August 23, 2026
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Laptop expert reacts to Spider-Man Brand New Day
In today's article we analyze why Spider-Man may have not picked the correct laptop for his daily super-hero activities and the options that would have made more sense for him.
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Spider-Man: Brand New Day features some very noticeable ASUS product placement, with Peter Parker and his team using a range of high-end laptops. Some choices fit the characters surprisingly well, while others seem more driven by product placement than practicality.
Here’s a closer look at what they’re using and what might have made more sense.
Peter Parker appears to be using either the ASUS ROG Strix G18 or Scar 18 in his lair. The footage doesn't provide a clear enough view to distinguish between the two, since they share essentially the same chassis. The Scar has an Animatrix design on the back, which would identify it, but we don't get a clear look at that.
We can tell it's the 18-inch model, though, thanks to the number pad, which isn't present on the 16-inch versions.
An 18-inch gaming laptop is actually a sensible choice for Peter. Despite their size, these machines make a lot of sense when space is limited. They provide much of the performance and screen space of a desktop while still being possible to put away when you need the room.
Peter's monitor setup is less convincing.
He has several different monitors arranged around him in a setup that looks like something from The Matrix. While it looks impressive, mixing displays can be frustrating because differences in color, contrast, and image quality become noticeable as you move between them.
If Peter is using the Scar 18, however, ASUS at least chose a machine capable of handling his demanding setup. It offers Thunderbolt 5 and the performance needed for the advanced technology he's developing.
The more interesting problem with Peter's laptop is E.V., his AI assistant.
The movie makes it appear that Peter is running E.V. locally from his laptop. That would make sense if he's working with proprietary technology he doesn't want to put in the cloud.
The problem is that a gaming laptop isn't the ideal platform for running very large AI models locally. According to the source material, gaming laptops top out at around 24GB of VRAM, limiting the size of the models they can handle.
ASUS had a much better option available: the ProArt P16 powered by Nvidia's RTX Spark.
The ProArt P16 is designed for AI workloads and can offer up to 128GB of memory, giving larger AI models considerably more room to operate. For Peter, that would have been a far more logical choice than a conventional gaming laptop.
It would also have made the product placement more convincing. Peter is effectively building his own advanced technology, so an AI-focused workstation would fit the character and his use case much better.
ASUS gets the choice right with MJ and Ned.
Both use Zephyrus laptops, with Ned apparently using the darker model and MJ the platinum-white version. They're excellent machines for students who need substantial performance without giving up portability.
That's particularly appropriate for two MIT graduates working in STEM fields.
The only questionable detail is the price. These are roughly $3,000 laptops, and that's not typical student hardware.
Still, MIT is probably one of the few places where you'd be less surprised to see students carrying around expensive technology. So while the setup isn't particularly realistic, the laptops themselves are a very good match.
Yelena, the new Black Widow, is using a white Zephyrus G14. Of all the laptop choices in the movie, this is one of the hardest to justify.
She appears to be working from a spa and, more importantly, seems to use the laptop primarily for messaging and research. As a spy, she would arguably benefit more from durability and portability than gaming-level performance.
A Panasonic Toughbook would make considerably more sense, particularly if she needs to take the laptop into the field. Its rugged design is much better suited to environments where durability is important.
If she's required to use ASUS, the Zenbook A14 would be a better fit. It's lighter than the Zephyrus, offers longer battery life, and remains well built.
Yelena doesn't need more power. She needs a laptop that's easier to carry and better suited to unpredictable environments.
The Punisher appears to be using a Strix G16, and this is one of the most practical choices in the movie.
He seems to be living in an abandoned boat or submarine, so space is clearly limited. A larger 18-inch laptop would be unnecessarily bulky.
The G16 provides plenty of performance while taking up less room. The AMD version with a powerful HX processor and full-wattage RTX 5070 Ti can also deliver strong performance for around $2,000, making it a compelling combination of performance and value.
For the Punisher's circumstances, the 16-inch form factor makes much more sense than an 18-inch machine.
Despite the obvious ASUS product placement, the movie generally does a good job matching laptops to the characters using them.
Peter's 18-inch Strix is a sensible choice for a powerful, space-conscious workstation, although his mismatched monitor setup is questionable. The bigger missed opportunity is E.V.: an AI-focused ProArt machine would have better suited his needs.
MJ and Ned's Zephyrus laptops are excellent choices for portable high-performance computing, even if their price is difficult to justify for recent graduates.
Yelena's G14 is the weakest match. A rugged Toughbook or lightweight Zenbook A14 would better fit her work.
The Punisher's Strix G16 may be the most practical laptop of the group, combining performance and value in a form factor that works well in his cramped environment.
Overall, the laptop lineup gets four and a half stars. The product placement is hard to miss, but most of the choices at least make sense once you consider how—and where—each character is using their machine.
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