Skip to main content

ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 leak reveals future of AMD, Nvidia gaming laptops

A fresh leak reveals not only an updated 2022 Asus gaming laptop, but also the previously unannounced components from AMD and Nvidia that will power the next generation of PC gaming on laptops.

This leak comes courtesy of My Laptop Guide, which seems to have found the listing on the official Bluetooth website. It features the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 GX650, which will apparently be offered in at least three different configurations.

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 leaked item.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The top-end configuration features an AMD Ryzen 6900HX CPU and an Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti GPU. Both components are rumored to represent the upcoming high-end laptop options that will be available in 2022 from AMD and Nvidia.

The upcoming AMD 6900HX is part of the “Rembrandt” Zen 3+ series built on a 6nm process node. It tops out at eight cores and 16 threads and also includes an RDNA 2 integrated GPU.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

The Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti it’s paired with will reportedly be offered in both the standard full-power model and the lower-power “Max-Q” variant. Although Nvidia released a desktop RTX 3080 Ti in 2021, this laptop part would be a new addition if these reports turn out to be true.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Oh, but the fun doesn’t stop there. It seems you’ll be able to top off the laptop with up to 48GB of DDR5-4800 and up to 8TB of PCIe Gen 4 NVMe storage. This would make it the first AMD-powered laptop to use DDR5, and they should compete nicely with Intel’s upcoming Alder Lake offerings.

The only downer in the otherwise superb spec sheet is the presence of a 16-inch, 1080p screen. However, it makes up for it by having a 300Hz refresh rate. Perhaps Asus will add a 4K option like it did with the Zephyrus Duo 15 SE.

The ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 was one of the best gaming laptops we reviewed last year. We praised it for having excellent performance, a gorgeous 4K screen, and a truly unique and functional secondary screen. This new ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 looks like it will be quite the successor and continue the innovation from the previous machine. There’s no word when Asus will officially announce this laptop, but with CES 2022 just around a month away, we’re bound to see more of it soon.

Editors' Recommendations

David Matthews
Former Digital Trends Contributor
David is a freelance journalist based just outside of Washington D.C. specializing in consumer technology and gaming. He has…
Why this gaming laptop is the MacBook Pro’s biggest competition
An OLED HDR demo running on the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14.

There's no other laptop quite like the MacBook Pro right now.

In particular, I'm talking about the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M3 Max under the hood. The way this laptop balances performance and portability just hasn't been seen before.

Read more
A comprehensive guide to buying a gaming laptop in 2024
Cyberpunk 2077 running on the Lenovo Legion 9i.

Gaming laptops used to all look the same. For the most part, they were thick, loud, and ugly.

Not so today. There's a huge range of diversity in gaming laptops, which range from elegant portables to bombastic heavyweights. Considering the complexities of balancing performance, portability, and good looks makes it a hard enough decision to start with. Throw in the fact that, increasingly, people are also using their gaming laptop for work and school -- and you have a seriously difficult decision to make.

Read more
Nvidia is the ‘GPU cartel,’ says former AMD Radeon manager
A hand holding the RTX 4090 GPU.

AMD's former senior vice president and general manager of Radeon has come out with some strong words against Nvidia. Scott Herkelman called Nvidia "the GPU cartel" in response to a story from the Wall Street Journal in which Nvidia's customers claim that it delays GPU shipments in retaliation for those customers shopping with other suppliers.

The accusation in question comes from Jonathan Ross, CEO of AI chip startup Groq, who said, "a lot of people that we meet with say that if Nvidia were to hear that we were meeting, they would disavow it. The problem is you have to pay Nvidia a year in advance, and you may get your hardware in a year, or it may take longer, and it's, 'Aw shucks, you're buying from someone else, and I guess it's going to take a little longer.'"

Read more