Asus TUF FX504GE Series

Processor: Intel Coffee Lake i5-8300H, Intel Coffee Lake i7-8750H
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile
Display: 15.60 inch
Weight: 2.3kg
Price: 900, 1300, 1600 euro
features: 90%, mobility: 60%, workmanship: 90%

 

Asus TUF FX504GE-EN088T

The light Asus TUF Gaming FX504 wants to be a powerful, portable, and enduring all-rounder. It belongs to the TUF series and TUF is short for The Ultimate Force. The patented Anti-Dust Cooling system is a key feature of this entry-level gaming laptop. Display, CPU, and graphics cards depend on the FX504 variant. The Asus TUF FX504GE-EN088T comes with an Intel Core i7-8750H, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Notebook), 16 GB of RAM, and a matte IPS panel.

Design and Connectivity

The Asus TUF Gaming FX504 is available in four designs, which are Black Matter, Red Matter, Fusion, and Premium Steel. With a size of 38.4 x 26.2 x 2.5 cm and a weight of 2.3 kg, it is thicker than several competitors, but its weight is on an average level. www.laptopmag.com reports that the Acer Nitro 5 Spin is a lighter 2.22 kg (4.9 pounds) and 38.1 x 25.91 x 1.78 cm (15 x 10.2 x 0.7 inch), and the HP Pavilion Power 15t is a heavier 2.54 kg (5.6 pounds) and 37.85 x 25.15 x 2.54 cm (14.9 x 9.9 x 1 inch). The chassis is made of plastic. Thanks to a small cutout in the lid, the status lights can be seen even when the laptop is closed. A thick frame surrounds the laptops 15.6-inch display. www.yugatech.com finds that there is only minimal screen flex and almost completely no keyboard and chassis flex, even when you try to bend it with significant force. They complain that the chassis is a total smudge and fingerprint magnet and that its hard to wipe off. The laptop comes with an audio combo jack, a USB 2.0 Type A port, two USB 3.0 Type A ports, an RJ45 LAN jack, an HDMI 1.4 port, but it lacks an USB Type-C port and an SD Card reader. Wireless communication is possible via 802.11ac (2x2) WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. The laptop does not have an optical drive. According to www.gadgetsnow.com its 720p webcam offers decent images. laptopmedia.com reports that the internals are accessible after removing the whole bottom plate. There are two storage connectors, an M.2 slot which supports NVMe SSDs and a SATA port.

Input Devices

The full-sized chiclet keyboard features its own dedicated numpad and a backlight, which is helpful in dim environments. It does not have any dedicated multimedia keys. According to www.laptopmag.com, the key travel is 1,4 mm and the actuation force is a strong 76 g, while www.unbox.ph reports a key travel of 1,8 mm. Their tester says, “The keys felt ever-so-slightly bouncy, which took some getting used to.”. www.yugatech.com finds, “Travel distance is okay and tactile feedback is present, although slightly lacking as presses still feel a bit mushy.” It took them a few hours to adjust to the slightly lower than normal positioned arrow keys. Reportedly, the keyboard is twice as durable as the industry standard for gaming laptops, withstanding up to 20 million key presses. According to www.laptopmag.com, the FX504 comes with a 4.1 x 2.8-inch (10,41 x 7,11 cm) Windows Precision touchpad with gesture support. Their tester complains that the plastic felt slippery and cheap when he navigated Windows. According to www.yugatech.com the touchpad registers gestures well but it has a faster than normal DPI out-of-the-box and it is a smudge and fingerprint magnet.

Display

Asus lists three 15.6-inch display variants in the specification. The two 60 Hz models share 45 % NTSC, but differ from each other by featuring (or not featuring ) an IPS panel. There is also a 120 Hz variant with 94% NTSC. All display variants have Full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080) in common. GSync is not supported. The Asus TUF FX504GE-EN088T features an IPS display, which has better viewing angles, than the 120 Hz TN panel. The Full HD IPS panel in laptopmedia.com’s test unit did not use PWM for brightness control, which is better for your health. You can find many detailed measurements and explanations on their page. They summarize, “ASUS TUF FX504’s IPS panel has a Full HD resolution, comfortable viewing angles and exceptional contrast ratio. […] Despite the good contrast, this panel can display only half of the colors in the sRGB color space.”. www.yugatech.com writes about the lowest specc’d unit with 60 Hz panel they had under review, “Blacks are quite lacking and colors are a bit dull but the details are crisp and pixel density is good thanks to the FHD resolution. Viewing angles are also acceptable.” www.laptopmag.com complains that the display in their test sample was dim, bland and lifeless. They report that its sRGB color gamut of 66 % is below their 98-percent entry-level gaming average and their measured brightness of 220 nits is dimmer than their average of 256 nits. www.ultrabookreview.com finds that a 120 Hz refresh rate will make your gaming experience much nicer, albeit you’ll probably want to lower the details in order to get high frame-rates and that its response times are faster than a standard IPS screen’s. In www.unbox.ph’s tests the 120 Hz panel performed alright. It delivered good good contrast, but the color reproduction is not completely precise out-of-the-box.

Hardware and Performance

There are three main variants of the FX504, the FX504GM with GTX 1060 graphics, the FX504GE with GTX 1050 Ti graphics, and FX504GD with GTX 1050 graphics. The FX504GE is available with Intel Core i7 8750H or Core i5 8300H CPU. It features two SO-DIMM sockets for up to 32 GB DDR4 2666MHz SDRAM or up to 16 GB Intel Optane memory. This article covers FX504GE models and compares them to their siblings. Certainly, the GTX 1050 Ti’s performance depends on the cooling capacities. It is about 30 % faster than the GTX 1050. The GTX 1050 Ti still remains a mainstream graphics card from the Pascal generation for entry-level gaming and multimedia, which can only run older and undemanding games in high settings, while the GTX 1060 allows Full HD or WQHD gaming in high to maximum details. The GTX 1050 is even slower than the GTX 1050 Ti. www.gadgetsnow.com had a unit with Intel Core i7-8750H processor, 8 GB DDR4 RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GPU combined 1 TB FireCuda SSHD and 128 GB PCIE SSD storage under review. According to them the device definitely feels agile and snappy thanks to the Seagate FireCuda SSHD, but the device might stutter at times under demanding multitasking scenarios. www.ultrabookreview.com’s test sample came equipped with an Intel Core i7-8750H processor, Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti graphics, 16 GB of RAM and dual-storage, with an M.2 SATA SSD and a regular 2.5″ mechanical HDD. Asus thermally limited their sample. Hence the CPU dropped below its maximum Turbo Boost Speeds once the package reached temperatures on high 70s – low 80s and the benchmarks scored lower on this sample than on other laptops built on the i7-8750H processor they had tested in the past. Since demanding games can only reach 60 fps when graphics settings are lowered, a 120 Hz panel appears to be a questionable investment.

Temperature and System Noise

For www.gadgetsnow.com the laptop (Core i7, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti) is way too noisy sometimes and the laptop remains warm for most part of regular usage because the fan doesn’t kick in. They say that the body is heating up a little too much while playing. www.ultrabookreview.com reports that the FX504GE (Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti) runs warmer than most others in its class with daily activities, yet at the same time the fans stay mostly off in this case, with the CPU fan kicks in from time to time, but remaining pretty much inaudible. They say that you will also hear the HDD cranking in a quiet place, and some occasional electronic winning as well. When running games, the noise reached noisy 51-52 dB in their tests. Their test unit got fairly hot in certain spots with the hottest area somewhere between the O, M and Enter keys. The temperature reached just under 49 °C in the central part of the keyboard deck.

Battery Life

The laptop is equipped with a 48 Wh battery with 3 cells. Albeit Nvidia’s Optimus technology switches the GPU off, when it is not needed, the battery life is quite short. www.ultrabookreview.com (i7-8750H, 16 GB DDR4 RAM, GTX 1050 Ti, 256 GB SSD + 1 TB 5400 rpm HDD) got around 6 hours of FHD video, 5-6 hours of Youtube streaming and 3 and a half hours of everyday multitasking, with the screen’s brightness at about 30 % (roughly 120 nits) and Balanced mode selected. According to www.gadgetsnow.com (Intel Core i7-8750H, 8 GB DDR4 RAM, 1 TB FireCuda SSHD and 128 GB PCIe SSD), you can expect around 2.5 hours battery life if you use the machine of full brightness (like they did). It took them around 1.5 hours to fully charge this machine. Lower specced variants should be able to achieve longer battery runtimes. However, it still remains quite short. The FX504GD (Core i5-8300H, 8 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050, 1 TB SSHD) only achieved 3 hours and 57 minutes in the Laptop Mag Battery Test 2.0 (web browsing, videos, and runs graphics benchmarks at 150 nits) run by www.laptopmag.com. This is lower than their entry-level gaming average of 4:39 hours. In www.yugatech.com’s video loop test (1080p mp4 video, airplane mode, 50% brightness, sound via plugged-in earphones), their FX504GD sample (i5-8300H processor, 4 GB of RAM, Nvidia GTX 1050, 4GB of RAM, 1 TB HDD with 8 GB SSHD) lasted for mere 2 hours and 30 minutes, which yugatech calls really short even by gaming laptop standards. Charging from 0 % - 100 % took only about 1:45 to 2 hours in their test.

Audio

www.laptopmag.com evaluates, “The speakers on the TUF Gaming FX504 are nice and loud, easily filling up a midsize conference room (and attracting attention from some people outside it).”. They recommend to leave the Bass Boost on in the included DTS audio app. Lows are a bit lacking but you get DTS Headphone X tech according to www.yugatech.com. They recommend to keep audio gears plugged in to take advantage of that added benefit from the DTS Headphone X. In www.gadgetsnow.com’s opinion, the two speakers on the sides do not impress much. They are not loud as such and the quality is average at best.

Summary

The Asus TUF FX504GE belongs to the most affordable laptops with optional 120 Hz display. The budget gaming laptop has not been designed for demanding gaming. The press praises its build quality, and durability and complains about short battery life. Core i7-8750H models get warmer that their Core i5 counterparts. In view of the FX504GE’s graphics performance (Nvidia 1050 Ti) a 120 Hz display appears to be a questionable investment. As of 09-14-2018, www.amazon.de charges about 1,300 Euros for a FX504GE model with Intel Core i7-8750H, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, 1 TB HDD, NVIDIA GTX1050Ti (4GB), and Windows 10. The FX504GE variant with Intel i7-8750H, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD + 128 GB SSD, dedicated Nvidia GTX 1050Ti Graphics, and Windows 10 costs about 899.97 pounds in the UK. Acer’s Nitro 5 Spin and HP’s Pavilion Power 15t belong to the alternatives.

Sources

• https://www.asus.com/us/Laptops/ASUS-TUF-Gaming-FX504/
• https://www.asus.com/de/Laptops/ASUS-TUF-Gaming-FX504/
• https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/asus-tuf-gaming-fx504
• https://www.yugatech.com/gadget-reviews/asus-tuf-gaming-fx504-review/#sthash.7VNPDQQC.dpbs#iUpAYVg7GpWwrEBs.97
• https://www.gadgetsnow.com/reviews/asus-tuf-gaming-fx-504-review-gets-your-job-done/articleshow/64591280.cms
• https://www.unbox.ph/gadget/asus-tuf-fx504-review-a-notebook-for-keeps/
• https://laptopmedia.com/review/asus-tuf-fx504-review-member-of-the-new-gaming-line-up-with-core-i7-8750h/
• https://www.techradar.com/reviews/asus-tuf-fx504-hands-on
• https://www.ultrabookreview.com/19725-asus-tuf-fx504ge-review/

Press Review by Martina Osztovits

Specifications

Notebook: Asus TUF FX504GE-EN088T
Processor: Intel Coffee Lake i7-8750H
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile 4096 MB
Display: 15.60 inch, 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixels
Weight: 2.3kg
Price: 1300 euro
Links: Asus homepage
 Asus notebook section

Pricecompare

Average Score: 70% - average

 

Reviews

 

Asus FX504GE-DM198T

The Asus FX504GE-DM198T is a gaming notebook that combines immersive gameplay with incredible durability thanks to its life expectancy of 20 million keystrokes, which doubles the current industry standard. It is the first laptop in the new TUF Gaming series (The Ultimate Force). This new range of Asus notebooks, which shares the essence of the previous TUF series, brings, as a result, a series of portable gaming laptops that prioritize stability and durability as the main pillar. Its aggressive exterior design combines, as usual in gaming laptops, a completely black finish, which on the cover and the work area has a brushed finish, with details in red. Although built completely in plastic, it's casing shows an adequate solidity that is evident in the rigidity of the work area, which barely yields when pressed with force, while the cover, which is much more flexible, visibly sinks when applying a little force. This laptop has a weight of just 2.3 kg (5.07 lb) and a slim profile of 2.49 cm (0.98 inch). Its powerful six-core Intel Core i7-8750H at 2.2 GHz microprocessor is based on the Coffee Lake architecture (eighth generation). It will allow users to perform all kinds of advanced functions. It has 16 GB of DDR4 memory, a 128 GB SSD with an NVME compatible M.2 interface, and a 1TB hard drive at 7,200 rpm. The RAM uses the latest standard in memory, synchronized at an incredible speed of 2,666 MHz. This results in superior multitasking performance. With 4 GB of dedicated GDDR5 VRAM, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti will allow users a very good gaming experience. With a lifetime of 20 million keystrokes, the FX504 has one of the most durable keyboards, twice the current industry standard of 10 million keystrokes. The red backlit keys have key curves of 0.25 mm and offer 1.8 mm of travel for soft and tactile keys. Besides that, dual fans with anti-dust technology significantly extend the life of the FX504 and provide stable performance for graphics-intensive games, with HyperCool technology that combines the patented self-cleaning ADC system with the customizable Fan Overboost function. Regarding their networking capabilities, it is compatible with both Gigabit Ethernet and Wifi-AC as well as Bluetooth v4.2. Other features include 3 USB type-A ports (2 of which are USB 3.0), HDMI output, an independent numeric keypad, a multi-touch touchpad and an HD webcam. However, it is not a model that stands out for its autonomy. The battery life barely exceeds 3 hours and a half of light use on Wi-Fi navigation with its integrated battery. The FX504GE-DM198T is a perfect example of the current laptop trend. Gaming laptops are becoming more and more normal even for the lower-end market. A high demand in the gaming laptop category has caused the overall laptop sales to increase. This particular model will suite middle to high end users while giving some decent gaming experience. Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam

Specifications

Notebook: Asus FX504GE-DM198T
Processor: Intel Coffee Lake i7-8750H
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile
Display: 15.60 inch, 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixels
Weight: 2.3kg
Links: Asus homepage
 Asus notebook section

Pricecompare

Average Score: 80% - good

 

Reviews

Foreign Reviews

 

Asus TUF FX504GE-US52

The Asus TUF FX504GE-US52 is part of Asus’ TUF line of gaming laptops that are priced to appeal to gamers on a very tight budget, while still bearing the aesthetic of the high-end ROG line of gaming laptops. However, it comes with a few sacrifices, including lack of a USB Type-C port and short battery life. Instead of a plain design, the new iteration gets a few red flourishes on the outer cover, the same extends to the palm rest as well. Also, the corners are now fairly sharper than its predecessors from last year, giving the system an aggressive, gamer look . That’s just about the only difference that’s separating it from Asus’ other line of gaming laptops. The underside has a few similar markings along with roughly one half the area occupied by intake vents. The laptop is easily serviceable once the 11 screws are removed. There are four rubberized feet to give the ASUS TUF FX504 some traction as well. Speaking of the lid, the hinges are fairly standard and rigid. And the unit opens up by 140 degrees at its widest. Most laptops in the range tend to open by about 120-135 degrees, so they have a slight improvement here. The system’s 15.6-inch Full HD display features In-Plane Switching (IPS) which is better compared to Twisted-Nematic (TN). An In-Plane Switching (IPS) panel is preferable over Twisted Nematic (TN) technology, as it offers wider viewing angles and delivers better quality colors. The keyboard comes with red backlighting and follows the full layout. The arrow keys jut out from the layout making them easy to locate. As for the switches, Asus says they are rated for 20 million key presses and actuate with 62 grams of force. The actuation point for the keys is said to be a bit higher than the average switches found on most laptops in the rage. As for the touchpad, it’s fairly huge and has both buttons integrated within the same body. The surface texture is smoother and different as compared to the rest of the palm area and the matte finish works better with tracking. The ASUS TUF FX504 uses a 128 GB NVMe SSD from Kingston which is just about enough to house the boot drive and perhaps a couple of other software. As for the hard drive, we see Asus is using the Seagate FireCuda 1TB SSHD. The laptop is outfitted with a quad-core Intel Core i5-8300H processor and a single 8 GB DIMM installed. There’s room for another RAM module, too. This laptop gets a standard selection of I/O ports, including three USB ports (two USB 3.0, one USB 2.0), an HDMI port, an Ethernet jack, and mic-in, headphone-out, and line-out jacks, as well as an SD card reader. The system also features Bluetooth 4.1 and dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi for wireless connectivity, as well as an HD Web camera. Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam

Specifications

Notebook: Asus TUF FX504GE-US52
Processor: Intel Coffee Lake i5-8300H
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile 4096 MB
Display: 15.60 inch, 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixels
Weight: 2.3kg
Price: 900 euro
Links: Asus homepage
 Asus notebook section

Pricecompare

Average Score: 74% - average

 

Reviews

Foreign Reviews

 

Asus TUF FX504GE-DM286

Specifications

Notebook: Asus TUF FX504GE-DM286
Processor: Intel Coffee Lake i7-8750H
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile
Display: 15.60 inch, 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixels
Weight: 2.3kg
Links: Asus homepage
 Asus notebook section

Pricecompare

 

Foreign Reviews

 

Asus TUF FX504GE-DM122T

Specifications

Notebook: Asus TUF FX504GE-DM122T
Processor: Intel Coffee Lake i5-8300H
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile 4096 MB
Display: 15.60 inch, 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixels
Weight: 2.3kg
Price: 900 euro
Links: Asus homepage
 Asus notebook section

Pricecompare

Average Score: 89% - very good

 

Foreign Reviews

 

Asus TUF FX504GE-E4183T

Specifications

Notebook: Asus TUF FX504GE-E4183T
Processor: Intel Coffee Lake i7-8750H
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile 4096 MB
Display: 15.60 inch, 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixels
Weight: 2.3kg
Price: 1600 euro
Links: Asus homepage
 Asus notebook section

Pricecompare

 

Reviews

 

Comment

Asus: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. is a major Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturer based in Taipei, founded in 1989. Under the Asus brand name, the company manufactures a wide range of products, including laptops, desktops, motherboards, graphics cards, monitors, smartphones and networking equipment, complete systems and PC components for end users.

Under the ROG (Republic of Gamers) brand name, ASUS manufactures gaming laptops known by gamers for their powerful specifications, dedicated graphics cards, high refresh rate displays and advanced cooling systems.

Beyond gaming, a wide range of notebooks are offered for different needs and budgets, from ultra-slim and lightweight ultrabooks to versatile 2-in-1 convertibles and budget-friendly options. In 2023, Asus had a 7% global market share of the PC market.

Customer satisfaction with ASUS notebooks concerns performance, the features, and the good price-performance ratio of ASUS notebooks. However, as with any brand, there are occasional reports of problems such as overheating, driver compatibility, or build quality issues.

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Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile: Mainstream graphics card based on Nvidia's Pascal architecture and successor to the GeForce GTX 965M. Is manufactured in a 14nm process at Samsung and the technical specifications are very similar to the desktop version.

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.

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Intel Coffee Lake:

i7-8750H: On Coffee Lake architecture based processor for big and heavy laptops. Integrates six processor cores clocked at 2.2 - 4.1 GHz (4 GHz with 4 cores, 3.9 GHz with 6 cores) that support HyperThreading. Manufactured in an improved 14nm process (14nm++).

i5-8300H: On Coffee Lake architecture based processor for big and heavy laptops. Integrates four processor cores clocked at 2.3 - 4 GHz (3.9 GHz with 4 cores) that support HyperThreading. Manufactured in an improved 14nm process (14nm++).

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.

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» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.

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No weight comment found (one expected)!

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76.6%: This rating is not earth-shattering. This rating must actually be seen as average, since there are about as many devices with worse ratings as better ones. A purchase recommendation can only be seen with a lot of goodwill, unless it is about websites that generally rate strictly.

» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.

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