Notice: Your browser is not supported or outdated so some features of the site might not be available.
Products
MSI Katana A15 AI (2024)
ASUS TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition (2023)
Tested using Methodology v0.8.3
Updated Aug 12, 2025 08:38 PM
SEE PRICE
Amazon.comTested using Methodology v0.8.3
Updated May 02, 2025 02:43 PM
Unavailable
Missing store
Size15.6"
Operating SystemWindows 11
Size16"
Operating SystemWindows 11
Our Verdict
MSI Katana A15 AI (2024)
ASUS TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition (2023)
The MSI Katana A15 AI (2024) and the ASUS TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition (2023) are both excellent budget gaming laptops. The MSI is a better option if you're only looking for the best performance, as its Zen 4 AMD CPUs and NVIDIA 40-series GPUs are faster; however, the ASUS has a faster 240Hz display option, which will give you better responsiveness and smoother motion than the displays available on the MSI. In terms of the overall user experience, the ASUS is much better; it has a sturdier build, a larger touchpad, a wider port selection, and significantly longer battery life in light uses.
Variants
- Katana A15 AI (B8VF-448US) (Black - FHD/144Hz/Ryzen 7 8845HS/RTX 4060/32GB/1TB)
- Katana A15 AI (B8VF-406CA) (Black - FHD/144Hz/Ryzen 9 8945HS/RTX 4060/32GB/1TB)
- Katana A15 AI (B8VG-423US) (Black - FHD/144Hz/Ryzen 9 8945HS/RTX 4070/16GB/1TB)
- Katana A15 AI (B8VG-430US) (Black - QHD/165Hz/Ryzen 7 8845HS/RTX 4070/16GB/1TB)
- Katana A15 AI (B8VG-450US) (Black - QHD/165Hz/Ryzen 9 8945HS/RTX 4070/32GB/1TB)
- TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition (FA617NS-DS71-CA) (Black - 165Hz/Ryzen 7 7735HS/Radeon RX 7600S/16GB/1TB)
- TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition (FA617NS-A16.R77600) (Black - 165Hz/Ryzen 7 7735HS/Radeon RX7600S/16GB/512GB)
- TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition (FA617NT-A16.R77700) (Black - 165Hz/Ryzen 7 7735HS/Radeon RX7700S/16GB/512GB)
Main Differences forSchool
School
Threshold
School
6.1
7.8
Battery
3.7
9.1
Build Quality
7.0
8.5
Portability
5.5
6.1
Full Comparison
Design
Style
Style Photo
Form Factor
Traditional (Clamshell)
Traditional (Clamshell)
Build Quality
7.0
8.5
Build Quality Photo
Hinge
5.8
9.1
Hinge Photo
Range
180°
135°
Stability
Decent
Good
One Finger Lift
No
Yes
Portability
5.5
6.1
Dimensions Photo
Size
15.6"
16"
Thickness
1.4" (3.5 cm)
1.1" (2.9 cm)
Width
14.1" (35.9 cm)
14.0" (35.6 cm)
Depth
10.4" (26.4 cm)
10.1" (25.6 cm)
Volume
202.4 in³ (3,317.2 cm³)
161.3 in³ (2,642.9 cm³)
Weight
5.1 lbs (2.3 kg)
4.8 lbs (2.2 kg)
Charger Size
17.8 in³ (292.2 cm³)
19.3 in³ (316.1 cm³)
Charger Weight
1.7 lbs (0.8 kg)
1.5 lbs (0.7 kg)
Serviceability
8.1
8.4
Internals Photo
Ease Of Access
7.0
7.5
RAM Slots
2
2
Storage Slots
2
2
Replaceable Battery
Yes
Yes
Replaceable Wireless Adapter
Yes
Yes
In The Box
In The Box Photo
Display
Screen Specs
Display Photo
Resolution
1920 x 1080
1920 x 1200
Aspect Ratio
16:9
16:10
Pixel Density
141 PPI
142 PPI
Panel Type
IPS
IPS
Touch Screen
No
No
Screen-To-Body Ratio
73%
88%
Refresh Rate
8.9
9.1
Motion Blur
Refresh Rate
144 Hz
165 Hz
Variable Refresh Rate
FreeSync
FreeSync
Contrast
7.8
7.5
Contrast Photo
Native Contrast
1,599 : 1
1,430 : 1
Brightness
6.4
6.4
Maximum Brightness
250 cd/m²
258 cd/m²
Minimum Brightness
12 cd/m²
23 cd/m²
Reflections
8.2
7.7
Reflections Photo Off
Reflections Photo Max
Screen Finish
Matte
Matte
Total Reflections
3.71%
4.49%
Indirect Reflections
3.2%
3.1%
Calculated Direct Reflections
0.51%
1.39%
Black Uniformity
6.4
5.3
Black Uniformity Photo
Uniformity (Std. Dev.)
1.724%
2.426%
Out-Of-The-Box Color Accuracy
6.2
9.7
White Balance Screencap
Gamma Curve Screencap
Color Screencap
Avg. White Balance dE
3.14
1.68
Avg. Gamma
2.32
2.18
Avg. Color dE
4.81
1.41
Avg. Color Temperature
7,212 K
6,422 K
Color Gamut
4.5
8.6
Gamut SDR
sRGB xy
69.37%
99.73%
sRGB uv
57.46%
99.4%
Adobe RGB xy
51.18%
77.13%
Adobe RGB uv
50.47%
86.5%
Gamut HDR
DCI P3 xy
50.8%
78.9%
DCI P3 uv
46.64%
84.31%
Rec. 2020 xy
36.53%
56.6%
Rec. 2020 uv
34.22%
61.45%
Flicker
10
10
Flicker Graph
Flicker-Free
Yes
Yes
Flicker Frequency
No Flicker
No Flicker
Flicker Active Below
0%
0%
Interface
Keyboard
8.6
8.1
Keyboard Photo
Typing Quality
8.5
8.0
Numpad
Yes
Yes
Backlighting
RGB Zones
Adjustable
Key Switch Actuation Graph
Operating Force
68 gf
62 gf
Actuation Force
32 gf
35 gf
Pre-Travel
1.03 mm
1.01 mm
Total Travel
1.53 mm
1.34 mm
Touchpad
7.1
8.0
Touchpad Photo
Tracking Quality
7.5
8.0
Size
10.5 in² (68.1 cm²)
15.3 in² (98.9 cm²)
Material
Plastic
Plastic
Dedicated Buttons
No
No
Speakers
4.8
7.6
Frequency Response Plot
Max Volume
72 dB SPL
73 dB SPL
Standard Error @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
10.7 dB
3.9 dB
Slope @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
3.7
-0.3
Bass Extension (Low-Frequency Ext.)
230 Hz
293 Hz
Treble Extension (High-Frequency Ext.)
18 kHz
20 kHz
Dynamic Range Compression @ Max Vol.
1.9 dB
2.1 dB
Webcam & Microphone
4.8
5.3
Webcam Video Sample
Video Quality
4.5
5.0
Resolution
720p
720p
Position
Top Center
Top Center
Privacy Cover
No
No
Face Unlock
No
No
Connectivity
Ports
7.5
8.0
Ports Photo
USB-A Ports
3
2
USB-C Ports
1
2
Thunderbolt
No
No
USB-C Charging
No
Yes
USB-C Display Out
Yes
Yes
HDMI
2.1
2.1
DisplayPort
No
No
3.5mm Jack
Combo mic/headphone
Combo mic/headphone
Card Reader
No
No
Ethernet
Yes
Yes
Proprietary Port
No
No
Security Lock
No
Yes
Wireless Communication
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
Bluetooth
5.3
5.3
Configuration
CPU
Brand
AMD
AMD
Model
Ryzen 9 8945HS
Ryzen 7 7735HS
Core Count
8
8
Thread Count
16
16
GPU
Brand
NVIDIA
AMD
Model
GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU
Radeon RX 7600S
Dedicated/Integrated
Dedicated
Dedicated
VRAM Size
8 GB
8 GB
GPU Total Graphics Power (TGP)
105W
95W
RAM
Capacity
32 GB
16 GB
Modules
2
2
Type
DDR5
DDR5
Speed
5,600 MHz
4,800 MHz
Storage
Advertised Capacity
1,000 GB
1,000 GB
Usable Capacity
926 GB
928 GB
Drive 1
WD PC SN560 SDDPNQR-1T00-1032
Western Digital PC SN560 SDDPNQE-1T00-1002
Drive 1 Type
SSD
SSD
Drive 2
No 2nd Drive
No 2nd Drive
Drive 2 Type
No 2nd Drive
No 2nd Drive
Performance
Geekbench 5 (Synthetics)
9.9
9.5
Geekbench Image
CPU Single-Thread
1,933 points
1,553 points
CPU Multi-Thread
11,823 points
9,503 points
GPU Compute
104,655 points
71,011 points
Cinebench R23 (CPU Rendering)
9.9
9.7
Cinebench R23 Photo
Single-Thread
1,747 points
1,525 points
Multi-Thread
16,162 points
13,314 points
Blender (3D Rendering)
9.3
8.5
Blender Image
CPU Render Time
2.6 min
3.1 min
GPU Render Time
0.4 min
N/A
GPU Render Time (Optix)
10 s
N/A
Basemark GPU (Game Scene)
9.6
9.5
Basemark Image
Overall Score
109,009
99,513
Storage Drive Performance
9.4
9.2
Storage Performance Image
Sequential Write Speed
1,138.2 MB/s
1,564.1 MB/s
Sequential Read Speed
3,976.4 MB/s
3,550.5 MB/s
Random Write Speed
101.5 MB/s
73.2 MB/s
Random Read Speed
62.3 MB/s
45.4 MB/s
Battery
3.7
9.1
Capacity
54 Wh
90 Wh
Battery Life (Web Browsing)
4.0 hrs
12.9 hrs
Battery Life (Video Playback)
3.8 hrs
9.2 hrs
Battery Life (Gaming)
1.1 hrs
1.3 hrs
Charge Time
3.3 hrs
1.8 hrs
Borderlands 3
7.7
8.4
Borderlands 3 Graph
Avg. FPS
96 fps
113 fps
1% Low
60 fps
72 fps
0.1% Low
31 fps
49 fps
1% Low Delta
6 ms
5 ms
0.1% Low Delta
21 ms
12 ms
Avg. FPS On Very Low
204 fps
174 fps
Civilization VI
8.4
8.9
Civilization VI Graph
Avg. FPS
168 fps
156 fps
1% Low
94 fps
111 fps
0.1% Low
48 fps
106 fps
1% Low Delta
5 ms
3 ms
0.1% Low Delta
15 ms
3 ms
Avg. FPS On Minimum
258 fps
276 fps
Avg. Turn Time
6.63 s
6.65 s
Counter-Strike 2
8.5
9.2
CS2 Graph
Avg. FPS
230fps
187fps
1% Low
69fps
102fps
0.1% Low
52fps
75fps
1% Low Delta
10 ms
4 ms
0.1% Low Delta
15 ms
8 ms
Avg. FPS On Low
349fps
225fps
Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
9.1
7.2
SOTTR Graph
Avg. FPS
135 fps
104 fps
1% Low
100 fps
49 fps
0.1% Low
78 fps
26 fps
1% Low Delta
3 ms
11 ms
0.1% Low Delta
5 ms
29 ms
Avg. FPS On Lowest
178 fps
193 fps
Thermals And Noise
6.8
5.9
Keyboard Temps Picture
Keyboard Temp While Idle
32 °C (90 °F)
39 °C (102 °F)
Keyboard Temp Under Load
49 °C (119 °F)
54 °C (128 °F)
Fan Noise While Idle
25.0 dBA
25.0 dBA
Fan Noise Under Load
47.5 dBA
49.0 dBA
Power & Fan Control App
Yes
Yes
Performance Over Time
10
10
Performance Over Time Graph
CPU Temp (Cinebench)
67 °C
84 °C
CPU Perf. Loss (Cinebench)
0% loss
0% loss
GPU Temp (Heaven)
67 °C
55 °C
GPU Perf. Loss (Heaven)
0% loss
0% loss
Additional Features And Software
Software
Operating System
Windows 11
Windows 11
Additional Software
Yes
Yes
Extra Features
Biometrics
No
No
RGB Illumination
Yes
No
Touch Pen Support
No Stylus Support
No Stylus Support
Secondary Display
No
No
You have 10/10 free reviews left
To access
and
Become an Insider
unlimited full product reviews,
product prices
other exclusive site features
MSI Katana A15 AI (2024)
ASUS TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition (2023)
Comments
ASUS TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition (2023) vs MSI Katana A15 AI (2024): Main Discussion
What do you think of these products? Let us know below.
Looking for a personalized buying advice from the RTINGS.com experts? Insiders have direct access to buying advice on our insider forum.