Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 2022 review: The gaming beast gets prettier, grittier

But is that enough for you to consider the new Strix Scar 17? Should this be your first gaming laptop or your next upgrade? Or should you skip it? Find out in our full review below.

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 Specs: 17.3-inch WQHD display | Intel i9 12900H + Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti | 2TB SSD storage + 16GBx2 LPDDR5 RAM | 90WH battery 280W adapter |

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17: What’s good?

Design

The aesthetics are what most people will notice first about any Asus ROG laptop, and things are no different here. This laptop is a metal-body tank with solid build quality and RGB lighting all over. The per-key RGB and under-keyboard lighting really help set the gamer vibe in a room and look stunning in a dark setting.

You get a lot of the important ports including the power one on the back, which is always great when you want a setup with minimal or no cables sticking out the side. ROG has also implemented new customisation features here including the ‘Armour Plate’, which is a replaceable corner near the hinge that you can customise to your liking.

The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 has a lot of RGB and new customisation features. (Image Source: The Indian Express/ Chetan Nayak)

The lid also comes with a large ROG logo, unsurprisingly RGB as well. However, the lid is also super quick on picking up fingerprints and smudges, so the more you handle this laptop, the more you’re going to have to keep it clean.

Display

17-inch laptops have always been my favourite when it comes to gaming. It may stem from my PC-gaming bias where I enjoy my 22-inch monitor, but personally, I feel 17-inch is the ideal size for anyone serious about gaming on a laptop without an external display. The one here on the Strix Scar 17 is a joy to use.

The laptops has a good looking display panel. (Image Source: The Indian Express/ Chetan Nayak)

It’s not the brightest panel I have seen but the colours look really good and the resolution on the model I have goes all the way up to 2560×1440 pixels (1440p or QHD). As a result, games and other media all look great here. The IPS panel also has a refresh rate of up to 240Hz so if you’re someone who cares about every frame when playing titles like Valorant or CS:GO, you shouldn’t be disappointed here.

Keyboard and trackpad 

Typing and gaming have both been enjoyable experiences on Asus ROG laptops for me, and the experience was no different here. The Strix Scar 17 has a good keyboard, with the keys well-spaced out for a gaming laptop. You get a full-size keyboard here and if your gaming or other use-cases include the numpad, you’ll be pleased with this one. Good travel and per-key RGB support are also nice to have. For the serious gamers, there are also some macro keys on the top-left.

There is per-key RGB on the keyboard of the Strix Scar 17 2022. (Image Source: The Indian Express/ Chetan Nayak)

About half of the keyboard also gets this cool transparent design where you can somewhat spot the internals of the laptop. This looks really cool and is one of those features that makes the laptop stand out even when the RGB is off. The big trackpad on the bottom is also great when doing a multitude of tasks and has seamless buttons with a satisfying click.

Performance, gaming experience and battery life

The Asus ROG Strix Scar is a beast when it comes down to running the games. The 12th Gen i9 and RTX 3070 Ti GPU together are powerful enough to run most games at max settings and with configurations this high, you will also be able to tune games to your liking, rather than sticking to what your machine ‘can’ run. This is top-notch performance right here.

The laptop is powered by an 12th Gen Intel Core i9 processor and comes with an Nvidia RTX 3070 TI GPU. (Image Source: The Indian Express/ Chetan Nayak)

For FPS shooters like Valorant, there’s the high-refresh rate screen and the GPU to pump out the frames. For titles like God of War or the Tomb Raider series, you can still enjoy a high-resolution gaming experience. Asus ROG’s MUX switch feature allows you to draw frames directly via the GPU (instead of running it through the integrated graphics as most non-MUX gaming laptops do) eliminating any bottlenecks.

The laptop also has good thermals and while it does get warm, it doesn’t feel uncomfortably hot. This is likely with the help of a good internal design as well as the fans, which are also not very noisy. Another aspect that needs to be mentioned is the sound on the speakers is loud and enjoyable as far as gaming laptops go.

The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 can deliver an enjoyable experience on pretty much every game. (Image Source: The Indian Express/ Chetan Nayak)

The ROG Strix Scar 17 leverages its large size to deliver good battery life. During my non-gaming tests, I managed to keep the screen lit up for a good 6-7 hours with about half brightness, lots of programs running in the background and WiFi-enabled the entire time. This is likely due to good battery optimisation in the machine when it’s not gaming.

ROG Keystone support

While I didn’t use the ROG Keystone to its full potential, this is a handy tool/feature to have. The little red thumb drive. The physical key allows Asus ROG users to store their hardware profile and settings like macro-key configurations and carry it wherever they go. These settings can then be replicated on another keystone-compatible ROG laptop by simply inserting the keystone into the slot.

Support for the ROG Keystone is a handy addition. (Image Source: The Indian Express/ Chetan Nayak)

The ROG keystone can also be used to execute commands every time it is put in or removed. For instance, you can log out of Windows every time you pull the device out. These settings can be configured via the bundled Armoury Crate software.

I/O

The Strix Scar 17 has good I/O ports. All the ports go on either the left side or the back. This is great for multiple reasons. Common ports including the power input go on the back, leaving your sides looking cleaner when the laptop is set on a desk. Meanwhile, with no ports on the right, there are no wires, drives or other peripherals sticking out the laptop’s right edge, perhaps getting in the way of your external mouse.

On the back, we have two USB 3.2 Type-C ports (one of which is Thunderbolt 4), an HDMI 2.1 port, an RJ45 ethernet port and the power port. On the left, you have a 3.5mm headphone port and a couple of USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports.

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17: What’s not good?

While it excels at pretty much everything, the Achilles’ heel of the laptop is the lack of a dedicated webcam, which would have made this a more complete package. While gaming laptops omitting the webcam is a common sight, I expect something that costs this much to not leave out any voids in features, especially ones like the webcam, which are crucial post-pandemic.

The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 comes with no fingerprint scanner and webcam. (Image Source: The Indian Express/ Chetan Nayak)

Unsurprisingly, it is also a heavy laptop, complete with a large and heavy charging adapter, making the whole bundle portable, but not the most convenient to carry around often. Like most gaming laptops of its class, the ROG Strix Scar 17 is ideally not meant to be carried around daily in a backpack.

Verdict: Who should get the ROG Strix Scar 17 2022?

While it delivers top-notch performance, the ROG Strix Scar 2022 is understandably not for everyone and is a machine for purists who want no compromise when it comes to gaming. The machine is a performance beast and has the specifications to enjoy titles for years to come, no less than what you’d expect from a laptop that costs Rs 2,61,990. If you can ignore some aspects like having to use an external webcam and the weight of the machine, this powerhouse is a solid recommendation.