ASUS - TUF 15.6" Gaming Laptop - Intel Core i7 with 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 - 1TB SSD - Mecha Grey

I'm gonna start saying that this is my first gaming laptop ever so i'm not an expert. My first impressions about the laptop was great, good built quality and looks awesome, and very comfort keyboard. The laptop comes with 16GB ram and 1TB SSD m.2, however, i upgraded to 32GB of ram (Teamgroup T-force Zeus DDR4 3200MHz CL22 1.20v) and for the second SSD slot with the WD Black SN850X 2TB m.2 (the second slot also supports Gen4 SSD). The gaming is really great, Call of Duty MWIII/Warzone and Forza Horizon 5 runs smoothly at 1080p with High/Ultra settings. The screen is not the best but not the worst, for me is more than ok, i hope soon try with a gaming monitor and see how's run at 1440p. The fans works excellent, in turbo mode are a little bit louder but this is not a problem for me because i use headsets. The bluetooth works excellent too, connect my headsets and xbox controller with 0 lag. Overall, i think this is an excellent gaming laptop, you are be able to play every AAA game with good video quality and higher FPS. The only thing i dont like, is the location of the ports. P.S: In the pictures you can see the speeds of both SSD (the higher is the WD Black) and the FPS in both games.

After doing some research on laptops, I was looking for something that could fairy reasonably replace my desktop build (not exact as the Desktop runs a 16 core / 32 thread CPU, and an RTX 3090) at least good enough that the tradeoff between mobility and performance would balance out. My price limit was $1500, and Macs were out, because their gaming capabilities are weak overall, and they cannot emulate Windows Server operating Systems. Maybe in the future all that will change, but for now it’s a Windows world. I wanted the device to be upgradeable, as I didn’t want the machine to be stuck at whatever generic specs Best Buy had in stock, so I wanted a 2nd Drive slot and removable RAM sticks, as well as Wi-Fi and BT Upgradeable options. I decided to give the budget friendly TUF FX507ZI4 Best Buy configuration (more on that later, as that is a turnoff for some). I do not usually do this much testing, but there were so many questions regarding the laptop, that I decided to see if I could answer them. I used a noise level meter for the sound, my LG C2 OLED to verify the HDMI Port, while using HWINFO to find the panel model and specs of the LCD. Everything else that was tested was purely using web resources or scripts I personally wrote. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Best Buy Configuration • Single 1 TB M.2 Drive • 16 Gigs of RAM (DDR4 3200) • Intel AX201 Intel Wi-Fi / BT 5.2 LE Module (Wi-Fi 6 Dual Band) My Hardware Upgrades • Secondary 2 TB M.2 Drive (Samsung 980 Pro) • 64 Gigs of RAM (DDR4 3200) • Intel AX210 Intel Wi-Fi / BT 5.3 LE Module (Wi-Fi 6E Tri-Band) Most of the troubleshooting and testing were done before upgrading anything. _____________________________________________________________________________________ The Issues I ran into really centered around power efficiency as I couldn’t figure out how a CPU with 8 Efficiency Cores, 6 Performance Cores, and 6 Virtual Cores, had such poor battery life on a 90-Watt Hour Battery when the GPU was set to use Nvidia Optimus and switch between GPUs (probably the biggest battery you will find in a laptop) I was getting less than 4 hours on battery and the performance was stuttering a lot at times. Digging in, I started to try different settings in the Armory Crate and the first success I had was tweaking the core configuration of the CPU (but I found a more permanent solution) … _____________________________________________________________________________________ Below are the configurations I tried and the results, all of which had the Discrete GPU (RTX 4070) enabled. I am basically looking for the best battery life I can get for everyday office and coding apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Chrome, Edge, VS Code, or Visual Studio) as gaming will be plugged in most times. 6 P-Cores, 8 E-Cores = Less Than 4 Hours of Battery Life 4 P-Cores, 4 E-Cores = 6 Hours of Battery Life 5 P-Cores, 5 E-Cores = 5 Hours of Battery Life 6 P-Cores, 2 E-Cores = 5 Hours of Battery Life 6 P-Cores, 0 E-Cores = 10 to 11 Hours of Battery Life The next two I tested were with the Discrete GPU disabled (ECO Mode). 6 P-Cores, 8 E-Cores = Less Than 9.5 Hours of Battery Life 6 P-Cores, 0 E-Cores = 8.5 Hours of Battery Life _____________________________________________________________________________________ This really doesn’t make any sense, but for now I think I’ll just keep the CPU running on full settings and utilize the ECO Mode to disable the discrete GPU when not plugged in and gaming. It is just easier to sacrifice the extra 1 to 1.5 hours of battery so I don’t have to reboot the machine to park the E-Cores. The other issue, Speakers are not very loud and that’s kind of an issue, although it isn’t the worst I’ve heard and I do tend to use the laptop with headphones, it clearly does not live up to those found in the MacBook Pro that’s for sure and I have yet to find a PC with that quality anyway. Fortunately for me, when gaming this isn’t an issue as the laptop is pretty much docked and I use a pair of higher quality PreSonus monitors. These were really the only issues I ran into with the laptop and one is a pretty easy fix through Armory Crate. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Another method I used to optimize the laptop was to create Armory Crate profiles and tie them to the various types of apps and games where I wanted the laptop to run on max or silent profiles. By doing this it will change the settings to performance for gaming and Silent energy efficient setups for Office Applications and the like. The laptop was tested with these settings, so they factored in to the optimal battery life of the unit. _____________________________________________________________________________________ A little bit of information regarding the hardware… LCD Panel - AU Optronics LCD Panel that is capable of roughly 93% sRGB, 144 Hz, and 300 Nits of Peak brightness (That is plenty bright enough for most use cases, some might want better but this is the bare minimum) Discrete GPU – RTX 4070 with 8 Gigs of RAM and up to 8 Gigs of System RAM allocated for use. The laptop uses Nvidia’s Advanced Optimus with a Mux Switch for better battery management. Ports – HDMI 2.1 (4K 120 Hz Compliant) and Thunderbolt 4 (Works for both Power Delivery and Display Out) are the most notable The HDMI Port is fully 2.1 Compliant and capable of 4K at 120 Hz, and it has a full Thunderbolt 4 port that can be used to power the laptop as well as outputting to a display at resolutions greater than 4K. Fan Noise Levels – Silent Mode 39 decibels, Performance Mode 46.5 decibels, and Turbo Mode (under full load) 57.5 decibels. Wi-Fi - delivers between 400 and 500 Mbps download speeds and between 200 and 300 upload speeds on a 1 Gig fiber connection. Primary Disk Speed – 3701.52 Mbps Read Speed and 2641.74 Mbps Write Speed The lid is made of metal and beveled for increased durability. The bottom is a rigid plastic that also feels very good, and the keyboard has very little flexing so it’s very pleasant to type on for long periods of time, even if the 10 key does leave it slightly off centered. The hardware is coated for resistance to antimicrobial elements and Viruses, considering the recent Pandemic, this is actually a very good idea. _____________________________________________________________________________________ One word of caution, Asus requires the laptop be open when running graphics intensive games and applications, as doing otherwise might void the warranty. Now regarding the Best Buy spec for the laptop… Best Buy has been rumored to work with these OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to configure the laptops that reduce cost and optimize profit, and while they’re not usually bad laptops, they tend to be slightly different specs compared to the models you’ll find in other retail outlets. _____________________________________________________________________________________ I would love to see Asus fix the CPU optimization issues and maybe upgrade the speakers in future models, but overall, I’m happy with the basic functionality of the machine because it is very good at gaming and very fast for everything else when you need it to be. Could the screen be better? Sure, it could, but I’m not disappointed with it as it is and 300 nits is fine for day-to-day work (Besides, my external display is a higher resolution OLED with a thousand nits of peak brightness). Anyway, there are no perfect laptops, and this one will take some tweaking to get it tuned how you want it to. I don’t find the tweaking all that bad and honestly the tools seem adequate to get the job done. In the end, if you’re not into gaming, don’t want to tweak the laptop to get the best battery life, and you’re good with money, then you’re probably somebody that would want a MacBook Pro over this. If you’re a PC Gamer, or somebody looking for a powerful midsized laptop that won’t bankrupt you, then this is a very good option for the price and I’m not so sure you’ll find anything better for under $2000.

Purchased almost 8 months ago when it hit a sale price of $1k. Besides one other laptop, you won’t find anything with a mobile 4070 hitting that price point. It was absolutely a steal. A mobile 4070 can handle a lot of recent games on ultra settings at 1080p around the 120, if not 144, Hz mark. And because it’s a 40-series, you bet I’ve tried out ray tracing in Control and Cyberpunk. Don’t expect it to run like a dream with ray tracing, and at 1080p I feel like good graphical effects can about cover what ray tracing accomplishes. That said, if you’re okay with the fans running full tilt and frame rates skipping around the 90-120 range, this laptop will admirably handle ray tracing in a way you wouldn’t believe a mid-tier “mobile” graphics chip could. (Gotta leave that DLSS off though if you care about reaction time. It just generates junk frames that made it harder to move quickly in FPSs.) I’ll also give a shoutout to the ports situation with HDMI, USB-A, USB-C, RJ-45, and even TB4, not that someone purchasing a budget gaming laptop would shell out for a TB4 dock. Especially when you’ve got all those ports! As a side note, the power situation with this laptop is best described as “big.” The 240W power brick that comes with it is nearly the literal dimensions of a brick (which tells you about its power consumption) and the battery in this thing is actually pretty massive. I think it’s 90Wh, and the max battery size allowed on planes is 100Wh, so it’s about as big as they come. Still, battery life ain’t great. This was designed like a motorcycle: fast but doesn’t handle idling well. Even mild activities with the full panel of “battery saver” settings activated, I’d estimate this lasts me 5hrs. But let’s be real. This thing is a compact desktop workstation. Don’t fight it. Just embrace it. Downsides? Three. First, the screen is fairly dim and kinda pale. Usable in a daylit room, but def gonna close any shutters near the screen. No HDR, and colors are more… “laid back.” Like, they definitely showed up for work in the screen today, but aren’t really feeling it. Second, this thing can’t pass for a business laptop. If your only interest is for CAD, you will have to swallow some pride using this in a professional setting. Removing the stickers and adjusting the rainbow strobing vomit keyboard backlights help, but… Third, this laptop has “CAUTION: HIGH FRAMERATE ZONE” printed on the palm rest. No, it’s not a sticker. Yes, this deserved its own point. I’m embarrassed whenever I notice it while alone. It’s like having a misspelled tattoo; you didn’t put it there, but you’ll bear the shame.

I'm seriously so happy that I purchased this laptop after researching which one would suit my needs the most. And I have to say, it's really lived up to everything that I've wanted in a gaming computer. It is very powerful for being a laptop and it's really handled everything that I've thrown at it. I've had mine for a bit over a year now and I'm just now getting to the point where I am in need of an SSD upgrade. However, I'm a Twitch streamer and content creator, so I use a lot of space on my computer for extra things on top of games. So, I feel like it was just a matter of time before things started to get a little full. However, the most important part of this review is, if you are struggling to pick a gaming laptop, or if this is your first time looking into them. In my most honest opinion, I really recommend this one. I know it's a bit pricey but it's really on the low end of the spectrum and it works so well. Plus, it does have some upgradable parts which is super nice. Again, highly, highly, highly recommend!

I'm really enjoying this ASUS TUF Gaming Laptop. It was simple to set up. It has a very rugged yet sleek design. It runs every game that I have just as fast as my desktop computer. I may upgrade the storage capacity and the RAM in the future, but out of the box it works better than expected. The fans are a little loud at times; but with headphones in, they are drowned out by the games. The colors on the keyboard can be changed through Asus Armory Crate to nearly any color to make it more personal. The clear WASD keys make it easy to find them when gaming in the dark. The sound quality is surprisingly good when watching movies. This computer was absolutely the best deal around and I do not have any regrets. Lots of pros and very few cons in my opinion.

The ASUS TUF 15.6” Gaming Laptop is a powerhouse that strikes a perfect balance between performance, durability, and affordability. With its robust hardware specifications, including an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, and a spacious 1TB SSD, this laptop is tailor-made for gamers and content creators alike. Performance Equipped with an Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB of memory, multitasking is seamless, even with resource-heavy applications like video editing software or AAA games. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 brings exceptional graphics performance, supporting ray tracing and high frame rates on demanding titles. Whether you’re gaming in 1080p or pushing it to the limits with creative tasks, this laptop handles it all with ease. Design The “Mecha Grey” color and rugged build emphasize its gaming-oriented aesthetic while maintaining a professional look. The military-grade durability (MIL-STD-810H certification) ensures it can withstand daily wear and tear, making it a reliable choice for both travel and at-home setups. Display and Audio The 15.6-inch display is vibrant and crisp, featuring a high refresh rate that ensures smooth visuals during fast-paced gaming sessions. The narrow bezels further enhance the immersive experience. Audio quality is also impressive, with DTS:X Ultra technology providing clear and punchy sound, perfect for both gaming and multimedia use. Storage and Connectivity The 1TB SSD provides ample storage for games, media, and work files, with lightning-fast read/write speeds ensuring quick boot times and file transfers. Connectivity options include multiple USB ports, an HDMI output, and Wi-Fi 6 for fast and stable internet connections. Cooling and Battery Life The laptop features an advanced cooling system with dual fans and anti-dust technology, keeping temperatures in check during intense gaming marathons. Battery life is decent for its category, lasting around 5-6 hours with moderate usage, but a gaming laptop is typically used plugged in for maximum performance. Conclusion The ASUS TUF 15.6” Gaming Laptop delivers exceptional value for gamers and professionals looking for high-end performance without breaking the bank. Its powerful specs, rugged design, and thoughtful features make it a standout choice. If you’re looking for a laptop that can handle both intense gaming and heavy multitasking, this is a fantastic option. Rating: 9/10 Pros: Powerful performance, excellent display, rugged build, ample storage Cons: Battery life could be better (expected for gaming laptops)

The ASUS TUF A15 is without a doubt the best value for a 4070 gaming laptop. It's not perfect by any means, but the value it offers at this price point is second to none. I used to associate the TUF line from Asus as too cheap for my tastes, but the quality and options for the TUF series has improved dramatically. The case looks pretty cool on the outside. There's a blind embossed logo sitting on the aluminum polycarbonate outside shell. On the inside and bottom there's plastic. There are some nice subtle gaming touches with the logo. The hinges feel firm, almost no keyboard flex, and no wiggle on the display. I would give the design a 10, Asus really nailed it. For a budget laptop it's looking pretty slick. I'll dive right into the Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics card. It's a 140 watt GPU. Specs are 2225MHz at 140W (2175MHz Boost Clock+50MHz OC, 115W+25W Dynamic Boost), 8GB GDDR6, that scores a 12980 on Time Spy (DX12) in Turbo Mode. In the regular performance mode it will come in around 12200. It also scored an impressive 29559 Graphics score on Firestrike for DX11 in turbo mode. This laptop does have a MUX switch for dedicated GPU only operation. With Ultra Settings, 1080p, here are the FPS and temps on a few games: Starfield - FPS Avg: 95, CPU Temp: 85 C, GPU Temp 75 C Alan Wake - FPS Avg: 90, CPU Temp: 80 C, GPU Temp 72 C Cyberpunk 2077 - FPS 95 (80 in intense scenes), CPU Temp: 80 C (Temps did reach low 90s but then settled in around 80 C so there could have been some CPU throttling), GPU: 75 C The CPU is a last generation Intel I7 12700H Processor 2.3 GHz (24M Cache, up to 4.7 GHz, 14 cores: 6 P-cores and 8 E-cores that scores a 15733 on Cinebench R23 Multi core and a 1669 on Single core. It runs at 45 watts and it's based on 10nm tech. It's adequate power for most tasks and gaming. It also comes with Intel Iris Xe Graphics if you want to save battery. Memory is DDR4-3200 so we are also looking at last generation. There's a max capacity of 24GB You have all the ports you need including: 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack 1x HDMI 2.1 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C support DisplayPort™ / power delivery / G-SYNC 1x RJ45 LAN port 1x Thunderbolt™ 4 support DisplayPort I do wish the Type-A USB on the left side was a little higher. It's a little awkward when plugging in a mouse. Wireless is quick with an AX201 160MHz wireless card. It supports 802.11ax. Webcam is 720p and isn't any good. Most don't put much into the webcam but a few will offer 1080p. It will do the job though if you need it for a Zoom or Teams meeting. I would recommend getting an external webcam if you need quality and more frames. There is a Gen 4 1TB SSD for storage, nice to see 1TB in a budget laptop. There is also an additional slot for another SSD. On Crystal Disk Mark I received scores of 5GB Read speed and 3.3 GB Write Speeds for SEQ128K Q32T1. Armoury Crate worked quite well so Asus might have finally offered a stable product here for tuning and options. There's a wealth of information here, practically a performance monitor on steroids with additional settings for keyboard RGB lighting and CPU/GPU modes. I use silent for web browsing and Turbo for Gaming. Thermals were okay. I did hit 90's in some games before it throttled back a little and lowered temps. You will feel the heat in turbo mode if you're playing a graphics intensive game. Keyboard was cool enough, but you will feel some heat so fingers could get a little sweaty. Overall, thermals are nothing special here and that's to be expected on a budget gaming computer. I measured sound in Turbo mode at around 57 decibels and 47 in silent mode with fans on. So not the loudest or quietest system, somewhere in the middle. In my opinion fan noise was never really elevated unless I was gaming. Keyboard is good. There's a 10 key and independent buttons for sound, armoury crate and mic mute. It feels a little soft but you will feel an adequate tactile response. There is 1 zone RGB backlighting and WASD keys are translucent making them easy to find. There's a hotkey on F4 for Aura where you can cycle through static, strobing, breathing, and color cycle. If you open armoury crate, there are 10 options on the keyboard and a creator mode. Display is FHD, 144Hz Refresh with 100% sRGB, Adaptive Sync and Nvidia G-Sync so it covers the bases here. Brightness is around 300 nits. Looks great to me, plenty bright enough. It wouldn't do well outside but who takes a gaming computer outside? The power brick is 240W and easy to carry around or fit into a backpack. It also doesn't get unbearably hot. Battery is 90W and normal for gaming. You will get anywhere from 2 to 6 hours based on whether you are gaming or merely browsing the web/watching Youtube. Overall, this is a great deal for a 4070 gaming laptop. The TUF line has come a long way in terms of quality and design. If you're a gamer on a budget, I would highly recommend you take a look. It checks all the boxes. Asus did their homework on this one. Pros: *Above average power compared to other 4070 laptops *Slick Design Inside & Out *Offers all of the options you need to game, no dealbreakers *No keyboard or Screen Flex *MUX Switch *100 Watt Type-C Fast Charging *Thunderbolt 4 *All the ports you need Cons: *Last generation tech on CPU and Memory *Thermals could be a little better *Port locations would be better higher up the unit or in the back

this beautiful 144HZ IPS 1080p display gives you 140dpi and is the correct monitor for this well balanced laptop. 50% brightness in a well lit room or 35% in the dark. BF 2042 @high settings ,RT off and no frame generation gimmicks that just add lag gives you 120fps with no stuttering. a slight CPU bottleneck is only due to the inability of the cooling system to keep up. the CPU throttles during gameplay @95c 100% @ 4.1GHZ while the GPU runs at 85% and 68c. the included armory crate software lets you adjust the CPU wattage from 28w to 135w. allowing you to manually lower GPU temps to 85 or 90c without noticeable framerate loss. the IETS 500 (best) available laptop cooler allows the CPU to boost about 200mhz higher. a liquid metal repast will probably give a small performance gain also. expecting a lightweight, thin laptop to cool a 14 core processor is just asking too much. Gaming on battery will get you about 2 hours at half the framerate with the dedicated GPU running. I have not tried gaming on the CPU IRIS GPU. the laptop allows for up to 64 GB ram, win 11 is using too much ram and I have seen people raise the 1% low framerate significantly by upgrading to 32GB. an empty M.2 drive bay is also available photos of R23 score, firestrike 3DMARK 1080p and Passmark performance test 11.0 attached