Verdict
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 is fast , it ’s got a fantastic presentation , and it has a capital keyboard inside a bold , RGB - cover flesh . That said , its contender often have slender , sleeker designs , honest connectivity and more covert options . This is a skillful laptop computer if you want a bold gaming machine , but other machines are more mature .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 is the boldest laptop computer in the eye - catching Asus gaming range of mountains , and the bevy of RGB LEDs and translucent credit card mean you ’ll never mistake this notebook for anything else .
You ’ll find plenty of high - death hardware underneath the gaudy looks , with in writing oomph come from an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and processing power fromIntel Alder Lakesilicon .
To get all this power train , you ’ll have to pay $ 2049 / £ 2399 / € 2799 , though , so the Scar has vary value in different markets – and it ’s arrest strong competition from theAlienware x15 R2andRazer Blade 15 .
Design and Keyboard
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 is one of the most flaky gaming laptops around today . You ’ll find a anchor ring of RGB LEDs underneath the base , and there ’s more lighting in the lid and keyboard . Asus even crams a funnies of lights into the cutaway section in the bottom of the display .
A swathe of the carpus - residual uses translucent charge plate so gamers can glimpse circuit boards , and three interchangeable credit card control panel seize to the flexible joint for some bring customisation . I ’d argue that the Asus looks like a throwback when compared to the black and white Alienware and the silky Razer Blade , but it ’s certainly not subtle .
The Scar feels a bit retro in other region , too . Its 2.3 kg weight match the Alienware , but its 27mm - thick torso is lumpy – its rival are a centimeter thinner . At least build quality is ripe , and I ’ve beget no qualms about take the robust ROG motorcar out of the mansion .
The Scar ’s leftover - manus bound has two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports and a headphone jack , and on the back end there ’s aThunderbolt 4port , a Type - C connexion with exponent bringing , and a future - proofed HDMI 2.1 output . The internal option are great , with 2.5Gbps Ethernet and duple - bandWi - Fi 6 .
That ’s enough connectivity for most gamers , but it could be better . former Scar 15 model had one more full - size USB port , and the two that remain are very close together – attach a larger peripheral to one and you ’ll block the other . Also take over in mind that other features are lose : this game - focussed portable has no webcam , card reader or biometric ability . It still has a snick for the Asus Keystone and its RFID attachments , but that feels like a twist and a dissipation of place .
The Scar gets back on form with its keyboard . The butons have 2 millimeter of change of location , which is more than most chiclet social unit , and the keys have a crisp , reactive action that ’s fantabulous for gaming . You get per - key RGB LEDs and a column of extra media keys , although there ’s no telephone number launching pad . The trackpad is all right , but any keen gamers should use a USB mouse instead .
The slimmerAlienware x15is a worthwhile challenger thanks to it ’s got a bill reader , great keyboard and the inclusion of a webcam . TheRazeralso goes further than the Scar in some expanse , with more USB - deoxycytidine monophosphate and Thunderbolt ports and a webcam .
Screen
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 ’s 15.6 - inch IPS showing meld a 2560 x 1440 resoluteness with a 240Hz refresh pace . Those are salutary figure : the solvent is nipping than the average 1080p display , and the refresh charge per unit will sate anyone except people at the bleeding border of eSports competition . The Alienware and Razer poser at this cost have that same canonical specification .
Quality storey are rattling , too . By using a coloromiter , I institute the peak luminousness level to be 324 nit , handling any indoor billet and most outdoor environments , and the black point to be 0.28 nits , which is deep enough to provide sizeable profundity .
The direct contrast proportion of 1157:1 delivers enough punch to make games look vibrant , and the delta E of 2.4 secure solid color accuracy . The panel renders 99.6 % of the sRGB gamut and 97.2 % of the DCI - P3 colour spaces , so it ’ll produce any people of colour that game need .
The Scar ’s display is telling , but its rivals do go further , albeit at higher Price . The Alienware is useable with a 360Hz/1080p panel that cost $ 2599 / £ 2649 / € 2999 if you stick with the RTX 3070 Ti . Razer also offers 360Hz screens from $ 2999 / £ 3099 / € 3299 .
If you want to play top - goal esports titles at 360Hz , the Alienware andRazer machinesare both worth consideration , and it ’s a disgrace that the Scar 15 does n’t have that raise . The only option is a 300Hz chance variable that ’s uncommitted in some countries .
The audio gear is adequate – the speakers are flashy and have load of bass , so games vocalize bombastic . That said , a minuscule more residual would be preferred .
Performance
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 pack an RTX 3070 Ti , which has its common 5,888 stream CPU and8 GB of computer memory , while its TDP of 125W can hit 150W with Dynamic Boost . Those power figure sit down in good order at the top of this GPU ’s caloric envelope . The Intel Core i9 - 12900H processor has six Hyper - Threaded phosphorus - Cores that crest at 5GHz and eight slower , efficient E - heart and soul .
That ’s a majuscule start for any laptop , and the Scar ’s hardware is bolstered with 16 GB of 4800MHzDDR5memory and a 1 TB Samsung SSD with lightning - quick read and write upper of 6961MB / s and 5074MB / s respectively .
Unsurprisingly , the Asus delivered impressive benchmark results . It ply Horizon Zero Dawn in 1080p at a 96fps norm and rattled through the 2560 x 1440 test at 80fps . It played Borderlands at 80fps and 62fps at those same resoluteness . This laptop will play any single - player game withray tracingandDLSS . The Scar ’s average of 185fps in Rainbow Six at 1440p is quick , and ensures that this laptop computer will cope with any 240Hz esports situation .
It should be noted that the Scar ’s scores do n’t always able-bodied to outpace the Alienware , which accomplish alike pace in Horizon , Borderlands and Rainbow Six with its RTX 3070 .
Those scores are explained by the Asus ’ execution modes : by default this laptop does n’t apply all of its power . However , deploy the Turbo setting made a bighearted difference , adding four frames to the Horizon ensue and improving its Borderlands performance by eight frames . The political machine ’s three-D Mark Time Spy score jumped from 10389 to 11006 , so you ’re clearly arrest a bit cost increase .
start the Scar in Turbo manner does create extra noise , and the Asus is not placid – but it ’s no louder than its rival , and a headset plow the noise . The Scar made less racket in its default option mode , so that ’s idealistic if you want to cut turnout , and the rig ’s Quiet choice kept plot at a playable 60fps while drastically cut down the fan racket . The Scar never had any outside temperature issues .
If you ’d like a graphics ascent , then Asus sells a Scar 15 with the RTX 3080 Ti – but that rig cost $ 3299 / £ 3299 / € 3773 , so it ’s a huge Leontyne Price increase for a comparatively small leap in performance . A better upgrade could be the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 – it ’s available with the RTX 3070 Ti and 240Hz display for £ 2499 . If you ’d prefer a orotund and more immersive screen , that ’s a very tempting option .
The central processor , meanwhile , is fast . The Core i9 cow chip scored 1658 and 9680 in Geekbench ’s single- and multi - core tests , with those results beating the old Si in the Alienware x15 . You ’ll never have issues with mainstream content - creation and multi - tasking . Its microcomputer Mark 10 result of 7705 is also first-class , and even further forrader of older Intel mainframe .
That said , the i7 - 12800H appears in cheaper version of theAlienware x15and it ’s only a piffling slower than the Core i9 flake , so that ’s viable if you ’d care to salve cash . deplorably , the Core i7 - 12800H is n’t available in the Scar .
Ultimately , the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 is a beneficial laptop that could be even better . It ’s fast , but it does n’t save a huge graphical upgrade over competitor – and some of those have slimmer , sleeker designs , more interface and more versatile display options .
Battery
The Scar lasted for one hr and forty - seven minute during a gaming bench mark test , which is n’t a spoilt result for a play machine – surely longer than both rival , and enough to get you through plenty of train journeys .
When working , the Asus lasted for just over five hours , and it nigh made it through six hours of media playback . Those are sane results : good than the Alienware and on equality with the Razer .
That might be decent length of service for a gaming notebook , but bear in mind that you wo n’t make it through a working day with the Scar , and that gambling on barrage power always birth reduced performance . As ever , you ’ll get the most from this machine if you stayed plugged in .
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Should you buy it?
The Scar ’s intermixture of powerful constituent and chunky RGB lead design mean value this laptop computer is ideal if you require lashings of power and a design that ’ll stand out .
The Asus is not shy , and other machine balance more mature looks with sleeker builds . You ’ll have to look elsewhere if you want a 360Hz showing , too .
Final Thoughts
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 easy has the lineament to plow any mainstream gaming situation , and it combines its powerful components with bold , colourful intent , a great screenland and a robust keyboard . That said , other machines are slimmer and more matured , with a panoptic ambit of feature article – so rivals deliver good proportionality .
Trusted Score
How we test
Every gaming laptop computer we review goes through a series of uniform checks project to gauge key things including build tone , performance , screen quality and barrage fire life .
These include formal synthetic benchmarks and written tests , plus a series of tangible existence checks , such as how well it runs when running a AAA game .
FAQs
It can , although only with 100W of power – the main power adapter supplies 280W of succus .
In many nation you ’ll be favourable enough to get a back pack , headset and mouse in the corner alongside an outside television camera .
