I’ve checked out a number of new PC gaming tech this yr. my Steam Replay itemizing, excess of I’ve constantly performed new video games, that is for certain. From the RTX 40-series refresh in January, to the primary correct modular gaming laptop computer, bizarre handhelds, ace gaming CPUs, and funky laptops, I’ve dabbled in each aspect of the trade.
Which is why I am nonetheless doing this twenty years after I took my first faltering steps as a PC expertise journalist; there’s all the time some new toy to play with.
However when it really got here to sitting down and fascinated about what’s been my decide of all of the gear I’ve had my arms on this yr, what’s been the factor that both stunned or happy me essentially the most, effectively, that is been harder than I actually anticipated. Considerably unusually, what I’ve landed on shouldn’t be the factor which I’ve scored the very best, and but it is the factor I’ve had essentially the most lingering affection for.
The Asus TUF A14 continues my pattern of getting all enthusiastic about wee 14-inch gaming laptops, but it surely additionally leans into my frugal nature, too, being a part of the Taiwanese large’s extra inexpensive model. It is a 14-inch gaming laptop computer I used to be anticipating to be tremendous however largely unexciting. Positive, the AMD Strix Level spec is grand—the identical as in our general decide as the present greatest gaming laptop computer—however the TUF lappies have lengthy been the frumpy cousins to the supermodel stylings of the ROG Zephyrus machines.
We have been giddy over the attractive ROG Zephyrus G14 and Zephyrus G16 designs launched at CES method again at the beginning of this yr, and I wasn’t anticipating to see the identical design notes being current after I pulled the TUF A14 out of its unassuming field and protecting sleeving.
Nevertheless it’s a delightfully slim little laptop computer, and one that’s much more restrained than I’ve ever seen from the historically very ‘gamer’ TUF vary of laptops. That, admittedly, remains to be evident once you flip open the lid and are greeted by the angular Asus font on the keyboard. That is one thing I nonetheless discover fairly damned ugly, however is de facto the one nod to that extra aggressive styling we have grow to be used to from customary Asus gear. Although that’s clearly altering.
That is very a lot a correct gaming laptop computer—it has a 100 W RTX 4060 inside that slimline chassis in spite of everything—however one which additionally is not going to look misplaced in a seminar, workshop, or workforce assembly. There may be naught however a pale ‘TUF’ brand in a single nook of the lid and that is it for outward adornments.
The tremendous slim bezel of the 1600p display screen makes the show a pleasure, too, and at 165 Hz it is loads quick sufficient for any gaming enterprise. The RTX 4060 is perhaps a troublesome match for that full decision, nevertheless, however with the tight pixel pitch of a high-res 14-inch panel, knocking video games again all the way down to 1200p or flipping the upscaling switcheroo, you are not going to expertise the slight blurring you may get on bigger screens.
Picture 1 of seven
For me, it should be a troublesome name on which laptop computer I take with me on my travels to CES in January, as a result of the Ryzen AI HX 370 is a good, environment friendly chip in its personal proper—and able to first rate gaming efficiency away from the plug, which the RTX 4060 kinda is not. However the different contender is the primary Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite machine I’ve ever utilized in anger, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge.
That is one thing else which has impressed me this yr, particularly having spent six months utilizing it as my work lappy. I’ve not skilled any actual compatibility points and have not modified what I do as a result of it isn’t an x86 machine. It is coped with the whole lot however a severely tab-heavy Chrome load, at which level it falls to its knees and cries ‘uncle!’
I’ve additionally cherished the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, however actually it is extra iterative than revolutionary contemplating AMD’s 3D V-cache passim, so I might wrestle to provide that my decide of the yr. Particularly as I might have given the CPU nod to the Ryzen 7 7800X3D on my final go across the fiery orb.
However nonetheless, it is this beautiful little slab of inexpensive, unassuming gaming tech that has my coronary heart in 2024.
I’m, nevertheless, hoping that I get to provide the 2025 version of this award to 1 incredible graphics card from the slew of latest GPUs set to land in our desktops from Nvidia, Intel, and AMD all through the brand new yr. C’mon, graphics peops, wow me. I am achieved with largely iterative, only a bit higher, only a bit costlier graphics silicon. I would like one thing actually new and thrilling.
If you wish to discover out who received the PC Gamer {Hardware} Awards, we’ll be publishing the winners on New 12 months’s Day.
