ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 G732LXS Review

Asus recently upgraded its Strix Scar lineup in India with powerful pro gaming machines that also intend to blend in your workspace. Asus packs in hardware as assuring as the 10th gen Core i9 and full-blown Nvidia Geforce RTX2080 Super with all the required breathing space and yet tries to keep the Strix Scar 17 as portable as possible.

Yes, the configuration seems perfectly apt for a performance-first machine, but is the new Strix Scar worth its high-end price of INR 2,69,990? In our Asus Strix Scar 17 G732 review we will scrutinize this beast with regards to design, thermals, display, etc. and try to answer if it counts as a recommendation

ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 G732LXS Review: Price and Specifications 

Also Read: Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 review

ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 G732LXS Review: Design and Build 

The ROG Strix Scar 17 diligently sticks to gaming aesthetics but also practices restraint. To start with, there is a broad RGB logo on the matte-finish aluminum lid and an LED strip running along the bottom. If that’s too flashy for your taste, you can individually control the LED lighting of the ROG insignia, bottom strip, and keyboard using the Aura Creator app (which is a tad complicated). 

The size is comparable to other 17-inch display laptops and we’d say that in spite of the 3Kg heft and heavy 200W brick, this Strix Scar is more portable than you’d expect a  hardcore gaming machine this size to be.

Apart from the lid exterior, most of the Strix Scar 17 body is good-quality and smudge-resistant polycarbonate. The build is actually quite sturdy. There are no flexes in the base which is thicker than what convention dictates. This is to accommodate the cooling system needed to support the high-end performance hardware on board. For the same reason, Asus couldn’t conceal the beefy bottom bezel below the display.

The “scissor-door hinges” are firm and allow for the lid to be opened single-handedly. Hinges have been shifted forward to leave more room at the back for the “3D flow ventilation zone”. This also restricts the hinge movement to 145 degrees, which is fine for a laptop that will mostly be used on a desk.

Speaking of which, the rubber feet at the bottom are grippy but they are surprisingly slim and tiny and don’t leave much room for air circulation when the laptop rests on a tabletop. Though easy to fix by elevating the back or using a cooling pad, this is not the kind of oversight we expect on a high-end gaming laptop.

There are a few other omissions to deal with. Firstly a snappy biometric unlock is what we expect on any premium laptop in 2020. There is also no webcam. Now, we don’t use our webcam very frequently and love the uniformly slim bezels up top – Nevertheless, this counts as a noticeable omission and not a non-issue.

ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 G732LXS Review: Display and I/O

The 17.3-inch IPS LCD panel has full HD resolution and is quite responsive (3ms). It also supports a 300Hz refresh rate, which may sound like overkill but perhaps makes sense to have on a performance-first machine.

The picture quality is really impressive and the display brightness gets high enough for comfortable gaming and indoor usage. 

So, we are quite happy with the display on the ROG Strix Scar 17, but the same can not be said for connectivity options on board. 

Most of the important ports are positioned at the back and we do hope some of these were on the left edge. The Type-C port doesn’t have Thunderbolt and doesn’t accept charging, and there is no card reader either.

There are three USB A ports (3.0), 2 on the left, and one at the back. The USB-C port (3.1 Gen2) integrates DisplayPort. Or an external monitor can be paired via the HDMI port, also on the back. Strix Scar lineup doesn’t support G-sync, though.  

There is also an audio jack (left), RJ45 port, and a Keystone 2 that allows users to transfer game settings and profiles between supported ROG laptops and also to secure their PC by keeping drives hidden unless the Keystone is inserted. 

Whether this is a useful feature or a useless gimmick should vary from person to person. We don’t find much use for the Keystone and would rather have a few more ports on the right edge. 

The Strix Scart 17 G732 further supports Gigabit LAN, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.0. We had no issues with Wi-Fi connectivity throughout the range of our router. 

ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 G732LXS Review: Keyboard and trackpad

This one has a per-key RGB Backlit keyboard and the lighting is very customizable. The chicklet keyboard has well-spaced keys with decent travel and Asus also managed to cram in a num pad. The Capslock has a dedicated indicator as well. 

If you are used to shallow keyboards on modern ultrabooks, this might take some getting used to. Our only gripe is that functions keys are not backlit and that makes them difficult to find.

The Trackpad is quite responsive and the click buttons have decent feedback. We never felt the need for it to be any bigger or broader. Proper armrests are available on either side and we didn’t have any issues during regular office work. 

ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 G732LXS Review: Performance and Battery 

ROG Strix Scar 17 G732 employs the top-end 10th-gen Intel Core i9-10980HK  processor with the top-end Nvidia RTX2080B Super (8GB VRAM). This is one of the class-leading combos, and one of the best performance bets at least until the RTX 30 series arrives.

There is 32GB DDR4 RAM and two 1TB PCIe M.2 SSDs connected in RAID0 and thus behaving like one.  There are three performance profiles in the Armory Crate app – Silent, Performance, and Turbo.  And the performance is obviously stellar!

In order to push the Strix Scart 18 G732, we tested a few high-end gaming titles in Full HD resolution, Ultra settings. Far Cry 5 could comfortably average at 115 FPS while peaking up to 135 fps. Assassin’s Creed averaged around 75 fps, Shadow of Tomb Raider was mostly pushing around 120 fps, and Metro Exodus could go all the way up to 85 fps and averaged around 60. Grand Theft Auto 5 at very high settings averaged at 100fps. 

This is an awesome gaming performance and the good thing is that If you keep the back slightly elevated, the Strix Scar can efficiently dissipate all the heat generated, and the chassis never gets unbearably hot. Things get pretty noisy, though. 

The cooling system includes two high-capacity fans and several heat pipes and is aptly designed to handle RTX2080 at 150W. Fans are always active, but they are barely audible under regular workloads or on the Silent profile.

This is an excellent machine for productivity and media editing and here are a few benchmark scores (registered at Turbo performance profile) to substantiate the claims: 

The 65Whr battery inside can last for around 5 hours of regular usage. This isn’t great but is totally acceptable keeping the target use-cases in mind. 

The audio output from the speakers is feeble and you’ll have to keep your headphones handy. 

ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 G732LXS Review: Verdict 

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 comes through as an earnest attempt to deliver class-leading performance. It’s a great machine for heavy-duty productivity needs and for users who require this sort of gaming horsepower.

It has a great display, a decent Keyboard – trackpad combination, and is reasonably portable for a high-end gaming rig.

Asus has tried to make it a more practical choice for people who might not always want to put the pedal to the metal, but for such users, the lower configuration with Core i7 and RTX 2070 should be a more reasonable option. And yes, there are also omissions like Thunderbolt 3, G-Sync, Webcam, and biometric unlock to consider.

Pros 

• Excellent performance
• Decent heat management 
• Responsive 300Hz display
• Decent Keyboard and trackpad 
• Customizable LED lighting 
• Sturdy build

Cons 

• No webcam
• No Thunderbolt port
• No G-sync
• No Biometric unlock