Asus’ 18-inch desktop replacement is here, now with new Intel and Nvidia hardware. The ROG Strix Scar 18 is essentially a larger version of its 16-inch sibling, with the same hardware and everything else. It joins the Acer Predator Helios 18 AI as the second gaming laptop of 2025 to feature Thunderbolt 5.0 ports.
Under the hood, you can configure the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 with up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX Arrow Lake 64GB DDR5-6400 RAM, 2TB NVME SSD (PCIe Gen4 by default, PCIe Gen5 slot available for an additional expansion) and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 laptop GPU with 24 GB of GDDR7 VRAM.
The ROG Strix Scar 18 features an 18-inch ROG Nebula display with a 2560 x 1600 mini-LED panel that refreshes at 240Hz. Its peak brightness is 1200 nits (HDR only) and it is compatible with Nvidia G-Sync. It is equipped with a 1080p webcam.
Other specs include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, 2.5G Ethernet, an HDMI 2.1 port, three USB 3.2 Type-A ports, a 90Wh battery, and a 360 Watt power brick for keep it under tension. It remains to be seen whether this will be enough to power two energy-hungry components.
For now, less capable ROG Strix Scar 18 models don’t seem to exist. They might be later, but for now, if you want one, you’ll have to shell out at least $2,599.
