ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 G733Q Review: Now Scarring Wallets, in a Good Way

ASUS ROG Strix laptops in general hits a sweet spot for a good reason – the specification for the price that it offers. This time around, not only it gets a better specs but also a completely new look and an interesting price tag that might stop some from purchasing but given in the current circumstance, I am not surprised consumers opting for this over a proper GPU that is. In this review, we are going to highlight the performance and the main changes ROG has done to make it a lot more appealing.

Same Design but New Look and Feel

1/5

The ROG Strix Scar retains the same concept of design overall – with the robust hinge we praised back in the day and how it looks pretty much the same but this time you will notice that the carbon print on the laptop is gone for good and the design has matured a lot better. Instead of going for a flashy finish, they have toned down the look by including a transparent sheet to see the components hidden under the chassis and a soft touch finish. The laser etched panel gives it a nice toned down look too. What isn’t really toned down, it’s the RGB – It still houses the 180-degree RGB base, an RGB Keyboard, Logo and not to forget, a newly added RGB strip right below the display to illuminate the area above the keyboard.

ASUS took the laptop a little further by giving users the ability to customize whichever way they want – by giving their own identity to the laptop via the swappable clips for the edge of the display. It attaches magnetically. So, it comes with total of three clips and I like the whole idea of it really. It’s a very cool and playful memorabilia to have and if you have the ability to 3D Print, well – by all means. We know we would.

Stunning 300Hz Display

Since it’s a gaming laptop, expect everything else about this laptop to scream “Gamer”. If you thought that 300Hz display on the previous Strix is overkill, think again because the 300Hz Refresh Rate that slams any display in this price segment, isn’t going anywhere. That combined with sRGB coverage of 100% and a brightness of 300 nits – expect this display to outshine a lot of other gaming laptops with inferior panel. The added matte coating on the laptop helps with the anti glare and overall, its pretty solid.

Clicky Mechanical Keyboard

The ROG Strix has always used a longer travel membrane keyboard so far, but this time around ASUS opted in for a mechanical keyboard instead, the first on an ROG laptop. Mechanical keyboards on laptops can be an acquired taste as manufacturers would want to stick with one switch and it may not be the switch other users prefer. In this case, you can say the same but it isn’t as complicated as other switches in the market found on laptops. The ROG Strix uses a similar keytravel as its predecessor and uses a clicky switch – so when you type you will hear the clicky actuations but not as significant as a proper mechanical keyboard which is a lot louder than this. But this has made ASUS take some initiative to make the keyboard better – like making a lot of the key sizes bigger, especially the arrow key which is a god send.

First Complete ROG Lineup with AMD Ryzen and NVIDIA GPU

This is literally the first time ASUS ROG featured all their laptops with the new Ryzen 5000 series under the hood and I got to say, what you are looking at is a beast of a machine. The laptop comes with the following specification:

• AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 16GB GDDR6
• 32GB RAM with 2TB Storages (PCIe NVMe SSDs)

Performance

So how’s the performance? The specification you see above is pretty much the specification of a top tier laptop with decked out everything and still have room for upgrades. A great thing is that, the Strix uses the 16GB version of the 3080, which means your performance isn’t going to take as much hit as the 8GB variants you will find in thinner laptops. We ran benchmarks and tested games to see how the scores are and you can check it out below.

The RTX 3080 is a pretty generous GPU in terms of power and performance, truth be told it will be something you could stick around with for a long time and still have a good time, given that getting a GPU on its own is extremely impossible. The games handled by this machine is top notch and in our benchmark, you can see the good scores.

That said, ASUS idea to pair it with AMD is commendable. Because here’s the thing: in the past, Intel processor, even though they are good, they have had delays and by the time the laptop hits the market, next thing you know theres a new generation coming out which has always been an issue – for us and consumers too. But that said, their idea to team up with Team Red, only shows that they are willing to take them for one ride – in fact a good one because the Ryzen 9 performs like a good cake with cherry on top. Sure, Ryzen 9 is pretty overkill for most users considering it’s a gamer centric machine but knowing the fact that, at this price, getting the best of both worlds, proves one thing: that this laptop is a match made in heaven and Team Blue needs to buck up.

Conclusion

The ASUS ROG Strix Scar G733Q is takes a new leaf in 2021 by bringing what we never thought we’d see on the ROG lineup entirely – that is an AMD Powered Strix Scar and it’s the best thing to happen as this machine is meant to last longer than you think. Unfortunately, the price is a crucial factor – the variant we reviewed costs a whopping RM 13,499 respectively. But it comes with an ROG Delta Headphones, ROG Chakram Core Mouse and a gorgeous backpack to carry this laptop. For all I can say, this laptop takes the cake for coming with a complete bundle at that price.

Only thing you will have to fork out for is a webcam but hey, who cares about one when all you are going to do is just game ey? 😉