Asus Packs GeForce RTX 4090 Into Pricey New External GPU

Asus is now selling a new external GPU for laptops that provides access to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 for more graphics firepower. 

Asus' website(Opens in a new window) lists a 2023 version of the ROG XG Mobile. But the add-on product will set you back $1,999—or $400 more than the starting price for the desktop-based RTX 4090 GPU.

Of course, the ROG XG Mobile stands out for its portability, and its ability to easily upgrade a laptop with more graphics processing. All you have to do is hook the ROG XG Mobile to the PC through a cable. The product itself weighs in at 2.86 pounds.

(Asus)

But on the downside, the peripheral only works with six laptops in Asus’ Flow series, including 2022’s ROG Flow Z13. That’s because the external GPU functions over a proprietary PCIe connector exclusive to compatible Flow laptops. 

Another negative is how the product only features the laptop-focused RTX 4090, not the more powerful desktop version. So buyers are only getting 16GB of video memory and about half of the GPU processing cores found on the desktop-grade RTX 4090.

But on the plus side, the peripheral does offer a collection of ports, including an Ethernet port, an SD card reader, and several USB ports, along with HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4. It also looks like the product can double as a power supply for an Asus laptop, since it features an integrated power adapter to connect to an electrical outlet.

The product represents a refresh of the 2021 ROG XG Mobile, which tapped a mobile-focused RTX 3080 GPU. Our review praised the earlier model for being compact and easy to use. But we were also turned off by its high price and disappointing gaming performance. Our tests showed the peripheral often lagged behind laptops with built-in RTX 3000 GPUs. So we’ll have to see if Asus was able to resolve the performance gap problem. Stay tuned for our review.