Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition review

The powerful yet relatively affordable Ryzen 7000 CPUs are a great choice for cheap gaming laptops such as the A16. Indeed, it’s one of only a handful of devices to be included in AMD’s ‘Advantage’ category, which recognises “best-in-class gaming” across desktops and laptops.

But of course, there’s more to a great gaming laptop than pure performance. The A16 also boasts excellent battery life and a gorgeous 16in, 16:10 display.

Alongside a robust chassis and plenty of other premium features, this is a real gem for 1080p gamers. Here’s our full review.

Design, build & ports

• Understated but very tough design
• Attractive matte finish
• Lots of ports

The A16’s design reflects its relatively affordable price, but still looks good in the process. There are no luxurious extras such as flashy RGB lighting or curves that resemble samurai swords. It focuses on the basics instead, which is a wise move.

Its durable plastic chassis and rigid metal lid have US military grade certification for toughness, which is very reassuring. Even if you’re not particularly careful with your laptop, the A16 should avoid serious damage. I was also impressed with the lid, which stays put at a variety of angles.

The design of the device also makes it very versatile. While many gaming laptops are too big and heavy to comfortable use on the go, the A16 remains portable enough to take most places with you. It measures 13.88 x 9.92 x 0.87 inches and weighs 4.85lb (2.2kg), which is relatively lightweight for a gaming laptop.

Asus

The display is the main element of any laptop, but that feels especially true here. Ultra-slim bezels frame the screen beautifully, while a clever hinge pops it up to a more natural angle, meaning you can comfortably take in the full panel.

Another thing I loved about the A16’s design is its modest aesthetic. It’s very understated for a gaming laptop, with just a TUF logo on the lid and crest in the top-right of the trackpad. The upside of this is that it won’t attract any unwanted attention in the office – it’s geared towards work just as much as play.

On the 2023 edition, the usual black model is joined by a new ‘Sandstorm’ colour. Both models feature a matte finish on the lids, helping to reduce the visibility of fingerprint smudges and other dirt. However, any that you do see can be difficult to remove.

The A16 locates most of its ports on the left side. This frees up plenty of space for your mouse hand if you’re right-handed, but isn’t so great for lefties.

Thunderbolt 4 is an Intel technology, so you won’t find it on this AMD-powered laptop. But you do get two USB-C, two USB-A and an HDMI 2.1, alongside gigabit Ethernet, 3.5mm audio jack and even a Kensington lock connection. Both USB-C ports feature DisplayPort 1.4 for connecting to external displays, while one supports 100W Power Delivery fast charging.

As expected, there’s no Thunderbolt 4 ports, but the inclusion of multiple USB-A and USB-C ports and one HDMI 2.1 port means there are still plenty of great options for your devices. Conveniently both USB-C ports feature DisplayPort 1.4. Additionally, one of the USB-C ports features 100W Power Delivery so you can charge devices quickly on the fly.

Keyboard & trackpad

• Full-size keyboard
• Plenty of travel, but not the most responsive
• Impressive trackpad

The A16’s keyboard is large and spacious, with each key offering a generous 1.7mm of travel. There’s also ample room to rest your hands either side of the trackpad, so nothing feels cramped.

Although there’s none of the RGB lights we’ve come to expect of gaming laptops, the white backlighting is attractive and easy to see. The keys feel low-set and soft, which makes typing quick, although they can become fatiguing during long gaming or typing sessions. Personally, I would have preferred them to be a little bouncier and more responsive.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

That said, the keyboard layout is very generous. You get a full-sized number pad, all the function keys and a set of convenient audio controls at the very top. Below the keyboard, a decent-sized trackpad feels neither too slippery nor too grippy, making it ideal for gaming.

Display, webcam & audio

• Excellent 165Hz 16in display
• Webcam only 720p
• Decent dual speakers

I’ve tried my fair share of laptops with 4K displays, and some of them have a resolution that’s simply too high for a truly seamless experience.

By comparison, the A16 drops down to a Full HD+ (1920×1200) resolution, meaning it still looks good but feels more slick and polished. Its colours really pop, with full sRGB colour gamut coverage means content looks rich and varied.

Despite having a relatively low peak brightness of 250 nits, there’s also a surprising depth to the blacks and greys. That’s something OLED screens tend to do better than the IPS panel here.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

But the display’s best feature is undoubtedly its fluid gameplay or video playback. A 165Hz refresh rate helps it tick over without even a hint of stutter or glitching. I never once saw it skip a beat, something I’d much prefer over a high-end 4K display that struggles to keep up.

Above the display is a 720p webcam. It does a respectable job in many scenarios, but like a lot of gaming laptops, can’t compete with sensors that are 1080p or higher. That’s particularly apparent in low-light conditions, where footage tends to look grainy.

The A16’s dual speakers sound clear and balanced, although the lack of bass is noticeable – it tends become quite flat toward the lower end. You do get support for hi-res audio and Dolby Atmos, though, which significantly boosts sound quality on content that supports it.

Specs & performance

• AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS CPU and RX 7600S GPU
• Impressive regular performance
• Powerful enough for 1080p gaming

The A16 model reviewed features AMD’s Ryzen 7735HS CPU, which features eight cores and 16 threads and uses the company’s Zen 3+ architecture. It’s an upgraded version of Ryzen 7 6800HS, and combined with 16GB of DDR5 RAM here.

To test the laptop’s CPU performance, I pitted it against a variety of gaming laptops. Most have similar mid-range CPUs, and all performed well in reviews.

First up was the Cinebench R20 Single-Threaded benchmark, which tests a single core of a laptop’s CPU. Its performance here isn’t fantastic, but the A16 will still have no trouble running lightweight apps.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

In the Cinebench R20 Multi-Threaded benchmark, the CPU as a whole fared somewhat better, proving its suitability for AAA games and CPU-demanding tasks like video editing and encoding. It’s worth noting that it outperformed the MSI Katana GF76, which features an Intel 12th-gen Core i7-12700H CPU.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Next, we ran a bespoke test created specifically for the free HandBrake utility. This gave us an indication of how well our laptop could keep processing a CPU-intensive task before it got too hot and needed to throttle performance. The result? The A16 did a decent job staying cool and powering on, finishing the test in a respectable time of 1,072 seconds.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Under the hood, my A16 review unit is equipped a mid-range AMD Radeon RX 7600S GPU. These newer graphics cards use the RDNA 3 architecture, which enables faster, more efficient performance.

The results from 3DMark’s Time Spy benchmark give a general overview of the GPU’s performance for both gaming and other graphics-based tasks. As you can see below, the A16 appears in the middle of our comparison field, close behind the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and Razer Blade 15.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Moving to our gaming benchmarks and for Rise of the Tomb Raider the results are more promising. Here, you can see the laptop produced faster framerates than most competitors.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

In the Shadow of the Tomb Raider game benchmark, the A16 also performed very well, outpacing most rivals. The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 performed slightly better, but it has more premium graphics hardware.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

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What do these results tell us? They confirm that the A16’s GPU delivers mid-range graphics performance, but also prove that it’s powerful enough for decent gaming at a Full HD+ resolution.

That’s what I observed from real-world testing – you can expect consistently high framerates and smooth, seamless motion from the display.

Battery life

• 90Wh battery
• Impressive, all-day battery life
• Lasts longer than almost all rivals

The A16 has a number of energy efficiency advantages over 2022 Advantage Edition models, including the AMD SmartShift technologies mentioned above. These have clearly made a difference to the laptop’s battery life.

You get a generous 90Wh capacity here, but I really wasn’t expecting all-day battery life – it’s almost unheard of for a gaming laptop.

I began running our battery test at 6.35am one morning, and when I arrived home from the office at 7pm, much to my astonishment, it was still going. In total, it ran for a whopping 11 and a half hours that day.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Admittedly, the battery test is quite lightweight, but these results still suggest it will see you through approximately seven hours of gaming away from a power source. If you’re only running light productivity apps, you’ll most likely get more than a full day’s use, which is quite extraordinary for a gaming laptop.

Price & availability

Considering everything you’re getting, the A16 is competitively priced. The Ryzen 7 version costs $1,099.99/£1,199.99 at full price, although there are often discounts available.

You can also buy a Ryzen 9 version for £1,399 in the UK from Currys, but no retailer is currently selling it in the US.

Even so, that entry model is affordable enough to be considered a cheap gaming laptop. There are a few other budget options, including Asus’ own TUF Gaming A15 and the MSI Prestige 15, but the A16 ticks a lot of boxes.

Verdict

The A16 makes an excellent case against buying more expensive laptops, especially if you’re into 1080p gaming. Despite being affordable, it doesn’t skimp on performance or a robust chassis.

However, the biggest factor that sets it apart from rivals is its incredible battery life. It’s extremely rare to see to see a gaming laptop last so long on a single charge.

In my book, that makes the A16 a truly outstanding gaming laptop. It’s an excellent affordable option.

Specs

The Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition is available with either AMD Rembrandt Zen3+ (Ryzen 7 7735HS) or AMD Phoenix (Ryzen 9 7940HS) CPUs. Two display options are available also – a FHD+ with 165 Hz refresh rate or QHD+ with 240 Hz refresh rate. The specification of our review model are as follows:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS
• RAM: 16GB DDR5 / 4800MHz
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7600S
• Display: 16-inch FHD+ (1920 x1200) IPS-level, 165Hz refresh rate, 100 percent sRGB, 7ms response, FreeSync Premium
• Storage: 1TB SSD PCIe 4
• Ports: 2 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (Both with Display Port 1.4 one with 100W PD), 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, HDMI 2.1 port, 3.5 mm audio port, 1G Lan port, Kensington lock
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
• Weight: 4.85lbs (2.2kg)
• Dimensions: 13.88 x 9.92 x 0.87 inches
• Battery capacity: 90Whr