I’ve been using the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026), and this is the best (and biggest) gaming laptop you can buy right now | Tech Radar

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I’ve been using the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026), and this is the best (and biggest) gaming laptop you can buy right now

Asus’ monstrous Scar 18 is an extraordinary laptop that will make your desktop PC cry

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The Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 is unmatched in terms of gaming performance, with smart, upgradable design allowing the CPU and GPU to stretch their wings. The Mini-LED display is bright and clear enough for gaming and creating, and big enough for movies. However, its gargantuan footprint, underwhelming speakers, and eye-watering price tag make this a luxury PC for the monetarily endowed.

The best thin and lightweight gaming laptop in 2026

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A hefty laptop in every sense of the word, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 bolsters its beefy design with high-end componentry, including a flagship Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and an Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU. It’s an 18-inch gaming machine that’s capable of running the latest titles at the best quality.

If this blockbuster performance comes at a cost, it’s portability: the ROG Strix Scar 18’s size and weight make it a desktop replacement rather than a lightweight travel companion, unless you have a big bag and a strong back.

The speakers and trackpad feel like they could be better, but this is otherwise a solid all-in-one package for gamers (and creators) who value performance.

Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026) (1TB 32GB RAM) at Amazon for $4,299.99

Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 review: Price & release date

Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

You’re not hallucinating: the ROG Strix Scar 18 really is that eye-wateringly expensive. For that price, you are getting a state-of-the-art gaming laptop, and it’s a perfect balance in terms of CPU, GPU, and display, delivering desktop-like levels of performance in a fairly portable unit. But it’s still just so much to spend on a computer, and you start to wonder where higher prices due to tech shortages end, and sheer profiteering begins.

You could buy a lesser model (a 5070 model with 32GB RAM and a 2TB SSD is about $/£2,000 less) and add more RAM and hard drive capacity when you’ve got enough in your pension to afford them, but the GPU is fixed here, and this is arguably the most important bang-for-buck component to upgrade.

So yes, it’s extremely expensive, and extremely powerful – but whether you’re getting what you’re paying for is debatable.

18-inch ROG Nebula HDR QHD+ (2560 x 1600), Mini-LED, 240 Hz

18-inch ROG Nebula HDR QHD+ (2560 x 1600), Mini-LED, 240 Hz

1x 2.5G LAN, 2x Thunderbolt 5 (Type-C), 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A.

1x 2.5G LAN, 2x Thunderbolt 5 (Type-C), 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A.

15.71 x 11.73 x 0.93 ~ 1.26 inches (399 x 298 x 23.5 ~ 32.0 mm)

15.71 x 11.73 x 0.93 ~ 1.26 inches (399 x 298 x 23.5 ~ 32.0 mm)

Let’s start with the obvious: this is not a small laptop. 18 inches is basically the most humongous laptop you can buy at the moment, and it’s not exactly portable. It won’t fit into a standard backpack, and it probably won't leave your house outside of a suitcase.

At 7.27 lbs (3.3 kg), just lifting the unit is a workout in itself, and the power brick adds another 2.2 lbs (1 kg), so you’ve got a hefty unit that you won’t be pulling out in a café, unless it has very stable tables. But it’s a gaming laptop, and portability is at the very bottom of the requirements here.

As is subtlety. Instead of at least trying to design something that gives a lighter, airier impression, Asus has leaned into an angular, beefy design language. Add in the RGB LED lighting strip around the bottom edge, and the entire thing looks like it’s about to take off and become a new target for the Rebel Alliance.

That’s not the only lighting trick the ROG Strix Scar 18 keeps up its sleeve: on the rear of the screen, there’s what Asus dubs Ani Me Vision, essentially a programmable Wall Street-style ticker tape readout for your laptop. It’s monochrome, and very low-res, but it’s actually really neat: you can use Asus’ software to customize what it says, so you can broadcast scrolling messages of love or hate, depending on who you’re sitting opposite.

On the other side of this screen is the main display itself, which is thankfully higher-resolution and more colorful. Much more colorful. While not full ultra-HD, its 2.5K resolution (2560 x 1600) and 240 Hz refresh rate is a perfect match for an 18-inch screen. It’s also mini-LED, which makes colors utterly pop, even from oblique viewing angles.

Asus has included a keyboard replete with enormous trackpad and full-size number pad. There’s a decent amount of depth to the keys, and while there’s no mechanical clunk, they’re responsive and comfortable enough for long gaming and typing sessions.

The trackpad doesn’t quite meet Apple’s almost supernaturally interactive standards, and it’s prone to accidental touches, but most users will likely be pairing this laptop with a mouse. The speakers, too, are a little disappointing and tinny.

On the underside of the laptop is a grill of air intakes for cooling, and this whole panel can be detached without tools so you can upgrade the RAM and SSDs. Around the edge of the laptop there’s a gamut of ports: three USB 3.2, two USB-C/Thunderbolt 5, HDMI, Ethernet, 3.5 mm headphone jack, SD card slot — no, wait, not an SD card slot, just a vent that looks an awful lot like an SD card slot. Cheeky! I would have loved an SD card slot on a laptop of this size and price.

Having such a huge screen works wonders here; its slightly wider aspect ratio adds a movie-like expansiveness to more cinematic games.

The test laptop we received packs an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, an Nvidia Ge Force RTX 5090 laptop GPU with 24 GB VRAM. Memory weighs in at a substantial 64 GB DDR5 dual-channel, and I’m never going to come near filling up the 4 TB SSD.

It has the gaming panache where it counts. 007 First Light hits 62 FPS on ultra graphics settings, with Bond’s glassy eyes melting my heart at any given opportunity. Lower the quality and the frame rates hit new heights — up to 170 FPS in 007, and it still looks really good, if a little last-gen.

3DMark: Night Raid: 84,346; Fire Strike: 41,166; Time Spy: 21,574; Port Royal: 14,368 Geekbench 6: Multicore: 26,101; Single-core: 2,340 Total War: Warhammer III: Mirrors of Madness (1080p, Ultra): 176.7 fps; (1080p, Low): 411.7 fps Cyberpunk 2077: (1080p, Ultra): 129.8 fps; (1080p, Low): 149.9 fps Dirt 5: (1080p, Ultra): 197.2 fps; (1080p, Low): 296.0 fps PCMark 10 Battery Life: 3 hours and 3 minutes

Likewise, the hard, ray-traced light of Pragmata looks gorgeous when it hits those solid surfaces, and I was able to turn ray tracing on and hit 60 FPS at full res, which is just right. Diana’s flowing locks alone are worth the price of admittance.

Asus includes preset modes (Silent, Performance, Turbo), which can be toggled in-game with a handy function key, making it easier to unlock higher frame rates — I watched 007: First Light jump from 100 to 150 FPS (at low settings). However, Turbo also makes the fans kick in and, despite Asus’ vapor chamber cooling the whole thing becomes a bit jet engine-like.

Raw settings are only half the story now, though. Nvidia’s 5090 includes DLSS, and this is a quick and easy shortcut to match the 240hz refresh rate of Asus’ glorious panel. In 007: First Light, I can bump the settings all the way up and hit an epic 225 FPS, bringing it back to cinematic life.

I also had a quick dabble in my interminable Adobe Premier/After Effects project, and this is a laptop that’s as suited to creators as it is to gamers. 3D tracking, which was a stumbling block for my 2023 Mac Book Pro, is almost instantaneous here, and it can take on 8K video timelines without missing a beat. Its game-centric looks may not please all designers, but for streamers and You Tubers it’s good to know it’s got the graphical grunt where you need it.

For a high-performance gaming laptop, battery life is actually pretty impressive. PCMark 10’s battery life benchmark, which simulates general day-to-day computer use like you’re some idealized executive who’s on Zoom calls that decide the fate of the planet, came in at five hours and three minutes. Running a 1080p video on a continuous loop in VLC gave a five-hour and 18-minute result — exactly enough time to watch all three Venom movies, and, wait, there’s a third Venom movie?

Heavy gaming sessions inevitably drag the battery life down to the sub 90-minute duration, so you’re never going to want to be far from a wall socket.

Outstanding display tech, with easy upgrade potential

Outstanding display tech, with easy upgrade potential

Bold, heavy aesthetic that trades portability for performance

Bold, heavy aesthetic that trades portability for performance

You demand uncompromised gaming power Combining the RTX 5090 GPU and Core Ultra 9 CPU creates a Double Dragon-esque combo that will take on any game with ray tracing cranked up.

You want a stunning desktop replacement 18-inches hits the sweet spot for a laptop that’ll rarely leave the desk, feeling expansive and cinematic, and the 240 Hz refresh rate and brilliant brightness are exceptional here.

You are a creator who needs desktop-class grunt So long as you’re OK with the brutalised aesthetics, with 64GB of RAM and a 4TB SSD, this machine chomps through 8K video rendering, 3D tracking, and intense multitasking.

You need a laptop that you can actually travel with At over 7 pounds (not counting the hefty 2-pound brick), this is an absolute unit that will struggle to fit in a normal backpack or survive on a café table.

You're sensible with money Crossing the five-thousand-dollar threshold makes this a luxury purchase. Solid gaming performance can still be had for half the price.

You want high-end built-in speakers For a laptop this large and expensive, the speakers are surprisingly tinny and weak, meaning you'll almost certainly want to pair it with a headset.

Razer Blade 18 A sleeker, aluminum-unibody alternative that offers a similarly premium 18-inch display and high-end specs, but usually commands an even steeper price tag.

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i An understated and slightly smaller option that strikes a far better balance of performance-per-dollar – even if it lacks the ostentatious design of the Scar 18.

Put through its paces with games including 007 First Light, Pragmata, and Forza Horizon 6

To truly put the Asus ROG Strix SCAR 18 through its paces, I lived with it as my main computer for several days, testing it both as an everyday workstation and a high-end gaming battlestation. I made sure to test the system in various power profiles, monitoring the thermal performance and fan volume during long gaming sessions.

All benchmarks were run using Tech Radar's standardized testing parameters—V-Sync was disabled in the Nvidia control panel, the power mode was set to "Best Performance" in Windows, and the laptop was fully charged and plugged into its massive 450W brick to unlock its maximum potential.

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Key Takeaways

• News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets

• Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more

• Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards

• I’ve been using the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 (2026), and this is the best (and biggest) gaming laptop you can buy right now

• Asus’ monstrous Scar 18 is an extraordinary laptop that will make your desktop PC cry