The ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 gaming laptop is an absolute beast. And a lot of fun. And very expensive. ASUS' ROG (short for Republic of Gamers) lineup has always been geared towards the serious gamer, and the Strix 18 is no different. However, at a starting price of Rs 2,79,990, you get best-in-class specs in a robust piece of kit that offers performance which dwarfs most of its competition.
The review unit I received from ASUS was maxed out — a 13th generation Intel Core i9 processor, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 laptop graphics processor with 16 GB of VRAM, 32 GB of RAM and 2 TB of storage, and an 18-inch Quad HD display with a 240 Hz refresh rate, three milliseconds of response time and Pantone-certified colour reproduction. This particular configuration will set you back by Rs 3,59,990, but boy, does it know how to run games.
No hyperbole — this is not a laptop for the faint of heart. Only buy the Strix SCAR 18 if you're serious about gaming; for most casual gamers, a console would do. In fact, if you do the math, for the price of this laptop, you can buy nearly seven PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X consoles. Having said that, these specs will ensure you can play the latest games for years to come.
Aesthetically, the Strip SCAR 18 is a hefty, almost intimidating laptop. It sports a massive, boxy design, with some neat transparent flourishes, customisable RGB lighting — dubbed Aura Sync — around the frame and under the keyboard and weighs a hefty 3.10 kilograms.
But from the moment you set it on your desk, the weight ceases to matter, and from the moment you power it up and start playing your favourite games, the world around you ceases to matter.
Just remember to hydrate yourself.
I tested this laptop with God of War: Ragnarok and Red Dead Redemption 2 — two titles that are hard on your hardware, no pun intended — and there was nary a hitch. Both games — the former from 2022 and the latter from 2018 — ran buttery smooth, with all graphical settings maxed out. The high refresh rate and low latency ensures there is no screen-tearing as you take in the breathtaking in-game vistas, and promptly set about laying waste to everything around you — at least in God of War.
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The Aura Sync lighting, as I mentioned earlier, is customisable — you can set it to pulse, in which the lights do exactly what it sounds like; strobe, which creates a strobe effect in RGB (red, greeen, blue); steady, which stays on red; and off. There are more modes, but RGB lighting is, to me, the least interesting part of a gaming laptop.
The keyboard sports a number of hotkeys — my favourite being the one that lets you control the fan speed based on the performance — you get the silent mode, for the rare occasions when you may use the laptop for non-gaming purposes, performance mode, and turbo mode. The last one makes your laptop feel like a jet engine, but it also gives you the most out of your hardware as it ramps up the innards to their maximum performance.
That said, it's not all RGB-coloured rainbows and sunshine — I do have nits to pick.
For one, the keys could have been slightly bigger, especially considering the keyboard is one of two default major input methods. I often found myself hitting the wrong key and getting punched in the face — in-game, obviously — or squinting at the array of keys to find the right one. But then again, I'm a console gamer, and for most PC gamers (or PC Master Race, as they like to refer to themselves), this may not be an issue.
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Also, the machine can get incredibly hot during intense gaming sessions. No surprises these, unless you put a bottle of cold water next to the laptop only to find it rendered lukewarm by the hot air blasting out of the vents. It could be a great way to have warm snacks while playing, however. Just a thought.
That's it for the nitpicking.
The screen is massive by laptop standards, and that makes this an especially attractive proposition. The graphics are rendered gorgeously, thanks to its QHD resolution, and the HDR implementation is so sublime, you don't miss a single detail in any lighting condition. And the ray-tracing, where available, turns a beautiful game into a jaw-droppingly gorgeous one.
In conclusion
While there are less expensive gaming laptops or PCs out there, the Strix SCAR 18 easily outperforms them, though at a steep cost. If you can afford a few lakh rupees for a mobile gaming rig, then this one is for you. If not, well, there are many other fish in the sea. In my opinion, this is the best gaming laptop to be had in its price range.
