Yesterday Nvidia announced that its RTX series of graphics cards was coming to laptops. Today, we confirmed that those laptops can support the VirtualLink USB-C standard should they so choose. One of the first devices to support the standard was just announced.
Asus’ Republic of Gamers Mothership GZ700 is the meaty machine in question. The laptop features the top-end RTX 2080 GPU but has one USB-C port that supports VirtualLink. Announced last year, VirtualLink is designed to make connecting VR headsets to PCs much easier, only requiring a single USB-C connection. It’s intended for use with next-generation headsets and is supported by Oculus, Valve, Microsoft, HTC, NVIDIA, and AMD.
You can spy one of the USB-C ports in the image below. The laptop actually comes with two but one isn’t VirtualLink-supported. There’s one either side of the screen and we’re not sure which is which.
This isn’t the Mothership’s only claim to fame, though. The laptop also comes with a stand that cools the device. That’s apparently a big feature. Oh and the keyboard is detachable, which might actually come in handy if you’re the backpack VR PC type.
Elsewhere there’s an Intel Core i9 processor. Full specs are below. The Mothership is coming in Q1 2019 but pricing hasn’t been announced yet.
Asus ROG Mothership GZ700 specs
- Processor: Intel Core i9-8950HK (6C/12T at up to 4.3GHz or 4.8GH Turbo)
- Operating system: Windows 10 Home
- Windows 10 Pro (ASUS recommends Windows 10 Pro)
- Display: 17.3-inch FHD (1920×1080) AHVA panel, 144Hz, 3ms, 100% sRGB, Optimus, G-Sync
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
- Memory: DDR4 2666MHz SDRAM up to 64GB
- Storage: 3 x M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4 512GB SSD
- Wireless: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200, 2×2 802.11ax Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth 5.0 (Version may vary as the OS upgrades)
- Connectivity: 1 x USB3.1 Gen2 (Type-C) / Thunderbolt 3, 1 x USB3.1 Gen2 (TypeC) / VirtualLink, 3 x USB3.1 Gen2 (Type-A), 1 x USB3.1 Gen1 (Type A) / USB charger +, 1 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x 3.5mm headphone and microphone combo jack, 1 x 3.5mm microphone jack, 1 x RJ-45 jack, 1 x SD card reader, 1 x Kensington lock
- Keyboard: Detachable with wired or wireless modes, Per-key Aura Sync RGB backlighting (Aura Sync wired only), 2.5mm travel distance, N-key rollover
- Audio: 4 x 4W speakers with Smart Amp technology, Array microphone
- AC adapter: 2 x 280W power adapter
- Dimensions: 410 (W) x 320 (D) x 29.9 (H) mm
- Weight: 4.7kg (estimated)
