The ROG Strix Scar 18 is a beast of a gaming laptop
CES 2024 is currently in full swing in Las Vegas, meaning we’re getting a long-awaited cavalcade of new tech products. If you’re a laptop nerd (like me), you’ve probably been keeping an eye out for new hardware from Asus, and the company has delivered as expected – with a selection of six new gaming laptops under its Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand.
The main event, of course, is the titanic new Asus ROG Strix Scar 18: a monster machine packing a huge 18-inch display and full-scale keyboard. It’s joined by its little brother, the ROG Strix Scar 16, which is still absolutely no slouch despite its smaller screen.
There’s also a pair of more affordable Strix laptops, the ROG Strix G16 and G18, which will no doubt be solid contenders for the best gaming laptop crown – and won’t share the high entry price for the Scar models, which start at a wallet-shattering £3,999.99 in the UK (regional pricing to follow; the Strix G laptops will be launching later in the year).
However, I’m most intrigued by the slick redesign of the ROG Zephyrus G14 and G16 Asus showed off. With a clean outer chassis marked only by a diagonal slash of LED lighting, these two thin-and-light gaming laptops look more like something a professional would use, but without compromising on the power under the hood. That’s the sort of gaming system I wouldn’t be embarrassed to take into the office with me – but more on that later.ROG Strix Scar 16 and 18: bigger is better
Taking a look at the headline laptops first, both new Strix Scar models will feature up to an Intel Core 14900HX CPU and Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics card, marking them as the absolute top tier of portable (and I use that word somewhat generously, given the size of these laptops) gaming hardware. Up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM and a triple-fan cooling system work to ensure those components will be free of limitations.
The display is of particular note here; an 18- or 16-inch mini-LED panel with a 2.
