ASUS ROG Strix Scar Edition GL703GE-AS74 Review

Are you looking for a good gaming laptop with a screen that is bigger than your average 15.6″ screen? Then you’re in the right place. The ASUS ROG Strix Scar Edition GL703GE-AS74 is a 17.3″ laptop that comes with all the essentials you need to have good gaming experience. This gaming notebook is aimed at mid-range gamers who want to game without breaking their bank.

In this ASUS ROG Strix Scar Edition GL703GE-AS74 review, we list out the pros and cons of this new gaming laptop. We also talk about every aspect of this gaming machine and tell if there is any better alternative to this one. Let’s get into the full review and see if this laptop is worth your hard-earned money.

Design

The ASUS ROG Strix Scar Edition GL703GE-AS74 comes with a classic ASUS style design. It has their trademark brush finish on top and the black color brings a sporty look to the device. Other than the logo, you don’t find any other accents like in other ASUS ROG models. The build quality is solid and you can’t call this one a cheap notebook.

The cooling system on the ASUS ROG GL703GE-AS74 gaming laptop is made up of two anti-dust fans. These are fans are pretty effective but can also get a bit loud as well. You can hear the fans kicking off as soon as you start something intensive with your laptop. Regardless, the cooling system works and you do get uninterrupted gaming even during peak loads.

The keyboard is one of the better features of this laptop. It comes with 4 RGB zones that can be customized by the user. The keys have a key travel of 1.8mm which is good for a laptop. The nice thing here is that you also get a dedicated number pad as well. If you’re someone who types a lot, you’ll appreciate the keyboard. The touchpad is also equally good and gets the job done.

The laptop fails in the portability department. To be honest, this laptop was never meant to be a portable one. With a 17.3″ screen, the laptop weighs around 6.72 pounds and that’s a lot of weight for a laptop. If you’re looking for something portable, then you’ll have to compromise on the size of the notebook.

ASUS ROG Strix Scar Edition GL703GE-AS74 Specs

The biggest selling point of this laptop is the 17.3″ screen. It comes with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Being a bigger screen, the pixel density does take a dive but it is not that big of a problem. The screen comes with a refresh rate of 120Hz which is much better than you average 60Hz refresh rate. The display also has a response time of 3ms which is great for gaming.

The display is great for media consumption. You can enjoy watching Netflix on this screen as you get a slightly bigger picture than usual. The viewing angles are also impressive so you can invite a few friends over to catch a movie. The widescreen gives you all the real estate you need and you can easily dock two windows side by side for a better workflow.

The audio output of this laptop is satisfactory. You get a decent sound from the laptop and is great for a small room. While the quality is nice at low volumes, it does get a bit distorted as the volume goes higher. If you’re not an audiophile, you can get used to this sound quality.

Raw Performance

An eighth-generation Intel Core i7 8750H processor powers the ASUS ROG Strix Scar Edition GL703GE-AS74 gaming laptop. This is a hexa-core processor that comes with a base clock speed of 2.2GHz. If you need more power, the algorithm works in your favor and brings the clock speed up to a maximum of 4.1GHz. The processor also has a smart cache memory of 9MB which can also be handy.

The i7 chip here is an upper mid-range processor that comes with a lot of processing power. It gets a score of 12435 in the CPUMark benchmark tests which is pretty good. The laptop, with this processor at the helm, does well in terms of daily tasks and activities. If you’re a heavy user and need to use some resource-hungry applications, this laptop can handle it without any issues. 

The processor is complemented by the 16GB DDR4 type RAM which is adequate for a gaming laptop in this price range. The RAM allows you to play any game and also run any application without any hiccups. If you’re a fan of multitasking, then your possibilities are endless with this RAM in place. In the future, if you need more memory, you can upgrade it easily to a max of 32 gigs.

When it comes storage, ASUS has taken a two-part solution. It comes with a 1TB hard drive disk and also a 256GB SSD. The hard drive is a mechanical drive and is slow when compared to the SSD. The HDD gives you all the storage space you need while the SSD keeps the performance in check. As the OS comes preinstalled in the SSD, it boots up in a few seconds which is impressive for a cold boot up.

Gaming on the ASUS ROG Strix Scar Edition GL703GE-AS74

The ASUS ROG Strix Scar Edition GL703GE-AS74 comes with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti as the graphics card and it has a dedicated memory of 4GB. This is a mid-range GPU and is based on the Pascal architecture. While the notebook version is a bit underperforming when compared to the desktop version, you do get a good show from this GPU.

When it comes to playing games, the GPU allows you to play most games without any problems. If you’re an MMORPG player, you will have the best experience out there. If you want to play the latest and the greatest games, you might have to meddle with the settings a bit. The 120Hz refresh rate and the 3ms response time of the display definitely help the gaming experience and offers super-smooth gaming. 

Battery Life and Connectivity

The battery life is not the best part of this laptop. With light use, the laptop might give you around 4 to 5 hours and that’s not winning any awards. If you’re going to have a serious gaming session, then you better have a power outlet nearby as the laptop might not last for more than 2 hours at best.

The ASUS ROG Strix Scar Edition GL703GE-AS74 comes with all the connectivity options you need. It comes with a USB type C port, a couple of USB 3.1 Gen A ports, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, an SD card reader, and also a headphone jack. The laptop also has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth connectivities as well.

Bottomline

The ASUS ROG Strix Scar Edition GL703GE-AS74 is a gaming laptop that comes with a bigger screen for better immersion. The widescreen offers a solid gaming experience, thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate and the 3ms response time. The GTX 1050 Ti does well when it comes to gaming and doesn’t disappoint. If you’re looking for a solid gaming laptop with a bigger screen, then this is a good choice.