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Yes, those bezels do keep the screen from looking its best and the angled corners and harsh lines feel a little old fashioned, but overall this is an inoffensive design scheme for a cheaper laptop.įeatures: Regularly available for under $1,000 / £1,000, the RTX 3060 Nitro 5 manages to pack some impressive components into a budget price tag by dropping nice-to-have features. It also helps that at 2.3kg this is one of the lighter gaming laptops on the market right now.

It's a plastic chassis which can collect fingerprints quickly, but feels remarkably durable in the hand. ❌ You're looking for a longer term investment: These are older laptops, so they're not going to be able to keep up with more demanding games of tomorrow.ĭesign: The Acer Nitro line has a distinct look about it, the most recent Nitro 5 doesn't stray too far.

❌ You prioritize aesthetics: Its older style aesthetics have been outdated for a while now, so that chunky, angular design won't be to everybody's taste. ❌ You need a particularly fast display: The Acer Nitro 5 display isn't particularly impressive and has certainly been sacrificed to keep that price low. Read more: Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 (2023) review It's well worth the investment for anyone on the hunt for a high-end machine with bags of power to spare for future releases. Verdict: We're getting our hands on more RTX 40-Series gaming laptops all the time, but for now the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 is the best model to pass our desks. With HDR content represented in gorgeous detail and colors popping from the screen with excellent vibrancy, this is a real feast for the eyes. Plus, at three-figure framerates in Ultra settings across demanding titles, there's no arguing the raw horsepower baked into this machine. No, framerates weren't as impressive as the ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 listed below - but equally you're not spending an extra $1,000 on a fancy second screen (and the power to run it) you might not use. Those are numbers that will comfortably see you through the next five years of gaming, and potentially much more if we don't see any particularly demanding graphical breakthroughs. The Scar 16 even beat the larger (and far more expensive RTX 4090-toting) Razer Blade 18 in these benchmark tests as well. Performance: We tested an RTX 4080 rig with the Intel i9-13980HX processor that comes with both this and the 4090 configuration, drawing a 17,611 Time Spy score and 32,876 Fire Strike score to beat out the Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 by some margin. The ROG Strix Scar 16 can move up to an i9-13980HX CPU with an RTX 4090 card - those are specs that are sure to satisfy anyone looking for a top shelf rig. That's, of course, backed up with a high-end set of configuration options. Throw in Dolby Atmos and a solid virtual surround system and you've got a seriously immersive experience.

Between 1,024 dimming zones and 1,100+ nits of peak brightness, colors pop with an excellent vividity and balance well with a deep, rich contrast. Asus has branded its Mini LED screens 'Nebula HDR', and they sing. However, it's not such an in your face design, and putting those LEDs to sleep certainly keeps the vibe slick.įeatures: We've also got one of the best screens we've had the pleasure of using on a gaming laptop.

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The lid sports a large ROG logo and a series of etched diagonal lines along the chunky grill towards the back, further removing this rig from your everyday office laptop. The translucent design across the main deck wasn't quite our favorite touch and does add to this gamer aesthetic while slightly cheapening the experience, but this is down to personal preference. While the RGB panel running across the lower lip can be switched off, this is still very much a gaming laptop. ❌ You don't need the latest top of the range specs: If your Steam library simply won't make the most of those top shelf graphics cards and processors, the Strix isn't going to be worth it.ĭesign: This isn't a machine for the more subtle amongst us, though. ❌ You prefer a sleek form factor: The extra space required to achieve such performance is a necessary evil here. While it's good value in its price bracket, it's still a premium machine.

❌ You don't want to spend over $3,000: The Strix series is at the top of Asus's range, so we're unlikely to see cheaper configurations surfacing.

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