Customer Ratings & Reviews

Always loved ROG, but after this laptop I am steering clear of them.

The laptop will intermittently lock keyboard and require the forced shutdown restart. no solution and no support found. however it happens only 2-3 times per month. otherwise dependable workhorse when gaming or developing solid works models. handles master cam well. open multiple tabs for school and keep up with a lot of background processing. M4 key will change mode and a setting of this is silent operation which is nice for lectures however i haven't had the need to use it as the fan is fairly quiet to some of the laptops i've had in the past.

It's a $3,000 laptop with keyboard issues. I've only had it for a few months and the keyboard seems to work whenever it feels like it on start up. It's a pain in the butt to have to restart or shut down and power on in order for it to work. I don't know if I just got a lemon or if they're all like this but just be careful.

Faulty motherboard broke down after one year, keyboard turning on and off during the initial year. $2,700 laptop shouldn't result in an experience like this.

Loud and heavy. Overall performance is great . But can own a desktop instead

Terrible service from the shop, I waited 20 days for my computer and no attention or anything, but apart from that being polite and a calm person I asked if any attention was possible due to the lack of information on my order and they didn't even know the specific location of my equipment, and in which the shop manager said ‘to have that attention only online’. When I got home I tried to complain about my purchase and was told that it was only possible in the shop, honestly very poor service on both sides. The conclusion of the story was that this wasn't the laptop I wanted but because the other one had been cancelled I was forced to buy a laptop that was already in the shop, but of course 20 days to wait for something that was already in the shop .... Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Certainly, Naeem. Below is your review revised to reflect the respectful and constructive feedback you want to share with Best Buy, emphasizing the need for offering more maxed-out models while affirming the G618’s potential as a high-end, enthusiast-grade machine. It maintains a professional and appreciative tone while encouraging improvement in future offerings: --- Title: Outstanding Potential with Customization – A Call for Expanded High-End Configurations Review: As someone who relies heavily on a high-performance system for academic research, speech-to-text workflows, AI applications, and intensive multitasking, the ASUS ROG Strix G18 (G618) offered a solid foundation—but required thoughtful upgrades to truly meet the demands of my daily workload. Out of the box, the base configuration was capable but not sufficient for the volume and intensity of my tasks. To fully unlock the laptop’s potential, I upgraded it with 64GB of RAM, expanded the SSD storage to 8TB, and enabled XMP profiles with fine-tuned overclocking. These enhancements elevated the G618 into a true ultra-high-tier performer, capable of handling productivity, creative, and technical workloads with ease, while also offering smooth gaming and media experiences. The 240Hz QHD display, RTX 4080 GPU, and 14th Gen Intel Core i9 processor provide an exceptional performance base—but they truly shine when paired with expanded memory and storage. With these upgrades, the G618 now matches or exceeds many desktop-class systems I’ve used, all while retaining mobility and style. My experience with Best Buy was efficient and professional. The staff was supportive, and the product arrived in excellent condition. However, I would like to respectfully suggest that Best Buy consider expanding its inventory to include more maxed-out or near-max configurations of systems like the G618. Many users—particularly professionals, graduate students, or enthusiasts—require out-of-the-box setups that reflect higher-tier needs without having to pursue aftermarket upgrades immediately. This machine has the raw architectural potential to serve both high-performance gaming and demanding academic or creative use cases—but the current base models don’t reflect the full capability the platform can offer. That’s an easy gap to close, and doing so would make Best Buy an even more trusted destination for power users like myself who require reliability and top-tier configuration support. Conclusion: The ASUS ROG Strix G18 G618 is an outstanding machine—once properly outfitted. With a little customization, it becomes a class-leader. I commend Best Buy for offering this model and encourage a continued focus on high-specification offerings. This approach would better meet the growing needs of students, creators, and professionals who depend on serious computing power from day one. Naeem Ahmed

Horrible experience. My wife used this laptop for just over a week when something happened internally. None of her games would load, just starting the unit up would take several minutes, system would bog down scrolling over icons on windows home screen. Per tech support, factory reset and updated everything, still wouldn't work. Sent laptop in, just found out they are returning it with "no problems found". So now I have a $3000 laptop I can't use or return to Best Buy. What a nightmare, please avoid this brand.

I wanted to love this laptop. It had great specs, good reviews and a beautiful design. But after only using it for 5 days, the screen shut off and my computer was no longer able to function. The Geek Squad wasn't able to fix it or even figure out what went wrong. I ended up having to return it. For the price point and supposed quality, I was disappointed that it broke down so quickly.

Just received this yesterday and the CPU fan isn't working, even tried uninstalling Armoury Crate and reinstalling it, then removing it all together and installing G-Helper, the same thing, 0-RPM for the CPU fan. I like the G18 otherwise. I'll return it and order another one and hope I hit the lottery with the next one!!!

I would like to start off by saying I've been a Mac user for easily 15 years now so transitioning to a PC has been a little rough in some areas. I sought after getting this computer specifically for gaming after a couple of my friends convinced me to finally cave and buy one. I only know what to look for in a computer for designing so I was a little out of my comfort zone when it comes to knowing what's good and needed for gaming, so I relied heavily on my friends advice and expertise for this and so far, I'm not disappointed. I think the first "shocking" factor for me is the price. I didn't realize how expensive a gaming computer could be, but after some research and discussions with my friends the price for what you get with this computer is reasonable. I think there's a ton of bells and whistles and this computer will last me a long time and is perfect for playing games on Steam with my friends. The sheer size of the computer is taking some getting used to. I'm used to a mac which is pretty slim and lightweight whereas this is pretty bulky and not as easy to cart around. But I do love the display and brightness of it. The keyboard is large and easy to use. I love the rainbow lighting all around. This computer is very fast. It starts up without a hitch and loads everything at lightening speed. So far gaming, streaming and talking has all been seamless. My biggest complaint is the batter life. I don't know if this is normal for gaming computers, but the battery doesn't last long at all. I think I get about an hour or maybe an hour and a half before it almost dies so I just try to keep it plugged in. I've also experienced some other glitches that I hope clear up on their own. The keyboard lights seems to glitch at night. Some times they don't turn on and some times they come on for a few seconds and go out again. And one time the computer completely restarted randomly while I was in the middle of something. All in all, I'm very happy with this computer and excited to explore the world of gaming and PC's!

Although it has power, mine arrived with no hardware for a microphone. We returned it.

It doesn't take long to be impressed by this stunner of a machine. From the first step of unboxing all the way through maxing out settings on your favorite games, it is clear that this laptop is made with the finest craftsmanship and attention to detail. Even some of the traditional "downfalls" of gaming laptops were surprisingly subdued and overall I could not be happier. Pros: Performance - The specs here seem to speak for themselves but this laptop still regularly surprises. High FPS on maximum graphical settings made every game feel like butter. I did not do and tasks like video editing and rendering but from experience with comparable systems I can't imagine being disappointed. The screen is also visually stunning. 240hz refresh rate is incredible and the panel itself has great color accuracy and viewing angles. Aesthetics/ design - I mentioned it in the intro but this is just a great looking machine. the materials feel quality and the design of the elevation help with cooling but also put it at a very pleasing angle. Even the keyboard is as beautiful as it is satisfying to use. "Cons" - The only thing I can really knock here is battery life. It's not great while running at full capacity HOWEVER it was not unexpected at all. I also have not used other gaming laptops so it's hard to compare. overall this is a fantastic machine that meets or exceeds all expectations and I can't recommend it enough.

Do not get this computer it constantly overheats the new Intel I9 is running 212 degrees while trying to run games to the point the computer freezes

Sent the wrong computer, it was disaster. My son is out of state and this was a very hard return.

Items added to the purchase as an extras/gifts if its going to require payment information to redeem.

Too much cpu, not enough cooling, making games very jittery as CPU is continuously throttled lower and lower.

Hello friends and welcome to my review of the Asus Rog Strix. I will not be giving you specs like linus tech tips, if you want those wait for his review. My review will be my thoughts on this fantastic machine. First off the packaging is spot on. The presentation upon opening the box is amazing, i saw the top and thought how beautiful it was and then saw the bottom. Wow , these guys at Asus really hit the mark with the design. Both from the top and the bottom it looks nice. The only small thing I don't like is the upside down letters on the keyboard. These are ghost printed on the face so not super noticeable but there. One of the things that stood out early on was the sound. This Asus strix is loud and clean for a laptop! Normally a laptop will only have a small speaker the size of a pea inside of it. Sometimes they even give you two of them. However Asus decided that the only way to enjoy your games is with a nice big speaker. And yes it does a great job of making everything sound good. I can hear sound effects and music etc.. thru the bottom the sides and the top of the Asus. These folks really like gaming and it shows. For gaming the Asus strix is right on par with what you would expect at this level. The grafix are smooth and vivid. The processor is quick and has little to zero lag. In my opinion The Strix is equal to a tower easily. With the ability to add a extra monitor and other accessories The Asus is almost as versatile as a tower as well. The treat is that you get to take your favorite game with you. Did i mention the light effects? This guy has some really cool effects right out of the box, no normal stuff. This is gaming keyboard level on a laptop. Top notch and vivid, I'm sure it's customizable but i haven't got that far with it yet. Finally I would like to speak on the speed of this device. The Asus Strix is fast,,, real fast. From power on to let's say surfing the web, is probably about 15 seconds. Holy cow this thing is so good, I really appreciate a super fast load time. Mainly cause i hate to wait. Also a note for everyone, the bloatware on this device is minimal! Yay ASUS we applaud you and your company for limiting the bloatware! Hope this helps friends!

What an amazing piece of electronics!! Arrived safely, well packaged. Set up was simple. This laptop is the fastest I've ever seen. Although I'm an older gamer nowadays, I'm also using this to run Photoshop and Lightroom for editing photos and it's just spectacular. Faster processing than my home PC and having it mobile like this is just awesome. I'm actually flying across the country today and will be in Hawaii with it tomorrow. This will come in handy for the trip and to get my, hopefully, amazing photos processed during my vacation instead of afterwards. I've loaded MS Flight Simulator on it so far and it's breathtakenly fast with the graphics pretty much maxed out. So excited to be able to play the latest games again in all their glory. The lighted RGB keyboard is really cool along with all the other lights underneath it. Looks amazing in the dark. The keyboard being full size along with a number pad in a laptop is fantastic. I would highly recommend this to anyone that needs some serious horsepower in a lightweight, beautifully designed laptop.

The fastest computer in the world (according to Passmark’s performance testing benchmark) scores 25,728. The world average score is 5,057. This machine scored 12,954 putting it in the 98 percentile. It’s a fast machine! You expect performance out of a gaming laptop. What you probably don’t expect is 18” of visual glory. The 18” screen is the defining feature of this laptop. So much is it the defining feature that you might overlook a number of other design decisions that impact the daily experience of using the laptop. The size of the screen does not disappoint. The 18” Quad-HD panel resolution looks fantastic at 2560X1440 and with a 240Hz refresh rate game performance is excellent. The panel does not support HDR, it is not OLED, it is not a touchscreen, and it is not 4K, all things that I wish it was. But the lack of these features is what allows the Nvidia RTX 4080 to provide all its GPU to support the laptops primary purpose in life: gaming. While not gaming the device swaps over to the onboard Intel GPU to both save battery life and to save your eardrums from the overly loud fans that seem to never stop blowing when gaming on any of the modern games. The fans are a nuisance during gaming. I found I had to keep the internal speakers cranked to 95% in order to drown out the fans. In their defense the fans are doing a great job at keeping the chassis cooled. I expect most users of a device like this will be wearing gaming headphones and not relying on the internal speakers so the fan noise will be minimized. The bottom of the laptop is etched with multiple grills and layers of molded plastic that create ventilation space. What I like about the layers is that they provide a solid finger grip when moving the device. Weight distribution is fantastic and balanced evenly across the chassis. Yes it’s a thick and large laptop but it is not excessively heavy. The laptop speakers are inside the raised hinge connecting the display to the keyboard and point directly at the user. This helps create a rich audio experience, when not overwhelmed by the fans. The built-in webcam does not support Windows Hello. In fact there are no biometric login features available on this device. The left side includes two USB-C ports, an HDMI port, a 2.5GB Ethernet port, a headphone jack, and the power plug. I love not requiring a dongle for ethernet connectivity and the upgrade to 2.5GB ethernet is a welcome upgrade. The right hand side is mostly empty space with dual USB-A ports. This laptop really needs at least two more USB-C ports. There’s no SD card adapter included. It feels like Asus designed this thing for single-purpose computing - play a game on a giant screen. Anything outside of that one use case leads to compromises that just don’t make sense to me at this price point. My biggest disappointment with the machine is the 106-key keyboard and its layout. It’s RGB backlit which looks great, and the keys are responsive to the touch, but why are they crammed so close together? There is two inches of horizontal space that could be used to spread out the keys and with an extra 6 inches of vertical space that is left completely unused the cramped layout just boggles the mind. The trackpad is excessively large; why does anyone need a 6 inch vertical trackpad? I think the whole keyboard layout needs to be revisited in future versions of this machine. As to portability, the machine is a beast to travel with and does not fit in many of the laptop bags I travel with. I recently upgraded my travel backpack and the laptop barely manages to squeeze into it. The power brick is literally a brick both in size and weight and the laptop case is thick and bulky (a necessary evil to offset the heat from the GPU). There’s no all-day battery life with a gaming laptop so lugging the power brick around isn’t really a choice, it’s a necessity. I wish the industry would try to make these things longer and thinner instead of thicker. While there are more visually stunning display options available on the market today, this laptop packs a powerful punch and offers a great gaming experience for anyone that wants to take their gaming adventures with them; just be sure to pack a pair of gaming headphones to drown out the fans.