ASUS is no stranger to gaming laptops. Their ROG series of laptops are some of the best in the high-end segment of industry, with premium prices to match. For the budget focused gamers, ASUS introduced the TUF line up, offering reasonably well-built laptops with specs that matched the price. The TUF Dash F15, however, is unlike any other laptop from TUF laptops of the past, with a beautiful industrial design, high-end specs, while maintaining a price that is still reasonable. Here is my review of it.
The specifications of our model is as follows:
- Processor: Intel Core i7-11370H processor 3.3 GHz, 4 cores (12M Cache, up to 4.8GHz)
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, 8GB GDDR6
- Display: 15.6-inch, IPS-Level, 1920 x 1080, 16:9, Refresh Rate:240Hz, Anti-glare display, sRGB:100%, Adobe:75.35%
- Memory: 8GB DDR4 on board,8GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM
- Storage: 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD
- I/O Ports: 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x RJ45 LAN port, 1x Thunderbolt 4 with support for DisplayPort and power delivery.
- Keyboard and Touchpad: Backlit Chiclet Keyboard
- Audio: DTS software, Built-in array microphone, 2x 2W speaker
- Network and Communication: Wi-Fi 6(802.11ax) + Bluetooth 5.1 (Dual band)
- Battery: 76WHrs, 4-cell Li-ion
- Power Supply: 200W AC Adapter, ø6.0, Output: 20V DC, 10A, 200W, Input: 100-240V AC, 50/60Hz universal
- Weight: 2.00 Kg (4.41 lbs)
- Dimensions (W x D x H): 36.0 x 25.2 x 1.99cm
Design, display and sound
Typically, TUF laptops are known to be big laptops that are built out of plastic, and while they are built to be strong, they don’t really feel premium. The TUF Dash F15 breaks that mould with a sleek, industrial design, with squared corners and clean edges. The metal keyboard deck feels great, with little to no flex and the lid, while made out of plastic, does not flex much either.
ASUS offers two colours for the TUF Dash F15, and our model is the Eclipse Grey variant. It has a beautiful gun-metal look with a matte finish, and I really like it. Along the edge of the laptop’s lid, there is a “TUF” branding that is in large, vertical text that adds to the overall industrial look of the laptop.
For the display, there is either the option of picking up a 1080p panel with a refresh rate of 144Hz or with a refresh rate of 240Hz. The panel gets decently bright, and since it uses IPS technology, the viewing angles are fine. There is support for Adaptive Sync too, which should be helpful in eliminating screen tears.
According to ASUS, the panel covers 100% of the sRGB colour space, which is great if you are into a bit of content creation. For gaming, the display is great, thanks to its 240Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time. In particular, it shines in e-sports titles like Valorant, CS:GO, Rainbow 6:Siege, where having a high-refresh rate display really matters.
The speakers on the TUF Dash F15 are pretty much like most gaming laptops, that is quite mediocre. It comes with 2 bottom firing 2W speakers, and they are just fine, with okay volume levels and quality. I would definitely consider using a pair of headphones or earphones when gaming or when watching content.
Performance and thermals
Our model was configured with 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11370H processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, 16GB of DDR4 memory and a 512GB NVMe M.2 SSD. The CPU is a 4 core, 8 thread processor with a base clock of 3.3GHz and boost clock of 4.8GHz.
For a computer that costs a little over Rs. 1.4 lakhs, it is quite disappointing to only get a 4 core CPU, especially when AMD laptops in this price range have much higher core counts. The performance, however, when you view it as a quad-core CPU, is quite good. After all, it is an 11th Gen Intel CPU, so this shouldn’t be very surprising. The processor can boost up to 4.8 GHz and, under extended load, it comfortably stayed above its base clock.
The RTX 3070 Laptop GPU is the main highlight of the TUF Dash F15, and as expected, it is a good GPU for gaming. Since it is a 30-series GPU from NVIDIA, it comes with all the benefits of their Ampere architecture. The RTX 3070 offers great ray-tracing capabilities and other unique features like DLSS, NVENC support and more.
Just keep in mind, ASUS has configured the power limits of the laptop to only give it a maximum of 85W to the GPU, so the performance will be limited. Other 3070-equipped laptops with higher power limits will perform much better than the TUF Dash F15. That said, in e-sports titles, this laptop shines and for other AAA titles such as RPG games, the laptop offers a good enough experience.
Here are some of the benchmarks below:
The thermal performance of the TUF Dash F15 was decent, with controlled temperatures that allowed both the GPU and CPU to boost well above their base clocks. While keeping the laptop cool under load, the fans did not get too loud, which is also a good sign. This shouldn’t be surprising considering that the CPU is only a 4-core and the GPU can draw a maximum of 85W, but I am still glad to see that ASUS did a good job.
Keyboard, trackpad and ports
Completing the gaming experience of the TUF Dash F15 is the great keyboard, which has a nice click and feel. It has a standard layout and the keys are well spaced apart, each with 1.7mm of travel distance. I really liked gaming on this keyboard, and using it for general typing and work was good too.
Like most ASUS gaming laptops, there are 4 shortcut buttons above the keyboard, which include volume controls, a microphone toggle and a shortcut to open ASUS’ Armoury Crate software. I really like having these dedicated shortcuts, and It’s great to see them in the TUF Dash F15.
The keyboard’ backlighting only lights up green and in my opinion, it really adds to the aesthetics of the laptop. I understand some users may prefer RGB lighting, but honestly, the green backlight looks great in the dark, especially through the transparent WASD keys. The trackpad has a good size and the tracking surface feel is great. The tracking was accurate, and I faced no issues with it.
The laptop has a healthy selection of ports, including 3 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an HDMI 2.0b port, a USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4 port with support for DisplayPort and a RJ45 LAN port.
Battery
The battery in the TUF Dash F15 is a 76Whr cell, and during my review, I was consistently getting pretty good battery life. With regular use, I was able to get around a little over 7 hours of use, which is pretty good considering how thin and light the laptop is. The power management of the laptop is pretty good, especially in ‘Silent’ mode’, where the laptop will switch to Intel’s integrated graphics, lower the processor clock speeds and drop the refresh rate to 60Hz. These settings can be turned off, too, if needed.
Conclusion
With the TUF Dash F15, ASUS has struck an interesting balance between performance, portability and more importantly, price. The laptop may not offer the best performance, considering its 4-core CPU and underpowered NVIDIA 30-series GPU, but for the price, a laptop like this is hard to come by. There may be cheaper laptops that have better price-performance ratios, but it is rare to see a design that is as thin and light as the TUF Dash F15.
If you are looking for a laptop with an RTX 3070 laptop GPU, you should definitely consider the ASUS TUF Dash F15. It really is the best TUF gaming laptop at the moment.
Pricing and Availability
The ASUS TUF Dash F15 is available for purchase on Amazon.in for a starting price of Rs. 86,990. Our model in particular, with an RTX 3070 laptop GPU, is the highest configuration offered by ASUS, and it is priced at Rs. 1,40,990 on Amazon.in.
Pros
- Beautiful design that is both clean and portable.
- Fast 240Hz display that is perfect for e-sport titles.
- Great keyboard and trackpad.
- Very good selection of ports.
Cons
- Performance is limited by 4-core CPU and underpowered GPU
- No webcam