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You have to be nuts to turn down a chance to review the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634). That’s why when ASUS asked me if I was interested, I didn’t hesitate.
I said yes right away.
I mean who wouldn’t?
It’s a chance to test out one of the world’s most powerful notebooks. For gamers and content creators, the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) is packing heat unlike most other notebooks other there!
Who in their right mind would pass?
So, after playing with the notebook for a couple of weeks, does the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) live up to its potential?
What is the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634)?
The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) is a 16-inch notebook meant for gaming and content creators. It is jam packed with the highest tier hardware you can get right now.
It has an MSRP of SG$5,699.
Here are the specs our review unit came with.
Just from a cursory look, you can tell this one is a freaking beast. An Intel Core i9-14900HX CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and 32GB DDR5 RAM. Those are not your regular mid-shelf hardware. Those are hardcore, enthusiast level gear.
That’s befitting a machine of this caliber.
It also comes with the usual bevy of ports.
An audio jack is always nice, and the LAN port is great too.
I do wish there were more USB ports and a card reader though.
I mean this is meant for content creators and gamers right? What do both have in common? A ton of peripherals used at any give time. From wired mice and controllers to external drives, more USB ports (whether they be Type A or C) would’ve made a huge difference.
Also the lack of a card reader is laughable on this juggernaut. It has all you’d ever want built-in but a way to read your SD (or microSD) cards or CFexpress cards. I use the Nikon Z9 (which uses CFexpress Type B cards) and I’m sick of carrying an external card reader to transfer stuff to my laptop.
Since the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) is meant for power users, this problem should’ve definitely been addressed.
Ok rant done. Let’s move on.
It’s not shown here, but ours also came with a 1TB SSD that’s preconfigured for RAID 0 too! That means blazingly fast load speeds.
It’s like ASUS read my mind like Professor X and then made the notebook I’ve always wanted into reality.
This is hands-down (on paper) one of the powerful piece of portable hardware you can get right now. Apart from increasing the RAM and storage, there’s barely anything else that needs to be done to power up this hog. This is a beastly rig, through and through.
It comes with a huge ass screen too.
On paper, it’s an IPS QHD+ (2560 x 1600) 16:10 16-inch monitor.
Here are the specs direct from ASUS.
It looks much bigger in real life because of the 90% screen to body ratio. The display fills up pretty much every single piece of real estate available, leaving only a thin sliver of bezel to surround it. Then there’s the underlying tech powering it.
240Hz refresh rate. 3ms response time. G-Sync capable. Pantone validated. Dolby Vision HDR support. NVIDIA Advanced Optimus integration.
Did I say I’m in love with the machine?
You should be too if you’re a gamer.
These is all the tech you’d ever want in your gaming rig. Trust me on this.
One look at the machine, and you can tell that this isn’t your run of the mill gaming laptop. There’s a quiet menace to it, like a tiger that’s eyeing you. The sleek lines of its chassis, the textured designs on its interior.
The extra touches make the machine truly feel premium.
I really love the flourishes that the designers adorned the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) with.
There’s a cool light up ROG logo that’s situated behind the display that turns on whenever you use the machine. You won’t ever see it (because you’ll be using the machine in the first place) but you can be sure that everybody around you will.
It’s an impressive icebreaker and a great way to establish your gaming dominance. I kid, I kid! You do that through skill, not looks.
The logo isn’t the only thing on the back that lights up.
The lower part of the chassis also has lighting built into it too!
Just take a look at this!
You can manage the colours (and other neat touches) with an app, so customization is just a few clicks away at all times.
The cool factor even goes into the underside of the machine because…why not? Ok, not why not. It’s due to cooling, but ASUS definitely went above and beyond on the design.
Take a look at this!
Now this is the kind of stuff that makes you go wow. Stuff to justify the premium you’re paying for the machine. Something to tell yourself that sure, you burned a whole lot of money…but just take a look at how incredible this notebook looks!
I’m not even going to try to hide how cool I think the underside is. ASUS has clearly went all out to design vents and panels that not only look good, but are functional too! Those thick solid legs to prop the machine up are super cool too!
Whoever designed the aesthetics of the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) deserves kudos for the work they did.
Even the interior has nice touches like a semi-clear plastic material with a textured look.
Depending on your viewing angle and the lighting, the top of the chassis can look normal or textured with the designs you see below.
Of course, it goes without saying the that machine has per key lighting on the for every key on the keyboard too.
Unfortunately, while most of the keyboard is fine, I do have to question the location of the power button. Placing it just above the Delete key and so near the Backspace button?
That’s not a smart move.
It’s much to easy to hit it by mistake if you’re trying to hit either the Backspace or Delete key without looking. I’m speaking from experience on that.
I managed to accidentally hit it twice while writing this review.
Why not just place it where most notebook power buttons are?
Right smack in the middle of the base?
Apart from that power button, the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) also has shortcut keys arrayed on above the F1 – F5 keys.
The shortcut keys are pretty self-explanatory and they’re useful but there’s really nothing much to be said about them. They’re hotkeys, they’re there. Cool.
You might think that the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) has a TKL keyboard from its looks. You’re right on that…and also quite wrong. You see, while it’s true that the machine doesn’t have a physical Numpad, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have one.
Behold!
It’s also cool that the trackpad on it doubles as a Numpad too. You just hit the upper right of the trackpad to toggle between the two modes. Simple!
Our machine did have issues toggling between the two modes though.
I don’t know whether it’s an issue with our review unit or this is a flaw with the series, but presses at the toggle location can and will go ignored. Sometimes it just takes a single tap. Other times, I have to tap multiple times just to change modes.
I have tried slow taps. I have tried fast taps. I have put pressure on my taps. I have tapped lightly. I have tried every single tap style I can think off.
The issue of whether the trackpad recognized my input is still seemingly random. Your mileage will of course vary, but just make a mental note of this and definitely try before you commit.
The trackpad buttons are also kind of mushy, not the snappy feel that’d expect. Maybe that’s your preference, but I prefer a stiffer response.
There’s also another significant issue that I’d like to highlight.
Look at the ports. Notice something?
Other than the cool clear plastic I mean.
Take a look at the round hole (the big one of the left).
That’s the A/C adapter port.
Now imagine you’re a left hander using a mouse. Does having wires coming out of the middle of your laptop seem like a good idea for you? I know if the placement was reversed and it was on the right side, there would be hell to pay.
There is no way right handed users will not complain. Unless you have a large area to use, the location of the A/C port is super problematic because it’ll undoubted interfere with regular mouse movement.
No if or buts about it!
Why is the port there instead of higher up? Or why not just put it at the back altogether? Thankfully, the ones on the other side are fine.
Comparatively speaking I mean.
I’m still adamant that we all need more USB ports and the two that are available on the right side of the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) is nowhere near enough. Having to bring your own USB hub isn’t an ideal solution at all.
ASUS’ designers really need to rethink their port and button placements, because these issues are not fine when you’re dropping upwards of $5K for a gaming machine.
Speaking of which, let’s see how this behemoth deals with games!
First off, here’s the entree!
Take a look at the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) and its PCMark10 scores.
I’m just going to let the numbers do the talking here and just shut up.
Just one thing to remember! Most modern laptops have trouble breaking the 10,000 mark for individual section (Essentials, Productivity and etc).
Ok I lied, I’m not going to shut up and let the numbers do the talking. I mean how could I? Not only does the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) score above 10,000, it does so comfortably.
Needless to say, no matter what you do with this machine, it will chew it up, spit it out and ask for more!
Now let’s go to 3Dmark to see the scores I got.
Steel Nomad is the one you want to keep your eye on.
It’s a test of hardcore gaming machines with all the latest tech. It’s super tough to get a good score here, yet the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) still averages out with an 48.93FPS.
Most decent desktops barely scratch 40FPS with Steel Nomad. In essence, the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) is performing with around the same power of a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (Desktop) to get the above results. Not exactly on par with the revered GPU, but still within an acceptable range.
Bearing that in mind, here’s how the machine does with games.
First off, Square Enix’s latest Final Fantasy XIV expansion; Dawntrail.
This is the highest score I’ve seen for a notebook yet on this game. It’s just shy of 18,000!
It’s insane! Come on! This is just ridiculous overkill.
You could probably run multiple instances of the game and still have horsepower to spare!
It goes without saying that you shouldn’t even bother with any of the benchmarks for the game. It already blazes through on Maximum, why would you even care how it does on Standard?
Let’s just move on the next game on our list, Cyberpunk 2077.
Like with Dawntrail, there’s barely any point at looking at any of the scores other than the first two.
That’s with Overdrive Ray Tracing and Ultra Ray Tracing.
If you read the link I embedded, you’ll know that Overdrive Ray Tracing require a ton of horsepower to utilize in exchange for the visual splendor it bestows.
Since NVIDIA took out the ability to run GPUs in tandem via SLI, an overclocked NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is probably the most powerful graphics card available to most people. Tom’s Hardware has a great benchmark table to show how demanding the setting is.
To get 49 FPS on average (with a low of 43FPS), on a portable machine…well that just boggles the mind. Sure, it’s not 4K or at 60FPS but considering the tech we have on hand right now, it’s nothing short of incredible.
Hell, even if you don’t want to go all out, the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) is still more than capable of running at Ultra at 74FPS, with Frame Generation off. That’s more than enough for smooth gameplay if you cap the FPS to 60!
Finally, just for kicks…we get to Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
There’s really no point to this but hell, it’s nice to see numbers go high.
With everything turned on, the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) manages an average FPS of 136.
Do I even need to go on?
The Bottom Line.
If there’s a contest for the greatest notebook to ever exist for gamers and content creators, I know the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) would definitely be in the running.
It has some of the most powerful hardware I’ve ever seen in a notebook, though with an impressively high price to match.
With that in mind, it’s puzzling that the notebook suffers from a number of design mishaps. From weird Power button placement, to the downright intrusive A/C port location, the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 16 (G634) is making mistakes that it shouldn’t be for the price it’s demanding.
That aside, if you’re looking for brute horsepower to take on the go, there’s no way to go wrong with this bad boy.
TLDR:
Incredibly powerful, with a high price to match. Some design issues, but super solid otherwise.
The Good:
- Powerful hardware.
- Great display.
- Premium build quality.
- Good looks.
The Bad:
- Numpad toggle issues.
- Expensive
- Power button and A/C port placement.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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