ASUS TUF DASH F15 FX516P

Design

The ASUS TUF DASH F15 FX516P TUF ‘s appearance is what you’d expect from a brand pushing military spec MIL-STD durability standards: it isn’t a behemoth, but its hard edges and giant TUF branding on the back let you know this isn’t your typical office notebook. While it bills itself as a thin and light, it is still a 15-inch gaming laptop – certainly not as bulky as some of its competitors, but I wouldn’t exactly call it svelte. But that’s okay, because its size may allow it a bit more power than comparably-specced laptops, not to mention more cooling potential. The bottom case uses a smooth, black finish with just a bit of texture to the right and left of the keyboard, and some decidedly “TUF” looking speaker grilles along the top. (There’s a white version too, with similar flourishes.) The keyboard itself is backlit and allows comfortable typing, thanks to its large size, standard key spacing, and relatively deep travel at 1.7mm.

Processor

The ASUS TUF DASH F15 FX516P is equipped with the Intel Core i7-11370H is a high-end quad core SoC for thin and light gaming laptops and mobile workstations. It is based on the Tiger Lake H35 generation and was announced early 2021. It integrates four Willow Cove processor cores (8 threads thanks to HyperThreading). The base clock speed depends on the TDP setting and can vary from 3 (28 W TDP) to 3.3 GHz (35 W). The boost of a single and two cores under load can reach up to 4.8 GHz. All four cores can reach up to 4.3 GHz. The 11370H can use the whole 12 MB level 3 cache.

Performance

Always ready for action, the Dash F15 darts with ease between gaming, streaming, and more. Up to an 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11370H CPU powers through everyday work and play. Graphics are fast and fluid with up to a leading-edge GeForce RTX 3070 GPU with Dynamic Boost 2.0 that reliably delivers high frame rates. As much as 32GB of DDR4-3200 RAM lets you switch gears between tasks seamlessly, while a superfast NVMe PCIe SSD up to 1TB accelerates load times across all your apps and games.

Verdict

The Asus TUF Dash F15 expertly balances performance, practicality, and value. Though its Intel “Tiger Lake” Core i7 has only four processing cores, it offers plenty of pep for the latest games when paired with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 mobile GPU. This notebook is also inherently practical with its comfortable keyboard and competitive battery life.