Asus' ROG laptops have been some of our most recommended gaming laptops for quite some time and now, its 2024 lineup is looking more promising than ever. The Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 is one of the latest models to have landed on the Republic of Gamers land, and it's a fairly beefy laptop that ranks among the best machines with 14th Gen Intel processors and RTX 40-series laptop GPUs. I've been testing it for a couple of weeks, and I must say that it's just as powerful as I hoped it would be.

The unit I reviewed is the top SKU that comes with a Core i9-14900HX CPU and an RTX 4090 laptop GPU. This particular configuration costs the same as the Lenovo Legion 9i that we reviewed last year, and it offers very similar performance, too. The ROG Strix Scar 16 is easily one of the most unique-looking gaming laptops on the market, and I like the look of what Asus has managed to achieve here with plastic.

It doesn't feel as premium as the laptops with CNC-milled aluminum that you might find for this kind of money, though. That, along with a couple of other qualms I have with its webcam and battery life, have forced me to shave a few points off its final score. Oh, did I tell you that a fully kitted variant of this laptop will cost you close to $4,000?

About this review: Asus sent us the ROG Strix Scar 16 for this review, and it did not have any input into its contents.

Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 (2024): Price, availability, and specifications

The Asus ROG Strix lineup was refreshed earlier this year at CES 2024, and the new models were released to the public alongside its siblings in the Zephyrus lineup. The higher-end Strix Scar laptop can be had with a 16-inch and an 18-inch display, starting at $2,900 and $3,000, respectively. The ROG Strix Scar 16 variant featured in this review is specced to the stars, and it's priced at $3,600. It's essentially in the same vein as a similar kitted Lenovo Legion 9i model.

Here's a quick look at the specifications of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 model in case you are wondering what $3,600 can get you in 2024:

Design

Pretty in plastic?

Asus has some really cool and funky-looking laptops in its portfolio, and this one is no different. The new Strix laptops look pretty much identical to their predecessors, meaning you are looking at a semi-transparent chassis with plastic construction. The tinted transparent plastic took me back to the nostalgic days of the old polycarbonate Game Boy, but its other striking elements like the two-tone underside and glowing RGB accents pulled me straight back into the modern era.

The Strix Scar 16 easily has one of the most distinctive designs I've seen on laptops in a while, and it has a lot of character.

The Strix Scar 16 easily has one of the most distinctive designs I've seen on laptops in a while, and it has a lot of character. The build quality of the machine took a back seat in my opinion, and that's mostly due to the plastic construction. The guts of the laptop feel rock-solid, but there's definitely a bit of a wobble and flex in the screen. The plastic deck is also very easy to get smudged, and it just doesn't feel like a $4,000 laptop in its flesh, especially when you compare it with the likes of the Legion 9i and the Alienware m16.

A good selection of ports

The Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 may not be the thinnest or the lightest gaming laptop out there, but it offers a good set of ports on both sides. You get two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports on the right side, coupled with dual USB-C ports, an HDMI 2.1 output, a 3.5mm combo audio jack, and an Ethernet port on the left. Only one of the two USB-C ports is a Thunderbolt 4 output, and the other one is just a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port. That being said, they both support DisplayPort output along with G-Sync compatibility for external monitors, so there are no differences there.

Keyboard and trackpad

I absolutely love this keyboard

I've got nothing but good things to say about the ROG Strix Scar 16's keyboard. The keys are all very well spaced out, and they don't feel cramped whatsoever, like they do on many laptops. They also have a good amount of travel, which makes them very comfortable to type on. I thoroughly enjoyed my time typing on this keyboard, and I'd say they're great for both gaming and everyday tasks that involve typing.

The trackpad on this laptop is nice and spacious, and it also has a smooth surface that lets you comfortably glide your fingers to move the cursor around. One thing to note about the trackpad is that it comes integrated with a numpad that illuminates to show you a grid of numbers. I've noticed that it's very easy to accidentally invoke this numpad while using the trackpad, so you may take some time to get used to it.

Display

The mini-LED Nebula HDR panel is awesome

One of the highlights of the Strix Scar 16 laptop is its mini-LED Nebula HDR display. It's a QHD+ (2560 x 1600, WQXGA) 1600p panel that's a treat for gamers thanks to its 240Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time. It also has a slew of certifications to its name, including Nvidia G-Sync, Pantone color validation, DisplayHDR 1000, and it also has support for Dolby Vision HDR.

It's a stunning display for gaming as well as for consuming other forms of media.

The mini-LED HDR display shines bright and colorful on this laptop, as it offers 1100 nits of peak brightness for HDR and 100% DCI-P3 coverage. As a mini-LED panel with over 2000 dimming zones, the Strix Scar 16's panel offers great contrast ratios with deep blacks and punchy colors. It's a stunning display for gaming as well as for consuming other forms of media, and I'd say it gives a lot of high-end gaming monitors a run for their money.

Nothing to write home about the webcam

Unlike most modern laptops that come with a 1080p webcam, the Strix Scar 16 features a mediocre 720p camera on top of the monitor. The overall quality of the footage this webcam produces is just decent at best, and it also lacks Windows Hello recognition. There is no fingerprint scanner on this machine like the one you get on the Legion 9i laptop either, so it's just not a great experience overall. The audio coming out of the four speaker system that's built in this laptop is pretty good, though. They get pretty loud without sounding muddy or distorted, which is great.

Performance

Pulls out all the stops

The variant I reviewed features an Intel Core i9-14900HX processor with 24 cores and 32 threads, complete with boost speeds of up to 5.8GHz. It's paired with an Nvidia RTX 4090 laptop graphics with a TGP (total graphics power) of 175W, and 32GB of DDR5 memory running at 5600MHz. You can also configure this laptop to have more or faster memory if you really want, but it goes unsaid that you'll be shelling out more money for those upgrades. It's one of those laptops that won't take no for an answer and handles pretty much everything with ease.

To help you get a better understanding of the kind of performance you can expect from this machine, let me give you an overview of the benchmarks I ran on this laptop. From Geekbench 6 and PCMark 10 to Cinebench R23 and 3DMark, the Scar 16 managed to finish all benchmarks without any issues, and it ended up scoring some big numbers on the board, too. Here, take a look:

The Core i9-14900HX is largely the same as the i9-13900HX we've used on many other laptops, and that's quite evident from the scores produced by this machine on CPU benchmarks like Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2024. In fact, you'll notice that the scores produced by the i9-13980HX on Cinebench R23 are slightly higher than that of the 14900HX. It's not necessarily a huge difference, and it just goes to show how performant this machine really is. The RTX 4090 laptop GPU also helps this Scar 16 truly shine on GPU benchmarks like 3DMark.

I am happy to report that the scores produced by the laptop on these benchmark utilities also translated over well to real-world performance. It had no trouble running modern AAA titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake 2, and I was able to get smooth and stable gameplay with good frame rates on the board.

All games were tested with the laptop set to Performance mode, and the numbers were drawn using Nvidia Frameview.

The RTX 4090 GPU inside this laptop, which is configured to draw as much power as it possibly can, works well with the CPU to deliver a smooth and enjoyable gaming experience. Even modern AAA titles like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora run very well on this laptop at native resolution with no upscaling and maxed out settings. You may not feel the need to use DLSS in all games, but I highly recommend taking advantage of it, especially in games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake 2 that go above and beyond to deliver a great experience with things like path tracing.

Runs surprisingly cool and quiet

I wasn't particularly surprised to see the kind of performance this laptop was able to deliver because, well, the internals like Core i9-14900HX and RTX 4090 GPU are nothing to sneeze at. But the thing that stood out to me was how quiet the laptop was, as it ran all the games and resource-intensive tasks while maintaining low operating temperatures. Yes, there are fans inside this machine that ramp up as soon as you launch a game or run some other program that demands the CPU and GPU's attention, but the Scar 16 was nowhere near as loud as the Alienware m16 R1 that I tested not too long ago. Also, both CPU and GPU temperatures remained under 90 degrees Celsius and 80 degrees Celsius, respectively, when I logged the stats over a 3-hour gaming session.

Battery life

Performance comes at the cost of battery life

Despite having a sizable 90Whr battery and support for things like Nvidia Advanced Optimus, with which it can dynamically transition between the high power discrete GPU and the lower power integrated GPU, the Scar 16's battery life is not one of it strong suits. With the laptop running in balance mode and the RGB lights on, I was only able to get three hours of usage from the Scar 16.

You can lower the display brightness or disable the RGB lights to get slightly more screen-on-time, but it's not very reliable for everyday use on the go without a charger. Another reason why it's not very comfortable to travel with this laptop or use it on the go is because of the massive 330W proprietary charger which Asus ships with it. The Scar 16 may not have a massive footprint like its 18-inch counterpart, but it's very much a desktop replacement, in my opinion, because of how difficult it is to carry around the laptop and its charger.

Should you buy the Asus Strix Scar 16 gaming laptop?

You should buy the Asus Strix Scar 16 gaming laptop if:

• You want one of the most powerful gaming laptops in 2024.
• You want a laptop with a great HDR panel.
• You want a unique-looking laptop that stands out from the rest.
• You can afford to spend over $4,000 on a gaming laptop.

You should NOT buy the Asus Strix Scar 16 gaming laptop if:

• You want a laptop with good battery life.
• You care about portability and want to use your laptop on the go.
• You are already stretching your budget thin.

I have no qualms in calling the Asus Strix Scar 16 (2024) one of the most powerful gaming laptops out there right now. I say that because its performance is on par with the Lenovo Legion 9i, which is our current favorite gaming laptop. I also like that it runs quiet while keeping the operating temperatures under acceptable limits. It may not be the most premium laptop on the market, but it certainly looks cool and will undoubtedly stand out from other options.

Things like a mini-LED display and a great keyboard also make this more recommendable than other options, and you'll also like this laptop if you are into RGB bling that can light up an entire room. It's true that the ROG Strix Scar 16 is not without its flaws, but none of its downsides will come off as glaring omissions, making it a reliable and good option to consider. Of course, a expensive laptop like this is not for everyone, but I highly recommend keeping the Scar 16 on your list if you are willing to open your wallets for a reliable, high-performance gaming laptop that's fitted with all the bells and whistles and will last you for years to come.