2025 ROG Strix SCAR 16/18 Review — peak gaming laptop
2025 ROG Strix SCAR 16/18
While these laptops are far from cheap, for a flagship desktop replacement that is on the absolute cutting-edge across the board, I would say they are worth the asking price.
What's Good?
- The Nebula HDR Display is a visual spectacle
- Unadulterated power under the hood
- Advanced cooling for sustained performance
- Bold gamer aesthetics
- Cutting-edge connectivity for the future
What's Not?
- Not the fastest mobile CPU out there
Table of Contents
ASUS launched the new 2025 ROG Strix SCAR 16 and ROG Strix SCAR 18, which can be said to be way more than just gaming laptops but absolute gaming beasts. Lugging one around with you is akin to driving to the grocery store in a Lamborghini. These machines integrate the newest and most powerful hardware into a sleek, gamer-centric design, but more importantly, aren’t shy of flaunting their gaming heritage with a loud design.
2025 ROG Strix SCAR 16/18 — What’s Good?
The Nebula HDR Display is a visual spectacle
Both the 2025 ROG Strix SCAR 16 and 18 are equipped with stunning 240Hz 2.5K Nebula HDR Displays, measuring 16-inches and 18-inches, respectively. These Mini LED screens boast over 2,000 dimming zones, delivering incredibly deep blacks and vibrant colors for a more realistic gaming experience. The 16:10 aspect ratio provides increased vertical screen real estate, beneficial for both gaming and productivity. Furthermore, the display covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, making this perfect for not just gamers, but content creators too.
Unadulterated power under the hood
At their respective cores (pun well-intended), these are truly formidable machines. The 2025 ROG Strix SCAR series can be configured with up to an Intel® Core Ultra 9 275HX processor and up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU running at the maximum 175W TGP. For the top specification, users can expect up to 64GB DDR5 RAM and 4TB of PCIe 4.0 SSDs in a RAID 0 configuration. The laptops also feature a tool-less design, allowing for incredibly easy internal maintenance.
A note regarding the review sample: the ROG Strix SCAR 16 provided for review featured a GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU, a configuration only available with the ROG Strix SCAR 18 in Malaysia. With that out of the way, the ROG Strix SCAR 16 achieved an average of 222 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 with RT Ultra, DLSS at Balanced, and MFG 4x. The ROG Strix SCAR 18 with the GeForce RTX 5090 saw a slightly higher average framerate of 247 FPS. Meanwhile in Black Myth: Wukong, the ROG Strix SCAR 16 delivered an average of 88 FPS at the Cinematic preset with Full Raytracing, DLSS Balanced, and Frame Gen enabled, while the more powerful ROG Strix SCAR 18 pushed out an average of 101 FPS. Regardless whether you go for the GeForce RTX 5080 or RTX 5090 variants, these laptops will surely kick some serious rear ends.
Advanced cooling for sustained performance
To manage the immense power within a laptop chassis, the 2025 ROG Strix SCAR come with a sophisticated cooling system. This includes an end-to-end vapor chamber, a sandwiched heatsink, Tri-Fan Technology, and Conductonaut Extreme liquid metal applied to both the CPU and GPU. This robust cooling ensures that even during extended gaming sessions, both the CPU and GPU operate comfortably at around 80-85°C without thermal throttling. The easily opened bottom panel also means that dust buildup is a non-issue, as cleaning the fans is a trivial task. Not like that’s going to be a problem as the bottom cover touts integrated dust filters.
Bold gamer aesthetics
The new 2025 ROG Strix SCARs proudly display their gaming heritage, with a design inspired by automotive racing, featuring smooth lines and aggressive angles. The new 2025 ROG Strix SCAR 16/18 includes a full-surround RGB light bar and a customizable AniMe Vision display inherited from the OG ROG Strix Zephyrus G14 on the lid, allowing for deep personalization potential. The excessive RGB, AniMe Vision and huge vents are for all to see that this is an unapologetic gaming laptop.
The keyboard comes with per-key RGB, exactly what you expect with a pure-blooded ROG gaming laptop, with dedicated media controls and customizable hotkeys. Comfortable to type and game on with solid tactile feedback thanks to the ROG’s Overstroke technology, this keyboard didn’t have me reaching for my Neo65 immediately. The ROG Strix SCAR 16 features a NumberPad integrated into its sizeable touchpad, while the ROG Strix SCAR 18 has a physical numpad.
Cutting-edge connectivity for the future
The new 2025 ROG Strix SCARs are equipped with the latest connectivity options. They support the new Wi-Fi 7 standard, promising the fastest and most stable wireless connections available. A 2.5G ethernet port is also included for wired connections. A particularly exciting feature is the inclusion of dual Thunderbolt 5 port. This new standard offers 3X the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4, greatly expanding possibilities for connecting high-resolution displays, external GPUs, and other high-performance peripherals. In addition to the Thunderbolt ports, the laptops also include three USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, and an audio jack, ensuring comprehensive connectivity for all your gear.
2025 ROG Strix SCAR 16/18 — What’s Not?
Not the fastest mobile CPU out there
While the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX ranks among the fastest CPUs you can get in a laptop, it’s not the fastest when it comes to 2025 mobile gaming CPUs. That crown currently belongs to the AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D. Oddly enough, ROG didn’t pair the best mobile processor with the best mobile GPU in the flagship 2025 ROG Strix SCAR series. You can, however, get the flagship AMD chip in the ROG Strix G16 which comes with a GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. An odd decision by any means.
2025 ROG Strix SCAR 16/18 Specifications
| ROG Strix SCAR 16 (G635LW) | ROG Strix SCAR 18 (G835LX) | |
| Processor | Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, 24C/24T (8P+16E) @ up to 5.4GHz 36MB L3 cache 55W TDP TSMC N3B (Compute tile) + TSMC N5P (GPU tile) + TSMC N6 (SoC & I/O tile) + Intel 16 (Foveros interposer) | |
| Memory | 32GB DDR5-5600 RAM 2x 16GB DDR5 SO-DIMM, quad-channel | 64GB DDR5-5600 RAM 2x 32GB DDR5 SO-DIMM, quad-channel |
| Graphics | Intel Graphics, 4 Xe-cores @ up to 1.9GHz NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU, 150W TGP (up to 175W with Dynamic Boost) NVIDIA Advanced Optimus | Intel Graphics, 4 Xe-cores @ up to 1.9GHz NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU, 150W TGP (up to 175W with Dynamic Boost) NVIDIA Advanced Optimus |
| Storage | 1TB SK Hynix PC801 SSD (M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD, NVMe 1.4) 1x M.2 PCIe slot vacant (up to PCIe 5.0 x4) | 4TB PCIe 4.0 storage, RAID 0 2x 2TB WD PC SN8000S SSD (M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe SSD, NVMe 2.0) |
| Display | 16-inch 2.5K 16:10 (2560 x 1600) 240Hz BOE NE160QDM-NE8 IPS display 48~240Hz variable refresh rate, NVIDIA G-SYNC 1200 nits peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 gamut VESA DisplayHDR 1000, Pantone Validated | 18-inch 2.5K 16:10 (2560 x 1600) 240Hz BOE NE180QDM-NM2 IPS display 48~240Hz variable refresh rate, NVIDIA G-SYNC 1200 nits peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 gamut VESA DisplayHDR 1000, Pantone Validated |
| Connectivity | WiFi 7 + Bluetooth 5.4 (Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 320MHz) 1 x 2.5G LAN (Realtek RTL8125 Gaming 2.5GbE) 2 x USB-C (Thunderbolt 5, 120Gbps) with display-out (G-SYNC), USB-PD 3 x USB-A (USB 3.2 Gen 2, 10Gbps) 1 x HDMI 2.1 (FRL) 1 x 3.5mm combo jack | |
| Audio | Quad-speaker with Smart Amplifier Technology Dolby Atmos Array microphone AI noise cancellation technology | |
| Power | 90WHr, 4-cell Li-ion battery 380W AC adapter, rectangle connector 100W USB-PD | |
| Dimensions | 354 x 268 x 22.8 mm | 399 x 298 x 23.5mm |
| Weight | 2.8kg | 3.3kg |
| Included Accessories | ROG Backpack ROG Gladius III (P514) 100W USB-PD adapter | |
2025 ROG Strix SCAR 16/18 — should you buy this?
The 2025 ROG Strix SCAR 16 and 18 are undeniably among the most powerful and feature-rich gaming laptops on the market. They offer a no-compromise experience for gamers demanding the absolute best. They are for the gamers or content creators who need all the performance and visual fidelity they can get at this point in time, crammed into a package that still slides easily into a laptop bag. If your budget and desire are for a truly top-tier PC experience, the new Strix SCARs should be at the top of your list.
Regarding pricing in Malaysia, the ROG Strix SCAR 16 is available in a single configuration with the GeForce RTX 5090 for RM21,999. The ROG Strix SCAR 18 starts from RM16,999 for the GeForce RTX 5080 specification, while the top-of-the-line configuration with 64GB RAM, 4TB storage, and a GeForce RTX 5090 comes in at an eye-watering RM23,999. While these laptops are far from cheap, for a flagship desktop replacement that is on the absolute cutting-edge across the board, I would say they are worth the asking price.
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- ROG Strix SCAR 16 (Lazada): https://s.lazada.com.my/s.JogWR
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- ROG Strix SCAR 18 (Lazada): https://s.lazada.com.my/s.JogVZ
- ROG Strix SCAR 18 (Shopee): https://s.shopee.com.my/1BAeASjtfb
