Customer Ratings & Reviews

Today I finally picked up this laptop. I was choosing my first Windows laptop for heavy computing tasks, and based on reviews I settled on this option. I was very scared when I read these reviews about squeaks and a bad screen, and was already mentally preparing to return it. I currently have a MacBook M2 Max, but I also need Windows and I wanted to buy something good. And lo and behold! The screen is a copy of a MacBook in quality, I can’t tear myself away from it! Incredible lighting (although I thought it was all unnecessary fun). I like the keyboard too. I was worried that the 18-inch screen would be too big... But now I can’t even look at 16, I got used to it in a few hours. It feels like I’m sitting at a very high-quality personal computer with a beautiful large monitor and a very high-quality keyboard!! I also tested the power and it's just incredible, it's tearing my PC collections to shreds. The only thing I don't like is the RAM, there is very little of it, and I'm sorry that I have to throw away those 8 GB slots. This is a question for sellers: why install memory in such a machine just for sale. In general, I highly recommend the product! and today im really very happy with that!

This laptop is an excellent value for what you're getting. The CPU is nearing desktop performance, and the GPU really pushes pixels (especially if you undervolt the CPU to route some more power to the GPU). The nebula display looks great and the speakers sound great for what they are (and are LOUD). There are couple downsides, but the cost cutting has been done in areas that don't really effect the end user experience except in one regard... I will list them. The case is mostly plastic. This seems to have been done to cater to a cost effective cooling solution. The way the air flow is routed would have probably necessitated a cnc'd case which would have greatly increased the cost to manufacture. Speaking of air flow, this laptop probably had to have it considering the power draw. I am pretty sure the main bottleneck is the voltage regulation and heat. The fans run pretty much at peak power under load and are loud as hell. This is the main drawback for me. Luckily, I have a good pair of headphones. But keep this in mind. The GPU switching is buggy. I just force the GPU as the graphics driver and use the laptop plugged in. And that brings up the last point. This laptop isn't really a portable solution. It's not going to fit in many bags and the battery can't be expected to last very long. Anyone buying this thing probably assumes that already. But, it's a plug and play portable I guess? I can handle lugging it around, but a lot of people like a more manageable solution. But, the performance you're getting at this cost is pretty hard to beat in all actuality. This laptop has beat my two-year old desktop is some benchmarks and I paid more money for the desktop when I got it.

The ASUS - ROG Strix 18" Gaming Laptop is a top tier performance machine from ASUS. With the huge 18” screen, high end specs, and host of features it makes for an amazing gaming and everyday use experience. Screen: One of the biggest features (literally) of this laptop is the 18” screen. This one is a 16:10 aspect ratio so it is a little nontraditional, but it doesn’t affect most day-to-day activities. Heck, many people may choose to add an external monitor to crate a great dual monitor setup using the laptop screen too. The screen itself is QHD resolution which means a higher PPI over most 1080p setups. In addition, it is 240Hz refresh rate which is faster than most screens on the market and makes for an insane gaming experience. The colors are very good, it’s also very bright which is good for brighter environments. The screen has an anti-glare finish and viewing angles are good all around. Color temp and colors can be adjusted via the ASUS software. The borders are slim on all but the bottom next to the hinges. Build Quality: Like other ASUS gaming products of the past, I really enjoy the look and feel. Of course, you may have some indictors it is a gaming laptop if you look closely but it can easily be used in multiple environments. The satin finish hides fingerprints well considering the close to black color. The hinge is very robust, which keeps the screen at whatever angle you wish, and the overall thickness is kept in check considering the specs for this laptop. The keyboard feels great with good spacing although it could be a touch larger to fill the body. Key travel is good, but it won’t compare to the mechanical gaming keyboards which is the case for every laptop. I like the dedicated keypad on the right although it does feel cramped. Nice to have, nonetheless. The trackpad has a very smooth finish and lets your fingers glide around. It’s a good size but considering the body of this laptop I wouldn’t mind it being a touch larger. This laptop does include a webcam but the 720P 30FPS resolution isn’t good. For the price point it really should have a higher quality sensor inside. Ports: Right Side - 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen2 (Directly in middle of laptop) Left Side (In order from closest to farthest) - 1 Headphone Jack - 1 USB-C 3.2 Gen2 - 1 USB-C Thunderbolt 4 - 1 HDMI 2.1 - 1 Ethernet - 1 Power Input Gaming: The overall performance of this laptop with the 13th Gen i9-13980HX, 16gb of 4800Mhz DDR5 memory, and RTX 4080 with 12gb of GDDR6 memory gives this laptop top tier performance for anything you throw at it. Most of my gaming is done via Xbox downloads and neither of the games I tested (Halo Masters Collection and Forza Horizon 5) stressed the CPU/GPU whatsoever. Temps stayed within reason, and I noticed no performance degradation over several hours of use. The 240hz display is the highest refresh rate I have ever experience and wow does it make a difference. Everything is so smooth and quick to reaction it creates for a great gaming experience. The QHD resolution adds to the enjoyment over 1080p as the PPI, so everything is crisp. With the laptop sitting on a desk table, nothing really got that warm outside of the vents along the sides and back which is to be expected. The fans are certainly noticeable but aren’t totally obnoxious. Likes: - 13th Gen i9-13980HX with up to 5.6Ghz - Nvidia 4080 12gb with up to 175w - 1TB Gen4 SSD (with 2nd Slot Available) - HDMI 2.1 - DDR5 Memory (2 Slots Internally, Nothing Soldered) - QHD 240hz Screen (Bright and colorful) - Overall Design (with RBG Lighting) - Integrated GPU to Dedicated GPU switchover (Nvidia Optimus or MUX switch) - Wi-Fi 6E - Fans Quiet Under Light Use - Bitlocker Support Dislikes: - 720p Webcam (It’s 2023…) - Lacking SD Card Reader (Listing Error) - LARGE 330w Power Adapter - Very light “Coil Whine” or other processing noises in quiet environments Overall, the ASUS ROG Strix 18" has been the best experience I have had using a gaming laptop. Sure, it is a little large for everyday use and portability but from a performance standpoint you will be hard pressed to find more of it. With such a large screen you don’t need an external display (though I used one and it was fantastic) to enjoy the experience. The specs are certainly high end which means it should last several years without slowing down. I would highly recommend checking this laptop out if you want some of the best on the market. There isn’t much that could be changed to make it even better… maybe an SD card slot and better webcam?

I had the pleasure of reviewing the new ASUS G18.I94080 and boy was I excited to get started with this beast of a laptop! On paper, this laptop is well equipped with a 13th gen i9 13980HX 24 core processor (32 logical cores) at 2200Mhz, 16GB of DDR5 RAM (all you need for a top end gaming machine), 1TB of m.2nvme 4th gen storage and the heart of the rig, RTX4080 all running on a factory calibrated 18" 16:10 QHD display (2560x1600). This laptop is equipped with plenty of I/O ports as well, from a HDMI 2.1 output for an external monitor or TV, 2 USB C ports, that can operate as display port out as well, 1 GB ethernet port all on the left side. On the right side are 2 USB 3.1 A ports. There is an undermounted LED light wrapping around the front, and RGB illuminated keyboard with a number pad to the right. There is no webcam on the display itself, but I did not find this to be something of importance as this laptop was made to do 1 thing and 1 thing only, play game. So how do these impressive specs pan out in the real world? In short, extremely well without any noticeable compromise. Well, that isn't entirely true... the only compromise here is the laptop is held together by a plastic body vs a fully metal one, however, that is the only corner cut on this machine, and frankly, the plastic is of high quality, the laptop feels premium, and I'll take the cost saving here for something that essentially doesn't matter at the end of the day. This laptop destroyed any game I threw at it, while owning benchmarks for breakfast. Let me break it down: Benchmarks: 3D Mark TimeSpy (default settings) 17191 Heaven 6152 Games: Halo Infinite - Maximum Settings - DLSS off - averages 140FPS using built in display Red Dead Redemption 2 - Maximum Settings - DLSS off - averaged 90 FPS Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 - Maximum Settings - DLSS off - Averaged 200FPS Counter-Strike Go - Maximum Settings - DLSS off - Averages the maximum 240FPS Street Fighter 6 - Maximum Settings - DLSS off - Averaged 180 FPS Fan noise was very minimal for a laptop of this power. Fan noise was apparent if not wearing a headset, but it was a mild woosh of moving air vs annoying mini fans. I heard absolutely no coil wine what so ever, which is something this model laptop has been known to exhibit in the past. I had absolutely, positively, no coil noise of any kind. The system maintained rock solid stability, never crashed, overheated, or struggled even slightly during the nearly 2 weeks I ran this thing hard. One this to note, there were many updates, including firmware I ran upon initial setup. I allowed Armoury Crate to download and apply everything, as well as ran Windows updates until completed. I know Armoury Crate is a point of contention in the gaming community, but I've barely had an issue with it and I've owned MANY ASUS ROG products to date. It typically boils down to firmware being up to date, and proper drivers being installed. The RGB lighting effects are nice, the ASUS Aura Creator aids in customizing these to literally, anything you can imagine up. The build in display is GORGEOUS. It is spot on 99.9% RGB and DCI-P3 accurate. My model had NO stage lighting effect, edge bleed, or ghosting. Colors were phenomenally saturated, yet accurate, blacks were VERY even and hit around an 8% grey is brightness turned down slightly, nothing compared to OLED, however, for IPS, this is a brilliant display. I am also a videophile who expects perfection from their displays. For a "budget" laptop, this display is fantastic. The 240Hz refresh rate, when used to it's maximum abilities (ie: games like CS:GO) there was no noticeable blur or image ghosting. I round the RTX4080 switched over from the built in Intel chip every single time without fail. Keyboard is nice and responsive as well, touch pad equally responsive. All in all, this is an outstanding laptop that will outperform most people's full desktop. For the MSRP of $2500 you cannot go wrong. If you happen to get a model that matched my experience, you will be head over heels for this thing. Thank you ASUS for the experience, and thank you for making a solid performing laptop, that checks every necessary box, and leave out the stuff that doesn't matter, to keep a well balance price to performing laptop.

I kind of want to write wow! wow! wow! over a thousand times. If you told me that I would be running an i9 on a RTX 4080 with DDR5 I would have said you were dreaming. But here we are. Everything about the ASUS ROG Strix looks amazing, even the packing box is awesome - but I won't spoil the surprise. With an 18" screen, the ROG Strix is not a small laptop. Powered on, the Strix looks amazing, full color spectrum RGB backlit keyboard and a cool RGB stripe at the front. This is the first gaming laptop I have owned that has external RGB lighting and it adds to the wow factor. All of the RGB settings can be controlled with the ASUS Armory Crate software. On the topic of software, ASUS have been kind and the Strix is surprisingly free of bloat - Spotify, TikTok, Instagram are pre-loaded and then some (odd) ASUS Alien Virtual Pet software. Otherwise, it's a clean. But what about gaming I hear you scream? I've taken some performance benchmark screenshots (see images) 238% for gaming (UFO), 118% for desktop (UFO), and 304% for workstation (UFO). The ROG Strix will take whatever you throw at it, so I decided to throw some games. Elden Ring set to max with RTX on, I got 60fps. Jedi Survivor, no RTX 60-70fps, with RTX on 50-60fps. These rates are incredible on a gaming laptop. In terms of heat and fans, the ROG Strix fans are quiet on idle, when heaving game you can hear them (as you would expect), they are not as intrusive as I would have though and better than previous gaming laptops I have owned. What is the test for me, is the keyboard doesn't get hot to touch. What could ASUS improve? If I have one complaint, it's the trackpad just feels off to me. The power cord feels a little too short, the drop from the laptop to the sizable power brick could be longer and if your desk setup won't let you run the cord behind your laptop, you will find the power cable may block the ethernet, HDMI, and 2x USB C ports. This is ONLY if you run the power cable towards you. What I didn't test was battery life, because, frankly, at 18" I am not really going to be using this for portable gaming. What is worth knowing that is that the MyASUS software will let you set the max battery charge to 80% to extend and maximize battery life. I recommend you do that because overall the ROG Strix laptop is so good, that you should expect a long life of gaming and preserving the battery will be important. Overall, love this laptop, highly recommended and it's perfect for gaming, college, and work (although it would be cruel to use it just for work!).

Very Impressive notebook, with a strong intel CPU with more cores and logical processors you will know what to do with. Solid structural overall, and it's easy to get into to install new ram or additional solid-state drive which if you will be using for games, I recommend getting more storage, but ASUS does have a nice external M.2 enclosure with USB-C that you can buy separately, so you won't have to open the notebook. This does come with DDR5 Ram at 4800 MT @ 16GB's. Which isn't bad but I have noticed with some newer games like D4 that will be at 98% usage, and I will see some performance issues. I have upgraded to 32GB @ 5800 MT which is what the I9-13980HX can do but looks like 5200 MT is the max this notebook can handle for now until some updates down the line. When under load this notebook will sound like a small jet engine, but it will stay cool, we do get options to make our own fan curves and adjust power like under volte the CPU for example through the BIOS. We can even adjust the P / E cores to utilize all or just some which can come in handy when on battery and you want to try and conserve power. Overall, this is a very powerful notebook with flexibility to the user to adjust on their needs. I'm happy with it and I have been enjoying playing games.

I really wanted to like this Asus ROG Astrid G18 but I kept on having issues I couldn’t fix. The screen is gorgeous but my unit had some noticeable backlight bleeding on the lower bottom left corner. By noticeable I mean that in games with dark scenes or while watching letterboxed content you would easily see that patch of grey where the screen bleeds. The keyboard and trackpad are quite a joy to use! For whatever reason the number pad keys are slightly smaller than the rest of the keyboard but it’s not a big deal. The speakers are also very good! The Scar series has even better speakers but these are no slouch. The webcam is nice but Windows Hello support would’ve been a dream. The charger is not any smaller or larger than other brands out there roughly the size and thickness of one of those elongated paperback novels they print nowadays. Gaming performance is phenomenal! The 4080 is such a good GPU. I never really went crazy for ray tracing until this GPU came along with its effortless 60FPS or higher in games like Cyberpunk at QHD+. It’s a game changer. Yea, I did have bad coil whine especially when games are launching before the fans kick on or in other CPU intensive tasks like app installs. The cooling system works really well especially if you can manage to put the G18 on a stand or at least some elevation in the back for airflow. The fans are not whiny and they have a satisfying “woosh” to them. Overall, the G18 offers a good price to performance ratio. I will comment that I returned mine because of the backlight bleed and an issue that a restore didn’t fix (I would get event 41 errors whenever the G18 was resuming from sleep while on power or battery), but these sort of things happen. It’s the silicon lottery. As to build quality it’s not any better or worse than previous Strix models from Asus. The display lid is metal and the rest is plastic but it doesn’t feel cheap. The plastic keyboard deck is smooth and helps to keep temps in check. If this ever becomes available again on Best Buy it’s a good deal and a good buy.

Without going into all the specs, I can honestly say this laptop gets the job done. Beautiful color and clarity. Fast performance. Keyboard feels good. Small number pad & no face recognition but not a deal breaker. Large mouse pad. No lag or blur when gaming. Battery life isn't the best but it is a powerful computer, is expected. Can hear the fan but not too loud. I am absolutely happy with this purchase.

My first new laptop in 5 years. Coming from 1660ti to 4080, I was blown away by the performance. The screen is absolutely gorgeous. Had this machine for about 3 weeks now, no issue so far aside from a very very minor coil whine. I usually wear headphones so this doesn’t bother me. Will upgrade the RAM in the future if necessary. Definitely recommend.

ASUS - ROG Strix 18" 240Hz Gaming Laptop QHD Summary: Mobile gaming desktop that delivers. Pros: * Desktop replacement. If you're tight on space, this unit can replace your desktop in a single package. * Screen size. At 18" this is as large as you're going to get on a laptop. It provides a beautifully rich and vibrant image with a great minimum viewing angle. * Balanced form factor. Considering its size and specifications, you'd expect the unit to weigh more than it does. And, while hefty indeed, it still feels lighter than you might expect. * Relatively quite. Running a few games on maximum settings and the unit didn't roar that much. This unit appears to do a good job keeping its processors cool. * Ports. The unit comes equipped with a standard array of ports and should serve typical uses just fine. Cons: * Camera position. When closed, the camera positioned along the top of the lid juts out ever so slightly. The camera should remain protected while the unit is closed, but it is visible from certain angles and its positioning feels like a miss. * QHD display - I didn't think this would bother me, but now that I've used it several days, I have to say that I wish the display were 4K. Seems much for an 18" display, I know, but I feel like I would appreciate images more. When you play most of your games at 4K, its hard to step back (or down) even across form factors. * The power brick is huge! Not a surprise for this unit's specifications (330W!), but it means that going mobile is going to require more weight and packaging consideration. A simple sleave won't do, for instance. Use: We play a variety of games in my household. Anything ranging from Fortnite, World of Warcraft, Destiny 2, Doom Eternal, to Rogue Squadron, and MW. We played a few of them at max settings and while there was a stutter here and there, the unit performed well. It seems more due to loading times than render related. We installed a second m.2 2TB disk and moved games to it - the problem appears to have disappeared. The upgrade process was simple and straight forward with internal componenents nicely lain out. As for frame rates, adjusting a control here and there (like shadows, etc), can make all of the difference and we found that adjusting them per game yielded different results. Few physical other things... The moulding of the bottom is strange and highly contoured/textured. Given how quite it is, it may help the unit cool itself efficiently? The feet are strange and not sure how they'll fair on extremely smooth surfaces. The unit also comes equiped with a very responsive and bright sub-keyboard LEDs and a strip that runs in the front of the unit along the bottom. This makes customization fun and bright! All in all this unit is a very competitively priced given its specs. I've owned various Asus products in the past and they have all served me well - I expect this unit to be no different. I'd definitely recommend this is as a contender if you're shopping around for nicely spec'd 18" desktop replacements.

Best you can buy for the money. 18 inch amazing display, beautiful colors and brightness. Most powerful parts. 16GB memory is enough even for hardest games. Speakers are amazing. Loved the Asus softwares. RGB of keyboard and the line is cool. Even the box of this laptop makes you feel special! I have that little coil noise too some time to time but I don't really mind it since I use my gaming headset

Awesome laptop! Fornite 120fps with ray tracing. RE4 remake 120fps full settings This laptop is a beast for work, school, and gaming. Upgrade the RAM to 32 GB 4800MHZ and you'll get the best experience I have ever had with a gaming laptop. Worth every penny. Has 2 RAM slots max 32GB 2 M.2 Slots Battery life gaming 45 minutes. battery life web browsing 2 hours.

I’ve been using it for a couple of hours now and the first impression is very good. The coil whine thats mentioned in other reviews is extremely minimal and only noticeable if you put your ear to the keyboard.  the screen definitely has some back light bleed, but it’s not terrible and it’s practically impossible to notice during normal use.  thermals and performance seem to be great and the build quality, while partially plastic, is very rigid and does not creak. The aesthetics are great and the keyboard feels very good. my one gripe aside from the backlight bleed is the numpad. They had plenty of room to make the keys full size in my opinion. I will update this review if any other negatives arise, for now all seems to be well and definitely worth the sale price ($2099).

!!!! 1. What makes it unusable: Mico-Stuttering In Apex Legends, Overwatch 2, regarding great fps. When you play high speed games and you get freezes while mid fight it just make all the fps pointless ( i switched from Blade 17 pro with 1060 and even with so out-dated spec i'm not getting any of mico-stuttering) So now what? should i upgrade ram or ssd? now i have to upgrade like a 50% of laptop to make it good ? 2.Good: Performance: Apex Legends, max settings on broken moon map, fps between 150-230 Screen: Colorful and bright Speakers: Eeasily can listen to music and there is some bass etc, before that i tested Blade 2021 with thx spatial audio and that was a reason for return, unusable like a sound from can 0 bass 3.Bad: Coil whine, doesn't bother me much meaning but loud and clear :) sometimes even on quite mode, especially audible when starting the game Keyboard: Sometimes it will double click or even triple click Layout so bizzare F1 key is above number 2 key, can't get used to it Click feel is something individual so hard to say,i prefer low profile keys, but definitely left shift and space key feels a little broken like with stronger spring if that make sens Overall i really don't know what to think about this laptop, Great perfomance, but many issues and feels rushed like it's some kind of beta test or something, it definitely doesn't feel premium

Out of all the gaming laptops i've gone through this one takes the win for me. You can't go wrong with the Intel 13th gen core i9 13980HX and the RTX 4080 gpu. Upfront I will say with those specs this needs 24 or 32gb of ram but can go up to 64 which is great. Yes, it's upgradable but should have came with more in the first place. YMMV. The 1TB of storage is right at that sweet spot for me but there is another M.2 slot available to add more storage to your liking. I just don't keep a lot of games installed to be honest. The unboxing experience was nice I must say with it being a box inside a box essentially. One slides out from the other and you are presented with the 18" laptop. You get the power brick/power cord and some paperwork. Setup was the same as any other windows laptop. One thing to note that upon first turning on the laptop it power cycles and restarts one time, then setup begins. Once on the desktop I loaded up the Armoury Crate app which first needed to install and then update. Here you can adjust so many settings for the laptop. Dont skip this step. I immediately turned on turbo mode which made the fans spin up a bit and become more noticable, but not a big deal in my eyes. I adjusted the screen mode and the lighting effects for the laptop then went into a game. The wireless adapter has a solid connection and I had no issues while in game and playing with friends. No lag ect. Played Modern Warfare II for a couple hours and this game screams with this laptop. I was easily getting 120 fps while playing in an intense multiplayer matchup. The 240hz QHD screen running at 2560 x 1600 makes gameplay buttery smooth. Next was Forza Horizons 5, Another buttery smooth gaming experience. Frame rates were 130 to 140 for this game and man things fly by a lot faster at that FPS. I love playing that game more now than I did before. If you're using an external monitor this laptop has G-Sync which will fight screen tearing, stuttering and juddering, especially during fast paced games or video. Your monitor must also be G-Sync compatible. The speakers are okay as that is the case with most laptops but connecting a bluetooth headset for gaming deviates that anyway. And it was very easy to connect the headset. This laptop has a lot of style. From the RGB that wraps around the front bezel of the keyboard to the attention to detail on the bottom of the laptop. It reallys screams gaming laptop for sure. I like that the status LEDs are right under the screen and in your face. Just a nice touch IMO. I could list all the ports this gaming laptop has but you can easily just look at the specs to see for yourself. I can easily recommend this laptop.

This is a sturdy gaming laptop that easily handles the gaming requirements of almost all games, even the ones that are extra heavy in architecture and needs robust processing. The good things are its huge monitor size, great processor, and right memory size and RAM. I like the 18" screen which is the best size to play any game and the QHD panel gives the right resolution for the games. The screen refresh rate of 240 Hz is just right to get the optimum refreshing while at play but like all gaming laptops, this also has some backlight leaks around the corner and seeks attention while focusing on the game. But I think I can ignore that in lieu of the great refresh rate. In general, the laptop remains cool but as soon as it is switched to performance mode then it gets slightly heated and the fan turns on as well. The keyboard feel is nice and keys are appropriately scattered to easily maneuver and the trackpad is also decently sized. The battery life is in line as compared to other gaming laptops. The SSD performance is good and has enough storage for 1TB. There is also a second slot to install a second NVMe drive if needed. Another key thing to note is that RAM is NOT soldered on so it can be bumped up. As this weighs almost 7 lbs, it is not travel friendly but I was impressed by the flashy logo and lighting as soon as I turned this on. Also, the light bar just below the front edge that brightens that area makes it interesting to use the keyboard. This has multiple ports, 2 USB-As, HDMI, 2 USB-C (one with PD/DisplayPort, the other with Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort), and headphones/combo jack. Overall, this gaming laptop serves the purpose for me as it ticks all the boxes.

Pros: can play all 3AAA games. Large screen enough to play. Cons: loud exhaust when playing and gets really hot. But don't mind the loud exhaust as long as you use a headset and you're in a cool/cold place enough to dissipate heat. Overall, Great laptop!

My aging 5yr old tech gaming laptop was showing its age with Starfield. Other games still held up, but the holiday sale caused me to pull the trigger. Insanely awesome display, super smooth graphics, and it’s actually smaller than my old laptop which was only 17” vs. 18” on this one (smaller bezel and it’s thinner). Had a few weird issues with power but after turning off hibernate all was good - Windows hibernate never did work well with any of my machines, whether it was desktop or laptop. Starfield plays buttery smooth on QHD. Connecting a USB-C to DisplayPort allowed me to use my 32” FreeSync+ monitor and enjoy 165Hz (monitor limit, not laptop). I’m positive this will get me great gaming experience for the next five years!

Got this because I wanted a desktop replacement while avoiding the looming 8 gb VRAM limit. The screen is VERY good. Clear, beautiful colors, and almost too bright on its highest setting. Overall it's definitely worth getting, though it has a few shortfalls where I expected better at this price point. Yes, it's the cheapest option with these specs, but they're ALL overpriced. Being the least overpriced isn't really an excuse, this is still a very expensive laptop. And yes, this is mostly nVidia's fault for gouging on their video cards. -The lid should really be made of metal. It's solid when it's stationary, but makes it feel really fragile when you're transporting the laptop from place to place. Which is the entire point of a laptop. It's a lot of screen to protect, and plastic just can't protect it if it knocks against something. -This doesn't have an SD card reader. I didn't even bother checking before I bought it because they've been standard on laptops for years now. And it's kind of absurd that something this size wouldn't have one. -All ports of one kind are on the same side. All USB-C are on the left, all USB-A on the right. I understand why they did this from a circuit design aspect, but it would have been nice if they had put one of each on both sides. -Easily the worst thing, the aspect ratio. ALL laptop screens should be 16:9. The extra top-to-bottom space is usable (but not actually better) on most games, but for any FPS (or anything first-person view) the space would be MUCH better distributed both ways. For FPSs, you're effectively playing on a 17" screen with useless extra view on the top and bottom. I don't understand why the entire industry is doing this. -The keyboard is just okay. For something this expensive, I'd expect keys with a much crisper action. It's not like this would've even changed the price much. -There is a ton of open space all around the keyboard, but the number pad has undersized (narrower) keys that are nearly impossible to touch type with. They're so awkward that I rarely use the number pad at all. They should have either designed it better to have full-sized keys, just removed the numpad entirely, or at least used the space for some better speakers. All this said, this laptop is absolutely worth getting. It's just got issues that most people would want to know beforehand.

Altogether a sweet product. Good value for the product. Video card. It is important to note that a GeForce RTX 4080 laptop card is not the same as a computer card. That being said the card is awesome. Very vivid colors. Minimum noise. Some times here noise after hours of use and external fan is not on. The noise does not exceed a normal laptops operating noise. Fast. The computer is extremely fast and smooth. On initial startup there are a lot of programs being downloaded (i.e..., My ASUS/Armoury Crate). Can seem overwhelming but all can have extra benefits. The colored keypad is an extra plus. Negative. The power cord from the computer to base block is short. A huge block either has to be sitting close to a computer with limited power cord length or constrained height of stand or computer operating area.