Asus ROG Strix G18 G814JI laptop review: Light and shade with the 18-inch gaming machine

The Strix G18's competitors are primarily other 18-inch gaming laptops such as the Razer Blade 18, the review version of which was equipped with an RTX 4070. Apart from that, the performance difference compared to older graphics cards is particularly interesting. For this reason, the table includes the Gigabyte A7 X1 (RTX 3070 @140 watts), the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16ARH7H (RTX 3070 Ti @150 watts), the Alienware x17 R1 (RTX 3080 @165 watts) and the MSI Raider GE77 HX 12UHS (RTX 3080 Ti @175 watts), all of which - the same as the Strix G18 (175 watts) - are specified with a high TGP. 

The case's design borrows from the Strix Scar 18, whereby the "normal“ Strix G18 has to do without the partially transparent surface. The robust lid consists of metal and looks very unobtrusive, and, with the exception of the ROG logo and narrow stripes, many design elements can be found on the plastic base unit. From a visual point of view, even on the case's base, which normally never sees the light of day, the manufacturer has visually speaking, gone a bit wild. However, it would have been better if more resources were poured into the build quality. In some parts such as the arrow key area, the base unit flexes tangibly, at least when a lot of pressure is applied. On top of that, the case is quickly prone to rattling which negatively affects the device's premium feel - especially considering the price.

Otherwise, no criticism can be levelled at the chassis. The finish is unassuming and the hinges also do a good job, even though the maximum opening angle could be somewhat greater. In order to appeal to the gaming audience, Asus hasn't just limited itself to an RGB keyboard but has also treated the case front with a smart-looking LED light bar (see photo gallery).

Of course, as an 18-inch laptop, the Strix G18 comes across as rather bulky, but the display's frame is pleasingly slim thanks to the slim bezel design and 16:10 format. Nevertheless, in comparison to the Razer Blade 18, the Asus machine is deeper and, in addition, roughly 1 cm thicker. However, when it comes to weight, the competition isn't much better: 3 kg isn't easy to lug around.

Ports

If you disregard the absent card reader, the selection of ports is impressive. Starting with the left-hand side, you can find the power supply socket, an RJ45 port, an HDMI 2.1 out, a combined audio jack, and two USB-C ports (1x USB 3.2 Gen2, 1x USB 4) including Power Delivery and DisplayPort support. On the right side, we have two classic type-A ports which are designed according to the 3.2-Gen2 standard. As the ports are located in the middle area of the side surfaces, this can lead to restricted movement when connected to an external mouse.

The WiFi performance proves itself to be above average. Our standardized WiFi test was carried out one meter from our reference router and the G18 achieved around 1600 Mbit/s when both sending and receiving data. This represents a good result and beats the Razer Blade 18 – despite an identical WiFi module-Modul (Intel AX211) - by more than 100 Mbit.

Webcam quality is only good enough for a mid-table placing. Although image sharpness is a little better than some competitors, it doesn't really manage to impress (the same applies to color space).

In addition to a few information booklets, the device comes with a 650 gram, 280-watt power supply unit, measuring 18 x 8 x 2.5 cm in size.

As usual, a number of crosshead screws have to be removed and the base plate has to be levered out of position, in order to gain access to the device's internals. The latter is somewhat easier than many competitors as the removal of one of the corner screws lifts the case slightly, thereby creating a good opening angle. A glance under the hood reveals an extensive cooling system with multiple, complex heat pipes, two large fans and one small fan (Asus also uses liquid metal). In addition, there are two SO-DIMM slots for RAM (occupied) and two M.2 slots for SSDs (1x free). The palm rest area is flanked by a long battery. 

To a certain extent, the touchpad also suffers from sub-optimum case stability. Similar to the chassis, it is sometimes quite creaky which shouldn't be the case at this price point. Apart from that, the replacement mouse made a top-notch impression. With its smooth surface and generous size (13 x 8.5 cm), inputs such as scrolling through a long series of images are easy to handle, especially as precision is on point.  

One of the biggest highlights of the G18 is the good display. Although the panel doesn't quite manage the 500 nits advertized by Asus - something which is probably linked to the pre-calibration - an average of 420 cd/m² is still good for an IPs panel and allows for occasional outdoor use.

Depending on the specifications, the Strix G18 can be viewed as a middle-of-the-pack or lower high-end laptop with 32 GB of RAM probably being sufficient for the coming year. In the event of the SSD's storage capacity falling short of requirements, the device can be easily upgraded with a second M.2 drive.

The Core i7-13650HX comes from Intel's brand-new Raptor Lake series and has a base TDP of 55 watts. The 14 available cores are divided into 6 performance cores including hyper-threading and 8 efficiency cores without HT making a total of 20 threads possible. Depending on the type of core, the clock speed can vary greatly with performance variants it goes up to 4.9 GHz.

Although the i7-13650HX's performance is around 10 % less powerful than the Core i7-12900HX and roughly 20 % lower than the Core i9-13950HX in the benchmark test course, these support up to 24 threads. The often significantly older CPUs found in competing laptops - (Ryzen 7 6800H, Ryzen 9 5900HX & Core i7-11800H) - are usually left behind.

Asus ought to work on the system performance. Similar to the recently reviewed TUF Gaming A16, when opening programs, graphics switching results in annoying freezes which sometimes last for a few seconds. As SSD performance also can't quite keep up with the competition, the PCMark 10 benchmark could only secure last place. The Razer Blade 18 has its nose in front by almost 20 %.

The review configuration is driven by a 1 TB Micron SSD. Although the performance on offer (around 3800 MB/s read & 2300 MB/s write speed in the AS SSD benchmark) is on no account poor, competing SSDs mostly have the edge. Only the Gigabyte A7 X1 is just able to set itself apart from the G18 in this discipline.