ASUS TUF DASH F15 (FX517) Review

Design

Light, elegant but underated , that’s about my initial impression regarding the design of the ASUS TUF Dash F15. Even though behind its relatively large body for a gaming laptop in its class, the TUF Dash F15 weighs less than 2kg.

Appearing calmer with a white bandage, makes the ASUS TUF Dash F15 quite rare to find in the gaming laptop market. But if you look at the specifications, this laptop has gaming capabilities that can be invited as friends to work and work.

The outside and the holder around the keyboard have a similar appearance to its older brother, the ROG Zephyrus, especially for the white color variant that I reviewed. Although most of the body of this laptop uses plastic material, the build quality is still good.

At the bottom, the ASUS TUF Dash F15 uses a rubber stand that slightly lifts the surface of the laptop. In addition to making the laptop not slippery, this rubber band is also useful for providing air passage from below which affects performance.

For the white color variant that we tested, it felt like paper to the touch and was quite easy to stick to dust. Although this problem can be solved easily using a rag or wet tissue.

One detail that is quite interesting from this laptop is the presence of an “X”-shaped charger indicator light. This indicator light can still be seen when the screen is closed because the cover design is not so closed.

With a light weight, the ASUS TUF Dash F15 still carries the MIL-STD-810G military certification. This means that this laptop has successfully passed high test standards such as use in extreme temperatures and drop tests. So it gives a sense of security to the owners.

Screen

Even though it’s light, it’s not enough to open the laptop screen with one hand, because the ASUS TUF Dash F15 has a hinge that is quite sturdy. Having a 15.6-inch screen with a 16:9 ratio with FHD+ resolution at 144Hz will certainly be satisfied for multimedia consumption.

The color reproduction is quite good although not the most accurate, but it is quite adequate for normal usage scenarios. The viewing angle is wide enough, enough to play heavy games in its class (AAA) well and with high FPS. For example, Genshin Impact or esport games like Valorant or PUBG.

As for editing, the color accuracy of the ASUS TUF Dash F15 screen is still a little lacking with 62.5% sRGB which makes this laptop less suitable for those who are serious in the world of content creation. Apart from the screen, the ASUS TUF Dash F15 is a gaming laptop that’s still as enjoyable as typing thanks to its comfortable keyboard and large touchpad.

Ports & Connectivity

For port and connectivity matters, the ASUS TUF Dash F15 is fairly complete. Starting from one audio jack port on the left, an HDMI port, two USB-C ports (1x thunderbolt & 1x DisplayPort ™ / power delivery), and one USB-A 3.2 Gen2 port. While on the right side there is only one USB-A 3.2 gen 2 port.

Between the two sides of the port, there is a black keyboard alias complete with a numpad, as well as 4 micro buttons for volume, mic, and access to the armory crate. Don’t miss the white backlit lamp that illuminates all the keys on the ASUS TUF Dash F15 keyboard, especially the WASD letters which indicate that this is a gaming laptop.

This laptop is also supported by a WiFi 6 plus Bluetooth 5.2 wireless connection. This means that it is compatible with more Wi-Fi available in public areas, plus better signal capture. Supports Fast Pair system for more instant connection with accessories such as TWS earphones.

To support productivity in a new era, the ASUS TUF Dash F15 2022 is also equipped with a webcam camera with HD resolution whose quality can be seen in the image below. Just like his brother ASUS ROG, TUF Gaming Dash F15 also has armory crate software to control the performance of the laptop.

As for the webcam feature, the resolution is HD 720p, which is sufficient for online video calls when needed. But it feels less qualified for those who like live streaming. Where now when watching YouTube only, are used to watching with 1080p resolution.

Performance

The main goal of users buying a gaming laptop, of course, is the performance offered to play modern games from esports to triple A. Moreover, ASUS has provided minor upgrades, not only the appearance of the design but also an increase in the innards inside.

The ASUS TUF Dash F15 that we hold in this review uses a 12th generation Intel CPU, namely the i7-12650H combined with the laptop’s RTX 3060 GPU. This performance is also supported by 16GB (8×2) DDR5 RAM and storage capacity with a 1TB (2x) PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD which has become a general requirement for gaming laptops in 2022.

Simply put, this laptop can run applications or software that you want smoothly— as expected .

Moreover, in it there are two fans with very thin blades (0.1mm) and a total of 84 blades, claimed to increase airflow by up to 33% complete with six heat distribution pipes, to produce optimal cooling.

For maximum cooling, the ASUS TUF Dash F15 is equipped with five copper heat pipes that transfer heat from major components such as the processor and graphics chip, to VRM and GPU VRAM.

The capacity is too mediocre? Fortunately, the ASUS TUF Dash F15 is designed to be easy to upgrade. The TUF Dash F15 comes with a pop up screw feature that makes it easier for users to remove the lower body panel of this laptop. Users of the TUF Dash F15 also have easy access to various components such as the SSD and memory slots on the TUF Dash F15.

ASUS also provides wider upgrade options in the new TUF Dash F15 via two M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD slots and two 4800MHz DDR5 memory slots. Thus, TUF Dash F15 users can upgrade their laptop’s storage capacity and memory more easily independently.

Battery

To support its fast performance, ASUS provides a battery with a capacity of 76WHrs. When we tested using 1080P resolution video playback with silent mode, and 50% brightness and Wi-Fi on we got results of up to 8 hours of use.

It’s good enough for a contemporary gaming laptop class that has high performance in its class. And if you use this laptop for productivity activities, it should have been more than 8 hours. But if you use it to play games, what else are heavy categories or for video editing, of course it will consume a faster battery.

Conclusion

If you look at its performance that is capable of playing heavy games, this ASUS TUF Dash F15 laptop fits into the ROG class. The combination of the 12th gen Intel processor and a very optimal cooling system also makes this laptop have excellent performance stability, the deviation is only 0.3% . Plus a refresh rate that is already 144Hz and the presence of DDR5 4800MHz RAM, which makes this laptop more comfortable for high productivity activities.

Unfortunately, the camera embedded in this laptop is still 720p, less satisfying especially for those who like live streaming. Storage owned is also relatively standard. No RGB on the keyboard also makes this gaming laptop look more subdued and underrated.

With all its advantages and disadvantages, the ASUS TUF Dash F15 laptop is priced at Rp. 23,499,000 for the version we reviewed with Intel i7-12650H and RTX 3060.

In our opinion, the ASUS TUF Dash F15 2022 laptop is intended for modern gamers who need a gaming laptop with a minimalist look. Not a lot of gaming accents, but still has high performance in its class.

Asus TUF Dash F15 (FX517) Specifications