Overview of the GIGABYTE A5 X1

The GIGABYTE A5 X1 gaming laptop is a powerful mobile gamer that does a great job for creators and as a productivity machine. The A5 X1 gets its performance power from the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor and 16 GB DDR4 RAM while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU is responsible for graphics . Its performance power is complemented by a good display , crunchy keyboard , its portability , in addition to a solid battery life.

Specifications of the GIGABYTE A5 X1

Strengths and Weaknesses of the GIGABYTE A5 X1 Gaming Laptop

The pros and cons of the A5 X1 laptop, are derived through a thorough analysis of key areas. These pointers should therefore , be of great assistance in assisting prospective buyers in deriving at a conclusion. The strengths provide reasons why you should consider getting this laptop, meanwhile the weaknesses indicate the shortfalls of this unit.

Strengths of the GIGABYTE A5 X1

• Great performer (great gamer and productivity system)
• Great value for money especially when on sale

• Decent heat management system (this influences performance )
• Good display (good color reproduction and great refresh rate )
• Solid battery life (fact that battery can be removed is a huge plus)
• Allows two M.2 SSDs while still having space for a 2.5″ storage drive
• Nice crunchy keyboard with full RGB backlight

Weaknesses of the GIGABYTE A5

• Made fully from plastic and display lid wobbles a little
• No thunderbolt port
• No maintenance latch therefore, one has to remove the entire base to access internals.

Verdict

GIGABYTE A5 X1 is an overall great gaming , entertainment and productivity laptop that offers true value for your money. It competes with many other far more expensive laptops in performance which in itself, is a great indicator of a solid laptop. If you are looking for a powerful and relatively portable laptop, then here you go.

For a limited time , the GIGABYTE A5 X1 Gaming Laptop is available at Newegg with $200 off using rebate card, for $1299, which is an incredibly good price for what you are getting.

What do I need to know when selecting a gaming laptop ?

In this article, we have put together some tips for selecting a good gaming laptop.

Areas of focus :

• Processor (Central Processing Unit)
• Graphics Card
• Memory
• Display
• Storage
• Heat Management
• Ports selection
• Keyboard and mouse (touch pad)

The CPU

The central processing unit popularly known as ‘processor’ is basically the brain of your laptop. There should therefore be no questions into the importance of it in gaming. Some games are CPU intensive , others are Graphic intensive , while some are both graphic and processor intensive. Some modern CPU intensive games include: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, GTA 5,Civilization 6, Total War: Warhammer 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Shadow Of The Tomb Raider…

In terms of CPUs , there are two main manufacturers of chips that are ideal for gaming in the business; Intel and AMD (Advanced Micro Devices).

At the moment , it is Intel with their high performance i5, i7 and i9 processors and AMD with their Ryzen 5,7 and 9 chips. Take a look here for the top performing CPUs for gaming. At the moment, some of the newest and best performing processors for gaming are Intel Core i7-11850H,Intel Core i9-11980HK, Intel Core i9-11900H, Intel Core i9-11950H, AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS, AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS, AMD Ryzen 7 5800H, Intel Core i7-11800H..

GPU

The GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) is one of the most important components of a gaming laptop. Designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the performance of image and graphics creation in your gaming laptop, the graphics card/ chip is one of the first things to look for when selecting a system to run your latest games. All laptops come with integrated graphics (graphics built in the CPU),but not all laptops come with a dedicated graphics card, which is usually far more powerful and geared towards gaming and other heavy graphical tasks. Today, a dedicated graphics card usually signifies that a laptop may be able to run games.

As with CPUs , there are two major manufacturers of dedicated graphics cards on the market;

AMD is once again in the mix, but this time , their main competitor is Nvidia. AMD is armed with their Radeon RX Graphics line, while Nvidia is strapped with their GeForce RTX & GTX cards. At the moment, Nvidia has most of the top performing gaming GPUs on the market with the GeForce RTX 3080,3070, 3060 ,3050 Ti, 2080 Super, 2070 super, 2080, 2070 ,2080 MQ, 2070 MQ, 2060 graphic chips being their newest and best. AMD with a much smaller collection of graphic chips, has the likes of the Radeon RX 6800M,Radeon RX 6700M,Radeon RX 6600M,Radeon RX 5600M that currently top their gaming tier. Here is a detailed ranking of the various graphics cards for laptops.

Things to note:

• For some of these graphics cards, there are different variants being offered. Some cards are available in different wattages, which ultimately see, for example, some RTX 3060 cards being more powerful than others. RTX 3060 cards are available in wattages from as low as 60 watts , to a high of 130W. It therefore means that a 115W 3060 GPU would offer more performance power than a 95W 3060. For the RTX 3070 graphics cards, the 125 Watt variant of the card, is more powerful than the smaller numbers. Why though ? The more power a card draws, the better it is able to perform.
• The term MQ used above -beside some of the GPUs, represents ‘Max Q’, this is a term that was once used by Nvidia with their 2000 series graphics cards. Max Q is used to label the lower wattage variants of those cards, while ‘Max P’ which represents maximum performance, is used to label highest wattage chips. For example, the highest wattage 2070 chip available for laptops is 115W, which means, it would be the Max P variant. Max Q labelling is far more commonly used though , which does not mean more lower powered cards are around, but to says sellers are more obligated to let you know you are getting a lower powered card in a laptop, than they really need to spell out when it is the ‘regular’ or fully powered variant.
• There are other types of graphics cards that you will see in the ranking such as the RTX Quadro and wonder why I didn’t make mention of them . The truth is that, though these cards can be super powerful, unlike GeForce cards that are designed for gaming, Quadro cards are optimized for professionals such as engineers, designers, 3D animators etc. and won’t do well in gaming.

Memory

Many people confuse memory with storage. Memory refers to the Random Access Memory (RAM). RAM provides applications the opportunity to store and access data on a short-term basis. It stores the information your laptop is actively using so that it can be accessed quickly. RAM therefore plays an extremely crucial role in the performance of your laptop, not only in gaming, but in just about all tasks.
Memory is measured in gigabytes (GB). At the moment, the standard for basic gaming is 8 GB RAM, but honestly, the safe spot is really 16 GB as some games do use more than 8 GB RAM .

It is always a good move to get a system running this 16 GB RAM on dual channel. What ia dual channel though ? To be as simple as possible, this is a technology that sees 2 similar sized and configured RAM modules (sticks) , operating together to provide better performance. For example 2 sticks 8 GB 2666MHz DDR4 RAM giving a total of 16 GB RAM will perform better than a single stick of 16 GB 2666 MHz DDR4 RAM.

As you would have seen above, the speed of your laptop memory is measured in Megahertz (MHz), with the higher the number, the faster a stick is. Faster RAM is able to communicate with other components of the laptop, the more efficient your overal system will be.

Currently RAM speeds for laptops, go as high as 3200 MHz as seen in this Eluktronics MAX-15 , one of the best gaming laptops around right now.

Storage

There are two main types of storage drives technologies available at the moment; hard drives (hdd) and solid state drives (ssd).

Hard drives are older and characterized mainly by a spinning magnetic disc on which information is stored. The solid state drive unlike the hard drive, does not have any moving parts- it instead stores data on a set of integrated circuits.
Solid State Drives are more durable and faster, which makes them the modern choice for storage. So ensure your gaming laptop comes with and SSD , even if its secondary storage solution is a hard drive. There are five main types of SSDs; SATA SSD, PCIe SSD,M.2 SSD, U.2 SSD,NVMe SSD. In terms of storage size, the smallest we would recommend for a heavy gamer is a 512 GB SSD of course, with a secondary hard drive or SSD to store game files. With this being said, a good gaming laptop should have at least one secondary storage drive or the slots for you to expand storage by adding another drive or two.

Heat Management

This probably should be at the top of the list as too much heat is the enemy of every gaming laptop. When selecting a laptop, you definitely should get some information about how well its two main component i.e.., processor and graphics card are kept cool during heavy gaming sessions.

There are several factors that affect the heat management of a laptop, some of which include the design of heat sink, thermal paste, pipes and fans, location of vents and the general design of chassis. The higher the wattage of a GPU and CPU, the more heat they give off when put under heavy load. This laptop needs not only a proper cooling system to dissipate heat from its chassis, but also proper management software to control fan actions etc. Therefore, when buying a gaming laptop, be sure to do thorough research on heat management.
Metal chassis have proven to be more effective in allowing heat to exit a laptop, thanks to metal being a better conductor of heat than plastic.

Please note that the ‘sweetspot’ for CPU while under very heavy load in gaming is up to 80°C, but most modern chips will run fine at temperatures a little higher. Above 85°C should be a cause for concern and some processors at this time , start to throttle (reduce power and performance) in order to lower temperatures and prevent damage.90°C and above for your CPU is very hot; not good! As for the graphics card, up to 185°F (85°C) is the recommended zone, though some cards can operate at higher temps. Below , are some gaming laptops with decent heat management:

• Lenovo Legion 5 
• Eluktronics MAX-17
• Eluktronics Prometheus XVII Covert Gamer
• ASUS ROG Zephyrus S17
• Razer Blade 15 Advanced

Ports Selection / Connectivity

Your laptop ports are crucial to you as a gamer whether it be to input or receive data from your system. A good gaming laptop should have at least 3 USB ports (at least one type C- the others can be USB 3.1, 3.2 gen 1 or 2), HDMI port ,a thunderbolt or mini display port, Headphone/Microphone Combo Jack port/s, Ethernet RJ-45. An SD card reader can be very handy as well.

Keyboard and Touchpad

These two aren’t as crucial as others because many gamers will purchase a gaming keyboard and mouse to use with their gaming laptop. Some even go for controllers that see them having to use mouse and keyboard minimally. Nevertheless, a good gaming keyboard on a laptop is usually a Membrane or mechanical RGB Backlit Keyboard with a dedicated numeric keypad.

While some gamers love the crunchy and tactile feel of a mechanical board, while others enjoy the smoothness of membrane types, most will tell you they like the idea of being able to program each key to do what they want it to as well as to have the backlit color of their choice.

Conclusion

Selecting a gaming laptop can be a very confusing task since there are so many systems available. Following the guidelines above and paying attention to those key aspects of a laptop, should definitely assist you with selecting the perfect gaming laptop.

List of some great gaming laptops available on the market

• Lenovo Legion 5 
• Eluktronics MAX-17
• Eluktronics Prometheus XVII Covert Gamer
• ASUS ROG Zephyrus S17
• Razer Blade 15 Advanced
• Legion 5 Pro
• ASUS – ROG Zephyrus G15
• Prometheus XVII (RTX 3080)
• Alienware m15 R4

The Asus Tuf 506IU-ES74 gaming laptop is one of the first mobile systems to sport the all- new and powerful AMD Ryzen 7 4800H processor. This  ES74 follows the Asus Tuf line of laptops in several departments, but of course, it stands out in the cost per performance area. In this review, we have taken the opportunity to dissect completely this Asus Tuf A15 laptop to look at its intimate specs, performance, strengths and weaknesses.

Processing power

Of course, the Tuf A15’s main attraction is its processor. It stocks a very powerful AMD Ryzen 7 4800H processor. This eight core – sixteen threaded CPU with a base clock speed of 2.9 GHz  and  Max Boost Clock speed of   4.2 GHz , in several benchmarks tests has out- performed the popular Intel i7-9750H 6 core processor and even its i9 counterpart. In addition , this processor has an L3 cache of 8 megabytes and a TDP of 45 watts.  By now you would have  had a clear idea of the 4800H’s  raw performance power and of course, if this Tuf A15 has it, then you should know how powerful it is where processing strength is concern. To see more benchmarks of the Ryzen 7 4800H here.

The Graphics Card employed by the Tuf A15 507

For graphics power, Asus of course, had to go with a graphics card that’s already available on the market. This means that unlike the all new processor, it sports a graphics card that we know quite a bit about , since it has been around for quite a while. This is the Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660Ti 6 GB graphics card that has been employed in other models of laptops in the Tuf emperor. While the 1660Ti is a relatively powerful card that can at least run, all of today’s most demanding games on low to medium settings, it is certainly not powerful enough to push the Ryzen  7 4800H, anywhere near its max potential. In fact, many of today’s games won’t be able to do that, themselves. See some benchmarks of the 1660 Ti here.

How about its memory?

The Tuf A15 comes with a total of 16 Gigabytes DDR4 3200 GHz RAM, in the form of two 8 gigabyte modules. This means that this system is able to take advantage of the dual channel technology, which of course, provides enhanced performance. Asus should be applauded for going for the faster RAM based on the speed of the CPU used. While 16 GB RAM at this point in time, is good enough for gaming and most tasks, this laptop is compatible with a maximum of 64 GB RAM. To do so though, you would have to replace both 8 GB sticks with two 32 GB modules, since it has only two memory slots.

Lets take a closer look at the display of the Tuf A15

This laptop comes with a 15.6 inches  144 Hz FHD Anti-Glare Display. While the refresh rate of this monitor is similar to that of its major competitors , it must be noted that its response time in tests conducted, was a bit slower than the 3 mili-seconds expected. This slower response time might in some games, result in ghosting, which can be quite annoying. How about screen tearing? well, happily, this display comes with the free sync technology, that does very well in preventing screen tearing during gaming. Through observation, absolutely no back light bleeding was observed , which is of course, another plus. The brightness of the Tuff A15’s display was measured at a little over 270 nits , which is actually pretty around average  and should be quite enjoyable, used in direct sunlight. The major shortfall of the display panel used, is its color accuracy and vibrancy. It is important to note that while its viewing angles are very good, this system is not the best for tasks such as professional photo editing that require a display with high level color accuracy. Asus could have gone with a display that covers more than the 65% of the sRgb, this one covers.

Storage

The Tuff A15 like many budget gaming laptops ,comes with a 512 Gigabyte SSD. Luckily though for users, this specific configuration comes with a very fast NVMe SSD. It also has two empty m dot 2 slots for additional storage.  Which means , plenty of storage options for you.

Lets take a look at the battery

This specific configuration of the Tuff A15 was put together to achieve something no other laptop with its power, and in its price range, is able to achieve. We are talking here, about a massive 90 watt hour battery that gives around 7 hours on basic computing tasks and closer to  10  hours on video playback. On more demanding tasks such as intense gaming where both CPU and GPU are drawing much power, expect to get around 4 hours. This beats the likes of the 9th gen Acer Predator Helios by a very decent margin. Battery life, is really one of the A15’s strengths.

Build quality

Asus can be congratulated on the build quality of this laptop. It was built on the  durable MIL-STD-810H military standard construction with a full aluminum back panel cover , solid plastic keyboard deck designed to keep out moisture and counter drops and vibrations. The base of this laptop is made from hard plastic .

Maintenance

The Tuff A15 has a single plastic maintenance cover, which is also the base of the laptop. It takes the removal of ten phillips screws to remove the back panel, after which, you have direct access to the storage slots, RAM and other components. This is particularly a great thing, as it means that even a complete computer novice, can complete tasks such as upgrading of storage and memory.

Connectivity

Here we take a look at the various ports and connection slots that the A15 has. As for networking, it depends on a  Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 LAN Jack  or Wi-Fi 5  2 x 2 wireless network card. It also has Bluetooth 5.0 capabilities. In terms of ports , it has  2  USB 3.2 Type A,  1 USB 3.2 Type C and 1 USB 2.0 type A ports. In addition, it has a headphone-out & Audio-in Combo Jack and a single HDMI 2.0 port for video output. Unfortunately, this laptop doesn’t have a thunderbolt port, which would have been a fantastic feature!

Heat management

We did not get to put this laptop through as many temperature tests as we do with other laptops, but from the stats collected in the few done, the A15 definitely looks very good where surface heat is concern. The chassis of the laptop, mainly the keyboard rest, was quite cool throughout intensive gaming and didn’t present any discomfort to touch. As it relates to internal temperatures, we must say that it did quite well and maintained good temperatures  for most of the time in our stress tests,   but in turbo mode and at extremely heavy load, the CPU did reach a temperature of 95 degrees which is quite hot! Of course, as time passes by and this system reaches in more hands, different modifications to help with thermals, will be developed.

Performance

The performance of the Tuff A15 depends strongly on the raw power of the Ryzen 7 4800H. In several CPU bench marks and comparisons, the Tuff A15 courtesy of its CPU, was able to perform outstandingly well. In Cinebench R20 multicore CPU test, it scored an amazing  4121  points in regular performance mode, some  200 points better than the i9 9880h processor. It performed even better when put into turbo mode, recording an astonishing 4121 points!. Definitely, if you are looking for CPU power, you will not be disappointed here. As for the performance in gaming where the graphics card is concern, we didn’t see much difference in performance from a laptop paired with the  i7-9750H   and the 1660 ti. The Tuf A15 performed and recorded identical frame rates to the 9^th gen Acer Predator Helios 300. What we get from this, is that the processor doesn’t make much of a difference in most games, as most of them could not take advantage of the extra  processing power available.

Laptop Deal’s Verdict

Any laptop that sports the Ryzen 7 4800H and can sufficiently power it, will be a giant to contend with. The Tuff A15 is one of these giants where processing power is concerned.. As if the processing power of this machine isn’t good enough…it also has a battery life that is quite better than its closest competitors. This laptop stands tall in just about all areas, except in the crucial display department . If you are not too concerned about experiencing some amount of ghosting in some of your games and don’t care too much about color accuracy and vibrancy, this is for you. If you however care about the above mentioned downside, then look somewhere else.

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