Asus TUF A15 review: A mighty capable gaming laptop thanks to the AMD guts inside

With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing us to mostly stay indoors and practice social distancing, a majority of people have started spending more time on their laptops - whether it is just doom-scrolling or gaming - than before.

Personally, I’ve spent more hours gaming during the lockdown than I did in all of 2019. If you’re into gaming or just looking to get started, then listen carefully because I’m here to tell you about one of the best budget-friendly gaming laptops in the Indian market today. It’s none other than the Asus TUF A15. The TUF A15 from Asus starts from Rs 60.990 (nearly 815 USD) and comes in two colours - Bonfire Black and Fortress Grey.

The gaming world was given a jolt when Asus announced it was going with AMD instead of Intel. Asus felt it was an inspired decision. Now that the laptops have rolled out to the public, we have evidence of just why they made that choice.

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The laptops under the TUF series - there is also a TUF A17 model - are powered by AMD’s Ryzen 7 Mobile series processors.

I have been using the Fortress Grey version for over two weeks and here’s how it fared.

Design & Build Quality

The TUF line up of gaming notebooks from Asus is not as premium looking as their ROG counterparts. Saying that, they still look nice on the outside and for a mid-ranger, it is quite a solid looker. The design is basic with the TUF logo on the top and a textured finished surrounding it.

Image courtesy: Sahil Bhalla

The laptop is made out of plastic and is prone to easy damage if you drop it or keep brushing it against the walls. The hinge also didn’t feel as solid as I’d have liked.

There’s no bezel-less display - though the bezels are pretty slim - and the overall built is quite thick and chunky coming in at 2.3 kgs. It’s not as portable as some of the other gaming laptops these days but with a relatively cheaper price tag one can hardly complain. Furthermore, it’s not like we’re going away from our desks for long periods these days.

From the moment you open the lid you can see that Asus has made choices clearly targeted at the gamers. The keyboard has RGB lighting while the WASD (very popular keys for gamers) are highlighted with a translucent colouring to help them stand out.

The deck of the TUF A15 has a brushed metal finish. At the back of the laptop, the display hinges sandwich the pair of vents that are meant to keep the laptop cool.

Last but not least, the laptop is MIL-STD-810H tested. This means it can withstand extreme conditions. I wouldn’t recommend drop testing it as the plastic frame can give way but it seems like it’ll handle the occasional bumps and bruises.

The chassis can be opened easily with a screwdriver and allows the consumers to upgrade the machine - RAM and SSD - as per their requirements.

Display

The TUF A15 comes with a 15.6-inch FHD IPS panel. There are two options when buying this laptop. You can opt for a 60Hz panel or a 144Hz panel. The latter is the one to go for if you’re serious about gaming. A high-refresh-rate panel is a must for gamers as it makes the experience that much better.

Image courtesy: Sahil Bhalla

With all that being said, the display is quite dim. This is strictly meant as an indoors laptop. The laptop isn’t meant for photographers or video editors. The colour accuracy is sub-par and just not something I was expecting.

Gamers may not care too much about this but the competition will surely have something to say.

Keyboard, trackpack and ports

What’s good though is the ample choice of ports on the TUF A15. You get a HDMI port, an ethernet port, two standard USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A ports and one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port with support for DisplayPort 1.4. There’s also the power supply port.

The trackpad itself is nothing special and the keys aren’t great for travel. This is decidedly mid-level and Asus could have done some more work in these areas.

Performance

The laptop has three options - Ryzen 5 4600H, Ryzen 7 4800H and Ryzen 9 4900H - for its processor. All three of them are quite capable in their own respect.

Image courtesy: Sahil Bhalla

The unit I’ve been reviewing TUF A15 (FA566) comes with an AMD Ryzen 7 4800H processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a 512GB NVMe SSD and a 1TB hard drive along with the 144Hz display.

I started out reviewing the laptop by playing a casual game called Age of Empires 2: Definite Edition and ended it with some Battlefield V, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and some Need For Speed.

While high-end games won’t run on high settings they’ll run smooth at medium-settings. Lower end and some of the older games will work without a hitch. The laptop also stays relatively cool while gaming thanks to the vents which will come as a relief to many games out there.

Battery Life

One big disappointment, but something which isn’t surprising, is the below average battery life on the TUF A15. The new Ryzen 4000 series processors promises good battery but Asus only chose to pack a 48Whr battery into the chassis. That’s the problem.

I managed to get around 4 and a half hours of battery life with office work and some light gaming. If you game straight while on the battery it’ll die within 3 and a half hours. No one recommends that one should play games without the laptop plugged in.

The same laptop manages to pack a larger battery in the model released in the USa so we wonder why Asus couldn’t have brought it over to India.

Verdict

Asus has managed to stay ahead in the budget-friendly gaming crowd here in India. At a starting price of just Rs 60,990, this is an incredibly good price for those looking to get started in the world of gaming and even those who just like to play for fun.

You’ve got a good build, a laptop that stays cool while gaming and performs exceptionally well for its price.

I’m glad Asus chose AMD over Intel for their gaming laptops in 2020. AMD has really proven itself and is a major threat to Intel. With an Intel chip inside these laptops, Asus wouldn’t have been able to get the price down Rs 60,990.

It’s a strong gaming laptop with just a few issues that we hope Asus is able to fix when their new models are launched toward the end of the year.

Don’t go for its looks but go for the AMD guts inside of it. It’ll comfortably suit all your gaming needs (unless you’re an esports champion) and will even suffice for day-to-day work.