Expert Ratings
Goodness
- Excellent 1080p and esports speed
- Surprisingly good battery life
- Many ports
- Cheaper than most competitors
evil
- Middling AMD processors
- The screen has no light
- No Thunderbolt 4 or biometrics
Our Decision
The Asus TUF Gaming 15’s 2023 incarnation pushes the big boxes with great 1080p and eSports performance, solid processing, decent design and good battery life – all at the right price. It’s not particularly fancy and doesn’t have any special features, but it’s still a steal for its hefty price tag.
If you’re looking for a gaming laptop you might think that your options might be too expensive but that’s not the case with the 2023 Asus TUF Gaming A15.
This year’s model starts at just $1,199/£1,049 and goes up to $1,399/£1,499 so you don’t have to spend too much.
The model I reviewed costs $1,399 in the US but the sweeter $1,199 in the UK. This gives you an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU and a 144Hz, 1080p display – the exact hardware you’ll need to run any game for years to come.
On paper, that’s great. But there is more to success than the main components. Let’s dig in.
Also read: The best PC laptops for every budget
Design & Construction
- Standard military design and MIL-STD-810H testing
- A solid choice of port, even without other options for the future
- Smaller and lighter than its larger counterpart
The Asus TUF model takes inspiration from military equipment, and the 2023 edition still looks like a delivery crate. Create what you want.
Go beyond that – with promotional stickers – and you’ll find a pen with MIL-STD-810H tests to ensure it can withstand shocks, drops, temperature changes and water leaks.
That said, there’s significant movement on the screen, base and keyboard, so I’d still recommend protective sleeves if you frequently take the A15 outdoors.
Most impressively, the A15 weighs 2.2kg and is 25mm thick, so it’s smaller and lighter than the Acer Nitro 5. This isn’t the smallest and lightest laptop, but it’s easy to handle.
You’ll find a manual with MIL-STD-810H tests to make sure it can withstand shock, drop, temperature changes and water leaks.
Mike Jennings / Foundry
There are large USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports on both sides, but the USB 4 Type-C port, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C connector and HDMI, audio output and Ethernet are all connected on the left, which is probably not the case. be prepared for cable management or left-handed users.
The move to USB 4 and HDMI 2.1 are upgrades from the 2022 A15, and AMD’s chipset means no Thunder. You’ll find this, and one additional USB port, on the Acer.
Elsewhere, the A15 has Wi-Fi 6 instead of the 6E, a 720p webcam with no Windows Hello feature and no fingerprint reader. There is Gigabit Ethernet but not at speeds of 2.5Gbps. This is expected to have a cheap edition of the game and will not prevent daily use – and Acer suffers the same.
Keyboard & Trackpad
- Nice interface with extra buttons and RGB LED lighting
- Soft, wet writing that won’t satisfy most gamers
- An inconsistent result means that you will be fine with the mouse
The keyboard could use a little updating, too. The buttons may have a travel of 1.7mm, but they are soft, without the fast feel you will find on the best gaming notebooks.
It is not a tragedy; you can use the A15 for gaming and writing. But if you want a solid keyboard for heavy duty work, you won’t find it here.
Mike Jennings / Foundry
The trackpad is also soft and the buttons are inconsistent, with varying amounts of force required across the pad.
Ergonomic A15 is good but not brilliant. The interface is better, with numbers, more responsive buttons and integrated RGB lighting. There isn’t any difference between Asus A15, Asus A16, and Acer – both are good but not amazing.
Screen & Speakers
- A 1080p IPS panel at 144Hz means you’ve got the pixels and speed of popular games.
- No light means no outdoor play
- Mediocre speakers
There are no major additions to the display on this year’s A15 – a 1080p IPS panel with a 144Hz refresh rate is also visible. You also get G-Sync support alongside Nvidia Advanced Optimus and a MUX switch so it’s easy to run the laptop on mains and battery power.
It’s good for casual gaming and esports, but the screen isn’t fast enough for high-level competition. It doesn’t have the added immersion you get from 16:10 panels or screens with higher resolutions.
Mike Jennings / Foundry
When it comes to quality, there is good news and bad news. Ideally, the A15’s delta E of 1.46 means that colors are accurate and the contrast ratio of 935:1 is good for gaming – popular games will look great here.
Unfortunately, however, the maximum brightness of 290 nits is not enough for outdoor use. And it’s always annoying when something isn’t available – the 2022 version can sometimes be available with 1440p panels and 300Hz refresh rates but there’s no sign of it this year.
Unsurprisingly, you get mid-range speakers in this segment, with non-existent bass and a tinny top-end. Use a headset instead and you’ll have a better time.
Specs & Performance
- AMD Ryzen 7 or Ryzen 9 processors
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, 4060 or 4070 graphics
- 16GB DDR5 memory and 512GB SSD
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU has 8GB of memory and a TDP of 140W, which is at the top of the GPU thermal envelope. Asus has shipped the AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS processor with eight multi-cores and a clock speed of 4.75GHz.
You’ll find a processor in the TUF A16, too, but it’s an oddity when most other gaming laptops — including the Acer Nitro 5 — include Intel chips.
You have enough speed to take on any top single player game for the next few years
The A15 has 16GB of dual-channel memory and a 512GB SSD. That memory is good, but the SSD is small considering the size of modern games. Fortunately there is a small SSD slot inside.
Asus played CyberPunk 2077 on Ultra settings with 88fps average, and returned a still-playable result of 55fps with Ray Tracing and DLSS. A 1080p average of 85fps in Far Cry: New Dawn and a strong 247fps result in Rainbow Six Siege continued the good performance of the A15.
You have enough speed to handle any high-end single-player game for the next few years, especially if you don’t want to run on high settings. There is also enough speed for any eSports game.
Mike Jennings / Foundry
In 3D Mark Time Spy, the A15 scored 10,020 points – almost 1,000 more than the RX 7600S in the A16. This score increased by 600 points in Turbo mode. This is as good as it gets with the RTX 4060 laptop version.
The AMD processor does a good job against the Intel chips. In PCMark 10 the AMD CPU scored 7,132, which surpasses the 6,926 scored by the i5-12500H in Acer and the i7-12700H, which has also been confirmed in PCMark 10. The i5-13500H and i7-13700H do not make a big difference here, either.
In the Cinebench R20 single- and multi-core tests, the A15 scored 579 and 5,241, with the former behind Intel and the latter.
The Ryzen chip’s Geekbench 5 score of 9,291 is about 3,000 points shy of the Core i7-12700H and no higher than the i5-12500H. Its Geekbench 6 score of 10,120 is behind the i7, which is more than 1,000 points better in that test.
Surprisingly, the A15 lasted about nine hours in operation with the brightest display
For everyday browsing, photo editing, multitasking and office work the AMD chip is fine, but if you want real-world productivity you’ll be better off with the Intel i7-12700H.
Good thing Asus didn’t guarantee overheating or loudness. The fans produce only a small amount of wind during normal operation and the noise was not too much of a problem in Turbo Mode.
You even get better battery life. I have two hours of games from TUF A15 – twice as much as Nitro 5. Surprisingly, A15 lasted about nine hours when working with a very bright display and twelve hours when running a bright film reduced to our normal. test placement.
The A16 showed similar long-term results, so there is something good going on in the 90Wh power pack and this is a laptop that can be used all day.
Price & Availability
In the US and UK, the TUF A15 comes with RTX 4050, RTX 4060 and RTX 4070 graphics. The first two GPUs come with the Ryzen 7 7735HS processor, while the RTX 4070 is paired with the Ryzen 9 7940HS.
The RTX 4050 version destroys it $1,199 and £1,049price of RTX 4060 $1,499 and £1,199and RTX 4070 rig will arrive £1,499 but it is not available in the US at the time of writing.
In the US, you’ll find the A15 on Walmart, Newegg and in the Asus Store at different rates, and in the UK, to Amazon, Box, Curries and Asus UK Store.
Mike Jennings / Foundry
These prices match the A16 and compete with Acer. The Nitro 5’s RTX 4050 version costs $999 in the US but it’s currently $1,264 in the UK, so the A15 is better in the UK. Acer’s RTX 4060 model costs $1,299 and £1,399, so the A15 is a bargain.
Check out our charts for cheap cheap laptops I’m looking for the best for laptop gaming if you want solid, reliable storage.
Judgment
Along with a better price, the A15 offers great 1080p and eSports capabilities, superior battery life, an indoor-sized screen, smooth gaming and well-chosen ports inside a durable chassis.
Lacking future-proof connectivity, the screen’s brightness and excellent keyboard dominate the A15’s appeal, and the AMD processor is good – but Intel is still better in most cases.
At this price, however, the A15 overlooks its shortcomings. It’s a decent, fast laptop with no major flaws, so it’s perfect if you want solid gaming power without spending a ridiculous amount of money.
Explanations
- A tested example
- OS: Windows 11 Home
- Display: 15.6in IPS, 1920 x 1080 144Hz
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS
- Memory: 16GB internal
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 8GB
- Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe Ms SSD
- Webcam: 720p
- Connectivity: 1 x USB-C 4/DisplayPort, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C/DisplayPort/Power Delivery, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1, 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x audio
- Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
- Battery capacity: 90Wh
- Dimensions: 251 x 354 x 25mm
- Weight: 2.2kg
- Warranty: 1yr RTB
Editor’s note: This article first appeared on TechAdvisor.com.