We reviewed the all-new ASUS ROG Strix Scar II (model GL704GW), which boasts the latest Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 GPU. We love it and we are sure you’ll do, too. But the big question is: is the ROG Strix Scar II worth its P100k+ price tag? Find out our verdict below.
For this review, we tested the GL704GW model of the ROG Strix Scar II. You will find its specs and prices (and of the other models) at the bottom of the page.
Design & construction
The ASUS ROG Strix Scar II shouts “premium” in every bit and pieces. Out of the (huge) box, this laptop already comes with a charger, manuals and what-not, a free ASUS ROG Impact mouse, and a handsome ROG bag. Talk about premium accessories to go with your premium machine!
But of course, the star of the show is the ROG Strix Scar II; it impresses in terms of built and design just like its other siblings in the ROG line. Its slim form factor—well, slim for a gaming laptop—can pass for a professional or a big causal laptop. However, several ROG design cues reinforce its gaming heritage. The cover sports a brushed aluminum shell with a big RGB-lighted ROG logo at the right side. Meanwhile, the keyboard area comes with a camouflage pattern on the upper diagonal half. The latter is a nice reference, too, since ASUS brands the Scar II as a First-Person Shooter (FPS) gaming laptop.
The 17-inch screen is huge. But thanks to the thin top and side bezels, the ROG Strix Scar II is able to maintain a sleek body. The bottom bezel houses another ROG logo and the webcam. Made of carbon fiber, the keyboard area features LED notification lights, air intake vents, and of course, the RGB-lighted and ASUS Aura Sync-powered keys. There are dedicated buttons for the volume rocker, mute mic, power, and ASUS’ Armoury Crate control center at the first row of the keyboard. The number pad is also present, and the W, A, S, D keys are transparent so they can easily be distinguished from the rest when playing.
Below the keyboard, you’ll find the smooth trackpad with distinguished left and right button. It’s sensitive with just the right amount of resistance; the click buttons are clicky and responsive as well. An LED strip sits at the bottom lid, which syncs its colors to the rest of the lighted parts.
This machine also comes with a full set of connectivity options. On the left side, there are ports for charging, Mini-Display, HDMI, USB Type-A 3.1 Gen 1, and 3.5mm audio jack. The RJ-45 slot and the loudspeaker can also be found on this side of the laptop. Moving to the right side, you can find ports for USB Type-A 3.1 Gen 1 and USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 1. It also features the Kensington lock, SD card reader slot, exhaust vent, and the other loudspeaker. At the back are two more exhaust vents for faster cooling of the laptop.
Overall, the ASUS ROG Strix Scar II is sturdy and well-built, especially the hinge; I didn’t worry one bit about handling and transporting this laptop. Plus, for a gaming laptop, it’s already sleek and lightweight compared to tis competition. Mind you, it’s still a little heavy to lug around every day and anywhere.
Display & Multimedia
The ASUS ROG Strix Scar II boasts a Full HD display with a 144Hz rate and 3ms response time (more about this below), which means you get smooth and fluid images on practically any game you choose to play. The 17-inch screen is excellent and spacious enough to play first-person shooter titles or any other title for that matter, as well as high-resolution video streaming. Quality-wise, the display offers accurate and vibrant colors—again, upping your gaming and watching experience. Viewing angles are also good.
As mentioned above, the two 3.5W loudspeakers are situated on the left and right side of the laptop, allowing for a balanced audio output, whether you’re playing games, listening to music, or watching videos. The sound from the speakers is loud and clear, and is greatly improved by the Smart Amp technology. If that’s not enough, the Sonic Studio and the Dolby Access features are also available.
Pair the beautiful display with the great audio and you get an immersive multimedia experience—whether it’s in playing games or watching content. The ROG Strix Scar II comes out a true champion on this aspect.
Performance
This ROG Strix Scar II already runs Windows 10 Home out of the box, a standard for most laptops nowadays. One notable pre-installed app on this is the ROG Armoury Crate. This ASUS app monitors the memory, CPU, and GPU level of your device. It also allows you to create your own profile and personalize your laptop depending on your preference.
This gaming machine performed really well in the various gaming titles we played on it. For example, playing Apex Legends at a 1920 x 1080 configuration, VSync turned off, and the highest graphic setting chosen for the game gave us an average of 95 frames per second, with the minimum and maximum clocks at 50fps and 142fps, respectively. We also tried The Witcher 3 on this laptop and it averaged 60-70fps at a 1920 x 1080 Ultra Graphic configuration. It was able to go up to 100-105fps at the same settings, but we also experienced a drop to 25-30fps when we tried to unplug from the power source and simply run on battery. Other titles demonstrated the following output on the highest graphic settings available: GTA V at 70-75fps; DoTA 2 at 100-110fps; CS:GO at 100-110fps; and Assassin’s Creed Origins at 60-65fps.
Running synthetic benchmarks, the ROG Strix Scar II scored 200 on 3DMark Time Spy and 5254 on PCMark 10.
ASUS offers a great cooling system, well, at least better than what the competition have. That said, the laptop gets very hot still when performing intensive programs. The good news is, it doesn’t affect the performance a bit despite the high temperature, only that it can get tiny bit uncomfortable when it touches your skin.
Powered by an 8th-gen intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia RTX 2070, the Scar II showed fast read and write speeds, as well as quick power on time in just a matter of 5 to 10 seconds. Our review unit has 256GB SSD and 1TB SSHD, which made the Windows 10 Home operating system to run faster. Battery life can still be improved, but I think it’s good for a good four to five hours of non-stop gaming and a whole day of light work.
Verdict
The ASUS ROG Stix Scar II covers all bases with its fast, powerful performance and stylish, durable build. But is it worth its over P100,000 price? We say, yes. If you have the means, spend on it. It’s a good investment and you’ll be getting your money’s worth with the Scar II’s technology, features, and design.
Here are all the available models in the country with their specs and prices:
GL504GW (Scar II) | GL504GV (Scar II) | GL704GW (Scar II) | GL70GV (Scar II) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Category | eSports Gaming-FPS | eSports Gaming-FPS | eSports Gaming-FPS | eSports Gaming-FPS |
Processor | Intel Core i7-8750; Intel Core i5-8300H | Intel Core i7-8750; Intel Core i5-8300H | Intel Core i7-8750H | Intel Core i7-8750H |
Operating System | Windows 10 Home; Windows 10 Pro | Windows 10 Home; Windows 10 Pro | Windows 10 Home; Windows 10 Pro | Windows 10 Home; Windows 10 Pro |
Display | 15.6-inch Non-glare Full HD 1920 x 1080 IPS-level panel, 144Hz, 3ms, 100% sRGB | 15.6-inch Non-glare Full HD 1920 x 1080 IPS-level panel, 144Hz, 3ms, 100% sRGB | 17.3-inch Non-glare Full HD 1920 x 1080 IPS-level panel, 144Hz, 3ms, 100% sRGB | 17.3-inch Non-glare Full HD 1920 x 1080 IPS-level panel, 144Hz, 3ms, 100% sRGB |
Memory | 2666MHz SDRAM; Up to 32GB | 2666MHz SDRAM; Up to 32GB | 2666MHz SDRAM; Up to 32GB | 2666MHz SDRAM; Up to 32GB |
Storage | M.2 NVMe PCIE 256Gb/512GB/1TB SSD; 2.5 5400rpm 1TB SSHD | M.2 NVMe PCIE 256Gb/512GB/1TB SSD; 2.5 5400rpm 1TB SSHD | M.2 NVMe PCIE 256Gb/512GB/1TB SSD; 2.5 5400rpm 1TB SSHD | M.2 NVMe PCIE 256Gb/512GB/1TB SSD; 2.5 5400rpm 1TB SSHD |
Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 with 6GB GDDR6 VRAM | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 with 6GB GDDR6 VRAM |
Keyboard | Backlit chiclet keyboard, RGB 4 Zones, Aura Sync, marked WASD keys | Backlit chiclet keyboard, RGB 4 Zones, Aura Sync, marked WASD keys | Backlit chiclet keyboard, RGB 4 Zones, Aura Sync, marked WASD keys | Backlit chiclet keyboard, RGB 4 Zones, Aura Sync, marked WASD keys |
Audio | 2 x1W speaker with Smart AMP technology, Array Microphones | 2 x1W speaker with Smart AMP technology, Array Microphones | 2 x 3.5W speaker with Smart AMP technology, Array Microphones | 2 x 3.5W speaker with Smart AMP technology, Array Microphones |
I/O Port | 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2, 1 x mDP 1.2, 1 x HDMI 2.0b, 1 x RJ-45 Jack, 1 x SD card reader, 1 x 3.5mm jack, 1 x Kensington lock | 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2, 1 x mDP 1.2, 1 x HDMI 2.0b, 1 x RJ-45 Jack, 1 x SD card reader, 1 x 3.5mm jack, 1 x Kensington lock | 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, 3 x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2, 1 x mDP 1.4, 1 x HDMI 2.0b, 1 x RJ-45 Jack, 1 x SD card reader, 1 x 3.5mm jack, 1 x Kensington lock | 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, 3 x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2, 1 x mDP 1.4, 1 x HDMI 2.0b, 1 x RJ-45 Jack, 1 x SD card reader, 1 x 3.5mm jack, 1 x Kensington lock |
Wireless | Intel 802.11ac 2x2 Gigabit Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 | Intel 802.11ac 2x2 Gigabit Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 | Intel 802.11ac 2x2 Gigabit Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 | Intel 802.11ac 2x2 Gigabit Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 |
Dimensions | 36.1 x 26.2 x 2.61cm | 36.1 x 26.2 x 2.61cm | 39.98 x 27.35 x 2.49-2.64cm | 39.98 x 27.35 x 2.49-2.64cm |
Weight | 2.4kg | 2.4kg | 2.9kg | 2.9kg |
Power | 230W Power Adaptor | 230W Power Adaptor | 230W Power Adaptor | 230W Power Adaptor |
SRP | P144,995 | P119,995 | P149,995 | P124,995 |
If you’re looking to upgrade your laptop, the latest ASUS Notebooks are available in ASUS Robinsons Ermita Concept Store and all ASUS Concept Stores nationwide. For ROG products, visit ROG Megamall and other ROG Concept stores nationwide.