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On opening the laptop, there are even more design choices to appeal to gamers. There’s the almost obligatory RGB lighting for the keys, and the all-important WASD keys are further highlighted with a translucent coloring, leaving you in no doubt that this is a laptop for gaming on. This article is a detailed review of their latest TUF Gaming A15 FA506 update, based on an AMD Ryzen 4000 platform and Nvidia RTX graphics. Launched in the first half of 2020, this model follows up on the highly popular Asus TUF FX505 models of 2019, and they’re more than just a hardware bump. Specification: Asus TUF Gaming A15 FA506IC-DS71-CA (15.6 Inch 144Hz FHD/AMD Ryzen 7 4800H/Nvidia RTX 3050 4GB Graphics/16GB RAM/512GB SSD/Windows 11)
Asus TUF GAMING A15 FA506IC-HN010T (Gray) 15.6in FHD IPS Asus TUF GAMING A15 FA506IC-HN010T (Gray) 15.6in FHD IPS
I’m seeing some people complaining about ghosting on this screen. I don’t have the right tools to test for input lag and response time, and as far as I can tell the gaming experience was OK in the titles that I’ve tested. Nonetheless, this is something to further look into, especially if you’re interested in playing fast action games. The TUF FA506IV gets a fairly complex thermal module, with two large fans (with dust exhaust channels) and several heatpipes. This is a slight redesign of the thermal module on the FX505VD with the same sort of GPU, but keep in mind the intake has been revamped as well, and the Zen2 architecture is more efficient than the previous AMD platform. With less intensive games, like Fortnite or CS:Go, you’re going to be able to really take advantage of the 144Hz screen for fast and responsive gameplay. And don’t forget this is the higher-end configuration, but lower-tier versions with Ryzen 5 processors and GTX graphics might offer even greater value for their price. Final thoughts The standard Asus test environment for battery life is as follows: Windows operating system, display module with 150 nits of brightness, lighting off, and other application settings.The testing regime includes the requirements of both military-grade standards and ASUS quality tests, and varies depending on device. MIL-STD-810 testing is conducted on selected ASUS products only. Note that the MIL-STD-810 testing helps to ensure the quality of ASUS products but does not indicate a particular fitness for military use. The test is performed under laboratory conditions. Any damage caused by attempts to replicate these test conditions would be considered accidental, and would not be covered by the standard ASUS warranty. Additional coverage is available with ASUS Premium Care. This is a highly-specced configuration of the ASUS TUF Gaming A15 FA506, but Asus offers the series in a few different versions. Base models start with an AMD Ryzen 5 4600H processor, 8 GB of RAM, Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics and a 48 Wh battery (TUF Gaming FA506II), while mid-range units get more RAM and GTX 1660 TI graphics (TUF Gaming FA506IU).
ASUS TUF Gaming A15 Ryzen 5 4600H 8GB 512GB SSD RTX 3050 ASUS TUF Gaming A15 Ryzen 5 4600H 8GB 512GB SSD RTX 3050
But then again, this costs less, performs spectacularly well for its class and price, and doesn’t majorly compromise on any important aspect that could perhaps kill it for some of you. All in all, Asus did a really good job with this laptop and I’m confident it’s going to be highly popular throughout 2020. Next, we’ve run the entire suite of tests and benchmarks, first of all on the Performance profile in Armoury Crate. With that in mind, though, here’s what we got on our review unit, with the screen’s brightness set at around 120 nits (~70 brightness). We’ve talked elsewhere about how AMD’s Ryzen 4000 mobile processors could transform gaming laptops, and the Asus TUF A15 is a great example of this, with eight cores and 16 threads bringing a level of power we’d expect to see in much more expensive laptops.There’s a 90Wh battery inside this TUF Gaming FA506 version. Asus offers the series with either a 48 Wh (and HDD cage) or a 90 Wh battery, and I’d recommend opting for the latter. Update: I think I figured out what’s going one here. As shown in those pictures above, there’s a heatpipe that goes right next to the main SSD, and that is what’s causing the drive to get hot. I experienced the exact same behavior on the A15 FA506IU we’re currently reviewing, but not on the A17 FA706II, which is the lower-tier GTX 1650TI configuration that doesn’t require that heatpipe. You can also notice that Asus wrapped the SSD in a thermal shield, but that’s not enough to keep it cool, and the high temperatures could lead to potential long-term reliability issues. Next, we ran some of our combined CPU+GPU stress tests on this notebook. 3DMark stress runs the same test for 20 times in a loop and looks for performance variation and degradation over time, and this unit passed it with flying colors. Luxmark 3.1, on the other hand, fully loads both the CPU and GPU at the same time. The GPU constantly runs at 90W, however, the CPU is not properly recognized by this test.
ASUS TUF Gaming A15 FA506 | Laptops | ASUS United Kingdom ASUS TUF Gaming A15 FA506 | Laptops | ASUS United Kingdom
So, this isn’t a gaming laptop that’s stuffed full of the most powerful tech, but it offers excellent performance with modern games at a price point that's a lot more affordable than those of high-end gaming laptops. That’s a win in our book. We’ve come to never expect too much from a gaming laptop when it comes to battery life, but the Asus TUF A15 doesn’t do too badly here, with the PCMark 10 battery life benchmark, which replicates moderate use, taking five and a quarter hours to drain the battery.It’s a good selection, and should allow you to hook up your favorite peripherals without the need of an adapter. The LAN port is especially welcome on a gaming laptop, offering as it does faster and more reliable network speeds.
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