Asus Scar 2 vs Zephyrus M: Which is Better For Gaming?

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Today I am comparing 2 ASUS laptops – Scar 2 vs Zephyrus M. If you are confused about which one is best to buy then this article is for you.

Asus Scar 2:

The top surface is metal. It just has some simple rounded corners with a brushed texture. The big change though is the logo, it can now change colors It used to be locked into that old-school gamer red color, which honestly was getting really stale now you can channel your inner rainbow and just let it rip.

Inside the bottom panel, they’re all Polycarbonate but it’s really rigid like there are laptops out there that use metal materials that don’t feel as sturdy as this the Strix laptops are built well.

It also has a light strip up front and I really like this thing. It’s one of the more unique features on this laptop you get full control over the software.

Asus Zephyrus M:

Very similar in exterior aesthetic to the original Zephyrus but they’ve made quite a few changes on the inside. It’s still a really well-built laptop the top panel is fully aluminum and the bottom section is really durable polycarbonate. The rog on the logo up top still lights up.

The whole top panel has this brushed texture to it, actually looks pretty nice.

Asus Scar 2:

One of the biggest thing on this laptop is the screen. The previous generation of Strix had some pretty thick bezels and I think that’s one of my biggest complaints that the had about the Strix and I think a lot of people felt that way as well. This new generation has a really thin bezel and it looks so much nicer. It’s not completely bezel as there’s obviously a bit of a bezel still and there’s also a chin. So they put the webcam down, there wasn’t enough space up the top.

The display panel itself is excellent. It’s brights with good color accuracy and fast. It’s 144 Hertz, a super-fast refresh rate. We’re seeing a lot of high refresh laptops pop up in 2017. But this one is a three-millisecond panel I think it’s actually the fastest 144 Hertz panel I’ve seen.

Asus Zephyrus M:

It’s a great panel really fast at 144 Hertz of all the six core gaming laptops that I’ve used so far, I think this has the best panel for gaming. This is the one that has the fastest response rate three milliseconds the other ones are rated I think at seven milliseconds. The colors are a little bit more vibrant and just games look really good on this panel.

The bezels are unfortunately quite big and that’s probably my biggest issue with this screen. It’s not that they’re really thick but they’re thicker than the competitors and like it just doesn’t look as nice.

The webcam is located in the normal position up top it’s a pretty generic 720p image. One other thing this laptop can switch between Nvidia g-sync and Nvidia Optimus 3 software, so normally you’d have to choose one or the other and your laptop wouldn’t be able to have both. This one can switch between the two. So if you know what those are g-sync is this tech that allows your laptop to kind of reduce visual artifacts when it’s in games. It just kind of smoothes out the gameplay it looks nice at lower frame rates. Nvidia Optimus is this tech that enhances battery life. Instead of using the GPU like the discrete GPU 1070 it’ll switch over to the weaker onboard GPU when it’s not doing something intense and it just kind of extends battery life.

Asus Scar 2:

The weight of the laptop is 2.4KG and with charger, the total weight increases to over 3kg.

The dimensions of the laptop are 36.1cm in width, 26.2cm in-depth, and 2.6cm in height.

Asus Zephyrus M:

The weight is 2.45kg with the charging, the total weight increases to 3.3kg.

The dimensions of the laptop are 38.4cm in width, 26.2cm in-depth, and 1.75 to 1.99cm in height.

Asus Scar 2:

This is a comfortable keyboard. The layout takes a little bit of time to get used to because of the arrow key placement between the number pad but the keyboards good overall. The lighting is Okay, it’s a four-zone. I wish it was individually lit and there are clear WASD keys here which are unique But I don’t know they’re not for me There’s something about this translucent material that makes it kind of look unfinished the color from the lighting just blasts through these keycaps But I don’t love the look.

The trackpad is a much-improved track ride from the previous generation. Tracking is really accurate. It’s using Windows precision drivers and there are dedicated hardware buttons. The palm rejection could be a little better it’s picking up some occasional left palm action when I press the spacebar, but it’s pretty minor.

Asus Zephyrus M:

The keyboard is great very easy to get used to this thing, comfortable to use, the spacing is good and the keystrokes are responsive. The tiny arrow keys and the narrow number pad might be weird to look at but actually found them pretty comfortable to use, granted I’m not a huge number pad user, if you’re used to like a regular full-size number pad it might take a while to get used to this but it is comfortable for me. The backlighting on this keyboard isn’t super customizable or bright. It’s more of like a subtle glow which I actually like.

The trackpad is also solid. It’s got winners precision drivers, it’s got a glass texture in the button mechanics are on point. It’d be nice if the trackpad was a little bit larger not that it’s small but I feel like in this genre of laptop like that 15 gaming laptop this is one of the smaller ones but overall inputs are good.

Asus Scar 2:

• Left – The power input, gigabit ethernet, mini DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 2.0 output, two USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A ports, USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C port, although no mention of Thunderbolt here, 3.5mm audio combo jack and the left speaker.
• Right – There’s the right speaker, an SD card slot, USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A port, air exhaust vent, and Kensington lock.
• Back – The brushed metal lid there’s the ROG logo on the side, and it lights up with the same effect that the keyboard and light bar have been configured with, in this case, the rainbow effect.
• Underneath – It is pretty clean looking, the rubber feet did an excellent job at preventing movement and there are some air vents towards the back.

Asus Zephyrus M:

• Left – The power input, HDMI 2.0 port, three USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A ports, the last one of which is powered, and a 3.5mm audio combo jack.
• Right – Just got a fourth USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A port, a USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C port with 4 lanes of Thunderbolt 3 support, and Kensington lock.
• Back – There are a couple of air exhaust vents towards the corners and some subtle Zephyrus branding in the center, while there’s nothing at all on the front except some ASUS branding toward the left corner.
• Underneath – There are some rubber feet that do a decent job of preventing the laptop from sliding around while in use.

Asus Scar 2:

The speakers are good. They’re located on the side So I like the location and I don’t they put new speakers in this generation or if it’s just a software update. But they sound way better than I thought they would. There are just really good speakers.

Asus Zephyrus M:

The speakers on this laptop are located on the bottom and actually sound better than I thought. They’re in the best location I never like speakers on the bottom but actually sound good and the bass is way better than expected.

Asus Scar 2:

The performance is strong. This unit has a GTX 1070 to go with that six-core 8750H. The CPU is a multi-core beast and the GPU just crushes. It uses that 144 Hertz panel. A lot of competitor shooters will hit 144 Hertz even with the graphics settings cranked up. They’ve also done a good job cooling it. Remember it’s a GTX 1070. Not the max cube, but a regular 1070 and I’m not seeing throttling in benchmarks and stuff, the temperatures are good. The fans are also not too loud. It’s nice to see them cool a full 1070 without excessive fan noise even at max load. Now one of the reasons why they’re able to do this is because of the device itself.

Asus Zephyrus M:

The performance on this laptop is really good. GTX 1070 with the new six-core CPU from Intel. It’s a really good combination. The GPU is also really good it’s basically the third most powerful GPU for laptops on the market right now. You’re gonna get really good frame rates across any of the titles at 1080p and when you pair that with 144 Hertz green stuff just looks awesome. The temperatures and benchmarks and in games are actually a little bit lower than the competitors not by a lot but it is noticeable especially on the stress tests.

Overall the Scar 2 was coming out 11% better when averaging the results of all games tested at max settings, quite a big improvement. This was a much larger difference than I expected considering they’ve got the same specs. Going into this comparison I was expecting the Zephyrus to be slightly ahead, given it was running cooler and the clock speeds of the graphics were higher.

Both have positives and negatives, so you’ll have to weigh them both up and decide what’s best for you. The Zephyrus has G-Sync while the Scar does not, however the Zephyrus has no Ethernet port which will mean either WiFi or dongle life. The Scar 2 has an SD slot while the Zephyrus doesn’t, but the Zephyrus has a Thunderbolt port which the Scar is missing. The Zephyrus is a little thinner, but also wider, while the Scar has an awkwardly placed bottom side camera due to its thinner bezels. Perhaps most importantly from a gaming laptop, in pretty much all games tested the Scar 2 was coming out ahead of the Zephyrus M, which as discussed seems to be due to the difference in CPU performance.

Jaskaran Singh

Jaskaran, a tech enthusiast from childhood, inspired by his father, began his tech journey by rooting Android phones. He now writes on various tech topics, aiming to simplify complex ideas for a broad audience. His writing is direct, concise, and flows effortlessly, making tech topics accessible and engaging.