Furthermore, both these Scars are an up to 230W total power crossload design: 55W CPU + 175 GPU. For reference, a few other performance laptops are 250W total power designs, such as the MSI Raider GE78, with the difference being on the CPU side.

I reran the tests on the mature software available around late-April (BIOS 309), several months past the initial launch of this series. Our review unit is a powerful configuration with the Intel Core i9-13980HX processor, Nvidia RTX 4080 Laptop 175W dGPU, and a mini LED display. You can also opt for the 4090 on this series, if your budget allows it, and we’ll discuss the performance differences between the two GPUs in the article. I’ll also add that this Scar generation still implements a system of 4x speakers (two under the screen, two on the bottom) and no biometrics: no IR camera and no finger sensor. Update: Here are the configurations available for the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 and Scar 18 (2023) series:

Endless Customization

On to more demanding loads, we start by testing the CPU’s performance by running the Cinebench R15 test for 15+ times in a loop, with a 1-2 seconds delay between each run.

Dominate the Windows 11 Pro battlefield with the all-new ROG Strix SCAR 18. Introducing a 18-inch screen to the SCAR lineup for the first time, see the enemy more clearly than ever before. Powered by a 13 th Gen Intel ® Core™ i9-13980HX processor and NVIDIA ® GeForce RTX™ 4090 Laptop GPU with a max TGP of 175W, the SCAR 18 easily handles even the most demanding games. It also comes with a dedicated MUX Switch with support for NVIDIA Advanced Optimus, enabling you to easily harness the true power of your GPU when gaming. With support for up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM and up to 4TB of PCIe Gen4x4 storage, the SCAR 18 can easily game, stream, and create content all at the same time without breaking a sweat. For the ultimate gaming laptop, look no further than the Strix SCAR 18. The Core i9-13980HX is the top mobile processor in Intel’s Raptor Lake 13th-gen platform, with 24 Cores and 32 Threads. It is a hybrid design with 8 High-Performance and dual-threaded Cores, and 16 extra Efficiency cores, which work together or separately in the various loads. The design and thermal module of this Scar allow the processor to run at ~135-150W of sustained power in demanding CPU loads, on the Turbo or Manual profiles. That aside, the other notable design change with these 2023 Scars is represented by the updated cooling module. We have the mini LED on our sample, which seems to be the most widespread of the two. This miniLED panel is branded as “ROG Nebula HDR” on Asus laptops, and it’s the same panel from BOE that Asus also offer on the Zephyrus M16 and the Flow X16 models. In some cases, the extra GPU cores and vRAM in the Zephyrus give it the edge; in others, the higher TGP and faster CPU of the Scar 16 nudge it front. Of course, the big difference is the Scar 16 is cheaper and, therefore, delivers more frames per second per pound spent.Aside from these main power profiles, there are also some GPU options to choose from: Ultimate (dGPU only, requires a restart when selected), Standard (enables Advanced Optimus), Optimized (enables regular Optimus), and Eco (regular Optimus, but disables the dGPU). I mostly kept the laptop on Standard for daily use and tests, and opted for Ultimate for gaming. The interior still smudges easily, and the grime and the oils are more difficult to wipe clean than on metal dark surfaces. In comparison, the finishing that Asus offers on their Zephyrus models is just better at this. The keyboard is full size, with all chiclet keys, a full complement of function keys, and a row of media controls—plus, it doesn't try to fit a number pad into the design. Instead, the laptop has a button integrated into the touchpad that illuminates a touch-based grid of numbers right on the touchpad.

In fact, I do preffer having a bigger 16:10 display on these laptops, and the extra screen real-estate is noticeable on both sizes. The smaller bezels are noticeable as well. The 2023 Asus ROG Scars remain Intel-exclusive platforms, bundling the fastest Core i9 HX 13th-gen mobile processors of the moment, with up to 64 GB of DDR5 RAM, 4 TB of storage, and various GPU options going up to the latest Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 16 GB running at up to 175W TGP. Impressive, and even more impressive is the value for the money offered by this i9+ 4080 configuration, in comparison to the more expensive i9 + RTX 4090 variant! i9 (13th gen) + RTX 4080 vs i9 + RTX 4090/RTX 3080Ti performanceNot bad, but not great either. The mini LED panel takes a slight toll on efficiency over a regular IPS display, and it looks like setting the screen on multi-zone lighting has a positive impact on the runtimes while streaming video content. With the combined output of both USB-C and a full-size HDMI port paired with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 inside, the ROG Strix Scar 16 can support up to three external 4K monitors at 60Hz simultaneously, making it perfectly suited to multi-monitor setups (so long as you don't need a higher refresh rate). With the Asus set to its default Performance mode, it dished out a Geekbench multi-threaded score of 19,266 and a Cinebench R23 result of 25,152, making even the mighty Core i9-13800H look positively puny. And that’s just getting started. Switch up to Turbo mode and you can hit 30,867 in the Cinebench rendering benchmark, which is visibly fast enough to make your jaw drop and leave it hanging for a while. I also appreciate the sturdy build quality, the updated IO and inputs, and the beautiful 16-inch mini LED display available on this series, arguably the best-balanced screen option you can find on a 16-inch gaming/performance laptop today. As well as the VESA HDR certificate the display is also TÜV Rheinland-approved for low blue light emissions, Pantone Color validated for colour accuracy and has the Dolby Vision seal of approval.