ASUS renews the ROG Strix SCAR 18 with 4K mini-LED display at 240 Hz, up to 128 GB of RAM and more total power

ASUS ROG has presented the new ROG Strix SCAR 18 from 2026an update of its large-format gaming laptop that once again points to the highest range on the market. The company maintains the desktop replacement formula, but takes it one step further with a jump in screen, memory, storage and thermal margin, in addition to adopting the new Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and graphics that go up to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop.

It is evident that the proposal repeats the philosophy of the previous model that we were able to analyze in our laboratory. ASUS now talks about up to 320 W total sustained system powera figure higher than the 255 W of the SCAR 18 of 2025, a team that already stood out precisely for offering a 175 W RTX 5090 without power cuts. In this generation, the brand tries to squeeze even more out of the platform with revised cooling and a clearly more ambitious panel.

Specifications of the new ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18

More power, better screen and a clear jump compared to last year’s model

On paper, one of the biggest novelties is on the screen. The previous SCAR 18 mounted a 2,560 x 1,600 pixel mini-LED panel at 240 Hzwhile the new one goes up to 4K of 3,840 x 2,400 pixels while maintaining those 240 Hz. ASUS also presents it as the first 18-inch laptop with 4K mini-LED at 240 Hz and ROG Nebula ELMB technology, along with more than 2,000 dimming zones and up to 1,600 peak nits in HDR.

The generational change is also noticeable on the platform. Compared to the Core Ultra 9 275HX of the 2025 model, the new equipment goes to the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plusmaintaining the RTX 5090 Laptop as the top of the range, but with a system prepared to work with a larger energy budget. ASUS claims that it has enlarged the vapor chamber by 20%, that the total surface area of ​​the heatsink reaches 246,898 mm² and that the CPU and GPU fans move 91% more air than in the previous design.

Where there is also a clear improvement is in the maximum configuration. The SCAR 18 analyzed last year arrived with 64 GB of DDR5-5600 and 4 TB PCIe 4.0 in RAID 0while this new revision goes up to 128 GB of DDR5-6400 and 8 TB on PCIe 5.0. That is to say, ASUS is not limited to changing the processor and screen, but is expanding the equipment’s margin in two important sections for creation, development and uploads of local AI, in addition to games.

In connectivity, the brand maintains its own provision of a large and uncompromising laptop, with dual Thunderbolt 5, WiFi 7, HDMI 2.1 and 2.5G network. Added to this is tool-free access to RAM and SSD, an idea designed to facilitate expansions, and details already known to the family such as the perimeter RGB bar, the illuminated logo and the AniMe Vision system on the lid.

All this has an obvious counterpart. We are not looking at a specially contained laptop, but rather a machine 3.7 kilos with 450 W chargertherefore it continues to play in the league of transportable equipment more than in that of the usual portable ones. Even so, this sacrifice in size is precisely what allows ASUS to pursue a very specific objective, namely, getting as close as possible to the performance of a desktop in portable format.

From our point of view, the new ROG Strix SCAR 18 reinforces a recipe that already worked for ASUS in 2025, when that model was among the most powerful that has passed through our laboratory. This time, the company is pushing harder in the sections where there was still room for improvement, with more resolution, more memory, more storage and more energy ceiling. Its final price and actual performance compared to the previous generation remains to be seen, but the specification sheet makes it clear that the firm wants to continue occupying the highest part of the portable gaming market. It is a space that ASUS disputes with other brands like Razer.