ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 15 – Gaming Monster

The year 2021 brought with it the new generation of AMD processors and Anvidia’s GeForce RTX cards and with them the next generation of gaming mobiles that will use them, when this time we test the mobileASUS ROG Strix SCAR 15 The G533QS model has a 15.6-inch screen that comes with one of the most powerful technical specifications on the market today.

The SCAR 15 was announced in January as part of the launch of ASUS after the CES 2021 show, which brought with it a new generation of processors and graphics cards, when in our case the laptop comes with the 8-core Ryzen 9 5900HX processor from AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series and card Anvidia’s most powerful mobile screen, the GeForce RTX 3080 – a safe recipe for gaming with extremely high performance.

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A closer look – ROG Strix SCAR 15

The first thing you notice about the SCAR 15 mobile is its 15.6-inch screen. In our case the screen on the tested mobile came in Full HD resolution with a high refresh rate of 300Hz and a response time of 3ms, but the laptop can also be found with a QHD screen with a refresh rate of 165Hz. Particularly noticeable is the lack of a built-in webcam, but as we will see below, ASUS has solved this problem.

The screen uses an IPS panel with a matte finish that helps prevent reflections, standing at 100% sRGB color standard and supporting AMD’s Adaptive-Sync technology, equivalent to AMD’s FreeSync, needed to take advantage of the high refresh rate. A look at the bottom of the screen reveals that in contrast to the standard screen axis, ASUS chose to connect the screen to the body with 2 extra large and durable exterior clips in their appearance, while in addition you can find under the screen RGB lighting strip, because the concept of too much RGB does not exist in gaming.

ASUS has chosen to incorporate in SCAR 15 a relatively large variety of connections, which come on 3 sides instead of the regular 2 of most laptops:

• Right side – A dedicated connection to the Keystone device, which we will expand on later.
• Left side – A pair of USB 3.2 Gen 1 connections and an integrated 3.5 mm connection.
• rear – Dedicated power connection, RJ45 network connection, HDMI 2.0b port, USB-C connection in USB 3.2 Gen 2 standard with DisplayPort support and PD charging and additional USB 3.2 Gen 1 connection.

This is a fairly large collection of connections, although I would have been happy to see at least one more USB-C connection on my computer, even for the price of a regular USB connection. Since most mobile connections come at the back, its use on the desktop is convenient in terms of cable arrangement, when the laptop can be charged with its dedicated 240W charger or via the USB-C connection of up to 100W.

A quick look at the SCAR 15 keyboard reveals an unconventional configuration, with the right side of the laptop made of semi-transparent plastic, compared to the other side which comes in a standard black finish. The keyboard comes in a spacious and easy-to-use structure after a short adjustment period, when the company chose to add a series of dedicated media keys on the right side of the keyboard, in addition to five buttons on the top for quick volume control, quick opening of the Armory Crate software to control the computer and a dedicated button to change mode The work of the computer, even though the F5 button next to it performs a similar operation.

The keyboard keys in SCAR 15 are less routine, when it comes to opto-mechanical keys with independent RGB lighting for each key in the company’s Aura Sync technology. The keys are designed to provide performance and experience similar to the mechanical keys commonly used in gaming keyboards, while in the case of SCAR, the keys provide a similar feel to blue mechanical keys, at least in my personal opinion, it also means there is quite a bit of “noise” pressing them that may interfere with some users. Little adaptation to them. Finally, you can find the more familiar NumPad pad from ASUS ‘ZenBook mobile series, which is used as a mobile numbers pad.

The back of the SCAR 15 comes in a relatively clean black design, while on the right side you can find a relatively large logo of the ASUS gaming brand ROG, which comes with RGB lighting, compared to the left part which comes with square text in different sizes displaying the name ROG along with another relatively hard text To read.

At the bottom of the laptop you can find a collection of vents designed to keep the computer cool, along with an RGB strip that reaches the full width of the front side and glides slightly to the right and left sides. Finally you can see 2 speakers at the bottom that come as part of the square audio array, along with 2 speakers in the back strip of the laptop. The combination of a pair of 4W speakers and a pair of 2W tweeters, allows the mobile to provide high quality audio quality.

While the mobile comes without a built-in webcam, which is a bit problematic at the moment, ASUS has solved this shortcoming by adding the cameraASUS ROG Eye Of the company separately. The camera comes in a compact and dedicated design for carrying, with a disconnected USB cable and a structure that allows you to connect it on the laptop screen or use the attached metal ROG stand.

Compared to quite a few built-in webcams, this is a significant leap forward, with the ROG Eye camera capable of shooting at Full HD resolution and up to 60 frames per second and comes with a pair of microphones in “beamforming” to improve the quality of audio recording on the user side, far beyond what is possible Find built-in webcams.

Another accessory that comes with the SCAR 15 and looks like a simple keychain at first glance, is theKeystone II, The ASUS NFC “key” that comes in some of the company’s ROG models. The Keystone can be thought of as a physical “smart key” that can be programmed using the company’s Armory Crate software. After inserting the Keystone to its designated place on the right side of the laptop keyboard where it is held by magnets, the laptop will perform the predefined actions for it by the user, for example setting the computer to go into “turbo” mode and open the mobile game menu. Keystone.

Another bonus that can be found in the set of the SCAR 15 is the gaming mouse ROG Chakram core Of ASUS, which presents a simple fact that every gamer will probably prefer to use a dedicated mouse rather than the built-in mouse pad. While this is not the company’s most advanced gaming mouse, it is certainly not the basic model in them, as it even comes with a set of weights to adjust the weight of the mouse to the user.

The mouse comes with a 16000DPI sensor with a sampling rate of 1000Hz, a pair of additional thumb buttons and a multi-directional joystick that is all programmable. Like any other gaming mouse, here too you can find built-in RGB lighting in ASUS ‘Aura Sync technology, which can be synced to the mobile lighting itself.

Finally, ASUS has decided to provide the ability to customize the laptop according to personal taste, with a replaceable panel at the back of which the company calls Armor Cap, which comes in a silver, semi-transparent or rubber gray color. The panel is held in place by a magnet, where it can be easily removed and replaced with the other panels. The company also allows each user to make their own custom Armor Cap with a 3D printable file that can be downloaded from the company’s website.

Performance tests – ROG Strix SCAR 15

The Strix SCAR 15 mobile comes as part of the new 2021 mobile generation that uses updated technical specifications based on AMD’s Ryzen 5000 mobile processors and Anvidia’s latest GeForce RTX 3000 cards, a combination that produces a high-quality gaming machine. In the case of this model, the laptop comes with one of the most powerful specifications available today:

• Processor – Ryzen 9 5900HX with 8 cores and 16 threads.
• Memory – 32GB DDR4.
• storage – HTM 1TB SSD model HFM001TD3JX013N from SK Hynix.
• Graphics Card – GeForce RTX 3080 16GB.
• screen – 15.6-inch with IPS-level panel with Full HD resolution at 300Hz and a 16: 9 ratio.
• Weight – 2.3 kg.

This is one of the best combinations that can be found today, with the 5900HX processor second in performance only to the 5980 HX that comes with a boost frequency higher than it at 200 Hz.

In order to get a measure of mobile performance we conducted several performance tests with a division into general performance, processor performance, video card performance and built-in storage performance, with the mobile set to performance mode. For the purpose of the overall performance index, the mobile was tested in the PCMark 10 software with an overall score of 7005 points.

To test the Ryzen 9 5900HX processor, the GeekBench 5.3.1 software was run, in which the processor received a score of 1214 for single core performance and 4425 for multi-core performance, as well as the Cinebench R23 software in which the processor received a score of 1188 for single core performance and 5209 for performance Multiple cores.

The GeForce RTX 3080 card was tested with the 3DMark software in the Time Spy test, where it received a score of 10,809 points and in the Superposition software in the 1080p medium and extreme setting, where it received a score of 19,683 and 6933 points respectively.

The built-in HFM001TD3JX013N SSF drive from SK Hynix has a read speed of up to 1.76GB / s and a write speed of up to 1.53GB / s in the ATTO software, while in the AS SSD the drive gets an overall score of 5079 points with a continuous write speed of about 1.79 GB / s and a reading of about 2.96 GB / s.

As might be expected, the SCAR 15 mobile manages to deliver extremely high performance thanks to its powerful and up-to-date specifications, while providing more than enough processing power not only for games but also any other heavy use in fact.

User experience – ROG Strix SCAR 15

The experience of using the SCAR 15 was particularly interesting, and while I personally prefer Thin & Light mobiles, it is not possible to get the power that exists in the SCAR 15 mobile, although the ASUS ROG Flow X13 mobile is a rather interesting solution to the issue. While this is not the lightest gaming mobile weighing 2.3 kg and 27.2 mm thick, it is still a mobile that is convenient to move from place to place.

The powerful hardware of the SCAR 15 allows it to meet any task and especially on the gaming side for which it is intended. While I did not expand on the game performance issue in the review, in practice every game I tried to run on the computer through my Steam and Epic account just worked superbly and it is not exactly surprising given the hardware it is equipped with. What is surprising is the relatively low noise that the laptop produces as a result of changes in its cooling system. Although it is far from being the quietest laptop I have tested, at least in performance modes, even in the most powerful turbo mode the cooling system is relatively quiet compared to other mobiles I have tested in the past, which integrates best with the laptop’s square and powerful audio array.

One of the most difficult issues to talk about in the context of SCAR 15 is its battery life. While it comes with a fairly large 90WHr battery, which according to the company should suffice for up to 12 hours of use, the question is what to do in those hours. The combination of a dedicated video card and a built-in video card allows you to reduce consumption depending on its use together with the smart management system, which leads to about 8 to 9 hours of use in normal mode or Approximately 1 to 2 hours of mobile gaming use, Keep in mind that most gamers will pre-connect their computer to power while playing.

Bottom line – what we thought of the ROG Strix SCAR 15

For those looking for a powerful and high-quality gaming mobile, Asus offers a large and up-to-date range of solutions, including the ROG Strix SCAR 15, which offers the highest performance that can be achieved today on a laptop. The fact that Asus chose to add some nice bonuses to the mobile set in the form of the external webcam, a solution that other companies should adopt, the gaming mouse Chakram core and the ability to customize the laptop with the Armor Cap that can also be printed at home alone, adds extra value to the laptop. Its high price.

If you are looking for a quality gaming mobile and the budget is not the problem, the ROG Strix SCAR 15 is definitely good especially in light of the “little touches” that Asus added to the mobile.

The ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 15 mobile is available for sale in Israel at a price of NIS 14,700 in a configuration tested in the audit.

For a list of models available in the series on the KSP website (starting at NIS 10,500) – click here

What did we like?

• Extremely powerful up-to-date specifications.
• Full HD screen at 300 Hz, but also available in QHD at 165 Hz.
• Relatively quiet even in turbo mode.
• Opto-mechanical keys.
• RGB and lots (for those who like).
• High quality square speaker array.
• A relatively small and compact structure.
• Comes with a gaming mouse.
• Comes with a particularly good webcam.
• Attached is a backpack for carrying (not included in the review kit).

And what not?

• price. Far from being accessible to everyone.
• Maximum brightness is relatively low on the screen.
• Fingerprints, fingerprints everywhere.
• Opto-mechanical keys, for those who less like the noise.

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