I’ve been a fan of gaming laptops since I owned my first one, the Alienware M11x, almost a decade ago. They are unique and powerful, but expensive. I’ve owned several gaming laptops, mostly Alienware, and spent a fair amount of time building gaming PCs in my youth. The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 takes me back to the days when I could stay up late playing games. Asus’ laptops are big, gorgeous-looking, and gaming powerhouses. Yes, there’s RGB lighting that screams “I’m a gamer.”
As a PC gamer for most of my life, it’s nice to have a high-end gaming laptop that comes with all the features a gamer could want. I have been using the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 for more than a week, and here are my feelings.
Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 2024 India price
Before talking about the laptop, let’s know about the price. High-end gaming laptops are expensive and so is the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16, which starts at Rs. in India. 2,89,990. This variant comes with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPU and 12GB VRAM. There is also a version with Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU and 16GB VRAM priced at Rs. 3,29,990.
We’re reviewing the base version, which comes with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPU. The laptop comes in a single black color option with a matte finish.
The ROG Strix Scar 16 comes with a 330W charging adapter (heavier than most thin and light laptops), a user guide, and a customizable Armor cap in the box.
Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 2024 review: Design and presentation
ASUS has done a great job with the design of the ROG Strix Scar 16. The lid has an RGB backlit ROG logo and slash pattern with the words “Republic of Gamers” written on it. The lid is made of aluminum and has a matte finish, giving it an invisible feel. It does collect dust and some fingerprints, but it wipes off easily. The laptop’s chassis is made of lightweight, durable plastic that keeps the surface cool to the touch. There’s not a lot of flex on the keyboard or aluminum cover. This is a rugged laptop.
Open the lid and you’ll see a translucent design of the keyboard deck, which reveals the internals toward the top but becomes opaque when you move to the touchpad. You get a keyless keyboard with 2mm key travel, fully customizable RGB backlighting, and five macro keys. There’s a glass trackpad beneath the keyboard that’s 10 percent larger than last year’s model. It also features a touch numeric keypad.
There’s a simple power button in the upper right corner. The display hinge is large and sturdy, and I never had any issues opening or closing the lid during my time with the laptop. There are slim bezels on the sides and top, and the chin is slightly thicker than the rest. The top of the display houses a webcam, housed within its own bezel.
For lighting, the front of the laptop has an RGB strip that wraps around the edges. There is also an RGB lighting area behind the keyboard deck. All lighting on the laptop can be controlled through the Aura Sync utility available on the system. You can disable the lights through the app or keyboard brightness toggle.
Talking about the ease of upgrading, the bottom panel can be easily removed and you can upgrade the RAM and storage. The bottom panel provides good ventilation for the cooling system and features ROG branding. This laptop looks great from every angle.
Now, let’s talk about the display. ROG Strix Scar 16 features a new 16-inch mini-LED panel that doubles the dimming area compared to last year’s display. The panel offers QHD+ resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio, HDR support, 240Hz refresh rate, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, 2048 dimming zones, 3ms response time, 500 nits brightness, and supports Nvidia G-Sync and Dolby Vision. The display is excellent, with deep blacks and vibrant colors, and it’s very bright. Watching movies and playing games are a pleasure for the eyes. The display is also TUV Rheinland certified and Pantone verified for color accuracy, making it ideal for video editing.
Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 2024 review: Specs and software
Asus ROG Strix Scar 16, as its name suggests, comes with a long list of specifications. The 2024 model comes with a 14th generation Intel Core i9 14900HX processor, with a choice of Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 with 16GB DDR6 VRAM or Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 with 12GB DDR6 VRAM. Both GPU models support a maximum TGP of 175W.
You get 32GB (16GB x 2) of DDR5 RAM clocked at 5,600MHz, expandable to 64GB. For storage, there is a 2TB PCIE Gen4 performance SSD, and you get 2 PCIE 4.0 SSD M.2 slots, supporting up to 4TB of storage.
For output, there are plenty of options, but if you’re more of a creator than a gamer, you’ll find it difficult to transfer media since there are no card slots on the laptop. On the left side of the laptop, there is a Thunderbolt 4 port with DP 1.4 and G-Sync support, a USB Type-C 3.2 Gen2 port with 100W PD support, an HDMI 2.1 port, an RJ-45 LAN port, a 3.5mm Audio combo jack and power input port.
There are dual USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports on the right side. In terms of connectivity, you get dual-band Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 support.
You also get a 720p webcam, four Dolby Atmos-enabled speakers, and a 90Wh 4-cell lithium-ion battery on the ROG Scar Strix 16.
On the software front, the laptop comes pre-installed with Windows 11 and you get several Asus ROG features such as Armory Crate, MyAsus, and Auro Creator apps for controlling RGB lighting on the laptop. Armory Crate is basically a command center that allows you to control every aspect of your laptop, such as CPU and GPU performance, lighting, and more. You have a variety of operating modes to choose from to suit whatever you’re doing. Armory Crate also lets you overclock your laptop.
The Aura Creator app lets you further customize your RGB lighting. Finally, you can check your laptop’s health, warranty, system application updates, and more in the MyAsus app.
Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 2024 review: Performance and gaming
The most important aspect of a gaming laptop is its performance and how long it can maintain that performance. You can’t just use the latest hardware and expect good performance. ASUS does a great job here. ROG Strix Scar 16 delivers best-in-class performance and an excellent cooling system to keep everything running smoothly, even after long gaming sessions.
I didn’t spend much time running benchmarks on the laptop, but I managed to play a few hours of AAA games. In the few hours I spent playing the game, I didn’t experience any lag or instability. While playing Marvel’s Spider-Man, I consistently got over 60 frames per second on ultra-high graphics settings at QHD+ resolution. It’s best to plug in the ROG Strix Scar 16 when gaming for optimal performance. The fan kicks in when you boot up the game and start playing, and it’s really loud, but it helps keep the heat on the keyboard deck. The exhaust vents are on the sides and there’s a large radiator on the back. At the same time, the surrounding air is also sucked in.
Asus equipped the laptop with three fans and used Conductonaut Extreme liquid metal thermal paste, which is said to have a thermal conductivity 17 times higher than ordinary thermal paste. A large heatsink, three fans, and liquid metal thermal paste keep the laptop from catching fire. They help deliver maximum frame rates even during long gaming sessions. If you want to see benchmark numbers, you can find them online, but trust me, you won’t be disappointed with the ROG Strix Scar 16’s performance.
Playing games on my laptop is a blessing; I could probably spend hours playing. It’s amazing what you can pack into a form factor like this these days. The ROG Strix Scar 16 can play any game you throw at it, even Crysis! Jokes aside, this laptop can run almost any AAA game without any hassle.
You can also use the laptop for video editing, as the Intel Core i9 14900HX performs well in every situation.
Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 2024 review: Speakers, camera, touchpad and keyboard
While the ROG Strix Scar 16 2024 is an absolute beast when it comes to gaming and performance, I can’t say the same about things like speakers and webcam.
The laptop has four speakers, but they’re not very loud and lack bass. I expected it to bring powerful sound to something so big and expensive. The speakers support Dolby Atmos, though, and you can tweak the settings a bit in the Dolby Access app, but it’s nothing to write home about. My MacBook Air M1 is louder and has more bass than the ROG Scar Strix 16. It’s not bad, but for that much money I would have at least wished for a subwoofer.
Even the webcam is poor. 720p cameras are outdated and I don’t understand why laptop manufacturers don’t just add higher resolution webcams. Then again, when you’re spending that much money, why not just buy a good webcam? Images and videos from laptops’ built-in webcams are noisy and dull.
Next is the touchpad, which works well and supports multi-touch gestures. The Num Lock touch keyboard also works well. However, most people will only connect a mouse to a gaming laptop because you can’t really play games on the touchpad. The touchpad here is for when you’re using it at work and don’t have a mouse handy.
The keyboard on the ROG Strix Scar 16 is also pretty good. I’m not a big fan of laptop keyboards because most of them are terrible, but this one offers 2mm of key travel and plenty of space between keys. I quickly got used to the keyboard and even wrote the entire review on my laptop, and enjoyed doing so. You also get five macro keys in the upper left corner, which you can customize using the Armory Crate app to perform various functions.
Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 2024 review: Battery life
This is a gaming laptop, so you shouldn’t expect great battery life. The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 is equipped with a 90Wh battery that can last for about 2 hours while performing regular tasks. You can still play games on battery mode, but the battery will drain after about 45 minutes. That’s totally fine, as this laptop is meant to sit on a desk, plugged in, and ready to game at your command. As for charging, the included 330W adapter can charge the laptop up to 50% in just 30 minutes, but it does require an outlet typically used to connect a refrigerator, air conditioner, or washing machine. The laptop also supports 100W PD via the USB Type-C port on the left side.
Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 2024 review: Verdict
If you have Rs. Have 3,00,000 to spare and are looking for a high-end gaming console that you can take with you everywhere, then the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 2024 is an excellent choice. There aren’t many alternatives with similar specs right now, but you can expect similarly specced machines from Lenovo, Alienware, and MSI. Beyond performance, however, the most important thing is cooling.
This laptop is bulky and weighs around 2.7kg, so it might not fit into most everyday backpacks, but if you take it with you, you’ll be able to game anywhere in the world. But then again, Asus probably wants you to use it as your main computer and keep it on your desk. you can do it. The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 is excellent and can replace your high-end gaming PC.