ASUS rolls out 2026 ROG Strix SCAR 18 gaming laptop as Strix G16 sees Prime Day discount and Zenbook A16 gets strong ARM

ASUS introduced the 2026 edition of its flagship ROG Strix SCAR 18 notebook. The model is built around Intel’s Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor and offers NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU options. It runs on a 320 W power envelope, features an 18‑inch 4K mini‑LED panel with 240 Hz refresh‑rate, 2,000+ local dimming zones and up to 1,600 nits brightness, and includes a thicker vapor‑chamber cooling system, dual Thunderbolt 5 ports, Wi‑Fi 7 and 2.5 GbE Ethernet. U.S. pre‑orders began on 24 June 2026.

During the same period, Amazon listed the ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2025) for $2,099.99, a $490 discount from its regular price. The laptop is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU paired with an NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti GPU, ships with 32 GB RAM, a 1 TB SSD and a 16‑inch high‑refresh display, and uses an advanced cooling solution to sustain performance.

Separately, ASUS’s Zenbook A16 (2026) was reviewed. The device runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme processor, 48 GB LPDDR5X memory and a 512 GB PCIe 4.0 SSD. Its 16‑inch 3K OLED screen offers 120 Hz refresh‑rate, and the 70 Wh battery reportedly provides over 21 hours of mixed usage. Benchmarks showed the laptop handling 4K video editing and Adobe Lightroom tasks without slowdown, while maintaining a light 1.2 kg chassis.