ASUS TUF Gaming 16" FA608WV-DB94 2024, Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, 16GB, 1TB SSD, RTX 4060, Jaeger Gray

The ASUS TUF Gaming A16 packs a Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and RTX 4060 into a shockingly light 1.30kg chassis with a gorgeous 165Hz display and a 90Wh battery. At $2,021 USD, you're paying for portability and that cutting-edge CPU, not raw GPU power. The soldered 16GB RAM and single drive bay are the main compromises. If you want a gaming laptop you can actually carry around all day, this is one of the best options out there.

The Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is a beast. In our database, this CPU lands in the 89th percentile for gaming laptops, which puts it ahead of most Intel Core i7 and even some i9 configurations we've tracked. The 12 cores and 24 threads handle multitasking without breaking a sweat. You can have a game running, Discord open, and a browser with 30 tabs, and this thing just keeps chugging along. The 2.0GHz base clock might look modest, but the boost clocks are where the magic happens, and AMD's efficiency here is genuinely impressive.

The RTX 4060 with 8GB of VRAM is a solid pairing, landing in the 85th percentile for GPUs in this category. It's not going to max out Cyberpunk 2077 at native resolution with ray tracing on, but at 2560x1600 with DLSS enabled, you'll get smooth framerates in most modern titles. The 165Hz display means esports games like Valorant, CS2, and Overwatch will absolutely sing. The 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM is the one spec that gives us pause. It's soldered, so no upgrades later, and it lands in the 66th percentile. For most gaming, 16GB is fine today, but if you're also doing video editing or heavy multitasking, you might feel the ceiling in a couple years.

The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 is the most direct competitor here. It typically offers better raw gaming performance with higher-tier GPU options, but it's heavier and bulkier. The Legion line also tends to have better upgradeability, with accessible RAM slots and multiple drive bays. If you're a tinkerer who likes to open up your laptop and swap parts, the ASUS will frustrate you. The Legion is the better choice for pure performance, but the TUF A16 wins on portability and battery life.

The Apple MacBook Pro M4 Max is a different beast entirely. It absolutely crushes the TUF A16 in creator workloads and battery efficiency, but it costs significantly more and can't play most PC games natively. The HP OMEN Transcend 14 is interesting because it's even more portable, but you're giving up screen size and that big battery. The Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro is a productivity machine first, not a gaming laptop, so it's really only a competitor if you don't care about gaming at all. For the specific niche of portable gaming with a big screen and all-day battery, the TUF A16 is surprisingly hard to beat.

At $2,021 USD, this sits in an awkward spot. You're paying a premium for that Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and the lightweight chassis, but the RTX 4060 is a mid-range GPU. For the same money, you could get a laptop with an RTX 4070 and a heavier, less elegant build. Or you could spend less and get similar gaming performance with a last-gen CPU. The value proposition really depends on how much you care about the AI features and the portability.

The CAD price of $2,150 is actually a bit more competitive relative to the Canadian market, where gaming laptops tend to carry a steeper premium. But either way, this isn't a budget buy. You're paying for the combination of a cutting-edge CPU, a premium display, and a chassis that won't break your back. If those things matter to you, the price makes sense. If you just want raw gaming performance per dollar, there are better options out there.

The ASUS TUF Gaming A16 (FA608WV-DB94) is one of those laptops that makes you do a double take on the spec sheet. You've got AMD's new Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, a 12-core chip that's pushing into territory we used to only see on desktop replacements, paired with an RTX 4060 and a 16-inch 2560x1600 display running at 165Hz. All of that sits in a chassis that weighs just 1.30kg. That's lighter than a lot of ultrabooks we've tested, let alone gaming laptops with discrete GPUs.

This thing is aimed squarely at gamers who want a big, beautiful screen without lugging around a brick. The 90Wh battery is also a serious flex. Most gaming laptops in this class settle for 60-70Wh and call it a day. ASUS went bigger, and that matters if you actually plan to use this away from a wall outlet. The military-grade durability rating is a nice touch too, though we'll be honest, most people won't be dropping this from a helicopter.

Where it gets interesting is the AI angle. This is a Copilot+ PC, which means Microsoft is betting big on local AI processing. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 can push up to 50 TOPS of AI performance. Whether that's actually useful for you right now is a fair question, but the hardware is there for when the software catches up. For today, the gaming and creator scores are what matter most, and those are strong at 87.2 and 82.4 respectively.

If you're a hardcore gamer who wants maximum framerates at native resolution, this isn't your laptop. The RTX 4060 is a mid-range GPU, and at 2560x1600, you'll be leaning on DLSS for demanding titles. Look at something with an RTX 4070 or 4080 instead, like the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10. You'll sacrifice portability, but you'll get noticeably better gaming performance.

Content creators who work with large video files or 3D rendering should also think twice. The 16GB of soldered RAM and single drive bay will become bottlenecks quickly. The creator score of 82.4 is decent, but a MacBook Pro M4 Max or a workstation-class Windows laptop with upgradeable RAM and multiple drive slots will serve you much better in the long run. And if you're the type who likes to open up your laptop and tinker, the lack of upgradeability here will drive you nuts.

If you're a gamer who travels a lot, or a student who needs one machine for both classes and gaming, this is a fantastic choice. The 1.30kg weight is the killer feature here. You can actually throw this in a backpack and forget it's there, which is not something we say about many 16-inch gaming laptops. The 90Wh battery means you can get through a full day of classes or work without hunting for an outlet, then game at night when you're back home.

For desktop replacement users who never move their laptop, this is a harder sell. The soldered RAM and single drive bay will eventually become limiting, and the RTX 4060 isn't the most powerful GPU you can get at this price point. If you're going to leave it on a desk 90% of the time, get something with an RTX 4070 or 4080 and more upgrade options. But if portability matters, the TUF A16 is one of the best lightweight gaming laptops we've seen this year.