Asus TUF Gaming Laptop FX504 15.6” 120Hz 3ms Full HD, Intel Core i7-8750H Processor, GeForce GTX 1060 6GB, 16GB DDR4, 256GB PCIe SSD + 1TB HDD, Gigabit WiFi, Windows 10 Home - FX504GM-ES74

I just received my new laptop and wanted to post some initial thoughts on it as this is my second ASUS gaming laptop. I already own a 2 year old ROG one running the 7th gen Intel I7 with the GTX 1050ti card (4gb). That laptop has pretty much run everything my kids play on it like Fortnite, Fallout 4, modded minecraft and lots of Steam games running near max resolutions. I was needing a new laptop for myself but figured I would get another gaming one so my two kids aren’t fighting over the other laptop. I immediately looked at ASUS since my first one has been solid. The current lineup of ROG options seemed to only have the 1050ti option unless I went to a 17” screen and spent way too much money on it. Then I found this TUF gaming edition. Running the 8th gen I7 and a 6gb 1060….hard to pass up at this price. So I took a chance.Botting up the first time and waling through the painful Cortana setup, I was finally up and running. The laptop seems to come with minimal bloatware. It has some but the screen isn’t covered with useless apps like my old Dell. I began downloading the various games and then let me younger son have at it for a while. He mostly stayed with Fortnite and it ran perfectly with whatever default settings it chose. The screen is beautiful. Probably one of the best laptop displays I have seen. It makes the 2 year old ROG one look terrible even though that screen is very nice. The sound coming out of the laptop speakers was also very nice. Was shocked at how well they worked as I find laptop speakers to be horrible. Normally my kids play with headphones but this was more of a testing period.My older ROG is loud when being used. Lots of fans to keep it cool. You get used to it but it is loud. The TUF, while not quiet, is much better. You can hear the fans kick on and off but it is nowhere near as bad. I haven’t done much testing on heat yet but can post that later. I know the ROG gets hot. Even the power supply on the cord gets really hot when it use.I couldn’t really tell why the TUF edition costs so much less than the ROG. But after getting it I do see that it is not as “fancy” as the ROG. The cover still lights up on top with ASUS but it lacks the fancier light up flame things. The keyboard only lights up in red vs multi for the ROG. It is apparently missing some ports that come on the new ROG but is in line with my older ROG. At the end of the day, what matters are the components. Seeing the TUF has the 1060 with more RAM and the same processor, I would think it is just as good, if not better. I have no regrets for getting this.Will post up any new findings if I have any.

Myself and many other users have had issues with EXTREME Thermal and power throttling on BRAND NEW systems. In addition, there have been increasing reports (my system included) of an UN-REPAIRABLE issue that causes the laptop to freeze in various conditions. Regardless if extended gaming after 2-3 hours, or sitting for just 5 minutes. The issue is intermittent and there is nothing that can be done to fix it. Even after sending it out for repair 3-4 times along with replacing ALL HARDWARE, the systems still stutter and freeze. ASUS will NOT give you a refund, only ask you to send it out for repair (again) and your machine will spend it's lifetime in a repair shop while you get the run around. They have even gone so far as to request footage of freezes so they can perform analysis from users. As if that would actually tell them anything? The laptop is inoperable, the only recourse being holding down the power button. There are a few dedicated threads on ASUS's website about this issue, but it would appear as though much is being done to keep people from knowing about it and learning how to fix it. In conclusion: it is a known issue that is not uncommon, and either the manufacturer is unsure of why it persists, or they are aware of it and for one reason or another, refuse to enlighten anyone else. This unsatisfactory support can't be called anything but a sham. You bought a budget laptop, therefore, you don't matter. I would guess only their more premium products receive proper support, but I will never know, as that would require me to purchase another machine from them. DON'T DO IT. The specs are great on paper, probably on of the best deals on amazon, but you won't be able to use even half of what you paid for.

This review is for the 16GB, 1060 Nvidia with NVME SSD device.Sadly Amazon has combined the reviews of the lower end versions of this device which I think is causing a lot of confusion and probably poor sales. The lower end models were rated very poorly on every site I visited. The reviews consistently state that it has a weak chassis that flexes way too much and jet engine fans among other things. This device has none of the flaws indicated with the lower end models in this product line.The chassis is rock solid and the fans are in line with other devices in this price range in my personal opinion. Although fans never really bothered me as I do game and it's just the price you pay when you want the higher end parts. Higher end parts run hotter and they need sufficient cooling. If fans bother you then there are products designed to deliver the silence you desire.The primary drive is an Intel Optane NVME SSD. This is one of the fastest SSD on the market and is of premium build quality. It comes with a GeForce 1060 which should be able to handle any modern game at high or ultra settings. I've played quite a few games on ultra like Tomb Raider and Galactic Civilizations III on Ultra Settings and all were silky smooth. I was actually amazed that there was no stutter or choppiness at all.The bottom line is that you will get exactly what you pay for with this machine. It is serving as a desktop replacement for me and doing a fine job of it.That being said, nothing is perfect. My only real gripe with this device is the OS installation. There is minimal bloatware but it also does come with the much dreaded McAfee antivirus. Like Norton, this software just dominates your system and bogs it down. I tried to uninstall it but got random failures. It just didn't want to go away. I eventually had to use a malicious software removal tool to get rid of it. But even that didn't quite clean it all out. The system still felt sluggish and sticky. I finally resorted to downloading a clean Windows install on to a USB stick and wiped the drive. Once this was done and I had all the drivers updated appropriately, not only was my installation about 20 gigs less than before it is also now snappy and super responsive.As a side note you will be prompted to to a firmware update for the BIOS. If you're going to do a fresh reinstall like I did, I highly recommend doing this update before you reload Windows. It will just make the final installation that much more stable.All in all this is a fantastic product though. It will do everything you want and more.Update:So it's been 3 months since I purchased this machine and wanted to provide an update. First I wanted to say that it does not contain Intel Optane as I had previously stated. I went to the ASUS web site when I was researching the computer and at that time it did mention Optane. It even had fancy graphics illustrating the speed improvements. Since then I have obviously discovered it does not and I can no longer find the ad which stated it does have it. That being said it is still a very robust computer and I still have no regrets.Other than that it boots up fresh and fast every time. No screen bleed issues as some others have mentioned. The audio is fantastic for a laptop. It is a little on the plasticky side as opposed to an aluminum construction but I feel it's a worthwhile payoff considering the price and internal components.Another drawback would be that it only came with a single 16 GB stick of ram. I have since upgraded it to two 8 GB sticks of HyperX Impact and it got even faster once in dual channel. I'm a little irritated that I had to spend another 100 bucks to get the machine to where it should have been out of the box but what's done is done.Anyways, I'll post another update if I find anything new.Second Edit:Had to drop this machine down two stars for false advertising. After opening the case I have found that not only does this not contain Optane, it doesn't even have an NVME drive. It is an M.2 SATA ssd. Although the slot is capable of NVME. This is dirty ASUS and I expect better of you!