Verdict
With cutting - edge performance , great specs and a beautiful covert , the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 ( 2023 ) is one of the best gaming laptop out there
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The full-grown challenge with Asus ’s high - last play laptops can be working out which line and example has the fastest specs or the most premium feature of speech .
Just a few weeks ago we saw theROG Zephyrus M16with its 13th - gen Core i9 CPU , RTX 4090 GPU and beautiful 16 - inch screen . Now we have the ROG Strix Scar 16 with an even quick 13th gen Core i9 , RTX 4080 and an as stunning 16 - inch screenland .
divergence in the anatomy vogue and specification might help you take between them , and there is a large difference in the price , but it ’s severe to decide if Asus is spoiling us or only doing its best to baffle us . Either way , it ’s concentrated to grumble when the hardware is this practiced .
Design and keyboard
If the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 is anything , it ’s optic catching . A flight strip of RGB LEDs runs from just behind the front - left box to the same post on the right wing , while there ’s a further strip underneath the screen at the fundament , with both put by nonremittal to lightly cycle through the colour spectrum .
I ’m not usually a huge devotee of this kind of affair , but even I have to acknowledge that it ’s telling – and it became a focal point of serious attention for one of my two qat .
To tot up to the spectacle , the deck of the keyboard is semi - semitransparent , pay you a glance into the innards , while the matte black metal lid joins the party with a glowing , colour - cycling logo and signature scratch motif . Even the keys have individual RGB backlighting . candidly , Asus only has the top of the screenland and the power brick leave to illuminate , and they ’re in all likelihood well left alone .
This is a big , bulky play laptop , weighing in at 2.5 kg and measuring over 3 curium deep at its thickset point when close . But if you ’re going to go big , then the ROG Strix Scar 16 does it in expressive style , and while there ’s a bit too much flex in the palpebra and screen for total comfort , it generally feels passing robust .
Connectivity is reasonably near as well , with twoUSB Type - Cports , one supportingThunderbolt 4 , with theHDMI 2.1output and 2.5GbE Ethernet port on the left field . On the right , there are two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type A ports , quick for your USB mouse or headset , though there ’s also a 3.5 millimetre audio jack near the front - left turning point .
That ’s enough to handle you for external display , networking and computer memory , and withWi - Fi 6Ealso onboard , you ’re not going to be able-bodied to fault poor internet connectivity for your performance in competitive games – and it ’s gravid for streaming and downloads too .
The keyboard is your classic pro - game chiclet effort , with switches rated to last over 20 million closet and n - central rollover to ensure individual cardinal imperativeness register when you entreat a whole bunch at once .
It ’s also good to typecast on , with a firm but crisp action and a reasonable locomotion . My only complaints are that I drop my first day hitting the column of media playback key on the correct - mitt side instead of the backspacer , hash and record keys , while the right - switch is weirdly crammed in between the forward - slash and up cursor .
The trackpad is big , but not of necessity that ingenious . It ’s not quite as flawless in its trailing and response as I ’d expect on such a high - closing laptop computer , and it can also be somewhat wayward in registering tap and chink . Still , with this variety of laptop , I always have a shiner within easy reach .
Screen
There ’s practically nothing to kvetch about the 16 - inch video display . It ’s a Pantone - validated , HDR - capable , Mini - LEDdisplay with a 2560 x 1600 resolve and a 240Hz refresh , which Asus claims can cover 100 % of the DCI - P3 gloss gamut .
I ’ve visualize a lot of laptop computer hit 100 % sRGB , but barely any reach much over 80 % on DCI - P3 . In my tests , the Asus fell very slightly short at 98.5 % , but that ’s really close enough . Meanwhile , the peak brightness reached 588 nit in SDR content , though Asus claims peaks of 1100 nit for HDR . With a barely - there black level of 0.015 , dividing line make out out at an impressive 37,690.9:1 .
In layman ’s term , it ’s a fantastical screen , able of resolving all the detail you could hope for in the gloomiest games or blockbuster phantasy television set display , or hitting you with searing HDR highlight in put up movies , appearance and game .
colour are super - vivacious without suffer truth – I evaluate an average Delta - E of just 2.69 – so you ’re covered for originative body of work as well as entertainment . This is one of the finest screen I ’ve see on any games machine .
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 is no slouch on the sound front , either . The musculus quadriceps femoris - speakerDolby Atmossystem frame out plenty of volume and there ’s a nice , wide virtual surround soundstage that ’s superb for everyday gaming . If you ’re into rivalry you ’ll still want a headset , but I found the big blind and big sound recording made for one of the richest , most immersive gaming experience I ’ve had withoutVRor a 40 - column inch addition screen .
Performance
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 ( 2023 ) is based around an Intel Core i9 - 13980HX chip , which on paper should be the profligate mobile processor that Intel has ever made . With 16 E - Cores work at up to 3.4GHz and and 8 P - Cores run at up to 5.4GHz , it can monster its way through 24 simultaneous threads , and that ’s just what it does open half a hazard .
With the Asus set to its default option Performance musical mode , it dished out a Geekbench multi - threaded score of 19,266 and a Cinebench R23 solvent of 25,152 , making even the mighty Core i9 - 13800H look positively shrimpy . And that ’s just getting started . flip up to Turbo mode and you may tally 30,867 in the Cinebench rendering benchmark , which is visibly fast enough to make your jaw drop and provide it hang for a while .
Frankly , it seems almost pointless to talk about office app and basic creativity performance with a CPU this fast , but an overall grudge of 8609 in PC Mark 10 is just as preposterously high .
Test Data
Asus sells a variant of the ROG Strix Scar 16 with an RTX 4090 , but my slenderly cheaper version come with the RTX 4080 . I do n’t think this will be a problem for most masses . The Asus still delivered a sexual conquest of 17,362 in the three-D Mark TimeSpy test in Performance mode and 18386 in Turbo .
In actual games , you may reach an average 106fps at native blind resolution ( 2560 x 1600 ) in Borderlands 3 with everything maxed out , or 120fps in Horizon : Zero Dawn . Add Turbo mode to the mix , and you’re able to push the latter up to 133fps . BringDLSSin as well , and you’re able to murder nearly 150fps . More lightweighteSportstitles are perish to get very penny-pinching to the 244Hz maximum refresh .
least sandpiper with the remastered Dead Space and Marvel ’s Midnight Suns evidence that this is an incredibly performant game machine , quick to run anything you’re able to throw at it over the next few twelvemonth without dropping contingent level or lose out onray - tracedeffects . You probably wo n’t even need to shift to Turbo mode in the majority of cases , which is serious as , while Asus ’s cooling seems exceedingly efficient , it also gets pretty noisy . In Performance modality , it ’s silent during everyday tasks , and still fairly quiet during gaming .
I did know the odd frost - up or crash during testing , and give up trying to push the GPU beyond the default Turbo stage setting , as several games hung when I did . Bear in creative thinker , though , that I had a test sample distribution with firmware that ’s still being work on , so you ’re improbable to experience any of this after launch .
The Asus ’s entrepot does n’t countenance the side down , either . My system shipped with a span of 1 TB Samsung PM9A1 PCIe 4 x 4 drive in an Intel RAID 0 shape , founder me serial read speeds of over 11GB / sec and compose speeds of nearly 10.4GB / sec . You really do n’t need to worry about drawn-out loading times .
Battery
Despite having a monster CPU and GPU along with a prominent 16 - inch screen , barrage fire life is really quite fairish by the woeful standards of most gaming laptops , reaching 5 hour and 51 minute in PC Mark ’s Modern Office battery benchmark .
Start play games , of course , and that before long goes down quite drastically : 40 minutes of Dead Space was enough to see it go down from 100 % to 34 % , so you ca n’t expect much more than an hour .
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Should you buy it?
This is a very expensive gaming laptop computer , yet I ’d debate that it ’s excellent economic value . All - round carrying into action is right on the burn edge while the screen is equally wonderful .
It ’s forte when work firmly and arguably overpowered and overprice for all but the most hardcore personal computer gamer . You might also have an allergy to RGB firing . If so , you ’re probably not the target market .
Final Thoughts
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 ( 2023 ) is an incredibly brawny yet well - rounded gaming laptop with intimately - in - grade spec and one of the top screens in the byplay .
We will doubtless see loyal combinations of the Core i9 and the RTX 4090 , but it ’s refutable whether the extra speed will make all that much difference to your play , while it will make a noticeable difference to your camber account . As it is , the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 ( 2023 ) has all the power you want for the games of today and tomorrow , and a brilliant political platform to show them off with .
Trusted Score
How we test
Every gaming laptop computer we review goes through a serial of uniform checks designed to estimate key things including build quality , performance , screen door timbre and assault and battery lifespan .
These admit formal semisynthetic benchmark and written trial run , plus a serial publication of genuine world checks , such as how well it runs when run a AAA plot .
FAQs
In parliamentary procedure to get the best performance out of your laptop while gaming , you ’ll call for to check that it ’s plugged into the briny . Performance is stifled when running on the battery .
ROG Strix is a high - end gaming stigma from Asus , including a compass of premium gaming laptops with edit out edge functioning and a unconscionable Mary Leontyne Price .
