Asus ROG Strix Scar 17: powerful, brash, derivative

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It is always a way to surprise me. It is a company that can produce the elegant ROG Zephyrus G14 and G15 gaming laptops, up there with the best in the business in terms of design and thinness. It can make the Flow Z13, a thin gaming tablet. It can go in the opposite direction to make something like the Strix Scar 17, a powerful but less refined laptop that starts at $1,999 and goes up from there. I would say that it's a device made specifically for gaming, but I know a lot of people who wouldn't want to be seen using it.

The enclosure for its display has a cut out that is just because. To give your laptop a different look, you can swap between a few included armor caps.

The Strix Scar 17 is a refresh, with very little of its exterior changed from its predecessors. The focus was on making improvements to its internals. It has a Core i9 12900H processor built-in, 32GB of fast DDR5 ram, and a powerful Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti graphics card. The 17.3-inch QHD panel has a fast refresh rate, so you can see all of that power on display.

You can see the perks of having the latest Intel and Nvidia hardware built in when you look at this laptop. The Strix Scar 17 can play any game at a decent frame rate. The Alienware QD-OLED gaming monitor has a higher resolution than the Strix's built-in laptop display, so this laptop was more than capable to run many of those games on it.

This laptop can't compete with the new Alienware X17 in terms of looks. Both have impressive designs with high-end build materials. The Strix Scar 17 might be priced more to your liking if you don't care about those qualities. The model I tested at Micro Center cost $2,499.99, less than the Blade 17 or X17 model, which cost over $3,000. You're getting a lot of power if you don't mind minor cost-cutting measures, like making the laptop clad in plastic instead of aluminum, and other annoyances.

• 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H (2.5GHz–5GHz) 
• 32GB DDR5, 2x DDR5 Slots (DDR5-4800, Max 64GB)
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU 8GB GDDR6 (Boost Clock 1410 MHz / Maximum Graphics Power 150W)
• 1x Gen4 SSD 2TB SSD 
• 17.3-inch QHD 2560 x 1440 IPS G-Sync panel, 240Hz refresh rate, 3ms response time, 100% DCI-P3
• 15.55 x 11.10 x 0.92 - 1.11 inches, 6.39 pounds
• 90Wh battery, 100W USB-C recharging
• 280W power brick
• One Thunderbolt 4 port (supports DP and 100W PD), one USB 3.2 Gen 2 type-C (supports DP), one 3.5 mm audio combo, one DC-in, one 2.5Gbps Ethernet port, two USB-3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, HDMI 2.1 port
• Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax, a/b/g/n/ac/ax compatible)
• Bluetooth V5.2

The design of the Strix Scar 17 is excessive. The previous iteration of this laptop was dressed to the nines. There is a strip of lights going around the front of the body. The raised vent component of the display has a light strip on it. Each of the keys on the mechanical keyboard is lit by the ROG logo on the back of the display. If you're looking for a laptop that doesn't have a visibleRGBLED at nearly every angle, you should probably avoid it.

The top-down view of the machine shows a line that divides a black, soft-touch section with a smoky translucent section, which looks cool.

Taking a tour around the laptop, the Strix Scar's keyboard delivers a brilliant typing experience. The keys are very satisfying to type on. It may take a few days to get used to the keyboard layout, but I'm on board with everything. There are dedicated keys near the top of the keyboard for volume, and the power button is far enough away from the other keys to not be pressed on accident. There are four keys that you can change within the software.

The number pad and generously sized trackpad are included in the package. If you lean too much on the center of the laptop, the trackpad won't click on its right side. Unless you are someone who leans their weight on the wrist rest, this shouldn't be an issue for most people. The plastic around this laptop is flexible, but it is enough to affect the function. The plastic design of the laptop creaks when I pick it up. This isn't something that you'll experience with either Alienware or Razer, but whether that makes a difference in their prices will depend on the person. It's worth noting that the Strix Scar 17's build materials don't yield a laptop that's lighter than the competition, but I wouldn't call it heavy. The all-aluminum blade 17 is 6.06 pounds. The X17 can weigh up to seven pounds.

There is a headphone jack on the left side, which is down from three in the past. There is a proprietary power connection on the backside, as well as a 2.5Gbps Ethernet jack, an HDMI 2.1 port, and two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports.

There is a physical key on the right side that can be used to log into the laptop, with all the account and device settings in tow. Performance mode and a designated app can be activated when it is inserted. You can program it to shut down applications when they are removed. If you have Windows 11 Pro, it can give you access to the shadow drive. This is a feature that I would expect to see on a business-class laptop, so it is odd to see it included with a gaming laptop.

I wasn't expecting the speakers to be one of my favorite things about the Strix Scar 17. My music and games sound better through this laptop's speakers than almost any that I've tested before, on top of its full-sized keyboard that types like a dream. The sound of games is more punch than what I have experienced with other gaming laptops.

While the laptop is plugged in, the display on the Strix Scar 17 is great, but less so when the battery is low. There is a feature that dims and improves the panel depending on what is displayed. It can be turned off within the Intel Graphics Command Center. Another quirk that is hard to ignore is the laptop's lack of aWebcam. Despite adding a webcam to this year's ROG Zephyrus G14, G15, and others, there are still a few gaming laptops without one. The decision to not include aWebcam feels like a missed opportunity because the top bezel is large enough to hold a small lens.

I have no complaints about the display. I am testing a configuration that has a 17.3-inch QHD panel with a 240Hz refresh rate. It supports 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and its 300 nits of peak brightness make it just bright enough to read when it's basking in natural light from a window. QHD is the right resolution for a 17-inch gaming laptop, despite the fact that the Strix Scar 17 has a1080p display option. Even the best mobile hardware can't handle 4K. QHD is almost as good as 4K, and it looks better than1080p.

The Strix Scar 17 is a big game that talks about bringing what people want. One of the most system-intensive PC games can run at almost 50 frames per second with QHD resolution, ultra graphics settings, and ray tracing switched on. That result is close to what the RTX 3080 Ti was capable of. The laptop costs less.

Red Dead Redemption 2 put up a respectable performance from the laptop of Asus. At ultra settings, it achieved a smooth 65 frames per second, while turning it on gave it a 7 frames per second boost. The Strix Scar 17 didn't face many obstacles when I tried to run it. The keyboard has dedicated buttons that boost the performance of the game, so it can handle most games.

The laptop's fans can get loud, but they are not as loud as other high-end gaming laptops. The Strix Scar 17's above-average speakers do an admirable job at hiding the sound of the fans, though dialogue-laden games won't fare as well, so use some headphones if that applies to you. Only the rear-most components of this laptop become hot during the game, but not so hot that it can't be used or handled.

Outside of gaming, the Strix Scar 17 delivers good performance in applications like Adobe Premiere Pro. It ripped through our export test in two minutes and nine seconds, faster than most recent laptops that we've tested. It scored 1,001 in the PugetBench suite of benchmarking tools for Premiere Pro, which is more than any other laptop we have tested so far.

Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

Any powerful gaming laptop will not have great battery life. That is the case here. The 90Wh battery can last three and a half hours under normal use, which I define as running a dozen or so browser tabs, music streaming, and a chat app like Slack. The Strix Scar 17 can be charged via a USB-C port, up to 100W. The previous versions of this laptop required you to carry it around. If you don't plan on gaming on the go, you can use theusb-c.

You don't need to spend a lot of money to get access to a fast Intel processor or a mobile graphics card. The $2,499 model has a lot of other great things, like its keyboard, QHD display, booming speakers, and above-average port selection.

Many of its best qualities can be found in other high-end gaming laptops that offer better designs. The power of the new ROG Zephyrus G14 is likely to stack up. The new ROG Zephyrus M16 has the same specifications as the Strix, but with a sharper design. It has a slightly smaller screen and a taller 16:10 aspect ratio. The M16 is $300 less expensive than the model I reviewed, costing $2,149.99. If you want a powerful laptop, the M16 may be a good alternative.

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it. It is impossible for us to read and analyze all of these agreements. We started counting how many times you have to agree to use devices when we review them.

The Strix Scar 17 presents you with a number of things to agree to or decline upon setup.

An agreement is required for the mandatory policies.

• A request for your region and keyboard layout
• Microsoft Software License Terms and Asus Notice
• Sign in to a Microsoft account
• Create a PIN

There are a lot of optional things to agree to.

• Connect to Wi-Fi network
• Name your device
• Set up Windows Hello (necessary to use fingerprint sensor)
• Device privacy settings: Find My Device, Inking and Typing, Advertising ID, Location, Diagnostic data, Tailored experiences
• Customize your device for personalized tips, ads, and recommendations (you can choose between entertainment, gaming, school, creativity, business, and family)
• OneDrive backup
• Microsoft 365 free trial
• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate free trial
• Provide your name, region, email address, and phone number to save to your device and autofill in the Asus member registration form in the MyAsus app

There are six mandatory agreements and 14 optional ones.