ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 G834JY 18.0” 240Hz Gaming Laptop (Intel i9-13980H, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, 16GB RAM, 2TB SSD, Windows 11) Includes ROG HDR Nebula Display

So if you’re looking at this laptop, you’re looking for top tier. Sure the MSI titan manages to squeeze a tad more performance out of the same components, but flying that close to the sun comes at a cost, financially and reliability. So with only a few others hitting this sweet spot, why should you choose this? Intro: My nearly 4 year old Alienware Area51 2080ti is starting to show its age. It’s fast enough, but struggles on the latest ray tracing titles, the call of the newest and bestest is getting stronger. I chose that laptop as really at the time it was the king of the big desktop replacement laptops. I travel a lot for my job so I wanted performance as close to my high end desktop as possible on the move. I was close to pulling the trigger on the Alienware M18 with the same hardware as the ROG, but after reviewing everything, it seems it, like many of the current gen top end laptops has thermal issues. Not so with the SCAR 18. It’s almost magical how this thing can perform and keep performing under load without hitting any thermal throttle! The 13980 i9 and RTX4090 is an awesome combo! The SSD is lightning fast, and the 2tb is generous compared to others! Out the box it’s already as fast as my previous gen i9 3090 desktop, which is silly for a laptop. The fans kick in and ate a bit noisy, but no more so than my old Alienware. It’s also a lot thinner. And it might be strange to say this, but despite the massive screen, this thing is sleek and comparatively light, next to that old thing! I’d happily carry it in a rucksack! Performance: Make sure you update the bios and you can unlock the under volt offsets and really get some performance out of it! I’m talking silly speeds! Frame rates well over 100 in any game on ultra is reasonable to expect. No longer do you need to worry about slowing down. This thing can even play star citizen at max settings with very high frames, which is nuts! It’s never going to be as fast as a desktop 4090 best, as it’s s fraction of the power available, but it’s benchmark is on par with some high end 4080 i9 desktops. So not bad for something you can pick up in your hand! Lighting: The RGB lighting is the best I’ve seen on a laptop, loads of presets to choose from and awesome knight rider like effect when it goes to sleep! The screen is beautiful and the keyboard is nice to use. I’d use this thing to work on too frankly. Sound: So most people will probably just get headphones on for this kind of machine, but the speakers are really impressive. Very crisp and good base. If you want to sit in a hotel room and turn it into a cinema, this thing does the trick. That said you’d need it loud if heavy gaming as the fans will need to be drowned out. Downsides: The power brick is a bit big, but nothing like the two lumps from the Alienware I used to have to carry. The track pad is a bit crap too, it feels nice, but been a bit funny to used, but I’d rarely not use a mouse. And you have to mention the fan noise on any gaming laptop. When you crank this thing, it kicks out a lot of air… no worse than others I’ve tried, but none are good! That said, you can use a quiet mode for reduced performance, which is still good… oh and it might be a laptop, but this thing eats power, it’s not going to last long not plugged in. And those are my only cons. Conclusion: If you want what could easily be considered one of the best, that continues to improve from bios updates, then this is the one. I have zero regrets! Unreasonable power, great screen and design and a fantastic package overall.

As others have said, it is a great laptop for gaming, expensive and somewhat overpriced (as are all new components, but that is another issue). Not much more to add. However, since I cannot complain anywhere else, I would like to warn people when they order this to be careful with UPS shipping. The laptop was shipped via UPS and I was not at home when the courier arrived (I was at work) and the guy just left the package in front of the entrance door and said I took it over! He did not leave it at some drop point or post or anything else. For such an expensive item this is unacceptable, it could have been stolen by someone. So, if you are ordering this and it is shipped via UPS, better ship it directly to some drop off point or post so that you take it over personally. In summary: Laptop: 5/5, although quite a bit overpriced Shipping: -5/5, be careful what you select during checkout

13 months after buying Function Keys are dropping off and the 'X' key doesn't work which is why I'm can't type the letter. I don't even use the ones that have come off, I know that's a mixed message on the upside I don't use them but they've fallen off despite not being used. I do use x key!!!! If I press really hard sometimes it works. (I had to use the on-screen keyboard for this) I've tried using the a dust blower I bought but it doesn't help. Good to have though because the vents block up quickly This is a 4090 but it's only 16GB of VRAM it doesn't tell you that in the description.

It has now been several months since I purchased my Scar 18. This is a really sturdy and potent laptop, with which I'm very happy despite its price tag; one of the strong spots is its comprehensive keyboard, with a number pad and a set of 5 customizable softkeys (this was one of the reasons why I chose this particular one). It is a great laptop for texting in documents, with key functions like PageUp, PageDown, Home and End easily accessible. On the other hand, while gaming (which I don't do that often), the laptop can get hot, and the fans can get really noisy - even though the unit allows you to control the fan behaviour. Furthermore, worth mentioning that the upper part of the keyboard is of a translucent grey tone that allows you to see a few screws and components of the unit below the surface - which I'm fine with, but may not be of everyone's liking. Additionally, one of two important points worth mentioning: for those who have never owned a laptop with 240Hz refresh rate capacity, you'll be WOWed by the extra frame rate; it makes motion pictures and tasks so much more fluid, especially gaming. The second point I find important to mention, specially for those who have never owned a 18-inch screen laptop such as this: it is so large, that it will barely fit on a standard laptop case or backpack - therefore, it will NOT be the most suitable laptop if you plan to frequently take it along your trips or in flights, because it's not the easiest laptop to put in and out of a carrier bag. And it's not exactly the lightest laptop either.

Good laptop. A bit heavy but for the power it has its worth it. Good build quality.

Nothing to dislike, looks like a very good laptop but the Technical Details sheet is either incomplete or wrong on Amazon, on Asus website for the same model ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 G834JY - the processor is shown as 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-13980HX Processor 2.2 GHz (36M Cache, up to 5.6 GHz, 24 cores: 8 P-cores and 16 E-cores) and the RAM Memory is 32GB DDR5-4800 SO-DIMM x 2 Max Capacity : 64GB Support dual channel memory. Either there is a typo on Amazon or these are two different products with the same model ID - ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 G834JY. Just sayin...