I tried Asus’ ROG gaming laptop with a massive 18-inch display: Here’s what I experienced

The ROG Strix Scar 18 is for those who really care about aesthetics (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia / Indian Express)

Familiar aesthetics

The ROG Strix Scar 18 is for those who really care about aesthetics. The device is wrapped in a black shell, with a glow-in-dark Republic of Gamers (ROG) logo on the back of the display. You will find a large strip of lights going around the front of the chassis, just underneath the wrist rest. The laptop has a fun vibe to it, which is clearly visible when you see a strip of multi-coloured RGBs illuminating the back. The sides of the laptop, including vents, are made of transparent plastic, which adds a nice touch to the design.

Open the device up, and you will see Asus’ trademark keyboard with RGB lettering and a large-sized trackpad. Interestingly, there is a semi-translucent section on the deck that lets you see inside the machine. This really looks cool.

Glow-in-dark Republic of Gamers (ROG) logo on the back of the display (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia / Indian Express)

Instead of opting for magnesium alloy, the laptop is made of plastic. Although the build quality is fine, it is nowhere close to alternatives like the Alienware 18 and Razer Blade 18. The laptop is heavy too — it weighs 3 kg, which isn’t surprising for a gaming laptop. This isn’t the thinnest laptop out there, but it still feels light when you consider this machine has an insanely large 18-inch display and the specs it boasts of. I travelled with the ROG Strix Scar 18 and yes, it does feel heavy and barely fits in my old Samsonite backpack. The power brick is another concern; it adds a few more pounds to its weight. I wish Asus had made a lighter power brick but I also understand the huge brick is necessary to juice up the power-hungry components on this laptop.

You get a solid array of ports spread across three sides of the laptop. There’s a pair of USB 3.2 Type-A Gen 2 ports, a Thunderbolt 4 port, a USB 3.2 Type-C Gen 2 port, a HDMI 2.1, a LAN port, and the DC input.

It’s an 18-inch QHD+ IPS panel with a 240 Hz refresh rate (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia / Indian Express)

Smooth 18-inch, 240Hz display

The screen is definitely the star of the show. It’s an 18-inch QHD+ IPS panel with a 240 Hz refresh rate. It supports 100 per cent of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, and its 400 nits of peak brightness make it just bright enough to read an e-paper or play games on it. The 18-inch display certainly has an advantage because of its sheer size. While playing Halo Infinite, I felt the bigger screen adds a new dimension to the experience. The bezel surrounding the screen is very slim for a big gaming laptop, and it’s also bright. The 18-inch display does deliver excellent colour performance, but it also pales in comparison to laptops with advanced OLED or mini-LED screens.

The keyboard is perfect for this type of laptop (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia / Indian Express)

Excellent keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard is perfect for this type of laptop. It feels great to type on, and each key gives the perfect amount of feedback. The keys are silent and well-spaced. There are dedicated keys for volume controls, mic mute/unmute, and even programmable keys that you can customise within Asus’ Armoury Crate software that’s pre-installed. It also has a full number pad. It may take a few days to get familiarised with the layout but once you get a hang of it, you will appreciate every aspect of the keyboard. The trackpad is also perfect. It is large, and feels responsive.

The laptop is packing Intel’s Core i9-13980HX (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia / Indian Express)

A speed demon

My review unit came packed with the best possible components, and while a premium price to pay, it’s the best way to experience the Scar 18. The laptop is packing Intel’s Core i9-13980HX. It’s a 24-core CPU with eight performance cores and 16 efficient cores, along with 16 GB DDR5 RAM and Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU. It also featured a pair of 1TB drives configured with RAID0 for your boot drive. The laptop is freaking powerful, and it translates into perfect gaming performance.

The Scar 18 is a speed demon. Halo Infinite and Dirt 5 were buttery smooth, clocking reasonable fps when the graphics settings were enhanced. The same was true of Forza Horizon 5. In my Chrome tab test, the laptop managed to run 30 tabs at the same time with no stutter or slowdown. But yes, the laptop does get hot. The laptop’s fans can get loud and the keyboard becomes hard to use when playing games with high-quality graphics after a point.

The ROG Strix Scar 18 does promise good performance (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia / Indian Express)

Average battery, speakers and webcam

It is obvious that when you have a laptop that has an 18-inch display, the Intel Core i9 processor, and Nvidia’s RTX 4090 GPU, you are not going to get all-day battery life. On average, I was able to run this laptop for around four hours. This is the story of every gaming laptop. Although brands like Asus position these laptops as desktop replacements, the problem is you have to carry the power brick with you every time you step out. That kills the purpose of an all-in-one system with enough power to handle intense tasks and AAA gaming on the go.

Apart from the battery life, I also didn’t like the speakers and web camera on the Scar 18. The speakers lack the thrill needed to enjoy movies and games as they fail to deliver impressive sound. More so, they aren’t loud enough and often struggle with tiny sounds and weak bass. The webcam isn’t great, either. It’s a 720 p webcam which is fine for basic video calls but struggles in low-light settings. This is unacceptable considering Asus is charging a premium for a laptop like this.

Should you buy Asus ROG Strix Scar 18?

The ROG Strix Scar 18 does promise good performance. But for me, frankly where the ROG Strix Scar 18 made the most impact was how it brought a massive 18-inch laptop into a portable form factor, light enough to travel with. Yes, it will be too much to compare this laptop with a MacBook Air. All that said, I can clearly see a space for an 18-inch laptop on the market. Functionally, the Scar 18 seems polished but has the same niggling issues I have had with gaming laptops of the past.