Asus TUF Gaming FX505DY-BQ002T review

Asus TUF Gaming FX505 AMD Edition laptop comes with the promise of providing a great gaming performance at an affordable price. Announced recently during CES 2019, it utilizes AMD Ryzen 5 mobile processor that enables the Taiwanese electronics maker to position the laptop in the affordable segment.

While options such as Dell Alienware, HP Omen, Acer Predator and even the ROG series by Asus come at a premium, the TUF Gaming FX505DY laptop does not cost a pretty penny.

Generally, when speaking of gaming laptops, names of two companies- NVIDIA and Intel, are often a substantial part of the conversation. The combination of the two has been powering solid gaming rigs from decades now. So, is the AMD alternative from Asus capable enough to run graphics intensive games or does it fall short of the glory? We find out.

Price and availability

At Rs 59,990, you get a 15.6-inch Full HD display, AMD Ryzen 5-3550H processor coupled with 8GB of RAM and 1TB of storage and Radeon RX560X graphics. 

In India, the Asus TUF FX505DY is exclusively available on Amazon India.

Design and Display

Our unit of the TUF FX505DY is clad in black with red accents all around the chassis. Though it looks pretty basic on the outside, with the brushed matte finish on the lid, the red Asus logo and diagonal cuts, it is not until you notice the red stripe running around the frame that you get a bit of a premium feel.

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The lid has a trapezoid cut which separates it from the base, allowing for better airflow. This gaming laptop is outfitted with Asus HyperCool thermal solution which enables improved cooling. The air vents are situated on the base and are coloured in red which is a nice touch. 

The rest of the body has a brushed metal look with a black and red coloured keyboard layout. On the trackpad, there are red arrows on the four corners possibly to enhance its gaming outlook. The laptop's 'WASD' keyboard keys are wrapped in red lines for easier identification. 

If you look at the HyperStrike keyboard, the keys are situated in a frame which then has this edged design on the bottom.   

There are air vents which occupy the top of the base and are designed to complement the rest of the design. Alongside, there’s the power on and off button. The TUF Gaming logo is embossed on the right side, just below the keyboard.

Like with gaming laptops, they aren’t very portable friendly, but the TUF FX505DY has been awarded with MIL-STD-810G military-grade durability certificate. The laptop was tested in different conditions including, shock, vibration, temperature, humidity, altitude and for some reason, solar radiation. With dimensions of 360.4 x 262 x 26.8 mm and a weight of 2.2kg, it’s a sturdy feeling laptop. One can carry it around and it won’t be an issue for most.

The 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display is one of the striking features of the TUF FX505DY. The bezels are considerably thinner than most gaming laptops with the left and right bezels measuring just 6.5mm. However, the bottom bezel has an Asus logo engraved which makes it much thicker than the rest.

The screen is anti-glare and is bright enough to play games in a dimly lit room. In our regular setup which has lots of natural light, the display was bright and vivid. While the panel doesn’t support a higher refresh rate, it’s also priced more affordably than say the Strix SCAR II, which has a display with a 144Hz refresh rate. Being non-glare, there was little-to-no-reflection when viewing the screen. The panel reproduces colours accurately and we played several titles that had different visual settings without any issues.

Overall, the TUF FX505DY looks and feels great for its asking price. If you’re out in the market for a more impressive laptop, then you’ll probably need to look elsewhere and be ready to shell more money.