If youre looking at theAsus TUF Gaming A14this time ofyear, youre probably getting the early jump onback-to-school shopping.
The newAMD Ryzen 9 AI HX 370 chipeasily beats Intels Meteor Lake lineup from earlier this year.
It feels more like an ultrabook than a gaming laptop.
© Artem Golub / Gizmodo
It runs quietly, even under stress, and can still play graphics-intensive games at fair framerates.
It’s only held back by its short battery life and limited RAM.
Thats stretching its budget nature, especially without the usual gaming accouterments.
Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo
The sticking point is thatyou cant upgrade the memory in this machine.
Youre stuck with the base 16 GB.
Thats good enough for most tasks and gaming, but I imagine many scenarios when youll want more.
Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo
The aluminum frame doesnt buckle or bend too much despite the pressure of my hands and fingers.
The palm rests were sturdy and never grew too warm, even under strain.
And it will still look pretty presentable after you handle it.
Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo
The keyboards weighty feel of its keys for a relatively cheap laptop surprised me.
The trackpad, meanwhile, is just fine.
Its not a skating rink or a gravel patch.
At the very least, I had minimal issues with palm rejection on my medium-sized hands.
The 14-inch laptop has an IPS LCD with a max refresh rate of 165 Hz.
The display hit 236 nits peak brightness at 25% of the screen.
Its not incredible, but I wasnt expecting too much from a budget laptop.
The only thing marring this design is its lack of upgradability.
The PC comes with two SSD slots.
The Ryzen 9 AI HX 370 outperformed the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H cleanly throughout all our benchmarks.
It also stacks against the ARM-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite powering Microsofts AI-centric Copilot+ PCs.
The chip outperforms Intels mid-range laptop chip by sizable margins.
Thats more than a minute faster than the Intel Core Ultra 7.
In several more recent games, I managed to get it to 60 FPS with high prefs.
It was consistent during browsing, writing, or taking video calls.
I was surprised how consistently the battery drained at just a few decimal points off 25% per hour.
But come on, we all know its a big gaming laptop with that large Alienware logo on it.
The TUF Gaming A14 is such a surprising beast in its unassuming package.
That TUF logo is so hidden on the backplate that most people cant read it except in direct light.
Its a strong contender at $1,500.
Theres also the issue with upgradability and the limited RAM you get on-gear.
Hopefully, youre working where it’s possible for you to access a plug because youll need it.
Just remember to turn the fans down in class if youre everahemtaking very intense lecture notes.
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