Asus has refreshed its ROG Strix Scar 16 laptop in India with the latest 14th-generation Intel Core i9 14900HX processor and up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU. The 16-inch variant comes with a vibrant mini LED display with QHD+ resolution and up to 240hz Refresh rate. It has plenty of RGB lights around, as a gaming laptop should. After using it for a week, here’s our review of the laptop.
I’ve been a fan of gaming laptops ever since my first gaming laptop – the Alienware M11x- almost a decade ago. They’re unique and powerful but expensive. I’ve owned a couple of gaming laptops, mostly Alienware’s, and have spent a fair share of my younger years building gaming PCs. The Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 takes me back to the days when I could stay up all night playing games. Asus’ laptop is big, flashy, and a gaming powerhouse. Yes, there’s also RGB lighting that screams, ‘I’m a gamer’.
As a PC gamer for most of my life, it was nice to use a high-end gaming laptop with all the bells and whistles that a gamer would want. I’ve been using the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 for over a week now, and here’s my take on it.
Before talking about the laptop, let’s get the price out of the way. High-end gaming laptops are expensive, and so is the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16, available in India at a starting price of Rs. 2,89,990. This variant comes with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPU with 12GB VRAM. There’s also a version that comes equipped with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU with 16GB VRAM, which is priced at Rs. 3,29,990.
We’re reviewing the base variant with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPU. The laptop is available in a single Black colour option with a matte finish.
In the box, the ROG Strix Scar 16 comes with a 330W charging adaptor that weighs more than most thin-and-light laptops, a user guide, and 1 customisable Armour cap.
Asus has done an excellent job when it comes to the design of the ROG Strix Scar 16. The lid features an RGB backlit ROG logo and a slash pattern with the phrase ‘Republic of Gamers’ written on it. The lid is made from aluminium and features a matte finish that gives it a stealthy look. It does gather dust and some fingerprints but wipes off easily. The chassis on the laptop is made from light, durable plastic to keep the surface cool to the touch. There isn’t a lot of flex on the keyboard or the aluminium lid. It’s a solid-built laptop.
Open the lid, and you’re greeted with a translucent design keyboard deck that shows the internals towards the top but gets opaque as you move to the touchpad. You get a tenkeyless keyboard with 2mm key travel, fully customisable RGB backlighting, and five macro keys. Below the keyboard, there’s a glass trackpad that’s 10 percent larger compared to last year’s model. It also comes with the touch Numpad feature.
A simple power button is available at the top right corner. The display hinges are big and sturdy, and I never experienced any issues with opening or closing the lid during my time using the laptop. You get slim bezels on the sides and the top, with the bottom chin slightly thicker than the rest. The top portion of the display houses a webcam that sits inside its own bezel.
For lighting, you get an RGB light strip on the front of the laptop that wraps around the edges. There’s also an RGB lighting area behind the keyboard deck. All the lighting on the laptop can be controlled via the Aura Sync utility available on the system. You can disable the lights via the app or keyboard brightness toggle.
Talking about ease of upgrade, the bottom panel comes off easily, and you can upgrade both RAM and storage. The bottom panel has excellent ventilation for the cooling system, along with ROG branding. The laptop looks fantastic from all corners.
Now, let’s talk about the display. The ROG Strix Scar 16 comes with a new 16-inch mini LED panel that now has double the dimming zones when compared to last year’s display.
