Optus Mobile Review ALDI Mobile Review Amaysim Mobile Review Belong Mobile Review Circles.Life Review Vodafone Mobile Review Woolworths Mobile Review Felix Mobile Review Best iPhone Plans Best Family Mobile Plans Best Budget Smartphones Best Prepaid Plans Best SIM-Only Plans Best Plans For Kids And Teens Best Cheap Mobile Plans Telstra vs Optus Mobile Optus NBN Review Belong NBN Review Vodafone NBN Review Superloop NBN Review Aussie BB NBN Review iiNet NBN Review MyRepublic NBN Review TPG NBN Review Best NBN Satellite Plans Best NBN Alternatives Best NBN Providers Best Home Wireless Plans What is a Good NBN Speed? Test NBN Speed How to speed up your internet Optus vs Telstra Broadband ExpressVPN Review CyberGhost VPN Review NordVPN Review PureVPN Review Norton Secure VPN Review IPVanish VPN Review Windscribe VPN Review Hotspot Shield VPN Review Best cheap VPN services Best VPN for streaming Best VPNs for gaming What is a VPN? VPNs for ad-blocking Additional Armor Caps aren’t available, but the ASUS’ website does let you download the designs necessary to 3D Print your own. There’s no point pretending that the ROG Strix Scar 15 isn’t expensive, but it sits right on the line between high-performance and excess in the grand scheme of things. It conforms to the same visual ethos you’ll find throughout ASUS’ latest ROG range. It’s a cleaner, more modern riff on a familiar formula. You’ve got a perforated slash design on the back and a slick wide-view 1080p screen with thin bezels on the front. The review unit we tested was equipped with a 1080p display clocked at 300Hz. If you’re after a version of the ROG Strix Scar 15 with a 1440p, you’ll have to “settle” for 165Hz - which still puts it ahead of many other laptops. Though noticeable when under duress, the Arc Flow fans aren’t too distracting, and the full-size, desktop-style keyboard yields the obvious benefits. The back-end of the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 15 is definitely thicker than the front, but it’s nowhere as chunky as many other comparable gaming laptops usually are. As with ASUS’ other ROG gaming laptops, the RGB lighting (both on the keyboard and the exterior of the Strix Scar 15) is controlled via ASUS’ Armory Crate and Aura Sync software applications. Like the Zephyrus G15, there’s also an extra layer of liquid metal coating the CPU and a nifty self-cleaning system that works to cleanse the machine’s interior. Unlike ASUS’ slimmest gaming machine, however, the ROG Strix Scar 15 opts for an overall conventional form-factor peppered with several ASUS-isms. This side of the machine is also home to ASUS’ unique Keystone accessory. Now in its second generation, the Keystone allows you to save and take your gaming settings with you. You can even configure the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 15 to do certain things when you connect the accessory, such as closing or opening certain apps or temporarily turning off the fans inside the machine. If you’re used to more slimline PCs, the physical space that the layout of the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 15 gives you to work with can be downright dizzying. The trackpad is more prominent and broader than the average, and there’s a smoothness to the texturing of the chassis that cordially invites you to rest your weary palms upon it. You can even use the trackpad on the Strix Scar 15 as a makeshift number-pad if you prefer since it incorporates the basic level of the ScreenPad tech found in ASUS’ more mainstream Zenbook range. Apex Legends is a good-looking game to begin with, but seeing Respawn’s science-fiction shooter run at over two hundred frames per second is still a treat. The same goes for uber-demanding titles like CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance, which got a significant bump upwards when we shifted into high-performance mode using ASUS’ Armor Crate software. More expensive gaming laptops with similarly overkill specs exist, but once you fly past the $4000 mark, diminishing returns begin to set in. Regardless of whether you’re paying extra for brand-name, bespoke design sensibilities or one of Intel’s Core i9 processors, you’re still spending more than you have to. ASUS hasn’t sought to slay the lingering demons of the gaming laptop experience in a single blow but through a thousand, well-placed cuts. The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 15 plays things safe. It knows what it wants to be and knows how to be that thing really well.