Hands On: AMD Ryzen, Nvidia 1660 Ti Land in New Asus Tuf Gaming Laptops

Intel’s CPU supply issues continue to be a boon for AMD. Asus today announced a trio of Ryen-powered gaming laptops. Alongside the higher-end AMD-powered Zephyrus GA502, the company also revealed a 15-inch Tuf Gaming FX505 and 17-inch FX705. Asus says the 15-inch model will start at $999, while the 17-inch FX705 will start at $1,099.

Both laptops sport graphics powered by Nvidia’s capable GTX 1660 Ti. But the FX505 will be offered with either an AMD Ryzen 5 3550H or Ryzen 7 3750H, while the 17-inch Tuf FX705 will ship solely with the 3750H. Both models feature an optional Aura RGB keyboard (depending on region and configuration), and Asus says the laptops will be offered either in a “Gold Steel” shell or “Stealth Black.”

The company only had the Gold Steel model available at its unveiling event. Asus said its AMD / Nvidia-powered Tuf laptops will be available sometime in the second quarter, with exact dates depending on region.

In our brief hands-on time at a recent Asus ROG press event, we didn’t get the chance to test the performance or battery life of these laptops, but we did come away mostly impressed about the hardware that Asus has managed to include here. The company is labeling the displays as “value IPS,” but they didn’t appear to be low-quality displays. Resolution on both models is stuck at 1080p, but on the smaller FX505, there will be a 120Hz option, while Asus said the FX705 will only be offered with a 60Hz display. RAM and storage will vary by region and model, although up to 32GB is supported, and PCIe SSDs up to 512GB will be offered, alongside a spinning-platter hard drive.

We’ll have to spend more quality time with the keyboard to pass final judgement, but we like that Asus has included RGB on a more value-oriented line. The only obviously cost-cutting measure we saw in our time with the laptops was that all of the ports run along the left edge, leaving only the lock slot on the right.

For those who often plug in lots of peripherals (including a wired mouse), this could be annoying. But it shouldn’t be a major inconvenience for most users. The left edge houses a trio of USB Type-A ports, along with Ethernet, audio and an HDMI 2.0 port. 

And lest you think that Asus just slapped on the Tuf brand without actually doing anything to make them actually tough the company says the laptops meet military grade MIL-STD-810G standards to help with the minor bumps and dings of everyday use. And “anti-dust tunnels” near the fan housings are designed to stop particles from entering sensitive internal areas and help direct them out of the laptops. We’ll have to see how well this works--and how well AMD’s Ryzen APUs stand up against Intel’s offerings, when we get our hands on a review unit.

Here is the full list of specs for the Tuf Gaming FX505 and FX705, direct from Asus.

FX505 Specifications

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Row 0 - Cell 0 FX505DDFX505DTFX505DU
ProcessorsAMD  Ryzen 7 3750H with Radeon Vega Mobile GfxAMD  Ryzen 5 3550H with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx
OSWindows 10 / Windows 10 Professional
MemoryDDR4-2666up to 32GB
Display15.6-inch non-glare, FHD (120Hz), value IPS15.6-inch non-glare, FHD (60Hz), value IPS
Graphics CardN17P-G0-K1 GPU VGA with 3GB GDDR5 VRAMN18P-G0 GPU VGA with 4GB GDDR5 VRAMN18E-G0 GPU VGA with 6GB GDDR6 VRAM
Storage1TB 5400 RPM1TB 7200 RPM1TB Firecuda128GB / 256GB/ 512GB PCIe SSD
KeyboardGlobal version: Gold Steel: RGB; Stealth Black: RGBChina version: Stealth Black: white lighting; Red Matter: Red lighting
Connectivity802.11AC + Bluetooth 5.01*1, 2*2(wave 2)
Interface2x USB 3.0 Gen1 1 x USB 2.01x HDMI 2.01x RJ-45 Jack1x 3.5mm headphone and microphone combo jack1x Kensington lock
Battery3S1P, 48Whr
Camera / MicrophoneBuilt-in HD (array mic)
Dimensions (WxDxH) / Weight360.4x262x26.8mm / 2.2 kg

 FX705 Specifications

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Row 0 - Cell 0 FX705DDFX705DTFX705DU
ProcessorsAMD  Ryzen 7 3750H with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx
OSWindows 10 / Windows 10 Professional
MemoryDDR4-2666 up to 32GB
Display17.3-inch non-glare, FHD (60Hz), value IPS
Graphics CardN17P-G0-K1 GPU VGA with 3GB GDDR5 VRAMN18P-G0 GPU VGA with 4GB GDDR5 VRAMN18E-G0 GPU VGA with 6GB GDDR6 VRAM
Storage1TB 5400 RPM1TB Firecuda128GB / 256GB/ 512GB PCIe SSD
KeyboardGold Steel: RGB; Stealth Black: RGB
Connectivity802.11AC + Bluetooth 5.01*1, 2*2(wave 2)
Interface2x USB 3.0 Gen1 1x USB 2.01x HDMI 2.01x RJ-45 jack1x 3.5mm headphone and microphone combo jack1x Kensington lock
Battery3S1P, 48Whr
Camera / MicrophoneBuilt-in HD (array mic)
Dimensions (WxDxH) /  Weight399.8x279.4x27.65mm / 2.7kg

Image credits: Tom's Hardware

Matt Safford

After a rough start with the Mattel Aquarius as a child, Matt built his first PC in the late 1990s and ventured into mild PC modding in the early 2000s. He’s spent the last 15 years covering emerging technology for Smithsonian, Popular Science, and Consumer Reports, while testing components and PCs for Computer Shopper, PCMag and Digital Trends.

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