Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Asus Strix G18 is a game-changing laptop that seamlessly blends raw power with exceptional design, delivering a premium experience that’s perfect for both gamers and professionals. With the combination of the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 GPU, this machine is nothing short of a powerhouse, ready to take on the most demanding tasks with ease. From a performance standpoint, the Core Ultra 9 275HX is a beast. Whether you're gaming, streaming, or working with resource-heavy applications like video editing software or 3D rendering programs, the CPU never falters. It powers through multi-core workloads effortlessly, offering an incredibly responsive and smooth experience for virtually anything you throw at it. The RTX 5080 GPU is where the magic truly happens, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in portable gaming. The graphics are mind-blowing, with ultra-realistic textures and fluid, lifelike visuals even in the most graphically intensive games. This GPU makes every game feel like a cinematic masterpiece, with buttery smooth frame rates and stunning detail. It’s built for gamers who demand next-gen performance. But what really sets this laptop apart is its stunning 18-inch display. The screen is absolutely breathtaking—offering crisp, vibrant colors and a deep contrast that makes every image pop. One of the standout features is its lack of backlight bleed, a common issue in many high-performance laptops. Asus has gone above and beyond to ensure that you can enjoy the display at all times, whether you're working on intricate projects or diving into your favorite games, without distractions like uneven lighting or ghosting. It’s one of the best panels you’ll find in any laptop, offering an immersive experience for both work and play. Thermal management is another key strength of the Strix G18. Thanks to the advanced cooling system, the laptop stays cool even during the most intense gaming sessions or heavy multitasking. The performance never dips, and the system runs quietly, so you can focus on your work or game without interruption. Design-wise, the Asus Strix G18 looks as sleek and powerful as it performs. The build quality feels robust and premium, while the customizable RGB keyboard adds a touch of personal flair to your setup. Despite its powerhouse internals, the laptop remains surprisingly portable for its size, making it ideal for on-the-go users who still need all that power. Battery life is also solid, given the powerhouse specs, providing enough longevity for most tasks before needing a recharge. In conclusion, the Asus Strix G18 with its RTX 5080 GPU, Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU, and exceptional screen is an absolute dream machine for anyone who demands top-tier performance and stunning visuals. Whether you're gaming, creating content, or working with demanding software, this laptop offers everything you could possibly need. It’s a true testament to Asus’ commitment to delivering the best of the best—no compromises, just pure performance and an extraordinary visual experience.

Overall a great laptop. Great display, RTX 5080 w/16 GB VRAM. 32GB of system RAM. Not wild about the Intel 275HX processor, but it is almost the same performance wise as any AMD offerings. Pros: Great 240Hz display. Looks as good as my 3440x1440 OLED display for my desktop PC. RTX 5080 graphics card will run anything I throw at it (except some older titles, which is a common issue for Nvidia RTX chipsets). Intel 275HX processor runs good. Open m.2 slot Bottom removes without tools. M.2 tool less as well. Added a 4TB gen 3 m.2 drive in second slot. Works perfectly. This PCIe 3x4 drive came out of older laptop. Cons: Intel 275HX tends to run a little hot. Needs a very cooling pad to keep the temps low. Keeping the temps low help keep from thermal throttling. Uses a lot of power for a laptop. Power brick is 380 watts. IMHO 2TB storage is a bit low for most users now. Especially since a lot of games want 100 GB or more of storage. Processor is supposed to be capable of DDR5 6400, but ships with 5600. Major con (this is the caveat I mentioned in title). Automatically updates BIOS when available. The problem with the update is that the system locks up at ROG boot screen upon rebooting. Eventually it will go on past the logo screen. However it takes some patience since it usually requires shutting power off and leaving the system off for an hour or so. I had this happen twice so far. Both times took it to the Geek Squad desk. First time the tech did something that got it working. The second time it just finally booted to windows on its own. I was literally watching the technician and the screen to see what was happening. She didn’t touch anything except the power on button. I’m not unhappy about the purchase, but I wish ASUS would fix their UEFI bios updates. I replaced a 4+ year old Gigabyte Aorus with this unit. The old unit is on left with this G18 on the right. There is a huge difference in size and display quality.

I started my journey with this laptop a little week ago. Here are my overall thoughts on this “desktop replacement” The unboxing is quite the experience. This “laptop” is a massive beast and you go through a mix of emotions. Heavy and thick and the charging brick reminds you of exactly that, a brick! You instantly realize this is a unit you won’t be taking to Starbucks for a long writing session but you know this unit is about to blow you socks off when it comes to performance. It’s plastic but feels incredibly solid. Screen easily opens up and you are greeted with its ginormous Keybed and trackpad with not much flair other than some Rog branding that is tasteful. Once you fire it up you are greeted with a lovely intro and the RGB light show roars to life. The underglow would make bin diesel proud. Setup is the standard windows experience and a few hours of updates and restarts are a must before you can dive in. Once you go through all the updates it’s finally time to see what this bad boy can do. I’m a tinkerer and I am a sucker for tuning and running benchmarks. That cinebench 23 score is a sight to see. My 275hx after tuning is scoring 37633 which is just insane for a “laptop”. Gpu benchmarks left my jaw dropped. I watched 3 1/2 year old precious desktop build get destroyed over and over. This guy is not only shaped like a tank, but it’s an absolute beast under the hood. Gaming is an absolute dream hands down. This laptop PERFORMS! I instantly knew it was time to upgrade my unit with a fresh 4tb nvme. Opening the back of the laptop was insanely easy. Just slide a simply lever and the backside frees right up greeting you with 2 nvme bays (one is occupied) and upgradable ram slots. The nvme I installed took a bit of time because the built in plastic clip that turns to hold the drive down (no screw needed) and I was honestly scared I was going to snap it because it took a lot of force to turn by hand. After working it back and forth it feels like it probably should. Snug and holds the drive perfectly. Call me crazy but a simple tiny screw holding the drive down would have been easier at least on my unit. Keyboard and trackpad are excellent. This is no MacBook in build quality, but everything functions as it should and the trackpad is usable enough that I wasn’t instantly searching for my external mouse while navigating windows. Now on to the mid part of this laptop. Its screen has some light bleed in gray scenes but thankfully it’s not viewable in all content. Its colors are vibrant and really solid for an IPS panel. Just know this screen is definitely not going to win any awards. It’s perfect for gaming and accurate enough for content creation, but watching movies is going to be a letdown compared to what most of us have in our living rooms. This is a far cry from an OLED or mini LED but it is “good enough” The speakers are also not going to win any awards. They state it’s a 4 speaker system but the tweeters under the screen (small slits in the laptop hinge) on the front of the laptop don’t do much. You mainly hear the downward firing speakers and they are pretty midrange focused. Some dialing in via the Dolby access app solved some of these issues as I found the 500k and 2-4k ranges were boosted far too much and it caused ear fatigue with pretty much any content. Don’t be expecting much bass below 150hz. Everything is loud enough to hear over the fans when they ramp up, but headphones would definitely be ideal. Battery life is pretty much a joke but I guess it’s usable in a pinch. 3-4 hours doing light work with the GPU disabled. Maybe an hour in a light game with restricted settings. Short summary- Yes you are paying for the internals and they perform at a high level! Just be aware that there is some drawbacks to a device like this. Yes, it’s portable in theory, however I don’t see my unit being taken anywhere other than to a buddy’s house for a rare gaming session. This isn’t really travel friendly and the battery life isn’t great and that charging brick needs to be tethered. The screen and speakers and plastic build all work fine and are usable, but you realize these 3 areas are where the cutbacks happened. All in all if you plan to buy this unit, know what you are getting. This isn’t really a laptop. It’s definitely in the desktop replacement class and if you go into this unit understanding that then you will be happy. It’s a beast of a gaming pc and the specs and performance are enough to make your desktop collect dust. Final thoughts- wait for a sale if you can. Yes you get a lot for the msrp, but there are enough drawbacks that I don’t feel it’s worth it at full price when the market is saturated with several respectable competitors.

Overall, from start to finish the set up and use has been incredible. I’ve been using this laptop for all my work programs and it handles everything without a hitch. Performance is smooth and reliable. Battery life is decent, but I wouldn’t recommend running heavy tasks unless you’re plugged in and using the main GPU. I tested it with RUST on a 600-player server, max settings, and it stayed at around 100 FPS. Since RUST is a CPU-heavy game, that’s pretty impressive, though your results may vary depending on the game or workload. The screen is sharp and clean, with no backlight bleed that I’ve noticed. The top metal surface feels really smooth and comfortable for typing. The touchpad is pretty sensitive, but I use an external mouse so it’s not an issue for me. This is a strong choice for anyone who needs a reliable work laptop that can also handle gaming. I’m confident it’ll stay solid for years to come.

I purchased this to replace my "Alienware - Area 51M R2 Laptop - FHD- 300Hz- Intel Core i7 - NVIDIA RTX 2070 SUPER, 32GB RAM" spec gaming laptop. Although it has a i7-10700K desktp CPU in it, it requires two power supplies and the main 360Watt is massive. So I was happy to see not only did this one have one single power supply, but it was smaller than the main power supply of my other laptop. I saw someone say they thought this power supply was massive but compared to the previous two Alienware laptops, this is a great size for the amount of power it provides. Setting this up for the first time out of box took about 45 minutes or so to get all the updates. There were mutiple bios updates from Asus as well. However those were painless as it was pretty much automatic. Other systems I'd have to put it on a USB to install it but the bios updates on this machine were as easy as a windows update. I did a lot of testing with Forza Motorsport, Forza Horizon 5, Ratchet and Clank, and many others. The LCD panel has amazing color accuracy. Sure, you don't get the dark blacks like an OLED or mini-LCD, but it is an excellent screen none-the-less. The ray-tracing worked well. As a casual gamer, I still haven't found the need for it but is definitly cool to see when you can crank it up and still have smooth performance. However, that is where the first issue came in. Although you can run high leel of ray tracing settings, I would get glitches in many games. I would say maybe once every 5 to 10 mintues my character in Ratchet and Clank for example would turn into a series of vertical lines briefly then return to normal. In Forza the exact same effect would happen on some trees in the distance. Not bad enough to return, but definitly not something you'd expect for the cost. I can have lower settings on the 2070 super notebook without those issues. The performance was great, the screen was great, and aside from a few glitches, I was happy. But then I tried to test VR games with a wired link using the thunderbolt ports with the Meta Quest 3. That's when I found any device I connect would only work in USB 2.0 compatiabilty mode. Therefore, it was too slow to play any PC VR games. I tried hooking up my thunderbolt USB-C NAS drive to it, and same thing happened; I could only get about 370mb/sec. When I went into the BIOS, there is a USB test feature. With the Quest 3 connected, it showed it supported USB 3.0 but was operating on USB 2.0. No matter what settings I adjusted in Windows for power, and any USB settings I could find, nothing I connected would operate higher than USB 2.0. When I went to support, they wanted me to send it in for an RMA. That shouldn't happen after less than 24 hours with the system. :) That is the primary reason I returned it. The other thing I didn't like, but not a resason to return it, was the RGB keyboard. There is not really a plain white solution. It has a blue hue to it which doesn't show up in the photo. The WASD area and space bar I think they tried to make unique from the other keys but to me just looks odd. My alienware laptop has a per key RGB and has a clean white if you so choose. I mostly had the RGB off except for the off-white keyboard to see in the dark but even that, if you reboot or do anything, it lights up like a christmas tree with the rainbow effect which would be nice to keep off if you have them off in the settings all the time. Overall for the price, I think it's good. It's about $600 more than the last Alienware laptop I got when it was new. You can order a custom build to this on Dell and is still a few hundred dollars more so I think if you're ok with the keyboard RGB limitations and don't have a defective unit, this laptop has a lot of potential. I think though this may be one of those things where eveyrthing is still new and may be better waiting until a 5080ti type model comes out.

I purchased my ASUS - ROG Strix G18 at Best Buy after reviewing a few laptops as candidates suited for speeding up Photoshop editing of photos and videos. The ASUS G18 offered unusual technical muscles for that role and the 18 inch screen promised to provide a terrific view on work. I'm not a gamer, so had hesitated to pay for flashy features I do not use, but the core strengths of this machine have proven it to be the top choice. I have been impressed, now that I'm putting it to full use, with how it goes beyond expectations. I feel it is cutting my Photoshop machine wait time in half.

I usually go with the Asus ROG series, because it can handle intense computing tasks. Yes it's great for graphically demanding games, though I use it for seamless video editing. Even though I upgrade the local drive and RAM, this machine can handle heavy processing tasks. Just like any other laptop used for heavy usage, I will advise in getting a proper cooling mat/tray.

The ASUS ROG Strix G18 is an absolute beast — stunning 18” 240Hz display, blazing-fast performance with the RTX 5080, and plenty of storage. Games run smoothly, and overall build quality is excellent. The only downside I noticed is when using Bluetooth: sometimes the screen freezes for 1–2 seconds and the mouse cursor becomes unresponsive. Aside from that, everything works great and I’m very satisfied! ✅

Very nice upgrade from my old laptop! Love it!

Excellent laptop for design and gamer work, fast and good storage space, practical to transport and use

Great specs, and very good performance. Build / Screen: While the build is not terrible by any means, it’s mostly plastic with exception of the lid/back of the display). I personally like the way it looks overall, especially that the back looks a bit more like the Asus ROG Zephyrus line of laptops. It has a really cool LED strip all around the bottom, which looks really nice in a dark room, and it can be customized so you can shut it all off. The hinges on the screen are for me the most critical in the build quality and thankfully this seems to be very sturdy. While I am not totally in love with the plastic parts on the laptop, at least it doesn’t pick up fingerprints on it as much as you would think. I don’t notice them much where I touch the body. This is an 18” screen, but keep in mind this is only an 8-bit panel. My unit didn’t have much backlight bleed. It had some, however it was very minimal, as is the case with virtually all LED IPS screens that are not OLED, and it does get pretty bright for me, but I wish the contrast were a lot more given the cost of this machine. Granted, those are also 16” screens and not 18”. I have this laptop generally set up with a large OLED screen for playing games, and it is great on that screen, and you can still push the resolution to 2.5k and not full 4K to save on performance. I do really wish it had at least a micro-LED screen or at least a 10-bit panel for better color display handling for times when I do want to play directly on the laptop display itself. What the display does do very well is provide a great sweet spot for a laptop screen of this size, 2560 x 1600, and a 240hz screen (which comes in very handy as this video card can do “Frame Generation” - more on that later. Keyboard and trackpad The keyboard is pretty good, it feels pretty nice to type on, very little flex on the front. However I personally do not care so much for the transparent “ghost” keys on the ‘QWER ASDF’ and space bar. It is very subjective I know, but I truly would have preferred the same key caps like the rest of the keyboard. You also get a full sized keyboard layout, with a num pad! This is great for me, as I use 3D software where this is critical for me and my workflow, with so many shortcuts for different software I use tied to a NUM pad specifically. The RGB lighting can all be controlled inside the Armory Crate software. Armory Crate will also let you customize the light bar that runs all along the bottom of the laptop too, including turning it all off. I really like the trackpad, I don’t think it is glass, but it is pretty big and responsive to left and right clicks. Upgrading - this is crazy how easy it is. A new introduction to the world of laptops is how easy it is to access the internals. Just shut the laptop off, close the screen lid and flip it over. You need ZERO tools! There is a latch, and you can then just take the bottom cover off, where you have access to the SSD slots, there are two, and one is already populated. The other will take a standard 2280 SSD. You also have access to the 2 RAM slots where you can pull the two sticks out and upgrade to more than the included 32GB of RAM size. While most other gaming laptops aren’t that hard to upgrade depending on the model, there is always a bit of a risk with disconnecting the battery from the motherboard, and things that can be a little tricky for some people to do. The latch system seems to actually block the battery power once it is removed so you can’t short anything out on the system (the reason you need to disconnect the battery when upgrading other laptops). Processor - plenty fast - even for content creation The processor is really great on this machine, it is an Intel Ultra 9 275HX, and chewed through a whole bunch of apps I threw at it. Luckily, what does seem to be a whole lot better with this G18 laptop is power efficiency compared to last generation intel chips. It seems to run faster while draining less power, which is good, as it means you can divert more of that power to the GPU. It is definitely faster than my previous laptop, however it is not leaps and bounds faster. GPU - RTX 5080 laptop GPU - this laptop can run this GPU up to 175 watts the max amount NVIDIA will let manufacturers go in a laptop. This is the meat and potatoes for most games, and yes, it runs most games I have tried great. Nvidia finally got most of their driver issues with all the new RTX 5080 series in the last week and half of me writing this, and I had no issues after that last driver update so far. The great thing with having a “larger” sized laptop, is that Asus is able to throw more wattage to both the GPU/CPU because there is more room for cooling in laptops of this size. Of course that comes at the cost of having something that isn’t quite as portable, but I think if you are buying an 18 inch laptop, you mostly are going to have it in one place most of the time. Now here is the thing with this laptop's GPU. While it is really good for a full powered laptop GPU @ 175watts, it isn’t leaps and bounds over my RTX 4080 laptop that also ran at full wattage in 2023. At least that is, not until you turn on some of the new features the RTX 5080 can do that the 4080 could not, and that is frame generation! Yes, it works! On Cyberpunk 2077 with their latest patch and the newest NVIDIA drivers, it definitely looks great, but cranking it up too far, and it introduces a bit too much latency for me. I was a bit on the fence about frame generation, but it really does help, as long as you don’t over-crank settings. You want to at least get your game running at 40-50fps so it has a decent frame rate to begin with so that the DLSS and Frame Generation can have a good source to work from. And the screen is G-Sync compatible, so if your frame rates in games vary up and down you will not get screen tearing, which is a great thing to have on the display. Speakers They sound pretty good for a laptop, but if you are gaming, you are going to want to use headphones, as the fans get loud under heavy load. In fact, I am glad those fans kick in that loud, it keeps your system running cool. That is the price you kind of have to pay for having a system with this much wattage and performance, it needs to be cooled off. Portability Look, this is a big and fairly heavy laptop. It is 18” and it is pretty heavy, especially if you have to carry the charger with you. However if you don’t need it to carry around everyday, and just need to move it around your home you will be good. I would even be ok with taking it here and there on occasion, just not daily. This is not the kind of laptop you want to have on your back everyday. Overall This is a great spec laptop if you need this large of a screen. My only issue with it is that for the asking price I wish it had a better quality display with at least a 10 bit display panel. Luckily it is 240hz and G-Sync compatible. I am only not giving it a full five star rating because of the display. Otherwise, this is a nearly perfect machine, especially if you are coming from any gaming laptop older than 2 years ago, the RTX 30XX based NVIDIA series GPUs, this will be a MAJOR upgrade.

So far I really like the speed and the video capabilities. I am using it music and video editing. I do wish the keyboard had better lighting.

Honestly this is an amazing laptop with amazing specs. Runs everything you throw at it with max settings!! Keyboard felt good, display was good all well rounded. Unfortunately mine came with a design flaw where the wrist rest area was sharp and cutting into my arm. I wish I could’ve kept it but having QC issues like that is unacceptable at this price point.

First thing I want to point out, overheating does not happen. When I was using it for video editing and gaming, it only went up to 50-65c. The cooling fans actually help a lot. Second, glitching, coil whine, BIOS update failure, etc. None of that exist in the product. It is actually pretty useful, just using it make me forget the time of days. However the only thing I hope is that if it has an RGB logos at the back monitor, that would be the best design. Doesn’t have to be like Scars.

ASUS and their Republic of Gamers (ROG) line of gaming PCs continues a great run in 2025. This year I acquired the new Strix G18 gaming laptop. Physically this is like a boat anchor, there is no effort to make this lightweight or portable. Sure, if you are going to a meetup or a friend’s house then you can throw this in a well-protected backpack and take it with you. Don’t forget the power supply, yea this thing has a battery – but you don’t want to rely on it. Ergonomically the Strix G18 is substantial, weighing in at over 7lbs, all in a plastic case. Although the case is well designed it almost screams for a more premium chassis to match the class of components in this system. A supple keyboard with keypad, lighting the gaming keys and spacebar with a large trackpad. There are dedicated keys for volume up, volume down, mute, power and a button to invoke the Armoury Crate software. Armoury Crate is ASUS’ software which provides you with deep insight and tuning abilities primarily with a CPU and GPU focus. Several preset modes are provided to keep all the performance related black magic behind the scenes. Performance profiles include Windows, Silent, Performance, Turbo (AC Powered only) and a Manual preset. Be aware of some the enhanced performance modes overclock the CPU/GPU and can really raise the temperature testing the limits of cooling on this system, the fans will definitely scroll up with high GPU and CPU utilization. In any case the 18 inch 2.5k IPS ‘Non’ touch IPS screen with a 16:10 aspect radio. The display is bright with some bleed through in dark scenes, but this screen will light up the room if necessary. The NVIDIA RTX 5080 GPU w/16GB of GDDR7 memory is the star of the show here, this model is paired with an Intel Core Ultra 9 Series 2 CPU, this is a pair made in heaven as this notebook performs. The CPU cruises normally at about 2.7GHz it will amp up to 5.1GHz, blazing those 8 performance centered cores with 16 efficient cores. Of course, this calls for some advanced temperature cooling and ASUS uses Tri fan technology matched with something branded as “Conductonaut Extreme” (which sounds like a metal band). I will avoid diving too deeply into gaming performance, I only play a few games, but those I do play including ACE Combat 7 and the more demanding Starfield, looked silky smooth with no dropped frames or glitches. I maxed out at about 80fps on Starfield @ 4k. In general this system performed flawlessly with high frame rate games. Although the Nvidia 5080 GPU really shines performance wise, I had some issues with the latest Nvidia Studio drivers and had to revert back to a version which was on the ASUS support site. This is the second instance of installing drivers from the Nvidia app caused stability issues (in this case external monitors not waking from sleep mode or Windows Hello responding). So as always is the case with video drivers, they evolve and improve, so looking forward to a newer stable version of those drivers so I can move to a normal update channel from Nvidia. Ports and Expandability: on the sides of this notebook are two Thunderbolt 5 ports with support for DisplayPort, power delivery and G-SYNC. An HDMI 2.1 port, Three 3.2 Gen 2 USB-A ports, a 2.5gbps ethernet port on this system and a headphone jack. Wi-Fi 7 compatibility when paired with a Wi-Fi 7 router, especially one with a 6GHz radio reach almost gigabit speeds. There is no SD or Mini SD card reader. Overall, system performance is Steller and this is the fastest Windows laptop I have ever used. Easily handling demanding and high frame rate games to sync up with the 240hz IPS panel. Performs well for gaming or content creation, the appearance is unique, components are high spec and perform well. Another use case for this class performance notebook (or portable workstation) is being a key component in creating content – including moderately advanced video editing. Performance in Davinci Resolve Studio was vastly improved over my ASUS Zephyrus gaming notebook. This may be a high-performance laptop targeting gamers, however since video editing stresses some of the same computing components (CPU and GPU) as gaming, this also makes for a premium, high end video editing rig. Edit screens and functions within Davinci Resolve worked flawlessly, rendering blazingly fast. No need to reduce a 4k timeline to HD for editing, the Strix handles the workload with ease. No struggles with live previews, timeline refreshes, special effects, fusion components or other GPU intensive activities. Pros: - Large form factor - Performance oriented, blazing quick CPU and GPU - Ports: two Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI 2.1 port, Three 3.2 Gen 2 USB-A ports, a 2.5gbps ethernet port on this system and a headphone jack. - Bright 18 inch 16:10 2.5k IPS non touch screen – high refresh rate - IR Camera built in, provides you the ability to leverage facial recognition for biometric based logins with Windows Hello. - Easy remove back panel for access to Memory and SSD slots. Cons: - Given this is a gaming laptop, a larger capacity SSD and more RAM is needed right out of the box for even better performance.

As a gaming fan, I was super excited to get my hands on the ASUS ROG Strix G18, an 18" 2.5K 240Hz gaming laptop with Intel’s new (AeroLake) Core Ultra 9 HX, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 with 16GB of DDR7 RAM, and a large 2TB PCIe SSD. The Eclipse Gray color is sleek and modern looking, but subdued and, this almost goes without saying, is a powerhouse machine and a great desktop replacement that I was looking for. Traveling with this beast is possible but weighing in at over 8 lbs. with the power supply, well, there are better options for that need. Additionally, the ASUS ROG Strix G18 comes equipped with 32GB of DDR5 RAM, offering even faster performance and improved multitasking capabilities and easily handled whatever I threw at it. This model runs on Windows 11 home, which provides a smooth and modern user interface. However, I wish it came with Windows 11 Pro instead, as the professional version offers more features and customization options. One of the first things that caught my eye was the amazing 2.5K (2560x1600) display with a 240Hz refresh rate that is G-SYNC compatible. We gamers know how important smooth and vibrant visuals are, and this laptop totally delivers some impressive eye candy indeed. The colors pop, and my games run smoothly, even in the most intense moments. The 18" anti-glare screen size is very large, bright (500 nits advertised) and very vibrant as I mentioned before. The performance on the ROG Strix G18 is seriously impressive. The Intel Core Ultra 9 HX processor, paired with 32GB of DDR5 RAM, makes multitasking and running heavy applications a breeze. I can switch between gaming, streaming, and other tasks without any lag. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 graphics card is top-notch, and when I play COD Black Ops 6, it can sustain a Frame Rate of over 120 and the graphics card temperature hangs around 71 degrees C, that is with the Graphics settings set to Ultra in the game and a resolution of 3440x1440. When I step that up to the highest setting to Extreme, it dips just a bit to around 110. Very smooth performance with out any issues or hiccups, and the GPU temperature stays in the acceptable range in my opinion. I tested with the 3D Mark Time spy and it scored a 20526 high score. Storage is usually something I worry about, but the 2TB SSD has more than enough space for all my games, media, and files. The fast read and write speeds mean minimal loading times, so I can jump into my games quicker and stay productive with the tasks that I have to accomplish. The laptop's Eclipse Gray finish looks sleek and professional when you turn off the RGB options using the “stealth mode option”, this will turn off the RGB Aura light bar which surrounds the base of the laptop that gives it the appearance of floating on your desk, and also the keyboard RGBs. The main chassis is mostly plastic, and the lid is made of aluminum and allows for a little flex, but despite that it still feels solid overall. Asus has come up with a great toolless access system to the underside of the laptop that allows for easy upgrades to the RAM and SSD among other components. You simply slide the rubberized lever and pull towards you to lift it off. Easy as can be! The laptop also includes multiple ports, which is great for connecting all of my peripherals. It has two thunderbolt USB Type-C, 3 USB Type-A, HDMI 2.1, and a 2.5G Ethernet port, audio jack, and power input, giving me plenty of options for connecting my gaming accessories and other devices. The only drawback is that it doesn’t have a SD/MicroSD card slot built in, but that is not a deal breaker for me. The keyboard is comfortable to type on, great tactile feedback and solid travel for the buttons and has customizable RGB backlighting, and the Q/W/E/R/A/S/D/F and spacebar keys are see-through which adds a cool gaming vibe. The massive trackpad is also a pleasure to use as well with a nice solid clicking feel. One downside is the weight. At around 8.5 pounds, it’s not the most portable laptop, but the power and performance it provides are worth it. The battery life is decent but not amazing, which is expected with such powerful hardware. I usually have it plugged in while gaming anyway, so it's not a big deal. Another downside is the very average 2MP camera that is built in. Not the best quality, and it would have been nice to see a much higher resolution camera for this price. Overall, the ASUS ROG Strix G18 is an incredible gaming laptop that offers top-notch performance, stunning visuals, and plenty of storage. It handles everything I throw at it with ease and provides an immersive gaming experience. If you're looking for a high-end gaming laptop that can tackle the latest games, replace your desktop, and more the ROG Strix G18 is definitely worth checking out and if you register your device with ASUS, you will get a complimentary year of accidental damage as well which is just icing on the cake.

=== Summary === The 2025 Asus ROG Strix 18 has replaced my MSI Aegis gaming desktop with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and Radeon 6700XT 12GB, and it did not disappoint as a desktop-replacement do-it-all machine. It provides and does everything I want from a laptop of this class – a powerful CPU and GPU combo for gaming and video editing, fast NVME storage (2TB) with room to add another drive, 32GB of DDR5 memory, a vibrant and fast-refreshing 18” display, a big and responsive touchpad along with a spacious and responsive keyboard with a usable number pad on the side, fast and stable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections without weird connection drop-outs, plenty of USB-A and USB-C ports, and a good and relatively quiet cooling system. For this much coin, one should expect all-around excellence in performance and stability, and the 2025 ROG Strix 18 delivers it. It’s a Win. _________ *Pros: -Powerful components that provide an excellent gaming experience. -Bright, vibrant, and fast-refreshing (250Hz) G-Sync display with even lighting and crisp resolution. -Spacious and responsive touchpad. -Comfortable keyboard with good feedback. -Useful and usable number pad. -Quick-access bottom panel for easy access for upgrades and cleaning. -Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. -Decent audio speakers. -Plenty of ports. _________ *Neutral: -The 1080P webcam is grainy under low-light conditions. -Can’t open the lid with just one finger. _________ *Cons: -None === Design and Build Quality === The Asus ROG Strix 18 is my third high-end gaming laptop, and its design and build quality have met my expectations for a device at this price point. It’s a dark and handsome machine with great fit-and-finish and solid build materials. Some people may be disappointed that only the lid is made of metal with the rest being plastic, but I don’t mind it since Asus did not utilize the rough, cheap, and grainy kind of plastic but the kind that feels smooth, hard, and durable. The 18” display has relatively slim bezels with excellent brightness, color accuracy, and viewing angles, and with enough room on the top bezel for both a 1080P webcam and an IR module for Windows Hello facial recognition, which I appreciate. The display tech may be IPS but it’s a good one, and I don’t notice a big difference between the 250Hz IPS panel on the ROG Strix 18 and the mini-LED 240Hz panel on my 2024 Acer Predator Helio 18 gaming laptop. As I get older, I appreciate larger displays, and 18” is my favorite display size on a laptop. The keyboard layout is spacious, and the keys feel soft and gentle with good uptake and snappiness. The Microsoft Precision touchpad is also big and spacious, and it’s an absolute pleasure to use. I like that a numpad was included since I use it when doing my finances and calculations. Thanks to the variety of ports offered, I can avoid using any dongles and I love it. I appreciate having three USB-A ports (one on the left, two on the right), two USB-C ports, an ethernet port, an audio jack, and an HDMI port. Gaming laptops usually come with some bling, and the ROG Strix 18 is no different, with a rectangular LED strip on the bottom panel as well as an RGB keyboard with multiple lighting effects. It’s not too over-the-top nor garish – I think Asus provided just the right amount of bling and customization. I absolutely love the tool-free, snap on and snap off design of the bottom panel. It made it so simple and easy when I added another 2TB NVME drive. Even the NVME drive doesn’t require any tools or screws as a plastic lever is used to hold down the drive in its slot (see picture). It’s a brilliant design touch from Asus, and I hope all other manufacturers copy and implement these features. At 7.05 lbs (3.20 kg), the Strix 18 feels heavy, but this is par for the course when it comes to desktop-replacement level gaming laptops, so I won’t knock any points off for that. Just make sure you get a backpack with ample shoulder padding and padded compartments for when traveling with the Strix 18. All in all, the ROG Strix 18 is easy on the eyes, easy on your hands and joints, and it’s a well-designed laptop that is a pleasure to use. === Performance === With a 24-core, 24-thread Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 with 16GB of GDDR7 memory, 32GB of DDR5-5600, and a Micron 2TB NVME PCIe 4.0 hard drive, the ROG Strix 18 is a champion of a laptop that can handle pretty much everything in a fast and performant manner. For a machine such as the Strix 18, my primary usage scenario is playing games followed by video editing, and the Strix 18 was very well-equipped to make me a happy customer. I played a variety of games such as Clair Obscure Expedition 33 (turn-based RPG), Dragon Age the Veilguard (action RPG), Stalker 2 (shooter), Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (action RPG), Cyberpunk 2077 (shooter), The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion Remastered (RPG), and Split Fiction (arcade & puzzler), and the Strix 18 handled all of them very well, delivering high and stable frame rates. The latest DLSS and frame generation technology from Nvidia can boost the framerates higher without much detrimental visual artifacts, and I think it’s a game-changer that will only get better with time. The Strix 18 comes with Wi-Fi 7 (latest) and Bluetooth 5.4 (latest), and they provide fast and stable speeds for a smooth and lag-free gaming experience. I currently have a Bluetooth keyboard (Corsair K100 Air Wireless), a gamepad (Corsair SCUF Envision controller), and some noise-cancelling headphones (Bose QuietComfort Ultra) connected to the Strix 18, and with the laptop connected to my 55” TV in the living room, it’s a satisfying and fun gaming experience on par with a traditional gaming desktop system. When it comes to performance, I’m completely content and satisfied, and I expect to use the Strix 18 as my main gaming system for many years to come. === Windows, Apps, and Software Experience === At first boot-up, I was kind of annoyed by how long it took to get Windows 11 set up and ready to go. There were many updates to be downloaded and installed, and the laptop was automatically rebooted several times to finish the installations. I know this is good for me and the machine, but I was feeling a bit impatient because I was so excited by the ROG Strix 18 and wanted to unleash the beast as soon as possible. 😊 Thankfully, BIOS and firmware updates did not take as long. Once all the Windows updates finished and my setting preferences were restored after logging in to Microsoft account, it was smooth sailing afterwards. There is not much bloatware installed, and whatever you don’t want is very easy to uninstall and remove. I only uninstalled one preinstalled app, and it was a video editing software called CapCut from Bytedance due to privacy concerns. There are many preinstalled Asus apps but they are useful and don’t take up much space, so I kept them. The Asus Armoury Crate is a good example of an excellent preinstalled manufacturer app, and it offers several useful customization features, such as quickly togging between various fan modes (Windows, Silent, Performance, Turbo, and Manual), setting RGB lighting effects, creating custom performance profiles for apps (e.g., games vs productivity apps), and creation of macros. Windows 11, compared to Windows 10, still kind of sucks, but I was able to customize it and make it more functional and easier to use by installing the ExplorerPatcher app (by Valinet), which allows for Taskbar and Start Menu customization, among others. Windows 11 has come a long way, and it has been very stable, and I made my peace with it. === Everyday Usage and Livability === The ROG Strix 18 is an easy machine to live with and comfortable to interact with. The big, bright 18” screen is very comfortable on the eyes and excellent for gaming, watching movies, working on spreadsheets, and anything else, really – the bigger the screen, the better, I say. The touchpad is big and very responsive, and the Microsoft Precision touchpad software makes it easy to customize and create your own touch and tap gestures. The keyboard is spaciously laid out and the keys are responsive with good feedback, uptake rate, and organization. I REALLY love that the arrow keys are full-size, and I also appreciate the gaps between the Function keys, which makes quickly finding and tapping on the desired Function key, like the F5 key, much faster and easier to memorize via muscle memory. When I’m not gaming, I set the operating mode to Silent via the Armoury Crate app, and the Strix 18 becomes either completely silent or whisper quiet while still offering enough power for non-demanding workloads such as office productivity apps, web browsing, and streaming movies and music. For gaming, I press the M4 keyboard button to switch over to the Turbo mode for maximum performance and frames. Doing so does increase the fan noise quite a bit but if you wear headphones or turn up the volume on the soundbar, then it’s a non-issue. For a big and heavy 18” gaming laptop, the Strix 18 is surprisingly easy and comfortable to live with, and I have no trouble recommending it as a desktop-replacement machine. === Is it worth the coin? === I absolutely think so. For this price, you’re getting top-notch CPU, GPU, HDD, and memory components, as well as a high refresh rate display that is vibrant and color accurate. The touchpad and keyboard are spacious and comfortable, and with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, it’s pretty future-proof. Upgrades and maintenance are dead-simple thanks to the tool-free bottom panel that easily pops off. The ROG Strix 18 will remain performant and relevant for many years due to its powerful components, and it’s definitely worth the high cost of entry price. It’s a Win, and I give it 5 Stars.

Bought this so I could play BF6! Didnt realize the difference a 5080 would make

This ASUS ROG Strix laptop is a BEAST! It has the power to handle just about any game you throw at it while still being portable. The roomy gaming-inspired keyboard and beautiful 18” 2.5K 240Hz screen makes remote gameplay immersive and fluid. When it’s time to upgrade the already powerful components like the memory or storage, you just pop open the bottom cover, no tools needed. Highlights: * Impressive unboxing experience. * Sleek and attractive design. * 380W power adapter! * Relatively slim for a laptop with an 18” screen. * Bright and fluid 18” 2560x1600 screen. * Easy-access tool-less bottom cover for upgrades. * Easy to replace RAM, Storage or Battery. * Massive cooling that is quiet even at higher speeds. * Full keyboard with special hotkeys and numeric keypad. * Fun but classy RGB keyboard and underside lighting. * Tons of ports; RF-45 Ethernet, HDMI, USB-C, USB-A, Headphones * Built-in Webcam and Microphones. Room for Improvement: * Huge power adapter with a proprietary connector to the laptop. * Single power port on the left side of the notebook. Setup: This thing is impressive even before you even set it up or power it on. Open the box and the laptop is presented like a jewel. As the lid to the box is opened, the laptop rises on an elevated platform - presenting you with your prize. The inside of the lid has illustrations that highlight some of the cool features of this laptop and are almost framable. There’s not much in the box - just the laptop, the substantial power adapter and the removable power cord. A few small pieces of paper are there but don’t have much you need. Once you remove this laptop from the box, the rest is straightforward. Plug the huge power adapter into the wall and the port on the left side of the laptop and start going through Windows setup. Once done, you’re greeting with your new gaming beast. Note that the special power port is only on the left side of the notebook. Usage: I’ve been using this laptop for a little while now, and it’s honestly one of the better gaming laptops I’ve come across. Right out of the box, it feels solid and well-built—definitely not flimsy. It’s a bit on the heavier side, but that’s expected with the kind of hardware it’s packing. Performance-wise, it handles everything I’ve thrown at it. Whether it's newer AAA games, some video editing, or running multiple apps at once, it doesn't lag or stutter. The combination of a high-end Intel processor and an RTX graphics card really shows when you’re pushing it hard. Games run smoothly even on high settings, and the high-refresh-rate screen makes everything look super fluid—great if you're into fast-paced titles. The display itself is surprisingly good. Colors are sharp, brightness is decent even during the day, and it's just a pleasure to use for both gaming and general stuff like watching videos or editing photos. The roomy keyboard feels nice too—responsive with good travel—and there's customizable RGB lighting if you’re into that. I’ve also been using it to run local language models with Ollama, and it performs better than I expected. Models like LLaMA 3 or Mistral load up fast and respond quickly, especially with GPU acceleration enabled. The 32GB of RAM helps a lot, and the RTX 5080 GPU cuts inference times significantly. If you're into local AI workflows, this laptop can absolutely handle it without needing cloud compute. It’s great for experimentation, coding assistance, or even running small private chatbots. It does get a little loud when it's working hard, especially when gaming or rendering, but the cooling system keeps the temperatures in check. You’ll hear the fans, but they’re doing their job. I wouldn’t say it runs hot, just audible under load. Battery life is about what you'd expect for a gaming laptop. It’ll get you through a few hours of light use—web browsing, writing, maybe some Netflix—but once you start gaming or doing heavier tasks, you’ll want to keep it plugged in. The huge adapter has plenty of power to keep the laptop running under full load, but it does add a bit of heft to your travel bag. One thing I appreciate is that it comes with a good range of ports—USB-C, HDMI, Ethernet, the usuals—so I never felt like I needed a dongle or hub. And the Wi-Fi is fast and stable, which makes a difference in online games and large file downloads. The RGB keyboard is a bit gimmicky. The see-through keycaps are not uniform so you get light and dark areas. The trackpad is large and a trackpad, either you love them or hate them. Overall:
 This laptop is intended to be an all-in-one gaming beast that you can either set up on a table with limited space or take with you anywhere inspiration hits. It has more than enough guts to speed through just about any task you throw at it. When the time comes to increase the memory or storage, the tool-less bottom cover pops off without feeling like you’re voiding a warranty or breaking anything. A huge, fluid screen, all the ports you need, power to spare, easy upgradability - all in a slim and portable chassis!

Asus has been doing so well lately with their hardware choices, and the ROG Strix G18 is no exception. It includes some of the absolute best performance components you could as for in a gaming laptop, and still manages to be reasonably compact, especially for an 18" laptop. - Hardware/Design The laptop itself, while maybe a bit thicker than other modern laptops, but doesn't feel cumbersome or too heavy. It feels like a higher-end device where many considerations were made to deliver the best end result. My favorite of which, being the toolless access to upgrade the laptop by simply hitting the release and opening the entire bottom of the laptop to swap out components. Very, very cool. While the 32GB of RAM is excellent, I may upgrade this, just because it is so easy to do. Slotting in an additional 32GB of RAM in the unused slot is an easy upgrade. The 2TB SSD is also excellent, but with the option to upgrade it down the road, it's something to consider too. I also really like the way the lighting can be subtle and reactive with what you're doing. Whether it's reacting to performance or audio, it's a very nice touch. The lighting may not be for everyone and can easily but disabled as well. One of the benefits of the larger form factor in this 18" laptop, you can the added benefit of a numeric keypad, which can be great, especially if you do any sort of 3d work, like in Blender. The trackpad is also nice and large. It's smooth to use as well. The backlit RGB keyboard is also cool. Offering the same reactive color the bottom lighting does. The ports on offer are also a nice touch. Especially having an ethernet port built in. This just makes every aspect of gaming able to reach the best performance possible. The screen and audio are also standouts. the screen is nice and bright, it's also capable of some very high refresh rates (240hz), which is excellent when paired with some of the higher frames this laptop is capable of. Speakers are also much better than you may expect. They're rated for Dolby Atmos, and they sound great during use. Lots of clear highs and a surprising amount of bass. - Performance If you're looking for a top performing laptop, this is near the best you can get. I believe there is a model with an RTX 5090 as well, but I think the value for performance is probably better with the RTX 5080. The Intel Core Ultra 9 seems up to the task as well. Since the CPU is equally as important when it comes to gaming and other intensive tasks. I have been pushing this laptop pretty hard, and its performance has far exceeded my expectations. As far as gaming goes, I think Cyberpunk 2077 is still one of the games that pushes hardware to its limits. I tested both on the laptop screen itself, and outputting at 4K. Utilizing some of the new DLSS tech these 50 series cards are capable of, like frame generation I was getting very impressive numbers. I was able to get over 100 FPS at 4K with ray tracing and nearly everything maxed out. Using the laptop screen at 2560x1600, I was able to get well over 180 FPS. Other games are easily performing well at maximum settings. Maxing out Forza Motorsport, with all raytracing, I was able to get 60FPS, and this is without utilizing DLSS at all. Enabling DLSS, I was able to push the framerate much higher. If I made a few extra tweaks, it would be fairly easy to get 120 FPS. The fans weren't too overpowering either, even when being pushed too hard. They are noticeable, of course, but not as loud as other gaming laptops that I have used. One final note, on the battery life. When not gaming, and not pushing that Nvidia card, the laptop can get some reasonable battery life. However, like any other gaming laptop, when being pushed hard, you're likely to need to keep the charger handy. I was getting a little under 2 hours during some gaming sessions. I do like the option to put the laptop in a battery health mode, that keeps its charge under 80% to help preserve the battery when it's being kept plugged in, which is what I often do. Using it for gaming while I'm home and plugged in, then take it with me on trips. If you're looking for a gaming laptop with no compromise, this is easy to recommend. Pros: Comfortable to use, nice build, excellent performance, great screen, clean sounding audio, lots of ports (including ethernet), excellent upgradeability with easy to open case. Cons: Battery life isn't always the greatest when gaming, even though it's a large (18") laptop, I still wouldn't mind if there was room to shave off some of the size.