The latest ASUS ROG Strix G16 promises big things with its upgraded GPU and redesigned form. The brand has focused on giving the internals a bit of a boost in power while at the same time offering a new design to the notebook, which, while being different from last year’s G16, is very similar to the Strix Scar 18. Naturally, this year’s G16 comes with an RTX 50-Series GPU in the form of the 120W RTX 5080. The notebook does pack some impressive power options that surpass the 120W, but more on that later.
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This is one sleek-looking piece of tech. It is ultra-portable and ultra-powerful. It does have an ultra-expensive price tag too, but if you’re watching this video, you kind of know what you’re in for here, and price isn’t the problem. You just want to know how it performs, and I will get into that shortly.
The model in this review is the ASUS ROG STRIX G16 G615. It packs the 120W RTX 5080 GPU, the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HK CPU, 2TB of SSD storage, and 64GB of RAM in the form of two 32GB sticks. I will show you under the hood shortly and just how far you can upgrade this unit.
The notebook includes a 16-inch 240Hz display with a 2560 x 1600 resolution. The panel here is IPS, which is kind of a bummer given how brilliant the Mini-LED display was on the Scar. Also, in 2025, I think if you’re spending this much money on a notebook, it should have a better panel.
The outside of the notebook has seen some major redesign changes. The lid is made from CNC aluminium, and there’s plastic on the sides and bottom. You’ll find an RGB strip that wraps around the bottom of the device. ASUS makes this G16 in two colours. One is called the Volt Green, and the other Eclipse Gray. The green model is still Gray but includes a green strip on the side for some reason. There’s also a light-up ROG logo on the lid of the green SKU, whereas the Eclipse Gray version doesn’t have any RGB on the lid.
Perhaps the two design choices were done to offer a more subtle model to those like me who hate RGB flashing about on the lid of my notebook. If that’s the case, then thanks ASUS for doing this. The green strip is kind of a strange thing to see, but I guess you can’t call it Volt Green without having any actual green on it in the first place.
I was also a bit confused about some of the differences between the different models of this ASUS ROG STRIX G16. For example, the G615LW I got to review includes translucent keys and no NumberPad feature on the trackpad. While some models I spotted on the ASUS website included no translucent keys and the NumberPad. So there are a number of different variations of the notebook on the market.
Both models do include a full wrap-around RGB strip at the base of the notebook that can be customised in the Armoury Crate. It can also be turned off. The trackpad is huge here with a 36% increase over last year’s model. It is massive. So big that I often found myself rubbing my wrist on it while I was typing.
The keyboard is chiclet and quite fantastic to use. I do like the translucent keys which are found on the spacebar, QWERTY and ASDF keys. There’s ample room to type here and it all felt great. You’ll also get some of the function keys at the top.
When it comes to the ports, on the left you’ll find the reversible power connector, LAN, HDMI port, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, two USB Type-C ports and the audio jack combo port. Only one of the USB C ports here is Thunderbolt 4 with DisplayPort and power delivery. On the right-hand side, you’ll find another two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports.
ASUS has also included some other features on the notebook including a 1080P HD Camera and a speaker system with Smart Amp Technology. This dual speaker system is quite good. It provides clear sound that gets pretty loud. It also delivers quite a kick to deep sound effects and music.
In terms of network, you’ll get triple-band Wi-Fi 7 with Bluetooth 5.4. The battery is then 90Wh and is charged with the included 280W power adapter found in the box. Altogether, this notebook weighs 2.65Kgs and is 35.4cm long, 26.8cm wide, and 3.08cm thick.
I think the ASUS ROG Strix G16 is a cool-looking notebook. It is very similar to the Scar with a few slight exclusions of RGB here and there. For example, it doesn’t have the AniMatrix lights on the lid, but I personally see that as a win. The Eclipse Gray variant is easy on the eyes, but the lid is a fingerprint magnet. I would have liked to see more metal on the design here as it does have a little too much plastic here for my liking. But hey, it brings down the cost.
Before I get into the performance, I want to cover the tool-less design at the bottom. Similar to the SCAR, you can remove the bottom shell of this notebook by sliding a small clip to the side and pulling the plate towards you. Inside, you’ll find all the inner workings of the notebook, all clean and ready for you to gawk over. Here, you’ll also be able to upgrade the RAM and add an extra SSD.
The bottom of the notebook does give you a good look at the cooling system and gives you access to clean the fans and, well, just generally dust inside of it too. I love this feature. It beats using a screwdriver and worrying about whether or not you should be opening the notebook in the first place. I say if it includes a tool-less design, it is kind of an invitation to be opened.
Of course, the performance is what we’re here to really get to. The ASUS ROG STRIX G16 comes with a beefy set of internal components and impressive power adjustment tech that should be able to push games to some high frames. The CPU can be boosted to 175W under PL1 and PL2 settings, and the GPU can be boosted to 175W of power.
Together, this notebook can achieve 255W, but of course, the CPU adjustment isn’t always set to 175W but rather 80W. The GPU is also 150W on Turbo mode but can be boosted by another 25W when using manual mode. All this overclocking and power is then monitored by the 87C thermal cap.
So, with that being said, I maxed everything out on the notebook. I cranked the CPU to its cap overclock and the GPU to 175W. I also increased the memory clock by 150MHz and the base clock by 50MHz. We then have a notebook with maxed-out performance. I ran some tests.
I wanted to test out the notebook’s DLSS 4 performance while at the same time, some of the raw power without using any upscaling. Here are the results I got:
During my tests, the ASUS ROG STRIX G16 did get loud. I measured 60dBA throughout all my tests. These fans are loud and whiny; they are hard to ignore. They ramp out to 100% and are constantly blowing when you’re playing games.
The GPU was peaking at 87C with 174W of power being drawn. I did measure 100C at times on the CPU, which is pretty crazy to see inside a notebook. But then again, it is an Intel chipset, and we know Intel doesn’t really care about the heat on their CPUs; they just want the most power possible. I don’t mind 100C on my desktop gaming PC, but 100C in a notebook kind of frightens me.
The memory clock here maxed at 1787MHz, and the GPU clock hit 2160MHz. It is likely the best you’re going to get on this notebook with the manual overlock set to the limit.
Saying that, I was impressed by the general performance of the ASUS ROG STRIX G16. Granted, it is loud and really pushed thermals to the extreme, but games were smooth and looked great. Even the lesser scores like Assassin’s Creed Shadows without DLSS and Frame Gen enabled still showed what this notebook was capable of. Of course, you can easily turn on DLSS 4 and get better performance.
The speakers on this notebook were good. Sound was clear and packed a bit of power. I did have to crank them up pretty high to overcome the fan noise, so keep that in mind.
I do have to complain about the display on this ASUS ROG STRIX G16. It isn’t remarkable by any means. ASUS puts OLED panels into its budget productivity notebooks now, and to see an IPS panel that doesn’t even have HDR support is quite a let-down on this product. Yeah, it has 240Hz for those who even care about that, but 120Hz and a better panel would have gone a long way here.
It markets 500 nits of brightness, but I only measured 420. It also only supports Dolby Vision and not HDR 10, which is really strange. This means the majority of HDR content is not going to trigger. You’ll only get HDR if you watch Dolby Vision content, which is a rarer form of HDR even in 2025. The same goes for Dolby Vision Gaming; that list is even shorter and most of the time, unsupported on Windows.
The battery life is decent too. I made sure to go into the BIOS and enable automatic iGPU mode, which disabled the NVIDIA RTX 5080 when I wasn’t playing games. This greatly helped with the battery. Saying that, you’ll get a good 10 hours of battery if you disable all the RGB nonsense, turn down the screen brightness, and enable battery saver mode.
In the end, I think the ASUS ROG Strix G16 is a great notebook. It packs some serious power and performance. You can get very similar results from a high-end 40-Series notebook, which always makes this something you would have to weigh up when looking to purchase it. However, if you know what you’re in for here, this will make for a great investment.
Visit the ASUS website here to find out more about the ROG STRIX G16.
ASUS ROG STRIX G16 2025
Summary
The ASUS ROG STRIX G16 is an excellent gaming notebook with some exceptional performance. You can likely get a similar experience from a high-end RTX 4090 notebook and pay less for that, given the age of the tech. However, if you want DLSS 4 and a robust CPU, this notebook ticks those boxes. I do wish the display wasn’t IPS because, for the price tag, you should expect better.
