It’s clear Asus just isn’t messing round in terms of the 2022 evolution of its high-end ROG gaming laptops. With the Strix Scar 17’s G733Z configuration as my first style—touting its masterful mixture of Nvidia’s new, more-powerful RTX 3070 Ti, and Intel’s Core i9 12900H—that turned very clear.
With a twelfth Gen Alder Lake chip on its aspect, and the next wattage GPU than some RTX 3080s we have spied within the wild, there’s hardly an iota of competitors for the worth. But does the remainder of the laptop computer get up subsequent to that immense config? I’d say sure, with a number of small gripes.
First impressions: it is a beautiful machine, however the chassis’ end collects grease marks tremendous simply. Our Alan and Graeme aren’t too eager on the smokey, translucent nook of the chassis, however the translucence does give the design a bit extra aptitude. From the again, at the least, it provides off a sufficiently subtle gamer vibe that you might fortunately use it within the workplace, with out wanting such as you’re sneaking in a spherical of LoL.
The massive ROG brand with RGB lighting is a little bit of a giveaway, however you may flip the lighting results off for a extra refined look.
Usually with these high-end laptops subtlety goes out of the window because of the tell-tale fan whine it provides out below load. This laptop computer, although: surprisingly quiet. It’s blustery, however there isn’t any excessive pitched noise to upset these with out among the finest gaming headset defending their ears. Not whereas it is in silent mode, anyhow.
Sadly, the cooling system does not translate into as unbelievable temperatures as I’d have appreciated. Even unobstructed on my work desk, the GPU topped out at 87°C (189°F), whereas the CPU hit 100°C (212°F) over a day’s gaming. While that is inside spec, it is on the worrying finish of okay.
If you are keen to threat the warmth, although, here is what this Alder Lake beastie can do:
We’ve not had an opportunity to take a look at many twelfth Gen gaming laptops, however seeing this one pitted in opposition to earlier CPU generations, the distinction is apparent.
The ROG Strix Scar 17’s x264 video encoding scores are to not be trifled with, and it is up a great 600 factors in opposition to the Razer Blade 17’s Core i7 12800H in terms of multi-core efficiency in Cinebench rendering checks. It additionally has round 1,800–2,000 factors on the ROG Zephyrus G14’s Ryzen 9 6900HS, and Lenovo Legion Pro’s Ryzen 7 5800H’s multi-core scores, respectively.
As for single core, the Scar manages to finest the closest contender—the Ryzen 9 6900HS—by 130-odd factors. Impressive.
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 spec
Processor: Intel Core i9 12900H
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti (150W)
Memory: 32GB LPDDR5-4800
Display: 17.3-inch IPS, 240Hz, 3ms
Resolution: 1440p
Storage: 2TB M.2 SSD
Battery: 90Wh
Connectivity: 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, 1x HDMI 2.1, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C help DisplayPort, 1x 2.5Gb LAN port, 1x Thunderbolt 4 DisplayPort, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6E
OS: Windows 11 Pro
Dimensions: 15.5 x 11.1 x 0.9in (395 x 282 x 234mm)
Weight: 6.39lbs (2.90Kg)
Price: $2,999 | £2,600
All this offers the Strix Scar 17 an edge in terms of productiveness and, in fact, video games with intense CPU hundreds. In Hitman’s Dartmoor benchmark, as an example, you are taking a look at fps averages of 120, and lows of 23 even with all these particle results going off.
Metro Exodus, too, sees lows of 47fps and 82fps averages. And whereas that is not fairly as spectacular because the Blade’s RTX 3080 Ti, that 150-Watt RTX 3070 Ti actually kicks butt. Even in comparison with some moveable RTX 3080 SKUs we have examined—the MSI GS66 Stealth’s 95W RTX 3080 for instance—it is chugging out 167fps in F1 2020, and 113fps in Horizon Zero Dawn proves that it is a gaming powerhouse. It’s definitely an enormous enchancment over the earlier technology’s 130W restrict.
Topping all of it off, the ROG Strix Scar 17’s ray tracing efficiency is correct the place you’d count on it to be: sitting between the moveable RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3070, and miles above any AMD GPU config. Keep in thoughts that we are inclined to run our benchmarks on Ultra graphics settings and at 1080p decision for comparisons—so not the laptop computer’s native 1440p.
At 1440p you may count on scores to slide beneath the 100fps mark, however not sufficient to warrant turning the graphics down usually.
Importantly, all this energy comes at a value not solely to the element’s temperatures, but in addition to the battery life. Sure, you are not as prone to play video games with the factor unplugged, however if you happen to ever should, an hour is all you get.
I’m not enamoured with the touchpad of the Strix Scar both, whereas we’re nit-picking. I preserve attempting to click on the area beneath it, and my poor, callous fingers preserve forgetting the place the sides are.
This explicit mannequin does not include a digital camera both, which is a evident omission for the worth, and there is a distinct lack of USB Type-A ports for the pointless arsenal of peripherals I’m packing.
It does not really feel as very similar to a hulking desktop alternative as we have seen. And that is okay.
There are a few USB Type-C ports across the again to make up for it, although, and I’m completely happy there is a full sized keyboard. Such gripes as I’ve talked about are straightforward to miss when Asus has managed to pack such an immense config in right here. The frankly pointless 32GB of DDR5-4800 RAM’s reminiscence bandwidth sits at a powerful 53.27GB/s, and that 2TB SSD can load FFXIV Shadowbringers in simply over 10 seconds, which is a stable rating.
For a machine with a 17-inch chassis it does not weigh the world, and does not want two energy adapters to work to its full potential both. For that, it does not really feel as very similar to a hulking desktop alternative as we have seen. And that is okay. Particularly if you crown a transportable machine like this off with a 1440p, 240Hz IPS panel with 3ms response time, which additionally does a smashing job of lowering glare.
While you might get a Lenovo Legion 5 Pro with its RTX 3070 for half the worth, spending $2,999 (£2,600) on this Strix Scar config will put you forward of the competitors with little or no effort. And positive, it isn’t as fashionable or as apt with ray tracing because the Blade 17, however there is a good $1,000 value distinction there. And for one thing that may outpace the laptops of yesteryear in nearly each working, I’d pay that value for positive.
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