ASUS is releasing gaming laptops with a panel refresh rate of 300 MHz. Yeah, if a question marker just appeared in frint of your fac we feel the same.  ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today showcased new 300Hz displays in several Strix and Zephyrus gaming laptops at IFA Berlin 2019, offering a glimpse into the future of portable esports and hardcore gaming. 

These groundbreaking displays qualify as the world’s fastest; the first ROG device to be released with the ultrafast display will be the Zephyrus S GX701 in October, followed up by multiple ROG laptops in the following year.

ROG is focused on delivering not only the fastest gaming devices, but translating that speed into a more responsive and immersive experience. By aggressively adopting high-refresh laptop displays, ROG gives gamers the opportunity to see more frames per second for gameplay that feels smoother, especially in fast-paced esports titles, and even offers a competitive advantage over opponents.

Industry-leading displays

ROG was the first to bring high refresh rates to gaming laptops in 2016 with the G752VS, whose 120Hz IPS-level panel produced excellent colors and viewing angles despite doubling the frequency of conventional displays. G752VS ignited the high refresh-rate race across the industry and set a new standard for premium gaming machines.

A project with chemical giant Merck followed, resulting in the development of a new liquid-crystal structure capable of pushing even higher speeds. That work allowed ROG to introduce the first 144Hz gaming laptops the following year with the original G703 desktop replacement and the more portable Strix GL503VS SCAR Edition.

While faster refresh rates make gameplay look and feel smoother, quicker pixel transitions reduce blurring for fast-moving objects and sweeping motions to produce a clearer picture that helps gamers track targets and maintain immersion. The 144Hz panel slashed the grey-to-grey pixel response time to just 7ms, a 4X reduction compared to contemporary alternatives. Overdrive pushed pixels even further in 2018, when ROG led the industry again by not only reducing the response time to just 3ms, but also making that speed available across a full family of gaming laptops based on Intel’s Coffee Lake processors.

At CES earlier this year, ROG previewed the future by demoing a cutting-edge 240Hz panel inside the Strix SCAR II. A few months later, ROG was the first to deploy the next-gen display, rolling it out in a diverse lineup that included the Zephyrus S GX502, Zephyrus M GU502, Strix SCAR III G531, and Strix Hero III G531. The 15.6-inch models were quickly followed by the first 17.3-inch implementation in the Strix SCAR III G731 introduced at Computex 2019.

Every frame matters for esports professionals and other competitive players, and the silkier gameplay that higher refresh rates offer also improves the visual experience for AAA games. With that in mind, ROG continues to pursue faster frequencies, breaking ground again with new 300Hz displays. The upcoming releases include a version of Zephyrus S GX701 that ships in October this year.

Unprecedented speed

Raising the refresh rate to 300Hz represents a 25% increase over the current standard for high-level esports tournaments. At that speed, the screen can draw 5X more frames than the 60Hz panels found on conventional laptops. Paired with a GPU that produces enough frames per second to keep up, the faster display makes gameplay silkier than ever before.

Higher frequencies can also improve the experience when the refresh rate is fixed and the FPS drops below the maximum. The delay between refresh cycles is shorter, allowing the display to respond faster to fresh frames produced by the GPU. When the system is running Vsync to eliminate visual tearing, the higher frequency mitigates visible stuttering that can occur when the display is forced to wait until the next cycle to show a new frame. At 300Hz, it’s ready to draw a complete new frame every 3.3ms, which matches the 3ms response time of the pixels.

Achieving versatile performance

The ROG IFA panel demos showcase the same technology in multiple segments and sizes. Prototype laptops being shown at IFA include 15-inch and 17-inch flavors of the Strix SCAR III. These mid-sized machines drive the ultrafast panels with powerful NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2070 GPUs bolstered by ROG Boost. The Intelligent Cooling system is effective enough that the GPU can be pushed to up to 1540MHz at 115W in Turbo mode, which is technically factory overclocked.

While the Strix series puts high refresh rates in their element, the ultraslim Zephyrus family brings the same technology to premium gaming laptops that blur the line between work and play. New 300Hz panels are also on display inside the 15-inch Zephyrus S GX502 and 17-inch Zephyrus S GX701. Both models normally balance priorities with the ROG-exclusive GPU Switch, which can shift between G-SYNC™ mode for smoother gaming and Optimus mode for longer battery life. The displays on production Zephyrus S laptops are also factory calibrated to meet PANTONE® Validation requirements, giving creators the color accuracy they need for work without sacrificing the speed they want for gaming.

Cooling ultraslim laptops is extremely challenging, so the ROG Active Aerodynamic System opens a hidden vent when the lid is lifted, allowing more cool air into the system. The improved airflow enables exceptional performance that helps take advantage of the ultra-high refresh rate. Despite squeezing into a much thinner and lighter chassis, Zephyrus S GX502 features a GeForce RTX 2070 GPU with the same ROG Boost clocks and wattage as the Strix. Zephyrus S GX701 takes performance to the next level with a GeForce RTX 2080 GPU clocked up to 1230MHz at 100W in Turbo mode, surpassing the specs of similarly slim systems.

Beyond faster frequencies

The 300Hz gaming laptops on display at IFA focus on higher refresh rates and represent one part of greater efforts that ROG is making toward broader panel leadership. At Computex 2019, ROG combined high resolution and high speed in a 4K UHD laptop display running at 120Hz. While that panel is destined for future devices, the groundbreaking ROG Mothership is available with a wide-gamut 4K UHD display that covers the full Adobe RGB color gamut.

Special editions of Zephyrus S GX531 and GX701 are the first gaming laptops available with HDR. These models combine high refresh rates with VESA DisplayHDR 400 certification. Their high-dynamic-range panels can produce over a billion colors, and they use local backlight dimming to deliver deep contrast. This display hardware is so close to the bleeding edge that software support is somewhat complicated by the lack of a common API for HDR, an unavoidable consequence of being so far ahead of the game.

ROG has a diverse array of display options to s