In addition to announcing ASUS ‘release of its latest ROG Flow X13 13-inch game notebook, it also unveiled an interesting new external graphics dock that could fit the notebook. Named the ROG XG Mobile GV301, the external graphics dock is designed to extend the capabilities of the ROG Flow X13 and transform it into a powerful and lightweight portable gaming rig. And while graphics docks themselves are nothing new, this one stands out because of the portability, with the dock similar to a second laptop.
From a high perspective, the graphic dock lives up to its name. The core, of course, is a high-performance GPU, with ASUS leveraging NVIDIA’s new RTX 3070 and 3080 laptop adapters, both of which will be a major step up from the Flow X13’s built-in GeForce GTX 1650 graphics adapter. With this, the dock can power the Flow X13 – thanks to the integrated 280 W power source – and offers several ports, including HDMI and DisplayPort, a Gig Ethernet connection, 4 USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports and an integrated SD card reader.
In particular, like some attempts to provide graphics docks for thin and light laptops, ASUS is going here with its own connection rather than relying on Thunderbolt. The unnamed connector is divided into two segments, with one containing PCIe 3.0 x8 data, while the other one is a USB-C connector to carry power and USB data. This significantly limits the compatibility of the dock, but it offers twice as much PCIe bandwidth as Thunderbolt 3 or 4 would otherwise do.
As mentioned earlier, portability is one of ASUS ‘design goals for the ROG XG Mobile, so it can be carried around with the Flow X13 rather than being a relatively static dock at home. For this, the dock is 29.6 mm thick, with a footprint of 208 mm and 155 mm, making it comparable to a second laptop. It also weighs similarly (if it is a little denser) at a flat 1 kg (2.2 kg). It’s fitting that ASUS provides a sleeve for the Flow X13 to carry the laptop and XG Mobile, simplifying the process.
The thermal solution on the ASUS ROG XG Mobile
The ROG XG Mobile is available this quarter, with prices to be announced.
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