The Asus TUF Gaming A14 is a budget gaming laptop, but banish whatever images that is conjuring in your mind, with a 14-inch display and weighing just over 3 pounds, it is a portability dream.
Asus refreshed the TUF A14 and A16 with the new AMD Ryzen AI (codenamed “Strix Point”) processors just in time for Computex. While we're still waiting on the final pricing and configuration details, everything else we know about it makes that irrelevant.
So how does the Asus TUF Gaming A14 stack up compared to our Best cheap gaming laptops? Our final judgment on that will have to wait until the A14 launches in Q3 2024, but after a quick look at Computex, I have some thoughts.
Asus TUF Gaming A14: Specs
Asus TUF Gaming A14: Pricing and configurations
Multiple models of the Asus TUF Gaming A14 will be available, but as it is a TUF Gaming series laptop it will be on the affordable side, we would expect it to start under $1,500. More details on pricing and configurations will be available closer to the Q3 2024 expected launch date.
Asus TUF Gaming A14: Design
Asus has toned down the design of the A14 compared to previous years. While the A16 maintains a lot of that clear-plastic on the “W”, “S”, “A”, and “D” keys as well as the chassis around the keyboard, the A14 is a more minimalist take on a gaming laptop.
You still get RGB lights and a discrete GPU, but the TUF A14 is a gaming laptop for the student, creator, or professional who wants to be a bit more circumspect about their gaming habits.
What really sets the TUF A14 apart is just how thin and lightweight it is. Weighing just 3.2 pounds and measuring 0.66 inches thick, the TUF A14 is almost an ultrabook in terms of portability. When I picked the A14 up off the display table at Computex I wanted to know where the rest of the laptop was. Sure I had just seen its display turn on and poked around a bit at the keyboard but it was such a lightweight machine I didn’t quite believe my eyes.
Asus TUF Gaming A14: Display
Asus will potentially offer different display options, but a 2.5K 165Hz IPS panel is impressive. Especially on a more budget-friendly system.
The screen on the demo version on the show floor at Computex was bright enough to compete with the overhead lights and strobes of the expo hall, which bodes well for how the IPS panel will fare in our testing. The matte display was also rather glare-resistant, which is a must for a gaming laptop.
Again, we'll need to see if that holds up in our labs and how different configurations perform, but from what I was able to see so far I’m pretty confident that the display won’t be a drawback on the A14 and that's a common stumbling block for affordable gaming laptops.
Asus TUF Gaming A14: Gaming and graphics
The Asus TUF Gaming A14 does only have up to an Nvidia Geforce RTX 4060, so it won’t have the most powerful graphics card out there. But it should be enough to game in 1080p with no problems.
Of course, if you get the 2.5K display then the 4060 may struggle a bit with consistent frame rates at the native resolution. But as long as you’re aware of the drawbacks and opt for a lower resolution, you should still get an enjoyable gaming experience.
Asus TUF Gaming A14: Performance
Because the Ryzen AI processor in the TUF Gaming A14 was just announced this week, we don’t have any benchmarks to gauge the projected performance on. But based on my hands-on experience, the TUF A14 should be able to keep up with Chrome tabs, email, and even Photoshop and Premiere Pro without trouble.
As the TUF Gaming A14 is positioned as a laptop for creators, students, and gamers it does need to be able to run some editing software without problem. But we’ll have to wait on our lab benchmarks and full review to make a proper determination.
Outlook
I still can’t get over just how lightweight this laptop is. For a gaming laptop to be under 4 pounds? That’s incredibly impressive. It’s also thin and hits that 14-inch laptop sweet spot.
Obviously this is just a first look at the laptop and not a final determination, but if it performs as well as the specs indicate it should, the Asus TUF Gaming A14 could become one of the best budget gaming laptops we’ve seen in a while.
