Asus TUF Dash F15 (2022) Review

About the Asus TUF Dash F15

Here are the specs of the laptop we tested:

• Processor: Intel Core i7-12650H
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 6GB GDDR6
• RAM: 16GB DDR5-4800 MHz
• Storage: 512GB SSD
• Display: 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080p @ 144Hz display, 62.5% sRGB (measured)
• Ports: 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1 x Thunderbolt 4, 1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, 1 x HDMI 2.0b, 1 x RJ45 Ethernet, 1 x headphone/microphone jack
• Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
• Camera: 720p
• Battery: 76Whr lithium-ion battery
• Weight: 4.41 pounds
• Size: 13.94 x 9.88 x 0.78 inches
• Warranty: 1-year limited warranty

The Asus TUF Dash F15 is available in several configurations. You can also choose an Intel Core i5-12450H processor or up to the Intel Core i7-12650H we chose; an Nvidia RTX 3050, 3050Ti, or 3070 GPU; a 300Hz 1920 x 1080p display with 100% sRGB color gamut coverage or a 165Hz 2560 x 1440p display with 100% P3 color gamut coverage; 8GB TO 16GB of DDR5 memory; and 1TB SSD storage. The configuration we tested retails for $1,300, while other versions start at $1,000.

What we like

The subtle, elegant aesthetics

The Asus TUF Dash F15 has a lot of classic gamer stylings. That includes the white WASD keys against an otherwise black keyboard, an edgy design for the grille and power button, and a thickness that gives it enough space to house powerful fans. It would have admittedly been nice to have programmable RGB-backlit keys, but the white glow is at least pleasant to look at.

However, the matte-black body and the lack of intrusive logos and non-optional RGB elevate the look above a basic gaming laptop.

Better yet: while it cannot outcompete similar midrange laptops with insane cooling (see the Dell G16), the Dash F15 is still notably thinner and lighter than those same laptops without losing much performance.

It’s loaded with features

The Dash F15 has several features that make it more useful than just a gaming rig. On the sides, you can find an Ethernet port, two USB-A ports, a Thunderbolt 4 port, one USB-C data port, and an HDMI 2.0b port (although it would be nice if the port distribution were a little more even—all except one USB-A port are on the left side of the PC).

The trackpad is large, smooth, and responsive to input, making navigation and multi-touch gestures a breeze. Meanwhile, the full-size keyboard has large, springy keys that feel great to press against the laptop’s sturdy chassis. Although the numpad feels cramped, the main QWERTY keys are large and painless to navigate.

The TUF Dash F15 is not afraid to let its users tinker with the graphics and processor settings. The TUF Dash F15 comes with a MUX switch, which lets users toggle between the integrated graphics (iGPU) and dedicated graphics card.

If the iGPU is enabled, the laptop will use the GPU most appropriate for the task—this is great for battery life, but it comes at the slight cost of performance if the laptop needs to use some overhead to figure out which GPU to use. If you turn off the iGPU, then the F15 will always use its RTX 3060 graphics card for graphics; gaming performance gets a slight bump but at the cost of battery life.

You can also configure the fan profiles to customize your cooling if you want the fans to gear up sooner or later than their defaults. You can’t overclock the processor or graphics card, but you can adjust whether it uses full power or optimizes battery life (and the graphics card can use up to 105W).

That said, you won’t have to keep your laptop glued to the power outlet. When we ran our battery test, which simulates an average workday’s load by cycling through web pages at 200 nits brightness from full charge to depletion, the Dash F15 lasted about six hours and 16 minutes. It’s not a stellar amount for a gaming laptop (the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and Asus ROG Strix G15 AMD Advantage both sport nine-plus hours of battery life), but it’s sustainable for a day’s worth of office work or lectures.

This is with the laptop’s graphics set to “optimized” mode in the included Armory Crate software, which toggles the discrete GPU on and off depending on the intensity of the task being performed—in this case, it ran on the integrated GPU for the battery test. If you set the graphics mode to “ultimate,” you will get significantly worse battery life as the laptop will usually default to the more power-hungry discrete GPU.

“Eco mode” completely disables the discrete GPU, which gives the longest battery life, but you will have to turn the graphics back to one of the other modes if you want to run anything graphically intensive.

Great gaming performance

If you’re looking for a PC that can handle eSports games at 1080p with high graphics settings at 144Hz, the TUF Dash F15 is a great choice. Its Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics card and Intel Core i7-12650H processor put it squarely in the midrange of gaming laptops—a step above budget laptops like the HP Victus 15, but below high-end laptops like the Acer Predator Triton 500 SE or the Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage.

In graphics benchmarks, the TUF F15 scores well for its hardware. In 3DMark’s TimeSpy, it scored 8701 points, and in Firestrike it scored 18935 points. The Dell G16, which also runs an RTX 3060 graphics card, scored 8809 points in TimeSpy and 18935 points in Firestrike. Their in-game performances are par-on-par with each other, too.

When we ran Shadow of the Tomb Raider, a moderately graphically intense game, at its highest 1080p graphics setting, the Dash F15 ran at 104 frames per second (fps) and the Dell G16 ran at 108fps. The MSI Stealth 15M, another laptop with an RTX 3060 graphics card and a more efficiency-driven Intel Core i7-1280P processor, ran at 103 fps.

Other games were similar. On each of their highest graphics settings at 1080p, the TUF F15 ran Total War: Warhammer III at 62 fps and Cyberpunk 2077 at 62fps (without ray tracing enabled). With ray tracing enabled, Cyberpunk 2077 ran at 26fps. The Dell G16 ran Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing at 23fps, but it ran at 73fps without ray tracing (about 10fps higher than the Dash F15). Warhammer III ran at 63fps.

Its processing performance is no less impressive. The Dash F15 is among our best-scoring laptops in synthetic benchmarks. In Cinebench R23, the laptop scored 12993 points in the multicore test and 1794 in the single-core test. By comparison, the Dell G16, which has a slightly more powerful Intel Core i7-12700H processor, scored 16331 in the multicore test and 1752 in the single-core test. While the Dell G16 squeezes out more performance in processor-intensive tasks like 3D image rendering, both laptops perform virtually the same when it comes to more mundane, single-core tasks like surfing the web or watching videos.

Geekbench 5 shows a similar story. The Dell G16 slightly outperforms the Dash F15’s 11522 points in the multicore test by about 1000 points, but their single-core performance is virtually identical (the Dell G16 scored 1770 points and the Dash F15 scored 1812 points). By comparison, the Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage’s AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor scored 7715 points in the multicore test, and 1505 points in the single-core test, both scores notably lower than the Dash F15’s, but the Strix G15 makes up for it with its Cinebench score of 13332 points.

What we don’t like

The screen could be brighter

A 144Hz refresh rate screen is great for gaming, but not if it comes at the cost of color and brightness. The Dash F15’s panel hits a maximum of 311 nits and covers about 65% of the standard RGB color gamut—that’s fine in a budget laptop, but at $1,300, this is hardly that.

You can upgrade to a 300Hz panel with full coverage of the sRGB range or to a 2K panel with full P3 color coverage, but you’ll have to pay extra. We tested the 144Hz, 1920 x 1080 panel, and it performed as expected: a generally disappointing experience compared to other laptops in its price range like the Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage. It won’t ruin your experience with the laptop, but you could do better.

It gets loud and hot

Unsurprisingly, the Dash F15’s fans roar when the hardware’s running at full power. It keeps the hardware from throttling, but if you like hearing what you’re playing, you’ll want to have some headphones handy.

Similarly, the bottom of this laptop gets hot, so ”lap”-top is a bit of a misnomer. With temperatures north of 110 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s just too hot to keep on laps for long before getting uncomfortable.

The shoddy webcam and audio

The Dash F15’s 720p webcam gives off a dark and grainy image and lacks any sort of privacy features—there is no shutter or software disable button of any sort. It’s an odd exclusion to make on a laptop with dedicated buttons to toggle fan modes and performance modes.

Meanwhile, the speakers are nothing to fawn over, either. The sound is thin and tinny, lacking any sort of bass, depth, and sound stage. Tracking position in an FPS would be difficult with the integrated speakers, so you’ll want to bring your own headset to make the most of it.

Should you buy the Asus TUF Dash F15?

Yes, it’s a solid gaming laptop for the price

The TUF Dash F15 is not the fastest performing laptop for its configuration (so far that’s the Dell G16), but it’s not far behind. It keeps most of the performance while shaving off a lot of weight and thickness. Especially if you see this beast on sale, you will get a lot out of this sleek, adaptable package—although it retails for $1,300, you can customize performance with features normally reserved for higher-end models.

At the same time, there are a few things holding the Dash F15 back. Its mediocre base screen, webcam, and audio feel inappropriate for a laptop this expensive. If you’re after the best performance possible, the Dell G16 and Asus ROG Strix G15 AMD Advantage blow the TUF Dash F15 away and have bright, vivid screens with 100% sRGB color coverage. If you’re after a highly mobile gaming laptop, the all-AMD Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is a much more compact machine with better performance, a much better display, and nine hours of battery life.

Ultimately, the TUF Dash F15 is a good choice if you want to spend $1,500 or less on a gaming laptop, with acceptable performance and features across the board (even if none are outstanding). It’s notably far improved over its predecessor, the Dash A15, and it offers a unique combination of ergonomics, portability, and flexibility that are tricky to nail at this price point.