You’re also getting a tanky design with fantastic thermals, and everything works as you expect it to.
If the only thing that matters to you is power absolutely.
This laptop trounces basically every gaming laptop Windows Central has ever tested, at least for now.
$3,700 is no small amount, but it does net you one of the most powerful gaming laptops you can buy right now.
Read on for my full thoughts and analysis of the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 X3D (2023).
Disclaimer:This review was made possible by a review unit provided by ASUS and AMD.
The companies did not see the contents of the review before publishing.
Compared to that, the ROG Strix SCAR 17 X3D doesn’t seem like a bad deal.
That laptop maxes out at $3,499.99 $200 less than this one.
At least you only have to choose from one configuration.
I will say, though, that this laptop is built very well.
It’s a tank, and it feels like it.
The design may not be anything special, but ASUS at least knows how to put a laptop together.
$3,700 is no small amount, but it does net you one of the most powerful gaming laptops you can buy right now.
The keyboard RGB lighting is also per-key with multiple brightness levels, and it’s pretty good.
Well… it’s okay.
That’s a solid start, but the sides disappoint a tad.
It’d be easier to look past this, but being an AMD-powered laptop there’s typically noThunderboltsupport here.
With exactly one configuration option, you’re understandably looking at just one display.
The ROG Strix SCAR 17 X3D features a QHD 1440p display with a speedy 3ms response time.
A backlit ROG logo and an RGB light strip around the lower lip of the chassis help the SCAR 17 X3D standout a bit.
Visually, this display is pleasant to look at but isn’t particularly special.
It’s pretty color-accurate (100% of the sRGB gamut and 97% of the DCI-P3 gamut).
This is a pleasant, quality screen, but it’s not particularly bright or exciting.
I wish there were one or two more ports back here.
When gaming, I never once noticed any ghosting.
It was always smooth and responsive, keeping up beautifully with Valorant at 240 FPS.
NVIDIA G-Sync support will help with variable refresh rates and prevent screen tearing.
It’s not an industry-leading display, but it looks good and performs great.
Of course, you’re able to always hook up one of thebest gaming monitorsinstead.
The result is one of the most powerful gaming laptops money can buy, full stop.
More CPU memory, or cache, means greater speeds and efficiency without making the CPU physically larger.
This is a pleasant, color accurate display fit for some creative work on top of gaming.
Of course, it especially dominates in gaming, but more on that later.
Geekbench 6 is a similar affair, with only the Razer Blade 18 just pulling ahead in multi-core performance.
In single-core performance, though, the SCAR 17 X3D once again bested every PC Windows Central has tested.
Benchmarks only tell part of the story, though.
General performance is excellent, with apps opening quickly and consistently every single time.
However, the write speeds (3,162MB/s) just aren’t as high as they should be, comparatively.
The Alienware x16 R1, for example, has read and write speeds of 7,097 and 6,459MB/s, respectively.
That is not to say the write speeds arebad.
Below, you’re free to find benchmarks and my experience with multiple games.
If v-sync was an option, it was turned on.
I also ran this laptop through its paces in a variety of other ways.
Bonus!I spun up the brand-newForza Motorsporton this laptop and played a couple of races.
This is a beast of a gaming laptop, with more than enough firepower to play it all.
This is a beast of a gaming laptop, with more than enough firepower to do it all.
The 90WHr battery here does better than the one in the Alienware x16 R1, but only just.
That’s… surprising.
I prefer a number pad with my desktop, but I usually don’t miss it on laptops.
Still, it’s nice to have and makes this a great laptop for strategy games and MMOs.
Just a few more ports on the left side, but nothing but vents on the right.
What I don’t love is the fact that the arrow keys are also compacted to half-size.
This is overall a minor complaint, though ASUS made a pretty good keyboard here.
These are great to have, except they’re labeled with their default functions.
The Blade 18 may pull ahead here in multi-core performance, but this laptop bests them all in single-core performance in Geekbench 6.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Volume down and volume up are two, and they’re not present in the regular function row.
It’s a strange layout and will quickly become confusing should you choose to reprogram these macro keys.
There are no such negatives or complaints about the touchpad.
CrossMark is the only benchmark this laptop didn’t dominate, and it still performed great.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Honestly, it’d be a fantastic touchpad on any laptop, short of being a haptic touchpad.
Sure, there’s a front-facing webcam, but it’s only 720p.
There’s also noWindows Hellosupport here.
Impressive multi-core and single-core performance keep this laptop at the top of Cinebench R23.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Oh, there’s actually no biometric authenticationat all.
That’s certainly not what I expected in a nearly $4,000 laptop.
The Windows experience is quite good on this laptop, given the fantastic performance and solid keyboard and touchpad.
Once again, this laptop tops the charts, and is the only PC here to break the 9,000 barrier.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Of course, you also get a number of preinstalled apps and programs.
All of this is… fine!
There are some outliers here, though.
Extreme read speeds look a bit out of place on this graph.(Image credit: Windows Central)
GlideX stands out a little on a gaming laptop, but it’s fine to have.
Spotify is also preinstalled but can easily be uninstalled.
The software experience here is mostly great, but the Virtual Pet is a bit strange.
Most of the bottom of the laptop is one huge vent, propped up by sizeable rubber feet.
Finally, there’s ASUS' Virtual Pet.
Yeah, this one’s a bit weird.
It just puts a strange, mouse-like robot thing on your monitor?
Stay tuned for my review of Forza Motorsport (2023).
Easy to not use if you don’t want to, though.
Overall, little to complain about here.
At least at the time of review, this is theonlylaptop with the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D inside.
The SCAR 17 X3D couldn’t reach the very top of our 3DMark Time Spy scores, but it still did very well.
If you want this CPU, you only have one option.
you’re able to also look to other companies like MSI for high-end power.
Need to save some cash?
It doesn’t take long to drag the battery percentage down to zero on this laptop.
There’s also no Windows Hello support, a mechanical keyboard, extra ports, or a fancy display.
If that doesn’t matter to you, this is a great laptop.
Ports aplenty this laptop does not have.
Sure, it can technically be worse… but you still probably shouldn’t use this laptop off the charger.
However, most people just don’t need this level of power.
This is a high-performance machine, and it wears that focus on its sleeves.
The matte plastic has a tendency to pick up smudges and fingerprints, but the keyboard and touchpad are both more than good enough.
The keyboard is shifted to the left and a little more cramped because of the tenkey number pad, which may turn away some potential buyers.
Beyond the fundamentals of a gaming laptop, the SCAR 17 X3D tends to err on the side of “just okay."
Windows 11 runs great on this laptop, and there’s not a ton of annoying bloatware.
Armoury Crate is aggressive and messy, but it’s also functional and reliable.
When it comes to raw performance, the SCAR 17 X3D shuts the lid on the competition.
This is a heavy laptop to be holding like this. It’s a large boi.
