ASUS TUF Gaming A17 (2023) review: Affordable and Powerful

ASUS has multiple lines of gaming laptops for gamers and its TUF series has always been the value-for-money oriented lineup, so, this new TUF Gaming A17 (2023) is here for review, and by the looks of it there seems no visual difference but you have big hardware upgrade here. Now sporting AMD’s new Zen4-based Ryzen 7000 series processors paired with new RTX 40-series GPUs, giving the best out of both worlds, at affordable pricing.

This new ASUS TUF Gaming A17 in India sports up to an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor with 8 cores and Zen4 architecture, while at 35W TDP, it can go over 5GHz, making it both efficient and powerful. While in other countries you get up to RTX 4070 but here you can go up to RTX 4050, which is good enough for 1080p gaming as you also have DLSS 3 at your disposal as well.

You can consider this gaming laptop especially if you are considering a big 17-inch display and want that extra display room for playing games or media consumption or even work as well. Having used this TUF Gaming A17 gaming laptop for a few weeks now here’s a detailed review for your reference:

Table of Contents

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ASUS TUF Gaming A17 Specifications

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS Mobile Processor (8-core/16-thread, 16MB L3 cache, up to 5.2 GHz max boost)
• Memory: 16GB (8GB SO-DIMM *2) DDR5 4800 MHz Support Up to 32GB 2x SO-DIMM slots | Storage: 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU with MUX Switch + NVIDIA Advanced Optimus 6GB GDDR6 VRAM 2420MHz* at 140W (2370MHz Boost Clock+50MHz OC, 115W+25W Dynamic Boost)
• Display: 17.3-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) 16:9, 144Hz vIPS-level Anti-glare display, 250nits, 960:1
• Keyboard: Backlit Chiclet Keyboard 1-Zone RGB
• Design: 2.29 ~ 2.54 cm | 2.60 Kg weight | 90WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion
• Operating System: Pre-installed Windows 11 Home with Lifetime Validity | Software Included: Pre-installed Office Home and Student with Lifetime Validity | McAfee (1 Year)
• I/O Port:1x RJ45 LAN port, 1x Type C USB 4 support DisplayPort, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C support DisplayPort / power delivery / G-SYNC, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A

Design & Build Quality

This particular 17-inch model is similar to the 15-inch Intel or previous 17-inch version and does not exhibit any notable alterations in its design compared to its predecessors. Nevertheless, this should not be regarded as a drawback since the device weighs only 2.60 kg, which is impressively light for a 17-inch gaming laptop.

Additionally, the notebook has a thickness ranging from 22.9 to 25.4mm and is constructed with a combination of plastic and metal materials. Specifically, the lid of the notebook is made of aluminum and looks kind of classy. Despite its large surface area, the notebook as a whole exhibits strong resistance to bending and flexing.

The lid of the device can also be effortlessly opened using just one hand. The upper and side edges of the device have relatively slim borders, with the top edge specifically featuring a small cutout that accommodates the HD Web camera. The TUF Gaming A17 (2023) gaming laptop definitely looks modern and while could have been a bit more premium for most gamers it’s good enough in terms of both design and build quality.

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Display

The TUF Gaming A17 comes with a massive 17.3-inch 144Hz refresh rate FHD IPS display which is one of the key USPs of the laptop but it’s FHD and is not the most color-accurate one. It comes with the same old 16:9 aspect ratio, and up to 250 nits of peak brightness, so unless you really need a big display laptop this particular variant should not be considered especially when you have better gaming displays from ASUS in this price range.

In terms of daily usage, if you use this display at 80% brightness you will be comfortable enough to work with but for gaming, I would always recommend using the Turbo mode and max brightness for best results. I wish ASUS could have also brought the QHD display option in India as well, nevertheless, for budget-minded people this gaming laptop is great and the FHD display is still a decent choice.

The display also supports G-Sync which reduces tearing and gives a stable gaming experience overall. Also for media consumption, you will enjoy this TUF Gaming A17’s display for most cases and overall this laptop does what it should, let’s check the display in our SypderX DataColor Pro tests:

As you see in the display benchmarks the TUF Gaming A17’s display even though is a big one but the quality of it is not the best and falls in the budget category yes a better display could have been provided by ASUS, especially at this price range. The 144Hz refresh rate and G-SYNC are good for gaming but a 65% sRGB color accuracy and 250 nits peak brightness is too low in 2023, so if display quality is your priority then stay away from this one.

Performance

One of the reasons why this TUF Gaming A17 (2023) is worth buying is its great performance promise at affordable pricing, you get an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor paired with 16GB DDR5 RAM and 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage. So, this in itself is a formidable combo to get the maximum performance both for daily work or gaming as well, as experience instant boot and quick launch of applications.

The AMD CPU is also very efficient if you want to use it apart from gaming, also you have the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 graphics for the best FHD gaming performance and even for casual work stuff as well. Having that MUX Switch helps to kill off the GPU when not needed and the RTX 4050 can really perform even better thanks to a higher 140W TGP using the Turbo mode.

The new TUF Gaming A17 gaming laptop is a powerhouse no doubt and is evident in benchmarks as well:

In the benchmarks, you see the Ryzen processor performs quite well, especially in terms of single-core performance which helps in a lot of productivity apps that do rely on that. Overall this gaming laptop performs quite decently in terms of raw horsepower and you will have no issues using it daily with multiple Chrome tabs open or even in heavy apps like Premier Pro or Blender.

As you see in the CrystalDiskMark benchmark too you see the PCIe Gen 4 SSD is fast but not the fastest one I have seen with up to 4680MB/s read and 3547MB/s write speeds but with 1TB of fast storage I wouldn’t mind this even in 2023. Overall, the SSD, RAM, and CPU+GPU combo do give you a good performance, a consistent one really even in 2023 which makes this TUF Gaming A17 quite value-for-money.

Gaming

In gaming too, the new TUF Gaming A17 will not at all disappoint you and to be fair performs quite well in games because of the improved Ryzen 7000 processor along with the newer RTX 4050 GPU. At first, I was quite skeptical about this combo and whether it would give 100+ FPS or not at FHD but to my surprise, the combo along with RAM and fast SSD does result in an amazing gaming experience.

The loading speeds are great because even a heavy game like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was loading within a minute and for a mid-range gaming laptop it’s quite good. While gaming, be it new triple-A or Battle Royal games, the performance remains consistent though I miss the RTX 4060 which could have given a better performance, if the game has DLSS 3 you can enjoy extra FPS for free.

Here are some of the FHD gaming benchmarks for your reference:

So as you see the numbers are quite good but if you need better performance, go for the TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition with a better Radeon RX 7600S, or if you are okay with the gaming numbers you can opt for this TUF Gaming A17.

Connectivity & I/O

In terms of connectivity this TUF Gaming A17 (2023) sports Wi-Fi 6(802.11ax) (Dual band) 2*2 and Bluetooth® 5.3, so the combo does give you full connectivity, during my usage I loved using it with my Wi-Fi with greater range while the Bluetooth connection also worked pretty well.

Most of the ports you have are on the left-hand side, you get an RJ-45 port, an HDMI 2.1, a USB4 port, then a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2) port having both DisplayPort and Power Delivery support alongside G-Sync support as well, you have a  USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port followed by a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the right-hand side, you get a Kensington lock slot and a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, so you have a lot of ports at your disposal.

Keyboard & Trackpad

The ASUS TUF Gaming A17’s keyboard hasn’t changed much from its predecessor which was already very tactile and mushy, you get the same RGB keyboard with a bigger size and a dedicated num pad for those who love bigger keyboards. You can set RGB from the software itself and customize it as per your mood.

Being a 17-inch form factor, ASUS has kept a moderate size for the trackpad which I would say is just usable when you need it and the brand knows most will use a dedicated mouse, so not much innovation here.

Audio & Webcam

The audio on this TUF Gaming A17 is also similar to its predecessor with mediocre loudness but has depth to it, could have been better considering its huge size but still, it’s good overall for casual music streaming or even for a hands-free gaming experience. The HD webcam should have been improved and I hope ASUS upgrades it next time around.

Thermals and Upgradeability

In terms of thermals, I would say the TUF Gaming A17 heats up obviously when it is stretched but is not that much when compared to the Intel processors in the same range. The Ryzen 9 7940HS processor is quite efficient and the thermal design kinds of suits the gaming laptop with minimal heat during normal usage and while gaming too unless pushed to Turbo the heat is generated less.

In terms of upgradeability, you can use this laptop for quite a while thanks to max 32GB DDR5 RAM support you can upgrade whenever you need but the SSD seems to be 1TB which is more than enough for most users I feel, if needed use an external SSD or HDD to transfer games.

Battery Life

Though I mostly used this TUF Gaming A17 gaming laptop using the AC power adapter yes its 90 Whr battery can give 4-5 hours of battery life because of that bigger display. Though it is not a wonder in terms of battery life but is indeed like most other gaming laptops, charges really fast with the brick of an adapter with it.

Verdict

Now, should you buy the TUF Gaming A17 (2023)? Well, if you are in desperate need of a big 17-inch display for gaming needs then yes, or else you are better off with 16-inch or 15-inch ones with better color accuracy. In terms of performance, you can get a better GPU in the same price range as well, so, though this ASUS TUF Gaming A17 is a good gaming laptop but is for value-minded people mostly.

This TUF Gaming A17 does what you expect from a mid-range gaming laptop, performing consistently in most games without any hiccups but has its own cons, which if you can bear with, this is a decent choice for its price.

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