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A couple of years ago, Asus came up with an innovative concept. What if you had a compact device, such as the ROG Flow Z13, that provided great portability, yet allowed you to enhance its performance significantly with an external graphics card when stationed at your desk? This led to the development of the XG Mobile, an all-in-one solution that combined an external GPU with expansive desktop connectivity through a single cable. The downside was that Asus relied on its proprietary cable and connection methods, which constrained the usability of its external graphics card.
Asus has now addressed that limitation at CES 2025.
The new XG Mobile for 2025 abandons Asus’ proprietary connection for Thunderbolt 5. This upgrade enables compatibility with nearly any device featuring a Thunderbolt port. This includes legacy systems that utilized Asus’ original XG connection, like the first ROG Ally, as well as devices equipped with Thunderbolt 3 or 4. The company touts that the updated XG Mobile maintains full backward compatibility and maximizes the performance capabilities of the Thunderbolt interface.
Beyond just improving the connection, Asus has completely revamped the XG Mobile. The 2025 version is reported to be 3 decibels quieter than its predecessor, primarily due to an upgraded vapor chamber design that offers 54% more cooling surface area. Additionally, Asus claims this is the thinnest and lightest external GPU they’ve produced, measuring 1.2 inches in thickness and weighing only 2.1 pounds.
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In terms of connectivity options, the XG Mobile comes equipped with HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 2.1, an SD card reader, and two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, in addition to the Thunderbolt 5 port. The exterior design has also been refreshed, featuring a semi-transparent casing with customizable RGB lighting managed through Asus’ Armoury Crate software.
The significant query regarding this external GPU revolves around the graphics processing unit itself. Asus has stated that the 2025 XG Mobile will come equipped with Nvidia’s newly released RTX 50-series mobile GPUs, but specifics regarding which models will be included have not yet been disclosed. The previous iteration supported up to an RTX 4090, though it’s anticipated that Asus may downgrade the graphics card to better fit the compact design.
While the 2025 XG Mobile resolves the connectivity issue, it may still face software challenges. I encountered driver conflicts that occasionally caused system crashes when using the XG Mobile with the ROG Ally. Pricing has also been a concern in the past, as the cost of the external GPU can rival or exceed that of the device being connected.
We will have to be patient to see if Asus can overcome these hurdles with the new model. The company has yet to disclose pricing or availability details, though the 2025 XG Mobile is expected to launch alongside Asus’ 2025 gaming laptop lineup, which is scheduled for February.
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