The budget laptop that really isn’t — or doesn’t want to be? Asus TUF Gaming A18 review
The Asus TUF Gaming A18 with an RTX 5070 didn’t make forming a verdict easy. In some areas, the budget DNA is unmistakable — the uncomfortable touchpad, the SSD, and the speakers, for example. In others, this 18-inch machine tries hard to pass as a slim, quiet, and energy-efficient content-creator workstation.
And then there was the price: at the time of our testing, the RTX 5070 version cost a steep €2,199. Meanwhile, the higher-tier ROG Strix G18 sat at €2,299 — just €100 more.
It seems Asus has realized that such a premium price for the A18 was hard to justify. Since our testing period, the price has dropped significantly twice. Near the end of our review window, Amazon already listed the 18-inch model for €1,999, and now it’s down to just €1,799.
Why the once-high price wasn’t justified
The TUF label usually marks Asus’ budget and entry-level gaming laptops, and the A18 definitely shows traces of that heritage. The SSD isn’t particularly fast and throttles thermally over longer workloads. The touchpad’s click buttons require an excessive amount of force yet still feel mushy, cheap, and uncomfortable. And for many buyers, this may matter most: the matte IPS display tops out at just 1,920 × 1,200, reaches only 300 nits, and covers nothing beyond sRGB. These are all classic budget-gamer traits.
Why the A18 is more than a budget gamer
That said, the A18 also managed to surprise us. Asus’ “Performance” mode works in interesting ways, allowing the laptop to run much quieter, cooler, and more efficiently while sacrificing only a handful of frames. The 18-inch chassis is slimmer than that of a Razer Blade 18 and surprisingly light weight for a desktop-replacement class machine. Battery life is also better than expected. And although the display isn’t impressive in resolution or color coverage, it calibrates beautifully — Delta-E values can be pushed below 1.
All of this, paired with the understated design, makes this TUF model feel like it’s trying to appeal to creators on a tighter budget. It’s not a bad strategy at all — that segment still has very few affordable options, which could make the A18 stand out. But that only works if its price actually stays within budget laptop territory. Fortunately, that seems to be the case now.
The original €2,199 price tag, however, was something the A18 simply couldn’t justify in our view.
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