Asus’s ROG series is synonymous with its power-packed gaming performance with robust hardware. However, it doesn't attract many buyers — except hardcore gamers — because of its high price tag and gargantuan size. Asus' TUF series has always been a solid alternative to ROG series. The latest entrant in Asus’s TUF series, the TUF Gaming A14 aims to solve that problem by providing an RTX 4060 GPU with a 165Hz refresh rate display and using a mix of metal and plastic with a premium feel.
The best part is that this laptop has a fairly sleek profile with a maximum thickness of 0.78 inches and a weight of 1.45 kilograms. With these hardware specs, the TUF Gaming A14 aims to deliver a premium design and powerful performance at an asking price of Rs 1,69,990.
But does it live up to its promises? In this review, we’ll dive deep into the Asus TUF Gaming A14 to see how it fares in real-world usage, from productivity tasks to gaming, and see whether it’s worth its asking price.
Asus TUF Gaming A14 review: Build and design
The Asus TUF Gaming A14 has an aluminium lid and the chassis has a premium plastic body. With the large trackpad, you get enough space on the inner frame to rest your palms. It also has no noticeable creaking on the base or the sides. Interestingly, the laptop has all four LED lights on the upper hinge of the system, which means that the current status of the machine can be even viewed, when the screen is turned off.
You might feel that it has a slightly thicker side frames, but it accommodates all the necessary ports and buttons you require to connect it to various hardware devices, with its two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, a Thunderbolt 4 port plus, an HDMI 2.1 video output, a microSD card reader, and a headset jack. The TUF Gaming A14 also has a diamond pattern at the base that makes up the vents for smooth airflow, while the fans are running.
The hinge can open up to 180 degrees, allowing you to lay the screen flat. It is smooth enough to let you open the lid with a single finger, and has no noticeable wobble. We did not face any wobbling, even while typing aggressively or using it at different angles. The 1080p webcam does a decent job of capturing details, and it also supports Windows Hello compliance. However, we wish Asus provided a physical privacy shutter button to block the camera from unknown malware attacks.
Asus TUF Gaming A14 review: Display
The TUF Gaming A14 has an IPS 14-inch panel with 165Hz refresh rate. It is a QHD+ panel and has a 16:10 aspect ratio. The screen is also fairly bright outdoors and we had no problem using it in daylight conditions, because of its 400 nits peak brightness. However, it lacks HDR support and an OLED panel at this price range would have been appreciated.
Still, the screen is good for its class and the 100% sRGB output has accurate contrast, with all the fairly vivid and precise. The major complaint we have with most OLED panels these days is that they have a glossy finish, and Asus has avoided that, as the harsh lights in the background don’t obstruct the on-screen content with its glare resistance.
With the fast 165Hz refresh rate support, scrolling through various apps, or browsing, the display felt smooth and responsive. The viewing angles are great and you won’t notice any colour shift issues as well.
Asus TUF Gaming A14 review: Keyboard and trackpad
The Asus TUF Gaming A14 has a standard chiclet keyboard that doesn't feel soft or mushy and has nice key travel. It also has single white backlit support and the brightness is adjustable. There’s a satisfying tactility to pressing the keys, and they impressed us with their low sound profile.
Navigation, for example, doubles up on the arrow keys and the usual numpad and Print screen or other shortcuts can be accessed via the function row. The keyboard also has three different illumination modes and comes. with dedicated volume controls, a microphone mute, and an Armoury Crate button above the function row.
The trackpad, on the other hand, is just about perfect. It is more than 5 inches in size and resists most accidental touches. The clicks are also super quiet and the trackpad supports all the necessary Windows on-screen gestures.
Asus TUF Gaming A14 review: Performance and software
The TUF Gaming A14 uses the Armoury Crate app for all the software customisations from the keyboard’s backlighting to assigning profiles to specific games and applications. It also has five performance modes, that can be used according to your requirements to generate more power or conserve battery.It comes with the latest Windows 11 preinstalled and has Microsoft Office and necessary applications as well.
Despite its small size, the TUF Gaming A14 is a surprisingly capable gaming laptop. We tested it with many modern AAA games such as Death Stranding, Forza Horizon 5, Ghost of Tsushima, Black Myth Wukong, Alan Wake 2, and more. Here, the RTX 4060 graphics card is the most important component, and the results came surprisingly good.
Every game was playable above 60 fps at native resolution and Nvidia’s DLSS3 support also ensured that we could push it to slightly above it. The gameplay was consistently smooth as well and even ran at acceptable frame rates in the Default battery mode. However, to get better frame rates, we would suggest using the laptop at Full HD resolution.
In popular benchmarking tests, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 chipset produced impressive numbers. In 3DMark, the overall score was more than 10,000 and the PCMark numbers were also above 8,000. Asus has bundled ample 2TB storage and 32GB onboard dual memory RAM, which makes it future-proof.
Asus TUF Gaming A14 review: Battery life and charging
This 14-inch gaming laptop did surprise us with its endurance. While you are scrolling through various apps or for general day-to-day tasks, the TUF Gaming A14 easily manages to provide a day’s battery life. We got more than seven hours of screen time on most occasions, and Asus has provided Radeon 890M support when you are not using it for 3D graphical tasks or gaming.
If you are gaming though, the battery life certainly dips, with the usage of the RTX 4060 GPU. The TUF Gaming A14 manages to provide up to three hours of continuous gameplay on a full charge. It also supports up to 100W charging with the Gen 2 Type-C port. However, the supplied 200W AC adapter is more recommended, as it tops up its battery within 70 minutes. It also ensures that you can use this machine in the Ultimate mode to generate maximum performance.
Asus TUF Gaming A14 review: Verdict
While compact laptops aren’t usually meant for gaming or heavy graphical tasks, the TUF Gaming A14 is something special. Asus seems to have cracked the code, as the TUF A 14 provides great performance, lower temperatures, minimal fan noise, and less heft to carry around. All of these perks make you wonder why other brands don’t provide such performance in such a lightweight body.
However, it is a bit more expensive than most of its contemporaries, especially if you opt for the flagship version with Ryzen 9 HX 370 SoC, RTX 4060 GPU, and 32GB RAM. It costs close to Rs 1.7 lakh, which is definitely on the higher side. Nonetheless, if you are looking for a compact laptop for the daily commute, and want no compromise in performance and gaming, the Asus TUF Gaming A14 is a really good option to consider in this ever-crowded market of gaming laptops.
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