ASUS TUF Dash F15 Review: RTX 3050 Ti at 75W! Kind Of...?

After trying out so many flagship gaming laptops, we're finally trying out the ASUS TUF Dash F15, a reliable laptop that can give you a satisfying entry-level gaming experience at a reasonable price point.

Before we put the ASUS TUF Dash F15 to the test, let's take a look at the laptop’s specs. It sports an Intel Core i7-11370H processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU with a 60W TGP that can climb up to 75W. The device also boasts 16GB of DDR4-3200MHz RAM and 1TB of PCIe NVME SSD storage.

Despite the GPU we have being an entry-level model, it’s worth noting that the laptop is available in various configurations and can be powered by an RTX 3050 up to an RTX 3070 GPU.

Now, onto the tests. We opened Cinebench R23 to look at how powerful the processor is. With the laptop’s slim physique in mind, ASUS decided to power it with an 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11370H that has four cores and eight threads.

When we applied the balanced fan profile, the device recorded a multi-core score of 6318 and a single-core score of 1491. Switching to the turbo profile, we saw the numbers slightly increase as the ASUS TUF Dash F15 achieved a 6667 multi-core score and a 1493 single-core score.

CPU temperatures were also well-maintained across both profiles, with the i7-11370H hovering around the 90 degrees Celsius mark on either mode. But the power draw, sustained clock speeds and fan noise we observed while we were on the turbo profile were higher than what the balanced profile reached.

We then took to DaVinci Resolve to see how fast video rendering would be on the laptop. A 1080p 15-minute video was rendered in almost real-time, while it took a bit longer to process the 4K version of the clip. Almost half an hour, to be specific — about 20 minutes slower. All of this was accomplished with the balanced fan profile.

When we used the turbo profile, the CPU and GPU combo was faster at rendering the 1080p project by a few seconds. Meanwhile, it was nearly a minute quicker at processing the 4K video.

The temperatures on both profiles were also great. The CPU hovers around 80 degrees Celsius, while the GPU sticks to around 70 degrees Celsius.

When we assessed the laptop’s performance running creative applications, it was no surprise to us that the graphics rendering on the ASUS TUF Dash 15 was just satisfactory. Nothing mind-blowing, but that is expected since the Intel chip only has four cores and eight threads.

With that out of the way, let’s dive into gaming. Testing RTX and non-RTX titles at 1080p High settings, we looked at how the laptop displayed games. We saw pretty decent results with Triple-A games like “Shadow of the Tomb Raider” and “Battlefield V” putting up 57-60 frames per second (fps), while eSports titles like “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” and “Apex Legends” were averaging around 72 to 138 fps.

When we switched from the balanced to the turbo profile, there was a slight increase in fps but it wasn’t a sizeable change. In most cases, it went up by around three to five frames.

If you run the laptop off an external monitor — forcing it to solely rely on dedicated graphics — then you will see slightly improved visuals, though the difference is not that impressive.

If you prefer realistic lighting and shadows, the GPU's performance won't meet expectations. Even with DLSS enabled, performance isn't great.

When it comes to temperature, the CPU hovered around the mid-80s while the GPU stayed below 80 degrees Celsius when we were gaming. Aside from some pretty good temperatures, we also experienced reasonably low fan noise.

As we mentioned earlier, the RTX 3050 Ti in this laptop has a 60W TGP that can go up to 75W. But in our tests, we noticed that the ASUS TUF Dash F15 does not sustain the wattage. After a minute or two at 75W, it would go back down to 60-65W.

On that note, we wanted to emphasise that the laptop has 16GB of RAM soldered on and running in single-channel, which could have affected the device’s performance as well.

The overall performance is still decent, and if you’re looking for an entry-level gaming laptop that can run games at 1080p with a mix of high and medium settings, the ASUS TUF Dash F15 could be the right device for you.

Putting hardware aside, let's talk about the laptop’s design. When we first saw the ASUS TUF Dash F15, we immediately appreciated its minimalistic look and its manageable weight of 2kg or 4.41lbs.

The keyboard similarly stood out since it had a good amount of travel and tactility. The important keys were all sized appropriately and there are even dedicated keys for speaker and microphone volume as well as for Armoury Crate. Yep, you can instantly access the software by pushing a single button.

While there's no RGB here, the teal-coloured keyboard backlight does give off a soothing aesthetic while not being too overbearing.

On the other hand, the decently-sized trackpad worked smoothly. Likewise, the pair of 2W speakers located on the laptop’s underside impressed us with its great sound quality.

We were equally surprised by the battery life, too, as we could use the laptop for nearly eight hours with the 76W battery.

Moving on to the ports, the laptop has three USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, a HDMI 2.0b port, RJ45 Ethernet and Thunderbolt 4 connectors as well as a 3.5mm combo audio jack.

There's also access to an extra slot for another PCIe NVME SSD storage and an empty SO-DIMM slot. Since the 16GB of RAM is soldered on board and running on single-channel, it's pretty easy to upgrade to 32GB of RAM and run it on dual-channel, which should improve your laptop’s performance.

When it comes down to the display, it’s safe to say that we were let down. Now, the display comes in three different options, which will be determined by which GPU you opt for. Two out of the three options are great, and one is not. If you're purchasing the RTX 3050 or RTX 3050 TI options, you'll be getting the one that's not great.

Our device had a 15.6-inch 1080p IPS display with a 144Hz refresh rate, 62.5% SRGB coverage and around 300 nits in max brightness.

As you can tell, the screen's colour coverage is lacking and it'll definitely show when consuming content like movies or shows. But if you just want to play games on the laptop, then that won’t be a dealbreaker since the 144Hz refresh rate is a more important feature.

People who need a built-in webcam on the laptop will be disappointed as well since the computer does not have one.

All in all, the ASUS TUF Dash F15 is a decent package. It’s great for people who want an entry-level gaming laptop that comes at a reasonable price.

If you're in the US and you want this exact variant, it will set you back US$1,049.99 (approximately S$1,418.75), but take note that it only comes with 8GB of RAM instead of 16GB. In Singapore, you can buy the same model we tested out for S$2,198.

If you're in Singapore and you really want the laptop, you can opt to buy it from the US and ship it over without even paying nearly as much as the 16GB RAM model. It's still far cheaper, at about S$1,600 after conversion, including shipping fees and GST. Now, is that a big brain move? You decide.

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Content by Soon Kai Hong