This extravagant gaming laptop computer might wreck different screens for you

My eyes have seen the PC gaming promised land, and it’s a fantastically shiny world and not using a shred of blurriness. It’s heat, it seems to be pretty, and it’s impeccably sharp. Additionally, it’s costly as hell.

I’ve dipped my toe on this world by testing a pre-production model of the upcoming Asus ROG Strix Scar 18which was not too long ago introduced forward of Computex 2026. It’s a big 18-inch gaming laptop computer that comes with a top-of-the-line 24-core Intel Core Extremely 9 290HX CPU and will be absolutely kitted out with an RTX 5090 Laptop computer GPU and 128GB of RAM. Asus despatched me a mannequin to check that’s maxed out on all specs besides storage (it’s acquired “simply” 4TB). And naturally, the corporate isn’t saying any pricing but — not even for a base RTX 5080 mannequin. Everyone knows, because of RAMageddonit’s going to be gut-punchingly costly.

However what makes the Strix Scar 18 particularly distinctive is its display screen: a 4K, 240Hz show with an anti-glare matte end and a particular characteristic known as Excessive Low Movement Blur (ELMB). The Mini LED panel has over 2,000 dimming zones and as much as 1,600 nits of peak brightness in HDR mode. It’s whenever you flip HDR mode off that the magic really occurs. This lets you use ELMB and have all these dimming zones routinely cut up up the show into smaller horizontal bands of pixels, refreshing them row by row in a short time — sort of like a conventional CRT.

The result’s an amazingly crisp image that reveals nearly no movement blur throughout quick motion in video games. And it achieves this with out black body insertion — a extra frequent technique to scale back movement blur that causes a flicker impact and might negatively have an effect on display screen brightness.

And as you’d anticipate, this factor is an absolute beast in the case of taking part in essentially the most graphically demanding video games. I loaded up Cyberpunk 2077 in 4K on Extremely settings with ray tracing turned on and DLSS set to Balanced, and it maintained a decent (although lovely) 45fps. That boosted to about 70fps with DLSS turned to Extremely Efficiency, however you possibly can simply throttle down another settings or interact body era for a lot increased body charges. A much less graphically demanding aggressive shooter like Counter-Strike 2 might run at excessive settings and keep 180 to 200fps.

It’s the “frames win video games” sort of titles like Counter-Strike and even MOBAs like League of Legends that the ELMB show enhances essentially the most. If you wish to have the quickest twitch-level response to what you see onscreen, you need the clearest image attainable — and which means a fast-moving picture freed from movement blur. However even in the event you’re not an esports participant with god-tier reflexes, it’s fairly satisfying to play fast-action video games with this degree of sharpness and readability. And whenever you don’t want it, you may change off ELMB and activate HDR to get eye-searing ranges of brightness throughout extra cinematic video games.

ELMB’s smoothness could be very troublesome to seize in pictures or on video (although I attempted my finest within the pictures beneath). However right here’s a easy, repeatable technique you may observe together with. On the very least, you may see how your monitor or laptop computer show handles the identical torture checks and examine it to what I describe whereas doing the identical on the Strix Scar 18’s ELMB show.

(Disclaimer: These torture checks characteristic colourful fast-moving graphics. In the event you’re liable to movement illness this might make you a little bit queasy. Consumer discretion, yada yada. Be cool. Don’t sue us.)

Are you able to observe the motion throughout the display screen and clearly learn the character names on this scene from Dota 2? On a standard display screen, the movement is a blurry mess. However on the Scar’s ELMB panel, it’s all crystal clear. If I monitor the motion throughout the display screen (earlier than giving myself a headache with these fast-scrolling speeds) I can learn names like Lion, Vengeful Spirit, and Dragon Knight with ease. I also can make out what degree every hero is and precisely what number of bars of well being they’re down. If I flip off ELMB to make use of different options like HDR, issues are nonetheless considerably legible however noticeably blurrier, even with the display screen’s 240Hz refresh price. I can not make out hero names, well being bars, and ranges as simply. I’ve to actually focus my eyes and depend on my notion to suppose, “Oh yeah, that appears prefer it says Sven.” And by the point I do, it’s off the display screen. The motion’s gone, and if this have been a aggressive on-line recreation that in all probability means my response time can be barely slower too.

Right here’s yet another to attempt, the traditional UFO test:

On the ELMB show, I can simply make out the alien’s three eyes. I may even see that every pink panel of the UFO has three distinct vertical strains. It’s all clear as day. Once I take a look at the identical take a look at on the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 laptop computer I just recently reviewedwhich has a wonderful 2880 x 1800 / 120Hz OLED show, the alien’s eyes and white panel strains of the spaceship are all blurred. My eyes can’t separate them from one another, even on the G14’s pretty quick 120Hz. Does that imply the Zephyrus is horrible at fast-action gaming? No, however the ROG Strix Scar 18’s ELMB show is healthier at these things. The G14 is a jack-of-all-trades show, whereas the Strix Scar is purpose-built.

The ELMB Strix Scar 18 can outclass different OLEDs within the movement blur division, too — even speedier ones. I used to be stunned to seek out I couldn’t make out the alien’s three eyes on a 27-inch Asus ROG Swift PG27UCDMwhich is an excellent 4K / 240Hz gaming monitor. An HP Omen Max 16 with a 2560 x 1600 / 240Hz 16-inch OLED got here nearer to the ELMB. The Dota 2 take a look at regarded fairly crisp on it, with textual content nearly as legible as on the Strix Scar 18. However for the UFO take a look at, the alien’s three eyes and the white strains on its spacecraft remained a bit blurry, though they didn’t absolutely soften collectively.

Most individuals are not going to note these things whereas taking part in video games, not until they’d a straightforward side-by-side comparability. In case your recreation nights encompass socializing along with your buddies over friend slopnone of this issues. Even in the event you’re a fairly sweaty Marathon participant, a pleasant OLED on a extra down-to-earth laptop computer will deal with you simply superb. Asus is bending over backward to squeeze each drop of efficiency out of a Mini LED panel for the kind of individuals who have a really particular eye for the tiniest particulars.

The rationale it’s a must to accept Mini LED on an 18-inch gaming laptop computer within the first place is definitely fairly easy: No show provider makes an 18-inch OLED. Asus, Razer, Alienware, and so on. all use some type of LCD of their 18-inch gaming laptops as a result of corporations like LG Show and Samsung Show don’t supply an OLED in that measurement. As a substitute, you get various levels of additional nice-to-have options, just like the dual-mode display screen of the Razer Blade 18 that goes from 4K / 240Hz to 1200p / 440Hz, the native 300Hz of the Alienware 18 Area-51and now the ROG Strix Scar 18’s ELMB. There could possibly be extra blur-free laptop computer LCDs on the horizon if Nvidia’s related G-Sync Pulsar tech ultimately makes its method over to smaller panels, however for now it’s solely obtainable on just a few 27-inch 2.5K / 360Hz desktop screens.

The Strix Scar 18, however, will arrive someday quickly and it’s full 4K. However like all over-the-top gaming laptops, it’s solely going to be for essentially the most hardcore sect of essentially the most deep-pocketed players. I shudder to suppose what it can price after the ROG Zephyrus G14 and ROG Zephyrus Duo already debuted at their respective financial savings account-draining costs. RAMageddon is hitting everything hardand Asus is simply posting by way of it. Final yr’s ROG Strix Scar 18 with an RTX 5090, Intel Core Extremely 9 275HX, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB SSD nonetheless costs $4,500 — and that’s with an ELMB-less 2.5K Mini LED.

I wouldn’t be stunned if this new absolutely kitted-out 18-inch ELMB mannequin I’m testing will price $6,000 to $7,000. However that’s the sort of price you’ll must anticipate now if you wish to be on the innovative. Particularly if that innovative is most seen in tiny particulars, like a little bit alien flying by in a UFO.

Images by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge