Verdict
The ROG Strix Scar 17 may lack the newfangled Mini LED Nebula display of the Intel - powered Strix Scar 18 theoretical account but it ’s meretricious and blisteringly tight .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
see inside the new Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 and you will get the same Nvidia RTX 4090 that linger inside the impressiveMedion Erazer Beast X40that I test late . TheCPUhowever is n’t an Intel Raptor Lake chip but one of AMD ’s Modern Ryzen 9 Dragon Range processors .
That ’s a Zen 4 computer architecture 5 nm , 16 - core central processor with a hike speed of 5.4GHz and one target in life ; to offer skilful performance than the latest Intel Core i9 chipping and to do so more expeditiously .
These 7045HX - series chips will finally be uncommitted in less hefty and cheaper Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 guises but the top of the range 7945HX is slat to appear imminently in gamey - end gaming notebooks from both Lenono and Alienware as well as the unexampled ROG Strix Scar 17 I ’m testing here .
To say that AMD and gambling laptop computer maker look great things from these new flake would be an understatement . At stake is nothing less than Intel not lucking into a monopoly on high - ending mobile processors which would clearly have largely negative implications for consumers and for the development of laptop gaming .
Design and Keyboard
For the 2023 model class , Asus has split its big - screen laptops into two groups . The Modern Intel Raptor Lake machines now come with an 18 - in 2,560 x 1,600 display while the new AMD good example flummox with the 17.3 - inch 2,560 x 1,440 instrument panel . The 18 - in models also feature Asus ’ new Nebula IPS display which have aMini LEDzonal backlight while the 17.3 - inch display go on to be a conventional backlit IPS affair .
The 2023 Scar 17 weighs 3 kg and measures up at 395 x 282 x 28.3 mm which is the same as the 2022 and indeed the 2021 example . In fact , this is really a2022 Strix Scar SEwith revised internals . presumptively , there is a sign over the door to the Asus ROG design office that say “ If it ai n’t broke , do n’t get it ! ”
Though the basic design of the Scar 17 has been carry over some of the immaterial details have been dialled back to make it seem a piffling less gamer - centric . blend are the semitransparent pack of cards , the magnetized Keystone NFC dongle and the replaceable flexible joint cover . The end effect depend not unlike a Razer laptop computer at first glance , which is no bad matter in my leger
Made from a combination of aluminium and plastic the Strix Scar 17 is n’t as rock - hearty feeling asRazer ’s best . However , the lid does n’t wobble ill and the keyboard deck does n’t flex excessively , even when you forge at it in play extremis . If there ’s one defect with the sinister colour scheme , it ’s that fingerprint show up disadvantageously on the keyboard pack of cards .
On the odd side of the Strix Scar 17 , you ’ll find two USB - A 3.2 Gen 1 ports while at the tush are two Type - vitamin C ports ( both USB 3.2 Gen 2 specification with DisplayPort video turnout ) , HDMI 2.0 and 2.5 G LAN ports along with the DC - in and 3.5 mm audio jacks . I care to have data point interface on both sides so the unbalanced layout does n’t titillate my fancy and the Type - A ports are unnecessarily close together .
That neither of the Type - speed of light ports offers Thunderbolt 4 connectivity should not come as a surprise on an AMD and Nvidia scheme though Asus should have ricochet for the USB 4 specification .
The keyboard is a chiclet affair with a plus 2 millimeter of fundamental travel . For its type is a very competent effort ; solid and silent with clear pileus artwork though for hard-core play it ca n’t match the mechanical action of the keyboard fitted to the Medion Erazer Beast X40 .
Like all ROG keyboards , the layout is well persuasion - out even if the reduced – size of it pointer and keypad keys seem an odd choice chip in the size of the keyboard deck . Five dedicated ( and programmable ) hotkeys give handy quick accession to features such as the mass , rooter stop number and the Armoury Crate system - management program .
The Strix Scar 17 is advertised as have per - key RGB lighting but you are limited to a hearty colour or one of twelve predetermined patterns . What you ca n’t do is vary the kindling of individual key : I wish to have just the WASD keys lit and everything else dark and on a laptop computer cost this much , I expect to be capable to do that . The trackpad measure 130 x 77 millimetre which is small for a laptop this size and render the broad area of free space smother it : The Medion Erazer Beast X40 ’s trackpad has 50 % more Earth’s surface area . In usance , it ’s perfectly antiphonal and has a curt , clean suction stop - action .
take the bottom gore off the Strix Scar 17 demand some care because of the medal cable that connect the RGB Light in the front and side of the fundament to the motherboard . Once you ’ve disconnect that you’re able to easily get at the two SODIMMRAMslots , wireless card and twoSSDslots .
The 720p webcam is a blunt amour that produce a drab image even in good igniter and it lacks the Windows Hello IR facial recognition arrangement . In fact , there is no biometric surety of any sort . Of of course , the 2022 Scar 17 did n’t have a webcam at all so perversely this is a step frontwards by Asus .
Screen
It ’s in the presentation that the issues with carrying over element from 2021 and 2022 demonstrate themselves . The instrument panel is certainly fast enough with a refresh rate of 240Hz and a 3ms GtG reception time which results in good motion handling by laptop computer standards . I ’ll not take take with the brightness which peaks a 348cd / m2 , a perfectly hefty figure which when aggregate with an IPS – typical 0.31 black luminance hand a salutary contrast proportion of 1102:1 .
There ’s plenteousness of colour available with gamut coverages of 99.7 % sRGB , 97.8 % DCI - P3 and 84.4 % AdobeRGB which are very healthy for a laptop not aimed at creatives . The problem is colour accuracy . With no stock colour profiles , I had to assess colour truth against the Asus profile ( Cinema , Vivid and so forth ) and the lowest Delta E I recorded was 2.8 versus the sRGB visibility .
Now that ’s not a disaster by any mean value : Any number below 3 is going to look fine to the untrained eye and will do perfectly well for general use and gaming , but the raw Nebula display fitted to the new Strix Scar 16 and 18 machine have sRGB and DCI - P3 profiles and better colour accuracy . The presentation fitted to the likewise priced Medion Erazer Beast X40 is also more vividness accurate .
In strictly gaming – refer condition the concealment ticks all the boxes . The 3ms answer time with overdrive sustenance ghosting to a lower limit , there ’s bread and butter for Nvidia ’s G – Sync adaptive sync technology and you get Nvidia ’s Advanced OptimusGPUmanager which work as a MUX switch without the palaver of having to bring up every time you require to bring the AMD Radeon 610 M iPGU back into the plot .
ROG Strix Scar laptop computer have traditionally always packed very good speaker unit systems and the novel AMD role model is no exception . Maximum bulk may not be anything out of the ordinary at 72.3dB(A ) but the sound the Dolby Atmos - certified stereophony verbalizer bring on is very telling with plenty of solid basso and very good high – frequency reproduction .
From the expansive soundscape of Halo : myriad to a searing live operation of Arvo Pärt ’s Fratres for cello and piano the Strix Scar 17 never vocalize less than excellent . The practical surround - speech sound organisation also give a well sense of directivity which is ready to hand if you are being shot at but do n’t know exactly where from .
Performance
The AMD Dragon Range Ryzen 9 7945HX chip inside this genus Strix Scar 17 is a 16 – core , 32 – thread constituent with a humongous 64 M L3 stash and a 5.4GHz rise speed . immix with 32 GB of DDR5 RAM and a 175W Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU you get a formula for badly impressive execution . The ROG Strix Scar 17 is another hard claimant to the title of the most brawny play laptop presently on the market .
The raw gaming numbers address for themselves : Running at 2,560 x 1,440 with detail point plant to the highest potential and no upscaling the Strix Scar 17 ran Metro : Exodus at 64fps , Cyberpunk 2077 at 93fps , Horizon Zero Dawn at 153fps and Borderlands 3 at 122fs . Those effect either equal or good the Medion Erazer Beast X40 and the residuum of the boys in the RTX 4090 isthmus .
When it come to processor - intensive tasks the Strix Scar 17 gain an even more telling display with a Cinebench R23 account of 34,582 , a GeekBench 5 score of 20,418 ( both multi - core ) and a PCMark10 score of 9,262 . Those are some of the in high spirits lashings ever from a laptop that we ’ve test here at Trusted Reviews .
To cap thing off I ran the SPECviewperf 3dsmax workstation 3D model test and the Strix Scar 17 jaw through it at 150fps . This is n’t a test we practice on a regular basis here a Trusted Reviews so you ’ll have to take my word for it that that is a very undecomposed frame rate . Asus ’ press team is affectionate of saying that the genus Strix Scar 17 is a workstation you’re able to fold in half and those scores prove that the comment is n’t just marketing exaggeration .
My review machine came fit with a single 1 TB Samsung SSD which returned sequential read upper of 6.7GB / sec and write speeds of 4.9GB / sec . That ’s somewhat quick but not outstanding . I ’m told UK retail unit of measurement will have two 1 TB drives tie together in a RAID0 contour so should be debauched . communication are handled by aWi - Fi 6E – capable MediaTek MT7922 posting and a RealTek 2.5GbE LAN controller .
Battery Life
Given the carrying out capabilities of the Strix Scar 17 , I was inclined to cut it some slack if the battery life was abysmal but far from it . The PCMark 10 Office assault and battery trial ran for 6 minute 12 minutes before the lights went out while the Gaming test go for 2 hours 2 . Even give the 90Wh battery that ’s a very impressive result and is check that AMD has indeed created a mellow - death laptop central processor that is both very brawny and extremely effective .
The efficiency is underscored by the thermal properties of this novel Asus . Looking at my notes from my review of the 2022 Scar Strix 17 which ran on an Intel Core i9 - 12900H chip and RTX 3070Ti GPU I see I noted that it almost got too hot to relate at the top of the keyboard with extraneous temperature top out at over 45 ° carbon .
The 2023 AMD model expose no such volcanic tendencies and even after being flogged like the family mule for three firm hours in Turbo style the high-pitched external temperature I read was 35.2 ° C and that was localized to the small area below the four white LED status lights at the top of the keyboard pack of cards . Of naturally , less high temperature means less for the cooling system to do making this one of the quietest gambling laptops on the market .
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
The 2023 ROG Strix Scar 17 may lack the Strix Scar 18 ’s heavy , Nebula show but it ’s a banging £ 600 trashy and chip in nothing away in terms of gaming operation while bombardment biography and caloric efficiency are skilful than any Raptor Lake and RTX 4090 combining that we ’ve examine .
The CPU and GPU may be the latest thing , but the publicity is 2021 time of origin and at the top end of the mart laptop makers are transitioning to 18 - in 16:10 displays . And the Strix Scar 17 ’s presentation is not the most colour - precise I ’ve encountered .
Final Thoughts
AMD has really come in out swing with its young Dragon Range processors . They provide extremely impressive multi - core performance but do so while wipe out astonishingly little top executive and heat . Combine that with a top – of – the – compass Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU and you have what is one of the most powerful and practical play laptops on the market .
That suppose , I am result wonder why you ca n’t corrupt the new Ryzen 9 chip in the latestROG Scar Strix 16or 18 descriptor – ingredient with the impressive Nebula Mini - go show . For a Mini LED mending outside of Asus , take the priceyRazer Blade 16or , for the more value - minded , consider the non - Mini LEDMedion Erazer Beast X40 .
The Ryzen 9 7945HX poker chip will shortly be available in the newfangled Alienware 16 and 18 as well as the raw Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16 gaming laptops so there is an argument for holding off making a purchase until we get a chance to put those three through their pace .
Trusted Score
How we test
Every gambling laptop we retrospect go through a serial of uniform checks plan to gauge key thing including form calibre , performance , screen quality and bombardment biography .
These admit formal synthetical bench mark and scripted exam , plus a series of literal - worldly concern checks , such as how well it course demand AAA game .
We practice the laptop computer to play a choice of titles including Cyberpunk 2077 , Metro : Exodus and Elden Ring as well as eSport titles Valorant and Apex Legends .
FAQs
If this AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX is anything to go by the resolution is a resonant yes . Compared to the comparable Intel Raptor Lake Core i9 cow dung like the 13890HX the AMD C.P.U. has superior multi - core performance , lower ability consumption and pumps out less heat . That ’s quite an achievement even if the Intel chip has right single - core performance .
If I had a lbf. for every time a laptop maker has mention to their late uber – laptop as a portable workstation I ’d have a unspoiled few quid pro quo but the Strix Scar 17 is the closest yet . productiveness operation is outstanding and the system is efficient enough to be capable of drop a good few hr away from a power supply .
Test Data
Full Specs
