HP has also refreshed its gaming laptops with new components from Intel and Nvidia. Our in-depth assessment of past year’s model (HP Omen 17 2022) considered the laptop pretty bland, and it’ll be fascinating to see if HP solutions it this time. Probably its optical mechanical keyboard will be sufficient to set it apart from the competition with its US$1,699 starting off rate.
Not like several higher-finish choices from MSI and Acer that offer a 16:10 monitor, the HP Omen 17 sticks with a tried using and analyzed 17.3-inch 16:9 panel with the pursuing resolutions and framerates- QHD (2,560 x 1,440) 240 Hz, QHD 165 Hz and FHD (1,920 x 1,080) 144 Hz. Both equally QHD variants have a reaction time of 3 ms, even though the FHD product is slower at 7 ms. Peak brightness tops out at 300 nits for just about every variant.
For the processor, the HP Omen 17 customers can decide on an Intel Main i9-13900HX or Main i7-13700HX. HP hasn’t specified the styles of graphics playing cards, but 1 can be expecting to spec the device out with at the very least a GeForce RTX 4080, if not an RTX 4090. A leaked retail store listing from previously also hinted at the existence of an SKU with a GeForce RTX 4060.
Memory configurations on the HP Omen 17 are a tad complicated. The Core i9 variant supports up to 32 GB of DDR5 5,600 memory, even though the Core i7 variation scales its velocity down to 4,800 MT/s. Both of those styles can be configured with up to a 2 TB NVMe SSD. HP promises the components applied on the Omen 17 are sourced from ocean-bound and post-consumer recycled plastics. Gaming laptops often skip a webcam altogether, but HP has thrown in a 720p unit for simple video calls.
HP has decked out the Omen 17 with a good deal of I/O, including just one Thunderbolt 4. port (40 Gbps), a person Thunderbolt 3. port, three USB Kind-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, a 3.5 mm audio jack, a mini DP port and an RJ45 Ethernet jack. In contrast to other high-end gaming laptops out there that use a beefy 99.9 Wh battery, HP opts for a additional compact 6-cell 83 Wh unit that supports up to 330 W speedy charging. A Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 module is also bundled, but the make relies upon on the model.
Anil Ganti – Senior Tech Writer – 1214 articles printed on Notebookcheck considering the fact that 2019
I’ve been an avid Pc gamer because the age of 8. My enthusiasm for gaming eventually pushed me toward typical tech, and I received my to start with creating gig at the age of 19. I have a diploma in mechanical engineering and have worked in the production industry and a few other publications like Wccftech before becoming a member of Notebookcheck in November 2019. I protect a wide range of subject areas including smartphones, gaming, and laptop or computer hardware.
— Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed’s editors. Purchases you make through our links may earn us and our publishing partners a commission.
Today might be Thanksgiving, but Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are already well underway, and these deals on top-tier laptops are an amazing way to score points with the tech fanatic on your holiday shopping list. Buy a business-friendly ultrabook or capable gaming PC from Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and other retailers. Our picks will surely be light on your wallet.
Below, check out the top laptops on sale ahead of Black Friday 2022 so you can snag the cheap computer you’ve been angling for and get all the info you need to shop for tech essentials.
You don’t have to look far for great deals on HP laptops. In fact, you can go right to the manufacturer’s website for up to 35{b7c9e2c88beb1a84f22d94ab877a147f4adc4b3519717f3f957a0f34e16918d1} off select laptops!
Know for its bevy of tech devices, Best Buy also has laptops on sale from a variety of developers. Whether you need the wide screen of an Acer or an excellently reviewed gaming laptop like the Asus Zephyrus, this tech retailer has you covered at prices as low as $79.
You can find much more than home essentials at Walmart. There are dozens of laptops on sale, some for as low as $160! Check out some great picks below.
With Black Friday 2022 nearly here, Amazon has plenty of amazing deals on laptops. For instance, you can get the best laptop we’ve ever tested, the 2020 M1 MacBook Air, for only $800 right now.
Black Friday 2022 falls on Friday, November 25. Cyber Monday 2022 will take place on Monday, November 28. Thanksgiving is the last Thursday of November, and each year Black Friday occurs the day following, with Cyber Monday following shortly after.
How long do Black Friday sales last?
Black Friday is followed directly by Cyber Monday on November 28, 2022. Technically speaking, as soon as Cyber Monday begins, Black Friday ends. The best discounts are usually limited to these two days (and the weekend between them); however, some deals stick around through the end of the following week. There are also a number of early Black Friday deals you can snag today.
Who has the best Black Friday deals on laptops?
Major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart will have the most plentiful deals on laptops for Black Friday. You can usually find many current-generation and last-generation laptops for gaming and productivity on sale for hundreds of dollars off the usual asking price.
But laptop makers themselves, like Dell, Lenovo, Acer, HP, and many more also deeply discount laptops on their own websites, and sometimes have better deals than third-party retailers.
What are the best laptops to buy before Black Friday?
It depends on what you’re looking for. While the M1 MacBook Air (from $799) is still our top choice for the best overall laptop, we’ve also ranked laptops from HP and Asus as top-of-the-line. We can also recommend a variety of Chromebooks, with our pick for the best choices from Lenovo, Acer and Google.
If you’re on a budget, the Asus Chromebook Flip C434TA-DSM4 is down to $262 right now at Amazon—a $243 markdown. We’re fans of its stellar and sleek build quality, which rivals that of laptops twice its price, and excellent battery life. Its trackpad can be less than responsive, but it’s still an excellent value.
If you’ve got a student to shop for this holiday season, the 2021 M1 16-Inch MacBook Pro, down from $2,499 to just $2,199 at Amazon, is a great addition to anyone’s educational tools. The 2021 model is another one of our favorite laptops for its spectacular battery life and positive user experience. It has a battery life of up to 21 hours and its M1 Pro processing chip promises blazing-fast performance.
Are Black Friday laptop deals worth it?
Generally, yes. This is the time of year when major companies like Intel, AMD, and Nvidia release their new desktop hardware components, and the laptop version of that hardware gets released soon after in the new year.
Retailers need to push out their current laptop stock to make room for the latest versions, hence all the sales before the end of the year. If a retailer has a lot of inventory of particular products, you can expect deep discounts on even the most powerful laptops for gaming, content creation, and productivity.
Make holiday shopping easy with help from our experts.Sign up for text message alerts to get deals, gift guides and shopping advice delivered straight to your phone.
On Friday, November 11th, 2022, another person attempted to sneak a double-bladed knife onto an plane concealed within a gaming notebook. The incident took place at Richmond Intercontinental Airport in Richmond, Virginia, and was foiled by officers of the United States Transportation Safety Administration—more normally identified as the TSA.
The laptop computer, which our colleagues at Tom’s Components (opens in new tab) observe was neither “a Razer Blade or an MSI Sword,” appears to be like to have been a Gigabyte Aorus notebook with solely–also-dusty uncleaned supporters. If you might be going to open up up a notebook to hide a knife in it, why not at the very least give it a very little spritz of compressed air when you might be in there?
“The TSA officer who was staffing the checkpoint X-ray equipment … noticed what appeared to be a knife inside the man’s have-on bag,” mentioned the TSA in a push release.
“The contents of the bag had been searched, but at first no knife was noticed until eventually each merchandise in the carry-on bag was separated and re-launched via the X-ray device. At that point the X-ray graphic indicated that the knife was within the laptop computer and required nearer inspection. Soon after getting resources that could disassemble the laptop, a double-edged knife was discovered to have been artfully hid inside of the guts of the laptop.”
That expression utilised in the TSA’s report—artfully concealed—is not one of respect or descriptive whimsy, but rather of legislation. Clever Concealment is a distinct demand for not just making an attempt to conceal a hazardous item and get it wherever it really is not meant to be, but to disguise it—like a sword cane, or a knife in a hollowed out book. Individual fees may possibly implement, but the perpetrator in question could be in for some thing like $5,320 to $10,700 relying on how a federal decide and/or jury is emotion that day.
My beloved part is this, while: “The traveler in the beginning claimed that he had no plan that there was a knife inside of his laptop, however right after the knife was exposed, he verified that the knife was his.”
Nothing at all else is known about the male attempting the knife smuggling at this time, which includes motive, other than that he was from Williamsburg, Virginia—which is about an hour from Richmond together the coastline.
Actually, I’m impressed that the agents bothered with the element about “getting tools that could disassemble the notebook,” simply because the TSA’s reputation is not just a single of subtlety and nicety when they believe you have a knife.
You can read the total push launch on the TSA’s internet site, tsa.gov. (opens in new tab)
Gaming laptops aren’t just for gamers! Their powerful processors and graphics cards, along with their large screens, also make them a good choice for anyone using creative software, for tasks like image and video editing, graphic design work, film-making animation and 3D modelling. Yes, they tend to be expensive, but if you can get your work done faster, then surely you’re going to save cash overall. As they say, time is money…
Origin has a great reputation, both for the quality of its hardware and the high standards of its customer service. The specs for this laptop compare favourably against some of the best gaming laptops (opens in new tab) as well as the best laptops for CAD (opens in new tab), so I was keen to get my hands on the latest iteration of its flagship gaming laptop, the Origin EVO17-S (2022), and put it through its paces. Read on to find out what I thought of it, and whether I’d recommend it to both gamers and users of creative software.
Origin EVO17-S (2022) review: Pricing
The base model of the Origin EVO17-S (2022) costs $2,499, but at the time of writing, the company’s website was offering a $200 discount, bringing the total price down to $2,299. That gets you 16GB RAM, an i7 12700H processor, an RTX3070Ti graphics card and a 17.3-inch 1080p screen with a 144Hz refresh rate.
If you want to upgrade to an RTX3080Ti card (which is covered in our guide to the best graphics cards), that adds $500 to the price. Alternatively, you can add the RTX3080Ti, change the screen to QHD, and upgrade the processor to an i9 12900H, all for an extra $800. Finally, if you want to bump up the RAM from 16GB to 32GB, that will cost you an extra $121. Or you can spend an extra $400 to bring it up to 64GB.
Assuming the $200 discount is still valid when you read this, then, the best-specced version of the Origin EVO17-S (2022) will cost you $3,499. Finally, Origin will add a custom design to your laptop’s lid using HD UV printing, for an additional $65. This is the model I was sent for review.
Origin EVO17-S (2022) review: Size and weight
(Image credit: Tom May)
As you might expect from a powerful gaming laptop with a 17.3-inch screen, the Origin EVO17-S (2022) is pretty big and bulky. It measures 15.5 inches (39.7cm) high by 10.2 inches (26cm) wide, so will fit in an average laptop bag, but only just. That said, it’s pretty thin, with a depth of just 0.78 inches (2cm); not far off the 0.66 inches (1.68cm) of the 16-inch MacBook Pro. And while at 6lbs (2.72kg) it’s heavier than that MacBook’s 4.7lbs (2.1kg), it’s still fairly portable.
Put it this way: this wouldn’t be our first choice for a commuting laptop if your train gets crowded and you need to work standing up. But if you’re mainly going to be using it at home, it’s a good size and weight for something this powerful.
Origin EVO17-S (2022) review: Design and build
Seeking a gaming laptop that looks like a gaming laptop? The Origin EVO17-S (2022) fits the bill nicely. For starters, if you stretch to the extra $65 for a custom neuron print, you can have your favourite gaming character (or whatever) adorn the lid. Origin did a nice design for us that incorporated the Creative Bloq logo, and it looks very smart indeed.
Inside, the chassis looks fairly standard and has none of the sleek metallic looks of an Apple or Surface laptop. On the plus side, though, I’ve found it doesn’t show fingerprints up like on other laptops. Even better, the Origin EVO17-S easily passes the ‘open with one hand’ test, with zero wobble.
The centrepiece of the Origin EVO17-S (2022)’s design is a large, multicoloured, backlit keyboard. This is split into four zones, and you can vary the colour of each zone, as well as set up mini-animations or make the whole keyboard flash, should you wish to induce an epileptic fit.
Backlit colours on laptops are something some people will love and others will hate, of course. (Personally, I love them.) My guess is that you’ll already know which camp you fall into.
(Image credit: Tom May)
The rectangular keys here are very stylish, with sharp, straight corners and printed with characters that are suitably sci-fi-esque. And they function well, too, with a nice level of travel and a satisfying click.
Best of all, there’s a number pad: something I’ve found shockingly absent on even some expensive laptops. If you want, you can disable this, along with the function keys, to help make gaming smoother. The large (3 x 5 inches) touchpad is very nice too.
Possibly our favourite thing about this design is the inclusion of a ‘performance’ button next to the power button. This makes it easy to switch between Gaming, Turbo and Office modes. With other laptops, you have to fiddle about in the settings to change modes; this is a far more user-friendly experience.
Another area where the design of this laptop excels is around the edges. There’s a fun lightbar at the front, which has 23 customisable zones, while the left and right-hand sides pack in a ton of ports (take that, MacBook!). Also, the power cable plugs in at the back, which is so much more ergonomic than having it on the side.
(Image credit: Tom May)
There are three other ports here, too, which helpfully stops your desktop becoming a tangle of wires. There are also four 2.5 inch-long ventilation strips along the sides and on the back, providing some useful cooling in a non-intrusive way.
Finally, just above the main screen is a webcam, which offers full HD (1080p) resolution. There’s no privacy shutter for this, but the camera can at least be locked digitally.
Origin EVO17-S (2022) review: Display and speakers
My review model of the Origin EVO17-S boasts a QHD resolution screen (2560 x 1440), which I found quite delightful. It’s nice and big (17.3 inches in diameter), bright (up to 395 nits) and colourful (achieving 98{b7c9e2c88beb1a84f22d94ab877a147f4adc4b3519717f3f957a0f34e16918d1} sRGB and 71{b7c9e2c88beb1a84f22d94ab877a147f4adc4b3519717f3f957a0f34e16918d1} AdobeRGB colour spaces).
No, it’s not 4K, but if gaming is your passion then I’d say that’s not a problem. To be frank, in my experience, graphics cards and broadband connections aren’t quite up to the job of 4K gaming yet, so QHD is a much better middle-ground to inhabit.
This configuration of the laptop is also 240Hz, which makes for buttery-smooth frame rates on games, especially if you drop the resolution down to 1080p. For example, I got up to 157fps at QHD and 144 fps in Grand Theft Auto 5; and 93/84 fps respectively in Red Dead Redemption. I did detect a little backlight bleed on a few dark game scenes, but this wasn’t a major issue.
(Image credit: Tom May)
Much less impressive than the screen were the built-in speakers. They do a decent enough job for both movies and games, and go plenty loud, but the sound is a little flat and the bass a little hollow.
Again, it’s not a dealbreaker, but for a laptop this price I’d expected sound that was fuller, richer and deeper. So if you were to use this as your main entertainment centre (and the screen is certainly big enough), you’d probably want to plug in some external speakers.
Origin EVO17-S (2022) review: Connectivity
As I noted earlier, the Origin EVO17-S (2022) isn’t quite thin enough to be considered an ultrabook. But those extra few millimetres go a long way, allowing it to pack in a huge array of connectivity options.
The MacBook Pro, in comparison, is so short on slots you’ll need to buy a docking station if you want to connect a lot of peripherals. So that’s one area where the Origin EVO17-S (2022)’s higher price starts to seem justified.
Here’s exactly what you get. On the left are a Kensington lock, a USB-A 3.1 Gen 2 port, and two audio jacks, which are dedicated to microphones and headphones respectively. On the right side, you’ll find an SD card reader and two USB-A 3.1 Gen 1 ports.
(Image credit: Tom May)
On the back, meanwhile, are a USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 port, which offers Thunderbolt 4 and DisplayPort 1.4 capabilities, along with the ability to charge the laptop, along with an HDMI 2.1 port, an RJ45 Ethernet Jack, and a power port.
Origin EVO17-S (2022) review: Performance
With an i9 Intel processor, an RTX 3080Ti graphics card and 64GB RAM, I was confident this laptop would be an impressive performer, and I was happy to be proved right. The Origin EVO17-S (2022) has been a fast, responsive, smooth and efficient performer throughout my time using it. And just to confirm this isn’t just in my head, my benchmark tests returned some impressive results:
This laptop has also coped well with even the most demanding creative software I’ve thrown at it, not once slowing down or crashing. You know you’re onto a winner when, for example, Photoshop opens in a matter of seconds, barely enough to read one or two of its long list of credits. In my benchmark tests, the Origin EVO17-S achieved the following PugetBench scores, all of which are pretty decent.
Photoshop: 1076
After Effects: 989
Premiere Pro: 805
The only thing to add is that the fan noise is noticeably loud when this laptop does anything particularly intensive. It also gets quite warm, especially when playing AAA games, so I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who uses a laptop primarily on their lap, rather than on a desk.
Origin EVO17-S (2022) review: Battery life
One of the big drawbacks on a powerful laptop like the Origin EVO17-S (2022) is that it eats up battery life. I managed just two hours and 11 minutes doing a mixture of word processing, browsing and watching YouTube clips; about a quarter of what I typically get out of my day-to-day computer (Dell Latitude 1940).
The Origin EVO17-S isn’t a great choice for watching video on long journeys, either. My review model lasted for six hours and three minutes showing TV shows downloaded from Netflix, which isn’t bad. But this compares poorly with, say, the 19 hours and 10 minutes I recently got out of a $100 Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus tablet under the same conditions.
Limited battery life is pretty normal in a laptop this high-powered, of course. And when you see the size and feel the weight of the power brick it comes with, you won’t be very surprised either. But it is something worth considering if you commonly need to use a laptop away from a socket.
Origin EVO17-S (2022) review: Should I buy one?
(Image credit: Tom May)
Overall, the Origin EVO17-S is a fantastic laptop with a lot to offer. It’s the perfect choice for anyone who wants to play premium games or use powerful creative software and wants a big screen to see everything in detail. No, it’s not cheap, but if you can afford one, you do get excellent bang for your buck.
This laptop’s closest competitor is the Razer Blade 17, which costs between $2,899.99 and $4,099.99 at the time of writing, making it around $600 more expensive for broadly equivalent specs. That’s largely because the Razer Blade 17 has a superior cooling system, which minimises CPU throttling. That leads to better gaming framerates and less fan noise, making it the better laptop for gaming overall. I’d argue, though, that the lower-priced Origin EVO17-S offers better value, hitting the sweet spot in terms of price to performance. So I’d say it’s a better bet for anyone other than the most obsessive gamers.
What if you’re not bothered about gaming, or only play the odd title now and again? I’d say that while this is a very nice laptop, it’s probably overkill, in terms of both price and size, for most non-gamers. The main exception is creative professionals using resource-intensive software.
The lovely big screen and impressive processing power make it a great choice for using tools like Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere Pro, while not having to deal with the bulk and expense of a desktop computer. So if you’re a heavy user of premium software for photo editing, digital art and illustration, graphic design, animation or 3D modelling, it’s a great option… especially if you like to play games too.
Origin’s latest slim EVO16-S gaming laptop squeezes itself in between other heavy hitters in the same price range. It’s a little more expensive than laptops like the Acer Predator Helios 300 (opens in new tab) and the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (opens in new tab), and it doesn’t perform significantly better than them. But the differences are minimal and for a 1080p laptop with an AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT, the EVO16-S offers a sweet spot if your gaming habits don’t require a higher resolution and refresh rate.
Although the 6650M XT and the Ryzen 7 6800H keep the EVO16-S fed when it comes to gaming performance, its 1080p 144Hz screen doesn’t have a tremendous appetite. If this laptop were equipped with a 1440p panel or touted a 165Hz or 240Hz refresh rate, the graphs below would tell a different story. The EVO16-S isn’t strapped with anything absurd or overkill; it’s a gaming laptop for someone that isn’t quite sure what they want.
My EVO16-S review unit costs around $1,920. Instead of the basic 16GB of RAM, mine has 32GB, and it also has a 1TB SSD. It’s a steep price for an AMD-based laptop that mirrors the other options out there with Intel’s Core i7 12700H and Nvidia’s RTX 3060. If you cut the RAM and SSD in half, you can get the price down to around $1,500. For me, that’s the only price that this laptop makes sense as an alternative—that is, if you’re not desperate for a better screen.
I don’t see the need for anything over 1080p and 144Hz on a mid-size laptop unless you specifically play the sorts of games that demand it. I play an embarrassing amount of Overwatch 2 (opens in new tab) with a 4K 144Hz monitor on my desktop setup. The swap back to 1080p at the same refresh rate on the EVO16-S wasn’t as big of a downgrade as I expected. Not only did the game run fine on medium and high settings, but the smaller screen size eased the transition. I had more trouble adjusting to the laptop’s membrane keyboard than the experience of looking at it.
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Knock down a few graphics settings and you could easily play a variety of games on it.
The EVO16-S turns down high specs to get a lot out of its modest setup. The RX 6650M XT got real close to 144 fps in many of the games I tested, like Hitman 3, F1 2020, Overwatch 2, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (opens in new tab). Knock down a few graphics settings and you could easily play a variety of games like that. AMD’s FreeSync Premium helps smooth out inconsistencies in the fps too.
The RX 6650M XT can’t quite match the power of a good Nvidia RTX 3060 when it comes to ray tracing. In my Metro Exodus RTX test, it couldn’t get close to 60 fps, clocking in at an average of 48 fps. It’s not a great look against cheaper laptops with better screens on them, but I also can’t imagine the person that wants impressive ray tracing performance out of a laptop at this price. EVO16-S owners are opting into the ray tracing off and FSR on lifestyle. If you want more, you’re going to have to spend more.
The EVO16-S’ Ryzen 7 6800H also stumbles when compared to Intel’s Core i7 12700H. In the Hitman 3 Dartmoor test, the EVO16-S came in at a slightly lower average frame rate. You can see a similar difference in the Cinebench R20 scores too. The Ryzen CPU can’t quite keep up, which will probably have a noticeable impact on processor-hungry open world and strategy games. Given the EVO16-S’ strengths in everything else though, I don’t think this is a deal breaker.
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My unit’s 32GB of DDR5 memory was also in step with the competition. In the SiSoft Sandra test, it came in at 42 GB/s. The EVO16-S is no slouch when it comes to multitasking, but I still think you could drop it to 16GB to save some money.
The 1TB Gen4 Samsung NVMe SSD in the EVO16-S is also neck and neck with similar laptops. The Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker benchmark results put it at around 11 seconds. I didn’t run into any egregiously long load times in my tests either. Like the RAM situation, I think you could cut this down to 512GB and not miss out on much.
Like most of Origin’s gaming laptops and desktops, the EVO16-S has a clean look. Origin lets you customize the outside with various patterns for an extra fee, but I wouldn’t bother. The stock black style is what I’d prefer out of a laptop. The other, tech-y and futuristic color schemes are way too much for me. Leave it to the full size RGB backlit keyboard and RGB strips on the front edges to accentuate it. My only small gripe with the keyboard situation is the squished right Shift key that never quite feels right under my finger, but I could see that going away the more I use it.
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As an everyday laptop, the EVO16-S is a breeze to use. All my tests didn’t send the fans into overdrive. At its worst, the CPU hit 93°C (the GPU stabilized around 80°C). Unlike the last Origin laptop (opens in new tab) I reviewed, the EVO16-S kept pretty quiet for the entirety of my time with it. Battery life wasn’t an issue either. It nearly hit an hour and 30 minutes in the PCMark10 test with its 80W battery. That’s about what you’d expect from something of this power. I could easily squeeze in a few matches of Overwatch 2, pause for a break, and play a few more without it yelling at me for juice.
The EVO16-S’ dual USB 3.2 Type-A and USB 3.2 Type-C ports, serviceable speaker quality, light weight (around 5lbs) make it a well-equipped, versatile gaming laptop. The $1,900 build that I have is hard to recommend, however. At that price, it starts to fall short of cheaper, more powerful laptops. But if you can sacrifice storage or RAM and don’t see yourself trying to push high refresh rates on a 1440p screen for some game you’re hoping to go pro in, it’s a smart choice.
The EVO16-S is the laptop if you want to actually treat it like a laptop and not some sort of desktop replacement. It’s for playing a variety of games at respectable settings and a little more if you’ve got a power outlet nearby. If you can go with the $1,500 configuration (opens in new tab), the EVO16-S is an impressive laptop that puts its strengths in maximizing what it’s working with, namely its 1080p screen. If you’ve not been spoiled by 4K or have your dreams running in 240Hz, this laptop will serve you well.
ASUS has produced capable desktop and laptop PCs for gamers for years and today we’re looking at the latest gaming notebook from the company. The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE has a big battery, a big screen, and big performance. It’s also incredibly expensive so we’re going to take a look to see if this laptop is worth buying for a portable gaming station.
ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE: Price, availability, specs
(Image credit: Future)
ASUS supplied Windows Central with a review sample of the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE. This unit has the Intel Core i9-12950HX processor with eight performance and efficiency cores and a total of 16 threads. For notebooks, this is about as good as you can get without going too overboard. This is the flagship CPU for this laptop with the lesser capable Core i9-12900H also available.
For graphics, we’re looking at either an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, RTX 3080, or RTX 3080 Ti. In our review sample, the laptop had the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. Finally, RAM comes in either 16GB or 32GB of DDR5. We had 32GB, allowing us to push the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE to its limit and see how powerful this laptop is.
This notebook is expensive, even if you configure it with the baseline specifications. Starting at $2,399, it’s simply out of reach for many gamers. The model we tested is available for $3,599, but this laptop has considerably more performance than many gaming desktop PCs out there.
Here’s a look at the specs contained inside our review unit.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Specification
ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE (2022)
OS
Windows 11 Pro
Processor
Intel Core i9-12950HX
8 P-cores, 8 E-cores, 16 threads
RAM
32GB DDR5-4800
Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
Storage
2TB M.2 NVMe SSD
Display
17-inches, IPS, 16:9
WQHD (2560 x 1440), 240Hz, 100{b7c9e2c88beb1a84f22d94ab877a147f4adc4b3519717f3f957a0f34e16918d1} DCI-P3, 3ms,
Ports
One HDMI 2.1, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (DP, G-Sync), one RJ45 LAN, one Thunderbolt 4, 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
Wi-Fi 6E(802.11ax) (Triple band) 2*2, Bluetooth 5.2
Camera
–
Battery
90WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion
Dimensions
395 x 282 x 23.4 ~ 28.3 mm
(15.55 x 11.10 x 0.92 ~ 1.11 inches)
Weight
3.00 Kg (6.61 lbs)
Color
Black
ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE: Design & features
(Image credit: Future)
As soon as you’ve unboxed the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE, you can immediately tell you’re in for quite the ride. This looks and feels like a powerful gaming laptop. I’m not the biggest fan of the usual ASUS design language for its laptops, but the Scar 17 SE is stunning. There are countless small details, such as the hidden graphics on the lid that are revealed with the included UV light.
The ROG logo on the same lid lights up, as expected. RGB lighting can be easily made obnoxious, but thankfully ASUS used it sparingly. The keyboard also has per-key lighting, and there’s a small LED strip that wraps around the base of the notebook. When turned on, it looks the part when placed in a gamer setup. Interestingly, ASUS made part of the keyboard translucent, revealing some of the insides.
While the keyboard is a joy to type on, and there’s a full Numpad layout for those who enjoy playing EVE Online, it’s not using mechanical switches. The touchpad is massive and has more than enough real estate for general use. It’s highly likely that a mouse will be connected to one of the available USB ports for serious gaming, anyway.
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(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Moving up the laptop and we have the glorious 17-inch QHD display with a resolution of 2560×1440. Our unit has a refresh rate of 240Hz though a Full HD version of the panel is available with a 360Hz refresh rate if you prefer smoother gameplay over visuals. Either way, this is a winner. It’s gorgeous.
What isn’t going to bring home awards is the webcam … or lack thereof. If you enjoy making calls with friends and family or fancy some streaming on the side, you’re going to require an external webcam. It’s just strange to see a laptop released in 2022 without a webcam.
Next up is the I/O and there’s plenty to go around. We’ve got a single HDMI 2.1 port on the rear joined by the DC input, RJ45 LAN, one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (DP, G-Sync), and one Thunderbolt 4. The left side has two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports and a 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack. The right side has the ROG Keystone port for profiles and other security features.
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(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Speakers are never going to be exceptional on a gaming laptop, but ASUS managed to pull off some great-sounding audio. It’s not going to blow you away, especially with heavy bass tracks or explosions in-game, but it’s decent enough if you don’t own a pair of cans. The laptop itself is relatively thin but on the heavy side thanks to all the internal components.
It measures in at 3.00kg (6.61 lbs) and the dimensions are 395 x 282 x 23.4 ~ 28.3 mm. It’s not huge but will require some desk space for the 17-inch panel (and this allows ASUS to pack some serious cooling for the CPU and GPU).
ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE: Display
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The screen is incredibly important on gaming or creator laptops. Thankfully, the panel used by ASUS for the ROG Strix Scar 17 SE is a beauty. We tested the QHD 240Hz screen with a response time of just 3ms. It’s not particularly great at color accuracy, scoring just shy of 80{b7c9e2c88beb1a84f22d94ab877a147f4adc4b3519717f3f957a0f34e16918d1} for Adobe RGB, but you won’t notice when playing your favorite titles.
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(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Brightness isn’t spectacular, maxing out at around 300 nits. Minimum brightness was recorded at 15 nits. All ASUS displays for this laptop have a matte finish, which avoids bright lights from affecting your gameplay. They’re also non-touch, not that this is a primary factor for most people choosing a gaming laptop.
ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE: Gaming
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Where do we begin? One should have high expectations of the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE thanks to what’s contained within the compact chassis. The Intel Core i9-12950HX and RTX 3080 Ti are no joke and ASUS didn’t pull any punches with the included 32GB of DDR5 RAM. Simply put: this laptop is an absolute beast running PC games.
Like other gaming laptops, ASUS includes its own command suite that lets you quickly manage settings, including the current power profile. This also affects display brightness, cooling, and other parts of the system. We performed all tests with performance modes enabled (not turbo) and everything else on default to emulate what you can expect out of the box.
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(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The laptop performed well in synthetic benchmarks, again thanks to the impressive CPU and GPU combo. ASUS has to take some credit too as the laptop runs incredibly cool all things considered. There’s a fair amount of power draining the battery (or power grid) and the cooling solution handles the heat output well.
There are a total of four exhaust vents and ASUS is using two of the latest Arc Flow Fans with 84 curved blades. The noise output is recorded and monitored by the software suite and you can expect to see anything between 20-40dB depending on profile and workload.
We recorded temperatures as high as 87C and 83C in games for the CPU and GPU, respectively. How ASUS designed the cooling system prevents the keyboard and palm rests from feeling too warm to the touch. To put it into perspective, the CPU and GPU are capable of drawing up to 230W.
Far Cry 5: 121 FPS
Red Dead Redemption: 79 FPS / 92 FPS (DLSS)
Shadow of the Tomb Raider: 158 FPS / 184 FPS (DLSS)
And when you do eventually fire up some games, you’ll have nothing but smiles to go around. The numbers paint a positive story, but you have to sit in front of this beautiful 17-inch IPS display to truly appreciate what’s on offer.
ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE: Performance & battery
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Overall system performance is excellent. The Intel Core i9-12950HX is exceptionally good at running Windows software and playing the latest games. Whether you need to game or work (or both!) on the same machine, the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE will be able to handle most workloads.
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(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
As is with many laptops out there, gaming on battery reduces how much you can expect to enjoy from the CPU and GPU. Results will still be astounding for such a slim machine, but you will notice a downgrade in overall system performance compared to when tethered to an outlet.
The battery may be a massive 90WHr unit but the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE can zap through it in just over an hour in a demanding PC game. For general use, however, including media consumption, you can expect to see upwards of five hours depending on power settings.
ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE: Competition
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We’re obviously going to consider the mighty Razer Blade 17 as a competitor to the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE. It’s one of the best gaming laptops even if ASUS manages to undercut it, thanks to the 1440p display (compared to the UHD-touting Razer Blades). The performance will be about the same, though ASUS makes use of some seriously good cooling here.
The Lenovo Legion 7i (6th Gen) (and the newer Legion 71 (7th Gen)) is also a solid option for those seeking ultimate power. ASUS has the upper hand with better in-game results, but it’s also considerably more expensive than the Lenovo review unit we tested. It all comes down to looks, price, and cooling as components usually perform similarly. ASUS manages to find a good balance between the three.
ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE: Should you buy?
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Who it’s for …
Those who want the performance of a gaming desktop but in a laptop form factor.
Those who don’t mind splashing out upwards of $4,000 on a new laptop.
Those who don’t find themselves playing much away from an available outlet.
Those who want to play the latest games at 1440p and decent settings.
Who it isn’t for …
Those who do not have more than $2,000 to spare for a portable gaming PC.
Those who already have a decent enough desktop gaming PC.
Those who don’t play the most demanding PC games and can get away with something less powerful.
The sheer raw power included with this laptop is incredible. Having an Intel Core i9 and RTX 3080 Ti combo in a laptop bag is something that would continue to put a smile on one’s face, especially when setting up shop with friends at LAN events. There’s ample connectivity (including RJ45) which makes this quite the compelling purchase for anyone looking for a new gaming PC.
For gaming on the go, it’s let down by just how capable the internals are. The GPU and CPU will happily drain the 90WHr battery in an hour or so when gaming. It’s a slightly better story with about five hours of general use between charging. Still, this should be considered if you actually plan on using the notebook for work or long periods of time away from home and/or the office.
When this machine truly comes to life is when it’s hooked up to an outlet with performance modes enabled. You’ll be able to crank up visual settings in most games and enjoy a stable frame rate on the glorious 1440p IPS panel. Sure, it’s expensive and the money could be better spent on more sensible purchases, but this is about as good as you’ll get for a gaming laptop in 2022.
ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE
The ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE has everything you need to play your favorite PC games on the road. It has the looks, the performance, and the connectivity, making this one of the best gaming laptops to buy in 2022.
