There is a lot of excitement and anticipation surrounding the new 4000-Series AMD Ryzen processors, and the Asus TUG Gaming A15 is set to be the first gaming laptop to be launched in the country, with one on board. The TUF Gaming A15 we got for review is powered by Ryzen 7 4800H, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660Ti, 16GB DDR memory and ample storage. Let’s see if this new machine is worthy of all the hype surrounding it.

Asus TUF Gaming A15 Review Gaming Performance

Let’s put it bluntly. How can Asus TUF Gaming A15 match its original purpose? Bloody curse is good! The Ryzen 7 4800H and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660Ti are an awesome combination that pushes most modern titles well above the minimum 60fps. We tested several popular games running at 1080p in their high and medium preset graphics settings. The average frame rate is in the chart below.

When testing gaming performance, we noticed that Nvidia GTX 1660Ti had the highest usage, while CPU usage was around 60 percent. This leads us to believe that if the Ryzen 7 4800H has enough headroom left that if it is paired with a high-end GPU, like the RTX 2060, users can get a higher frame rate from this machine.

Review Asus TUF Gaming A15 Creative Workload Performance

Creative professionals who can’t afford the MacBook Pro usually turn to gaming machines to meet the demands of their creative careers. It’s only now that OEMs are beginning to realize the potential, and as such, are specifically tuning in to double their gaming laptops as editing machines. To this end, Nvidia has even developed studio drivers for their GeForce GPUs to enhance the functionality of photo, video and 3D creation tools. We tested how long it would take to export a batch of 50, 100, 250 and 500 RAW files from the Adobe Lightroom Classic shot on the Nikon D800. We compared the export time with last year’s Ryzen 7 3750H powered Asus ROG Zephyrus G (GA502). The numbers are staggering, to say the least. Asus TUF Gaming A15 completes virtually all export work Half Time.

Asus TUF Gaming A15 Review Benchmark Performance

We have set many benchmarks on the Asus TUF Gaming A15 and again, the new AMD Ryzen 7 4800H has shown some significant performance jumps not only compared to the previous generation AMD processors but also to the Intel chips offered in this segment. Below are some of our test benchmark results We’re already impressed with the TUF Gaming A15’s gaming and editing skills, so at the moment, benchmark numbers are just for hammering point home.

Asus TUF Gaming A15 Review Display

Display is an important component of gaming machines and to that end, Asus strives to provide as many parameters as possible. We get an IPS-level full HD monitor with a refresh rate of 144Hz and adaptive sync. On paper, it looks great, but in practice, things are a bit different. Although the monitor managed to hit its advertised 144Hz refresh rate in the Blur Busters UFO test, we noticed that the response time was not the fastest for the panel. While this was not a problem for the campaign modes of the games we played, some gamers may find it problematic during competitive online gaming sessions. Content makers will not be happy because the display is not very bright or capable of full sRGB color reproduction. We noticed a maximum brightness of 294 lux using our Lux meter, with good uniformity across the edges. Color reproduction is also not the best, but viewing angles are the signature of IPS displays If your editing doesn’t involve color-sensitive work, the display won’t be a problem, but if you’re grading color, the display is going to be an absolute deal-breaker.

Battery life

The Asus TUF Gaming A15 manages to pack a 48Whr battery into its chassis, and the new Ryzen 4000 series processors promise to be more forgiving in battery life. We tested this using the PCMark 10’s multiple battery benchmarks. At the gaming benchmark, the laptop lasts 45 minutes. Modern office testing, which mimics battery life for everyday work, has increased battery endurance to 2 hours and 48 minutes. We’ve complemented PCMark’s tests with our own one. Using laptops unplugged for regular workdays, the TUF Gaming A15 lasted two and a half hours, which is not bad by any metric.

Keyboard, trackpad and IoT

The Asus TUF Gaming A15 packs a very tried and trusted keyboard and improves one of the biggest problems with trackpads found in past TUF series laptops. The keyboard is virtually the same as the Scar and Hero series laptops. This means you will get 1.8mm travel and of course RGB. The keyboard has a single-zone RGB configuration, although we would prefer at least a 4-zone RGB light. The arrow points are slightly shorter and the closer they are to each other, the harder it is to use while gaming. WASD keys, on the other hand, are great. Asus makes the WASD keys semi-opaque which adds a nice visual touch, but a fan under the key keeps the keys cool and sucks in the cold air. This is a huge boon for gamers as most of the keyboards on gaming laptops get very hot.

Once on the trackpad, you get a smooth surface to glide your fingers, but the best part is that Asus has finally put separate buttons on the trackpad, making both of them much more usable. While you may not be able to get headshots using a sniper rifle while playing on the trackpad, it is still usable in most gaming situations that do not require precision or high-speed movement.

Finally, we got a great selection of ports. On the right is a single USB 3.0 port while on the left is an Ethernet port, a full size HDMI port, two USB 3.0 ports and a Type-C port. Finally, gamers also get a combined headphone / microphone 3.5mm jack. It’s nice that Asus has bundled all the ports on the left, keeping the right clean so that your hand can move freely when using the external mouse.

Construction and design

The Asus TUF Gaming A15 weighs 2.3 kilograms and is less than an inch thick in its thinnest state. It’s not a very thin or super light machine, but it’s because Asus packed a lot of copper into this thing. Lots of copper pipes running over the CPU-GPU, but even on the side and rear vents, copper blocks are available for better heat exchange. The back of the laptop looks almost like a sports car, with bright copper peeking through the black grills.

Although the foundation of the laptop is very strong, the lid is where we find ourselves a little disappointed. There is a lot of flex for someone’s choice and there are also some games on the wrist. We don’t expect the hinge to loosen over time, but it would be nice not to show a flutter.

Judgment

I think this is the first of many moments of fascination. The Asus TUF Gaming A15 is heavily enhanced by AMD Ryzen 7 4800H and Nvidia GeForce 1660Ti. The combination is perfect for those who want to enhance their gaming experience beyond the 60fps mark. The TUF Gaming A15 also makes a great render station, capable of exporting large amounts of RAW files in a faster time than we’ve ever seen in this price bracket and then some. We do not recommend using the machine for any kind of color-sensitive editing, as it is less than stellar color accuracy. However, as an authentic gaming machine, the Asus TUF Gaming A15 checks all the correct boxes.