Gaming Laptop Analysis

Is the ASUS TUF A17 (2021) R5 5600H RTX 3070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 1080p 144Hz good as a gaming laptop? Excellent

Processor - With the Ryzen 5 5600H 6-Core 3.3GHz processor in this laptop its excellent for 2022 gaming, capable of running today’s game processor system requirements. Loaded up with plenty of processor cores, this CPU has 8, which is excellent for AAA gaming that wants extra cores for processing.

Graphics Card - With the GeForce RTX 3070 Max-Q graphics card this is an excellent gaming GPU for 2022 AAA gaming The graphics solution in the laptop also has 8GB of VRAM. This is an excellent gamers amount of VRAM and plenty for today’s big games.

System Memory - The 16GB RAM found in this machine is considered an excellent 2022 amount for modern AAA titles and a solid gaming machine.

Screen Size - Our review laptop has what we would consider, an excellent laptop panel size for 2022 games. It will help the gamer see in-game menus and be able to see some of the detail offered in game, without having to squint. Having at least a 17.3" panel seems to be the right way to go for gaming at the moment.

Refresh Rate - If you want your gaming laptop to push past 60FPS, then make sure your laptop display panel has a higher refresh rate than 60Hz. Not all laptop manufacturers clearly state the screen refresh rate. If it is not clear, assume it is 60Hz. The laptop only turn out FPS (frames per second) as high as its screens refresh rate. 60hz refresh rate gets a max of 60FPS in all games, regardless of the hardware’s power in your laptop. The top refresh rate for this laptop is 144Hz which is excellent for gaming. Get a panel with over 60Hz refresh rate would certainly be suitable for gaming.

GeForce RTX 3070 Max-Q graphics card gaming performance in the ASUS TUF A17 (2021) R5 5600H RTX 3070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 1080p 144Hz laptop

Getting the right graphics card for this mobile gaming machine will be one of our key focuses. As we know it can be tricky to break this down, but we will be looking at how this laptop hardware can run across demanding and popular modern games and therefore how well the price of the machine stacks up against other gaming laptops. A few of the modern demanding or popular games we will be looking at will be, Grand Theft Auto VI, Star Citizen and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022). Seeing how these games run on the laptops native 1080p resolution at ultra will certainly give us something tangible to consider and compare from. This laptop has the GeForce RTX 3070 Max-Q in it. Of the 500 most demanding games around today this graphics card is capable of running 499 games at minimum system requirements and 473 games at their recommended system requirements.

Comparing ASUS TUF A17 (2021) R5 5600H RTX 3070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 1080p 144Hz to today’s best price to performance laptop ranges

We really want to see how the ASUS TUF A17 (2021) R5 5600H RTX 3070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 1080p 144Hz will compare across all permutations of the TUF A17 (2021) model range. This will give us a good sense of how well it sits in terms of cost to performance within its own lineup, and will better help us decide if this laptop represents good value to us today.

With a P2P rating currently of 0 out of 10 for the ASUS TUF A17 (2021) R5 5600H RTX 3070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 1080p 144Hz. This relative value will change as hardware costs and their performance change over time for laptops. There look to be a number of TUF A17 (2021) versions of this laptop and currently this hardware configuration sits at 6th in the Price to Performance order. Obviously scoring towards the 1st position represents the better value laptop from a purely gaming performance and price tag perspective.

Looking outside of this range lets us compare the Price to Performance rating of the very best laptops we have listed. Today's top laptop model for P2P is the ASUS TUF A15 R7 4800H GTX 1660 Ti 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 and the price we have for it is $999. Our ASUS TUF A17 (2021) R5 5600H RTX 3070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 1080p 144Hz laptop’s price to performance is % when comparing it with the top laptop, purely on a performance for money basis, and as we know lots of things go into our decision when choosing the right laptop for us. Another great model is the MSI Bravo 15 R7 4800H RX 5500M 16GB RAM 512GB M.2, which we have priced at $1049. Our TUF A17 (2021) laptop is % on Price to Performance.

How does the ASUS TUF A17 (2021) R5 5600H RTX 3070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 1080p 144Hz laptop compare to the best CPU performance focused laptops and today’s most popular games?

One of the key components in a laptop is of course its CPU. So let's see if our TUF A17 (2021) laptop compares favourably when placed against the laptop that has one of the most powerful CPU’s around today. This comparison will at least help us know how this laptop performs against the top end CPU laptop and we can then see the amount of money we might have to pay to get that sort of laptop. For processor focused performance we choose the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 R9 4900HS RTX 2060 Mobile 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 laptop for today’s comparison. This top end CPU laptop comes with a Ryzen 9 4900HS 8-Core 3.0GHz processor in it that performs 22% better if we put it against our review laptop’s Ryzen 5 5600H 6-Core 3.3GHz processor.

Our laptop processor, the Ryzen 5 5600H 6-Core 3.3GHz, can currently meet the recommended system requirements of 471 games when compared against the top 500 most demanding games right now. This number changes to 500 for the top 500 most demanding minimum system requirements.

Some of the most popular games today are really the primary benchmark for any laptop’s ability, so we thought we should compare our laptop CPU Ryzen 5 5600H 6-Core 3.3GHz against Grand Theft Auto VI. This CPU performance comparison saw our laptop deliver 21% better performance against the game’s recommended CPU system requirements. Then we have Star Citizen and our laptop was 9% better in processor performance and another popular title today is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) which we saw our review laptop get 13% better compared to our laptop cpu.

How does the ASUS TUF A17 (2021) R5 5600H RTX 3070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 1080p 144Hz laptop compare to the best graphics card performance focused laptops and today’s most popular games?

Shall we see if our review laptop holds out favourably against a top GPU performance focused laptop PC that is currently available. Lets grab a graphics focused laptop for comparison then. We have chosen the MSI GT76 Titan i9-10900K RTX 2080 Super 64GB RAM 2.0TB M.2 4K laptop for its graphical performance. This big hitting GPU laptop comes with a GeForce RTX 2080 Super 8GB video card in it that performs 23% better if we bench it against our laptop’s GeForce RTX 3070 Max-Q graphics hardware.

A snapshot today of performance for our Graphics Card, we can currently see it beating 473 of the 500 most demanding games available right now. This is considering their recommended system requirements. For a the top 500 Minimum system specs this is 499 games.

Games these days have a range of graphics requirements so let's look at a few popular games of today, and check our laptop GPU against the games recommended requirement. First off, Grand Theft Auto VI and our laptop graphics gets 7% better performance rating. Next we have Star Citizen where our graphics card gets 70% better performance and finally another popular title at the moment is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022), which has a performance difference of : 7% better, when put against our laptop’s GeForce RTX 3070 Max-Q.

The ASUS TUF A17 (2021) R5 5600H RTX 3070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 1080p 144Hz has a 1080p screen resolution, should I get a 4K resolution gaming laptop instead?

A common thing to explore is, what is the best gaming laptop screen resolution at the moment, as our review laptop is a 1080p. This laptop also has a 17.3" physical screen size (that's measured from a top corner to the bottom corner on the other side of the screen) and is 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels tall resolution. Today’s 4K laptops normally have a 60Hz screen refresh rate which would mean that should the laptop’s hardware be capable of running a 4K game, it would be restricted to a cap of 60 frames per second. As game system requirements continue to push for more powerful hardware, the components in a laptop, and many desktops as well, are simply not capable of delivering playable frame rates at Ultra graphics settings and a 4K resolution. We can see 144Hz panel refresh rate versions of this laptop are available. The higher the better.

Dropping a game’s resolution down from the laptop’s native 4K resolution to a more sustainable 1080p or maybe 1440p, would certainly deliver extra frames and improve stability. So there is always that option if the experience is unplayable due to low frame rates. But know that this action comes at a price. Dropping from a monitor or laptop panel’s native resolution immediately reduces in-game visual definition across all the game’s graphics. It basically makes the game look blurry. Not an ideal situation if you just bought your new 4K gaming laptop. But if the laptop does have the hardware to run today's AAA titles at 4K resolution, a normal sized portable PC comes with a 15 or 17 inch panel. This might not be physically big enough to make the most of the splendors of your game. It would of course look great still, but perhaps a dedicated monitor for your desk, one that isnt 60Hz restricted would accommodate that gaming scenario.

So why would you get a 4K capable laptop? If you enjoy movies or Netflix at 4K and have access to 4K content via those types of services then perhaps the quality of 4K resolution on a 17inch panel would be a great experience, but we still think you wouldn't miss that 4K.

At the moment our advice would be, stick to the 1080p laptop panels for now. Your laptop remains portable and 4K laptop’s just aren't quite there yet. The 4K needs to be a no brainer but at the moment you will still have to lower resolution in game to get playable but sub par visuals that still can't raise above 60FPS.

Today’s best 1440p desktop monitor for a laptop is - ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27 inch 1440p 75Hz 5ms IPS

Today’s well priced 1440p desktop monitor we have found is a ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27 inch 1440p 75Hz 5ms IPS that has a 75Hz refresh rate and priced at $311.99. Our cheapest tracked price for the desktop 1440p monitor was $229.99, which we recorded on 9th Mar 2021.

Today’s best 4K desktop monitor for a laptop is - Asus Predator XB273K 27 inch 4K GSYNC IPS 1ms 144Hz

Today’s most competitive 4K gaming monitor by price is Asus Predator XB273K 27 inch 4K GSYNC IPS 1ms 144Hz and could work well with the ASUS TUF A17 (2021) R5 5600H RTX 3070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 1080p 144Hz laptop. It is priced at $618. We price track a number of carefully chosen laptop peripherals and during these past couple of weeks we saw that this 4k monitor has seen a slight price increase, but despite that it is still better quality to value compared to our other favourite monitors. Its recent price increased by $618, so perhaps it can be found a little cheaper elsewhere at the moment For some extra info about this 4k monitor, during our price tracking we can see the lowest price recorded by us was $549.99, which was on 13th Nov 2020.

[Note - check that monitor display connectors are compatible between a monitor and a laptop before purchase]

If you stream 4K content, films, services like Netflix then perhaps the quality of 4K resolution on a 17inch panel would be better than the 1080p alternative that the majority of laptops provide.

We think don't spend your extra cash on getting a 4K laptop to game on, as it's likely to feel disappointing to buy a super shiny new 4K laptop, then have to lower the resolution while playing your games, delivering a blurry in-game experience, and only getting up to a maximum 60FPS due to the usual 60Hz 4K panel restriction.

Today's Best Priced Mouse and Headset for ASUS TUF A17 (2021) R5 5600H RTX 3070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 1080p 144Hz laptop

Of the mice we monitor and price track, today’s top mouse is the Kayinuo M738 Gaming Mouse 3200DPI wired 6 Buttons, priced at $12.99. Another interesting point about this mouse is that as we price track it we can see it has dropped in price by $32.26 during these past two weeks. Our lowest price tracked for this mouse was marked down at $11.99, which we spotted on 15th Aug 2020.

Of our regular price tracked gaming headset the best value headset today is the Corsair HS45-7.1 Surround. With its a current price of $36.99 it should work well with this ASUS TUF A17 (2021) R5 5600H RTX 3070 Max-Q 16GB RAM 1.0TB M.2 1080p 144Hz laptop. For reference, the lowest price recorded by us so far for the headset is $34.99 on 28th Nov 2019.