It's a bold move, but Asus has gambled on all-AMD hardware for its new Asus TUF A16 (FA617XS) gaming laptop. The reasoning, very likely, is that "TUF" is Asus's more accessible gaming brand, and AMD chips, in particular AMD GPUs are typically that bit cheaper than the Nvidia alternatives.
Not that the TUF's AMD chips are poverty spec. The eight-core Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU is a monster. It's the Radeon 7600S GPU where the money has really been saved. However, outside of gaming, that's a pretty powerful graphics chip. For sure, it has the measure and then some of any integrated graphics and will do a very nice job of accelerating filters and effects in many image and video workflows.
Screen-wise, you get a generous 16-inch IPS panel with 2,560 by 1,600 pixels for plenty of elbow room, albeit you won't be able to view 4K content at full resolution. It also hums along at 240Hz, which is nice but arguably overkill, even for gaming. You're not going to be playing the latest titles at 240Hz with that Radeon GPU.
Despite the gaming remit, the styling isn't overly adolescent and the build is pretty sturdy, which is promising for an overall workhorse. Add in 16GB of RAM and all for around £1,250 and it makes for an intriguing and relatively low-cost alternative to several of the best photo-editing laptops already available. In many respects, performance should be comparable to much more expensive systems including the MacBook Pro with the latest Apple M3 silicon.
Asus TUF A16: Specifications
Asus TUF A16: Design & Handling
The Asus TUF A16's base chassis is all plastic but seriously sturdy. Admittedly, there's just a little flex if you push hard above the keyboard bed. But the screen lid is alloy and lush to the touch.
Speaking of the keyboard, the key actuation is smooth and satisfying, the keyboard bed is very stable and solid and the keys are backlit, albeit white only. There's no full RGB, which isn't a huge surprise at this price point. You also get a nice, big trackpad with a slick tactile surface.
The overall design looks reasonably contemporary thanks to slim bezels around the 16-inch, 2,560 by 1,600 resolution display and a 90% screen-to-body ratio. That helps to keep the TUF reasonably compact for a 16-inch system. As this class of laptop goes, this isn't a particularly monstrous or overly heavy portable. The design language is also fairly low key for a gaming-centric laptop, which is welcome if you want to take it to work or into meetings.
Arguably less successful, design-wise, is the port placement. There's a decent provision of connectivity, including USB4, USB-C and USB sockets, plus HDMI and LAN. But they're all located along the sides of the chassis. So is the old-school barrel connector for the power supply. In fact, that's rammed precisely in the middle of the left chassis side and really isn't terribly ergonomic, especially for anyone who is a lefty mouse user.
Ideally, it would be far preferable to have at least some of the ports, including power and video interfaces, for instance, on the rear of the chassis. However, the way Asus has designed the hinge, that's basically impossible. Pity.
Asus TUF A16: Performance
AMD's Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU is a known quantity and basically an eight-core beast of a CPU. As laptops go, it's got all the performance you could reasonably ask for whatever the workflow, be that editing huge RAW images or encoding 4K video timelines. Given the low cost of this laptop, the sheer CPU power on offer is spectacular, especially when you consider you'd need to speed over two times as much to get a MacBook Pro with similar grunt.
More of a mystery for most buyers will be the AMD Radeon RX 7600S GPU. In simple terms, it's a cut down version of the desktop RX 7600. In a more relevant mobile context, it performs just a touch below an Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU in most games. Well, until you enable ray tracing at which point the frame rates dive and much more so than an RTX 4060.
If you want a pure gaming system, something with an RTX 4060 would be preferable, therefore. However, in the context of a broader remit including content creation and with gaming as a sideshow, the AMD RX 7600S is a pretty decent GPU. It's unlikely you'd notice any shortfall versus the Nvidia GPU when it comes to accelerating effects and filters, for instance.
The 16-inch IPS display, meanwhile, is definitely a winner. For really high-end workflows, you might miss native support for full 4K content. For everything else, this is a super sharp screen, with extremely zippy response and plenty of speed courtesy of 240Hz refresh. OK, it can't compete with a MacBook for HDR sizzle. But at this price point, it's a definite positive.
For the record, you also get a nippy 1TB SSD, which is fair enough for the money, and 16GB of fast DDR5 RAM. Again, you might want to upgrade those elements for the most demanding applications. But it's a strong spec list for the price point.
The same goes for battery life. This is one metric where cheaper laptops tend to fall behind. Big batteries are expensive, so that's where system makers try to save some pennies.
Battery life obviously isn't normally a strong point for most gaming laptops. But this is where the Asus TUF A16 FA617XS's all-AMD technology really pays off. Not here, however.
Perhaps it's a benefit of having dual AMD chips nicely integrated. But whatever the reason, you can expect over 10 hours of video playback or other light use away from the mains. You'll get a lot less if you do anything really intensive. Certainly, Apple MacBooks of all stripes are more efficient under load. But we're back to that value proposition. For the money, the Asus TUF A16's balance of performance and battery life is excellent.
Asus TUF A16: Verdict
Not many laptops add up to more than the sum of their parts. But the Asus TUF A16 review definitely does. On paper, it offers good value, with a particularly strong AMD CPU and a decent graphics chip for a relatively low price.
It's fairly well engineered, too, and won't turn heads in a professional context for the wrong reasons. But the big surprise is battery life that can extend beyond 10 hours. When you add that to a mix that includes huge CPU grunt for relatively little money, the result is a very compelling all round proposition for anyone who wants a genuine high-performance laptop but doesn't want to spend far more. Indeed, you could spend two or three times as much and not get much by way of a meaningful advantage for content creation performance. Impressive, isn't it?
✅ Buy this if...
- The Asus TUF A16 has huge CPU performance at this price point.
- This affordable laptop had surprisingly good battery life of over 10 hours.
- The 16-inch display is a beauty with plenty of pixels and speed.
🚫 Don't buy this if...
- An Nvidia RTX 4060 laptop is a better choice for pure gaming performance.
- AMD's drivers for managing the two GPUs can be a bit flakey.
- This 16-inch laptop doesn't make for the most portable PC on the planet.
