Asus

I've been a fan of gaming laptops ever since my first gaming laptop - the Alienware M11x- almost a decade ago. They're unique and powerful but expensive. I've owned a couple of gaming laptops, mostly Alienware's, and have spent a fair share of my younger years building gaming PCs. The Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 takes me back to the days when I could stay up all night playing games. Asus' laptop is big, flashy, and a gaming powerhouse. Yes, there's also RGB lighting that screams, ‘I'm a gamer'.

Asus unveiled a new fleet of ROG and TUF gaming laptops for 2023 at CES this January. The company the launched the first wave of high-end gaming laptops in India in March, followed by a second wave of mid-range models in May. The laptop we're reviewing today, the ROG Strix Scar 18 (2023), is from the earlier batch. This beastly gaming laptop is priced starting at Rs. 2,79,990 in India but the variant we're reviewing has Nvidia's top-most current laptop GPU and costs Rs. 3,59,990.

The Asus ROG Phone series has been receiving subtle updates over the years. With gaming brands such as Nubia's Redmagic and Black Shark leaving the Indian market long ago, Asus' ROG Phone remains the last phone standing when it comes to high-end, gaming smartphones. This also means that Asus does not really have any direct competition in India and due to that, it can take its time refining its winning formula year on year, without needing to make any drastic changes in order to stay relevant.