ASUS TUF Gaming A17 FA707 review – 140W GPUs help it take over the gaming world

ASUS has one of the largest rosters of gaming devices on the market right now. And although it is dominated by the ROG series, we can’t overlook the importance of the TUF Gaming notebooks. Last year, the TUF Gaming A17 (FA706) was really promising thanks to its great performance, wide hardware configuration options, and low base price tag.

If we take a quick look into the specs, we’re going to see that the manufacturer really wanted to turn things up a notch. Not only do you get the latest AMD processors (as of the time of writing this review), but now you can take advantage of the RTX 3070 Ti. But this is not the big deal here – instead, we were more surprised to find out that the TGP ratings of the graphics cards have been significantly increased. The difference is so big, that it will definitely be a game-changer, and we can see some users switching from their one-year-old devices just to get the extra performance.

Speaking in numbers, we are talking about a jump from 95W to 140W, which will put a very big strain on the cooling, so we hope it has been updated as well. This won’t be the only change, though, because the body of the laptop is slightly different from last year’s unit. And the cream of the crop of changes is the inclusion of a MUX switch, which now lets the dedicated graphics pump those frames directly to the display, instead of having to rely on the integrated graphics to do so.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-tuf-gaming-a17-fa707/

Contents


Specs Sheet

ASUS TUF Gaming A17 FA707 - Specs

  • AUO B173HAN04.9 (AUO978F)
  • Color accuracy  4.6  3.8
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 4000GB SSD + up to 1000GB HDD
  • RAM
  • up to 64GB
  • OS
  • Windows 11 Home, Windows 11 Pro, Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro
  • Battery
  • 90Wh, 4-cell, 56Wh, 4-cell, 90Wh, 4-cell
  • Body material
  • Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum
  • Dimensions
  • 394 x 264 x 22.9 - 25.4 mm (15.51" x 10.39" x 0.90")
  • Weight
  • 2.60 kg (5.7 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 2x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • HDMI
  • 2.0b
  • Card reader
  • Ethernet LAN
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.2
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5mm Combo Jack
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Web camera
  • HD
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Microphone
  • Array Microphone with AI Noise Cancelling
  • Speakers
  • 2x Speakers, Dolby Atmos
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot
  • Kensington Lock

All ASUS TUF Gaming A17 FA707 configurations

#CommissionsEarned

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, you will find some paperwork, a flier full of stickers, as well as a charger. Depending on the GPU configuration you will get a 200W unit (RTX 3050, RTX 3050 Ti), or a 240W power adapter.


Design and construction

As we mentioned, the TUF Gaming A17 FA707 offers some visual differences from its predecessor. Its metal lid now sports a logo, which looks sculpted, instead of the previous print. Generally, though, the dimensions are kept the same. It still weighs 2.60 kilos, while its profile sits between 22.9mm and 25.4mm.

In addition, the laptop covers the MIL-STD-810H durability test sequence, which speaks of its structural qualities. The lid holds up well, and has almost no flex when twisted, which is fantastic. The same can be said about the base, although 17-inch laptops have an inherent weakness, due to their slightly larger footprint.

Once you open the lid (an action, executable with one hand), we see the narrow borders surrounding the matte display. However, in contrast to the ROG Strix G17 G713R (2022), this laptop actually comes with an HD Web camera, which is a big win, over its more expensive sibling. In order to incorporate the camera, ASUS has introduced a notch, which also acts as a handle, when you are opening the lid.

Moving to the keyboard, we see that the device has a different layout of the keyboard. It still comes with transparent WASD keys and a NumberPad section, but the Arrow buttons look different, and slightly bigger. Also, there is a set of volume control, mic mute, and Armoury Crate shortcuts, separated from the main part of the board. And instead of one large grill, only half of which was being used, the laptop now sports a cutout, that is exactly the same size as the opening. In addition, the keyboard is rather comfortable for typing, and not bad for gaming, either.

Looking at the touchpad, we see that we have lost the hardware buttons. On the bright side, the surface is significantly bigger, it is smooth, and offers really accurate tracking.

When we turn the laptop upside down, we can spot probably the biggest design change. First, there are a lot of tiny feet that support the base. Additionally, the ventilation grill is significantly bigger than last year and has some pretty strategic openings. Probably even more impressive is that the laptop now has a total of four exhaust grills.

Ports

On the left side, you will find the power plug, a LAN port, an HDMI 2.0b connector, two USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports (one of which supports DisplayPort output with G-Sync), a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, and an audio jack. Then, on the right, there is a Kensington lock slot and another USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port.


Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance

To access the internals, you need to undo 12 Phillips-head screws. One of them lifts the bottom plate, which produces a gap where you can start the prying process.

It has a 90Wh battery pack, which lasts up to 13 hours of Web browsing, or 11 hours of video playback. To take it out, unplug the connector from the motherboard, and remove all four Phillips-head screws holding it to the chassis.

To see the memory, remove the black strip. This reveals the two SODIMM slots, which work in dual-channel mode and fit DDR5 modules. Storage-wise, you get two M.2 PCIe x4 slots, both of which support Gen 4 drives.

The cooling looks improved, with two heat pipes common for the CPU and the GPU, with one additional for each of them. A fifth heat pipe deals with the VRMs and the graphics memory.


Display quality

ASUS TUF Gaming A17 A707 is equipped with a Full HD 144Hz IPS panel, model number AUO B173HAN04.9. Its diagonal is 17.3″ (43.94 cm), and the resolution is 1920 х 1080 pixels. The screen ratio is 16:9, and we are looking at a pixel density of – 127 ppi, and a pitch of 0.2 х 0.2 mm. The screen turns into Retina when viewed at distance equal to or greater than 69cm (27″) (from this distance one’s eye stops differentiating the separate pixels, and it is normal for looking at a laptop).

Viewing angles are comfortable. We offer images at 45° to evaluate image quality.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

The measured maximum brightness of 274 nits in the middle of the screen and 267 nits as an average for the whole area, with a maximum deviation of only 4%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen is 6540K – matching the optimal for the sRGB standard of 6500K.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. In other words, the leakage of light from the light source.

Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is very good – 1390:1.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows ASUS TUF Gaming A17 A707’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers only 53% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you see the scores of ASUS TUF Gaming A17 A707 with the “Gaming and Web design” profile.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 27 ms.

After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.


PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

The backlight of the ASUS TUF Gaming A17 A707 doesn’t use PWM to adjust its levels of brightness. This means the display is comfortable for use, without presenting any excessive eye strain in this aspect.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for ASUS TUF Gaming A17 A707 configurations with 17.3″ FHD IPS AUO B173HAN04.9.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

ASUS TUF Gaming A17 A707’s speakers produce a sound of good quality. Its low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations.


Drivers

All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://www.asus.com/Laptops/For-Gaming/TUF-Gaming/ASUS-TUF-Gaming-A17-2022/HelpDesk_Download/

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. Our unit came with the larger 90Wh battery pack. It lasts for 12 hours and 55 minutes of Web browsing, or 11 hours and 3 minutes of video playback.

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.


CPU options

Currently, the laptop is offered with the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H. This is an 8-core, 16-thread processor, based on the Zen 3+ architecture. The main difference from its predecessor lies in a smaller node – 6nm vs 7nm, and the use of RDNA2 integrated graphics. AMD is also able to push a slightly higher boost clock of 4.70 GHz, compared to the 4.40 GHz of the Ryzen 7 5800H.


GPU options

Contrary to the lack of choices of processors, you can pick between five different graphics cards. They are the RTX 3050 (95W), RTX 3050 Ti (95W), RTX 3060 (140W), RTX 3070 (140W), and the RTX 3070 Ti (140w).


Gaming tests

Metro ExodusFull HD, Low (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Extreme (Check settings)
Average FPS139 fps89 fps46 fps

Borderlands 3Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Badass (Check settings)
Average fps119 fps103 fps86 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon WildlandsFull HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
Average106 fps100 fps74 fps

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Highest (Check settings)
Average134 fps132 fps96 fps

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

AMD Ryzen 7 6800H (45W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
ASUS TUF Gaming A17 FA7073.79 GHz (B+18%) @ 74°C @ 78W3.76 GHz (B+18%) @ 81°C @ 77W3.75 GHz (B+17%) @ 86°C @ 78W
ASUS ROG Strix G17 G713R (2022)3.77 GHz (B+18%) @ 77°C @ 78W3.74 GHz (B+17%) @ 82°C @ 78W3.76 GHz (B+18%) @ 80°C @ 79W
ASUS ROG Strix G15 G513R (2022)3.80 GHz (B+19%) @ 78°C @ 79W3.76 GHz (B+18%) @ 84°C @ 78W3.78 GHz (B+18%) @ 82°C @ 78W

Looking at the scores in stress testing, we can say that the TUF Gaming A17 FA707 doesn’t perform a whole lot different from its ROG Strix cousins. In fact, the clock speeds are incredibly close, with the only difference felt in the slightly higher temperature at the end. That’s not bad at all, considering the fact that the ROG Strix laptops we tested come with a liquid metal thermal compound. Generally, this means that the efficiency of the entire cooling setup, and of course, the new “Arc Flow” fans are great.

Real-life gaming

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (Max fans)
ASUS TUF Gaming A17 FA7071656 MHz @ 77°C @ 139W1646 MHz @ 79°C @ 140W
Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-55)1600 MHz @ 78°C @ 139W1574 MHz @ 84°C @ 140W1640 MHz @ 82°C @ 139W
ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 GU6031545 MHz @ 75°C @ 100W1520 MHz @ 81°C @ 100W
HP Omen 15 (2021, 15-en1000)1285 MHz @ 70°C @ 80W1288 MHz @ 70°C @ 80W
ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE (GX551)1689 MHz @ 71°C @ 131W1676 MHz @ 72°C @ 129W
ASUS ROG Strix G17 G7131649 MHz @ 83°C @ 130W1646 MHz @ 84°C @ 130W
ASUS TUF A17 (FA706) 20211440 MHz @ 74°C @ 95W1465 MHz @ 77°C @ 95W
ASUS TUF Dash F15 (FX516)1389 MHz @ 69°C @ 84W1377 MHz @ 74°C @ 84W

Here, we have to pay attention to two things – the TUF Gaming A17 FA707 performs significantly better than its predecessor and manages to fulfill its full TGP budget of 140W. This provides a huge strain to the cooling, which handles its job perfectly, even when compared to the Helios 300 (PH317-55), with its fans maxed out.

Gaming comfort

Although the TUF Gaming A17 FA707’s fans are far off their maximum rpm, you have to keep in mind that they are indeed loud during gaming (and with the Turbo preset enabled). On the other hand, the external temperatures are well-managed, and the laptop’s keyboard doesn’t get too warm during long gaming sessions. What is equally important, is that the bottom panel never warms up. The placement of the grills means that the air entering the device is always keeping the panel cool.


Verdict

There is one big question that needs an answer. Is the TUF Gaming A17 FA707 a better purchase than the ROG Strix G17 G713R (2022)? Well, it depends. Undoubtedly, the Strix is the more premium product. Arguably the biggest advantage it has over its TUF fellow is in regards to the display.

ASUS TUF Gaming A17 A707’s IPS panel has a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and a very good contrast ratio. However, it covers only half of the sRGB color space. On the bright side, the panel doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment and comes with a 144Hz refresh rate. This, of course, is a huge disadvantage to the 360Hz 1080p option in the ROG Strix.

On the other hand, the TUF is the more affordable of the two, and has a big Ace up its sleeve – it has a Web camera. This feature is definitely not new for the TUF Gaming series, but it is a big factor in the decision-making process.

Another super important aspect is the performance. We are glad to say that this device posts fantastic scores in both synthetic benchmarks and real-world gaming, and we are really grateful that this series has also received a TGP injection. Without a doubt, the cooling redesign has the biggest role in this, as it bears the weight of the increased heat, generated by the more powerful graphics cards.

You also have to know that the Armoury Crate offers a lot of choices for preset performance profiles. But the brightest gem (or the strongest weapon) in the Armoury Crate is the Manual mode. It lets you tinker with fan curves, core and memory clock offsets, and temperature targets. Enthusiasts will be happy.

Structurally, the laptop also feels great. Not that we didn’t expect it to, given the MIL-STD-810H certification. The move to DDR5 memory might not be welcomed by some, but thankfully, you get two SODIMM slots for upgrades, and two M.2 PCIe x4 slots for storage expansion. While ASUS doesn’t pay much attention to that on their official Web page, both slots support Gen 4 drives.

And then comes the battery life. You can have the largest available battery on hand, but if your hardware and software aren’t efficient-enough, you can’t extract the most out of it. Well, that was not the case here. We got nearly 13 hours of Web browsing or about 11 hours of video playback out of the bigger 90Wh unit. Officially, there is no reason not to get a gaming laptop these days.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-tuf-gaming-a17-fa707/

Pros

  • Tough chassis
  • 2x SODIMM + 2x M.2 PCIe x4 (both support Gen 4 SSDs)
  • 144Hz refresh rate (AUO B173HAN04.9)
  • No PWM (AUO B173HAN04.9)
  • HDMI 2.0b (G-Sync)
  • Adaptive Sync support (AUO B173HAN04.9)
  • Great battery life for a gaming laptop
  • The Armoury Crate offers a lot of customization


Cons

  • No SD card reader and Thunderbolt 4 connectivity
  • Covers only 53% of sRGB (AUO B173HAN04.9)

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