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Asus TUF Gaming Laptop: TUF 15, F17

Asus TUF Gaming Laptop is a great choice for those who are looking for a powerful and durable laptop. It is equipped with the latest hardware and features that make it a perfect gaming laptop. The laptop has a stylish design and a matte black finish that looks great. The keyboard is backlit and the trackpad is large and easy to use. The screen is bright and the visuals are sharp. The audio is loud and clear.

Asus TUF Gaming Laptop Review

1. ASUS TUF 15 GAMING LAPTOP

Pros

  • New 8-core AMD APU is impressive
  • 90Wh battery
  • Decent 144Hz FHD screen
  • Robust design

Cons

  • Fans who are loud
  • It is not the fastest gaming laptop.
  • Design is not for everyone

Spec:

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 4800H Processor 2.9GHz (octa-core, 8MB cache up to 4.2GHz boost).
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX2060 6GB GDDR6
  • RAM: 16GB LPDDR4 (3200MHz)
  • Screen: 15.6 inches Full HD (1080×2560) LED 144Hz
  • Storage: 1TB SSD (PCIe, NVMe, M.2)
  • Ports: 1 x audio jack, 2 x Type-A USB 3.2 (Gen 1), 1 x Type-C USB 3.2 (Gen 2), 1 x Type-A USB2.0, 1 x RJ45 LAN, 1 x HDMI 2.0b
  • Connectivity: Intel Wi-Fi 5 Bluetooth 5
  • Camera: 720p
  • Weight: 5.07 pounds (2.3 kg)
  • Dimensions: 39.5×25.6×2.49cm (WxDxH)

Price and availability

The Asus TUF A15 gaming laptop is affordable. It’s not as inexpensive as some budget options, but it’s still very reasonable compared to high-end gaming laptops aimed at gamers.

Asus TUF A15 is still affordable, but it starts at $1,300 (PS1,300 or around $2,000). Although it is more expensive than some gaming laptops like the Alienware M15, it offers better value for money.

You’re looking at a price comparable to the HP Omen 15 or Dell G3 15, which are fine 15-inch gaming laptops. However, it doesn’t have as many recent components as the Asus TUF A15.

Design

The Asus TUF 15 gaming laptop is a chunky, heavy device like the other TUF series models. But that’s all part of its appeal. The Asus TUF A15 is built with the build quality and durability in mind, as the ‘TUF” moniker suggests.

It’s not a rugged laptop you can drop from a height without worrying about it, but it’s one you’d be happy to pack in your backpack and take with you to LAN parties and friends’ houses. Some gaming laptops are so thin and lightweight that it’s difficult to take them outside. The Asus TUF 15 is different.

The design isn’t afraid to admit that it’s a gaming machine. However, it’s not overly so. If you want to give your laptop more gamer cred, the Asus A15 comes with a sheet with stickers. There are two options for the chassis: Bonfire Black and Fortress Gray, which is the color of our review model.

The laptop offers gamers more design options. The keyboard features the standard RGB lighting, while the WASD keys get a translucent color. This laptop is perfect for gamers.

It’s both attractive and functional. This provides extra protection for the laptop from bumps and knocks. The machine also has a honeycomb design at the base that prevents it from sliding around. Cooling vents are located in the cells of the structure.

The bulky design allows Asus to include many ports. There are an Ethernet port and HDMI on the left and two standard USB ports. On the right, there is a standard USB.

This is a great choice and will allow you to connect your peripherals directly without an adapter. A gaming laptop will appreciate the LAN port, which offers faster and more reliable internet speeds.

The screen is 15.6 inches in size and has a 144Hz refresh rate. This further enhances the TUF A15’s gaming capabilities. A version with a 60Hz refresh speed is also available.

Asus TUF Performance

Performance

At the beginning of this review, we mentioned that the Asus TUF A15 was our favorite component. It includes the most recent hardware from Nvidia and AMD.

The new AMD Ryzen7 4800H CPU is featured in the Asus TUF A15. Although it’s not the flagship mobile processor of AMD (that will be the Ryzen9 4900HS), the Asus TUF 15 isn’t a flagship laptop. It is a machine that provides a balance of value and performance, so we love Asus’ 4800H.

We discussed how AMD’s Ryzen4000 mobile processors could transform gaming laptops. The Asus TUF A15 is a prime example, with eight cores (16 threads) and a level we would expect to see on much more expensive laptops.

This pair is paired with the Nvidia RTX2060 GPU. It’s not a flagship GPU, but it’s an excellent 1080p performer making it a perfect choice for this gaming laptop. This GPU is one of Nvidia’s most affordable, but it still delivers good performance. It also has modern ray tracing support. With 6GB of GDDR6 RAM, this laptop is a wise investment.

Our benchmarks show that the graphically-demanding Metro Exodus runs at 45fps (frames per second) at Ultra. You can tweak it to get it to play at 60fps and still look great.

You’ll be able to take advantage of the 144Hz screen with less intense games like Fortnite and CS: Go for quick and responsive gameplay.

This laptop isn’t the most powerful gaming laptop, but it does offer excellent performance and modern games at an affordable price. This is a win for us.

However, one thing that bothered us was the volume at which our laptop sounded when we were playing games. The fans kick in loudly when this thing turns on. We are used to hearing loud gaming laptops – they have to be kept cool. The fans in the Asus TUF A15 can be particularly distracting.

Battery Life

We expect nothing less from a gaming laptop in terms of battery life. However, the Asus TUF A15 does an excellent job with the PCMark 10 battery endurance benchmark. This simulates moderate usage and takes five and a half hours to drain the battery.

This is a reasonable price for a gaming laptop. It’s also due to the AMD Ryzen7 4800H’s energy efficiency, which doesn’t drain the battery as quickly as the Intel CPUs found in these laptops.

This battery is vast at 90Wh, much larger than what you would find in a gaming laptop and not far from the maximum size you can legally take on a plane. That also explains why we recorded an impressive 11 hours, 44-minute uptime in our looped 1080p video benchmark.

Although looped videos are not the most difficult of tasks, it is impressive that the TUF 1515 was able to last so long. Gaming is a different story. The uptime can drop to about two hours, depending on what game you play. This is still a reasonable amount of time and could be enough to get you through a quick train ride. However, like other gaming laptops, you will need to charge your device while playing.

Buy it if…

A gaming laptop should be affordable

The Asus TUF 15 offers excellent value for money. It’s not the most expensive gaming laptop on the market, but it provides build quality and performance comparable to budget and mid-range models.

For competitive play, you need a laptop

The Asus TUF A15 is an excellent choice for those who enjoy competitive esports. It has a high refresh rate monitor with fast response times and a built-in LAN port for stable and fast connectivity.

Strong build quality is what you want

Asus’ TUF series of gaming laptops are known for their military-grade durability. The laptops feel durable and can be taken with you anywhere without fear.

Don’t Buy It If…

It’s all about the 4K

Although the Asus TUF A15 performs well at 1080p, don’t expect stunning 4K visuals. The screen is ‘only’ Full HD. However, even if the laptop is connected to a 4K TV or monitor, the RTX2060 GPU will not work.

You desire something light and thin

Thanks to its extra ports and rugged body, this laptop is heavy and robust. Look elsewhere if you are looking for something ultra-portable.

A silent machine is what you want

The Asus TUF A15 is a loud machine. You can reduce the fan speed, but you still need to keep it cool. This is a difficult balance to achieve, but it can be distracting while gaming.

Asus TUF Gaming F17

2. Asus TUF Gaming F17

Pros

  • Gaming on large screens is a great idea
  • Lightweight and portable
  • Affordable price

Cons

  • Some games are too difficult for the RTX3050 Ti to handle
  • Battery life is very short

Specifications

  • CPU: Intel Core i5-11260H (3.9GHz).
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU (4GB DDR6, 1,222 Mhz W Maximum graphics power, 1,485MHz boost clock)
  • Memory: 8GB DDR4-3200
  • Storage: 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
  • Display: 17.3 inches, 1920 x 1080. 144 Hz
  • Networking: Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax Ethernet Bluetooth 5.2
  • Ports: Ethernet, Power, HDMI, Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 4 and 3x USB Type-A.
  • Camera: 720p
  • Battery: 48Wh 4050mAh Lithium Ion battery
  • Power adapter: 180W
  • Operating System: Windows 10 Home
  • Dimensions (WxDxH: 15.71×10.59x 0.99 inches/399x269x25.2 mm
  • Weight: 5.73 pounds / 2.6 kg

Design

I noticed the first thing about TUF Gaming F17 is its width –15.71 inches. This width allows for a full-size keyboard and enough room to fit the 17.3-inch display. If portability is important to you, it measures.99 inches when closed. It measures 10.59 inches from top to bottom.

TUF Gaming F17’s chassis is made primarily of plastic and not metal. Some sections have a more textured texture than others, with lines that make it feel more professional and intentional than a sheet of solid plastic. This makes the machine extremely light at 5.73 pounds (or 2.65 kg), which is an excellent choice for its size.

Angles are the most prominent visual element in this design. The TUF Gaming F17 has 45-degree angles. This gives it an unusual, modern look. These angles can be found anywhere, from the hexagonal power button to the asymmetrical spacebar.

TUF branding is located on the lid’s top. Most machines prefer a small logo at the center of the cover, sometimes with LEDs. This case shows ‘TUF” in large letters across the lid.

The large screen also offers additional space on the deck to place buttons and controls. This is a full-sized RGB backlit keyboard with a numeric keypad to the side. The WASD keys have been distinguished from the rest by unique keycaps that let more RGB LEDs shine through.

All ports are located on the sides of laptops with no ports on the back. Although the power cable plugs into the laptop’s left side, a rear port for power or Ethernet would have been better. The power port, Ethernet port and Thunderbolt 4 port are located on the left. On the right side, you will find an additional USB Type-A port.

The TUF Gaming F17 weighs in at just 4 pounds and is larger than the Acer Predator Triton 300SE. It has a 14-inch display and is slightly heavier than the 300 SE. The MSI Pulse GL66 weighs slightly more at 4.6 pounds and has a 15.6-inch screen, but the TUF Gaming F17 is significantly heavier at 5.73 pounds and has a 17.3-inch LCD.

Gaming Performance

The TUF Gaming F17 is not a great gaming laptop. It’s a gaming laptop GPU, essentially the entry-level gaming laptop GPU.

The TUF Gaming F17’s average performance was lower (measured in frames/second) than the Acer Predator Triton 300SE and MSI Pulse GL66, which had more powerful, RTX3060 GPUs. The benchmark Red Red Redemption 2 benchmark measured 46 frames per second. This was similar to the Acer Predator Triton 300SE’s 48 frames per second and the MSI Pulse GL66’s 51 frames per second.

In the Grand Theft Auto V benchmark (1080p, very high), the TUF Gaming F17 averaged 55 fps to beat the Acer Predator Triton 300SE’s 72 fps and 83 fps for the MSI Pulse GL66. Far Cry New Dawn (1080p ultra): The F17 averaged 50 fps. This is much lower than the PredatorTriton 300 SE’s 72 fps and the MSI Pulse G66’s mark at 83 fps.

Lastly, the TUF Gaming F17 was run through Borderlands 3 (1080p and badass setting) benchmark. It measured 36 fps, while the Predator Triton 300SE hit 57 fps, and MSI Pulse GL66 averaged 52 fps.

We stress-tested the TUF Gaming F17 by running the Metro Exodus benchmark with RTX settings for 15 consecutive runs, simulating approximately 30 minutes of gaming. TUF Gaming F17 averaged 36.5 frames per second throughout 15 runs. This is remarkable consistency. The CPU ran at a rate of 3.9 GHz and reached temperatures around 84 Celsius (183 Fahrenheit). The RTX3050 Ti GPU ran at 1,540 MHz on average, reaching 77° Celsius (170° Fahrenheit).

I also tried some games on my own. Elder Scrolls Online was the first game I tried. The TUF Gaming F17 gave me a blue screen when I tried to install ESO from Steam. This was my only BSOD experience during all the testing. After a reboot, the installation went smoothly.

My disappointment was that ESO displayed a noticeable lag from the start. It loads by default with medium-level settings for video. When navigating the menu, the character loading screen was slow. Before you could access a server or lobby with other players, this was before you could access a server or entrance. It was possible to fight in areas with many players and enemies, but it was slow. This made it difficult to land hits where you want them. This problem was made worse by increasing graphics settings, but it was fixed when they were lowered.

TUF Gaming F17 should be able to run games that aren’t too demanding, but AAA titles may require you to adjust the settings.

Productivity Performance

We tested the TUF Gaming F17 edition with an Intel Core i5-11260H processor, 8GB RAM, 512GB M.2PCIe 3.0 SSD and an RTX 3050 Ti graphics card.

Geekbench 5 gave TUF Gaming F17 a single-core score (1,354) and a multicore score (5,045). This is comparable to, but not quite as good as, the Acer Predator Triton 300SE (Intel Core i7-11375H), which received respective scores of 1,483 (and 5,234). With a multicore score of 6,949, and a single-core rating of 1,579, the MSI Pulse GL66 is superior to them all.

Handbrake allows computers to transcode 4K videos to 1080p. TUF Gaming F17 was one minute quicker than the Acer Predator Triton 300SE in 10 minutes and 36 seconds. At 8:30, the MSI Pulse GL66 was the fastest.

We copied 25GB of mixed media files to the TUF Gaming F17 test. The results were better than the Acer Predator Triton300 SE (993.13Mbps) and MSI Pulse (801.1Mbps), with an average transfer speed 596.39Mbps.

Display

The TUF Gaming F17 screen measures 17.3 inches and has a refresh rate of 144 Hz. It also features a 1920×1080 resolution. Images look fabulous from head to tail. Video, photos and games all shine. But if you catch the screen from an incorrect angle, it will quickly muffle the vibrant colors and earthy tones.

It is easy to see the refresh rate, making for smooth, seamless gameplay. You’ve assured a bright, clean output as long as your game doesn’t experience any lag. The colors in Elder Scrolls Online were beautiful. The contrast between the dirt and rocks was striking. Trees were green and lush, while flowers stood against the stark contrast. This was true for both medium and high video settings.

No Man’s Sky was also equally stunning. The stars sparkled, and the space pirates could be easily seen. This was due to their brightly-colored lasers. With the FPS and resolution set to the highest possible, this was the case.

I streamed several 4K videos online. One of them was this 4K flight over the Dolomites, Italy. It was easy for me to see details like the windows and crisp edges of trees. The TUF Gaming F17 is an excellent choice for watching movies or videos. It can stream as well as play files from the hard drive.

Our sensors indicate that the TUF Gaming F17 covers approximately 45% of DCI-P3’s color gamut and emits 284 Nits of light. The MSI Pulse GL66 is a dimmer 246 Nits and covers 42%. The Acer Predator Triton 300SE is the clear winner, covering 81% and displaying a brightness of 292 Nits.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard is sleek and responsive. However, they are not tactile.

According to 10 Fast Fingers, I type on a RazerBlack Widow mechanical keyboard at 95 words per minute (WPM). This was reduced to 81 WPM on the TUF GamingF17.

There are no dedicated media keys or macro keys that can be used to swap profiles. However, many keys can access alternate functions with the help of an FN key. All keys have RGB LEDs, except the WASD keys with clear keycaps.

The WASD keys are brighter than others and can be distracting in low-light situations. Aura Sync can adjust all lights and has presets (pulse/strobe, fade/solid, etc.) set via keyboard shortcuts. You can further modify these effects using the Armoury Crate app.

It measures 4.2 inches by 2.4 inches. The touchpad supports gestures like two-finger scrolling or zooming, but gaming will require a dedicated mouse. The separate buttons on the left and right are a nice touch. You can use three components instead of one for the touchpad and buttons to make controls clearly defined.

Audio

Two speakers are built into the TUF Gaming F17. DTS:X Ultra supports them, providing virtual surround sound of 7.1 channels. Asus offers 8 preset modes optimized for gaming, movies, music, and other activities. These can be set up in the DTS:X U application.

You will want separate speakers or headphones if you are a big fan of audio quality. The quality of the built-in speakers is excellent. Although it doesn’t sound loud, the treble and bass are clear.

DTS:X Ultra has several audio optimization options. They do make a difference in audio quality, but not by much. The presets make it possible to change the bass level of the music—the treble adjustments while gaming amplified certain sounds, such as gunfire and menu ticks. I didn’t notice any white noise or audio pops during my testing. The sound quality is not as good as dedicated high-quality audio output peripherals, but they can still do the job if you don’t have external speakers.

Upgradeability

It is easy to open the laptop. All you need is a bit of space and a Phillips-head screwdriver. TUF Gaming F17 can accommodate additional components, while other parts can be changed.

You’ll see two RAM slots once inside. Our review machine used only one place to store an 8GB module. These slots can hold up to 64GB and are accessible through a small shield. You can add another PCIe SSD to this slot, but it may not be used depending on the configuration. Battery Life of the Asus TUF GamingF17

TUF Gaming F17’s battery lasts less than its rivals. It lasted only one hour and 47 mins while we logged on to the internet continuously at 150 nits brightness. The MSI Pulse GL66 lasted for 3:14, while the Acer Predator Triton 300SE lasted 6:40.

Preloaded Armoury Crate also has settings that allow you to turn on iGPU mode, which will save power. This option disables discrete GPU or GPU applications to save energy when you aren’t gaming.

Heat

We measured the temperature at various locations near the Metro Exodus benchmark to get an idea about the heat profile. It reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit between the G and H keys. However, the temperature at the touchpad was around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The test’s underside reached a maximum temperature of 112 degrees Fahrenheit.

Although the keyboard was warm, it didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. Although it’s more generous than the room temperature, you don’t feel like your fingers are burning while using it.

Webcam

TUF Gaming F17 has a 720p webcam integrated into the lid’s top center. This will suffice for basic conference calls and streaming. However, if you need something more serious, get one of the leading external webcams.

As far as sharpness is concerned, the image quality was good. There was minimal pixelation, and the objects were visible. However, blurring can be caused by movement, and the colors weren’t as vivid as I would like. No matter how bright or dim the lighting, saturated objects of any color looked muted and earthy no matter what.

Software and Warranty

The Asus TUF Gaming F17 includes several Asus apps. Armoury Crate can be used to adjust audio settings and control RGB lighting. Although it will ask you to create an account, it will still work without one. Asus also offers system diagnostic tools to help you fix common issues such as network connectivity. You can also access additional links to Armoury Crate to customize your settings.

As part of Windows OS, some applications are pre-installed. Spotify was added to allow users to sync their music libraries. You can also get Xbox Game Pass, which gives you free access to over 100 PC games. Standard MS applications such as Groove Music or MS Office Tools can be used to view and access Office files. Mixed Reality Portal is an app that allows you to access a wide range of VR-related games. You can also use the Nvidia Control Panel to adjust GPU settings.

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