Unless your name is Nyjah Huston (it’s not) and you’re a world-renowned skateboarder, you’re likely never going to lay your hands on the Asus ROG Nyjah Huston Special Edition. So named because it’s a special edition of the Asus ROG Strix Scar made specifically for pro skater Huston, it’s an attractively designed custom machine with Asus’ customary power under the hood.
It’s good to be Nyjah Huston
The custom concept machine from Asus has been heavily modified. Even the packaging has been tweaked to be skating-themed. Once the laptop has been decanted onto a desk, the packaging can be used as a mini-skatepark for fingerboards (Tech Deck seems to be the major SA brand name for these things).
That’s just the start, of course. The laptop lid is the obvious recipient of some weird design love, with a concrete-like finish, raised textures and a custom RGB slash, along with a couple of Nyjah Huston’s inscriptions: “Until death”, and “Mind over matter”. According to Asus, “His motto, ‘Til Death,’ is all about his desire to brave obstacles and keep skateboarding for as long as he can. His attitude, ‘Mind over Matter,’ pushes him to overcome challenges in the pursuit of perfection.”
There’s UV lighting in the lid that reveals accents you wouldn’t see otherwise, and a modified version of the Strix SCAR series’ modular Armor Cap along the rear edge. A few translucent panels let you see the machine’s internals and the keyboard and the whole inner panel has been tweaked. The mechanical keyboard uses a custom font and the whole design pulls inspiration from skating injuries, X-rays, scars and the concept of rebirth.
Also included are a matching custom ROG Strix Impact II mouse, a desk mat and a dual-mode UV torch that can be used to view the easter eggs Asus built into its hardware. Plus, you know, the actual hardware. One of Asus’ 360Hz displays, Nvidia RTX 3000-series GPUs and processing power courtesy of AMD’s Ryzen 5000 range handle mundane things like how this skate-themed gaming setup actually works. Sadly, you can’t actually buy this one but designing it has allowed Asus to “…explore new ways to push the envelope of gaming laptop design. Those explorations set the stage for future innovations.”
