Asus has released the Strix Scar 17, which is hands down one of the fastest gaming laptops on the market. It features AMD’s most recent mobile platform, making it an inflection point for AMD, which has struggled for a few years to make the list of the best gaming laptops. The AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX in the Strix Scar 17 balances the performance of flagship processors, allowing Intel and AMD to go head-to-head for the most powerful laptop chip on the market. The Strix Scar 17’s NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 mobile graphics card is not the most exciting feature; the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX is. It is the company’s first 55W processor, the first 16-core mobile processor from Team Red, and it carries the distinction of debuting AMD’s Ryzen 7000 platform in laptops.
The Strix Scar 17 has two models, one with an RTX 4090 and another with an RTX 4080. The machines are identical, but both graphics cards have access to 175 watts of power. The Strix Scar 17 has fairly standard specs for a high-end 17-inch laptop, including 32GB of DDR5 memory with support for up to 64GB, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and a 720p webcam. However, it features the highest-end components available today, and at $3,500, the price is reasonable for the features.
The laptop has a traditional design compared to other Asus laptop models. Instead of the lid propping up the bottom of the laptop for better airflow, it has a stock clamshell design. However, Asus has proven that it has the situation under control, and the laptop stayed comfortably quiet during testing, only ramping up to uncomfortable levels when pushed in Turbo mode. The Turbo mode allows the Scar 17 to access a total of 230W of power, 55W for the CPU and 175W for the GPU.
The Strix Scar 17 is 15.55 x 11.1 x 0.92 inches in dimension, weighs 6.61 pounds, and features a 17.3-inch, 1440p, IPS, 240Hz, G-Sync display. It has a 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD and 1x HDMI 2.1, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (DisplayPort and power delivery), 2.5G Ethernet, and 1x 3.5mm audio ports. The laptop runs on Windows 11 and has a 90 watt-hour battery.
Overall, the Strix Scar 17 is a fast and powerful gaming laptop that delivers high-quality features at a reasonable price. The design is traditional, but the laptop has thick rubber feet on the bottom that help it stay lifted off whatever surface you’ve set it on, and a large intake vent on the back feeds air into the vapor chamber inside. The only downside is the poor port layout, but this is a small tradeoff for the laptop’s other impressive features.
| Technical Specifications | Description |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 15.55 x 11.1 x 0.92 inches |
| Weight | 6.61 pounds |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX |
| Graphics | Nvidia RTX 4090 (175W TGP) |
| RAM | 32GB DDR5-4800 (support for up to 64GB) |
| Display | 17.3-inch, |
