Both are now available for pre-order on Amazon, as is the product page on the company's website. According to the listing, the TUF Gaming A15 configuration will begin shipping on Wednesday, April 15, while the TUF Gaming A17 configuration will ship next Monday, April 20. This is assuming things go as planned, which is not certain due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Both the A15 and A17 are powered by AMD's latest generation mobile CPU Ryzen 4000 series. They are based on the company's Zen 2 architecture, the same one found in the Ryzen 3000 series of desktop processors, and promise great performance without consuming a lot of power.
We have yet to test these claims, but from what we already know about Zen 2, we have high hopes.
Another attractive aspect is its cost performance. It is an 8-core/16-thread CPU with a base clock of 2.9 GHz, boost clock of 4.2 GHz, 12 MB cache, and 45 W TDP.
The A15 can also be purchased with a GeForce RTX 2060 and a 1TB NVMe SSD for $1,199.99. This is also a tough price to beat.
For some reason, Asus is not offering the larger A17 model with RTX 2060, only the GTX 1660 Ti. For the time being, there is only one model available for pre-order. Priced at $1,099.99, it includes:
Asus is not the only company to launch a Ryzen 4000 gaming system; the MSI Bravo will ship in May; Asus' ROG Zephyrus G14 is listed as "Coming Soon" at Best Buy. It is listed as "Coming Soon" at Best Buy. Check out this Reddit thread for a list of other upcoming systems.
AMD announced the Ryzen 4000 mobile series at CES. At that time, AMD claimed that the Ryzen 7 4800H would deliver a 26% performance boost over Intel's desktop Core i9-9700K with a TDP of 95W. AMD's message was basically to expect "desktop-like performance" from a Zen 2-based mobile CPU This is what they are saying.
Intel also recently launched a new round of high-performance mobile CPUs. Gaming laptops with these should be available soon, setting the stage for a showdown in the mobile space.
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