IFA 2015 is about to wrap up, but it still has surprises in store. The gaming laptop scene keeps pushing boundaries with specs that demand serious engineering compromises, and the latest example is the Asus GX700. This beast packs one of the newest high-end Skylake processors, 64GB of RAM, and a liquid cooling platform that can boost performance by up to 80 percent.
A New Breed of Gaming Laptop
Gaming laptops have always been about trade-offs: weight, battery life, thermal throttling, limited upgradeability—the list goes on. Enthusiasts often build their own desktops to avoid these issues, but there's something appealing about ditching the tower without sacrificing performance. Earlier this year we discussed the MSI GT80 Titan, a laptop with Nvidia SLI graphics and a built-in mechanical keyboard. Those specs already seemed absurd, but the gamer market loves to outdo itself, and seizing the opportunity at IFA 2015, Asus has thrown caution to the wind with its new GX700.
Now, what's that thing on the back? The "hump" or "backpack" is definitely the most striking feature of the GX700. It's a special dock with an integrated liquid cooling system. When the laptop isn't docked, hardware limits kick in to prevent overheating, but once the liquid cooling engages, Asus claims performance can jump by up to 80 percent.
Under the Hood
According to available information, the GX700 comes with an Intel Core i7-6820HK based on the Skylake architecture (4 cores, 8 threads, 2.7 GHz base, 3.6 GHz turbo), a staggering 64GB of RAM (assumed DDR4, the maximum the processor can address), and an Nvidia graphics chip with 2,048 CUDA cores, though the exact model hasn't been revealed yet.
Asus plans to have the GX700 on store shelves before the end of the year, but pricing remains a mystery. If the GT80 Titan comes close to four thousand dollars in its most advanced configuration, I wouldn't be surprised to see the GX700 land a thousand dollars above that. The real question is whether it's worth it. When a laptop needs desktop-grade components to boost performance, it feels like it's fighting its own nature.
What do you think? The comments are open.
Source: TechSpot
