The five coolest laptops of Computex 2017

Up first: Asus ROG Zephyrus

Here at Computex 2017, Taiwan is getting a taste of the absolute best the computing world will soon have to offer. One key theme of the show is undoubtedly thinner and lighter gaming laptops by way of Nvidia’s new Max-Q design, and the Asus ROG Zephyrus seems to be leading the pack.

An 18mm-thin, 15.6-inch gaming laptop rocking an Nvidia GTX 1080 graphics chip, the Zephyrus defies expectations through the gaming hardware firm’s new Max-Q design platform. It also manages to look absolutely gorgeous in an all-metallic frame.

But, don’t take our word for it, Matt Hanson has the full take in our hands-on Asus ROG Zephyrus review.

Up next: Acer Predator Triton 700

The power of Max-Q made yet another iconic gaming laptop possible, the Acer Predator Triton 700. Using a similar graphics chip and 15.6-inch form factor, Acer’s use of the new Nvidia technology calls back to a recent milestone release for the company: the Predator 21X.

Similarly, you can see here a window in the keyboard deck that doubles as the laptop’s touchpad, forcing the keyboard down to meet the laptop’s bottom lip. The design allows for the new, more powerful components in such a thinner chassis. 

Our editor Kevin Lee has the full take in his hands-on Acer Predator Triton 700 review.

Up next: Asus ZenBook Flip S

Asus has all but further perfected the 2-in-1 laptop with the very thinnest the buying public has seen at a mere 10.9mm in the Flip S. Going for $1,099 to start, not only is this laptop the thinnest 2-in-1 so far, the ZenBook Flip S is also among the lightest at 1.1kg. 

The Flip S also manages a 13.3-inch display as sharp as 4K prepared to push pixels from an Intel Core i7 processor accompanied by up 16GB of memory and as much as 1TB of solid-state storage. Put all of that behind an 11.5-hour claimed battery life, and you have the makings of a serious 2-in-1 laptop.

For the full impression, read Matt Hanson’s hands-on Asus ZenBook Flip S review.

Up next: MSI GT75VR Titan

While Max-Q is enabling all sorts of super sleek, super powerful gaming laptops, vendors are still interested in producing more monstrous mobile PC gaming machines. The latest in such endeavors is MSI’s new GT75VR Titan.

A 17.3-inch beast of a gaming device descendent of the GT80 of yesteryear, refusing to push the mechanical keyboard and dual number pad-slash-touch pad to the lip of the keyboard deck. Nay, this is a more traditional laptop design rocking the latest hardware on the inside and niceties like a pleather palm rest on the outside.

For the full skinny, read Kevin Lee’s hands-on MSI GT75VR Titan review. 

Last but not least: Aorus X9

We haven’t been able to spend much time with it, but Gigabyte’s latest Aorus X9 device is here, a brand new 17.3-inch gaming laptop housing dual GTX 1070 chips in SLI promised to deliver 30% more performance than a single GTX 1080.

While not a Max-Q design, the X9 does squeeze a mechanical, backlit keyboard into a 30mm frame – not too shabby for such a large mobile gaming rig. Here’s to hoping we get some more time with this bad boy before the show is through. 

• These are the best laptops of 2017 so far