Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition: Two-Minute Review
Asus has opted for an all-AMD hardware build for its new Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition (FA617XS) gaming laptop. As an Asus TUF model, that probably makes sense. After all, TUF is Asus' most affordable gaming brand.
Despite that, the specs and hardware seem good. You get AMD's excellent Phoenix APU with eight Zen 4 CPU cores, plus AMD's latest entry-level mobile GPU, the AMD Radeon RX 7600S.
As for the display, it is an expansive 16-inch IPS panel with 240Hz refresh and 2560 by 1600 pixels. It's a truly stunning display, sharp and responsive and definitely one of the highlights of this Asus Lappie. Along with those top features, there's 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.
As for build quality, the base unit is all plastic but very sturdy, with the exception of a slight flexing smell just above the keyboard base. Meanwhile, the screen cover is alloy and lush to the touch. All told, it feels exactly what it is, the slightly more affordable option from a premium brand.
The same goes for performance. For the most part, it's on par with an RTX 4060 laptop in gaming. The condition, of course, is that it applies to conventional raster games. Enable ray tracing and the Nvidia GPU will have a big advantage. Nvidia graphics also offer superior upscaling and framing technology.
It's worth noting that AMD's Smart Access Graphics technology, which switches between integrated and dedicated graphics, can be a bit buggy. Still, the APU offers fantastic battery life for web browsing and movies of over 10 hours.
So, this is a pretty good machine overall. But the more you value the gaming experience, the harder it will be to ignore the Nvidia RTX 4060's obvious choices among our top gaming laptop picks.
Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition: Price and availability
- How much does it cost? €949.99
- When will it be available? Available now
- Where can you get it? Available in the UK (other configurations available in the US and Australia)
The Asus TUF A16 FA617XS is currently only offered in the UK for just under £950, but you can find some of the other configurations in the US and Australia for around $1,000 (closer to $2,000 AUD).
Not a bad price for the overall specs, build and performance. The only problem is that you can get similar laptops with Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics for just a little more money, like the Acer Predator Helios 16 and the HP Victus 16. That's probably where we'd spend our money.
Value: 4/5
Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition: Specifications
The Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition FA617XS comes in just one configuration (although the TUF A16 Gaming Advantage line has four configurations to choose from).
| Price: | €949.99 |
| UPC: | AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS (8 cores) |
| Graphics: | AMD Radeon RX 7600S 8GB |
| RAM: | 16GB DDR5-4800 |
| Screen: | 16 inches, 2560 x 1600 (IPS, 240 Hz, 3 ms, 100% DCI-P3) |
| Storage: | 1TB SSD |
| Ports: | 1x USB4, 1x USB-C, 2x USB-A, 1x HDMI, 1x LAN, 1x 3.5mm audio |
| Wireless: | Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Camera: | 720p webcam |
| Weight: | 4.85 lbs (2.2 kg) |
| Dimensions: | 35.5 x 25.2 x 2.68 cm (13.98 x 9.92 x 1.06 inches) |
Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition: Design
- Solid construction
- Decent materials
- Thin bezels
Asus has gone with its signature TUF design language, which means plenty of gaming without being overtly teenage. The Asus TUF A16 FA617XS's display lid is made from a lush alloy, which is a nice touch, while the rest of the system is carved from sturdy plastic, including a particularly sturdy textured bottom cover.
The keyboard is smooth and tactile with a nice solid base. The only exception is a flexing smell on the top cover, just above the keyboard. The trackpad is also nice and large, with a super slick surface – it's nice to use. By the way, the keyboard is limited to white backlighting. There is no programmable RGB, but it is reasonable at this price.
Asus has designed slim bezels for a 90% screen-to-body ratio. This is useful on a 16-inch laptop when it comes to maintaining portability. This is not an overly large or heavy system by gaming laptop standards.
Less successful is port placement. The combination of USB4, USB-C and USB sockets, plus HDMI and LAN is fine. But they are all on the side of the chassis along with the barrel connector for the main power supply, which is located right in the middle of the left side. Some ports on the rear of the chassis would be much preferable, although the TUF's display hinge design prevents this.
Design: 3.5/5
Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition: Performance
- Decent overall performance
- Big screen
- An RTX 4060 would still be preferable
Let's address the obvious question right away. How does the AMD Radeon RX 7600S GPU compare? It's basically a slightly scaled-down version of the desktop 7600 and typically runs just shy of an Nvidia RTX 4060 mobile GPU in most games, although it can occasionally be a bit faster.
The problem is that if you enable ray tracing in any game, like Cyberpunk 2077 As an obvious example, frame rates actually drop and much more so than with an RTX 4060.
Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition: Benchmarks
Here's how the Asus TUF A16 FA617XS performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark: Night Raid: 56,533; Fire Strike: 22,648; Time Spy: 9,354; Geek Bank 6: 2686 (single core); 12281 (multicore)
Total War: Warhammer III (1080p, Ultra): 64fps; (1080p, low): 144 fps
Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, Ultra): 53 fps; (1080p, UltraRT): 11; (1080p, low): 78 fps
Dirt 5 (1080p, Ultra): 75 fps; (1080p, low): 150fps
TechRadar Movie Battery Life: 11h:03m
The Nvidia GPU also offers higher resolution scaling as well as better frame rate. So for gaming, it's pretty clear that a laptop with RTX 4060 would be preferable. That said, the Asus TUF A16 FA617XS will handle pretty much any game at max 1080p settings (bar ray tracing) with a reasonable lick. For demanding titles, look for around 60 fps.
Of course, this laptop has a beautiful 2560 by 1600 display, and at that resolution you'll see the frame rate drop into the low 30s. Of course, you can use AMD's FSR scaling to improve it at a slight cost in terms of quality of image. That high-resolution display is arguably a bit more than the AMD GPU can really handle. But it's a really wonderful thing, super sharp thanks to all those pixels, fast in terms of response and update, precise and quite bright. It's clearly above the screen of an average budget gaming laptop, that's for sure.
Otherwise, the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS is all the CPU you'll ever need, with eight powerful AMD Zen 4 cores and a great clock speed with a boost speed of up to 5.2 GHz. There's also a fast 1TB SSD (although with SSD prices now so low, a 2TB drive would be nice) and 16GB of fast DDR5 RAM. Gaming aside, this has all the performance you could reasonably ask for.
Performance: 3.5/5
Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition: Battery life
- Super efficient AMD APU
- Excellent battery life for a gaming laptop
Obviously, battery life isn't usually a strong point for most gaming laptops. But this is where the all-AMD technology of the Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition (FA617XS) really pays off. Thanks to the integrated AMD APU graphics and Smart Access Graphics GPU switching technology, which allows the TUF to automatically switch between the integrated GPU and the dedicated Radeon RX 7600S chip, this laptop is capable of supporting more than 10 hours of light use and media consumption. away from the electrical grid. That's very impressive.
Battery life: 4.5/5
Should I buy the Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition?
Buy it if…
Don't buy it if…
Also consider
If our Asus TUF A16 FA617XS review has you thinking about other options, here are two laptops to consider…
How I tested the Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition
I gave the Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition (FA617XS) a solid workout over a full week of gaming and general computing. It took care of every task, from basic web browsing to loading my entire Steam library and watching movies.
As for games, I ran all my favorites from Counterattack 2 to Cyberpunk 2077. It was interesting to get an idea of how this AMD GPU compares to Nvidia's familiar RTX 4060. Overall, it's good news, but in the end, it's hard to argue against all those extra features from Nvidia.
Testing the battery life was also interesting. On most gaming laptops, you can almost see the remaining charge indicator reduce in real time. But this continued to progress. Watching it show over 90% after the first hour of playing the movie was a revelation. Clearly, this laptop lasts longer than the vast majority of gaming laptops.
First review in December 2023