SALTZMAN: Computer gamers, rejoice – latest gear unveiled at Computex 2025

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That’s a wrap! Taiwan’s Computex 2025 – the biggest tech trade show in Asia and one of the largest on the planet – once again showcased the latest in computer hardware.

Now in its 44^th year, much of the focus was on gaming gear, as well as artificial intelligence (of course), and a few ancillary industries like robotics, IoT (Internet of Things) trends, and the future of mobility.

The only Computex attendee that could upstage the Taiwanese President, Lai Ching-te, was Taipei-born Jensen Huang, president and CEO of Nvidia and one of the richest men in the world. The crowd went nuts in his presence, but Jensen still took the time to shake hands with showgoers – including yours truly.

Postmedia was at Computex to kick the proverbial tires on these upcoming devices. The following is a look at a few highlights.

BIG POWER, SMALL PRICE

With tariffs hitting the PC space, gamers are bracing for much higher prices.

Thankfully, ASUS is bucking the trend with its just announced TUF Gaming T500, a gaming desktop, which – in a unique twist – houses a laptop processor instead. To handle most of the heavy lifting for today’s games, ASUS says it packs a full-size graphics card.

While the Canadian price is still to be determined, this machine starts at only $1,299 USD, with a powerful Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti GPU, when it launches this summer.

Designed for a more budget-conscious player, this compact tower (18.9 x 9.5 x 20.1 inches) offers some visual flare, too, with a window to the interior of the desktop on the left side, along with chassis lighting.

As for specs, it’ll be powered by a mobile-class 13^th Gen Intel Core processor (up to Core i7-13620H) and will support up to 64GB of RAM (system memory) and up to 2TB of storage (PCIe Gen 4).

Forgive the geek speak.

ASUS also showed off impressive peripherals, such as its ROG (Republic of Gamers) “Falcata” mechanical keyboard that quite literally splits in half so you can position it on a desk however you like. As for monitors, the 24-inch ROG Strix II Ace XG248QSG is billed as the world’s fastest esports monitor delivering an incredible 610Hz refresh rate (and 0.1 millisecond response time) for smooth and fluid gameplay.

FUTURISTIC TOWER HAS PRACTICAL PURPOSE

Garnering a big crowd at Computex 2025, Chinese brand Colorful had a big booth to display several laptops and innovative desktop designs – including one that looked like a motorcycle helmet – but it was a monster of a tower that caught my eye.

The iGame Neptune Series PC is a tall and futuristic-looking desktop that introduces a dual 360mm radiator stack for CPU and GPU cooling. It’s a unique design that’s both pretty and practical, as it enhances airflow. In fact, the graphics radiator can pivot outward to prevent air duct conflicts and improve overall thermal efficiency (and unnecessary noise) during heavy gaming sessions.

The computer itself is powered by the company’s own iGame Z790D5 Neptune motherboard, paired with an Intel Core i9-14900K processor, 2TB of storage (NVMe SSD), and an iGame GeForce RTX 5080 Neptune graphics card.

GAMING TO GO

Don’t be fooled by its mediocre looks: the Gigabyte A16 Pro is one of the most impressive gaming laptops at Computex as it packs a lot of power under the hood: up to Intel Core i7 240H processor, 32GB of RAM, up to 4TB of storage, and a graphics card up to NVIDIA RTX 5080.

The IPS display on the 16-inch Gigabyte A16 Pro boasts WQXGA resolution (2560×1600 pixels), with 300 nits brightness and with a 165Hz refresh rate (and 3ms response time).

Gigabyte’s proprietary Windforce Infinity EX is an advanced cooling system that offers smart heat dissipation and performance – thanks to its quad-fan design with 158 asymmetric blades, a vapor chamber, and 3D airflow channels.

Available this summer, no doubt this helps Gigabyte’s claim of up to 14 hours of battery life.

INTO THE FOLD

While not necessarily for gamers, Huawei bowed an innovative and impressive device at Computex 2025.

It’s an 18-inch 3K OLED display that can literally fold in half, allowing users to type on a digital QWERTY keyboard illuminated on the bottom portion when flush on a flat surface, like a desk or table.

Or you can use a physical Bluetooth keyboard, as it includes an integrated kickstand.

Called the MateBook Fold Ultimate Design Laptop, it’s ridiculously thin, too, at just 7.3mm thick – even thinner than an iPhone 16 (7.8mm).

While unique, this MateBook Fold Ultimate won’t be cheap – starting at ¥23,999 in China, which works out to be about $4,600 Canadian for those who want to order it online. Yikes.

VISITING ASUS HQ IN TAIPEI

While ASUS is extremely popular in Canada – number one in consumer Windows laptops, gaming laptops, consumer Chromebooks and gaming desktops – many might not know the company is headquartered in Taipei, the city that hosts Computex.

And so, I paid a visit to the company’s swank HQ, a pair of adjacent buildings, to get a sense of its work culture.

During working hours, more than ten thousand employees toil away in various departments, such as design, engineering and lab testing.

Hungry? Employees can hit up one of 20 restaurants (including a Starbucks, bubble tea joint and a 7-Eleven). ASUS employees receive up to 80 NT (Taiwanese currency) per lunch, which is usually enough to cover the entire meal.

There are swimming pools and hot tubs, two huge gyms (including a basketball and badminton court, and exercise equipment), and Japanese gardens for when you need a moment of Zen.

If you’re not feeling well, there’s an on-site medical clinic.

Globally, ASUS has roughly 16,000 employees, of which about 5,000 are engineers, which explains the innovative designs in their PCs, accessories and other gear.

ASUS Canada employs 90 people in Canada, most of whom are based out of its facility in Markham, Ont.

– Marc Saltzman is the host of the Tech It Out podcast and author of 17 books, including Apple Watch For Dummies (Wiley)