A stunning 144Hz IPS display matched to an RTX 2070 and Core i7. ASUS tailors it to FPS gamers with a number of tweaks including a low response time (3ms) and high refresh rate display (144Hz), a “WASD” illuminated keyboard, ROG Gladius II mouse and capable gaming hardware, including an ample-sized NVMe SSD for loading games quicker. In practice, the alignment to FPS gamers is more of a marketing spin as the tweaks that make it good for “FPS gamers” make it good for all gamers.

The design is noticeably improved over the first generation ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR that KitGuru tested which had a much chunkier display bezel, no keyboard backlighting and an inferior 120Hz 5ms display. Hardware specification improves too, but with the improved hardware comes an increased cost. Nonetheless, consumers looking for a high-performance and well thought-out gaming laptop will inevitably consider the ROG STRIX RTX SCAR II at some point – so let’s check out how it performs.