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日本[Video Review] ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 (G834, 2023) – The most powerful gaming laptop!
ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 (G834, 2023) in-depth review
There are a bunch of gaming notebook types. One of them is the affordable one - a machine meant for everyone who wants to enter the gaming world. Then, there is the middle tier, where you start to get interested in graphics settings and frame rates. Above these two, you get the heavy-duty gaming machinery. It aims to give you everything you need to run a game at maximum settings and with playable fps.And then comes the category of utter beastiality. Here, you will find the ROG Strix SCAR 18 (G834, 2023). It is a laptop that goes above and beyond the requirements of any game. Something tha[...]
Pros
- 2x DDR5 SODIMM + 2x M.2 PCIe x4 Gen 4 slots
- An absurd amount of performance
- MUX switch
- Wi-Fi 6E, 2.5G Ethernet + 2x Thunderbolt 4
- Covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and has accurate color representation with our Gaming and Web design profile (BOE NE180QDM-NZ2 (BOE0B35))
- Fast panel with quick response times (BOE NE180QDM-NZ2 (BOE0B35))
- PWM-free (BOE NE180QDM-NZ2 (BOE0B35))
- G-Sync and HDR support
- Liquid metal on CPU and GPU + three fans
Cons
- No SD card slot
ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 (G834, 2023) - Specs
- HDD/SSD
- up to 16000GB SSD
- M.2 Slot
- 2x 2280 PCIe NVMe 4.0 x4 See photo
- RAM
- up to 96GB
- OS
- Windows 11 Home, Windows 11 Pro
- Battery
- 90Wh, 4-cell, 90Wh, 4-cell
- Body material
- Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum
- Dimensions
- 354 x 264 x 23.1 - 30.8 mm (13.94" x 10.39" x 0.91")
- Weight
- 3.10 kg (6.8 lbs)
- Ports and connectivity
- 2x USB Type-A
- 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps)
- 1x USB Type-C
- 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
- 1x USB Type-C
- Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort
- HDMI
- 2.1
- Card reader
- Ethernet LAN
- 10, 100, 1000, 2500 Mbit/s
- Wi-Fi
- 802.11ax
- Bluetooth
- 5.2
- Audio jack
- 3.5mm Combo Jack
- Features
- Fingerprint reader
- Web camera
- HD
- Backlit keyboard
- Microphone
- Array Microphone with Microsoft Cortana Support near field/Far field, AI noise-canceling technology
- Speakers
- 4x Speakers, Smart Amp, Dolby Atmos
- Optical drive
- Security Lock slot
All ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 (G834, 2023) configurations
[Intro]
Get ready to experience the ultimate gaming machine of 2023 – the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 (G834)! Yes, while it’s still early in the year, we’re pretty confident in saying that the chance of something toppling it is slim. After all, it packs a 24-core Core i9-13980HX and a 175W RTX 4090, along with an 18-inch 16:10 display, which kicks off a new trend in gaming laptops.
[Design]
To match the powerful hardware on the inside, the outside is RGB city, with colorful strips on the back and the front, as well as illuminated ROG logo. The lid is crafted from sturdy metal, while the rest of the build is made from quality plastic, with translucent sections. The important pieces like the CPU and GPU are still hidden behind reinforcements and heat shielding.
The build quality is very good, with no flex from the base or lid, and the latter easily opens with just one hand. In terms of dimensions, while the laptop breaks past the 3.00 kg point, it’s still better than the 5.00kg monsters of the past. It’s also thicker than most gaming machines, measuring 23.1 mm at the front and 30.8 mm at the back.
[Input devices]
The ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 offers a spacious base, allowing for a full-sized keyboard with a NumPad and large arrow keys. Typing and gaming on it is very pleasant, thanks to the long key travel and clicky feedback. Adding to the aesthetics, the per-key RGB backlighting can be customized using the AuraSync software, giving you the freedom to express your personal style.
The touchpad may look small but keep in mind the 18-inch form factor. You’ve got plenty of space to move on it, while the smooth finish and accurate tracking make using it very pleasant.
[Ports]
Going to the sides, you can see that they’re translucent as well. Due to the different heat vent designs and allocation, the I/O is now solely on the left and right. The left side has the bulk of it, with the power plug, a 2.5Gbit LAN port, one HDMI 2.1 port supporting external 4K screens at 120 Hz, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and an audio jack.
The rest is on the right, including two USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports.
[Display]
The HD webcam has made a comeback above the display, which is neat. As for the panel itself, it’s nothing short of amazing. ASUS calls it a Nebula display, which means a QHD+ resolution that makes for a sharp image, a super fast 240Hz refresh rate, and a 10 ms response time.
The screen is excellent if you want to get into content creation, with a peak brightness of 502 nits and 100% coverage of both the sRGB and DCI-P3 gamuts. You can toggle between them in the Armory Crate app.
The colors are accurate in both gamuts, with a dE value of 1.3 in the sRGB gamut and 1.0 in the DCI-P3 gamut. In short, you get to see all the Digital Cinema colors and they’re pretty realistic looking.
[Sound]
The SCAR 18 doesn’t forget that audio is a part of the experience as well, delivering a four-speaker setup. It has Dolby Atmos support and delivers very high volume and great quality with no significant deviations across the entire frequency range.
[Battery]
Considering the Core i9 and the RTX 4090 inside, the laptop’s 90Wh battery pack lasts for a very respectable 8 hours and 30 minutes of Web browsing, or 5 hours and 7 minutes of video playback.
[Performance]
As for the performance of the Core i9-13980HX, it’s something unprecedented. Its 24 cores and 32 threads deliver the best performance from a laptop CPU that we’ve seen so far, quickly securing the #1 spot in our Top Laptop CPU Ranking as well as breaking the 30000-points barrier in Cinebench R23.
The bigger deal for gamers is the 175W RTX 4090, which also secures a #1 spot, this time in our Top Laptop GPU Ranking. It’s the fastest GPU available right now, destroying everything in its sight, as well as bending every game or benchmark to its will. You can achieve over 60 FPS at 4K resolution on most games, or take advantage of the fast refresh rate when playing at lower resolutions. For instance, here’s footage of the laptop running Elden Ring at max settings, with butter smooth 114 FPS.
You can find more gameplay footage of the RTX 4090 over on our LaptopMedia benchmarks channel, which has been growing steadily, something we really appreciate.
[Cooling]
What allows the laptop to perform so well is the ROG Intelligent Cooling setup, which here has 7 heat pipes and three fans. The CPU and GPU also get the liquid metal treatment, with Thermal Grizzly’s Conductonaut Extreme.
In the stress tests, the Core i9-19380HX sustains 133W and a clock speed of 3.35 GHz in long runs, while being able to hold 147W for the first few seconds at the start of the test.
As for the GPU, the RTX 4090 is able to go to 172W, which is pretty close to its 175W limit, all the while maintaining sub-1900MHz speeds.
The comfort is exceptional as well, as even after 30 minutes of torture, the laptop’s base has a hotspot of only 35°C. Noise-wise, the laptop isn’t as loud as we thought it would be, despite the third fan inside.
[Teardown and upgradeability]
It would be a shame if the SCAR 18 didn’t bring proper upgradeability, but with two SODIMM slots and two M.2 slots for the fast Gen 4 drives, you can definitely put as much RAM and storage as you want.
Here’s our teardown video, which shows how to get inside the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 for upgrades, cleanup, and maintenance.
[Verdict]
There’s nothing bad to say about the SCAR 18, as it presents the latest hardware that’s available while being able to make it perform very well. Its large display is phenomenal, while its size and heft come with the territory of going for a desktop-replacement-type gaming machine. If you’re in the market for a premium gaming laptop that can handle anything you throw at it, the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 should be at the top of your list.
For more information about the laptop, check out the review on our website, which has even more tests and information.
