ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY Review

The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 is the company’s top-of-the-line flagship gaming laptop that comes with the powerful AMD Ryzen 9 CPU—one of the best in the market, accompanied by the RTX 4090 laptop GPU. But how does it perform in the real world? 

Well, I have been testing the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY for over two weeks now and I’ll be sharing my findings in this review. I’ll go over the synthetic benchmarks, gaming performance, the display, battery life, and other important aspects of the laptop. So, buckle up and let’s dive in.

ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 Review – Performance and Gaming

Let’s start with the performance. The ROG Strix Scar 17 is equipped with the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX CPU and the Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU. The Ryzen 9 7945HX is a 16-core, 32-thread CPU, paired with Radeon integrated graphics and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 laptop GPU with 16 GB of vRAM and a dynamic boost pushing the TGP up to 175 watts. 

For memory, the Scar 17 comes with 32 GB of DDR5 RAM clocked at 4800 MHz, which you can expand to 64 GB. In terms of storage, it features an SK Hynix PC801 drive. The unit I have is 1 TB, but you can expand it up to 2x M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 slots for even more storage.

The Scar 17 gives you four modes: Windows mode, Silent mode, Performance mode, and Turbo mode. There’s also a Manual mode where you can tweak all the settings by yourself. As for the Windows mode, it’s self-explanatory but here’s what the other modes mean.

In Silent mode, the CPU has a TDP of 55 or 65W, while the GPU has a TGP of 55W. Performance mode boosts the CPU TDP to 85-90W and the GPU TGP to 160W. Turbo mode cranks it up even further, with a CPU TDP of 90 or 125W and a GPU TGP of 175W. 

The noise levels are minimal in Silent mode, but in Performance and Turbo modes, the fans get really loud, reaching up to 50 dB in Turbo mode.

TDP and TGP for Different Modes

To test the performance, I ran several benchmarks in Silent, Performance, and Turbo profiles. Here’s a breakdown of the results:

Benchmark Results

While these scores are impressive, you can’t complete the testing without playing some games. So, to test the real-world performance, I played a few games on this beast, and here are the results:

Gaming Results:

Of course, I tested all these games in the Turbo mode. To conclude, the Scar 17 can handle 1080p games effortlessly and 1440p games smoothly, even on Ultra settings. With ray tracing enabled, the FPS might dip slightly but remains very playable.

When it comes to thermal performance, it was solid. The CPU temperatures ever only reached up to 86°C, that is during intense gaming sessions in the Turbo mode. The skin temperatures around the keyboard stayed moderate. However, the fan noise is quite noticeable in Turbo mode.

ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 Review – Design and Build

The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17, unfortunately, doesn’t offer the premium feel you might expect for its price. The laptop is predominantly made of plastic, including the outer hinge, which might disappoint some of you.

Being a 17” device, it is quite large and heavy, weighing in at 2.94 kg (6.48 lbs). The power brick adds to the heft at 1.12 kg (2.47 lbs). The ROG logo is neatly engraved at the top of the keyboard and to the right of the trackpad, while the ROG Strix branding is displayed on the bottom bezel of the screen. 

The Scar 17 also features a vapor chamber cooling system, which could be the reason for the lower temperatures compared to other laptops in this price range. You can open the display with one hand, which is a nice touch. 

On the back, you’ll find a barrel charger port, a 2.5G LAN port, 2x USB-C Gen 2 ports (for video, data, and power), and HDMI 2.1. The left side hosts 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports and the audio jack, while the right side only has vents.

The hinge feels quite sturdy, even if it’s plastic, and the glowing ROG logo on the back is pretty cool. One thing to note is that the hinge’s movement is quite limited. The RGB lighting beneath the keyboard stretches from the bottom right to the bottom left edge, giving the entire laptop an RGB look. 

Unfortunately, you don’t get any biometric authentication since the laptop doesn’t have a fingerprint sensor or an IR sensor for face unlock. You’ll have to use your PIN each time you want to unlock the laptop.

Overall, it’s not the most premium build, but it gets the job done and matches the aesthetics of a gaming laptop.

ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 Review - Keyboard and Trackpad

The laptop has a full-size, rubber-dome per key RGB backlit opto-mechanical keyboard, which you can customize to your liking. Above the keyboard area, you’ll find four LED status indicators: for the backlit keyboard, power, performance modes, and airplane mode. 

The keyboard on the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 is tactile and offers good travel, with well-spaced keys that make typing comfortable and easy to get used to. Despite being made mostly of plastic, there is minimal keyboard flex. 

The trackpad is large, smooth, and responsive, although it’s made of plastic rather than glass. It provides a good click experience across its surface, which is helpful for general use, though for gaming, a dedicated gaming mouse is typically better.

ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 Review – Display

The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 features a 17.3” QHD panel with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels. While it isn’t an OLED display—something I would have preferred—it still is a good quality IPS. The screen has a 16:9 aspect ratio and a matte finish, which I prefer over glossy displays. 

The IPS panel offers good sharpness for its size, and the color accuracy is good with the 100% DCI-P3 coverage. The brightness goes up to 350 Nits, which is adequate for indoor use, though I would have liked it to be a bit brighter for better visibility in well-lit conditions. 

For gaming, the display supports a 240 Hz refresh rate and boasts a 3ms response time. The blacks aren’t as deep as those on an OLED display but are quite decent for an IPS screen. The viewing angles are also okay, just not the best.

ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 Review – Battery Life and Charging

The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 packs a 90Wh battery and comes with a 330W power adapter that supports charging up to 100W. Needless to say, the battery size is impressive, but real-world performance varies. 

For everyday tasks like browsing or watching videos, you’ll get about 4 to 5 hours of screen time. Of course, when gaming, especially in performance mode, the battery life drops to just 2 hours. It’s not the longest-lasting battery, but it should be fine if you’re mostly plugged in.

If you’re looking to stretch battery life, you can tweak the power settings to squeeze out an extra hour or so, though significant improvements aren’t likely, at least as per my experience.

On the charging front, the fast-charging feature comes in handy—charging from 0 to 50% takes about 30 minutes, and a full charge takes roughly 2 hours with the included power adapter. This means you can get an hour of gaming or heavy use in 30 minutes.

ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 Review – Software

The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 comes with Windows 11 Pro pre-installed. You get all the Windows features you’d expect. The experience is snappy and smooth. 

Additionally, you have the ROG Armoury Crate for customizing performance modes and other device settings. The MyAsus app is also there, giving you further control and management options for your ROG Strix Scar 17.

ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 Review – Speakers and Webcam

The ROG Strix Scar 17’s speakers are one of its weaknesses. While they produce a balanced sound, the loudness leaves much to be desired. If you are thinking of gaming on these speakers, the fan noise will quickly take over the already quiet sound.

The webcam is another weakness. It’s a 720p webcam with mediocre quality and you’d want to get an external webcam if you plan on streaming yourself on some platform. For casual video calls, it should do just fine.

Review Verdict: Should You Buy the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17?

Smartprix Rating: 7.1/10

Performance and Gaming: 8.5/10

Design and Build: 5/10

Keyboard and Trackpad: 7.5/10

Display: 6.5/10

Battery Life and Charging: 7.5/10

Software: 9/10

Speakers and Webcam: 6/10

The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 G733PY is undeniably a powerhouse that offers top-tier gaming performance with its AMD Ryzen 9 CPU and RTX 4090 GPU. If you’re after the absolute best in gaming laptops, this one is a good choice. 

However, there are a few trade-offs you need to consider. The plastic build feels cheap, especially at this price point, raising some durability concerns. Additionally, the laptop and its power brick are both quite heavy, making it less portable and more suited for home use.

So, while the Scar 17 delivers exceptional performance, keep these factors in mind before making a decision. Also, if you’re looking for any alternatives, you can take a look at the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 and the MSI Raider GE68 HX. 

First reviewed in August 2024.

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