ASUS ROG Strix 17 G731PI 17.3" 144Hz Full HD Gaming Laptop (AMD Ryzen 9-7845HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, 16GB RAM, 1TB PCIe SSD, Windows 11, Per Key RGB Keyboard)

So if you’re looking at this laptop, you’re looking for top tier. Sure the MSI titan manages to squeeze a tad more performance out of the same components, but flying that close to the sun comes at a cost, financially and reliability. So with only a few others hitting this sweet spot, why should you choose this?Intro:My nearly 4 year old Alienware Area51 2080ti is starting to show its age. It’s fast enough, but struggles on the latest ray tracing titles, the call of the newest and bestest is getting stronger. I chose that laptop as really at the time it was the king of the big desktop replacement laptops. I travel a lot for my job so I wanted performance as close to my high end desktop as possible on the move. I was close to pulling the trigger on the Alienware M18 with the same hardware as the ROG, but after reviewing everything, it seems it, like many of the current gen top end laptops has thermal issues. Not so with the SCAR 18. It’s almost magical how this thing can perform and keep performing under load without hitting any thermal throttle! The 13980 i9 and RTX4090 is an awesome combo! The SSD is lightning fast, and the 2tb is generous compared to others! Out the box it’s already as fast as my previous gen i9 3090 desktop, which is silly for a laptop. The fans kick in and ate a bit noisy, but no more so than my old Alienware. It’s also a lot thinner. And it might be strange to say this, but despite the massive screen, this thing is sleek and comparatively light, next to that old thing! I’d happily carry it in a rucksack!Performance:Make sure you update the bios and you can unlock the under volt offsets and really get some performance out of it! I’m talking silly speeds! Frame rates well over 100 in any game on ultra is reasonable to expect. No longer do you need to worry about slowing down. This thing can even play star citizen at max settings with very high frames, which is nuts! It’s never going to be as fast as a desktop 4090 best, as it’s s fraction of the power available, but it’s benchmark is on par with some high end 4080 i9 desktops. So not bad for something you can pick up in your hand!Lighting:The RGB lighting is the best I’ve seen on a laptop, loads of presets to choose from and awesome knight rider like effect when it goes to sleep! The screen is beautiful and the keyboard is nice to use. I’d use this thing to work on too frankly.Sound:So most people will probably just get headphones on for this kind of machine, but the speakers are really impressive. Very crisp and good base. If you want to sit in a hotel room and turn it into a cinema, this thing does the trick. That said you’d need it loud if heavy gaming as the fans will need to be drowned out.Downsides:The power brick is a bit big, but nothing like the two lumps from the Alienware I used to have to carry. The track pad is a bit crap too, it feels nice, but been a bit funny to used, but I’d rarely not use a mouse. And you have to mention the fan noise on any gaming laptop. When you crank this thing, it kicks out a lot of air… no worse than others I’ve tried, but none are good! That said, you can use a quiet mode for reduced performance, which is still good… oh and it might be a laptop, but this thing eats power, it’s not going to last long not plugged in. And those are my only cons.Conclusion:If you want what could easily be considered one of the best, that continues to improve from bios updates, then this is the one. I have zero regrets! Unreasonable power, great screen and design and a fantastic package overall.

If you've got the cash I would definitely recommend it. It can play all modern games at ultra settings with good fps. It's also very well built and feels very sturdy. GPU/CPU temps are also exquisite (especially for the price). The aesthetics of the laptop have obviously had a lot of thought and care put into them, though the laptop might be a bit 'loud' for some. It's definitely a good purchase if you've got the wonga, m8['s].

Laptop quality great, Noise level from fans quite loud, can easily over heat, it weighs a lot, other than that it’s easy to use and its functionality is great.

2 hours after getting it, games ran fine, no issues, all games would open. Mandatory BIOS update occurs, and now 2 games refuse to open, no matter what troubleshooting ive done, no matter all the loopholes i tried to do to get it to open, they DO not work anymore. and guess what? theres no rollback to previous update, so now i can forever not open these 2 games. great.

Performance wise, this laptop is very powerful. Absolutely great for gaming. However, it does have some issues.My issues with it are:1. The Touchpad is not a numpad as it is on *literally every single other model of this laptop*. (According to the ASUS Website at least. Even the cheaper models, and even the model with everything the same except a 1080p 300hz panel has a numpad in the touchpad).2. The laptop screen doesn't go back very far.3. The laptop doesn't have Advanced Optimus, which is mostly fine, but at this price point I would expect it.4. No Webcam. Again, I would expect one at this price point.5. When I tab out, the tab that is minimized sometimes loses internet connection? Pretty weird, and not repeatable with videos, but it happens with some games. I tab out to skip an ad on whatever music I'm listening to, grab some water, come back and tab back in, and no internet to that one specific tab. I need to either restart the application or pray it returns. Discord works fine, Chrome works fine, Steam works fine, etc.6. You have to be very careful taking the back panel off to upgrade/clean anything. There is a ribbon cable for RGB control connecting the board to the case. Unplug it and its all fine, but don't forget to plug it back in.Now on to the main bits I like.1. Highly customizable power limits, and overall good software for managing the laptop.2. Great specs. I compared the 12900h and 12900hx (the newer and supposedly better version) and chose to keep this laptop. Why? Because the 12900h has: A better iGPU, higher clocks on e-cores, lower minimum power limits, etc. Also, the 3070ti is at 150w, putting it very close to a desktop 3070 for performance.3. Max load temps for the CPU were 75c at the highest for me.4. Great panel. 1440p 240hz with great colours.5. Nice trackpad, even though it doesn't have the ASUS "Numberpad" feature. (asus please)6. Nice keyboard. Feels alright to type on.7. Feels fairly sturdy. Little to no flex on the keyboard, and it all feels pretty nice.8. It doesn't get uncomfortable to have on your lap while gaming. At least for me.9. Media keys! And as an added bonus they also have Print Screen. So even though there's no numpad, you still get Print Screen.Overall, I would give this a solid 7.5/10. It has problems that do need work, hopefully they will be fixed in a future model, but I'm not planning on changing laptops for the next few years. Great performance, great screen, nice features, good software. Just remember to uninstall Norton immediately.I didn't mention the battery life as I have it capped to 60% for longevity, but it seems alright to me.I would recommend this laptop. I've been using it for over 3 weeks with no major issues.However, if you read this review and thought "I don't want this laptop due to X or Y", I highly recommend *avoiding* PCSpecialist. I bought a laptop from them over a year ago, and it was plagued with issues. They replaced it after 2 months of it being lost in RMA (which I had to chase daily), and that had all the same issues plus some. They also nearly refused to give me a refund, however thanks to consumer protection laws I had to send to them, I did get a refund after 3 months of agony. Just don't go PCSpecialist for your next laptop or PC.