Hands On with the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18

Sometimes a laptop can be a statement piece, and that's certainly the case with the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 I've been testing. It's not only one of the very first laptops with the mobile version of NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 5090 GPU, it's also a massive 18-inch desktop replacement with RGB running lights and even an LED strip across the back for displaying custom messages and animations. 

Our review unit (currently $4,599) pairs that high-end GPU with Intel's Core Ultra 9 275HX, a hefty 64GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD, all running Windows 11 Pro. I generally suggest at least 32GB of RAM for a high-end gaming PC these days, but jumping up to 64GB puts this in reach of even bigger local AI models, so I could see this system appealing to power users beyond just gamers. 

Design and features

Visually, the Scar 18 is pure ROG. Sharp angles meet customizable RGB lighting everywhere -- including per-key keyboard backlighting, light bars under the chassis, and the traditional glowing Asus lid logo. 

While solid and well-constructed, the chassis remains primarily plastic (ABS/Polycarbonate), saving the aluminum for the lid's exterior. In general I'd prefer an all-metal body, but the mix of materials does help with both heat retention and weight. As it is, the Scar 18 is just under 7.5 pounds, so it's luggable, but already on the heavy side. 

Two features really stand out -- one unique, one rare. The first is what Asus calls the AniMe Vision Display. It's a monochromatic display strip on the back of the lid which can display either a preset or custom message or animation. It's been seen on a handful of Asus Zephyrus laptops and makes for a nice point of differentiation from other high-end 18-inch gaming systems. 

I had fun playing around with the animation options and quickly moved past the presets to program in my own custom messages. You can turn it off if the whole idea doesn't appeal, but as a simple black-and-white low-res display, almost like an old LED sign, it's not going to have any real impact on performance or battery life. 

The second noteworthy feature is the tool-free access to the bottom panel, which lets you get to the RAM, SSD, and fans with a simple sliding latch. With 64GB in this particular configuration, I don't think any RAM upgrades are in the offing, but I like being able to swap the storage drives and even clean the fans easily. 

Gaming systems are one of the few categories of laptop where you can still get an expansive set of ports and connections, instead of relying on a hub or just USB-C. Here, you get USB-C/Thunderbolt 5 ports alongside USB-A, HDMI 2.1, and a 2.5G Ethernet jack. It also trades up to Wi-Fi 7, which is handy, because I just upgraded to a new Wi-Fi 7 home mesh network. 

Display and visuals

That 18-inch, 16:10 display is a genuine highlight. It’s a Mini-LED panel, not OLED, but the image quality is excellent, delivering solid blacks and bright highlights thanks to its large number of dimming zones. It also covers 100% of DCI-P3, with additional Pantone Validation and Dolby Vision HDR support. 

Importantly, the screen has a matte finish, which I usually prefer even on gaming laptops, for cutting down reflections. The QHD+ (2560 x 1600) resolution feels perfect for this screen size; pushing to 4K on a gaming laptop often feels like overkill, unnecessarily taxing the GPU and battery for diminishing returns. Even when running a gaming PC through my 4K TV, I usually set games to this resolution. The 2K resolution here also helps the system take advantage of its high 240Hz refresh rate. 

Gaming performance

But the real reason for investing in a system like this is performance, especially in games. The combination of the Core Ultra 9 275HX and the RTX 5090 Laptop GPU (running at a high 175W TGP), along with 64GB of RAM, makes this one of the most powerful gaming laptops you can buy right now.  

I threw demanding new games like Expedition 33, Oblivion Remastered, and Space Marine 2 at it, and they all ran beautifully at native resolution with detail settings maxed out, even with ray tracing enabled. NVIDIA's DLSS 4 tech helps keep frame rates high, but the raw power here is undeniable. It handles demanding creative tasks and complex multitasking just as easily, and I've used it for video editing, Photoshop, and running local AI models as well. 

For example, in Cyberpunk 2077, I got around 90 frames per second at 2K resolution with detail settings at Ultra, Ray Tracing at medium, and DLSS frame generation turned off. There's a good reason that combination of the Core Ultra 9 275HX and either the RTX 5090 or 5080 is the current go-to for high-end laptops. 

Software and settings

Asus includes its Armoury Crate software for system monitoring, performance tuning (overclocking, fan modes), and lighting control. It offers a lot of depth of detail and customization options, letting you tweak things to your liking. Like many such utilities, it can feel a bit overloaded, but it also lets you jump between the Silent, Performance, Turbo, and Manual presets with ease.  Four customizable buttons above the Function key row can also be programmed from the Armoury Crate software. 

I found Turbo made the fans too loud for my taste, so I kept the system in Performance mode most of the time, which is also how I set it for benchmarking. Besides the fan/power presets, the system has a vapor chamber, heatsink, and several large fans for cooling.

One quirk I encountered was an occasional reluctance to wake reliably from sleep mode. This seems to be a recurring theme with certain hardware combinations under Windows 11, potentially linked to the Modern Standby feature. Disabling Modern Standby provided a stable workaround during my testing.

This all-around high-end approach makes the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 G835LX my current king of the gaming laptops. Even though it's currently around $4,500, it's not even close to the most expensive laptop I've ever reviewed (that might be this $9,000 21-inch Acer from 2017) -- but it's certainly a hefty investment. 

Still, for the price, it delivers bleeding edge performance, anchored by that excellent 18-inch matte-finish QHD+ display and the new RTX 5090 Laptop GPU. Plus, with its tool-free component access and rear-panel secondary display, it also finds a way to stand out from other laptops that feature the same 275HX/5090 combo. 

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Micro Center Editor-in-Chief Dan Ackerman is a veteran tech reporter and has served as Editor-in-Chief of Gizmodo and Editorial Director at CNET. He's been testing and reviewing laptops and other consumer tech for almost 20 years and is the author of The Tetris Effect, a Cold War history of the world's most influential video game. Contact Dan at [email protected].