin them down again. Then back up. Then… you get the idea.

There was also a high-pitched, whiney note that sang out over the top of all the whooshing air, which proved rather irritating over a full working day. Thankfully, the 2026 G16 has no such issues, which makes it much more civilised to live with. It still sounds like a hairdryer in Turbo mode, but again, pretty much all gaming laptops do.

Real-world gaming temperatures

Gaming temperature results recorded during multiple Metro Exodus EE runs

Gaming temperatures

Avg CPU (°C)

Max CPU (°C)

Avg GPU (°C)

Max GPU (°C)

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

72

98

69

77

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

74

81

68

72

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

92

100

81

87

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

82

98

62

77

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

94

105

74

79

037.575112.5150

Gaming temperatures Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	72 Avg CPU (°C), 98 Max CPU (°C), 69 Avg GPU (°C), 77 Max GPU (°C)
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	74 Avg CPU (°C), 81 Max CPU (°C), 68 Avg GPU (°C), 72 Max GPU (°C)
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	92 Avg CPU (°C), 100 Max CPU (°C), 81 Avg GPU (°C), 87 Max GPU (°C)
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	82 Avg CPU (°C), 98 Max CPU (°C), 62 Avg GPU (°C), 77 Max GPU (°C)
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	94 Avg CPU (°C), 105 Max CPU (°C), 74 Avg GPU (°C), 79 Max GPU (°C)

The new G16 is great at keeping its GPU cool, although the Panther Lake CPUs in each of our Core Ultra 9 386H machines like to run hot. The big Arrow Lake chip in the Lenovo is the toastiest of them all, though.

Not only is the G16 much quieter during day-to-day usage, but it's pretty good at keeping its GPU cool during gaming. The Core Ultra 9 386H, however, likes to run fairly hot when given the opportunity, as you can see across all our Panther Lake-chipped laptops.

You can also start to see where the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i gets its extra performance from. Its CPU is beefier, and occasionally jumps well over the 100 degree mark—while its 175 W RTX 5080 also likes to suck down power and turn it into heat, as well as frames.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 battery life

The new G16 manages an impressive 117 minute gaming battery life figure, sending it to the top of my chart. It's only five minutes more than the older model, but I'd still say that's a pretty good win. It's also relatively light on the battery during a regular working day, which means I haven't felt the need to lug the charger around as often as I would with other gaming laptops.

Gaming battery life

Results recorded in the PCMark 10 gaming battery life test, with screen brightness set to 50% and Wi-Fi disabled

PCMark 10 gaming battery life test (minutes)

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

117

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H

112

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

104

Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H

102

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX

73

037.575112.5150

PCMark 10 gaming battery life test (minutes) Data

Product	Value
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2026) | RTX 5080 (135 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	117
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) | RTX 5080 (120 W) | Core Ultra 9 285H	112
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ | RTX 5080 (125 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	104
Razer Blade 16 (2026) | RTX 5090 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 386H	102
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 | RTX 5080 (175 W) | Core Ultra 9 275HX	73

The G16 reigns supreme in the gaming battery life stakes, and it's clear to see the portable advantage of our slim and light laptops over the much chonkier, slightly old-school Lenovo.

That 117 minute result equates to 13 minutes more than the MSI Stealth 16 AI+, 15 minutes more than the Razer, and a massive 44 minutes longer than the Lenovo.

Again I'm reminded of why you might want to sacrifice gaming performance for portability, beyond the convenience of shoving a slimmer machine in your bag. The Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 may be a lot quicker, but it's got a lot of disadvantages over the Asus G16, too.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 aesthetics

The aluminium G16 has always been one of my favourite laptop designs, and little has changed with the 2026 model. This version's silver-y frame (Eclipse Gray, if you ask Asus) is tastefully neutral to behold, looking more like an executive business laptop than a gaming machine.

Which means it'll look as good in the boardroom as it does on your desk. Many modern gaming laptops overplay their hand when it comes to the gamer aesthetic, which can leave you feeling like a bit of a plum when you want to answer some emails in an airport departure lounge.

No such worries here. The only hint that the G16 might be a gaming model comes in the form of the font on the keyboard, which still looks like it'd be better suited to a Star Citizen control panel than an all-business laptop design. I doubt anyone will really notice, though.

All this being said, if I had to pick the best looking laptop of the current crop (and the one with the better keyboard, thanks to its longer, more positive switch travel) it'd be the Razer Blade 16.

The Asus is a very pretty gaming laptop, but the Blade 16 is just plain purposeful. Moody, even. And as a tempestuous so-and-so myself, I like that. Plus, the Razer's trackpad is a little nicer to use, even if the G16's is also rather good.

The G16's 240 Hz ROG Nebula OLED panel, though, is a genuine competitor with the Blade's similarly-specced model. It's lush, vibrant, and delivers pretty much everything you could want out of a gaming laptop display. Sitting the two side by side, it's quite difficult to tell which has the better screen of the two.

Perhaps the Blade, if I was really pushed. Still, the G16 has nothing to be ashamed of in the display department.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 software

The Asus Armoury Crate software package isn't the most straightforward of affairs, I have to admit. Still, the switching options between power modes are easy to find, and a click on an image depicting the laptop itself (which isn't as obvious as it sounds) leads to plenty of extra options for customising the lighting, process handling, keybinds, and more.

The home page shows real time info for the CPU, GPU, and memory, along with readouts for the fan speeds. There's also a "Playground" menu in the sidebar that allows you to sync the lighting between various Asus products, adjust wallpapers, and all that sort of jazz.

If I had a major critique of the software (and Armoury Crate is far from alone in this regard), it's that it feels very… bitty. All the info and customisation options you can think of are in here. Somewhere. If you look hard enough.

A straightforward selection of menus, rather than a host of buttons, toggles, and sliders scattered all over the shop, would make the whole thing gel together a little more seamlessly.

There's also a greyed-out "Manual" power option, which is adjusted via a separate menu. Here you can tweak the CPU and GPU clock speeds, along with the option to boost the TGP of the latter all the way up to a 160 W top limit. The Asus reviewer's guide recommends you do this with the fan speeds pegged at 100%— which, as you might expect, is very loud.

Armoury Crate also provides you with a warning screen as you confirm the settings, absolving Asus from any responsibility if things go wrong. Which is enough to make you cross your fingers when you're testing the limits of a $4,800 gaming laptop, let me tell you.

We don't normally test overclocked gaming laptops beyond the Turbo or standard Maximum presets, but I put in my earplugs and ran the Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark regardless.

At top wattage settings (and at 1600p with DLSS Quality and 2x frame gen. enabled) this resulted in a 99 fps average, with 83 fps 1% lows. Essentially, a four fps gain in terms of average frames over the 135 W Turbo mode.

I also recorded an 84 degree peak from the GPU during the benchmark, which seems a little on the hot side to me. The marginal gains, plus the very loud fans and toastier peak GPU temps, don't endear me to the whole idea of messing with the GPU wattage in a machine this slim. It's a nice option to have, but I'd stick to the presets if I were you.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 value

And so we reach a crucial point. The concept of "value" and the term "gaming laptop" are two very difficult things to square in 2026, and the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 2026 is a prime example of why. It's a lovely machine, and one I wish I didn't have to mark down over such trifling concerns as, y'know, money.

But the facts are simple. My review sample is $4,800, and that's far too much to pay for an RTX 5080 lappy. Even if it does come with 64 GB of RAM, for reasons that still elude me.

Luckily, the 32 GB version is a fair bit cheaper. I've found one for $4,400 at Best Buy, although it's still got a somewhat-miserly 1 TB SSD. For this sort of cash, I'd definitely be wanting more room for my games—and I'd want it included as part of the package, rather than having to make a pricey component upgrade for myself.

Here's another issue. The Razer Blade 16 2026, a laptop that, in my estimation, is even more desirable than the G16, is available in a RTX 5080 + 1 TB SSD config for $4,000. That's a $400 saving over the equivalent G16, and far from chump change. Plus it's got the same Intel chip, another excellent OLED panel, and a chassis, keyboard, and trackpad design that's got the G16 2026 beat. Even if it's just by a nose.

In previous years, both the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 and the smaller, 14-inch G14 have been recurring entries on our gaming laptop deals page. I know, because I'm the one that updates it. Often, RTX 5070 and RTX 5080 variants have dropped down well below the $2,000 mark, and that's made them fantastic value for what you end up receiving.

This time around, though, I've got a feeling it might be different. The memory crisis continues to rip its way through the gaming laptop market, and I don't think we're likely to see such heavy price reductions on these new 2026 models.

Unless they stop selling entirely, or you're prepared to wait for the Black Friday sales. It's a hard thing to judge, but I don't think I've got that small crumb of comfort to lean on—at least not in the same way I might have done previously.

All of which is to say, I think the G16 is a fantastic high-end gaming device, with a gorgeous OLED display and plenty to recommend it for. But it's hugely over-priced as things stand, and that's a fatal flaw hanging over the head of what is otherwise a highly-recommendable gaming laptop.

If you can find one with a healthy discount? Go for it. At full price, though? I'd urge you to check out the Razer lineup instead. Your money goes further, and the machine you'll end up with… well, it simply has the edge.

It seems nearly every conversation about PC gaming hardware comes back to the memory crisis, and that's because it's such an all-encompassing problem for the industry. Though we don't appear to have a way out for the next year (at least), we've seen memory competition coming out of China, with Chinese company CXMT appearing to be getting a foothold in the market.

As noted by Counterpoint, CXMT seems to currently have a 7% revenue market share, with industry leader Samsung mopping up 39%, SK hynix taking 26%, and Micron getting 25%. If you haven't been taking in those numbers, that means just four companies have a whopping 97% of the memory revenue market share.

There are a few reasons for CXMT's seemingly meteoric rise. Early last month, component makers began validating their products for Chinese memory, in order to work with CXMT memory. Then, just last week, the company made its public offering to the tune of $8.6 billion, with shares surging by 466%. That means its market capitalisation was valued at just under half a trillion dollars, making it one of the most valuable companies in China.

To top this all off, CXMT memory has reportedly been landing in HP, Asus, and Acer notebooks, though not in the US. With the big three not having the memory capacity to meet the huge demand, CXMT seems to be making it big off the memory crisis. There's a significant hole in the market, with AI sucking up all that memory, and Chinese memory is rushing to plug it up.

Naturally, more competition is better for the market, in both pricing and production. Just two months ago, Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron were all accused of anticompetitive behaviour in a class action lawsuit, and more competitors would certainly quell any such allegations.

Still, even though CXMT might help ease the memory crisis eventually, it seems unlikely it is ending soon. Just last week, Samsung said there would be a "severe" memory supply crisis next year, and didn't comment on whether or not it will follow into 2029. And even SK hynix believes "Customer demand will remain higher than our supply capacity even beyond 2030."

For now, CXMT is reportedly making plans on making even more chip plants, with a second in Beijing, as well as one in Shanghai and Hefei. The plan is to double capacity up to 600,000 wafers each month, and if the memory crisis stays as it is, CXMT will likely have no problems selling those orders. There are clear winners and losers in the memory crisis so far, and with the cost of RAM for your rig, we PC gamers are currently losing.

Chinese memory manufacturer CXMT is the fourth-biggest memory maker in the world, and, chances are you've only heard of it recently. That's because, just last week, its shares saw a 466% surge as it made its initial public offering, becoming one of China's most valuable companies in the process.

It seems like CXMT could be set to become even more valuable as Nikkei Asia reports HP, Asus, and Acer are all said to be using its chips. Last month, many component makers started validating their products for Chinese memory, and this reportedly set the groundwork for some PC makers to use a "limited amount in their notebook computers".

The limited quantity seems to be a decision made by both CXMT and partners. CXMT's side is prioritising Chinese companies it has had prior working relationships with, like Huawei. Then, PC makers are reportedly only getting limited supplies to avoid angering "leading global memory chipmakers Micron, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix."

Reportedly, the notebook models with CXMT chips are selling in non-US markets. Asus declined to give a comment to Nikkei Asia and CXMT, and HP did not respond to requests. However, Acer told the outlet, "We do not disclose our suppliers, but that we keep in close contact with multiple global manufacturers and suppliers to dynamically adjust operations to manage component prices changes. We work with multiple manufacturers and suppliers to enhance our supply chain resilience."

CXMT has been having a big couple of months and now takes up a 7% market share in Global DRAM revenue. The big three memory makers still account for more than 90% of the market share right now. Still, wider adoption of CXMT chips is good news for the Chinese company, and it seems like production could be getting bigger to accommodate the growth.

As reported by Reuters, CXMT is reportedly planning a second chip plant in Beijing. Reuters also claims it is building new plants in Shanghai and Hefei, and is looking to double capacity to 600,000 wafers per month.

Needless to say, that rapid expansion implies CXMT has long-term memory expansion goals, and that would make some sense as many major companies and analysts predict the memory crisis won't end until 2029 at the least. Even Samsung, one of the big three, reckons we will see a "severe" memory supply crisis next year and "Beyond 2029, it is hard to say because of more limited visibility."

SK hynix says "Customer demand will remain higher than our supply capacity even beyond 2030."

And, in a sense, CXMT likely owes a lot to the memory crisis. With demand far outweighing supply (and the RAM in your computer going up in price as a result), it has left room for new entrants in the market that may have struggled in an abundant market, as companies look elsewhere for supply. It's anyone's guess how much CXMT will be worth by the end of the memory crisis, but it's likely a lot higher than when it started.

New research from Counterpoint corroborates that the PC market has finally been impacted by the memory crisis to the extent that global shipments have gone down for the first time since the first quarter of 2025. In the second quarter this year there were 4% fewer global PC shipments than the same time last year. This backs up what the IDC reported earlier this month.

Counterpoint explains: "While commercial refresh cycles tied to Windows migration and AI PC adoption continue to support demand, surging memory prices and higher component costs are increasingly constraining OEM production plans and suppressing consumer demand. The sharp increase in DRAM prices has significantly raised PC bill-of-material (BoM) costs, forcing OEMs to implement price increases, reduce entry-level configurations, or prioritize higher-margin premium systems."

This year-on-year figure cashes out in part as a 2% decrease from Lenovo, an 8% decrease from HP, and a 6% decrease from Dell. Asus and Apple, however, both actually had growth—the former by 4% and the latter by a whopping 13%, likely thanks to the cheap and cheerful MacBook Neo. Given the overall number of shipments for the brands, however, these two companies' increase in shipments don't offset the overall picture, and there was still a decline overall.

In other words, despite the push to get yourself an AI PC for this LLM era and despite the need for a modern PC to run Windows 11, things are just too damn expensive right now. Of course we've known about increasing component costs (especially RAM) for a long while now, but it hasn't been completely clear when that would force PC makers into raising costs to the extent that people stop buying them.

On the point of PC costs, I've got a good frame of reference as I've been checking for some of the best gaming PC deals regularly for the past couple of years. Even for a few months after the RAMpocalypse really started ramping up, gaming PC prices weren't too bad. That's probably because system builders already had component stocks that were bought before things got too ridiculous.

Even over the most recent Prime Day last month things weren't too bad, though prices had definitely shown an increase. But over the last few weeks I've noticed things are starting to look very far from pretty. Some of the best deals on midrange rigs now cost around $1,500 and decent budget options below $1,000 are a definite rarity. And when you do find something at a reasonable price, it's getting more common to see DDR4 memory in there instead of DDR5, or just one stick of DDR5 running over a single channel.

It's therefore not surprising that data for the second quarter this year shows a global decline in shipments despite previous AI PC adoption and Windows migration.

One company that adds a level of concreteness to all this is Framework, as it gives regular updates about its pricing based on supplier costs. Only yesterday the company explained that its supplier had raised some memory costs by "more than double" its previous shipment.

And while bigger companies like Dell can absorb such component price increases for longer than smaller ones like Framework, they can't do so forever, especially if as predicted prices just keep going up.

Asus isn't the immediately obvious pick when it comes to value-orientated PC hardware. But its mainstream Strix sub-brand does occasionally deliver some pretty sweet deals. Enter, therefore, the new Asus ROG Strix OLED XG32UQWMS.

It's a 32-inch, 4K gaming monitor based on LG's latest Tandem Primary RGB OLED panel tech, the specifics of which we'll come to shortly. And it's yours for $899, which is a pretty punchy price for a 32-inch 4K OLED with the very newest panel tech.

However, as a Strix model, the XG32UQWMS doesn't throw everything at the wall when it comes to features. Well, that's the theory. In practice, the XG32UQWMS has an awful lot of the stuff you'd want from a gaming display.

The one obvious omission is USB-C connectivity. But then that's not an unambiguously gaming-adjacent feature, albeit it is desirable for use with a gaming laptop and likewise if you're planning on sharing this monitor between a gaming rig and, perhaps, a work laptop.

Anyway, apart from the LG-supplied OLED panel itself, there's one little extra that's worth mentioning first. Along with the 240 Hz available at the OLED panel's native 4K resolution, there's also a 1080p dual mode running at fully 480 Hz.

Yes, these kinds of dual mode features are increasingly common on 4K gaming monitors. But given the Strix branding and relatively competitive pricing, not to mention the fact that not many OLED 4K monitors have yet offered it, you still might not have expected it on this particular model.

As for other specifications, this Asus represents a step up in terms of brightness compared with previous 32-inch 4K monitors with LG OLED models. The full-screen rating is now 330 nits, up from 275 nits on earlier models.

Asus is also quoting fully 1,500 nits for peak HDR brightness in a small window. Notably, both of those figures are well up on the 300 nits and 1,000 nits, respectively, that MSI claims for the MPG 322UR X24.

That MSI model uses the latest QD-OLED 32-inch 4K panel from Samsung. So, on paper at least, this new LG panel tech seems to have the edge over Samsung. For what it's worth, both this new Asus and the MSI get VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification. Despite all that, the MSI is quite a bit more expensive, at $1,099.

There are a few other upsides beyond mere brightness that come with this latest LG Tandem OLED generation. First, there's a glossy panel coating. That's not to everyone's taste, but it certainly heightens one of the main strengths of OLED tech, namely contrast.

There's also more colour performance, now up to 99.5% of the DCI-P3 gamut and much more competitive in that regard with Samsung QD-OLED. Asus also says this generation of LG OLED panel tech is 60% more durable in terms of light-emitting lifespan and so should resist burn-in even more robustly, an issue which is covered in any case by the three-year warranty.

What you don't get, however, is true RGB-stripe sub-pixel structure. Confusingly, the "Primary RGB" nomenclature LG applies to this new panel tech refers to the layers of emissive material actually within each subpixel.

The sub-pixel structure itself remains the RGWB or red, green, white, and blue layout seen in many recent OLED panels. Strictly speaking, pure RGB and without the white sub pixel LG adds to boost brightness offers both better rendering precision and superior colour fidelity. For the record, Asus has announced a monitor with LG's new Tandem OLED panel that does have pure RGB-stripe subpixels, the ROG Swift OLED PG32UCWM. But that monitor is not this monitor, and the Swift models always command a much higher price.

Whatever, as is usual for all these OLED panels, response is rated at a startlingly scant 0.03 ms. In short, pixel response is essentially a solved problem with modern OLED panel tech. Rounding out the main features are dual HDMI 2.1 inputs, DisplayPort 1.4, a USB hub and support for G-Sync adaptive refresh technology on Nvidia GPUs and FreeSync on AMD GPUs.

Incidentally, this may be an Asus Strix model and therefore not its most premium offering, but the build quality is still decent. Okay, you miss out on pivoting the panel into portrait mode. But all the other adjustments, including tilt, height and swivel are included and, frankly, it's every bit as well put together as an 8K Asus monitor I happen to have in at the moment that sells for an incredible $8,800.

With all those details covered off, well, it's time to get to the main event. How good does this new LG Tandem OLED panel tech look in 32-inch 4K format and, likewise, how does it stack up against the Samsung QD-OLED competition as represented by the MSI MPG 322UR X24?

Out of the box, it's immediately apparent that this new panel has both more punch and more colour vibrancy that the previous LG-sourced 32-inch 4K OLED panel. But there are caveats.

Subjectively, the full screen brightness is a little disappointing. With a large proportion of the panel being driven hard, it's definitely duller looking, subjectively, than the MSI. If that seems to contradict the paper specs, well, this Asus monitor has to rely on LG's additional white subpixel to hit that 330 nits full-screen figure.

In practice, the white subpixel doesn't automatically boost brightness for colours as opposed to pure white. So, much of the time, that 330 nits rating is a bit notional. As with most OLEDs, you can boost the brightness by disabling the ABL or automatic brightness limiter, which Asus refers to as the Uniform Brightness setting.

However, more than with QD-OLED panels, the overall panel brightness varies substantially depending on how much of the panel is being lit up. It only requires a disappointingly small application window, such as a web browser, showing a predominantly white image, to have the panel dimming quite noticeably.

Even using dark mode for most apps, the panel will quite often dim in a manner that the QD-OLED competition doesn't, not quite. That said, this monitor can still deliver some spectacular visuals for HDR content.

It's at its best when rendering small bright details on a dark background. That's when you'll get the full 1,500 nits and a truly eye-popping experience. That's not the reality for most games, most of the time of course. And for day-to-day gaming I'd give the subjective edge to the MSI monitor and its Samsung panel. It's that little bit more vibrant, that little bit more immersive.

Of course one thing the MSI lacks is a 1080p dual mode. So, how does that factor into the equation? Certainly, this Asus Strix is lightning fast running at 480 Hz. The motion clarity is pretty stupendous ripping your mouse around in an online shooter like Counter-Strike 2, ditto the lack of latency.

The image quality at 1080p is also among the best I've seen in terms of pixel definition on a 32-inch 4K panel running in dual mode. But the thing is, if you're really serious about esports, do you really want to be playing on a 32-inch monitor?

I suppose you could mimic the apparent size of the preferred 24-inch monitor by pushing this thing further away. But I'm not totally convinced that's a satisfactory solution for someone who plays loads of online shooters. And if you don't, I can't see you using the dual mode much.

What I can say for sure is that I still give the slight edge to Samsung's QD-OLED tech. Yes, even the latest QD-OLEDs have a slight purple tint in bright ambient light that you entirely sidestep with LG's Tandem OLED panels.

But, overall, QD-OLED still feels noticeably more vibrant and colour rich. Moreover, the variable brightness on this Asus's LG panel when you disable uniform brightness in order to get the best performance is also more noticeable and more distracting.

All that said, there's a price differential to take into account. This Asus goes for $899 to the MSI's $1,099. Personally, I think the MSI is worth the extra $200 for a bit more subjective pop and USB-C connectivity. But the value proposition is certainly very tight between the two. And if you don't care about USB-C but would like the 1080p 480 Hz dual-mode feature, well, the Asus ROG Strix OLED XG32UQWMS is pretty compelling.

Display manufacturer BOE has started mass production at its new OLED plant, an 8.6-generation-panel-producing behemoth said to be the first of its kind in China.

The plant will produce 10 million OLED panels this year alone, according to FlatpanelsHD, and significantly more in the second year of its operation. The plant took just over two years to build, cost roughly 63 million RMB (around $9.3 billion) and resides in Chengdu.

Representatives from Lenovo, Asus, MSI, Oppo, Vivo, Honor, ZTE, Transsion, Xiaomi and Nothing reportedly attended the opening ceremony, indicating that each will be using the OLED panels produced.

One of the first is said to be a 14-inch OLED panel for Asus, Acer, and Lenovo laptops. The high-end products (being 8.6-gen offerings) will feature stacked tandem panel layers utilising Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide (LTPO), and support 240 Hz VRR refresh rates.

At first, the focus will be on small to medium-sized OLED panels, with no timelines currently announced for TV-sized variants. The plant will also have competition, as Samsung Display booted up a similar 8.6-gen facility in South Korea earlier this year. TCL and Visionox also have 8.6-gen OLED panel plants in the works, so it looks like it won't be long before we're flooded with even more OLED displays from a variety of sources.

This is likely a very good thing for those of us with a tasty new OLED in mind, particularly in our next gaming laptops. Vast numbers of new, high-specced panels entering the market will hopefully lead to some very competitive pricing, and we've already seen some smaller OLED gaming monitors dropping to much more reasonable money over the last few months.

Bring on the OLED pricing revolution, that's what I say. It's been long enough coming, at the very least.

When Qualcomm released its first batch of ARM-based Snapdragon X processors two years ago, they worked well enough, but failed to set the PC gaming world on fire. It's not really what they were meant for, and if decades of buying computer parts have taught me one thing, it's never to buy into the first generation of a new product. I still do it, of course, as the Oculus Rift sitting unloved in its box shows, but I'm always left with the feeling that I should know better.

The main downside of the OG Snapdragon, once software compatibility issues were smoothed out, was its GPU. The Adreno cores buried somewhere in the chipset felt underpowered for anything heavier than Stardew Valley, and while DirectX and Vulcan compatibility was high, and driver updates refined the process, some games just didn't work.

With the release of the Snapdragon X2, a few things have changed. The main one is that the CPU package now comes with a lot more processing cores—18 on the Elite Extreme model we've got here—but the GPU is also a lot better. It's now putting out the sort of benchmark results you'd expect from Intel iGPUs, and in some tests can even produce better results than Panther Lake.

The ASUS ZenBook A16 we're looking at here is one of the first Snapdragon X2 laptops on the market. It boasts the Elite Extreme version of the chip, a name that makes you wonder where they're going to go next if they release an even better one. Elite Extreme Pro Max Gold Caviar Truffle Edition, perhaps. This one has 18 cores, and according to CPU-Z 12 of those are Performance cores running at 4.4 GHz, with the other six being Efficient cores running at 3.6 GHz. That's a lot of cores, and with ARM chips' ability to produce exceptional single-core performance (as shown by Apple's M5 last year) I had high hopes for this one.

And I was right. The X2 doesn't hit the same Geekbench 6 heights as the M5, but it's close, and beats the desktop Core Ultra 7 265KF and mighty Ryzen 9 9955HX in the single-core test. It beats those chips in the Geekbench multi-core test too, along with the Core Ultra 9 275HX from the Alienware 16 Area 51, and roughly the same as the 14-core M4 Pro in a 16in MacBook Pro.

The elephant in the room here is Panther Lake, which is going to be appearing in new laptops at the same time as the X2. And in Geekbench, the X2 and Core X9 388H both score over 3,000 points in the single-core test, with the X2 marginally in front, but in multi-core the gap widens, probably because the Intel chip only has four of the full-fat performance cores and 16 in total. It scores 17,924. The X2: 22,785. That's a difference of almost 24%.

Moving over to the Cinebench single-core CPU rendering test, which has been known to bring laptops to their knees and in which 100 is a respectable score, the X2 scores 151. A laptop running the X9 388H scores 130 in this test, and the multi-core rendering workout goes the same way, with the X2's 1391 beating the Panther Lake chip's 1173.

All this is assuming, of course, that the same tests applied to different CPU architectures can be directly compared. Geekbench has been designed for this, though as more of a tool for plotting broad relationships rather than a perfect one-to-one comparison between PCs.

All that single-core performance makes the ZenBook A16 very responsive, and if Microsoft's new Low Latency Profile makes its way to Windows on ARM it should make things even better. The fact that Asus has paired Qualcomm's X2 with 48 GB of fast RAM certainly helps too.

Things are looking quite good for the ARM chip until you remember it still uses an integrated Adreno GPU, and we have yet to see one that's paired with a discrete graphics chip. Still, it's not bad for an iGPU, supporting DX12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, and putting out enough frames to play games in 1080p as long as you don't mind medium to low settings. Cyberpunk 2077 looks surprisingly good on medium, and while there are some shimmering textures in Blackmyth: Wukong, it doesn't struggle too badly as long as you remember to switch FSR upscaling on. Older titles such as Horizon: Zero Dawn look like what they are: PS4 games (albeit ones running at nearly 60 fps in this case, rather than the locked 30 fps of the console version). But it's great to see the Adreno is capable enough to play them as they were originally meant to be seen.

There are still some issues with the occasional game—F1 2024, for example (and this might be a different story with a more up to date release), putting up a notice that it's not compatible with ARM processors. This could also be because it's a fairly new processor at the time of writing, and a few software patches and driver updates will sort it right out.

On the outside, this is an unassuming laptop, though as a 16-incher it has a presence that you just don't find in smaller models. It's a kind of beigy grey, which isn't utterly unpleasant but certainly stands out from all the black and silver casings out there, and is made from Asus' Ceraluminum material that's some sort of unholy amalgam of aluminium and ceramics. It has a matte feel, and makes the A16 extremely light, but it's also stiff enough to handle by the corner without the trackpad becoming non-functional.

That trackpad is a big one, too, smoother than the surrounding casing but the same colour, and a better experience than the keyboard, which doesn't have much travel and is the worst aspect of this particular package. The screen, however, might be one of the best. It's a 2.8k 16:10 OLED, not a touch-sensitive one, with a 120Hz refresh rate. It's sharp, bright (500 nits), colourful and all the things a laptop screen should be. Battery life is exceptional—at least it is if all you're doing is looping a video, at which it kept going for almost 17 hours. Make it work a bit harder and that's going to drop, and there's a fan to keep it cool when it's under load.

So once again, Qualcomm has released a capable chip with a bit of a weak GPU, though it's nowhere near as bad as last time. Asus has then put it into a laptop with an excellent screen, though it is a little bit expensive when you could pick up something with a low-end GeForce chip for less, and have a superior gaming experience.

I can't help thinking though, that if someone could teach the X2 to talk to an RTX card, even as an eGPU, then we could have something truly fearsome on our hands.

With the memory crisis in full swing, it's becoming harder and harder to justify that PC upgrade. Though some will simply have enough money not to care, or will be forced to upgrade through breakages, others will simply go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all of this to blow over. Well, that waiting seems to have resulted in a pretty large decline in PC shipments, year-over-year.

According to analysis from the IDC, worldwide PC shipments have fallen by 4.9% between Q2 last year to Q2 this year (via Wccftech). This is reportedly "the first decline after nine consecutive quarters of growth" and, you guessed it, the memory crisis is to blame.

Tracking shipments last year and this year, ICD reports Lenovo dropping from 17 million units to 16.6 million, HP from 14.3 million to 13 million, Dell from 9.8 million to 9.3 million, and Asus at nearly flat growth. The only winner over the last year is Apple, which grew from 6.1 million to 6.7 million, representing a pretty substantial 10% increase. Apple also jumped from an 8.5% market share to a 9.9% market share.

Despite declining shipments, many of these companies aren't losing that much in revenue. That's because they can counteract the loss of sales through rising memory costs by getting consumers to pay for the price-inflated stock. Jitesh Ubrani, the research director for consumer devices at IDC, says, “The real story here is the disconnect between units and dollars: shipments are falling, but revenue is climbing because vendors are pushing through price increases faster than demand is dropping.”

IDC says that supply chain management and capabilities will continue to be incredibly important going forward. Some major manufacturers will be increasingly signing long-term contracts to supply memory and storage for devices, in order to keep selling through the memory crisis. That probably doesn't mean good things for smaller operators, as they'll have to navigate the larger companies' increased buying and negotiating power.

Others, such as Apple, have managed to capitalise on the problem with the launch of its budget-oriented MacBook Neo. Jean Philippe Bouchard, the vice president for consumer devices at IDC, says, “Apple’s share gain coincided with its latest product launch, the MacBook Neo, and while the company did raise prices in line with the broader market, it still remains well positioned against rivals facing the same cost pressures.”

It's worth noting that this is a report on global PC shipments, not necessarily gaming PC shipments, which have historically fared better during periods of decline. But these are far from normal times, and the memory crisis seems set to rage for another year at least.

Bernstein research analysts reckon SK hynix will significantly reduce its prices by the end of 2028, but we are likely to see more increases before then. And even then, that's a pretty optimistic outlook. If the memory crisis only lasts for another year and a half, I'd consider us rather lucky. It's anyone's guess what the PC market will look like by then, and who the winners of the memory crisis will be.

The Asus ProArt lineup is, in essence, the company's range of fancy PC products for creative professionals—and my goodness does it contain some nice-looking stuff. Which is why I jumped at the chance to test out one of the latest additions, the Asus ProArt Mouse MD301.

It's certainly a handsome squeaker, designed to provide a subtle, refined, ergonomic option for those who have some serious work to do. It's all business, this mouse, and there's something desirable about a design that eschews gamer-like frippery and instead aims for a more executive flair.

It's also customisable, in the sense that you can remove its main button switches for something more serene, or more clicky. There's also a horizontal scroll wheel, à la the Logitech MX Master range, which feels beautifully dampened. Really, most of the controls here are of the premium, well-thought-out sort, and that's very pleasing to see.

However, this $100/£105 professional rodent has the odd quirk that gives me pause. The side buttons are a touch flimsy. The thumb rest is slightly small and a little awkward. I've also had the odd connection issue, and the software feels like an afterthought.

There's a lot to like about the MD301. But as a long-term tester of the Logitech MX Master 4, I can't help but feel that if you're going down the professional ergo mouse route, it's the better buy of the two. The ProArt MD301 is a lighter, leaner attempt at an ergonomic mouse with many admirable qualities, but it drops the ball a little too often to give it my full seal of approval.

Asus ProArt Mouse MD301 features

The Asus ProArt Mouse MD301 is an ergonomically-shaped mouse that feels a lot smaller than your average ergo squeaker, coming in at 114.8 mm long, 75.2 mm wide, and 46.8 mm tall. Sit it next to a Logitech MX Master 4, and it looks positively tiny. It's also cheaper, coming in at $100 compared to the Logitech's $120 MSRP.

It's got six programmable buttons, including all the usual suspects. A left and right click, a middle scroll wheel click, two side buttons, and a hidden DPI button underneath a ridged plastic surface integrated into the chassis behind the wheel. It looks, in many ways, like a default mouse—albeit with some subtle ergo touches

Oh, and it's also got a horizontal scroll wheel mounted to the left-hand side. Logitech really changed the game with the old MX Master 3S design, didn't it?

Another interesting feature to note is the switches underneath the left and right buttons. By default, the ProArt MD301 comes with two (deep breath in) TTC E169-60BB0G0 (80M) units, but these push-fit socketed models can be pulled out and replaced with supported TTC, Omron, and Kaith units, which Asus has handily listed here.

The scroll wheel has a party trick, too, in the form of Asus' SmartShift tech. This allows for precise, clicky control when spun slowly, and a free-wheeling action when you spin it at an appropriate speed. It's a lot like Logitech's magnetic solution on paper, but feels quite different.

Spin the wheel at high speeds, and you can still feel it notch underneath your fingertip, albeit very quickly. Whereas Logitech's infinite scroll feature frees the wheel up with a glass-like, smooth action, the MD301 has a tendency to keep some tactile feedback in play, which makes it easy to stop at a defined point with precision.

Asus says the MD301 has up to 180-day battery life, and can gain eight hours' worth of charge in a single minute over its USB Type-C connection. Speaking of which, it also comes with a braided Type-C to Type-A cable, and a small USB Type-A dongle for wireless connection. Bluetooth connection is also supported.

Sensor-wise, this Asus squeaker makes do with an 8,000 DPI optical unit, which, in combination with its 1,000 Hz maximum polling rate, is unlikely to set gamers' hearts a-fluttering. Still, the MX Master 4 does just fine with a similar sensor (and a much lower polling rate), so it's not unsurprising for a work-first mouse. It's also a fair bit lighter than Logitech's latest ergo effort, tipping the scales at 99.7 g compared to the MX Master 4's 150 g bulk.

Asus ProArt Mouse MD301 ergonomics

The first thing I noticed about the MD301 is its diminutive proportions, especially when sat next to the MX Master 4. It's a lot narrower, with a much smaller thumb rest. However, it's got a wider top "hump", which feels good underneath my palm.

Switching between the two, it's clear that the Asus is designed to rotate your hand over to the right side more drastically than most, although at nowhere near as extreme an angle as something like the Keychron M5. It doesn't feel aggressively ergo, though. More like a slightly chonkier gaming mouse with some interesting quirks.

Clicking and spinning my way around the controls, I've been continually impressed by the effort that's gone into the switchgear and material choices. The left and right switches have a very positive click action, and well-weighted buttons.

The scrollwheel feels notchy yet free-flowing in all the right ways, with its clicky, fast-speed scroll being something of a highlight. The same goes for the horizontal wheel, which is heavily dampened and weighty underneath my thumb. Nice.

I'm also a big fan of the smooth outer coating, which has a silky quality that feels rather pleasant underneath my fingertips. It's slightly fingerprint-prone, but no worse than any other black gaming mouse I test these days.

The DPI switch is hidden underneath a ridged plastic insert that runs down the middle of the design, and provides a small moment of delight when you realise it's exactly where you expect it to be, but tastefully obscured. This is a classy mouse. A device for grown-ups. A refined rodent, if you will.

The only real ergonomic drawbacks come in two forms. One, the left-side thumbrest is quite small, and dips inwards. Using the MX Master 4 on the daily, my thumb has become accustomed to lolling on its own throne-like protrusion of silicone—whereas here it needs to tuck itself into a diminutive (and firm) plastic seat. My digit has become lazy, it seems, and has a tendency to want to fall off.

And two, the side buttons don't feel as high-quality as the rest of the unit. They're perfectly functional, but sitting as they do beneath a gorgeously weighted horizontal scrollwheel, the contrast is immediately obvious. They're simply "fine," while the rest of the controls are pretty excellent.

Overall, though, the ProArt MD301 is an impressive-feeling device, especially given its relatively low weight compared to its chassis size and ergo design. If anything, I could stand for it to be slightly heavier, in return for better side buttons and a bit of extra room for my thumb.

Asus ProArt Mouse MD301 performance

Given this is an ergo mouse with a relatively modest sensor, it would be unfair to expect Razer Viper V4 Pro-like performance or tracking ability from the MD301. Lo and behold, it's not the sharpest-performing rodent on the block.

Still, the sensor tracks well enough for work and light gaming usage, as shown by the MouseTester charts below.

I have, however, experienced the odd connection drop out. This has manifested as a very occasional half-second pause, and has happened several times during my week-long testing. I've got a lot of 2.4 GHz wireless devices plugged into my machine, and several more around my front room, so it's possible that the dongle here is slightly interference-prone—although I haven't been able to pin down the exact cause.

I have two other gaming mice plugged into this PC at all times (the MX Master 4 and the Razer Cobra Hyperspeed), and neither have had any connection issues. I tried unplugging both mice to see if it fixed the problem, and managed a few days of solid connection—before again experiencing a very quick pause.

I also had one connection pause while using the mouse with a gaming laptop I'm currently testing, so it doesn't seem to be specific to my main machine. The problem is so intermittent as to be barely noticeable, but there's something in this room the MD301's 2.4 GHz dongle doesn't appear to like.

Asus ProArt Mouse MD301 aesthetics

I love the ProArt MD301's aesthetic design. It's somehow utilitarian, slightly luxury, handsome, and hardly noticeable all at the same time. The ridged plastic vertical insert framing the scrollwheel is about as simple as design touches come, and yet adds a certain something that both feels good underneath your fingertips, and looks ever-so-slightly special on your desk.

Do I miss RGB lighting, or a touch of gamer flair? Not a bit of it. This mouse is all business, and that by itself makes it stand out.

Asus ProArt MD301 software

The ProArt MD301 connects to Asus Gear Link, a web-based app that allows you to adjust the DPI, polling rate, and button response settings within a browser. In order to tweak macros and use some of the features, though, you also need to install a companion app as an extension, which somehow feels like the worst of both worlds.

Pick either a web app, or installed app, Asus. Having one in order to properly use the other feels like an extra level of annoyance.

The web app itself has the odd quirk, too. I regularly split my 32-inch, 4K screen into two side-by-side browser windows, but the Asus app complains that it doesn't have enough room in one panel, suggesting I "switch to a larger screen." What do you want, a 49-inch ultrawide?

There's an option to use it anyway, though that's a new one on me. It seems to scale the interface just fine if you override it, but it's a bit indicative of the software experience overall. Unfinished is the feeling I come away with.

Still, early annoyances aside, the web interface works well enough. It's a bit barebones, though, and given the premium-feel of the mouse itself, it strikes as a clunky afterthought tacked on to what is otherwise a well-put-together package.

Asus ProArt MD301 value

At its $100 MSRP, I'd say the Asus ProArt Mouse MD301 is well-priced for its bracket. It's a chunk cheaper than the Logitech MX Master 4, and looks and feels like a premium mouse for more reasonable money.

That being said, I can't help but feel you're getting a lot more for your cash with Logitech's offering. It's got a more comfortable thumb rest, near-silent switches as standard, and a set of controls that can match (and occasionally beat) the Asus in terms of feel. And, it must be said, the Logitech software experience is a lot more refined. Plus, I've not experienced any connection pauses with the Master in many months of everyday usage.

Which puts the ProArt squeaker in an odd spot. It's a lot lighter than the Master 4, which makes it more suitable as a gaming mouse. But it's still got an ergo-spec sensor, so I doubt many will be buying it for its gaming performance chops.

And while it's a good-looking object that would suit the *loudly coughs* executive-ergo-mouse-using-professional, I can't help but feel there are enough hang-ups here to cause them to sniff into their yuzu-infused lattes.

It's a good effort from Asus, and a mouse with many likeable qualities. However, the quirks slightly outweigh the advantages, and as a result, I struggle to recommend it over the competition.

You can't have too many screens. That's pretty much been the guiding moral in my life. Enter the new Asus ROG Strix XG129C and a minor existential crisis. This is a screen, but I have to ask—I can't believe I'm saying this—is there any real point to it?

For starters, this "gaming monitor" (Asus' words, not mine) measures just 12.3 inches. So, it's pretty puny. Actually, it's worse than that. It sports an ultra-wide 24:9 aspect ratio and thus isn't even as big as those 12 inches might imply. In terms of vertical viewable screen height, we're talking sub-4.5-inch.

But here's the thing. While I came in decidedly sceptical about the Asus ROG Strix XG129C, this isn't a proper monitor. It's a device for keeping track of, say, your PC's operating status or providing space for some supplementary application controls. Somehow, I ended up quite liking it. And not just because I'm a total sucker for screens. But more on my journey in a moment. First, let's cover off the core speeds and feeds.

The 24:9 aspect translates into a native resolution of 1,920 by 720 pixels and a pixel density of 166 DPI, the latter being about the same as a 27-inch 4K monitor. So, it's pretty crisp.

It uses IPS panel tech and tops out at 300 nits for brightness and 75 Hz in terms of refresh rate. Oh, and quite importantly, it supports capacitive 10-point multi-touch input. For the record, the touch functionality works essentially out-of-the-box provided you are connecting via USB-C.

Speaking of which, there are two USB-C ports. Both will drive the display, while one doubles as power in and the other supports 20 W of power out. So you can, for instance, connect via a single USB-C cable to both drive the display and power it, which is the ideal in terms of cable management.

That's easy from a laptop, but less of a given with a desktop PC. There are desktop graphics cards with USB-C out that support up to 30 W of power delivery and so would be able to power the display and drive it. But that setup would not support the touch functionality, which requires data passthrough.

So, for a true single-cable solution on a desktop, it all gets a bit complicated. In theory, you could do it with a motherboard that supports Thunderbolt and DisplayPort passthrough from the iGPU and thus have the Asus ROG Strix XG129C running from the iGPU in your CPU and your main monitor running off your graphics card.

I understand this setup is supported, for instance, on Intel Z890 motherboards, again in theory. In practice, results seem to vary and there can be issues with the Thunderbolt port supplying sufficient power. In a worst case scenario, then, you might need to use the HDMI port for the video signal, one of the USB-C ports to power the display and another to send touch data to your PC, which is pretty messy.

But I think a decent chunk of users will be able to get it working with two of the three ports hooked up. If one of those is the HDMI port, you'll then have one cable coming out of the side, one out of the top. It would have been tidier if Asus had located all the ports on one side. Never mind.

That ergonomic glitch aside, this is otherwise a really nicely built display. It feels high quality and the screw-in kick stand is very sturdy and capped with a rubberised foot to provide grip, as is the base of the display itself.

You also get a proper OSD with a joystick controller and full set of features, just like a conventional Asus monitor. What's more, you can control the OSD with the touchscreen input, which is a nice, well, touch.

If that's the features covered, what is the Asus ROG Strix XG129C like in use? Asus bundles a year's subscription to an OEM version of Aida 64, so you've got something to play with immediately.

That's handy, because it would be a nightmare to configure the standard version of Aida 64 to fit this display perfectly. As it is, you can use it to track CPU and GPU operating speeds and temps, storage use, that kind of thing. You'd have thought a permanent license would be part of the deal, but at least you have something to run immediately.

Outside of that, your mileage will vary depending on your preferences. You could use this display to do anything from keep track of social media feeds or work collab' platforms like Slack while you game, to using it to situate secondary controls or a timeline for video editing.

Much will depend on the exact applications you use and what kind of tools and controls they offer, how much configurability they support and so on. But what I would say is that, for this display to really deliver, those tools and controls need to be touch friendly.

That's generally quite a big ask, given that so many applications are either poorly or not at all optimised for touch. Ironically, that includes Asus' own Display Widget Controller app, which really doesn't work at all well on this display. Whatever, it's the ability to use the touch interface, as opposed to needing to "mouse over," and the immediacy that offers, that is most compelling.

Of course, that in itself can create problems with application focus, in-game. And there's no doubting the Asus RoG Strix XG129C works most reliably and consistently as a status display rather than something you directly interact with. But the shortcomings there are largely down to how Windows operates, rather than the display itself.

In the end, this little display is very much in the nice-to-have rather than must-have category. It's also the sort of device where your benefit from and use of it will depend on a whole range of factors.

Some people may be able to get quite a bit of value out of it as a touch device for controlling application tools and menus, such as video, image and music editing. But I would advise caution in that regard. You'll need to do a little homework to see what really works. Don't assume too much.

On the other hand, if you just like the idea of a small secondary display for keeping track of your PC's hardware status or viewing work and social feeds, you can be more confident that the Asus ROG Strix XG129C will deliver.

What's more, as someone who prefers a single ultrawide monitor to a pair of more conventional 16:9 panels, what this mini monitor offers is a way to have the status-tracking functionality that a second screen offers, but keep it small and ergonomically tidy. I don't need a huge screen to watch a bit of Slack or keep track of emails arriving in the background, in other words. The Asus ROG Strix XG129C does that kind of job rather nicely.

Which brings us to the final important factor, namely price. At $199, the Asus ROG Strix XG129C is either pretty reasonable for such a specialised device or crazy money given what 200 bucks buys you these days in the monitor market. This year during Amazon Prime week, I found some KTC 34-inch ultrawides for barely over $200, while $250 will get you a 27-inch 4K dual-mode panel and $150 a decent 1440p panel. It's all a bit bananas.

In that context, the Asus ROG Strix XG129C is definitely a luxury item rather than a value proposition. You'll certainly have to specifically want a smaller, and in some ways less functional, screen to choose it over a 27-inch 1440p panel for less money.

But, personally, I actually might. I already have a large ultrawide for my primary viewing. I don't want another full-sized screen hanging miles off to the side. This nifty little accessory display can sit below my main monitor and would be just the thing to have running discretely, keeping me up to date. I've just got to decide if that's worth $200 to me…

Two months ago, Asus announced the ROG Equalizer, a power cable for certain Nvidia RTX graphics cards designed to banish the fear of melting connectors once and for all. Well, perhaps not completely so, because it seems we now have the first case of a melted ROG Equalizer cable.

As posted on ChipHell and reported by Uniko's Hardware on X (via Videocardz), there's admittedly very little information to go on, other than a crystal-clear picture of a seriously fried connector at the end of an Asus ROG Equalizer cable. Three of the six power pins look properly scorched, with one showing a considerable degree of melting in the plastic housing.

However, there's no indication as to what PSU and graphics card this cable was plugged into, nor the circumstances as to how the melty-melty all came about, so the one thing we can't do right now is point our fingers at Asus and go 'Ha! Your cable is rubbish!' Well, we can, but we just can't use this solitary picture as evidence for such a judgment.

If you're unaware of what all the hoohar is about Nvidia's 12VHPWR (and the subsequent 12V-2x6 design update) connector, let me give you a quick explainer. In order to have its graphics card use gopping great globs of power but also not require lots of big connectors on the card's PCB, Nvidia designed a compact system to be used instead of the traditional 8-pin PCIe system.

A precursor to 12VHPWR first appeared on certain RTX 30-series cards, such as the RTX 3090 Ti and 3060 Ti Founders Editions. This design just comprised twelve power pins (six +12V, six ground), but the iteration of the design that was approved by PCI-SIG and adopted into the PCIe specifications also housed four more pins for sensing.

That format first showed up on Nvidia's RTX 40-series, and almost immediately, reports of melting connectors appeared from owners of GeForce RTX 4090 cards. So much so that it resulted in a class action lawsuit against Nvidia being filed in 2022.

The problem is quite simple. A full load, an RTX 4090 can use up to 450 W of power, but distributed across six pins, each one only has to deal with 6.25 A of current. However, should one pin fail in some way, or the graphics card draw more current in one or two pins than the others, the resulting load imbalance can push the current over the 12VHPWR's design rating of 8.33 A per pin.

Fast forward to today, and we now have a power supply market replete with all kinds of 'solutions' to the connector melting problem. Even the minor redesign, called 12V-2x6, did little to prevent the problem from occurring. Der8auer's detailed analysis of the Asus ROG Equalizer cable shows that while it's a decent enough product, it doesn't really offer much in the way of protection against the problem.

With RTX 5090 graphics cards now costing more than $4,000 in the US, you'd think there would be a far more concerted effort to banish meltygate once and for all. Part of the reason as to why we haven't seen a permanent solution yet is that the fact not every 4090 or 5090 owner has suffered from a melting connector.

The exact number of casualties is probably impossible to determine, but since graphics card vendors, as well as Nvidia, put money aside each year to cover warranty claims, the only way that they would really sit up and pay attention is if the total cost of all the replacements for damaged cards consistently exceeded the pot of money for claims.

We probably can't rely on hardware vendors coming up with a permanent solution, either. It's unlikely that Nvidia will abandon 12V-2x6 in favour of a completely new design, and having active load balancing on graphics cards will eat into a vendor's profit margins (though they're hardly small sums of money when it comes to the RTX 5090).

This particular instance of a melted ROG Equalizer cable could be entirely user error or even a clickbait thing, just to get a bit of attention, but since Asus' design has no means to actively prevent one pin from supplying too much current, this will almost certainly not be the only case we'll see, genuine or otherwise.

If you do have a very high-power RTX card with a 12VHPWR/12V-2x6 connector, here's my advice for keeping it as melt-free as possible:

1. Try to use a PSU that has a native 12VHPWR socket and cable: this won't guarantee perfect safety, but it removes the multiple points of failure you can get with adapter cables.
2. Don't keep removing the cable to check that it's okay: Power cables aren't designed to be repeatedly unplugged and jammed back in, and doing so can weaken the connections, leading to smaller contact patches and thus higher temperatures.
3. Explore undervolting your graphics card: You can just drop the maximum power limit for your RTX GPU in the Nvidia app, but you're better off following a detailed guide on how to lower your GPU's voltage across its range of clock speeds. If it all works as intended, you should get a graphics card that not only uses less power but is also cooler and, in some cases, able to clock higher.

Until we have graphics cards and/or power supply units that actively monitor the current draw on each pin, and dynamically prevent it from exceeding a set limit as standard, the melting connectors are still going to be a thing that will hit the headlines from time to time. Just like this one.

Computex 2026 has been a peculiar affair, primarily because the PC market and general global economy is just so shoddy right now. In addition to much of the tech on show seeming more out of reach than usual, though, this year's computing expo has shown me just how ephemeral the PC gaming market has become. Like a cloud, it certainly exists and you can see it from afar, but get up close and its boundaries start to become more obscure.

Obviously a lot of what we've showcased here at PC Gamer is stuff that's more exciting for PC gamers, but there's been plenty else at Computex that seems to not fit neatly into that 'just for PC gamers' category. And I know one could say that about pretty much anything in this space because most PC gaming gear can be used for other things, but it seems like even manufacturer intentions and target markets are now becoming a little blurred.

For one, we've had definitively non-PC gaming products that might actually be decent for PC gaming. Take Asus' new ProArt monitors, for instance. These are nominally for design professionals, but I don't think you'd find any gamer complaining about a 240 Hz QD-OLED.

Or there's the new Dell XPS 13, which seems to be the company's answer to the Apple MacBook Neo. It's aimed at students and professionals that use a laptop for light work, much like the Neo. However, its gaming chops are expected to be decent, too, thanks to its Wildcat Lake and before long its Panther Lake processor.

Even out of the products we've seen that are more specifically gaming-oriented, though, there have been some that fit into the 'not just for gaming' mould.

PC case line-ups often have unassuming and professional-looking options, so I suppose it's no surprise that the same is true at this year's Computex. In particular, the Tryx Vas caught my eye, with its metallic briefcase design and giant side fan. I could just as easily imagine this in an executive's office as a gamer's den.

Then there's Keychron's ultra-thin magnetic switch keyboard. I mean, tell me you like the Apple Magic keyboard without telling me you like the Apple Magic keyboard. This thing is practically crying out to be slapped on a Starbucks coffee table by a freelance digital nomad. But it's also magnetic, meaning it must surely benefit from all the analogue gubbins that gamers love, like rapid trigger.

And then there's Corsair's new TC80 gaming chair. The company explicitly distances itself from gaming here: "Following our popular TC500 Luxe, we have continued the move away from traditional gaming chair style. The TC80 has more subtle branding, a muted color pallet, and a more professional vibe overall."

It's still a gaming chair, but moving away from "traditional gaming chair style" means it's also kind of not. Or, rather, it's something that won't look or feel too out of place in an office but is still aimed in large part at PC gamers.

It's a trend that I've noticed for at least the last couple of years. I remember, for instance, when SteelSeries showed me its Apex Pro Gen 3 keyboard. During my trip to SteelSeries HQ in Copenhagen, the company was keen to emphasise that gamers are no longer just using their peripherals for gaming—they're using them for working, relaxing, travelling, and everything else in-between.

So SteelSeries was going to start catering for that a little, toning down the gamey-ness and making things a little more well-rounded. That seems to have been a general direction for many manufacturers over the last couple of years, though I'd probably call it companies cottoning on to the reality that was always the case: people use their products for multiple things, not just gaming.

The as-yet unmentioned elephant in the room, though, is of course Nvidia's new RTX Spark processor. The N1X-based chip was long-anticipated but only finally announced at Computex a couple of days ago.

The main take-home is that it's a chip with integrated graphics that promises some serious gaming performance despite not having a separate, discrete GPU. If Nvidia's RTX 5070-level claims hold up, it should even blow away the chips that sit inside handheld gaming PCs when it comes to gaming performance—but it's still all integrated. It'll be very game-dependent, given it's Arm-based, but in theory it could be fantastic for lightweight, efficient gaming.

And that last part is key: it should allow for lightweight and efficient devices—devices such as the RTX Spark-powered MSI Prestige N16 Flip AI+ that was announced alongside it at Computex.

RTX Spark is, of course, designed to be put inside machines you'll run AI on—this is 2026 Nvidia we're talking about, after all—but it's for gaming, too. In other words, RTX Spark machines are unlikely to be marketed as just gaming laptops or just productivity and AI machines.

This melding of gaming and non-gaming markets isn't completely new, but witnessing this year's Computex really brought it home. The lean into do-it-all products seems one that's here to stay. And perhaps that's a good thing, with the market being as it is—when things are so expensive and the cost of living is so high, I'd rather spend my money on one device or peripheral that does everything well.

The old marketing saying of 'sex sells' frequently gets converted to 'excess sells' when it comes to computer tech, and for the 20th anniversary of the ROG brand, Asus has taken this to another level with a new 3000 W power supply unit for gaming PCs.

It's not the power rating that's so eyebrow-raising about the Asus ROG Thor 3000W Titanium III Edition 20, as 3 kW PSUs aren't anything new in the world of workstations. For example, Corsair has the WS3000 and Asus itself has the Pro WS 3000W Platinum. However, for gaming PCs, it's completely overkill and totally unnecessary, even if you're overclocking the twangers off every single component in your rig.

And yet, that's the exact market that Asus is selling its latest mega supply to. Making matters even worse is the fact that the PSU sports four 12V-2x6 power sockets, despite the fact that you can only game on a single RTX 5090. Sure, you could slap another three into your PC for giggles, but it won't help to make anything run faster.

For AI workloads, it's a different story, but that's not mentioned in Asus' marketing, nor is it what ROG is all about. The Thor 3000 W Titanium III Edition 20 does have gaming-related features, such as an OLED display that can be magnetically attached to the PSU or your PC's case via an extension cable, plus a voltage monitoring system to prevent your RTX 5090 from self-destructing.

But no gaming setup is going to get anywhere near the unit's 3000 W power limit (1600 W when using a 115 V supply), and even though the Thor's peak efficiency will be around the 1600 W mark, that's still far more than you're likely to need.

Well, unless you just happen to have an overclocked 800 W Asus RTX 5090, plus a heavily PBO'd Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition, a mountain of DRAM sticks, an even bigger mountain of Gen5 SSDs, plus a small warehouse-worth of fans and RGB lighting.

Of course, I am applying logic to a product that isn't logical. It's not really a gaming PSU at all: It's an over-the-top statement from Asus, simply because it can, and partly because the whole ROG brand has become synonymous with this line of thinking.

But even if you can afford it, I would recommend that you look elsewhere for an all-singing, all-dancing power supply, because when you look closely at Asus' images for the new PSU, you can see that it's just a spruced-up standard design. The main power switch and some of the connectors also look somewhat wonky, indicating that this isn't a special, hand-crafted unit. Ho-hum.

The OLED gaming monitor tech announcements are coming thick and fast at Computex this year. One intriguing new monitor has been outed by Asus featuring a new WOLED panel from LG that we've not seen before.

The big news is that the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCWM features RGB-stripe technology. In other words, the panel's subpixel structure is composed of conventional red, green and blue vertical subpixels in that order.

Until recently, all OLED gaming monitors had panels with various weird and wonderful subpixel structures. LG's panels had an extra white subpixel to boost peak brightness. Samsung used a triangular layout, albeit with the standard RGB colours.

These non-standard subpixel layouts cause various issues. So, the ideal solution is an absolutely standard RGB-stripe structure. And that's what the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCWM's new LG WOLED panel offers.

Note that the "W" in LG's WOLED branding doesn't refer to a white subpixel, but the white colour of the base emissive OLED material, which is then passed through red, green and blue filters for each subpixel, respectively.

Anywho, the ROG Swift PG32UCWM is, as I said, a 32-inch 4K model. It runs at 240 Hz at 4K and offers an alternative 1080p mode at 480 Hz. It also sports VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 certification. And that's where things get a bit tricky.

You can already buy 32-inch 4K Samsung QD-OLED based monitors, including the MSI MPG 322UR X24 I reviewed recently, that offer brighter True Black 500 certification. And Samsung has announced yet another 32-inch 4K panel with True Black 600 certification, 360 Hz refresh and RGB-stripe subpixels for later this year.

That latter panel in particular makes the new LG WOLED in the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCWM look a bit behind the curve, even as it launches. It'll do 350 nits full screen and 1,500 peak HDR.

The LG WOLED in the Asus, meanwhile, tops out at 1,000 nits peak HDR. Asus hasn't quoted as fullscreen figure. But it will likely be in the 250 to 275 nits range. These brightness figures are despite the panel using LG's latest Tandem OLED tech. And that's likely because of the removal of the white subpixel, which LG has thus far used to increase the brightness rating of its OLEDs.

Still, the good news here is that OLED technology is really kicking on this year. We're getting brighter panels seemingly by the week and RGB-stripe is being ever more widely adopted.

I wouldn't be surprised if most OLED gaming monitors are RGB-stripe by this time next year. Add in increased brightness and we're surely approaching a situation where the art of OLED gaming monitors is pretty much perfected.

Well, maybe with one final caveat around burn-in remaining. But the evidence continues to mount around existing panels that burn-in isn't a massive issue. And these newer panels are meant to be yet more robust.

We've seen all manner of keycaps over the years, from Kerbals to desserts and just about everything in between. But I don't think I've seen any quite so peculiar as those just announced from Asus ROG.

They come in a 'Mystery Box Edition 20', with the latter part of this referring to the company's 20th anniversary line-up. We've already seen an absolute chonker of a GPU under this moniker, so I guess it makes sense to have something small in the range too like keycaps.

It looks like they are literally mystery boxes, in which you don't know which keycaps you're getting. In one box you get 6x mystery keycaps. And what are the keycaps, exactly? Well, it's all ROG peripherals, of course.

Each keycap sits on top of a bed of stalagmite crystals. To start with, there's a Gladius mouse, a Raikiri controller, an Asus Delta headset, alongside a couple of different versions of the ROG logo.

The last couple are the most interest of the bunch, though. There's the Chariot chair which, erm, spins around. Not on its own, you have to spin it yourself, but still. Peculiar. Then there's the Claymore keyboard which is split into two. The left side has the bulk of the keyboard, while the right has the numpad, and both can be pressed independently. Y'know, just 'cause.

The only thing that I think would make it better would be if there were a little keyboard keycap on the keyboard keycap. But alas, we're just a single order of magnitude into bonkers territory here.

It's a bit silly, but it's also just a bit of fun, so I'm not too against it. The company has announced plenty of more serious products at this year's Computex, including an esports OLED monitor I quite like the look of, so I'll forgive Asus for the frivolity here. Though much will depend on just how rare the fancier keycaps are, because I wouldn't much fancy having to rack up dozens of spares just to collect them all.

With Asus' ROG brand turning 20 years old this year, it has announced a whole pile of fancy black and gold gaming gear at Computex. Its new 82 g mouse is just as fancy as you'd expect and comes with some truly outrageous specs.

Called the ROG Harpe II Extreme Edition 20, Asus's new gaming mouse has "Authentic 24K gold-plated detailing", as well as a black translucent shell. The first time I saw it, I thought it looked a bit like it had cardboard internals (because gold under black certainly muted the colour palette a tad), but I don't think it looks bad by any stretch.

With it, you get a max 8,000 Hz polling rate (both wired and wireless), along with Asus's own ROG 100M optical micro switches, and a 65K DPI sensor. Those are truly absurdly high specs. The Razer Viper V4 Pro, our pick for the best gaming mouse, also goes up to 8,000 Hz polling but only 50,000 DPI. However, the max polling and max DPI of both of these gaming mice are arguably too much for 99% of players, and 8k polling often isn't worth the battery drain for a wireless mouse.

82 g is a good bit heftier than the V4 Pro, and I suspect that could have something to do with the gold internals. It is based on the Harpe II Ace (which is only 48 grams), and Asus says its shape was developed with the help of esports pros.

Asus also notes it comes in a "display-ready presentation box", and that box seems to come with stickers, a cable, the connectors, and a keyring of some kind. Asus has also announced the ROG Azoth Extreme Edition 20, which is a black and gold-themed variant of the ROG Azoth gaming keyboard.

Asus has confirmed to me that the Harpe II Extreme Edition will be $260 and the Azoth Extreme Edition will be $600. That's a lot more than the Viper 4 Pro, and Razer's offering isn't exactly cheap.

As with all of Asus' ROG 20th anniversary items, this gaming mouse seems like a commemorative item, more so than something you'd just buy to simply use. And I'd imagine you'd need to have quite a bit of cash burning a hole in your pocket to consider it. Here's looking at you, Xbox Ally X20 bundle.

As hardware goes, graphics cards can be on the heftier side. Asus ROG's Astral cards were already a case in point, but the company has just unveiled an anniversary edition well-deserving of the two C's in 'thicc'.

During this year's Computex, Asus announced the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 Edition 20. The GPU isn't only CHONKY, but makes the most of its expanded surface area with a curved AMOLED display and "a quad-fan design that delivers up to 20% improved airflow." The main drawback is that this big boy graphics card will likely gobble up not only the contents of your wallet, but all of your PCIe slots too.

The Edition 20 series celebrates the ROG (Republic of Gamers) sub-brand's 20th anniversary. The full ROG Edition 20 lineup encompasses a number of other PC components, including a mother board and even an NUC, marking all of the hardware with a black-gold colourway. Asus Chairman Jonney Shih said during his opening speech at Computex 2026, "Twenty years on, we didn't just change the game, we transformed the world around it."

No firm release window for the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 Edition 20 has yet been announced. So far, Asus has only said, "Many limited-edition items and the exclusive Armoury Crate Edition 20 software theme will be released as limited-time offerings throughout 2026."

Pricing details are also thin on the ground. However, judging by the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 most recent flirtation with all that glitters—specifically, the $7,000 gold-plated Asus ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 Dhahab OC Edition—it will likely cost a pretty penny. The slightly less powerful Asus ROG Astral RTX 5080 Dhabab Core edition still went for $2,589. With those kinds of numbers, it hardly seems worth saving up my pennies.

This card, along with the other ROG Edition 20 components, is limited edition, just as last year's ROG Matrix RTX 5090 was. There were only 1,000 models of that one, and of course limited supplies tends to mean higher prices.

Still though, the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 mounted on the corresponding Edition 20 the open-frame ROG GR20 PC case was a thing of beauty to behold on the Computex showfloor. I'd be inclined to consider an open concept set up like this show piece were it not for the fact my home office is an absolute dust magnet—and I'm not made of PCIe slots, either.

The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X is undeniably a great device, but it's an expensive one. So when I saw Asus had unveiled an upgraded anniversary edition, bundled with a pair of AR glasses, I felt a little pain for my bank account.

The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 bundle includes an Xbox ROG Ally X with a snazzy black and gold theming (including a 'custom gold internal structure'), TMR thumbsticks, and even the addition of a 7.4-inch OLED screen.

For context, the standard ROG Xbox Ally X comes with a 7-inch IPS LCD screen, so this is already a major upgrade. Both screens have a 120 Hz refresh rate. The TMR thumbsticks are a welcome addition, meaning you're less likely to have to take the thing apart due to stick drift. TMR sticks should also make for a slightly better battery life, too.

Finally, it comes with a new D-Pad that can be swapped between four-way and eight-way input.

In the new models, you can expect almost the same processor (the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme in the X20 has an NPU, but other than that, it's exactly the same as the Ryzen Z2 Extreme), which means pretty much identical game performance, as well as 24 GB of LPDDR5X memory, a 1 TB SSD, and an 80 Wh battery. The X20 is around 40 g heavier, but everything else remains the same.

Unfortunately, we don't know the answer to the biggest questions here. We don't have a confirmed price point or a release date. There are some random numbers on the side of the page when you get to the 20th anniversary section, so they could correlate, or they could… not.

As for price, I'm expecting a very heavy hit here. Not only are you getting some meaningful upgrades on the original $1,000 Xbox Ally X, but you're also adding in a pair of ROG XReal R1 AR glasses, which fetch around $1,000 by themselves. This is all before mentioning that the ongoing memory crisis has been a major pain when it comes to reasonably priced hardware, and 24 GB of memory is quite a lot.

The sell for this X20 bundle is the pairing of the glasses and the handheld. You can plug the 240 Hz glasses into the top and get what appears to be a 171-inch screen right in front of you. It is tethered to the device, though, so you likely won't be whipping out that bad boy on the train. Given what I expect its cost to be, I wouldn't want to bring it out of the house anyway.

The march of OLED technology continues. According to market research outfit Trendforce, OLED monitor shipments are up by 78% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026. Trendforce reckons increased supply of Samsung's QD-OLED panels is a key factor, but it's actually Asus that is selling the most OLED monitors.

Q1 2026's figures are actually down 11% on Q4 2025. But given tech products have distinct annual cycles driven by things like school schedules and holiday periods, the most representative comparisons are with the same quarter the previous year. In that context, OLED's continuing progress is clear enough.

Apart from the broader trend toward OLED, Trendforce reckons Samsung ramping up supply is a key factor. "The key growth driver was the increasingly abundant supply of QD-OLED panels, which enabled new market entrants to ramp up volumes and effectively fill gaps in the market," Trendforce says.

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly given its premium pricing, it's actually Asus that is selling the most OLED monitors, with 24% market share. "Its leadership was underpinned by a comprehensive OLED product lineup," Trendforce says, noting how broad Asus's OLED monitor range is.

Samsung (Samsung Electronics that makes monitors, as opposed to Samsung Displays that makes the actual QD-OLED panels) came second with a 16.4% share, while MSI clocked third with 12.2%.

This time around, Trendforce isn't quoting overall volumes of OLED monitor shipments. But to put all this into context, it previously said that the overall OLED monitor market amounted to 2.735 million units in 2025, a 92% increase on 2024.

While it's a somewhat subjective call, I'd say Samsung driving volumes of OLED monitors is a good thing. Samsung's QD-OLED panels tend to be more vibrant than LG's competing WOLED panels thanks to utilising a pure RGB subpixel structure where LG relies on an additional white subpixel to boost measured brightness in a way that doesn't always translate well into the real-world experience.

Put another way, Samsung's latest QD-OLED panel tech, as seen in the MSI MPG 341CQR X36 in 34-inch ultrawide form and the MSI MPG 322UR X24 in 32-inch 4K configuration, is pretty darn stellar.

When Asus took over Intel's baton for the Next Unit of Computing (aka the NUC or mini PC), some of us hoped that we'd be treated to a fresh new direction to the original concept. Essentially, that's what we got, but it also came with something we didn't want, and the latest Asus ROG NUC perhaps embodies everything that has gone wrong with the whole platform.

Ostensibly, there's not a great deal of difference between the freshly announced ROG NUC 16 and last year's ROG NUC. They both sport Intel Arrow Lake HX processors (albeit the Plus models in the 16) and a GeForce RTX 50-series mobile GPU; you can fit up to 128 GB of memory (up from 96 GB) and two M.2 SSDs in both of them, as well.

The looks have been spruced up, with the ROG NUC 16 being a tad flashier in appearance than the older design. It's not a radical change, and if I'm permitted to be honest, the white model (sorry, Moonlight White Edition) gives me 'Temu PlayStation' vibes. But mini PC aesthetics are very much a subjective thing, and if it's thumbs up for you, then good on ya.

There's no indication of the official MSRPs for each variant of the ROG NUC 16 just yet, but Videocardz reports that pre-orders in China are roughly in the $4,400 ballpark. Right now, if you're so inclined, you can bag yourself the RTX 5080 version of the previous NUC, with 32 GB of DRAM and 2 TB SSD, for a mere $3,868 at Amazon.

So it looks like if you want a top-spec ROG NUC 16, you'll need to find a spare four thousand bucks stuffed down the back of your couch. Before you splash the cash, though, you should know that this amount of money will get you a Lenovo Legion Pro 7i with the same hardware and still leave $1,000 spare for an extra display and peripherals.

NUCs-for-gamers, and mini PCs in general, are always going to be a niche product and thus a low-volume seller, so an inflated price tag is to be expected. But this? Four kilo dollars is beyond any measure of reason or justification, despite the grimness of the RAMpocalypse. Sure, the new NUC can be kitted out with up to 128 GB of DDR5-6400, which you might think would be great for AI modelling.

However, Asus is marketing this device at gamers—it claims all that memory will ensure "smoother high-FPS gameplay and faster responsiveness"—and the NPU in the Arrow Lake processor isn't good enough to make proper use of masses of DRAM; for that, you need something like the Framework Desktop. And if you use the GPU instead, you'll be limited to a maximum of 16 GB of VRAM (RTX 5080 variant).

Other than taking up considerably less desk space than an equivalent laptop, the Asus ROG NUC 16 makes zero sense as a gaming purchase, or any kind of purchase for that matter. Mini PCs are supposed to be ultra-compact, with their compromised performance offset by an enticing price tag.

Asus does make such NUCs, though they're aimed at the business and education markets. What we've got here is less something for PC gamers, and more for cash cows that can be won over with ROG branding and top-tier hardware specs.

It's the 20th anniversary of the Republic of Gamers (ROG) and although we've already been treated to a special edition copper-themed Crosshair motherboard, it looks like Asus has something extra lined up for PC Gamers: its own line of DRAM kits.

Well, strictly speaking, it's just the one kit so far, and even then, it might just be a one-off, as part of the ROG celebration. Videocardz reports that Asus dropped the deets on the DRAM at its ROG Day 2026 event in China, but for everyone else, there's a preview look at the DDR5 set via 林大餅Bing's YouTube account.

Apparently developed via a collaboration with Biwin, the 48 GB dual-channel kit is rated to 6,000 MT/s with CL26-36-36-76 timings. That CAS latency is very tight, and I dare say that a good number of AM5 motherboards won't like it very much. Naturally, you can expect it to be fine with Asus' high-end boards, AMD and Intel flavoured, as it comes with XMP profiles for both platforms.

In terms of looks, well, it's ROG-a-go-go, as you'd expect, but I have to say that I quite like the design: angular, but not garish, with a rather classy colour scheme.

As for the price, Videocardz says that it's listed as 5999 yuan, which directly converts to a fraction over $888. How much of that is down to the RAMpocalypse is anyone's guess, but a 48 GB set of Biwin DDR5-6000 CL28 is $540 at Amazon. Specialised DRAM kits are always pricier than the regular stuff, so once you account for that (plus a bit extra for the ROG tax), I reckon we'll be looking at around $850 retail.

The interesting thing about all of this is whether or not Asus has been planning on entering the desktop memory market en masse. If this DDR5 kit is the only thing it's going to release in this sector, then the specs and pricing make sense, but if it's part of a long-term strategy to announce being a competitor to Corsair, G.Skill, and many others, it couldn't have come at a worse time.

ROG enthusiasts won't really care, though, and will probably try to snap up a set as soon as they can. After all, the only part of a complete gaming PC setup that Asus currently don't offer is a CPU and a memory kit. Oh, and internal SSDs, though you can get external units.

But if it's happy to start producing its own branded DRAM, I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of M.2 drives suddenly appeared, perhaps even followed by an Arm-powered processor by the end of the decade. Anyone fancy a 100% ROG rig?