ASUS ROG Strix Hero III 15.6" G531GW-XB74 Black 2019

A beefy RTX 2070 trapped in a 2019 time capsule. Great gaming muscle, but no webcam and a price tag that makes no sense unless you find it on a deep discount.

The RTX 2070 inside this thing is the real deal, not some cut-down Max-Q variant. In our database, it lands in the 81st percentile for GPU power, which means it chews through modern titles at 1080p without breaking a sweat. What surprised us was how well the cooling holds up. The triple-radiator setup and those dual 12V fans keep the chassis from turning into a hot plate during long sessions. The 9th Gen i7 is showing its age though, sitting down in the 27th percentile for CPU grunt. It's fine for gaming, but don't expect it to blaze through heavy video renders.

Stacked against a modern Lenovo Legion Pro 7i, the Strix Hero III feels like a time capsule. The Legion runs circles around it in CPU performance and brings a webcam, a better screen, and newer connectivity. The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is another brutal comparison, it's way more portable and has a modern feature set. The only reason to pick this ASUS is if you find it deeply discounted and you absolutely need that specific RTX 2070 performance without caring about anything else. For most people, a current-gen Lenovo or HP is the smarter buy.

Pricing is all over the place, with a wild $1091 spread across vendors from $1789 to $2880. At the low end, you're getting a solid 1080p gaming rig with a great GPU. At the high end, you're getting robbed. If you can snag it closer to that $1789 mark, it's a fair deal for the frames you get. Anything above $2200 and you should just walk away and look at newer hardware.

The ASUS ROG Strix Hero III is a weird mix of old-school muscle and baffling omissions. You get a full-fat RTX 2070 that still punches hard for 1080p gaming, wrapped in a chassis that looks like it drove straight out of a BMW design studio. But then you realize there's no webcam. In a laptop from this decade. It's the kind of thing that makes you scratch your head, especially when you're dropping nearly two grand. If you can live without a camera and plan to stay plugged in, the raw gaming performance here is legit. Just know you're making some strange trade-offs to get it.

If you need a laptop for anything beyond pure gaming, like video calls for work or school, this isn't it. The missing webcam is a dealbreaker. Go grab a Lenovo Legion Pro 7i instead, it's a modern beast that doesn't forget the basics.

The ASUS ROG Strix Hero III is a tough sell in a world full of better-rounded gaming laptops. The GPU performance is genuinely good, and the cooling keeps it in check, but the missing webcam and dated CPU are dealbreakers for the price. Unless you find a screaming deal under $1800 and you already own an external camera, you should pass. There are just too many modern machines that don't ask you to make these compromises.