The ASUS TUF Gaming series laptops has been around for many years. It is ASUS’s affordable and powerful range of gaming laptops that comes after their higher-end premium ROG lineup. Hence the TUF Gaming laptops are so popular among gamers who just got started with PC gaming. Due to the cost restrictions, they never really emphasize on the fancy bits such as thin and lights, just focusing on the specs.
Video Review
The First 14-incher TUF Gaming
This year we get to see something different from ASUS – The TUF Gaming A14 is a gaming laptop that strikes a balance between performance and portability, making it a suitable choice for gamers who value both power and mobility.
This is kind of a big deal. The A14 is TUF Gaming’s first ever 14-inch gaming laptop. Back then, it has always been a 15.6-inch laptop with a thick chassis. Why? Two primary reasons – First, the 15.6-inch display is the mainstream display size for laptops. Second, to house a reasonable cooling system for the power hungry CPU and GPU.
So does it mean that the A14 will compromise on the screen and cooling capabilities? No, not at all, the 14-inch display even though is slightly smaller than the 15.6-inch panel, you are not getting any random low quality screen at all. This is a NVIDIA G-SYNC capable display with 2K resolution and 165Hz refresh rate. Even the colour reproduction covers up to 100% sRGB range. It looks amazing in person.
The smaller panel did contributed to a smaller footprint for this laptop. It looks exactly like any other thin and light business laptops, or ultrabooks if it is still a thing. The combination of aluminium alloy and plastic kept the chassis weight at under 1.5kg. If I don’t tell you, you won’t even know this is a gaming laptop.
Military Standard Durability
Even after they shrink the package, the TUF Gaming A14 is still meeting the MIL-STD-810H durability standards. The chassis is reinforced with structural elements to protect the internal components from accidental drops or bumps. The keyboard and touchpad are also designed for durability, ensuring long-lasting performance. Pretty impressive.
Outstanding Performance
So what about cooling performance? Now this is a very delicate topic because we need to touch on the laptop’s overall performance as well. We have AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU.
You can check out our gaming experience video if you’re interested to see for the numbers yourself. Generally, I am very impressed with the gaming performance, especially coming from a laptop of this thin. I could get 50-ish FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 with RT and DLSS. This is all thanks to the 75W base TGP plus 25W dynamic boost TGP configuration on the RTX 4060. That totals up to 100W which is plenty especially for a thin and light laptop like this one.
RTX 4060 Laptop 100W TGP
Previously, We have seen plenty of RTX 4060 laptops that comes with poor TGP configuration, such as the awful 45W with boost. All that performance potential gone to waste and I am glad that ASUS is not taking the same path.
The CPU, Strix Point or Zen5, whatever you call it. It is AMD’s latest architecture update. This 12-core 24-threads CPU does not compromise when it comes to CPU heavy tasks. The base TDP is 28W and laptop manufacturers are able to tune up to 54W should the cooling capabilities allow. Compared with the outgoing AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX3D with 55W base TDP and configurable up to 75W, the new Ryzen CPU basically sips power. This is also the very reason why the GPU is having enough headroom to achieve 100W TGP.
Hence, that brings us back to the cooling. Since the CPU now produces less heat, it gives the GPU more thermal headroom. This is also why you might find the GPU to have higher temperature than before. Nonetheless, the double fan and triple heatpipe cooling setup has done a remarkable job at keeping the temperature in check. Just that the fan noise can get unbearable when Turbo mode is turned on.
The battery life of the TUF Gaming A14 can vary depending on usage patterns, such as screen brightness, workload, and power-saving settings. While it’s not designed to compete with dedicated ultra-portable laptops in terms of battery life, the TUF Gaming A14 can provide reasonable battery performance on the go. The 73Whr battery somehow manage to provide around 7~8 hours of battery life, that is limited to normal work loads such as web browsing. However, don’t expect the battery to last longer than 1 hour if you want to game triple a title on battery.
Overall Impression
At RM7599, I don’t have much to complain except for the RAM. I appreciate that ASUS allows us to add on another stick of 2280 SSD, and that is amazing for a laptop of this size and thinness. However since the RAM is soldered to the board, I certainly hope they could offer 32GB as an option for those who could afford.
The ASUS TUF Gaming A14 is a solid gaming laptop that offers a good balance of performance, portability, and durability. It’s a suitable choice for gamers who want a powerful machine that they can take with them on the go. If you’re looking for something more powerful in the same thin and light form factor, well, you will have to fork out extra for the ROG Zephyrus G14 series that comes with RTX 4070 and RTX 4080.
