2025 Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 G635 and Scar 18 G835 – new premium ROG laptops

Asus stick to their two-year update schedule of their major ROG lineups, and that means early 2025 brings brand-new iterations of their full-size ROG Strix Scar and ROG Strix models.

In this article we’re discussing their top lineups of performance and gaming notebooks, the ROG Strix Scar 16 G635 (16-inch) and Scar 18 G835 (18-inch). We’re also going over their mid-range ROG Strix G16 and Strix G18 variants in a following article.

The Scars offer the best Asus can put together at this point: brand new chassis designs, mini LED displays, advanced cooling with vapor chamber and liquid metal compound, as well as the latest hardware platforms available to date. However, just like in the past, the ROG Scar models remain Intel-exclusive, built now in Intel Arrow Lake-HX Core Ultra 9 HX processors, while the Strix models are available with either Intel or AMD specs. Both are paired with the latest RTX graphics chips from Nvidia, with up to a GeForce RTX 5090 24GB 175W on the Scars.

We’re going to post our detailed reviews of these Scars over the next weeks, and for now, here’s a quick overview of what’s new with these generations and how they compare to the existing Scars of the last two years. Take my impressions with a grain of salt, as certain aspects are still unclear at the time I’m writing this preview, a few days before the products are launched. I’ll update the article where needed over the next days.

Design and ergonomics

The 2023-2024 ROG Scars were conflicting designs. Plastic was used for the main chassis, which made them feel somewhat cheap for a top-tier class of computers, and smudged easily. The screen only leaned back to about 140-degrees or so, and not completely flat. And then, Asus decided to use the back edge of these laptops for cooling, which meant the ports were all on the sides, an approach that no other OEM takes on their competing models in the same tier.

At the same time, these Scars were quite compact and lightweight for what they were, and the cooling was a solid match for the hardware, especially on the 18-inch model.

These 2025 iterations of the Scars aren’t a lot different, functionally at least.

They still put the ports on the sides and keep the back entirely for cooling. They’re stillmostly plastic chassis, although the lid and the arm-rest and keyboard deck are metal (to be confirmed), and the interior is reinforced with metal part as well for a sturdier feel. The screens still don’t flip back flat to 180 degrees, but at least Asus did something about those pesky LEDs placed under the display with the previous generation. Those made absolutely no sense being there.

That aside, though, these updated Scars are a little larger (deeper) than the previous models, and significantly heavier. The Scar 18 is 7.7 lbs now, up from 6.8 before, and the Scar 16 is 6.3 lbs, up from 5.5. That means these no longer have a weight advantage over competition. The increase in weight is mostly due to the metal main deck and the updated internals and cooling, which we’ll discuss in a bit.

I do want to mention two other design perks first: there’s now a secondary Anime Vision array on the lid, alongside the RGB ROG logo, similar to what Asus offered on past Zephyrus G14 models. And then there’s also an RGB lightbar that goes all around the main chassis, and not just on the front as before. Not a fan of either. I mean, these are perks that you won’t find on other laptops, but are they features that will actually convince you to get one of these Scars over a Legion, an Alienware, or a Predator, or are they gimmicks that add to the price? You be the judge of it.

I do appreciate that at least they slowed down on the accents and graphical elements on these 2025 models, with the lid and the interior being cleaner now, simpler, and with the sides no longer being that translucent plastic used in the past, but a black material that blends in nicely with the lid and the interior.

Overall, these refreshed Scars are a mixed bag. On one end, I appreciate the updated materials and the cleaner aesthetics, while on the other I don’t seem the point on the Anime array and I sure wish they would have improved ergonomics more than they did.

The IO hasn’t changed much between generations, with the exception of the two USB-C ports that now support Thunderbolt 5.0. Most ports are still on the left edge, and there’s still no lock or card-reader, not even on the 18-inch version. You do get an IR capable webcam on these 2025 models, at least. I’ll also mention that the ports are no longer pushed towards the front of the laptop like in the past, because to cooling module no longer implements side vents on this generation. That means your setup might not feel at cluttered when connecting peripherals, but the experience is still nowhere similar to having ports on the back edge, behind the display, as with most other high-performance desktop-replacement notebooks.

As far as inputs go, the keyboards seem similar to the ones implemented on the previous Scars, with rubber-dome keys and per-key RGB. They’re good keyboards, no complaint about them. For what is worth, I use a 2023 Scar 18 as my daily laptop and can vouch by this keyboard. The Scar 16 doesn’t get a NumPad section, while the Scar 18 has the space for one. Both layouts implement full-size arrow keys, and dedicated ROG controls in the top-left corner.

I also appreciate the touchpad on my Scar, to the point where I rarely use a mouse with daily chores and only connect one for gaming. The touchpads are much larger on the 2025 Scars, but I hope they haven’t changed in functionality and overall feel.

The screens don’t seem to have changed either, with QHD mini LED panels on both the 16-inch and 18-inch models. They’re among the better multi-purpose panels available today, alright for daily use, beautiful for multimedia, and fast and responsive for gaming. You’ll find more about mini LED laptop panels from this dedicated article, including their quirks that you should be aware of. There are no IPS panel options on the Scars, but you do get IPS alternatives of the Strix G models.

Hardware and specs – Core Ultra 9 285HX with GeForce RTX 5090

These ROG Scars are built on an Intel Arrow Lake-HX hardware platform, namely on the top-tier Core Ultra 9 285HX processor, with 2x RAM slots, 2x PCIe 5.0 slots, and the latest RTX 5000 dGPUs from Nvidia, up to the GeForce RTX 5090 24GB.

At the same time, the hardware runs at high power in this chassis. I don’t have the exact numbers, but expect around 135-150W sustained TDP and 175 sustained TGP, with 240W cross load or maybe even higher.

It’s important to mention that Asus have updated the cooling module on these Scar generation, dumping the array of heatpipes for a massive vapor chamber helped by some extra heatpipes, a massive heatsink that spreads across the entire rear-edge of the laptops, and a set of two high-capacity main fans with an extra chassis middle fan. There’s also Conductonaut Extreme liquid metal compound on the CPU and GPU. I expect these to cope well with the hardware.

The previous Scar 16 ran fairly warm, but the 18-inch model ran within comfortable limits, even when kept flat on a desk. This generation should do even better, and I especially look forward to testing the mid-range and silent profiles that should allow for solid performance with reduced fan noise. Asus’s marketing material mention noise levels of 45 dBA and low temperatures, but it’s unclear at this point if this refers to the Turbo profile or to the mid-level Performance mode. I’m also looking forward to testing how Asus manage to isolate the internal heat from the upper deck, if that’s indeed metal on this generation. The previous plastic main deck allowed the laptop to feel cool to the touch even in long gaming sessions, but that might change with a metal interior, as shown by other designs such as the existing Legion Pros and Predator models.

As far as the actual performance of these 2025 Scars goes, I don’t know what to expect from either the Core Ultra 9 285HX processor or the RTX 5090 graphics chip. The Ultra 9 285HX is still a 24Core 32Thread processor like the i9-13900HX and i9-14900HX in the previous Scars, but with newer generation cores and features. Still, I wouldn’t expect massive differences over the 14900HX.

The RTX 5090, on the other hand, that should offer a notable bump in performance over then RTX 4090 of the last few years. Looking forward to testing that out in our in-depth reviews.

I’ll also mention that you’re still offered 2x RAM slots on these laptops, 2x M.2 SSD slots with support for faster PCIe gen5 drives and RAID 0/1, as well as WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. Asus mention that the back panel is a tool-less design now, allowing for easier access to the RAM and storage slots. It’s a nice to have feature, but it’s not like you upgrade the hardware everyday, so let’s see what this means in real-life.

I’ll also mention that the battery inside these ROG laptops is still 90 Wh, but the charger have been updated to 380W bricks, up from the 330W chargers on the past generations. That might suggest higher crossload power settings for these 2025 Scars, alongside the increased cooling capacity with the updated cooling module. The previous Scar 18 allows for 65W on the CPU alongside 175W on the GPU in demanding loads and in games, on the Manual profile, so this gen might offer the same on Turbo with lower noise and cooler temperatures?

At the end of the day, this laptop offers the latest and greatest you can find on a performance notebook today. It’s going to demand a fair premium, though, at least based on our experience with the past Scars. Asus mention a starting price of $2499, but don’t specify if that’s for an RTX 5080 configuration or for a lower specced RTX 5070Ti model.

Some of you might, however, complain about these Scars being Arrow Lake exclusive, and that might be justified, especially of the AMD Fire Range HX platform ends up notably faster in games with the X3D memory and Zen5 Cores. You do get that on the 2025 Strix G AMD configurations, but not on the Scars, so you have to give up on the mini LED display or the vapor chamber cooling when opting for a Strix, features also exclusive to the Scars. You’re also limited to only an RTX 5070Ti on the AMD Strix G models as well, so no 5080 or 5090 option alongside AMD hardware. Hard to understand this sort of segmentation and not bitter about it. But, if the Core Ultra 9 285HX ends-up performing well, these Asus ROG Strix Scar laptops should attract plenty of potential buyers. We’ll see in the reviews.