Question Is there anything I'm missing on my hunt for a good gaming laptop/general college use (secondarily)?

[AlexanderGrane]

I've been looking for the past few hours for a good gaming laptop, as I'm going to college this fall and intend to keep gaming. I'm slightly looking to splurge, and my budget is $2,500. After a fair bit of looking, I landed on ASUS's ROG Strix SCAR 18(on sale for $2,250). I like the RTX 4080 GPU, the i9 intel CPU, the 2 terabyte SSD, the 32G RAM. The display is 18" and can run 2560 x 1600, with a 240Hz refresh rate. Although I know it will be primarily used on a charger, it has a 90Wh Battery. My main concern aside from specs is just generally how long it will last; ideally I want to keep this a minimum 4 years, but preferably as many 6/7/8+. I will say I am not that familiar with laptops aside from a handful of youtube videos and websites, (thank you Tom's Hardware), but any input is appreciated.

 

[Math Geek]

it will last so long as the parts hold up. but you already knew that

the question is more "how long will the specs be useful to me as a gaming laptop?"

that answer is up to you. as you lower the eye candy and resolution to keep it performing where you want it, will it still make you happy? or are you one of the "if it aint at max settings, then i'm not doing it right" kind of person?

you'll be able to do a lot with it for a long time other than gaming. how long you'll be gaming on it is up to your tolerance for lowered settings.

and from my experience, gaming on the battery is not gonna happen unless it is a very low end game. taxing it flat out for a new AAA game will likely only last an hour or a bit more.

you'll have to check a review or 2 for the laptop to see what they got for battery life at different loads.

here's tom's review

https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/gaming-laptops/asus-rog-strix-scar-18-2024-review

 

[AlexanderGrane]

it will last so long as the parts hold up. but you already knew that

the question is more "how long will the specs be useful to me as a gaming laptop?"

that answer is up to you. as you lower the eye candy and resolution to keep it performing where you want it, will it still make you happy? or are you one of the "if it aint at max settings, then i'm not doing it right" kind of person?

you'll be able to do a lot with it for a long time other than gaming. how long you'll be gaming on it is up to your tolerance for lowered settings.

and from my experience, gaming on the battery is not gonna happen unless it is a very low end game. taxing it flat out for a new AAA game will likely only last an hour or a bit more.

you'll have to check a review or 2 for the laptop to see what they got for battery life at different loads.

here's tom's review

https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/gaming-laptops/asus-rog-strix-scar-18-2024-review

Sorry for my late response, and thank you for your advice. The link was also pretty helpful and your input as well. I think I should be relatively set from here, and thanks again!

 

[AlexanderGrane]

I'm pretty settled on the ASUS Strix Scar 18. I found it for $2250, if anyone knows where to find it cheaper, or has had any significant issues with this model, let me know. Also if there are any better alternatives around/under the same price.

Here is the link for the site:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-r...-2tb-ssd-eclipse-gray/6570224.p?skuId=6570224

 

[NedSmelly]

I've been looking for the past few hours for a good gaming laptop, as I'm going to college this fall and intend to keep gaming.

just keep in mind that a chonker gaming laptop doesn’t really suit a lecture hall / library / lab environment, and is a pain to lug around - if you need to use it in those settings.