So many manufacturers are targeted on making laptops look fairly somewhat than providing substance behind the design. Asus’ ROG Strix Scar collection goes for a utilitarian method with rubber grips and soft-touch surfaces that give its design objective, even when the G733Z model we reviewed not so way back lacked high-end efficiency. However the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 Particular Version we’re right here has each a reasonably package deal and energy to again up its appears to be like.
Outfitted with an Intel Core i9-12950HX and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, our Strix Scar 17 SE configuration can deal with any recreation or exercise you throw at it. It additionally has a unbelievable 17.3-inch 1440p show with Dolby Imaginative and prescient capabilities, all for $3,499.
Whereas it lacks a webcam, making it much less useful as a work-from-home PC and it was robust to search out in inventory after we wrote this, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE is a powerful contender for one of many best gaming laptops. However a number of rivals take the Strix Scar to job by way of efficiency.
Design of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE (G733)
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE is a chunky black and silver laptop computer that makes use of a number of supplies throughout all its surfaces, together with a thick rubberized grip beneath to maintain it in place whereas typing and simpler to carry. There’s RGB lighting inside the ROG brand on the lid and a refined grey strip with the identical image. On the underside left, there’s a printed design that’s exhausting to make out when it’s not beneath direct lighting, however glows in a number of colours when lit with a UV flashlight that the laptop computer ships with.
Asus makes use of customizable “armor caps” for the ROG Strix Scar, an adjunct that slides onto the again of the laptop computer with a small magnetic drive to cover its hinges. Armor caps are available in silver and two shades of black, and Asus permits individuals to 3D print their very own with a template supplied on its web site.
The again ports, which is the place a lot of the laptop computer’s connections are housed, stay between vents on both facet.
The rear holds a Thunderbolt 4 port, a USB-C 3.2 port, an HDMI 2.1 port, an Ethernet jack, and a port for the ability adapter. On the left facet of the Asus ROG Strix Scar is one other vent, adopted by two USB-A ports and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The best has area for an Asus keystone to import lighting and sound settings from completely different machines (or home completely different settings for different customers).
Surrounding the outer edges of the front-underside is wraparound RGB lighting, which appears to be like unbelievable in tandem with the strip of RGB lighting beneath the underside of the show, in a spot between the display screen and the laptop computer’s base.
Once you open the Strix Scar SE, there’s a small notch to carry the lid, however it doesn’t home a webcam. There’s no excuse for a giant costly laptop computer to not have a webcam, particularly after the occasions of the previous couple of years. Now, if in case you have the cash to afford this rig, you’ll be able to in all probability spring for one of many best external webcams. However if you wish to use it with the digital camera on the go, meaning carrying round one other devoted system.
The best half of the laptop computer’s floor is strikingly manufactured from semi-translucent plastic, showcasing a few of the internals, whereas a strip with the ROG brand runs diagonally throughout the deck, dissecting the translucent portion from the extra conventional design of the left facet of the laptop computer. The left 2/3 of the deck makes use of a matte black soft-touch plastic over the remainder of the plastic deck to assist preserve the floor cool to the contact whereas gaming.
I like how a lot practicality is behind the Strix Scar’s design. Its matte floor materials retains its floor cool, and a rubber grip on the underside retains it regular in your desk and makes it simpler to hold, and the added aptitude of the armor caps hides the hinges. Static blacks and different-looking surfaces should not stuff you’d often discover on extra shiny, premier laptops like Alienware x17, which makes use of aluminum and magnesium in its construct.
Measuring 15.55 x 11.10 x 0.92 inches and weighing 6.1 kilos, the Scar 17 SE is the lightest 17-incher amongst rivals. The MSI Titan GT77 is 15.63 x 12.99 x 0.91 inches and seven.28 kilos, the MSI GE76 Raider’s dimensions are 15.6 x 11.2 x 1.01 inches at 6.39 kilos, and the Alienware x17 R2’s are 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.8 inches at 6.5 kilos.
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE (G733) Specs
| CPU | Intel Core i9-12950HX |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (16GB GDDR6) 1,590 MHz Enhance Clock,170W Max Graphics Energy |
| Reminiscence | 32GB DDR5-4800 |
| Storage | 2TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD |
| Show | 17.3-inch 2560 x 1440, 240Hz QHD IPS |
| Networking | Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (802.11ax) 160Mhz, Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Ports | Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-C, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Sort-A, HDMI 2.1, 3.5 mm headphone jack, 2.5 GB Ethernet port, Keystone |
| Digicam | None |
| Battery | 90 WHr |
| Energy Adapter | 330W |
| Working System | Home windows 11 Professional |
| Dimensions (WxDxH) | 15.55 x 11.10 x 0.92 inches (394.97 x 281.94 x 23.36 mm) |
| Weight | 6.39 kilos (2.9 Kg) |
| Worth (as configured) | $3,499.99 (as configured) |
Gaming and Graphics on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE (G733)
Our ROG Strix Scar 17 SE configuration had an Intel Core i9-12950HX alongside an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti with 16GB of GDDR6 reminiscence. The GPU has a 1,590 MHz enhance clock and 170W max graphics energy. These specs guarantee stellar body charges at 1080p and its native 2560 x 1440 decision.
Once I performed Management with each the standard preset and Ray Tracing on excessive on the Strix Scar’s native 1440p decision, the sport ran at a clean 70 frames per second (fps) with out DLSS enabled. Once I turned it on, the laptop computer’s body charge jumped as much as 87 fps.
After we ran Grand Theft Auto V’s benchmark at very excessive settings, the ROG Strix Scar 17 SE managed 144 fps at 1080p and 91 fps in its native 1440 decision. Though its rival laptops sport the identical RTX 3080 Ti because the Strix Scar 17, it had essentially the most spectacular numbers. At 1080p, the MSI Titan GT77 performed at 142 fps, the GE76 Raider hit 139 fps, and the Alienware x17 R2 delivered 129 fps.
In the course of the Far Cry New Daybreak (extremely settings) take a look at, the ROG Strix Scar 17 SE reached 125 fps at 1080p and 113 fps at 1440p. The Titan GT77 carried out the identical 1080p, adopted by the GE76 Raider at 113 fps and the Alienware x17 R2 at 87 fps.
On the Pink Lifeless Redemption 2 benchmark (medium settings), we noticed the ROG Strix Scar 17 SE output 85 frames per second at 1080p and 61 fps at 1440p. The Titan GT77 has successfully tied with the Strix Scar once more, with the GE76 Raider just some frames behind. The Alienware x17 R2 secured fourth place as soon as once more with 78 fps.
After we ran the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark (highest settings), the ROG Strix Scar 17 SE hit 119 fps at 1080p and 83 fps at its native decision. The Titan GT77, shock, shock, was solely a few frames behind at 117 fps, with the GE76 Raider not too far off and the Alienware in final place.
Lastly, on the Borderlands 3 benchmark (badass settings), the Strix Scar scored 109 fps at 1080p and 79 fps at 1440p. The Titan GT77 and GE76 Raider had been tied, and the Alienware x17 R2 got here in final with 97 fps.
To measure gaming laptops’ efficiency over time, we run the Metro Exodus benchmark on RTX settings 15 instances, simulating about half an hour of gameplay. The sport ran at 81.43 frames per second and stayed fairly constant all through the benchmark.
In the course of the stress take a look at, CPU speeds got here in at a mean of three.0 GHz on the efficiency cores and a pair of.4 GHz on the effectivity cores, whereas the CPU temperature averaged 79.6 levels Celsius (175.28 levels Fahrenheit). The GPU ran at a mean of 1,341.38 MHz and a temperature of 74.5 levels Celsius (165.38 levels Fahrenheit).
Productiveness Efficiency of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE (G733)
We examined the ROG Strix Scar 17 SE with an Intel Core i9-12950HX CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and 2TB of SSD storage. With its 5-GHz enhance clock, 8 efficiency cores, and eight effectivity cores, the Core i9-12950HX allowed Asus’s laptop computer to ship sturdy leads to productiveness benchmarks. Nonetheless, rivals are geared up with comparable parts.
On Geekbench 5.4, an general efficiency take a look at targeted on the CPU, the ROG Strix Scar 17 SE earned a single-core rating of 1,848 and a multi-core rating of 14,714. In the meantime, the MSI Titan GT77 with an i9-12900HX reached a single-core efficiency rating of 1,851 and a multi-core rating of 15,999. The MSI GE76 Raider (i9-12900HK) hit 1,833 single-core, and 13,456 multi-core scores. Lastly, the Alienware x17 R2 and its i9-12900H processor achieved a 1,842 single-core rating and a 13,710 multi-core rating.
After we examined video transcoding with our Handbrake take a look at, the ROG Strix Scar 17 SE was the second quickest to transform a 4K video to 1080p, at 4 minutes and 24 seconds. Forward of it was the MSI Titan GT77 at 3:59. In the meantime, the GE76 Raider and Alienware x17 R2 introduced up the rear at 4:44 and 4:45, respectively, successfully tying.
The ROG Strix Scar 17 SE copied our 25GB of take a look at recordsdata at a mean velocity of 1,431.62 MBps. The MSI Titan blew previous the competitors with a 2.639.03 MBps common velocity, the Alienware x17 R2 trailed behind with 2,268.20 MBps, and the GE76 Raider lagged at 1,774.5 MBps.
Show on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE (G733)
Our configuration of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE featured a 17.3-inch show with a 240 Hz refresh charge, 2560 x 1440 decision.
Once I watched the most recent season of Stranger Issues, I seen how sharp the image was and the way nice the low-key lighting regarded on my show simply earlier than Hop bought into certainly one of his many jail brawls this season. Anytime the present minimize to one thing pink, it regarded hanging, whether or not its the blood from the brawl or the pink from the Upside Down.
Video games regarded unbelievable on the Strix Scar 17 SE’s show, particularly in Management, the place the ray tracing throughout Jesse’s introduction to Emily Pope actually stood out. I saved noticing reflections bouncing off of the shelter vaults and the sunshine rays hitting Jesse’s leather-based coat. I may additionally observe small particulars, like mud floating across the mild beams. The image at all times remained sharp, vibrant, and displayed darkness alongside contrasting lights very properly.
In our testing, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE’s panel covers 77.2% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut and 109% of the sRGB colour gamut. The competing MSI Titan GT77 lined 69.4% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut and 98% of the sRGB colour gamut in our exams. The MSI GE76 and Alienware x17 R2 had comparable panels masking roughly the identical quantity of every colour gamut. Nonetheless, the Alienware x17 R2 had the brightest show, reaching 325 nits. Behind it was the Titan GT77 with 318 nits, adopted by the Strix Scar at 292 nits. Solely the MSI GE76’s show was dimmer, at 259 nits.
Keyboard and Touchpad on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE (G733)
The keyboard for the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE felt responsive throughout my keystrokes, however on liftoff, I may really feel how mushy the switches had been after every keystroke. However once I bought to the top of my time with a machine, I used to be used to the sensation, and it stopped being distracting. Once I examined my typing capability on 10fastfingers, I scored 60 phrases per minute with a 98.03% accuracy ranking, which is across the ballpark of what I often rating on gaming keyboards.
The 5.1 x 3.1-inch touchpad affords a strong consumer expertise. The floor feels good, and the borders are distinctive. I had no points clicking or performing numerous Home windows 11 gestures.
Audio on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE (G733)
The 2 audio system beneath the ROG Strix Scar 17 SE ship detailed, pulsating kicks. Once I listened to “2 of Amerikaz Most Wished ” by 2Pac and Snoop Dogg, the monitor had nice vocal readability and treble, as I may hear the music’s refined ambient results all through. However I want I had been in a position to flip the quantity up louder.
I opened the preloaded Dolby Entry app to check out the Heat, Balanced, and Detailed presets beneath its music settings. Heat elevated bass, Balanced evened out the sounds, and Detailed turned up the treble, however nothing affected the quantity. I enhanced the audio on the Home windows 11 sound settings however couldn’t hear any distinction. And the RealTek Audio Console app supplied no actual assist in tweaking the sound.
Dolby Atmos works finest whereas watching content material, and the film settings preset bolstered the bass, vocal readability, and detailed noises from the Stranger Issues episode I used to be watching. I discovered the balanced preset to be the very best when watching content material, because it supplied the strongest general sound high quality with none compromises.
Upgradeability on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE (G733)
To get to the Strix Scar’s internals, I used a Phillips head screwdriver to take away eleven screws from the underside cowl and a pry instrument to unlatch the panel totally. Take precautions when eradicating the panel as a result of there are two cables for the LED lights hooked up to it and the motherboard. The vapor cooling chamber sits beside the twin followers, showcasing the laptop computer parts with a cool bronze design. The 2 crammed RAM slots, beneath the black sheets right here, will be upgraded to 64GB. In our unit, the 2 SSD slots had been additionally already stuffed with a pair of M.2 drives in RAID 0.
Battery Life on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE (G733)
On our battery take a look at, which includes streaming video, shopping the online, and operating OpenGL exams over Wi-Fi with the show at 150 nits of brightness, the ROG Strix Scar ran for five hours and 44 minutes. It was the second longest to hold in there subsequent to the MSI Titan GT77 at 6:05. The MSI GE76 Raider wasn’t too far behind at 4:57, and the Alienware x17 R2 died after slightly below 3 hours. Though practically 6 hours of battery life is okay sufficient for a gaming laptop computer, the scale and weight of the ability adapter jogged my memory of the brick that knocked out Marv in House Alone 2. So preserve that in thoughts by way of the Strix Scar’s mobility.
Warmth on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE (G733)
I checked to see how hot-to-the-touch the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE will get whereas operating our Metro Exodus stress take a look at. On the heart of the keyboard, between the G and H keys, the laptop computer hit 31.9 levels Celsius (89.42 levels Fahrenheit). Nonetheless, the encircling deck felt a lot cooler. The touchpad remained cool at 26.5 levels Celsius (79.7 levels Fahrenheit.)
Nonetheless, the underside of the laptop computer was the most popular spot at 57.8 levels Celsius (136.04 levels Fahrenheit), and HWInfo reported some CPU thermal throttling all through the take a look at.
Software program and Guarantee on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE (G733)
The preloaded software program on the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE is surprisingly mild. Armoury Crate shows real-time stats of your CPU/GPU, reminiscence and storage consumption, fan velocity, and system temperature.
Aura Creator permits you to change the RGB lighting over the Strix Scar and the keyboard’s backlighting.
MyAsus is a hub that may allow customers to run diagnostics, customise the keyboard backlight, select energy & efficiency settings, entry AI-noise cancellation options, and extra.
Dolby Entry permits you to arrange Dolby Imaginative and prescient and Atmos for pristine visible/audio and select sound presets finest on your setup
Asus sells the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE with a one-year restricted guarantee.
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE (G733) Configurations
We examined a $3,499.99 configuration Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE (G733CX-XS98), outfitted with an Intel Core i9-12950HX, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, 32GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD, and a QHD (2560 x 1440) show with a 240 Hz refresh charge. Oddly, this laptop computer has another configuration on Asus’ website (opens in new tab) (mannequin G733CX-XS97) with 16GB of RAM that lists for a similar value. So if you happen to see each in inventory someplace, clearly go for the mannequin with twice the RAM if the costs are certainly the identical.
Backside Line
The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE is an exceptional laptop computer in a near-perfect package deal. The design retains players in thoughts at each step and is extra involved with providing performance than trying like a reasonably accent. But it surely additionally has wonderful RGB placement and refined accents that make it enticing. The enticing chassis is paired with a robust CPU/GPU combo and a formidable 17-inch Dolby Imaginative and prescient-enabled show able to making any content material look unbelievable at 1440p.
Rivals saved up with the Strix Scar’s efficiency in gaming and productiveness. However even essentially the most spectacular of the rivals, the MSI Titan GT77, with its barely superior efficiency and show, prices $4,000 as configured versus the ROG Strix Scar 17 SE’s $3,499 value as we reviewed it. The primary downside with the Strix Scar 17 is availability. As we wrote this, it was offered out on Asus’ website and didn’t appear to be accessible elsewhere, though B&H has it up for preorder (opens in new tab). Should you’re in no hurry to amass excellence, look out for the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE when it comes again in inventory.