The ASUS ROG Strix Hero II and SCAR II gaming laptops bring intense style and specs

ASUS'south 2nd generation of the Republic of Gamers Strix Hero Ii and SCAR II gaming laptops are designed with FPS and MOBA gamers in heed. From the high-performance components to the striking designs, these laptops exemplify the ethos of the ROG make.

Spec-wise, the two laptops are nearly identical, plenty so that for most of this we'll embrace them both in the same breath. They both offering fifteen.six-inch displays from AOU with the narrow bezels that take get common beyond standard consumer-course laptops over the past few years. These aren't just any displays, though, with 144Hz refresh rates, snappy 3ms gray-to-gray response times, and a FHD resolution nether a gamer-friendly non-glare coating.

All of this is powered by the latest in processors and graphics cards. Buyers volition have a choice of an 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8300H CPU or an upgraded Cadre i7-8750H, paired with an NVIDIA GTX 1060 GPU With 6GB of RAM or a GTX 1070 with 8GB of RAM (the latter comes with a monster 230W power adapter) and upwards to 32GB of RAM. Providing storage is an G.two SSD slot (factory equippable upward to 512GB) and a hard drive bay with your choice of 1TB hybrid of standard hard disk drives. All of these high-performance components are kept absurd by ASUS's HyperCool Pro tech, which through a system of rut pipes, radiators, and 12V blowers keeps the vital components cooled to xc°C even nether an intense load. That can all run automatically as you game, just owners volition have the option to turn on an "Overboost way" to go along things nice and cool, or switch to "Silent mode" for those times yous desire to game in quiet.

Connectivity-wise, the Hero II and SCAR Ii both offer 802.11ac Wi-Fi with Intel'due south Moving ridge 2 tech. This brings Gigabit speeds, and when coupled with the ASUS RangeBoost quad-antenna design provide greater range and reliability for wireless gamers. And, of course, there's an RJ45 Ethernet port for when y'all demand to get serious. You lot'll too find a trio of USB-A ports, a single USB-C port (alas, no Thunderbolt 3 support), mini DisplayPort, and HDMI 2.0.

Category	ROG Strix SCAR II and Hero II
Display	15.6-inch FHD (1920x1080), 144hz refresh rate, 3ms response time, 100% sRGB color gamut, non-glare coating 15.6-inch FHD (1920x1080), 60Hz refresh rate, 100% sRGB colour gamut, non-glare blanket (Hero II option only)
CPU	eighth Gen Intel Core i5-8300H 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8750H
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 + 6GB GDDR5 VRAM NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 + 8GB GDDR5 VRAM (SCAR Ii pick merely)
RAM	Up to 32GB DDR4 2666MHz
Storage	1000.2 NVMe PCIe 128/256/512GB SSD 5400rpm 1T SSHD 7200rpm 1TB HDD
Wireless	802.11ac 2x2 Wave 2, Bluetooth 5.0
Ports	1x USB-C 3.ane 3x USB-A 3.i mini DisplayPort 1.ii HDMI ii.0 Ethernet SD card reader 3.5mm sound jack
Keyboard	four-zone RGB backlit, 1.8mm travel distance, 0.25mm keycap curve SCAR II: Marked WASD keys Hero II: Marked QWER keys
Audio	2x 3.5W speakers, assortment microphone
Power	180W ability adapter 230W power adapter (GTX 1070 only)
Dimensions	14.1 ten 10.3 10 ane.03 inches (361 x 262 x 26.1mm)
Weight	5.29 lbs (2.4kg)
Price	starting at $1699

And, of course, there'due south the keyboard. The Strix laptops have full-size keyboards with numpads and are equipped with ASUS's Aura Sync RGB lighting. The laptops carry over ASUS's Overstroke actuation point positioning, which allows for faster key activation by literally moving the trigger higher upwardly in the keys. The Strix laptops bring plenty of power, merely at just barely over an inch thick they're not enormous beasts. You won't find mechanical keyboards here, instead ASUS has designed a keyboard with all this and simply 1.8mm of primal travel.

In my brief time with the laptops they keys were... fine. Nothing amazing, but also definitely non terrible. At least in that location is a full-size numpad sitting off to the right side, plus a quartet of dedicated hotkeys on the left for book controls and to fire up the ROG Gaming Center performance monitoring and settings app. And, of class, considering this is a gaming laptop, there are highlighted important keys. On thee MOBA-oriented Strix Hero Two you'll find the QWER keys replaced with translucent white keycaps, while the FSP-centric SCAR Two has white WASD keys.

Aesthetically, these are ROG gaming laptops through-and-through. The cases are a mix of materials, with hard plastics, soft-touch carbon fiber keyboard decks and palm rests, and a ii-end gray brushed metal lid. The Strix Hero II has a "cyberpunk" patter on the palm rests and "diagonal 3D texture" on the lid, while the Strix SCAR 2 features a cover-up-and-Kevlar look. And you'll find more of the ASUS Aura Sync RBG lighting in the lid logo and a new lightbar across the forepart of the base. These are very much gaming laptops and ASUS is in no style shameful of that.

Both the ASUS ROG Strix Hero Ii and ASUS ROG Strix SCAR Two will exist priced starting at $1699 for the Core i5 with GTX 1060 versions, or $1999 for the SCAR Ii with the more powerful GTX 1070 option, with availability starting now.

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