Asus ROG G18 | RTX 4070 - Pains and gains of size

An 18 inch display initially made more of an impression on me than I had anticipated with the ASUS ROG STRIX G18. In today’s world where portable gaming is regaining popularity with the Asus Ally, the steam deck, Legion Go and many other brands, it is difficult to really evaluate portability of pc gaming and along with that, the right display size. 2 extra inches might make a difference for many gamers and maybe not so much. Compromising on portability is generally not something I would agree to. There are a few things I learnt during my usage of the G18 and hope that you all find it useful to better understand what Asus is offering here. Please do drop in your comments below and share your thoughts.

Overall, I was left thinking that ROG left many opportunities on the table to make this a formidable competitor in the desktop replacement class that can be all things to both gamers and creators. It would be nice to see something that truly competes with the Razer Blade 18 at a lower price point (perhaps a ZEPHYRUS M18 is what would be nice… at least to me). Though my personal tastes does not align with the typical STRIX styling with the cheesy statements everywhere, It would be nice to see ROG pull more gaming enthusiasts into the PC gaming fold. I have also started to develop deep respect for the Armory crate software, what once looked very childish has started to look impressive. Either ROG really knows what gamers want or my brain development is in retrograde.
I have organized the video in the following chapters

0:00 Intro, Hardware, Specs
2:37 Physicals, Dimensions, Build
3:53 Ports
4:43 Display
5:36 Keyboard, Trackpad, functions, biometrics, webcam
7:33 The ROG Strix styling rant
10:10 Software, RGB, controls, features
12:11 Battery life, GPU Power, Efficiency, Charging
15:09 Sound
15:41 Thermals, Stress
17:04 Performance, Benchmarks
19:25 Starfield
20:45 Conclusion

The following are the specs of the specific device I have here:
• Title: ROG Strix G18 (2023) ; SKU: G814 G814JI-BS91-CB
• CPU: Intel i9 13th Gen 13980HX – 24 Cores (16 E / 8 P Cores) | upto 5.6 Ghz
• GPU Nvidia RTX 4070 – 8GB GDDR6 / 128bits / 115+25 Watts – I did not see a 4080 option on the Asus Canada website though.
• GPU: 16” QHD+ IPS | 240hz | 3ms | ~450 nits | Mux | Advanced Optimus | 3 Ms response time | G Sync | 100% SRGB coverage, 93% DCI-P3, 86% Adobe SRGB
• RAM: 32 GB DDR5 4800Mhz (2 SODIMMS)
• Storage: 1 TB Gen 4 (+1 empty PCIE slot)
• Battery: 90 WH
• Camera: 720P
• Biometrics: None

The games / applications covered in this review include:

• Starfield
• Hogwarts
• Shadow of Tomb Raider
• Horizon Zero Dawn
• Division 2
• Farcry 6
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Gears of War
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
• Modern Warfare 2
• 3d Mark timespy DX12
• Firestrike Extreme DX11

Other devices shown in this video include:
• Razer Blade 15 Advanced Edition – Intel i7 11800H + RTX 3070
• Alienware X16 R1 2023 – Intel i9 13900HK + RTX 4080
• Lenovo Legion 7 Gen 7 2022 – Ryzen 6800H + Radeon 6700M
• Asus Zephyrus M16 – Intel i9 13900H + RTX 4070
• Motorola Razr Plus

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/jeff-kaale/coco
License code: MZVP1WTOGSQMSKRS

Video recorded using a Samsung S22 Ultra with an external wireless mic