Image: Asus
With its Ryzen 3000 desktop line, AMD delivered more cores, more performance and more value – closing the gap with Intel in benchmarks and gaming and essentially delivering a great product at a great price point. Ryzen 4000 does much the same thing, but with a twist. This configuration isn’t a new Zen architecture or a bump to the existing desktop chips. Instead, AMD has refactored the existing Zen 2 core into a new all-in-one processor APU with Vega graphics. The processor is codenamed Renoir and to cut straight to the chase, and it’s a gamechanger.
We’re reviewing Ryzen 4000 – or more specifically the Ryzen 7 4800H – within the brand new Asus TUF A15 laptop, and it’s remarkable in that you’re getting this eight-core, 16 thread Ryzen chip in an excellent notebook case. In the package, you’re getting a 144Hz 15.4-inch screen with adaptive sync, a GTX 1660 Ti discrete GPU, 16GB of 3200MHz DDR4 in the all-important dual-channel configuration – and the spec is complete with a 512GB SSD. The upgrade version includes a better graphic performance with an RTX 2060 with a 1TB SSD.
The TUF A15 isn’t an ultra-premium notebook, but that’s not its intended market. It’s not ‘thin and light’ as such, there’s no edgeless display, and the user won’t be using the screen for precise, accurate photography or video editing. We do get an adaptive sync-compatible, 144Hz screen but colour reproduction isn’t exceptional, and motion handling is far from best in class. But remember that we are still getting a remarkable spec for the money and the point is that where the product has been compromised, the nips and tucks are not that much of an issue if gaming is the focus. It’s no ultrabook but hardly is it a hulking behemoth. It’s not super portable at 2.3kg, but it doesn’t massively weigh down the backpack. While the screen isn’t amazing, VRR gaming at max settings from anything between 80fps to 120fps is. Even the RGB-enabled keyboard and trackpad are fine.