Asus ROG Strix G18 evaluation: Tremendously highly effective and luxuriously large

Greatest Costs Right now: Asus ROG Strix G18

The Asus Strix G18 is actually a gaming powerhouse able to chart-topping efficiency because of its Intel Core i9-13980HX processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 collection GPU, but additionally because of an progressive design that enhances airflow and cooling. Moreover, with its large, beautiful 18-inch, QHD+ 240Hz show, this laptop computer is the closest factor we’ve seen to a real desktop alternative to this point. Learn on to seek out out simply why that’s.

Searching for extra gaming laptop computer choices? Try our roundup of the perfect gaming laptops accessible proper now.

Asus ROG Strix G18: Specs

All configurations of the Asus ROG Strix G18 have the identical Core i9-13980HX processor, with variations among the many fashions consisting of their various RTX 40 Sequence GPUs or different {hardware} elements.

Value-wise, all Strix G18 fashions price a fairly penny, however in comparison towards premium laptops of the same ilk they’re truly pretty aggressive. My laptop computer price $3899.99 and, on the time of penning this evaluation, was out of inventory at Asus’ on-line retailer, however you should buy an Asus Strix G18 with RTX 4080 GPU at Greatest Purchase for a extra cheap $2,499.99 USD.

By comparability, Razer’s latest Blade 18, with the identical chipset paring as our evaluation unit price $4,999.99 and MSI’s Titan GT77 HX 13V, but once more with the identical chipset, is dearer nonetheless with a MSRP of $5,299.99. The specs of our unit are as follows:

• CPU: Intel Core i9-13980HX
• RAM: 32GB DDR 5 / 4800 MHz
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090
• Show: 18-inch, QHD+ (2560 x 1600), 16:10 facet ratio, IPS-level, 240 Hz refresh charge, DCI-P3 100 %, G-Sync, Superior Optimus
• Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe strong state drive
• Ports: 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-A, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-C (helps DisplayPort, energy supply), Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C), HDMI 2.1, 3.5 mm combo audio port
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 ax), Bluetooth 5.3
• Dimensions: 15.71 x 11.57 x 0.91 inches
• Weight: 6.61 lbs (3kg)
• Battery: 90WHrs
• Value: $3,899.99

Asus ROG Strix G18: Design and construct

The G18 is unashamedly a laptop computer for critical avid gamers–as its large dimension and indulgent characteristic set attests to. Measuring 15.71 x 11.57 x 0.91 inches, it’s not as skinny and compact as its close to rival the Razer Blade 18 and it received’t slot in any of my laptop computer luggage, however then once more, a number of millimeters every approach in a gaming laptop computer does have its benefits.

For one, viewing the G18’s 18-inch QHD+ show, which by the way sports activities a powerful 89 % screen-to-body and 16:10 facet ratio, and thinner bezels than most 17-inch laptops, was a tantalizing expertise. For me it felt like I used to be gaming on a flashier, blinged-out Good TV–one thing I by no means thought I’d see myself write in a laptop computer evaluation.

What’s extra, the G18’s large proportions make it doable to host its highly effective new 13-gen Intel and RTX 40 Sequence {hardware}–as a way to truly get near-to-desktop efficiency. To that finish, the G18’s motherboard and chassis had been designed from the bottom up for extra environment friendly cooling, together with the addition of a full-width three part heatsink. A 3rd consumption fan was additionally added to permit for higher sustained efficiency over lengthy gaming classes–one thing you might solely do in in chassis this large.

All these adjustments from the G18’s predecessors, the Strix/Scar 17 fashions thought of, and also you’d anticipate this laptop computer to have an additional 1.5lbs weight on it, however one way or the other it weighs simply 6.61lbs. It’s baffling how Asus did this, however I’m not complaining if it means I can proceed to sport like I’m on a desktop and easily pack the laptop computer down like a guide afterwards.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

However the Strix G18 is greater than only a large and highly effective laptop computer; it additionally options lavish styling that appeals deeply to my gamer psyche. A few of the acquainted options that return from final 12 months look incredible with contemporary touches; options just like the sharp edges and laser polished floor with anti-fingerprint coating. The enduring ROG emblem additionally seems once more on the highest lid, nevertheless the minimize line that we noticed final 12 months has very aptly been modified to a black one for a extra discrete look.

On the bottom of the chassis and across the keyboard, there are many fascinating options to admire, too. From customizable magnetic armor caps alongside the again to semi-translucent casings that give it a particular cyberpunk look, Asus has seemingly spared no expense to actually impress us on the type entrance.

There’s loads of flashy RGB colour accents across the G18 too, to actually bedazzle us. However the Aura Sync per-key lit keyboard, which seems to be massive and sensible and flashes when not in use, you’ll additionally discover colourful RGB mild bars on each the front and back of the chassis.

These have been propped up with additional LEDs within the new mannequin to emit an much more wondrous glow–however you would possibly wish to flip them off throughout hardcore gaming classes should you want absolute focus.

Asus ROG Strix G18: Keyboard and trackpad

Aside from trying incredible, the keyboard sports activities a beneficiant structure, together with a spacious full-sized numpad and full-sized arrow keys. It additionally has a smattering of devoted scorching keys that may require a little bit of a studying curve to recollect all of them at first, however after some time they’ll actually pace up how shortly you’ll be able to entry your important instructions.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

The keys really feel a lot lighter and bouncier than I discovered within the Asus TUF A16 Benefit Version, so are good and cozy for lengthy typing stints. The trackpad by comparability feels clean, however a small nit-pick is that it requires slightly an excessive amount of strain to register clicks. That’s positive for mild utilization, however I did develop a wierd throbbing ache in my index finger after a complete day’s clicking, so utilizing a mouse goes to be preferable to keep away from the same outcome for me sooner or later.

Asus ROG Strix G18: Connectivity and audio

Avid gamers and creators are going to seek out the I/O choices a lot to their liking, with each USB port sorts accessible and sufficient slots to plug in 4 gadgets. The addition of a Thunderbolt 4 port is a pleasant contact too which means avid gamers can switch massive sport recordsdata shortly at a pace of as much as 40Gbs (gigabits per second), as a substitute of sitting round and ready for his or her video games to obtain on Steam.

For displaying video or video games the G18 additionally provides you a number of choices; the Thunderbolt 4 port for one lets you stream video to both 2 x 4K shows or a single 8K show at a refresh charge of 60Hz, or you may also use the laptop computer’s HDMI 2.1 show port should you don’t wish to tie down a USB-C.

Regarding the sound, the standard is middling for a laptop computer of this dimension with the ends of the tonal vary, each highs and lows, sounding slightly hole. That mentioned, in most video games and movies the two-speaker system can nonetheless muster a reasonably first rate cinematic expertise, and it does have Dolby Atmos and Hello-Res audio help which provides a richness and aptitude to films and video games.

Asus ROG Strix G18: Show and webcam

The G18 I examined had an 18-inch QHD+ (2560×1600) ROG Nebula panel with 100% DCI-P3 and sRGB colour gamut protection and a 240 Hz refresh charge. It additionally got here with Adaptive-Sync and Dolby Imaginative and prescient.

I’ve already raved on concerning the 18-inch panel’s beneficiant dimension, however other than that it additionally delivers beautiful colours and crisp pictures. That mentioned, being a standard IPS-level LCD panel, it does have one apparent limitation, in that it lacks some depth of distinction in darker pictures, that if it had been an OLED panel, it in all probability would have had.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Consequently, some darker scenes in video games present up slightly murky. Nevertheless, the panel’s excessive peak brightness of 489 nits (as measured by my LUX meter) does make it very easy to see in vibrant or sun-soaked environments and it additionally brings out the perfect in video games which have extra vivid colours.

The panel’s 240 refresh charge, nevertheless, is a welcome characteristic that proved a gem. It did a spectacular job of protecting body charges ticking over, and to me the G18’s movement appeared buttery clean with little to no tearing or micro stuttering.

Whereas it’s good to see a webcam, the truth that it’s a low-res 720p one as a substitute of a 1080p digicam appears slightly incongruent with the laptop computer’s premium value level. As anticipated, the low-resolution image it produced was slightly underwhelming at occasions. It offered satisfactory, however not nice efficiency, with some imagery generally showing hazy.

Asus ROG Strix G18: CPU efficiency

My G18 got here with a few of the strongest efficiency {hardware} you will get today–particularly an Intel Core i9-13980HX CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU. And, as you’ll see in our benchmarking, they made a really sensational pairing.

However simply by itself the G18’s CPU is spectacular sufficient. It contains a whopping 24 cores and 32 threads. Intel’s personal benchmarking outcomes have proven this chip to be extraordinarily fast, demonstrating clock speeds of 5.6 GHz for its Efficiency cores (P-cores), and 4 GHz for its Environment friendly cores (E-cores).

Due to all that energy, I pulled out PCWorld’s very prime performing laptops of 2022 and 2023 for CPU comparisons. The road-up for this conflict of the titans included the MSI Titan GT77, which options the identical CPU as our evaluation unit, and the Razer Blade 17, which sports activities an Intel Twelfth-gen Core i7-12700H CPU.

First up in my testing schedule, I ran Maxon Cinebench’s Single-Threaded benchmark. As you’ll be able to see within the outcomes under, the G18 confirmed glorious single core efficiency, main the pack in our comparability charts. This outcome suggests the G18 has dollops of energy for working easy applications like workplace apps, or browsers.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Nonetheless in Cinebench, I ran the Multi-Threaded benchmark which exams all of the cores of a laptop computer’s CPU. As soon as once more, the G18’s Core i9-13980HX displayed probably the most spectacular efficiency amongst our comparability group. On common it was about 15-30 % faster than laptops with midrange Twelfth-generation Intel chips, nevertheless it additionally outclassed the MSI Titan GT77, which options the identical Intel Thirteenth-gen i9 processor.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

With such a outcome, you’ll be able to thereby additionally anticipate distinctive efficiency for high-end gaming and for different CPU-intensive duties like video enhancing or encoding.

Final however not least, I accomplished the HandBrake 0.9.9 take a look at – a type of dash to the end line which permits us to gauge a laptop computer’s potential to manage thermals earlier than it will get too scorching and must throttle efficiency.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

On this take a look at the G18 completed first in a really fast time of simply 590 seconds, thereby proving it could actually preserve cool and energy on, even when different laptops fall by the wayside. It’s additionally testomony to the G18’s progressive design that appears to fairly effectively handle its thermal load.

Asus ROG Strix G18: Gaming efficiency

The Strix G18 is the primary laptop computer that includes Nvidia’s new RTX 40 Sequence GPUs that I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing and what a spot to begin! The RTX 4090 is probably the most high-end cell GPU Nvidia at present has accessible. This video card is constructed with ultra-efficient Ada Lovelace Structure and contains new cores and AI applied sciences that mixed, ship increased base and top-line efficiency than Nvidia RTX 30 Sequence playing cards.

To cite my PCWorld colleagues Gordon Mah Ung and Alania Yee, “RTX 4090 for laptops is completely ferocious”–which nearly sums up the Strix G18’s GPU efficiency within the following graphics benchmark outcomes under.

The primary take a look at I ran was the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark, which supplies a tough indication of the G18’s suitability for quite a lot of duties that require graphics processing. Because the outcome exhibits, the G18’s efficiency was comparable with the MSI GT77, in that it’s completely primed for probably the most graphically demanding duties you’ll be able to throw at it–be that AAA video games or one thing else a content material creator would possibly run on it.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Subsequent, we transfer on to the primary of our gaming benchmarks for Rise of the Tomb Raider. Right here, the Strix G18 clocked a median body charge rating of 209 frames-per-second. This not solely tops our listing of comparisons, it additionally tops our PCWorld charts because the quickest rating to this point–an exceptionally positive outcome that’s going to be onerous to beat in 2023.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

The outcomes for our subsequent gaming benchmark for Shadow of the Tomb Raider had been actually no totally different. Actually, the G18 clocked a median body charge of 209 frames-per-second but once more, thus as soon as once more securing first place within the listing of comparability gaming laptops.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

General, these benchmark outcomes are very encouraging. Not solely do they reinforce the prevalence of the Nvidia’s new RTX 4090 video card over numerous older GPUs and therefore the G18’s suitability for probably the most graphically demanding video games, additionally they recommend the G18 can simply as properly deal with creator-focused graphics duties with gusto.

Consequently, because the G18’s show can be Pantone Licensed, we are able to surmise that it will additionally make a positive selection for content material creators wanting a laptop computer that performs each powerfully and precisely, that they will use in both the house or workplace.

Asus ROG Strix G18: Battery efficiency

Contemplating this laptop computer’s massive 90WHr battery, environment friendly new era {hardware} and Superior Optimus know-how that may change off the discrete GPU to avoid wasting energy, I had excessive hopes for a protracted battery life within the Strix G18.

Regrettably, although, it lasted simply shy of seven hours in our light-weight 4K video rundown take a look at. For that motive, should you’re not close to an outlet you’ll be able to anticipate roughly 4 hours gaming time unplugged, because of the increased energy drain you’ll get while gaming.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

If that’s a deal breaker, then maybe you must take a look at the Asus Gaming A16 Benefit Version as a substitute. This 16-inch laptop computer lasted a whopping 11 and a half hours once we ran the identical take a look at on it–which is actually a powerful outcome.

Asus ROG Strix G18: Must you purchase it?

The Asus Strix G18 is a top-notch gaming laptop computer, there’s no denying that. Whereas it does have a number of drawbacks, particularly its common battery life and steep value, the G18 is stacked with a lot energy to be thought of a prized possession in any gamer’s family. Put merely, should you’re after a desktop alternative with the easiest efficiency on provide and you may afford to purchase one, you completely ought to.