Thanks to the cost-effective combination of a brand-new top-of-the-line AMD Ryzen APU and a good dollop of Nvidia’s Turing graphics silicon. The Asus F506IV and Asus TUF A15 Gaming laptop to its near friends—isn’t a thin-and-light notebook or a hulking excellent workstation computer, but it’s able of so much more.
The 8 cores of Ryzen Zen 2 processing provide the kind of CPU output that video producers and 3D artists can appreciate, and a sizeable high-speed SSD also helps. The 90Wh battery and 7nm APU will stay strong and running for an almost unheard-of period for a gaming laptop when not connected to a power source.
Sure, at 5 pounds (2.3 kilogrammes), this isn’t an Ultrabook you’ll want to throw in a bag and set up in a local cafe to write your assignments your mates, but it’s also not a massive laptop substitute.
It’s all yours for an attractive and affordable price of $1,300. In a previous life, we tested the Asus TUF FX505DV, which was the prior model of this notebook. It was a well-specced computer that paired high-quality components with thoughtful sacrifices to offer an entirely professional gaming experience from a mid-price gaming laptop.
This isn’t a cheap gaming laptop by any means, but it’s not as expensive as a Gigabyte Aero 15X or Alienware m17, which can cost more than $3,000. Even Asus’ Zephyrus or Strix Scar laptops are much more costly than the TUF gaming laptop lineup, but the way the lineup is specced out makes them great value, and the minor niggles we had with the initial model have all but vanished with this update.
The latest AMD Ryzen Mobile APU is, without a doubt, the TUF Gaming A15’s headline-grabbing, beating heart. Although there isn’t much of a difference between the Ryzen 7 4800H and the Ryzen 9 4900HS within the Asus Zephyrus G14, the Ryzen 7 4800H isn’t quite at the top of the stack. The 4900HS is nominally quicker, but thanks to its 35W TDP, it can also fit into a smaller design. The 45W 4800H, on the other hand, is 100MHz slower in terms of peak clock speed, but when it comes to CPU benchmarks, the vagaries of cooling and dynamic frequencies make the difference virtually non-existent.
The new Ryzen APU has eight cores and 16 threads, making it one of the most potent pieces of multi-core silicon you’ll find in a non-workstation laptop. The Zen 2 architecture ensures it has single-core results similar to the best Intel mobile gaming machines.
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However, compared to the last-gen version we reviewed, which had the far less efficient quad-core Ryzen 7 3750H, this new Asus TUF A15 gaming laptop has shockingly little difference in gaming performance. We can assure you that computing power doesn’t make much of a difference when you have a powerful GPU combined with it. The Far Cry New Dawn result is a little strange, but that may be due to newer drivers relative to the other laptops’ original benchmark performance.
Although the Nvidia RTX 2060 is at the bottom of the ray-tracing ladder, it’s a fantastic 1080p graphics card, which is still the sweet spot for gaming laptops, in my view. With 1,920 CUDA cores, 6GB (GDDR6), and many ray tracing and tensor cores, this portable gaming laptop delivers high speeds results. Access to RTX-enabled games, such as the fantastic new Minecraft with RTX update, as well as the capacity to make them operate thanks to Nvidia’s new DLSS 2.0 feature properly.
The Impact of AI may have to take over the gaming world and determine that we are either superfluous to its nature or a ready source of influence. Still, it’s assisting us in making our games look good and run smoothly until then. So, on average, it’ll probably be worth the sacrifice.
Intel’s SSD 660p has a complete 1TB of solid-state storage to back it all up. It’s an NVMe drive, which means it’ll be much smoother than a rotating platter or a SATA-based SSD. However, it uses QLC (quad-level cell) memory at the bottom of the output scale. QLC enables Intel to increase storage density, allowing for low-cost, high-capacity SSDs like this, but at the cost of speed degradation as the drive fills up. It also has a lower endurance rating than TLC or regular MLC SSDs, but to get close to the limits, you’d have to fill the drive with new data many several times a week. Intel’s SSD 660p has a complete 1TB of solid-state storage to back it all up.
It’s an NVMe drive, which means it’ll be much smoother than a rotating platter or a SATA-based SSD. However, it uses QLC (quad-level cell) memory at the bottom of the output scale. QLC enables Intel to increase storage density, allowing for low-cost, high-capacity SSDs like this, but at the cost of speed degradation as the drive fills up. It also has a lower endurance rating than TLC or regular MLC SSDs, but to get close to the limits, you’d have to fill the drive with new data many several times a week.
The battery power is the iconic figure of many gaming laptops. The TUF Gaming A15, on the other hand, features a complete 90Wh battery that provides unrivalled system performance for a 15-inch gaming laptop. We’re included in thin-and-light laptops with long battery life but getting more than an hour out of a gaming laptop is rare.
The Asus TUF A15, on the other hand, will have nearly two hours of gaming time. Not some workday web-surfing, but solid gaming and full-time 3D rendering. If you use this gadget for more light work, you’ll get at least four hours as much, if not more.
As a result, this is one of the most influential and customizable gaming laptops available, as I previously said. You’ve got the best gaming performance, the Processor chops, and the ability to do all of this for an extended time without having to the plugin. Where are those compromises, though?
The QLC SSD isn’t top-of-the-line, but it’s still an NVMe drive that’s quicker than most budget choices, and the chassis feels a little less costly than the brushed aluminium unibody designs you might buy for a couple of grand more. However, unlike previous generations of TUF Gaming laptops, which had noticeable flex in the chassis, especially under the keyboard, the Asus TUF A15 has none.
It’s made of plastic, so it’s never flimsy. It’s durable and looks like it could survive a fall. In reality, the Asus engineers spend a considerable amount of time testing machines by lowering them from a great height to see how they respond. Based on how the A15 feels, I believe it will work admirably.
The Asus TUF A15 is also understated. The winged TUF logo in a slightly darker grey appears on the front of the revamped lid, which looks more subdued than previous versions. The full RGB 13.3-inch keyboard under the cover, which lights up, such as the Bellagio fountains, is a different storey.
The spectre of $999 gaming laptops powered by RTX 2060 looming large on the horizon, although, is a fly in the Asus ointment. Mid-priced gaming laptops are becoming more attractive thanks to the combination of Nvidia’s best-priced RTX card and some more affordable Intel CPUs. And if you’re not using the eight cores of Zen 2 power for anything besides gaming, you probably don’t need a processor as powerful as the TUF Gaming A15.
The Asus TUF Gaming A15 proves that you don’t need to spend a lot of money on a gaming laptop to get impressive results in several areas. Of course, we’re biased in favour of gaming laptops, but this device has a lot more to offer. And this for a very fair price.
Asus TUF Gaming A15 Specifications
- Model– FA506IV
- Processor– AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
- GPU– Nvidia RTX 2060
- Memory– 16GB DDR4
- Memory Speed– 3,200MHz
- Screen size– 15-inch
- Resolution– 1920 x 1080
- Refresh rate– 144Hz
- Storage– 1TB Intel SSD 660p
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