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For many of today’s most popular gaming laptops, manufacturers have shrunk and soldered so much to save space that we’ve lost the ability to upgrade our machines. But not this Asus ROG Strix Scar 18. It was built with expandability in mind.
Scar 18 was redesigned in 2025. It is more curved, has lower perimeter RGB lighting, a Mini-LED Nebula HDR display, and will be equipped with the fresh Intel HX Series mobile processor and Nvidia RTX 50 series GPU.
But what’s most intriguing about this design is when you flip it over. There are no screws observable from the bottom of the laptop. Instead, it has a single sliding latch. This will unlock the rear cover, which can then be slid on and off without tools.
Underneath the cover are two diagonal NVMe slots and a pair of SO-DIMM modules. All this can be replaced and changed. Then maybe not This amazing, but Asus got rid of the frustratingly tiny screws and opted for diminutive latches on each of the NVMe slots – called Q-latch – just like they’ve done with motherboards in recent years.
This means that the laptop can be upgraded without using a screwdriver, which is something special. Access to the battery is also uncomplicated. While getting down further than these requires removing a few screws, you’re less likely to need to go down unless it’s for repairs.
