Gaming laptops have become a common sight in various settings, from classrooms to public transportation. However, it was quite unexpected to see an Asus ROG laptop making an appearance in a courtroom, particularly in the hands of an attorney representing former President Donald Trump during his $250 million fraud trial in New York. What made it even more eye-catching was the RGB lighting, which continuously shifted colors throughout the proceedings.
This distinctive laptop, of which the owner was later identified as Alina Habba, one of Trump’s legal representatives, was initially noticed by Ryan Rigney, a marketing director at Odyssey Studio, a game development company. Rigney promptly shared his discovery on Twitter, where he mentioned that the laptop was equipped with an Nvidia RTX 2070 Ti. It’s worth noting that the RTX 2070 Ti doesn’t exist, so Rigney likely meant the RTX 2070 Super.
It’s highly probable that this assessment is accurate. Kotaku has identified the laptop as the Asus ROG Strix G17 G712. Despite my thorough investigation, I’ve found that many laptops in the Asus ROG lineup share a similar design from the rear view. However, one thing is certain—this is no ordinary workstation laptop, unlike the Lenovo ThinkPad visible on the left side of the photo. This laptop is clearly designed for gaming, complete with vibrant lighting effects. Notably, Alina Habba has opted to keep the cyclical color changes enabled, allowing the Asus logo to gracefully transition through shades of blue, green, orange, red, and more.
If this indeed happens to be the 2021 ROG Strix G17 G712, it boasts a 17-inch 144Hz IPS display, a 10th-Gen Intel Core i7 processor with a remarkable boost clock of up to 5.1GHz and eight powerful cores, an Nvidia RTX 2070 Super graphics card, and a substantial 16GB of DDR4 RAM. Quite impressive specs for a laptop being employed in a courtroom setting.
Naturally, this situation prompts some pondering—could this be a personal gaming laptop that also serves as a workhorse, or did Habba simply select a powerful machine to meet her professional requirements? Choosing a gaming laptop solely based on its specifications is a common practice. Laptops designed for productivity often lack dedicated graphics cards or might prioritize a slim and lightweight design over sheer hardware prowess. In many cases, opting for a gaming laptop turns out to be the more advantageous choice.
In the current landscape of Nvidia’s RTX 40-series laptops, it’s increasingly challenging to find a balance between “reasonably priced” and “high-performance.” Acer’s recent offerings come close, with prices just under $1,000, but these come equipped with an RTX 4050. Habba’s equivalent machine is likely to be more expensive; currently, it retails for $1,700. To gauge the performance of the current model, be sure to check out our in-depth review of the Asus ROG Strix G17.
One thing is indisputable—Asus has unintentionally garnered some significant attention in front of an entirely new audience.
