Gaming

ASUS ROG Flow X16 review: Great on its own

No additional accessories needed for good performance

Published

March 9, 2023

GadgetMatch

ASUS ROG exits 2022 and enters 2023 with a renewed lineup of gaming laptops that will bring the power into the new year. As they continually bring the firepower every year, their ROG Flow series adds another powerful device to the lineup for everyone to experience. With this one, however, it feels like it can stand on its own for what it brings to the table.

The newest addition to the Flow series is the ASUS ROG Flow X16, a 2-in-1 machine rocking powerful hardware and a myriad of possibilities. Essentially, what you have here is an all-rounder of a device fit for the creative professionals and the competitive gamers. It even comes with some nifty accessories, although not the one you usually expect with this series.

So, is the ROG Flow X16 for 2022 something worth bringing into the new year?

Well-built and well-processed

From the inside and out, the ASUS ROG Flow X16 is just built different as a gaming machine. Inside, the device comes with an AMD Ryzen 9 CPU and an RTX 3060 — a decent combination of hardware that produces great performance across the board. Whether it’s for a ton of data analytics or gaming VOD recording and reviews, this machine can handle it all.

What also helps its case is that 16:10 WQHD anti-glare display that helps you house multiple windows on a single screen. In essence, multitasking would be a total breeze, especially when you have reports to finish or gaming streams to watch while you work. Plus, it has a refresh rate of 165Hz which is great for a lot of things, but let’s get into that later on.

Overall, the ROG Flow X16 boasts fantastic hardware fit for both the casual and competitive gamer. Also, if you’re more of a work in the day type of person, this device definitely gives you more than everything you need to get through, on paper.

For the uber competitive ones

It wouldn’t be an ASUS ROG machine if this laptop was not tailor-fit for gaming at a high level. For starters, the RTX 3060 inside the ROG Flow X16 provides great frame rates for most competitive titles out there, especially when under the proper settings. If you want to turn up the detail just a little bit, the GPU can also handle that with ease — no eGPU needed,

As per usual, RTX-powered mobile machines still can’t produce a balance of stellar graphics at stellar frame rates for games that support ray-tracing. Such is the case for the ROG Flow X16, although at least games like Fortnite and Cyberpunk 2077 managed to hit a stable 40 FPS reading. Details were great, and performance was a bit more stable than other GPUs, but again, it’s more for an overall aesthetic look.

Also, going back to the 165Hz refresh rate display, the ROG Flow X16 makes a case for the more ideal on-the-go competitive gaming machine. The 16:10 display gives more screen space to look around in-game, and the 1ms response rate allows you to quickly react to elements in a blink of an eye.

To make beautiful art with

One detail we haven’t mentioned too much yet about the ROG Flow X16 is that, well, it’s also a 2-in-1 device with a touch display. As a staple with all other Flow models, this machine works a ton of wonders for those who like handwritten notes during meetings or doodle as their productive time. Along with a touch display, the ROG Flow X16 comes with a dedicated ASUS Pen for you to do all of these.

The display doesn’t show any signs of being hypersensitive to unnecessary touches from the wrist, which is good when used with the pen. This way, all your sketches and notes will look relatively organized without any unnecessary strokes in the way. Also, this is even helpful when you’re dabbling with photo and video editing.

With the 165Hz refresh rate for this display, you’ll be able to observe and act on any frames you may have missed out in your editing process. Whether it’s the mouse or ASUS Pen, your choice of input will allow you to be as pixel-perfect as possible when creating your masterpiece.

Just a few hygiene checks in there

Like most gaming laptops, the ROG Flow X16 comes with a decent battery in terms of lifespan and charge time. On average, the device lasts for about 8-9 hours on a single charge with regular use, which is pretty standard. Charging time back to 100 percent with the 280W charging brick takes about two hours at least.

Port selection on this device is great, with the inclusion of the dedicated port for the eGPU but they’re mostly placed on the left hand side. Although it seems like a good substitute over having the ports at the rear, it might not be for everyone. Also, some of the USB Type-A ports are on the right, so you’ll need to adjust your wired peripherals if you play a certain way.

This device also comes with an HD camera nestled at the top of the screen and under the display. In terms of photo and video quality, it’s decent for most video conferences and a bit of a grainy selfie for a wallpaper. If for streaming though, you’re better off getting the ROG Eye with this laptop.

Is the ROG Flow X16 your GadgetMatch?

At PhP 149,995, the ASUS ROG Flow X16 is a great 2-in-1 device that holds its own with nothing extra needed. With powerful hardware embedded inside a relatively slim form factor, it has everything you need for work and play. Whether you’re a competitive gamer or a content creator at heart, you won’t go wrong with this as an option.

Granted, you can upgrade the ROG Flow X16 into a gaming powerhouse with all the extra peripherals ASUS has to offer. From the ROG Eye to their own dedicated eGPU, to achieve the best, you will simply want a lot more added to the table. However, even when these aren’t in your budget, the device performs well enough to not need them anyway.

Even with a hefty price tag, this 2-in-1 laptop only provides the best performance possible with minimal sacrifices. It’s portable and powerful enough for you to work hard and play even harder wherever you go!

Gaming

Valve is embroiled in a lawsuit with New York over loot boxes

Published

March 12, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Valve has been embroiled in an odd war as of late. A few weeks ago, the New York Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the gaming company for allegedly encouraging children to gamble through loot boxes primarily found in Counter-Strike 2. Today, Valve is fighting back by declaring how little its loot boxes have to do with gambling.

For years, governments have had a problem with loot boxes. To them, the mechanic makes it too easy for gamers to fall into a gambling addiction. In essence, loot boxes are earnable packs that contain a single or a number of random items that the player can use for their game. Most of the time, these items are purely cosmetic and don’t give a gameplay advantage.

Like Blizzard before it, Valve is also defending its loot boxes as non-essential to how players engage with their games. “There is no disadvantage to a player not spending money,” their statement reads.

Additionally, Valve says that their loot boxes are no different from Pokémon cards and Labubu blind boxes. As such, the company is also defending their users’ right to transfer obtained items to other users, as with two players trading cards or Pop Mart figurines.

Now, these items have monetary value in the market. In the same way, a rare Counter-Strike 2 skin can fetch thousands of dollars. However, Valve says that they are already proactive in shutting down accounts made only to gamble and avoiding pro-gambling businesses.

Valve is capping off its statement by saying that the NYAG is forcing the company to collect more information from its users, especially those using VPNs to prevent being located in New York. The company says that it will continue to protect user data, despite the demand.

Gaming

Microsoft is launching Xbox Mode to Windows 11 PCs

It collects all your games in one place.

Published

March 12, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

What is an Xbox? For the past year and a half, Microsoft will tell you that anything can be an Xbox. Now, with Project Helix on the horizon, Xbox wants to bring the idea of playing anywhere to the next level. Microsoft will start rolling out its new Xbox Mode to PCs in April.

Since the very first device out in the market, handheld consoles have changed how people play games. Naturally, a lot can already be said about the portability and the convenience of its hardware. But the software needs a special shoutout, too.

Though they are essentially PCs at heart, these consoles are built explicitly for gaming. Fiddling around with Windows isn’t ideal. Instead, they have special software that can collate all of a user’s games into one hub.

The new Xbox Mode, adapted from the ROG Xbox Ally X’s Xbox Full Screen Experience, will do just that but on an actual PC. As announced via an official blog post, Xbox will release the new mode to Windows 11 devices in April, starting with select markets. Like the software used in handheld consoles, Xbox Mode should include all the available games from the Game Pass, Steam, and the Epic Games Store.

Right now, the feature will likely go up against Steam’s Big Picture Mode, which does the same thing but only for Steam titles. However, it should also transition neatly to Project Helix. Xbox is now ramping up the development of its next-generation console codenamed Project Helix. The upcoming machine will be a high-end PC and a gaming console rolled into one, making it perfect for Xbox Mode.

Gaming

Resident Evil Requiem will get a story expansion

There’s no word yet on when the story expansion will drop.

Published

March 11, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Resident Evil Requiem, Pokémon Pokopia, and Slay the Spire 2. Between these three, gamers today are eating well and good. Or rather, they’re not, because of how addicting of a time sink these titles are. The latter two especially are built to be played over and over for weeks and months. Now, Resident Evil Requiem is working on something, so you also won’t forget about it in a few months’ time.

Via an official post on Resident Evil’s social media platforms, Capcom has confirmed that a story expansion is coming to the horror game. Currently, the base game doesn’t take long to beat, especially when compared to other RPGs today. The expansion should add more content to explore the story’s world.

Right now, Capcom can’t share a timeline for the update’s launch. However, in the meantime, the developers are cooking up a few minor updates to keep the game alive. For one, the game will receive performance updates to improve the smoothness of gameplay and fix bugs. It will also get a photo mode for all you Leon-holics out there.

Finally, in May, the base game will get a “minigame” added to the main game. There’s no word as to what this minigame is, so we’ll have to wait for when it drops.

Resident Evil Requiem is out now on all major platforms. The game features the survival horror style of the modern Resident Evil games, while serving up the classic action gameplay with the return of Leon S. Kennedy as a co-protagonist with Grace Ashcroft.

SEE ALSO: Resident Evil Requiem is out now