Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition Review: Meet Radeon RX 6800M. Asus rog strix laptop
An all-AMD laptop slips into the premium space to compete with Nvidia and Intel, but no 4K gaming just yet.
Tom’s Hardware Verdict
The Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition is an all-AMD system with strong gaming and productivity performance and good audio. But the display could be brighter and that the SSD faster.
Pros
- Solid gaming and productivity performance
- Long battery life for a gaming notebook
- Cool at most touchpoints
- Dolby Atmos audio
Cons
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Earlier this year, AMD launched its blockbuster Ryzen 5000 processors for laptops. Now, the company’s new Radeon RX 6000M graphics are here, too. They come together in the Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition, as AMD works with laptop vendors to show that a laptop with all of its technologies can be premium and deliver as good an experience as any gaming laptops using Intel and Nvidia components.
It wasn’t that long ago that it seemed like every AMD laptop was saddled with a poor screen, lackluster plastic chassis and little else to speak of. But the Strix G15 is one of the best gaming laptops under 1,500, offering strong gaming and productivity performance, loud speakers and a soft-touch and metal housing. It’s not without its flaws, and AMD has no option for 4K gaming at the moment, but AMD laptops are catching up.
Design of the Asus ROG Strix G15
AMD doesn’t make its own gaming laptops, but this design is as close as you’ll get. Asus is doing everything it can in the design to ensure that the G15 Advantage Edition screams AMD.
The aluminum lid has the standard two-toned Strix pattern, with a diagonal line cutting an all-black cover with a pattern of dots. Asus’ ROG logo lights up when the computer is on, but there is, surprisingly, another logo on the lid: AMD’s. It’s in the lower-left corner, though it doesn’t light up and isn’t as prominent.
The hinge is black and AMD red. That bright cherry part is engraved with ” /// R.” Ryzen, Radeon, ROG, perhaps? That’s a replaceable cap, and if you prefer something a bit less showy, two other caps, one in gray and one in a clear smokey color, are also included, and both say “ROG” on them. They’re easily removable and snap in with magnets. Asus is promising to put the hinge cap pattern on Shapeways for you to make and 3D print your own. We saw Asus do something similar on the ROG Strix Scar 17 G733.
AMD’s influence even gets to the bottom of the laptop. One of the rubber feet is bright red and reads “back on top.” Hm. I wonder what that could mean? The whole thing is a treasure trove of references and Easter eggs for both Team Red and the ROG brand.
Lifting the lid reveals a light show. The keyboard is full RGB, and there’s also a light bar on the bottom of the system that shimmers to life when you open the machine. The WASD keys are clear, showing off maximum lighting and the unexciting design of membrane switches. The deck has a soft-touch paint that is comfortable against your wrists while typing and gaming.
On the left side, there are two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack, but there are no ports at all on the right side. Everything else is on the back: a third USB Type-A port, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, HDMI output, Ethernet jack and the power connector. Plenty of gaming laptops use the back, but most also have ports on both sides of the machine.
The Strix is 13.94 x 10.2 x 1.07 inches and weighs in at 6.61 pounds. While that’s heavier than the Alienware m15 R4 (5.25 pounds), that laptop is wider but thinner at 14.19 x 10.86 x 0.78 inches. It’s the same case for the 5.25-pound, 15.09 x 10.51 x 0.92-inch MSI GP66 Leopard. Unsurprisingly, the Razer Blade Pro 17, at 15.55 x 10.24 x 0,78 inches offered the widest footprint, but was still lighter at 6.06 pounds.
Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition Specifications
| AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX |
| AMD Radeon RX 6800M (12GB GDDR6) |
| 16GB DDR4-3200 |
| 512GB M.2 PCIe Gen 3 SSD |
| 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080, 300 Hz, IPS |
| MediaTek Wi-Fi 6 MT7921, MediaTek Bluetooth adapter |
| 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, RJ-45, HDMI 2.0b, 3.5mm headphone jack |
| No webcam |
| 90 WHr |
| 280 W |
| Windows 10 Pro |
| 13.94 x 10.2 x 1.07 inches / 354.9 x 259.9 x 24.2 mm |
| 6.61 pounds / 3 kg |
| 1,549.99 |
Gaming and Graphics on the Asus ROG Strix G15: SmartShift Is Back
The ROG Strix G15 is the first laptop we’ve tested with one of AMD’s RDNA 2 GPUs. This one, the Radeon RX 6800M with 12GB of VRAM, is the company’s current top-end mobile graphics.
The laptop also marks the return of AMD SmartShift, which we haven’t seen since we reviewed the Dell G5 15 SE a year ago. SmartShift lets AMD Ryzen processors and Radeon graphics share power and put it where it is needed most, which should lead to increases in performance for both gaming and productivity. In this case, it uses the CPU’s six-phase power design and the GPU’s 10-phase design. The other big AMD technology at play here with the RX 6000 GPUs is Smart Access Memory (SAM), which increases the amount of GPU memory available at a time (Nvidia refers to this as Resizable BAR).
Here, we’re comparing the Asus ROG Strix G15 against laptops with Nvidia’s mid-range card (the GeForce RTX 3060 in the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5) and top-end models (The RTX 3070 in the Razer Blade Pro 17 and the RTX 3080 with 8GB of VRAM in the MSI GP66 Leopard).
I used the all-AMD laptop to play Horizon Zero Dawn on “ultimate quality” settings. In an early-game stealth sequence, the game ran between 57 and 64 frames per second on the 1080p display.
On Shadow of the Tomb Raider on its highest settings at 1080p, the Strix G15 ran the test at 88 frames per second, beating out the RTX 3060 in the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 (73 fps) and just ahead of the RTX 3070 in the Razer Blade Pro 17 (86 fps). The MSI GP66, with an RTX 3080, sailed ahead at 106 fps.
When it came to Grand Theft Auto V on very high settings (1080p), the Strix played the game at 98 fps, surpassing the Alienware (82 fps) but falling behind both the Blade Pro (102 fps) and the GP66 (125 fps).
On Far Cry New Dawn (1080p, ultra), the Strix, at 81 fps, was more in line with the Alienware (79 fps) than the Blade Pro, which ran at 89 fps. The GP66 hit 103 fps.
The Strix tied the Blade Pro on Red Dead Redemption 2 (70 fps at medium settings, 1080p), leaving the 3060-equipped Alienware behind (53 fps), but still behind the GP66 (82 fps).
The same pattern emerged with the Borderlands 3 benchmark, with the Strix and Blade tying at 79 fps on “Badass” settings at 1080p.
We stress test gaming laptops by running them through 15 cycles of the Metro Exodus benchmark. Typically, we use RTX settings at 1080p. Ray tracing did work here, however, DLSS didn’t, as that’s not supported. The Strix ran the game[1] at average of 51.37 frames per second across the runs, going as high as 54 fps on the first run to as low as 49 fps on the thirteenth and fourteenth.
During that stress test, the CPU ran at an average speed of 2.8 GHz and an average temperature of 83.05 degrees Celsius (181.49 degrees Fahrenheit). The GPU measured an average 1,940.42 MHz and 80.65 degrees Celsius (177.17 degrees Fahrenheit).
Productivity Performance the Asus ROG Strix G15
Of course, a slim 15.6-inch notebook should be able to do more than gaming. The Strix boasts AMD’s top-of-the-line AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU. While we found the SSD speeds weren’t amazing, it otherwise stood up to the task as a productivity machine.
On Geekbench 5, the Strix G15 achieved a single-core of 1,519 and a multi-core score of 7.746. It was the highest single-core score in the field by a small amount, and its multi-core score was inched out ever so slightly by the MSI GP66 Leopard (1,274/7,848, Intel Core i7-10870H and 32GB RAM).
The Strix’s SSD didn’t impress. It copied 25GB of files at a rate of 340.68 MBps, falling behind the rest of the field.
But Asus’ laptop was the fastest in our Handbrake test, which transcodes a 4K video to 1080p. The ROG Strix completed that task in 6:57, beating the Alienware m15 and MSI GP66 Leopard by a few seconds. The Razer Blade Pro 17 fell behind at 10:10.
Display on the Asus ROG Strix G15
The Asus ROG Strix G15 comes with a 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080, 300 Hz, IPS display. It’s passably bright and vivid enough, though other competitors still offer some better screens.
I used the laptop to watch a trailer for The Eternals, and did find myself reaching to make it as bright as I could (and still wished I could crank it up more); It’s a challenging trailer with a handful of silhouettes and dark scenes. Some fires on dark backgrounds popped, as did Sersei running her hand through a field of green grass. A scene with Kingo dancing song people in pink and blue costumes looked the best, but also wasn’t as impressive as on other screens I’ve tried.
I felt similarly when I played Horizon Zero Dawn. I wish I could make the screen a bit brighter, but the game’s lush landscapes still looked incredible.
Asus’ panel covers 77% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, just behind the MSI GP66 Leopard (79%). However, both the Alienware m15 (87%) and Blade Pro 17 (84%) outperformed here.
The Strix measured 280 nits of brightness, making it ever-so-slightly brighter than the Blade Pro and GP66 Leopard (both at 277 nits). The Alienware was the most vibrant at 328 nits.
Keyboard and Touchpad on the Asus ROG Strix G15
The Asus ROG Strix G15 has an island style keyboard with some dedicated hotkeys above it and an extra row of keys on the right side.
For typing, the keys felt a bit short with low travel. I found myself slipping over the keys, including the WASD keys, which are clear and made of a different material than the rest of the keyboard. Still, I hit 113 words per minute, albeit with a few more errors than usual on the 10fastfingers typing test.
For gaming, the WASD keys feel great, as they’re easy to find without looking down in the middle of the action.
While both gaming and typing, I really appreciated the soft-touch texture on the deck. It’s really comfortable against the wrists.
The dedicated hot keys for volume, muting your mic, adjusting fans and accessing Aura Sync are useful and well placed. You don’t have to take your hand off the mouse to change the volume. On an extra right row, Asus added the rest of the media keys, as well as a print screen key. On many keyboards, the volume and media keys are nearby, so when you’re not gaming and want to switch songs and adjust the volume, you need to go to different parts of the keyboard.
Asus’ Precision touchpad offers plenty of space for navigation and gestures. I think some people may find it has a bit too much friction, but it worked quite well for me.
Audio on the Asus ROG Strix G15
With a pair of Dolby Atmos speakers, the Strix G15 rocked my living room. I used it to listen to Green Day’s “Pollyanna,” and was surprised by the amount of detail coming out of speakers in a laptop this size. The guitars and even bass were clear, and I could hear each drumstick snapping a snare. I did, however, have to enable Atmos in the Dolby Access software to get this kind of power. It’s a click I definitely recommend.
Dolby Access also has a series of equalizers for music, movies, games and voice calls.
The speakers sounded equally good as I played Horizon Zero Dawn. The vocals during dialogue were just as crisp as the grass crunching under Aloy’s feet. It balanced the chanting background music well, too.
Upgradeability on the Asus ROG Strix G15
To open up the Strix G15, you have to remove seven long screws along the back and middle of the device and three short screws on the front. There’s a fourth short screw that simply pops up, so be sure not to loosen that too much. You can get them all out with a Phillips size 0 screwdriver. You’ll also need a prying tool to get along the edges. Be careful when removing the bottom, as it’s attached to the motherboard by cables that control the RGB light bar.
The thermal solution has more Easter eggs. It reads “CUTTING EDGE COOL” in an ’80s slasher movie font, perhaps referring to the Thermal Grizzly liquid metal compound on both the CPU and GPU. The plate also has diagrams of all of the parts, including the CPU and GPU (both labeled), as well as the VRMs and other components.
Inside, you have access to dual RAM slots, and there’s an extra PCIe M.2 slot for secondary storage. The Wi-Fi card is nowhere to be found, but at least it’s pretty up to date.
Battery Life on the Asus ROG Strix G15
Gaming laptops don’t typically last as long as productivity notebooks, but every once in a while something bucks that trend. The ROG Strix G15 ran for 10 hours and 14 minutes on our battery test, which continuously browses the web, streams videos and runs OpenGL tests, all while connected to Wi-Fi and with the brightness set to 150 nits.
That thrashed both the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 (3:29) and MSI GP66 Leopard (2:25). Even the Razer Blade Pro 17, the next longest-lasting, only ran for 5:58. This is a stunning showing from AMD, which was long behind the competition in terms of power efficiency.
Heat on the Asus ROG Strix G15
Part of AMD’s promise for its Advantage laptops are that touch points will be relatively cool under load. We took surface temperature measurements while running our Metro Exodus gauntlet to see how it fared.
The wristrest and touchpad stayed nice and cool. The touchpad measured 30.2 degrees Celsius (86.36 degrees Fahrenheit). The center of the keyboard, between the G and H keys, hit 44.1 degrees Celsius (111.38 degrees Fahrenheit), though in our image the crucial WASD keys came out a bit cooler. I had no issue with touchpoints playing Horizon Zero Dawn. In fact, the system was even remarkably quiet under load.
On the bottom, the hottest point was by the right exhaust port, reaching a very hot 63 degrees Celsius (145.4 degrees Fahrenheit). Use this one on a desk while under load.
Webcam on the Asus ROG Strix G15
The ROG Strix doesn’t have a webcam. That continues to be a shame as more people use their PCs for video calls than ever. This is part of an unfortunate tradition where Asus has said that those who want webcams will opt for some of the best external webcams.
Asus is reversing course in the future, adding webcams to some upcoming gaming laptops. Just not this one.
Software and Warranty on the Asus ROG Strix G15
Most of the preloaded programs on the Strix G15 are straightforward.
It’s no surprise to see AMD Radeon Software pre-loaded, considering the RX 6800M on board. That lets you check performance metrics, switch between a variety of settings and enable and disable features like Radeon Anti-Lag, Radeon Chill, and Radeon Boost.
On Asus’ end, there’s Armoury Crate, which shows similar performance statistics, lets you adjust some lighting patterns and even ties into some of the Radeon settings. But there’s a separate Aura Creator app, which lets you adjust the four-zone keyboard and various parts of the RGB light strip in a far more granular fashion.
There’s still some junk you’ll want to uninstall, like a trial of McAfee Personal Security. Additionally, there’s the extra software that you find pre-installed on most Windows 10 laptops, like Spotify, Roblox, Messenger and Hidden City: Hidden Object Adventure.
Asus has added not one but two bookmarks to the Edge browser, touting its own and its partners software. Feel free to clear those out.
Asus sells the ROG Strix G15 Advantage edition with a one-year warranty.
Bottom Line
The Asus ROG Strix G15, as the first in a line of “AMD Advantage“-branded notebooks, is a statement that yes, you can get a premium AMD gaming notebook. Maybe you can’t have it all, but you can get pretty close.
The ROG Strix G15’s combination of the AMD Ryzen 5900HX and Radeon RX 6800M, as well as other technologies that take advantage of them, make a potent, thin gaming machine. Powerful Dolby Atmos speakers and long battery life when you aren’t gaming are nice bonuses.
While AMD is promising that Advantage laptops will have premium displays, I wish the one on the Strix were a tad brighter. The SSD is passable, but middling at best. And no webcam is a huge miss as people continue to work and play from home on their own devices.
If you want all AMD, this is the way to go for now, though there will be more releases from HP, MSI and Lenovo soon. The Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 may also scratch the slim, premium gaming issue, which combines a Ryzen Processor with Nvidia graphics cards. But for a similar price, you’ll get a less powerful CPU and GPU, making the Strix G15 a better value. And if you want a larger laptop, will consider an Intel processor, and don’t mind paying a premium, the Razer Blade Pro 17 has a 1440p display.
But more so than the Dell G5 15 SE last year, the Asus ROG Strix G15 points to a potential future where all-AMD laptops are desirable, competitive machines — as long as you’re not looking for 4K gaming.
Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom’s Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom’s Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on : @FreedmanAE
Asus’ newest ROG Strix G18 laptop is a gaming powerhouse with a massive display
The Asus ROG Strix G18 (available at Best Buy for 2,299.99) is a powerful gaming laptop thanks to Intel’s impressive Core i9-13980HX processor and Nvidia’s RTX 4070 graphics card. With a massive 18-inch, 240Hz display, and surprisingly long battery life, this behemoth is perfect for gamers and creators craving obtainable performance with few sacrifices.
Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed’s editors. Purchases made through the links below may earn us and our publishing partners a commission.
- About the Asus ROG Strix G18
- What we like
- What we don’t like
- Should you buy the Asus ROG Strix G18?
- Related content
Pros
- Excellent CPU and GPU performance
- Surprisingly long battery life
- Competitive pricing
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About the Asus ROG Strix G18
Here are the specs of the laptop we tested:
- Processor: Intel Core i9-13980HX
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070
- RAM: 16GB LPDDR5
- Storage: 1TB NVMe PCIe SSD
- Display: 18-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz, IPS LCD
- Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2
- Wired connectivity: 1x Thunderbolt 4 with Power Delivery and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, 2x 3 USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 with Power Delivery and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 1x Ethernet
- Weight: 6.61 pounds
- Size: 15.71 x 11.57 x 1.21 inches
- Warranty: One-year manufacturer warranty
This Asus ROG Strix G18 configuration retails for 2,300, but there are several Strix G18 models. Every Strix G18 has the same processor but differs when it comes to the graphics card and other components. You can configure this gaming laptop all the way up to an RTX 4080 with a 2TB SSD and 32GB RAM, although at our time of publication, not every configuration was available.
What we like
The processor is a speed demon
The Asus ROG Strix G18 undercuts competitors’ by several hundred dollars.
The Asus ROG Strix G18 we tested came packing Intel’s Core i9-13980HX. It’s a 24-core CPU with eight performance cores and 16 efficient cores, and an impressive maximum Turbo Boost frequency of 5.6GHz. This is the fastest mobile processor available from Intel right now—and it shows.
In Geekbench 5’s CPU performance test, the Strix Scar reached a single-core score of 2064 and a multi-core score of 18248. Both figures are among the highest we’ve ever recorded from a laptop and similar to the Intel NUC Extreme Kit, a mini desktop equipped with Intel’s Core i9-13900K. The ROG Strix G18 easily thumps older top-tier laptops such as the Asus ROG Flow Z13 and Acer Predator Triton 500 SE, which reached multi-core scores of 13379 and 13601, respectively. It’s not a small win; the ROG Strix G18 is more than 30% faster than last year’s best.
Cinebench R23 told the same story. The Strix Scar hit an astounding score of 27464, completely annihilating the Asus ROG Flow Z13 and Acer Predator Triton 500 SE, which scored 13611 and 15276. That’s a huge win for Intel’s new top-tier chip.
The Strix Scar also does well in Blender’s path tracing benchmark, which renders the Agent 327 Barbershop sample file using the CPU. It completed this task in 16 minutes and 39 seconds, a solid score. We have limited data for comparison on this test, but the Intel NUC 13 Extreme Kit with Intel Core i9-13900K processor completed this test in 11 minutes, 42 seconds. Buying a laptop, even a larger one, still leaves some performance on the table when compared to a desktop, but the Strix Scar’s result indicates genuinely usable performance. You’ll just have to stretch your break a few extra minutes as the render completes.
It’s clear Intel’s new Core i9-13980HX is a powerhouse—and the Strix G18 doesn’t struggle to handle it. The laptop’s fans kick up under heavy load, to be sure, but their whirr is tame at full load and quieter than most gaming and professional laptops (Apple’s MacBook Pro line excluded).
The chassis feels cool, too, reaching a maximum external temperature of just 98 degrees Fahrenheit. I also noticed this maximum temperature was limited to a fairly small portion of the bottom of the chassis. That’s great news if you need to use the laptop for sustained, heavy loads like video encoding or 3D renders.
The GPU isn’t bad, either
Can’t go wrong with the port selection.
The Asus ROG Strix G18 is (or will be) available with up to Nvidia’s RTX 4090 graphics, the company’s most powerful mobile GPU. But the model I tested equipped the more modest RTX 4070. It can’t reach the heights of Nvidia’s best but it remains a highly-capable chip.
In 3DMark Time Spy’s GPU performance test, the Strix G18 reached a score of 12433. That’s roughly 20% better than older RTX 3070 and RTX 3070 Ti laptops, which usually score above 10000 in this benchmark. This score ends up significantly behind the RTX 4090, which can score up to 19531 (in MSI’s 5,300 Titan G77 HX 13V). However, a significant gap between the RTX 4070 and RTX 4090 is expected given the difference in pricing.
Real-world gaming performance is impressive. The ROG Strix Scar hit 121 frames per second (fps) in Far Cry 6 at 1080p resolution and Ultra detail. Total War: Warhammer III achieved 85 fps at 1080p and Ultra. Cyberpunk 2077, a well-known system crusher, hit 99 fps at 1080p and Ultra detail.
These aren’t the highest scores we’ve seen but put the RTX 4070 roughly on par with the best of Nvidia’s and AMD’s last-gen mobile GPUs. In Far Cry 6, for example, the ROG Strix G18 outperforms the Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (with RTX 3080 Ti) and MSI Delta 15 (with AMD Radeon RX 6700M). The ROG Strix G18 also scored the highest result we’ve seen yet in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, averaging 165 fps at 1080p and Highest detail.
Ray tracing performance is strong, too. The ROG Strix G18 averaged 41 fps in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p and Ultra detail with Ultra ray tracing on. It’s excellent to see a playable result in this title and, to be clear, this is without the use of DLSS 3 or other performance-enhancing features. Enabling those brings a steady 60 fps within reach.
The RTX 4070 performs well enough to handle most games even with demanding graphics presets. It’s also a reasonable bang-for-your-buck given the ROG Strix G18’s retail price of 2,300.
The 18-inch, 240Hz display is a treat
Asus’ RFOG Strix G18 features Nvidia Optimus switchable graphics, which uses integrated graphics instead of a discrete card to conserve energy and battery life.
The Asus ROG Strix G18 I tested had an 18-inch IPS LCD display with 2560 x 1600 resolution, a 16:10 aspect ratio, and a refresh rate of up to 240Hz. It has shortcomings compared to alternatives with OLED or Mini-LED screens, but the display’s size and refresh rate make up for its flaws.
First, the bad news: this is a conventional IPS LCD screen. It’s not OLED and it doesn’t offer fancy backlighting tricks. The result is a meh contrast ratio of 1070:1. That’s not terrible, but it’s not great, and it can rob games of depth and immersion. Gamers who play in dark rooms are most likely to notice this, as the display’s hazy glow becomes obvious in darker scenes.
Color performance, on the other hand, is excellent. The display covers 100% of both the sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamuts, as well as 88% of AdobeRGB. These scores beat the Mini-LED display in the MSI Titan GT77 HX 13V, and they’re nearly identical to the Apple MacBook Pro 14. Laptops with an OLED display, like the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE OLED, offer an even wider color gamut—but this is still relatively rare among gaming laptops.
The 18-inch display sustains a maximum brightness of 451 nits. Asus also opts for a matte display coat that reduces glare. Surprisingly, the ROG Strix G18 doesn’t support HDR.
Motion performance is excellent. The 240Hz display provides superb detail in fast-moving objects. Terrain, character silhouettes, and health bars are easy to make out in games like League of Legends and DOTA 2. Better performance is available from desktop monitors, which are now available at up to 500Hz, but the ROG Strix G18 offers great motion clarity for a laptop. The laptop also supports Nvidia G-Sync, which prevents screen tearing and improves frame pacing for an even smoother experience.
The Strix G18’s display isn’t the best available, but it’s bright, vibrant, and smooth, traits which enhance both day-to-day use and competitive gaming.
Battery life is a surprising win
I expected the Asus ROG Strix G18 to chew through its battery in a few hours, so I was shocked to see it endure nine hours and 39 minutes of battery life.
That’s a truly usable result for day-to-day use and far better than most gaming laptops. The Strix G18 beats laptops I would expect to outlast it including the Razer Blade 14, which delivered seven hours and 59 minutes, and the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, which delivered eight hours and 46 minutes. It’s also on par with the MSI Delta 15, falling only one minute behind.
It helps that the ROG Strix G18 has a large 90-watt-hour battery—but there’s more to it than that. The laptop also benefits from Nvidia Optimus support, which can turn off the discrete GPU when it’s not required and instead relies on Intel’s less power-hungry Intel UHD integrated graphics.
Asus’ software even scans for programs that are using the GPU when the laptop is used on battery power. It’s a great feature for real-world battery life, alerting you when a program is secretly sucking down watts.
What we don’t like
It’s a chonker
Over nine hours of battery life is, for the most part, unheard of in a gaming laptop.
Asus doesn’t call this laptop the ROG Strix G18 because it’s a nice, round number. This is indeed a laptop with an 18-inch display and, yeah, it’s big.
It measures almost 16 inches across and about 11.5 inches deep. That’s two inches wider and deeper than the Acer Predator Triton 500 SE or Apple MacBook Pro 16. The ROG Strix G18 is 1.21 inches thick at its tallest point.
The laptop’s dimensions make it difficult to carry. None of the backpacks or messenger bags I own can properly hold this laptop. It will fit, but the bags won’t zip or snap close because of its bulk. You’ll need a bag specifically designed for large laptops (Asus sells its own line of backpacks for the task).
To its credit, Asus did try to reduce the laptop’s footprint; the display is surrounded by small bezels on three sides. The bottom bezel, which is typically the largest on any laptop, is slim by the standards of 17-inch and 18-inch machines. The ROG Strix G18 also lacks a large rump that juts from the back of the laptop, a design trait that increases the footprint of some competing laptops such as the Alienware M18. Alienware’s alternative is a full inch larger in both width and depth, though its profile is slimmer at just one inch thick.
Still, there’s only so much Asus can do to tame this monster’s size. Hauling it is a chore.
Build quality is merely fine
The Strix laptop line is a mid-range option in Asus’ line-up. It sits above the TUF line, which is the most affordable, but below the Zephyrus line, which includes premium laptops like the Zephyrus Flow Z13 and Zephyrus G14.
This middle-of-the-road approach is evident in the ROG Strix G18’s design. It’s a plain laptop with simple, matte charcoal plastics across both the interior and exterior. Asus includes LED accent lighting, which adds some zest to the presentation—but it may also prove distracting when gaming in a dark room. Asus provides software to customize the color of the LED lights or turn them off completely.
Material quality is mundane, with little use of texture to spice up the laptop’s look and feel. The expanses of unadorned plastic are more noticeable due to the sheer size of the machine.
The keyboard continues this trend of mediocrity. Key travel is long, but the bottoming action feels mushy and imprecise. Asus also makes poor use of the laptop’s ample space, as the keyboard does not span the entire width of the laptop. The numpad suffers the consequences with small, narrow keys. It felt strange reviewing the LG Gram 17, a smaller laptop that offers a more spacious layout, before this one.
I have kinder words for the touchpad. It’s large, measuring five inches wide and 3.25 inches deep, and feels responsive while using Windows’ multi-touch gestures. The touchpad supports tap-to-click or can be physically depressed to activate left and right mouse actions.
None of these issues prevent me from recommending the laptop, but they remain a disadvantage when compared to alternatives like the Alienware M18, Razer Blade 18, and Acer Predator Helios 18.
The speakers and webcam are a sore spot
Asus’ cost-conscious approach to the Strix G18 extends to the speakers. They fail to deliver impressive sound at maximum volume and struggle with a hollow, tinny presentation that lacks bass. The speakers are usable in a pinch but fall behind most gaming laptops.
The webcam isn’t great, either. It’s a simple 720p webcam that captures a muddy, softened image with dull color reproduction. The webcam is fine for basic video calls but won’t help you look your best.
Should you buy the Asus ROG Strix G18?
Yes, it’s a big laptop with big performance
It’s not the fanciest laptop around, but it can still perform with the best.
Asus’ ROG Strix G18 is a beast of a laptop. Intel’s Core i9-13980HX delivers stunning processor performance, which should please content creators. The Nvidia RTX 4070 is not as impressive but capable of 60 fps (and often far more) in demanding games.
The 18-inch, 240Hz IPS LCD display is another strength, offering excellent color performance and motion clarity. However, it has a lower contrast ratio due to its conventional IPS LCD screen. Surprisingly, the ROG Strix G18 provides respectable battery life, lasting over nine hours in testing.
The laptop’s size is an obvious downside. Its dimensions make it difficult to carry, and Asus’ chassis design isn’t impressive. The speakers and webcam fall short, with the former providing weak audio and the latter capturing low-quality images.
The ROG Strix G18’s is a good value at the laptop’s 2,300 MSRP. The Alienware M18 and Razer Blade 18 are hundreds of dollars more when similarly equipped, leaving room for Asus to slot in the ROG Strix G18 as a more affordable alternative.
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Meet the tester
Matthew S. Smith is a veteran tech journalist and general-purpose PC hardware nerd. Formerly the Lead Editor of Reviews at Digital Trends, he has over a decade of experience covering PC hardware. Matt often flies the virtual skies in Microsoft Flight Simulator and is on a quest to grow the perfect heirloom tomato.
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Intel Core i9 13980HX | Nvidia RTX 4080 | 16GB DDR5-4800 | 1TB SSD | £3,300 | 2,900
Our Verdict
The ROG Strix Scar 16 (2023) model comes in hot, not just in terms of impressive gaming performance but inevitably temperature-wise, too. While it sometimes matches the more expensive gaming laptops in this year’s lineup, the rest of the spec lets it down.
For
- Funky design
- Great gaming and encoding performance
- Surprisingly good battery life
- Lovely screen
Against
- Runs kinda hot
- SSD performance doesn’t match the rest
- Better balanced machines can be had for less
- Optimus makes switching programs painful
- Camera is super oversaturated
Our experienced team dedicates many hours to every review, to really get to the heart of what matters most to you. Find out more about how we evaluate games and hardware.
I’ve been testing the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16’s 2023 G634 model. Available in the UK for £3,400, and with essentially the same model in the US priced at 2,750, there’s an expectation of zero compromises for a gaming laptop containing both Intel and Nvidia’s latest mobile offerings. Not just when it comes to gaming prowess, but the overall user experience. And while the RTX 4080 and Core i9 13980HX provide a fantastic core config for a gaming laptop today, there are a couple of things holding this powerful machine back, not least the competition at that price point.
Before we get into the numbers, the Scar 16 is off to a good start with its aesthetic. There’s an industrial flair to the design, but not enough to make it look too ‘edgy’. It’s reminiscent of the resurgent retro console trend, with a subtle translucent plastic strip around the chassis edge and front.
It may not have the humble charm of a Clear Glacier Gameboy Advance, but at least the subtle RGB strip along the front and back edge doesn’t undermine the aesthetic. The light gradates gently through the laptop’s thickness and gives a gentle glow to the desk around it. The default rainbow ROG logo on the back is a little much for me, but that can be easily remedied in the Aura software.
It’s been fascinating to see laptop manufacturers packing 16-inch gaming laptops with this generation’s powerful components. How’s it all going to fit? I wondered. The answer: It’s all about girth, baby.
CPU: Intel Core i9 13980HX Graphics: RTX 4080 (175W) RAM: 16GB DDR5-4800 Display: 16-inch ROG Nebula HDR, 240Hz, 3ms Storage: 1TB NVMe SSD Ports/Connectivity: 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack 1x HDMI 2.1 FRL, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C for display / power delivery, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x 2.5G LAN port, 1x Thunderbolt 4 DisplayPort with G-SYNC Weight: 2.50kg / 5.51lbs Size: 13.94 x 10.39 x 1.20 inches /35.4 x 26.4 x 3.04 cm MSRP: £3,300 | 2,900
The Scar 16 is thick, and heavy enough to make me question the notebook nomenclature, though it’s nowhere near as dense as the desktop replacements of yesteryear (see the 8lbs Gigabyte Aorus 17X YD). Still, the Scar is thick enough that I almost expected to find a mechanical keyboard under the lid.
No such luck, sadly, though the chiclet board has a pleasantly tactile bounce, and n-key rollover for gaming as one would expect. It’s not the most satisfying to type on, but it does the job when it comes to gaming.
Along the thick edges you’re looking at a couple of USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports on one side, and a pair of USB Type-C ports on the other—one Thunderbolt 4 with DisplayPort, the other for display and/or power delivery to peripherals. There is an HDMI 2.1 port as well as 2.5G ethernet port. In other words, high spec connectivity isn’t going to be a problem, though some may be disappointed at the lack of non-USB Type-C DisplayPort.
With the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 packing a 175W RTX 4080 GPU under the hood, I noticed a few of the gaming performance numbers come close to, even blow straight past, some of other current-gen laptops we tested, even ones packing the RTX 4090 in its 150W form. In Cyberpunk 2077 for example, the Scar 16 manages 57 fps averages at 1080p against the Asus Zephyrus M16’s 60 fps even in Ultra Ray Tracing mode.
Pitting it against that same 150W GPU at 1080p in Hitman 3’s Dubai benchmark, the Scar 16 actually surpasses the RTX 4090’s 240 fps average by a whopping 26 fps, albeit with a lower minimum framerate. That points to a little inconsistency, but a lot of potential.
Context is key at higher resolutions—though the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i’s panel is 1600p native, it was actually tested at 1440p. That means while it looks like the Scar is falling behind the less expensive machine and its 150W RTX 4080 in a few benchmarks, the Scar 16 was tested at its native 1600p—meaning there’s actually not a lot in it.
While we’re on the subject of the screen, that 16:10 Nebula screen is a nice ratio when you switch things up for a work session, though movies and cutscenes in games may end up sandwiched between black bars, as they tend to be designed with the standard 16:9 ratio in mind.
Still, it adds to the retro feel, like you’re gaming on a CRT TV. Not that the tech behind the Nebula is even vaguely comparable to those old, flickering beasts.
This Mini-LED panel handles HDR well—though this generally isn’t the case for desktop monitors, the smaller panels on laptops mean smaller dimming zones, and in turn the usual issues become less visible. This panel came out looking velvety and rich with no calibration necessary. A cherry atop a fine gaming laptop, indeed. And with the kind of power this thing is packing, the monster 240Hz refresh rate leaves little legroom for some games, even in Ultra settings at its native 1660p resolution.
If you’ve not got yourself one of the best gaming headsets, you could do worse than the Scar 16’s speakers, too. They’re a little muddy from being packed into suck a tight chassis, though generally they’re rich and bass-friendly. The 720p webcam handles low light well and sits in the right place, but it does give me lobster-red flush.
The real star of the show is the Intel Core i9 13980HX. A CPU like this gives the Strix Scar 16 a leg up against some of the 4,000 laptops of this generation. Sure you’re missing out on some of the GPU power, but the Scar doesn’t mess around when it comes to handling all those physics simulations in the ever destructible environments we’re seeing in games today.
The Minimum CPU samples per minute in Blender’s Junkyard benchmark shows it’s got a lot to offer game artists, too.
It puts even the 4,000 Zephyrus M16’s i9 13900H to shame when it comes to video encoding, and although its multi-core performance falls behind the 5,300 MSI Titan’s i9 13950HX in rendering benchmarks, it’s single-core you’re looking at for gaming. There the Strix Scar stands with the best. You might think that slight multithreading miss translates badly in Blender, but the Minimum CPU samples per minute in Blender’s Junkyard benchmark shows it’s got a lot to offer game artists, too.
All that power in hungriness comes at a price, however and it means that while the Strix Scar 16’s hour and twenty minute battery life sits in the middle compared to other gaming laptops of it’s class, it’s still not at the level we want from a portable device. It also runs a little hot for my liking. The CPU and GPU hit 105°C and 83°C respectively under load, which is hotter than the rest we tested.
There’s some serious coil whine coming from under the hood when you boot up a game, too. It’s drowned out by the laptop’s fans mostly, but it can sound quite concerning if you’re not used to these kinds of common hardware noises.
As for general use, I’ve come up against a few issues with the Nvidia Optimus tech. While it’s likely contributing to a slightly more impressive battery life, this data-rerouting middleman can create a bottleneck when it comes to gaming, and makes switching between programs a less than seamless experience. The Scar has also been a little unresponsive in general when opening some programs, and crashed just from trying to open PCMark 10 at one point—with no other programs open, aside from Steam running in the background. And even though the Scar’s positioned itself nicely as a 3D rendering and video encoding machine, the 16GB of dual-channel DDR5-4800 RAM means it may still struggle against some modern use cases.
The Strix Scar’s SSD also lags behind the competition, with the 3DMark storage index score sitting disappointingly lower than the less expensive Legion Pro 7i. Pair the 103ns against the Legion’s speedy 58ns, and FFXIV Endwalker load times of 11.236 seconds against a tasty 9 seconds, and it’s clear there’s a lot to be desired in the storage department.
Sadly, despite the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 really packing a punch with the core spec, the surrounding components let it down. At £3,300 / 2,900 it’s worth considering the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i as an alternative for 150 less. That way you get a similarly powerful gaming laptop, but one that’s better balanced overall, and even comes with 32GB of DDR5-6000 memory compared to the Scar 16’s 16GB. It’s an even better compromise in the UK for £600 less, and although the battery life is a little less impressive we’re sort of resigned to keeping gaming laptops chained to the wall socket, at this point.
Despite its powerful components, the Strix Scar can’t hang with similar and cheaper specced laptops.
Tom’s Hardware Verdict
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733Z comes with pretty RGB lighting and a mindful, functional design. But despite powerful components, it can’t hang with similarly-specced gaming laptops that cost less.
Pros
- Functional design
- Stays cool to the touch
- Powerful productivity performance
- Many ports to choose from
Cons
- – Underwhelming gaming performance
- – Pricey compared to competitors
- – No webcam
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While some some of the best gaming laptops have subtle aesthetics, other models make it entirely clear what they were designed for. The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G73ZZ (2,499.99 as configured) is quite obviously for gamers and has a design covered with RGB lighting, heavy branding, and RGB within the branding just to make sure folks get all the flashing lights they can. However, the Strix Scar laptop is more than just a light show with the latest 12th Gen Intel Core CPUs and an Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti graphics card. There’s actual functionality behind its design that not many other manufacturers consider, like utilizing soft-touch material that makes the skin feel cooler or rubber grips to make it easier to hold, which helps the Asus ROG Strix Scar stand out.
However, plenty of similarly specced gaming laptops can perform better than the Strix Scar. There are even a couple of competitors that both outperform the laptop and are cheaper to boot.
Design of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G73ZZ
The Asus ROG Strix Scar is thick and hefty with a black finish, several silver accents, and a mixture of soft-touch plastic materials on the surrounding surfaces. The ROG logo emits RGB lighting on the top of the chassis. And next to the logo is a subtle strip with the same symbol throughout.
The ROG sports customizable “armor caps” — plastic decorations on the back of the laptop near the port. Ours came with the silver one attached by default. They slide in and out with a small magnetic force, are used to cover the laptop hinges and double as some added flair. Asus has the armor caps available in two different shades of black and allows folks with 3D printers to print their own with a 3D printing template you can find on its website.
Next to the armor cap is a dox matrix design beneath the vents, near the back ports. There’s also a rubberized grip on the underside of the Strix Scar to help keep the laptop in place while typing and make it easier to carry around. Of course, the notebook also has wraparound RGB lighting on the front-underside, which looks fantastic. However, there’s also a tiny strip of RGB lighting underneath a gap in the display. This illuminates the front of the laptop when it’s open and bounces off the surface in tandem with the keyboard keys to great effect.
There’s a small notch to lift the laptop’s lid but no webcam underneath it. Even though Asus hasn’t had webcams on some of its gaming laptops for a few years, the lack of a camera shocked me. There’s little to no reason a big, expensive laptop shouldn’t have one.
The barely-visible strip of ROG logos follows itself to the laptop’s surface and strikes through the keyboard. It’s a lighter gray and more prominent here. I noticed some of the right-half of the surface uses semi-translucent plastic to showcase the internals. The rest of the Strix Scar utilizes a soft-touch material around the palm rests to keep the surface cool when the machine runs hot.
A lot of thought clearly went into the design choices for the Strix Scar, like the rubbery grips underneath and the matte black soft-touch material that’s more practical and less premium. Static blacks, different-looking surface materials, and thick plastic grips on the bottom aren’t things you’d find on more lavish, premiere laptops.
There’s functionality behind the Asus ROG Strix Scar, and I appreciate the thought behind the design.
On the left side of the Asus ROG Strix Scar are two USB-A ports and a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and on the right is a space for an Asus keystone, a proprietary accessory for those who want to import lighting and sound settings from different machines (or have different settings for different users). Most of the ports are relegated to the back of the device. There is a Thunderbolt 4 port, a USB-C 3.2 port, HDMI 2.1 port, an Ethernet jack, and a port for the power.
The Strix Scar comes in at 15.55 x 11.10 x 0.92 inches and 6.1 pounds, which is either bigger or heavier than anything we compared it to. Right behind it is the Razer Blade 17 at 15.55 x 10.2 x 0.8 inches and 6.1 pounds, the Lenovo Legion 5i Pro at 14.17 x 10.4 x 1.05 inches and 5.49 pounds (albeit with a 16-inch screen), and the Gigabyte Aorus 17 XE4 at 16. 7 x 10 x 1.1 0 inches and 5.95 pounds.
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733Z Specifications
| Intel Core i9-12900H |
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop (GPU 8GB GDDR6) 1,410 MHz Boost Clock, 150W Max Graphics Power |
| 32GB DDR5-4800 |
| 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD |
| 17.3-inch 2560 x 1440, 240Hz QHD IPS |
| MediaTek Wi-Fi 6E MT7922 160MHz Wireless Lan Card, Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, HDMI 2.1, 3.5 mm headphone jack, 2.5 GB Ethernet port, Keystone |
| None |
| 90 WHr |
| 280 W |
| Windows 11 Pro |
| 15.55 x 11.10 x 0.92 inches (394.97 x 281.94 x 23.36 mm) |
| 6.39 lbs (2.9 Kg) |
| 2,499.99 |
Gaming and Graphics on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733Z
Our configuration of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 came with an Intel Core i9-12900H and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti with 8GB of GDDR6 RAM. Competitors like the Lenovo Legion 5i Pro and Gigabyte Aorus 17 XE4 have the exact same graphics card, while the Razor Blade 17 we tested ran on a 3080 Ti. This explains why the Razer Blade 17 slightly outperformed the rest of the bunch during our benchmarking.
When I played Borderlands 2 for the first time (highest setting), the game looked gorgeous and felt snappy thanks to the QHD 240 Hz display, which allowed the game to run at well over 120 frames per second. However, frames fluctuated between 100 and 120 fps as the action ramped up. When I went from boots-on-the-ground firefights to driving, the frames stayed around 95 fps.
On the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark (highest settings), the Asus ROG Strix Scar reached 95 fps at 1080p. It was the third-best, behind the Razer Blade 17’s 116 fps and the Legion 5i Pro’s 110 fps, but it beat the Aorus’ 89 fps. In its native 1440p resolution, the Strix Scar hit 60 fps. At the Legion 5i Pro’s native 1600p, it reached 69 fps.
During the Far Cry 6 (ultra settings) benchmark, the Strix Scar was the slowest, outputting 68 fps at 1080p. Meanwhile, the Aorus reached 76 fps, behind the Legion 5i’s 81 fps and the Razer Blade’s 84 fps. When benchmarking in their native resolution, the Strix Scar hit 49 fps at 1440p, and the Legion 5i Pro got 53 fps.
On the benchmark for Grand Theft Auto V (very high settings), the Strix Scar reached 115 fps, the second slowest before the Aorus’ 105 fps. The Legion 5i Pro was ahead at 131 fps, and the Razer Blade 17 was on top at 133 fps. When benchmarking in their native resolutions, the Strix Scar hit 73 fps at 1440p, and the Legion 5i Pro got 78 fps at 1600p.
During the Borderlands 3 (FHD) benchmark at 1080p, the Strix Scar got 85 fps. The Aorus at 81 fps was right behind it, while the Legion 5i Pro (99 fps) and the Razer Blade (100 fps) topped the charts again. In its native 1440 resolution, the Strix Scar hit 60 fps. At the Legion 5i Pro’s native 1600p, it reached 67 fps.
On the Red Dead Redemption 2 benchmark (medium settings), the Strix Scar was the slowest of the bunch at 68 fps. The Aorus was ahead with 76 fps, and the Legion 5i Pro and Razer Blade 17 led at 81 fps and 84 fps. When benchmarking in their native resolution, the Strix Scar reached 49 fps at 1440p, and the Legion 5i Pro hit 53 fps.
On gaming laptops, we test the system by running the Metro Exodus benchmark on RTX settings 15 times, simulating about half an hour of gameplay. The game ran at 61.94 frames per second and stayed pretty consistent throughout.
During the stress test, CPU speeds came in at an average of 3.9 GHz on the performance cores and 3.2 GHz on the efficiency cores. The temperature of the CPU averaged 77.3 degrees Celsius (171.14 degrees Fahrenheit). The GPU ran at an average of 1,168 MHz and a temperature of 77.4 degrees Celsius (171.32 degrees Fahrenheit).
ROG Strix G15 Review: A Gaming Laptop Built To Suit Every Gamer
These laptops are meant to be plugged in for the most part and not carried around on a daily basis.
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It’s become clear that gaming laptops have a very specific audience that they cater to. Traditionally, gaming laptops have been bulky, and come with a fast charger, a high refresh rate display (sans the ability to use it as a touchscreen), and a GPU to support all the modern titles out there.
These laptops are meant to be plugged in for the most part and not carried around on a daily basis. As of late, Lenovo and Razr and a few others are trying to blur the lines between a gaming laptop and portability. Asus’ ROG line is one that isn’t adapting to this new trend.
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The Republic of Gamers (ROG) name has become quite synonymous with gamers and the gaming landscape across India. Asus created ROG back in 2006 and now it has spread its wings to smartphones as well as bringing out new laptops and PCs each and every year.
The ROG Strix has always been popular amongst hardcore gamers and the 2022 edition is no different. While I really admire the Zephyrus gaming laptops from Asus for many reasons, the ROG Strix G15 has proven more than capable in the time I’ve had it. I’ve been playing a number of games on it for over a week and while I appreciate its gaming prowess, the heftiness and poor key travel along average battery life have left me slightly disappointed.
Let me explain.
There’s a lot to like about the ROG Strix G15. During my unboxing of the ROG Strix G15, I was super excited to see that it had AMD’s Ryzen 9 6900HX chipset. Laptops with this particular chipset have been getting rave reviews across the world. There’s also a Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti 8GB (RTX 3080 is also available if one wants to spend more), 1TB SSD 16GB DDR5 RAM, a 90Whr battery and, the icing on the cake, the 15.6-inch QHD 165Hz display.
Reading out the specification list and your jaw drops. Asus hasn’t spared anything. They’ve gone all out. Best of all, the laptop is built like a tank. The subtle touches like the glowing ROG logo on the lid, RGB lighting on the keys add to the premium feel of the laptop.
A gaming beast
You’re probably here wondering whether you can play the latest installment in the Halo franchise without losing that all-important ‘edge’ to your opponents. I started out by playing Forza Horizon 5, one of my favorite games of late. Driving around Mexico, on the 15.6-inch QHD (2K) IPS LCD screen was a treat from the moment I accelerated at a breathtaking pace. The display has some great viewing angles, and a QHD 2K display is a good compromise. Gamers much rather have a display with a higher refresh rate than an OLED, which is much preferred by binge-watchers. I routinely got over 85 fps while playing Forza Horizon 5. Lower the resolution to 1080p, and you can eke out a higher fps.
Asus has cleverly added a MUX switch (something that is new) that allows the user to “manually engage or disengage the integrated graphics”. This lets the users get the most out of the 3070 Ti.
Other than Forza Horizon 5, I played some Halo, Mortal Kombat, and old school games like TrackMania Nations Forever and FIFA 22 and I didn’t even realize where the time went. The keyboard was comfortable, and yes, I had an external mouse with me. The laptop did get hot, but it was never at any uncomfortable levels. There are dedicated hotkeys. volume, mic mute controls, operating modes, and Armoury Craft. on the top left of the keyboard. To my surprise, these hotkeys are programmable. So the user can decide what function to be assigned to which key.
There’s a dedicated media and quick controls row at the top of the keyboard, with play, stop, previous and next keys among others.
There’s a nice mix of I/O ports. There are two USB 3.2 Type-C ports, an HDMI port, an RJ45 port, and the power port all at the back. ON the left there is a 3.5mm headphone jack and two USB 2.0 ports.
Last but not least, the laptop comes with a huge 280W charging adapter. It’s bulky but does the job. It charges the laptop in about two hours. USB-C charging is supported but limited at 100W.
Where the laptop wavers
The ROG Strix G15 isn’t meant to be used while on battery. Nonetheless, I headed over to a neighbourhood cafe and fired up the gaming beast. Predictably, I got a ton of errors about “graphics card not found” and “please lower the settings for a smoother gaming experience”. These aren’t exclusive to the ROG Strix G15, mind you. It’s the same as most gaming laptops out there.
Yes, I needn’t say this again, but here I go. Do not game whilst on battery. Maybe a casual game or two, but definitely nothing on the level of Halo or Battlefield. Firstly, you’ll be doing yourself an injustice, and starting at a disadvantage as compared to your opponent as the laptop will stutter along at certain points. Secondly, the laptop will hardly last you 80-90 minutes before shutting down.
The thing that disappointed me though was that even with casual, non-gaming tasks, I was able to kill the laptop in under four hours. That pretty much means that the laptop cannot be taken anywhere that doesn’t have a plug point. In an era where work and play have blended into each other, it’s disappointing that one can’t use this laptop for both.
Gamers will be thrilled but creators will most definitely not be. The travel on the keys are shallow and my typing speed suffered. The rectangular arrow keys are hard to get to for people with big/fat fingers.
There’s also no in-built webcam. There’s an FHD external webcam bundled in the box, but that in turn, takes up one of the USB ports.
Verdict: Is the ROG Strix G15 the laptop for you?
If you’re a hardcore gamer, then the ROG Strix G15 is a no-brainer, even at ₹1,94,990. It’s got the Ryzen 6000 chipset, top-of-the-line GPU, and much more. If you aren’t dedicated to the gaming scene, then one can look elsewhere, because laptops like the Dell XPS 13 and HP Spectre x360 are sleek, portable, and powerful ultrabooks that are available for much less.
The Asus ROG Strix G15 is a gaming laptop made for gamers and for gamers only. I’ve had a fantastic experience gaming on it for over a week, and in that respect, I can’t at all complain.
As a content creator and a huge binge-watcher, I just can’t justify the exorbitant entry price but neither can I for many other laptops out there. That’s all there is to it.
For gamers, the ROG Strix G15, like the previous iterations, will be an absolute delight. It’ll provide the necessary edge in gaming and the high refresh rate display is one of the best out there. For everyone else, just look around a little bit and you’ll see plenty of other options out there.
