Asus’s most electrifying product at Computex isn’t its AI laptops, though those certainly are part of this year’s hot new tech. No, it’s the ROG Mjolnir Portable Gaming UPS, a confusingly named but clearly awesome portable power station described by the company as “designed for both indoor gaming and outdoor activities.”
(Uninterrupted power supplies typically run only off of AC power and aren’t meant to go outdoors, while portable power stations have more options for charging and can be hauled around.)
Why you’d want to cart this work of practical art outdoors is a mystery to this city dweller, but perhaps there’s wisdom in making the most of an investment. This take on Thor’s hammer certainly isn’t going to come cheap. Asus packs in a 768Wh lithium-ion phosphate battery with a 10ms switchover time, along with four AC outlets, two USB-A ports, and two USB-C ports. USB-C Fast Charging is supported, with charging up to 100W for power delivery, as is Qi 2.0 MagSafe-compatible wireless charging. And should you need it, you can recharge the whole unit via solar energy.
Asus claims this portable power station can keep you gaming on a PC with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 for up to an hour. You can monitor how much juice is left through the unit’s LCD display.
Asus
Asus
Asus
For the cherry on top (and honestly, the best part about the ROG Mjolnir), the hammer handle is a magnetic flashlight. I’m not too embarrassed to say this is the reason why I pitched this story to my editor, much less why I already love the idea of this thing. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but given its specs and similar (boring) power stations, it’ll likely run $600 to $800—so getting that much more utility out of it is fun.
(Though it does make one wonder how easily portable this thing will be. But again, this city dweller isn’t going to mind too much.)
No release date has been announced yet—Asus only has it listed as “coming soon” on its website. But all good things come to those who wait.
Author: Alaina Yee, Senior Editor, PCWorld
A 14-year veteran of technology and video games journalism, Alaina Yee covers a variety of topics for PCWorld. Since joining the team in 2016, she’s written about CPUs, Windows, PC building, Chrome, Raspberry Pi, and much more—while also serving as PCWorld’s resident bargain hunter (#slickdeals). Currently her focus is on security, helping people understand how best to protect themselves online. Her work has previously appeared in PC Gamer, IGN, Maximum PC, and Official Xbox Magazine.