Asus TUF Dash F15 review: efficient, but not excellent

If you’re looking for a slim gaming laptop, Asus makes several, including the excellent ROG Zephyrus G14 from last year and the intriguing ROG Flow x13 2 in 1 that we reviewed recently. The TUF Dash F15 is the latest option to join the package, and is one that can catch your eye if you are looking for a laptop equipped with an Nvidia RTX 3070 graphics chip and an 11th generation Intel Core H series processor, in addition other advantages like a Thunderbolt 4 port and a fast refresh rate screen.

As one of the first machines to launch with this processor and GPU, the TUF Dash F15 is a showcase of what you can expect from a slim chassis that costs $ 1,449, Asus’ MSRP for the configuration it sent to me. (This specific model is scheduled for release on March 8. A $ 1,699.99 model with a slightly better processor is available now. A $ 1,099.99 model containing the RTX 3060 is available from 15 February 2021.)

Like the other models I mentioned, the TUF Dash F15 is a really solid laptop – except that, like the Zephyrus G14, it doesn’t have a webcam. For this reason, it is not the ideal machine if you usually make video calls for work, classes or leisure. In terms of specifications, I am not convinced that he has the strength to face the next wave of demanding games in a year or two. I’ll explain why in a moment. At least for now, it can run most games at their highest graphics settings with relatively smooth frame rates, and has a long battery life.

The TUF Dash F15 has a new chassis design that looks more refined than the Asus TUF A15 gaming laptop. This model has a more elegant and more confident appearance that dispenses with the brushed metal details of the previous version and the backlit keys in bright yellow. Its cover is bronze gray (Asus also makes a “Moonlight White” variant), while the interior is black and all plastic.

The keyboard is backlit in a color that I would describe as Mountain Dew Baja Blast. It’s a strange color choice – but I don’t hate it. The effect is more subtle than it looks and can be turned off or the brightness adjusted. In addition, seeing the light shine through the transparent WASD keys looks cool (in addition to helping you quickly find the important directional keys).

I commend Asus for designing a good keyboard, both in terms of touch and usability. All keys are well spaced and I quickly managed to acclimate to typing on them. It was also smart to separate the volume keys from the row of function keys, as they are used a lot.

Continuing the Asus trend of the Zephyrus G14, this machine also has fantastic battery life. In my tests, the TUF Dash F15’s battery lasted until the start of a second day before needing to recharge. It’s over eight hours of use, which is fantastic longevity for a machine presented as a gaming laptop. Disconnecting the charger automatically puts it in “Silent” mode within Asus’ Armory Crate performance tracking software and reduces the screen’s standard 240Hz refresh rate to 60Hz more sharply. In this mode, the system automatically switches to integrated graphics. (The Nvidia graphics chip is disabled when you disconnect it.) This is a compromise, but I like that you don’t have to switch to get good results like that.

Out of curiosity, I switched to 240 Hz while I was out of battery. It lasted most, but not all, of my working day. It’s no secret that high refresh rate screens can kill battery life, so I wouldn’t suggest doing that unless you keep a charger nearby.

Speaking of chargers, the laptop comes with a large 200 W power adapter, but you have the option to recharge it with a 100 W USB-C charger using its Thunderbolt 4 port. (Thunderbolt 4 does not support power above 100W .) Obviously, it doesn’t load that fast; in fact, in my experience, the laptop depletes faster while playing than it can charge via USB-C.

The Intel Core i7-11730H quad-core processor of the TUF Dash F15 and 16 GB of DDR4 RAM didn’t miss a beat while I used 10 tabs on Google Chrome, along with Spotify (streaming music via Bluetooth to my headphones – the laptop integrated into speakers are awful), Slack and Affinity Photo. For these applications, this device seems agile enough to be used as a daily driver.

However, this does not seem to be the best choice if your job involves editing and exporting video or other projects linked to the processor. When I ran our video export test (which processes an Adobe Premiere Pro project into a 4K file of 5 minutes and 33 seconds), it took 6 minutes and 41 seconds, which was slower than I expected. The machine’s 35 W, four-core TDP processor appeared to be the bottleneck, as the Windows Task Manager’s performance statistics showed that it was in full or nearly full use all the time.

There are some older midrange gaming laptops that we tested that provided faster results from Premiere Pro, thanks to the higher power hexagonal and octa-core 45W processors from the 10th generation of higher power. Some include the Lenovo Legion 5i from last year and the 2020 MSI GS66 Stealth, as well as the Dell XPS 15 at the maximum we tested. However, I would not recommend opting for them, as Intel has 11th generation 45W processors in development that should leave older chips in the dust. But none of this helps in the case of this laptop.

The TUF Dash F15 was also more mediocre with high-end games than I expected. Your RTX 3070 struggled to reach the level of 60 frames per second for smooth play when I ran some demanding titles, like To control and Red Dead Redemption 2 at its highest graphics settings in 1080p. Open world titles and games with lightning tracking capabilities were particularly good at pushing this laptop to its limit.

With games running at their highest graphics settings, the benchmark utility at Horizon: Zero Dawn on average 68 fps, while Red Dead Redemption 2the benchmark averaged 58fps. Death Stranding it did better around 80fps with the DLSS settings set to quality mode. To control peaked at about 50fps with all ray-tracing settings set to maximum and DLSS enabled, although performance varied enormously depending on the level of action or environment. All of these frame rates are very playable, although the numbers tell me that you will need to make some graphic adjustments to run these games smoothly. And, possibly, the games that will be released in the next year or two may not do as well as these.

I expected a better performance of this chip in these tests since the MSI GP66 Leopard, also using the RTX 3070, tested with larger numbers. However, there is a good reason for these results. Asus explains on its product page that it has adjusted the chip’s clock speed and total graphics power to the lowest possible power requirements, probably due to the slim design of the laptop and to maintain efficient performance. The GPU of the TUF Dash F15 is clocked at 1,290 MHz (with an increase of up to 1,390 MHz) and has a total graphics power of 85 W; this is compared to 1,620 MHz and 130W on the GP66 Leopard, which is the highest possible configuration.

This type of occurrence is not new. But what’s new (and the cause for some confusion) is Nvidia’s newly developed Max-Q brand, which previously indicated the power discrepancy noted above when appending “Max-Q” to the name of the graphics chip. Now there is, instead, to tell people that a laptop comes with a specific set of power and efficiency software tools, which it does.

In short, the new TUF Dash F15 from Asus includes a lot of specifications that offer plenty of power when needed and long-lasting efficiency when not. But while the laptop provides a good balance and a relatively smooth game, I don’t think it will be perfect for everyone, mainly because it doesn’t really make a difference to many of the things for which we use laptops.

Not only is it unusable for videoconferencing (again, without a webcam), but it probably won’t reach the level of heavier tasks like video production or even a daily load of applications like the ones I use. And for games, the RTX 3070 on this thin machine is not as powerful as I would like for a long-term investment like this, especially as I am not convinced that it has the ability to take on the next wave of demanding games in a year two .

I think there will probably be some machines soon containing these new components that will be able to please everyone. But that is not it.

Cameron Faulkner / The Verge photography