ASUS ROG Flow X16 GV601RW 16” Touchscreen 165Hz Gaming Laptop (AMD Ryzen 9-6900HS, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070Ti, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Windows 11)

Right, let's get some things settled shall we?This is a NOT just a gaming laptop, it is also a great machine for content creators, coder/developers, video and photo editing as well as for anyone who needs mobile power for work.It has one of the most powerful laptop useable processors on the market, comes with 32 Gb of RAM (user expandable to 64Gb), a speedy 1 Tb SSD, (swappable plus has a second free M2 SSD slot free) an onboard discrete GPU that is as good and frequently better than many desktop builds, a gorgeous screen, touchscreen functionality, 2 in 1 form factor....oh and unlike many gamer laptop rigs a video camera... 8-)Now, the downside to having a beastly CPU and a graphics card that can burn at up to 125W is plain, more power used means shorter battery life. Sure, in battery mode it will damp down power consumption but if you game, you push the frames per second, consumption goes up and battery life will plummet. AS HAPPENS WITH EVERY GAMING LAPTOP IN EXISTENCE.However, if you aren't gaming and use the tools the machine comes with you can comfortably get 6-7 hours of use on battery.As for the complaints about heat...Asus have designed the cooling system with not 2 but 3 cooling fans along with a very efficient heat transfer system. Again..... If you are pushing the CPU and GPU it will heat up, it's physics. To supplement the active cooling, as this is a 2 in 1 convertible you also have the ability to supplement the active by popping this into tent form and add passive cooling, adds another 5-8 C head room. Not a function available on.... well pretty much any other gaming laptop like thisThen we come to the complaints of cost......really?£2,300, yes it is NOT cheap, however it is also, based on what you get ... NOT expensive, let's compare shall we?Remember, this is a Ryzen 9 6900HS processor, 16" 2560x1600 MiniLED touchscreen, 3070Ti GPU (up to 125W power), 32GB of DDR5-4800 RAM, 1 Tb PCIe 4 SSD.Compare other gaming laptops with an i7 or i9 12th gen Intel or AMD Ryzen 9 6000 processor with a 3070Ti GPU 15.6" - 17" screenAlienware M15, same specs, smaller screen, non touch, non convertible.....£2555Alienware X17, i7 Intel, FHD non touch screen, 32 Gb RAM, 1 Tb SSD.... £2805Razer Blade i7, Intel, ,QHD, non touch screen 16 Gb RAM, 1 Tb .... £3100Razer Blade i9, Intel, QHD OLED (nearer to the X16 screen), still only half the RAM.... £3900Razer Blade 14" AMD 6900HX, fixed 16Gb RAM, 3070Ti capped at 100W .... £2700Lenovo LEGION 5I PRO 16, similar specs, same size screen non touch, 3070 not 3070Ti .... £2850CheaperMSI Crosshair, similar specs, 16Gb RAM fixed, no touchscreen, DDR4 RAM, i9 .... £2041Now, downsides...AMD processors don't natively support Thunderbolt (allegedly a BIOS update to USB4 will happen)AMD 6000 series processors are arguably not quite as power efficient as equivalent Intel 12th generationVideo camera is still mediocre,1080 is really the minimum nowadaysAsus removed the fingerprint functionality built into the power button as they have in the X13Fingerprint magnetAsus Armory Crate and MyAsus software is just.... really poorly conceivedMiniLED screen is more power hungry than the IPS in the lower spec shaves about 1:00 hr 1:30 off battery lifeIt's good, it's fast, it's upgradeable, it has ticks many boxes....

There's lots to love about this laptop:-the screen is the best laptop screen i've seen in *most* situations- it's more vibrant than the MB Pro 16 I have, but does suffer from a bit of blotchiness in some very niche scenarios (looking at a screen that is solely dark grey for example)- The thermals are great if you can work around the limitations of the form factor (more on this in the negatives section), it's quiet and cooler than most laptops in larger form factors thanks to a third cooling fact and the entire back of the laptop being an exhaust vent- The performance is great. This system benchmarks like a boss, and can play all modern games at high settings at native resolution and achieve good frame rates. even without DLSS. With the exception of cyberpunk with high raytracing...... that needs DLSS for sure- The design is super nice. feels really solid, doesn't scream gamer, and is very practical. You'll be surprised how often you use tent mode-The XG Mobile connecter provides the chance for future proofing too. I wouldn't bother buying the 3080 XG Mobile as the performance gains will be negligible..... but assuming Asus continues to support the product with future 40 series releases then you've got a sweet upgrade path to keep you happy for years to come.Now the gripes that have seen a star knocked off- You can't do anything strenuous on this unit and just leave it flat on the desk or your lap because the laptop feet are intentionally slim to allow it to be used as a tablet...... which it's realistically too heavy to do anyway.... you need to raise the base off the desk on either a laptop cooling pad or stick it in tent mode when gaming- the battery life is naff. for a ryzen based laptop with a big battery, I'd have expected much more than 5 hours of low intensity usage. Maybe Asus will release firmware improving it, but the battery life is my major gripe right nowStill, all that being said, it's a really really nice piece of kit with that possibility of future proofing as an extra sweetener

I have never spent this much on a Laptop and I am very dissapointed. The performance is sticky, the battery life is poor and the machine crashes several time a day. The myASUS app says my warranty has run out on a date prior to purchasing it. I have updated drivers, re flashed the bios all to no avail.

A bit pricier than some of the other cheaper 3070Ti laptops, but not the most expensive and you get a lot more for your money:1) The screen looks amazing, it's the best looking screen I've seen in a long time2) The screen is touchscreen3) The screen can be folded all the way back and you can use the laptop as a tablet4) There is a connector for an external graphics card so when docked you can get greater graphics performance out of it (also helps future proof)5) The build quality is amazing, you feel like your holding a quality product in your hand6) Personal preference, but the screen is 16:10 rather than 16:9, giving you some extra height on the screen

I returned this and bought a Proart Studiobook. The Rog Flow ran way too hot, no faster than same cost Proart and the implementation of stylus and screen was quite poor. It was the screen more than anything else that was a disappointment. I dont know about gaming but for artistic / photographic and video this really isnt the correct machine.

Massively overpriced for what it is.Yes it has a great screen, but runs very hot when put under any pressure.Would be a great buy for the £1500 price range, but not recommended at the current price as you will be disappointed.