I love reviewing more budget tech, but more than that, I love fixing tech!
Hi! my name is Yang, the Tech Rodent, a Tech Enthusiast, Reviewer and Repairer that is based in Malaysia.
I enjoy looking at more niche products, not necessarily big brand products, because I feel that it's there that the is the most interesting, and that's where people want to more about as well.
-= Collaborations & Reviews =-
If you're interested in collaborating with me, feel free to drop me an email, at hsinyang.ho@gmail.com
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I wonder if anyone uses Linux with this laptop and how good or bad it runs on it. All of these issues people mention on every review video is Window's related mostly.
I bought another version at the Asus store with a 32GB memory upgrade already inserted - €1299 ASUS TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition Laptop Windows 11 Home AMD Ryzen™ 7 7435HS 3.1GHz Processor (20MB Cache, up to 4.5 GHz, 8 Cores, 16 Threads) AMD Radeon™ RX 7600S 8GB GDDR6 Graphics 16" QHD+ 16:10 (2560 x 1600) 240Hz IPS screen 32 GB DDR5 RAM memory 1TB of M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 4.0 SSD storage 10/100/1000Mbps RJ45 LAN port Fast charging 0-50% in 30 minutes 90Wh high capacity battery Sandstorm Color ...pass four years my Acer Predator Helios 300 shut down and burn 😢
Found your video on a search because my LG DC was sparking (different model). I love to tinker, and this monitor is only 4 years old so I hope to restore it. The difference in tech makes a better picture, but I have and HP and a Samsung that have lasted for about 10 + years that haven't given me issues yet. Thanks for the info and break down.
I literally watched the Intro & Ending as the way you upgrade had a huge Difference in DPI Scaling Something i needed in my Fujitsu Laptop if only the Integrated GPU could be accepted
Thank you for this video. I was trying to find a good laptop in the 1000-1500$ range and ended up ordering the AAA A16. After watching this video, I canceled the order.
*JUNE 2024 buyer here* *The keyboard blinking in suspension is something you can disable in armory crate. Yes, it is a feature. *There is absolutely ZERO bluescreen or black screens during GPU switching, *The laptop DOES NOT turn itself on by sheer will. All have been solved by updates.
Thanks for reporting, I'm about to buy it too so, good to know that just updating it will solve these issues. Do you know by chance if it has any issues on Linux distros compared to Windows?
It seems you as a reviewer forgets to examin 3rd party tools. So to achieve 35 watts, you would first need to go into an application called throttlestop and set your clocks accordingly. Also turn off proshot to dynamically lower your cpu wattage beeing used as well as lower the temps a bit. Then from there, obtain your favorite fan control software and curve your fan speeds as even sometimes lower fan speeds depending on what you are doing will decent results.
As an enthusiast I know how to do those things, but as an everyday user, I acknowledge that not everyone has this kind of knowledge, they just get a laptop and expects it to work. By those metrics, a laptop that doesn't control itself properly out of the box is what the majority of buyers will experience and therefore should be factored in heavily.
I am still using my Razer Diamondback (Chameleon Green version). I know it doesn't have the greatest DPI.. but I love this mouse. The new ones are garbage. I now have to replace the rotary (scroll) encoder.. absolutely worth the effort of keeping this mouse running. I mean it's what.. 20+ years old and still going? Not too shabby IMO.
It could be that newer versions come with an updated BIOS, because some users have reported fully working laptops after a BIOS upgrade. Either way if true it's great news.
Folks, many of the issues outlined by the Rodent here seemed to have been addressed, or at least fixable, by this date (May 2024): 1) Replace the stock Realtek card of horror with an AMD-compatible intel card, like the AX200 or AX210; the stock Realtek card apparently has conflicts with the rest of the hardware. Switching out the Realtek for the AX200 appears to have resolved many issues, both on Windows 10/11 and on Linux. 2) Disable AMD "Smart Access Graphics" Switchable graphics. Run the iGPU for general desktop use and manually enable the dGPU when gaming, or use a script to automatically use the dGPU when launching a game from Steam, GoG, etc. If you're using Linux, SmartSwitch is automatically disabled (be sure to select "Hybrid" and not "dedicated only" in BIOS) and you can control the GPU switching manually or with scripts. 3) There's a new BIOS Update (414) available from Asus for one of the BestBuy variants of this laptop (with the 7700S), which appears to address many of the system instability issues: www.asus.com/supportonly/fa617nt/helpdesk_bios/ BIOS is fairly recent from February 2024. 4) Uninstall Asus Armory Crate and manage the AMD GPU and CPU manually with AMD's driver tools. 5) Format the hard drive and install Linux with the latest Kernel (6.9) which appears to have very broad and solid support for the AMD 7600S and 7700S GPUs. For noobs, recommend using a distro like Linux Mint and/or Ubuntu Cinnamon. For intermediate users that don't mind a rolling release: Manjaro Xfce. 6) Disable the CPU's boosting / turbo mode (it's not necessary in this laptop) and also repaste the stock paste with Arctic MX-6 or a similar high quality paste to address overheating. 7) Random reboots with AMD hardware have been traced back to potential undervolting issues on Ryzen CPUs and GPUs, by the Arch linux community. Solutions have been posted which suggest optimizing/tuning the CPU voltage curve to prevent undervolted cores when coming out of resting/sleep states: bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=290399&p=2 8) Reboots can be also caused by the stock RAM chips that come with these laptops, if they're defective. Run Memtest, and if any instability found - replace with a dual channel kit from Crucial. @Tech Rodent if you feel these tips are useful for the community, please feel free to pin this comment on this video. Thank you.
Im using the asus tuf a15 with the rtx 4060 gpu, doenst have any of the issues mentioned. I strongly believes maybe that could be the AMD pairing that has the issues. I could be wrong. But so far its been working great for me. As a normal citizen i don't have the luxury to change gaming laptop here and there but so far the purchased asus tuf is been kinda worthwhile. Previously im rocking MSI GF65 i7-rtx3060 that one last 3 years and recently the screen flicker non stop and died. Causing me problems for working and playing. I always from day 1 doing my own self maintenance, like repasting thermal paste with grizzly kyronaut, thermal pads, fine tuning witb throttle stop, fan curve tuning, undervolt -150-180mv, debloating. MSI laptop have a horrendous overheating issues and i fix it with max temp that does not exceed 85c compare to 105 when i first got it and running the game faster . But ultimately i cant prevent screen death. I do think AMD + Nvidia had lesser issues. As mine from day 1 works properly, the only issues i have is the Armoury Crate doesnt have fan curve tuning built into it and only have fan profiles which is not what i wanted. Also AMD undervolting is a new stuff that i need to learn. Intel is easier to undervolt for me.
Bought A16 (7735) for several months. Had zero unexpected reboot after updating bios / driver. Some games can have temporal freeze (5~10 secs) when alt-tabing between games and desktop with Smart Access Graphics enabled, but that can be solved easily by setting Hybrid Graphics per game. Also upgraded to 16GB x2 RAM and Crucial T500 1TB SSD.
Wish I saw this before buying back in Aug 2023. Laptop still has sleep/wake issues, esp with Linux. Bluetooth also isn't perfect. I have to unpair and re-pair anything with Bluetooth. The thermal paste is insufficient because the laptop overheats and randomly shuts down frequently. While using better thermal paste prevents the random shut downs, the laptop fans and thermals kick into overdrive randomly, esp in startup, which makes no damn sense since I haven't done anything significant yet. I can't believe this is the only review I found that is sufficiently honest about issues with this laptop. The cost-savingsbarent worth the servicing cost (I bought this abroad, so warranty isn't covered) and headaches it induced.
I am a Linux user too - I just posted a comment with a long list of fixes for this machine. Try using the latest kernel (6.9), repaste the CPU/GPU with Cryonaut or MX-6, and make sure you're running the new BIOS from Feb 2024 (414). Also, do NOT keep using the included Realtek Wifi/BT card - it's trash and triggers a whole bunch of other issues - replace it with the Intel AX200 or AX210.
J'ai moi aussi une Roccat Kone XTD qui a fonctionné jusqu'à fin 2023 avec les mêmes boutons d'origines mais maintenant, j'ai moi aussi le problème du "double-clic" qui survient en appuyant une fois. Très embêtant, surtout quand tu veux juste déplacer l'icône et que ça double-clic sans le vouloir 😅. Commande passée sur Aliexpress, ça devrait arriver fin du mois et après je ferais le changement. Merci pour la référence des boutons👍.
This laptop is a piece of garbage. Bought mine 11/24/23 it is now 5/9/24. The right hinge on cover pulls away from the bezel on the screen. Worst of all it also ruined the screen in the process. Repair cost is to high to make it worth fixing for the same issue to pop up again. Take note this is from opening and closing it once a day.
I put the rear camera inside and more closer to the glass, its awesome, get surrounding area like rear view mirror but wider and clearer. My question is why you need to turn it off the screen? it supposed to replace your rear view mirror, right?
Perhaps I'm not used to it, but I don't like the latency and I have trust and anxiety issues with using a digital screen as a rear view mirror, plus I think it should be better for the life of the display.
This video lacks analytics - aren’t there too many 7 usb3 ports for the psiexpress-x1 bus? At first, when I saw 7 ports, this is exactly the thought that came to me. and yes, 7 ports is an overpayment for extra useless ports, since the psiexpress-x1 bus with its speed of 500 Mbit/s is clearly not designed for 7 USB3 ports. At most, you can buy an adapter with 4 USB3 ports, this will work when using 4 HDDs but not SDDs. The psiexpress-x1 bus is capable of providing real, maximum speed for only 1 usb3 port.
One i ordered had 4G LTE range bars but had slow internet. Charging worked. The technician said its always better to work on bad orginal board than new ones. The board's name is CC board.
i have a question. why wasnt there a glass screen when u took off the Lcd screen. When i took my lcd screen off their is a glass screen below the lcd screen that is mounted on the printer. Can you take that out if thats the case i want to because my resin went down on that screen and i cant take it out.