Asus is giving its highly specialized gaming notebooks Strix Scar and Strix Hero a serious boost.
No new gaming monsters like the ROG GX800 or Chimeira this year for Asus. The brand has clearly pointed the spotlight on its ROG Phone, its first smartphone for gamers. However, other products were announced during the conference dedicated to the gaming world of the brand, among them the 2.0 versions of Strix Scar and Hero.
Baptized very simply Scar II and Hero II, these two laptops 15.6 inches are more affordable than other ROG laptops and do not address the same gamers.
Are you MOBA or FPS?
Understand that the first, the Scar II, is for fans of FPS, first-person shooter games, such as Overwatch or Counter-Strike: Source. The second, the Hero II wants to be the machine of the relentless MOBA Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) that are League of Legends, DoTA 2 or Heroes of the Storm.
By far, the Scar and the Hero are identical. The only way to differentiate them is to look at the backlit keyboard with slightly curved keys. If the letters Z, Q, S, D are those that stand out the most, you are in the presence of a Scar II because it is this quartet that players use to move.
On the other hand, if it's the AZER keys (keys used to cast spells or activate objects) that jump to your eyes first, you face the Hero II.
Clearly, these two laptops target before all players and fans of eSport titles. But, rest assured, they are quite capable of running other games.
Finer look, a thin screen
Scar II or Hero II, it does not matter, both have their casing gain quality finishes and get inspired (rightly) from their cousins, the Zephyrus, as evidenced by - for example - the shape and metallic finish of the back of the screen. Plastics are also better. Regardless of the model, the weight announced by Asus is 2.4 kg.
As mentioned above, the RGB backlit keyboard (16.8 million possible colors) improves, is more pleasant to browse and is equipped with Asus technology (HyperStrike Pro) supposed to ensure responsiveness increased and a better gaming experience.
Experience that also passes through the quality of the image on the screen. Still showing Full HD, he sees his edges tapered by 2.3 cm compared to the previous generation. Better, the slab is now refreshed at 144 Hz, as the current trend. Be careful, some versions of the Hero II (and only this one) can be sold with more standard slabs, that is to say, with a refresh rate of 60 Hz.
A homogeneous choice of components
Let's move on to the technical platform embedded in both machines.
Processor: Intel Core eighth generation (Core i7-8750H max.)
Memory: up to 32GB DDR4 (2666MHz)
Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or GTX 1070 for the Scar II and only GTX 1060 for the Hero II.
Storage: up to 512 GB of SSD (PCIe NVMe) and / or hard drive hybrid (Seagate FireCuda) or conventional 1 TB
Connectors: USB 3.0 (2), USB Type-C (1), video outputs (HDMI and miniDisplayPort), analog audio jack, SD card reader, 10/1000 Ethernet network jack, Wi-Fi n / ac and Bluetooth 4.0.
All components are cooled by a more efficient and quiet ventilation system than the previous generation and ... competing models.
