Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 (2023) review

The ROG Strix Scar 17 (2023) is a superbly crafted 17-inch gaming laptop computer, full with some beautiful design choices. The display is housed in a brilliant skinny aluminum housing. You’ll additionally discover cooling vents, elegantly constructed into the unit, each beneath and alongside the underside of that panel. There’s a soft-touch end across the keypad and mousepad, and the built-in RGB gentle bar is surprisingly elegant. That is actually true at night time, on a desk, the place it’ll actually pop.

Different pleasing components are the little detailed touches right here and there. The illuminated ROG brand, the branding gildings beneath the hood; it’s only a lovely factor to make use of. It does fall somewhat flat within the keyboard division. Though it has per-key RGB lighting, it does really feel like some other laptop computer keyboard, quite than something particular. There’s no official point out of what these switches are, however they’re rated to twenty million presses on the very least, so there’s that, however if you happen to’re on the lookout for a laptop computer with a satisfying mechanical press, you may need to look elsewhere.

Normal I/O is pretty substantial as nicely. For the cash you get two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Sort -A ports, one other two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-C ports, 2.5G Ethernet, HDMI 2.1, and an audio jack as nicely. It additionally has a built-in webcam, restricted to 720p (not notably shocking given the scale of the unit), and it has pretty sufficient audio system all-in-all.

The massive promoting level for the ROG Strix Scar 17 is undoubtedly its specs. On the coronary heart of this G773PY mannequin is an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU and AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX processor. These are top-tier elements in every of their classes, delivering unbelievable efficiency at 1440p and even through 4K if you happen to hook the laptop computer as much as a gaming monitor.

Listed here are the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 (2023) specs:

Rounding issues off is 32GB of dual-channel DDR5 RAM, clocked at 5,400MHz, 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 NVMe storage, and a 90WHr battery. Given how stacked its internals are, it’s all of the extra spectacular that Asus managed to maintain this machine so slim (2.34cm), making it simple to chuck this factor in a backpack.

Implausible as its GPU and CPU mixture is, the ROG Strix Scar 17’s display is simply as superior. Asus has primed this unit with a phenomenally crisp, 17-inch 2560×1440 IPS panel, with a 240 Hz refresh fee, and a customized color-calibrated show profile as nicely, and it’s totally beautiful. Its wealthy, vibrant, and heat colours impressed me a lot in reality, that I truly most well-liked watching video content material on this laptop computer as an alternative of my $2,000 Samsung TV. These qualities, naturally, prolong to gaming as nicely, making for a joyous expertise, even outdoors of demanding benchmarks. Phantom Liberty, particularly, was simply so good on this factor.

I additionally did some testing utilizing UFOtest, to verify for gradual response time and ghosting. Fortunately, it carried out simply as impressively because it did for picture high quality. There’s merely no noticeable ghosting on this factor, making for a handy guide a rough gaming response in addition to a genuinely lovely visible expertise.

Let’s face it although, vital as a high-quality display is in a laptop computer that prices simply shy of $3,700, the factor that issues probably the most is efficiency, and oh boy is that this machine succesful.

Except for positively not taking the ROG Strix Scar 17 on one hell of a street journey by Norway (sorry Asus), I additionally totally examined it in quite a lot of artificial and real-world benchmarks too. General, it’s an attention-grabbing mixture of outcomes.

First up gaming efficiency, throughout the board, was extremely spectacular. At 1440p in Whole Conflict Warhammer III on the Extremely profile, on common the ROG Strix Scar 17 managed 111fps. Given the character of that recreation to be very CPU intensive, with huge numbers of items on-screen at anyone time, that’s a powerful determine.

Likewise, Cyberpunk 2077 and F1 2022 additionally carried out admirably given the cooling limitations we now have at play right here. Though it might look low on that Cyberpunk determine (42 fps at 1440p), you’ve gotten to keep in mind that this was examined with none DLSS help, utilizing the RT Extremely preset. Allow DLSS body insertion, nonetheless, and it simply begins pumping out figures within the low 70s, nicely above that 60fps candy spot. And that’s with none AI antialiasing help. Tune this for precise gameplay, as an alternative of the grueling, GPU-destroying benchmarks we do right here at PCGamesN and also you’ll doubtless see that determine skyrocket nicely into the triple-digit area.

The one space that allow the entire affair down was normal battery life. We run PCMark 10’s Fashionable Workplace and Gaming battery-life benchmarks for this, and people clocked in at 4 hours and 9 minutes for Workplace, and 1 hour, 23 minutes for Gaming. The latter is just about what we’d count on from a laptop computer of this design, but it surely’s the Workplace metric that’s somewhat bit shocking.

What’s extra, in real-world utilization I discovered the Scar 17 would typically final across the two-hour mark for both content material streaming or working in Google Docs, or with a browser open. It’s value noting that it is a evaluation pattern, and these items are usually hammered by journalists maybe extra aggressively than they’d be at residence, but it surely’s nonetheless disappointing, notably given how Nvidia’s Optimus GPU switching is at play right here (switching between iGPU and the RTX 4090, depending on workload).

Once more although, that is an RTX 4090 laptop computer, with a top-tier AMD CPU that’s successfully akin to considered one of group crimson’s greatest gaming CPUs on desktop, however with the TDP dialed down. Though that may be nice for gaming, there’s positively an argument available for staying with Intel for cellular use, notably given how its present structure (with its Environment friendly cores and Efficiency cores) can higher optimize for these sorts of desktop and workplace conditions. That’s not a slight on Asus or AMD, simply meals for thought. Generally sacrificing a couple of in-game frames could also be warranted if it means an additional half-hour of game-time or an hour or two on desktop.

The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 is, indisputably, an outstanding piece of expertise and design, let down in only some areas. The interior {hardware} is top-tier. When you’re after among the finest gaming experiences you may get on a laptop computer of this measurement, the Strix Scar 17 is likely one of the greatest laptops on the market.

That stated, it’s not good. The battery life leaves loads to be desired, and though lots of this may be chalked as much as the very fact it’s utilizing the very best Ryzen CPU and Nvidia GPU you may get proper now, actually on this kind issue, it’s simply general somewhat disappointing given the price of the machine. That’s compounded by the truth that to retain the shape issue and journey compatibility, you possibly can’t actually enhance the battery measurement any additional both.

One last adverse, I didn’t point out earlier, is the reminiscence state of affairs as nicely. It has 32GB of DDR5, which is lots, however that’s clocking in on the pretty entry-level velocity of simply 4,800 MHz (2021 ranges of rapidity). At this time limit, there are many DDR5 SODIMM options clocking upwards of 6,000 MHz and past. Having sooner reminiscence velocity right here (even when it could be one more battery concern) might probably deliver up these minimal and common body charges, notably in much less demanding titles, similar to Counter-strike 2 and different eSports titles.

All that apart, for the value, and plugged in, the Strix Scar 17 2023 version is an absolute monster, and if you happen to set the money down for it, you’ll be very happy with the end result.