Review Asus Strix Scar II laptop: lights, camo, action

The Asus Republic of Gamers Strix Scar II – which is a blatant name for a $ 1,999 laptop – verifies most of the needs of a mobile gamer without: an acceptable design at work. If you had told me five years ago that gaming laptops in 2018 would still have designs featuring RGB lighting, camouflage, and ostentatious logos, I would not have thought you. Yet we are here.

Basically, the Scar II has two of the three ingredients we've described that make up great gaming notebooks. It has the ability to play demanding titles at high / ultra settings on a color-calibrated screen. Thin frames and the ability to last as long as I would like on battery.

Not surprising if you look at the basic specifications: a six-core Intel Core i7-8750H eighth generation processor, 16GB RAM, 256GB + 1TB SSHD configuration, and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 graphics. case of the Scar II, Asus went with the full-speed mobile chip and not with the battery-conscious Max Q version.

Asus ROG Strix Scar II weighs It's the smallest and most expensive gaming laptop lightweight with fully mobile Nvidia graphics, and it moves to an unusual place between a thin and light gaming laptop and a huge power.

A laptop like this one can be connected to multiple monitors, a gaming mouse, a keyboard and other accessories while remaining as the centerpiece of the game, with a flashy RGB lighting and a built-in stand. camo wrist.

The Scar II does not have a great deal of autonomy for roaming users, and it does not look like a work machine for anyone who wants a dual-purpose laptop. The Scar II is first and foremost a slot machine, and everything else is second. But he is so compact and reliable that he ends up feeling like he's in his own category.

Some large gaming notebooks suffer from build quality problems. Fortunately, this is not the case with the Scar II: the chassis is sturdy and does not suffer bending when force is applied to the touchpad, keyboard or cover. The scar is also a thick and heavy laptop at 1.02 inches in thickness and 5.2 pounds, making it more of a "small tank" than a laptop rather than a laptop. A heavy bore full bore. (Believe it or not, compared to the competition of full-power laptops, this counts as small.)

Asus applied different surface treatments on the lid and carbon fiber printing on the palm rest to give it a gaming feel. "There's even a much needed anti-fingerprint coating for the palm rest, which does a great job of masking (if not canceling) oily fingerprints against the smooth and black surface.

However, as a player, I'm not convinced The biggest part of Scar II's "game-oriented aesthetics" is more than just a branding and excessive use of the camouflage. This is a laptop where the RGB backlight for the entire keyboard is not enough; Asus also includes an RGB light strip on the lower lip and a Light of Gamers logo on the lid (both can be turned off).

I think game notebook designers want this thing to look dubious, but instead, it seems sticky.

Asus II goes beyond the camouflage print on the palm rest. It also incorporates white WASD keys as the white keys come off, and these are the keys that FPS players use the most. Asus even has an entirely separate SKU for this laptop called the Hero II, with identical specifications but white QWERTY keys that are appropriate for MOBA games like League of Legends .

The aesthetics aside, the keyboard as a whole is a joy to type. He has an adequate trip and not much noise for every touch. The directional keys reflect a full desktop keyboard layout by being located at a distance from other keys next to a numeric keypad with dedicated volume control, mute, and "Game Center" keys located above the keyboard. row of function keys. The keyboard revolves around the game and the crush of buttons, and it is also good for its side: typing long documents.

The Scar II Precision Touchpad is also easy to use and comfortable, with all the gestures of Windows 10. The surface of the touchpad is smooth, with precise cursor tracking and two programmable buttons for the left and right buttons. the mouse. This is not a substitute for a gaming mouse, but it works well for editing and browsing the web.

The Scar II uses a 15.6-inch IPS FHD display with a 100% sRGB color gamut, a refresh rate of 144Hz, a 300-nit brightness, and a 3 millisecond response time. Using a Spyder5 colorimeter, I was able to confirm that the color reproduction of the Scar II works at 100% of the sRGB spectrum. In person, it definitely looks like.

Unfortunately, you will give up G-Sync (Nvidia's anti-screen technology) on the Scar II. But you'll probably be able to hide it with the raw power of the GTX 1070 GPU.

I never felt deprived of G-Sync using this laptop. The screen of Scar II produces a brilliant visual experience, alive and sweet without being surrounded by thick frames. The panel is similar to that of Asus' Zephyrus GM501 notebook, which had gigantic goggles. The Scar II, however, has much narrower glasses at the top, left and right. It makes a huge difference in how immersive games can feel on this laptop.

This immersion is a bit of a Pyrrhic victory, however, because the lower bezel and logo are ridiculously oversized. Therefore, the Scar II features the worst webcam placement on a laptop – the extreme lower right – which makes it almost impossible to get a centered photo during a video chat. In addition, the Scar II is yet another Windows Hello footprint-free gaming laptop or face recognition.

The side speakers of Scar II are excellent. They have a loud sound profile but clear and without noise that is supported by tons of bass. They are perfect if you want to play alone and out loud or if you decide to watch some videos with friends or roommates. I did not come across a gaming laptop with better speakers, so it's certainly a welcome surprise.

If you spend $ 1,999 on a gaming laptop, you should not expect less than high-end gaming performance (high or low). ultra). Asus Scar II responds to this. Non-intensive titles like League of Legends Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive turn to their best graphics settings at 144 fps. Some games that take a little more graphic prowess, like Destiny 2 and Rainbow Six: Siege also work in ultra settings but turn around 100 fps. Finally, a resource like Arma 3 requires that you make some adjustments before you can reach three-digit frame rates, but that will still be fine.

Gaming on the Scar II is a fun experience – not only because it has the processing power for popular FPS titles, but because it makes their game enjoyable. Unlike other laptops, keycaps are not too small or too tight. The screen comes with a preset color for the game so you can pay more attention to the shadows of other players or, better still, be able to hear them, thanks to the loud and rich speakers in bass.

You'd be hard-pressed not to enjoy your favorite game on the Scar II, whether or not you have a gaming PC.

As a productivity machine, the Scar II does a good job staying calm and quiet doing something other than playing games. You can also control the fan speed, which directly affects the performance of the GPU in 3D applications. Silent mode works when you do not want to hear the two-fan system kick-in; in "Overboost" mode, the fans reach their fastest speed, cooling the system quickly. (But you can still hear them wearing headphones.)

By default, Asus Scar II uses a "Balanced" mode, which only sounds when you play Games. That's the setting I've used the most. Overall, Asus did a great job with the heat dissipation on the Scar II. The slots on the bottom and the fan become hot, but the palm rest stays cold.

The Scar II is not performing very well on battery tests, even using a balanced power setting, soft backlight, and use based on Internet browsing and video viewing. You will not receive more than four hours of full charge, which is well below the five to eight hours that you can get with the Max Q laptops, but still better than other machines with full mobile GPUs. Asus's own Zephyrus, for example, could not even reach three hours.

If you are looking for a thin and lightweight laptop capable of playing at respectable settings and that can last six hours, look to Razer Blade 15 or the MSI GS65 . The Scar II is the smallest and lightest gaming notebook with full mobile Nvidia graphics, so it falls in a unique place between a slim and lightweight gaming laptop and a tanky power.

Maybe that explains all the camouflage.

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