Ventajas
- Keyboard with RGB Backlight
- Full HD 144 Hz IPS display
- AMD Ryzen 5 4600H
- GeForce GTX 1650
Inconvenientes
- No SD card reader
- 3-hour battery life
If you're looking for a laptop to play with, but don't want to spend a lot of money on expensive equipment, the ASUS TUF Gaming series is a great place to start looking, due to the balanced price-quality ratio of its latest models.
It is with this premise that we arrive at this review of the Asus TUF Gaming FA506IH-AS53, where we will know in-depth its most outstanding features, and thus facilitate the process of deciding between this laptop or another one that better fits your user needs.
In addition to boasting a competitive price, this model has received excellent reviews from its buyers, who highlight its attractive and ergonomic backlit keyboard, the incredible 144 Hz FHD panel, and the fluidity of the GeForce GTX 1650 graphics when playing games.
Index
- Who's it for?
- Technical specs
- Design and display
- Performance
- Storage and graphics
- Battery life and connectivity
- Verdict
Who's it for?
The Asus TUF Gaming FA506IH-AS53 is recommended for those who are looking for a rugged and versatile device, not only for gaming but also for video editing, photo retouching, and other medium-to-high demanding tasks.
To achieve this, this model is supported by a new generation AMD Ryzen 5 processor and a fast SSD, and incorporates a USB-C input with DisplayPort 1.4 support, so you can connect an additional monitor, and thus enjoy greater productivity/legendary gaming sessions.
Tech Specs
| Marca/Modelo | Asus TUF Gaming FA506IH-AS53 |
| Dimensions | 14.5 x 10.1 x 0.98 inches |
| Weight | 5 pounds |
| Display | LED IPS-Level (15.6 inches) | 144 Hz |
| Resolution | Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 4600H (6 cores, max 4.00 GHz) |
| RAM | 8 GB (DDR4) |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (4 GB) |
| Storage | 512 GB (SSD) |
| Battery | 3 cells (Li-Po) |
| OS | Windows 10 Home |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 5 Bluetooth 5.0 RJ-45 USB 2.0 USB 3.2 (x2) USB Tipo C (Compatible with DisplayPort 1.4) HDMI 2.0b Audio combo HD webcam microphone |
A Robust build
The design section of this laptop boasts the benefits of the MIL-STD-810H certification. It is a military standard with a matte black brushed finish, which guarantees the high durability of its cover, work area, and other manufacturing components by delivering a better resistance to falls than ordinary laptops. What's more, this laptop was also built to withstand high and low temperatures, managing to work at 49 degrees celsius and below 32 degrees celsius.
Its thickness of 0.98 inches and weight of just above 5 pounds make it a compact device when it comes to transporting it; while the chiclet-style integrated keyboard delivers a comfortable travel distance (critical for gamers), customizable RGB backlighting, and large directional keys to play more comfortably.
The 15.6-inch matte screen of this laptop occupies practically the entire front face since its frames have been reduced notably to provide a more pleasant viewing experience (and welcome to laptop to 2020).
In addition, its Full HD resolution, IPS technology, and 144 Hz refresh rate allow you to enjoy clear, immersive, and fluid gameplay sessions.
Top-notch performance
Moving onto the hardware section, we've got a powerful AMD Ryzen 5 4600H leading the pack. Specifically, this CPU packs 6 cores and works at a base 3.0 GHz clock speed, going up to 4.0 GHz when we're taking things to the limit.
It also has a 3 MB L2 cache, an 8 MB L3 cache and a RAM defined by an 8 GB DDR4 module -running at 3200 MHz-, which you can expand to 16 GB or even up to 32 GB, depending on your particular needs. Fortunately for us, Asus is making it really easy to upgrade internals with an easily removable chassis for fast access to the available memory and storage slots.
What performance may I expect?
It goes without saying that this laptop is perfectly suited for tasks such as browsing the web, editing documents, or even doing some back-end programming running on virtual machines. Simply put, this laptop is a powerhouse.
The Asus TUF Gaming FA506IH-AS53 in review mounts an SSD type storage unit, equipped with a capacity of 512 GB and a reading speed fast enough to open applications and games almost instantly. What's more, as mentioned previously, this device also packs an easy access to its internals where you'll be able to easily upgrade storage through the additional storage unit available.
A Storage that changes everything
On the off-chance that you're coming from a laptop that was using an HDD (not likely if you're looking at buying a gaming laptop such as this one) then you should know that the move from HDD to SSD is a dramatic one and one of the best decisions you can make if you value your time as it's essentially night and day on pretty much every task you perform.
As far as graphic performance is concerned, this laptop packs an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card, accompanied by a dedicated 4GB memory, which lends itself to smoothly running a variety of games, including the recent releases Mafia Definitive Edition, Flight Simulator 2020, Horizon Zero Dawn and Serious Sam 4, all of these at high settings, of course.
An unsurprising battery life
One of the few drawbacks of this laptop, judging by the opinions of its buyers, is the performance of the integrated lithium polymer battery since it only offers about 3 hours of mixed-use (office and internet).
Unfortunately, on gaming laptops such as this one, this is pretty standard, it's really hard for you to find a gaming laptop that delivers over the 5-hour mark as these devices were designed mostly to be used as desktop replacements, hence the killer internals.
That said, if you're not looking for a gaming laptop but rather are just interested in a laptop with a good graphics card and prioritize battery life then you'd be better off with the recently reviewed Asus ZenBook 15 UX534FTC-AS77, it comes with the same GPU, stellar i7 CPU, and a beautiful design though it might be a bit more expensive.
What does connectivity look like?
The connectivity section has nothing to envy other gaming laptops, as it incorporates such cutting-edge solutions as Wi-Fi 5 (would've been nice to see WiFi 6 however), Bluetooth 5.0, and a USB-C input with DisplayPort 1.4 interface for external monitors.
It also has an HDMI 2.0 output to connect an additional display, 3 conventional USB inputs for peripherals, an RJ-45 port for Ethernet connection, a 3.5 mm audio jack, an HD webcam for video calls, and a pair of speakers with DTS:X Ultrasound.
What's the verdict?
In short, the FA506IH-AS53laptop from the TUF Gaming series promises to deliver that performance and fluidity you've been looking for, not only when playing games, but also when you need to work on demanding IT projects.
Plus, its military-grade design boasts above-average durability, its 144Hz screen provides extreme immersion in your favorite games, and its connectivity suite will greatly enhance your productivity, thanks to the wide variety of built-in ground connections. Overall, an excellent choice if you don't mind battery life being a bit compromised (as is standard).