Strix SCAR Edition Laptop – Carbon Fiber??
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2018-05-06
·
1,339 words · ~6 min read
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what is it about gaming laptops that really gets you fired up is it the
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flashy angular designs maybe the thick
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cooling the anemic battery life and uh
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super heavy power bricks yes bricks uh
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they have more than one
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well ASUS clearly didn't think it was any of
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those things because their follow-up to last year's gl502 the gl503 features
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none of them
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synergy 2 makes sharing one mouse and keyboard between multiple computers so
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simple and seamless that anyone can do it check it out today through the link
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below picking up the gl503 scar edition ours
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is the vs configuration the most
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immediately noticeable thing is the significant difference in build quality
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compared to the last generation it's noticeably thinner which gives it along
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with the faux carbon fiber finish here
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and the darkened brushed aluminum on the back panel a bit of extra curb appeal
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now as for its little brother the gl 503
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hero edition this is a vm model this guy
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gets kind of a feathery halftone vinyl
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wrap that looks pretty cool up close but then from a bit further away
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subjectively i think kind of looks like dust or
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dirt or something like this now although they share a common chassis
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the keyboard area of the scar edition compared to the hero
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is quite a bit stiffer leading us to
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originally believe that this surface really is made of carbon
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fiber hence the title of the video but as i alluded to before it is not it
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should be noted both of them are on the excellent side of acceptable though with
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better screen flex than the previous gen as an added bonus
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there's more than meets the eye though when you're comparing the two incoming
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models while both of them come equipped with five usb 3.1 ports four type a and
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one type c the scar editions type c over here is
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Thunderbolt 3 enabled allowing it to drive up to three external displays
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speaking of displays let's switch back over to the hero here ASUS used a 120hz
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ahva panel for the hero that's pretty good but the scar sports a
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brighter 144 hertz ips g-sync affair with both of
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them boasting 100 coverage of the adobe RGB color gamut for getting real work
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done and they both deliver a spectacularly smooth gaming experience
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in all but the most demanding titles a gtx 1070 can get near the 100 FPS mark
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on medium to high settings and then especially on the scars g-sync display i
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mean this is a huge upgrade compared to
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whatever kind of gaming notebook you're running from a couple of years ago
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inside them we find mostly the same guts that powered the gl502 except this time
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with more storage thanks to seagate's fire cuda sshd hybrid drives ASUS also
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added intake vents above the keyboard and then a cutout on the rear of the
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display hinge that actually clears both
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the intake and exhaust vents and allows the laptop to breathe easy whether the
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lid is open or closed and then as a neat little bonus this
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notch right here actually gives you a quick look at the main indicator leds
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while the notebook is shut specs aside in terms of expansion they've both got
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two ddr4 sodium slots with one slot populated on each of them and NVMe SSD
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support along with a single two and a half inch SATA mount where they really
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differ internally is in their cooling setups which might help explain the
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extra stiffness of the scar it didn't throttle one bit even under a
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combined CPU and GPU load
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that is as long as you don't mind the mini vacuum sound that accompanies
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ASUS's overboost mode by comparison the
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hero and the last gen gl502 put up much
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worse results as for our gaming tests it showed a bit
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of a blow for blow between the gl502 and
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our scar with all configurations scoring within 10 FPS of their desktop
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equivalents except in cs go where
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okay yeah they were different but like if somebody offered you a 600 scoop ice
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cream sundae versus a 700 scoop ice cream sundae
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would you really worry about it for productivity meanwhile the scar
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overtakes its predecessor coming closer to our comparison desktop thanks to its
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superior cooling with the hero taking a back seat
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now of course all that comes with the cost and i'm not talking money yet
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without switchable graphics both of our gl503 units put up
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unimpressive battery life numbers so this is better than the gaming notebooks
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of your but if you're planning to use either of them for school you might want
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to factor an extension cord and a power strip into your backpack's weight
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allowance for those of you who care the webcam and built-in microphone look and sound about
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like this so serviceable but i wouldn't go using them for streaming on twitch or
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anything like that as for the side-firing speakers well
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they're nothing to write home about either but they're a significant
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upgrading clarity over the previous model and well within the range of
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acceptable moving on to the keyboard and trackpad
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do you remember how the trackpad on the gl502 had this kind of lip that made it
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awkward to use that's ancient history now we've got flush track pads that feel
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smooth and easy to glide your fingers across with virtually no input leg and
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four zones of RGB lighting on the keyboard now the switches themselves are just as
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satisfying as the gl502 and the layout is improved with full-sized arrow keys
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now making them easier to find by touch so overall
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i've got to say ASUS did an excellent job of refining this design
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it's still not to a level where i'd call it perfect and
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sure at these prices you can get this raw performance for less
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not to mention with better battery life but what ASUS brings to the table here
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is superior build quality expansion
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cooling performance especially in the scar and perhaps most importantly again
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especially on the 144hz scar
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truly gaming grade screens recommended
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