The new crop of budget gaming laptops from ASUS are offering RTX30 GPUs at an affordable price
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It’s no secret that AMD has been a few steps ahead of Intel over the last few years. While it is kicking butt in the processor game, AMD is still a little behind when it comes to GPUs. So, matching a Ryzen processor with an Nvidia GPU makes complete sense. However, with the current global chip shortage, it is almost impossible to find any GPUs in the open market without paying an exorbitant markup.
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Surprisingly, in most cases, it might be cheaper overall to get a laptop rocking the latest GPUs. That’s where the Asus TUF A15 comes in at just Rs 1,03,990. It may seem high, but some standalone RTX 3060 GPUs are selling a little under this price if you can even find them, let alone an entire computer.
The latest version of this budget gaming laptop from Asus features a Ryzen 7 5800H CPU with 8 cores, 16GB 3200Mhz DDR4 RAM and an Nvidia 3060 with 6GB GDDR6 RAM. The rest of the specs are impressive as well. The screen is 15-inch Full HD with a 144Hz refresh rate. There are two PCI-E SSD slots on the motherboard. Our test unit came with a 512GB SSD pre-installed in one. There are a whole lot of connectivity options and ports on this laptop as well, including an Audio combo jack, Lan port, 3 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C, WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1. There is also an HD camera built-in with an array mic for a great video conferencing experience. In true gaming fashion, the keyboard is adorned with programmable RGB lights and has something called Overstroke Technology that supposedly increases the key response time.
The battery is massive with a capacity of 90Whr. This of course, affects the weight a bit, the TUF A15 weighs in at 2.3 kg a few hundred grams over a standard laptop.
TUF being the budget brand, the materials used for the computer are plastic. However, the machine has been tested for toughness by successfully surviving the MIL-STD-810H tests.
During tests the computer performed well in all scenarios, it was good for work as well as gaming. I tried several gaming titles on this computer. The 3060 GPU gave consistently good frame rates at Full HD screen on High settings. However, in some games, it did struggle with Ultra settings.
For office work this machine is practically a beast, there was no computing task it couldn’t handle. The keyboard is enjoyable for typing. The included camera performed well on Zoom calls. This machine is also good if you need to do some light 3D rendering.
On the software front, it comes preinstalled with Windows 10 Home and Microsoft Office 2019. I also checked its hardware for compatibility with the upcoming Windows 11 and the machine is fully compatible. It has all the necessary hardware in place, so you can upgrade to Windows 11 for free when the OS will be out later this year.
The TUF A15 is also quiet during regular operations and the overall temperature is not too high. While gaming though, the fan kicks into high gear and it is noisy. It’s not unbearably disturbing, but you can easily hear it whirling away. So, while you might be able to work in a library with this machine, I doubt you could game without disturbing the people around you. Though a little noisy, these fans did a good job of keeping the computer well within range. Even on heavy loads, the GPU temperature was consistently under 80 degrees. This could also be attributed to the ample ventilation this machine has all over the place.
The Asus TUF A15 offers a killer gaming combo of GPU and CPU at a budget that you would struggle to find a GPU, let alone a complete gaming computer. Sure, it isn’t a top-of-the-line GPU, but it performs beautifully and offers this performance on the go. Not to mention the easy accessibility to the internals lets you upgrade this machine whenever you want to without avoiding your warranty. If you are looking for a gaming machine to tide you over while the global chip shortage continues well into the next year, this is a great investment.
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