The Asus TUF Gaming F15 has massive expectations to reside up to.
The TUF series of laptops is a in style on our finest funds gaming pc pc list – and 2023’s batch is the first with a 4000-series Nvidia graphics card. That device they’re the first with Frame Know-how, the title for Nvidia’s bleeding-edge AI tech that fills the gaps between frames, making video games shuffle smoother. I’ve examined it on other funds laptops, equivalent to the Gigabyte G5, and mediate it’s a revelation, letting me shuffle AAA video games on max settings.
Asus TUF Gaming F15 – Photos
This pc pc would per chance well peaceful, therefore, be a enormous step up in gaming performance from old TUF items – and the juicy specs point out it would per chance well peaceful moreover outstrip other 4000-series laptops we’ve examined, equivalent to the spectacular Gigabyte G5. Happily, it fully delivers on that promise. It’s no longer faultless – no funds gaming pc pc is – but it without a doubt delivers the roughly gaming performance that, even two years ago, would’ve gave the influence no longer doable from an $1,100/£1,000 machine.
Asus TUF F15 (2023) – Rating and Functions
The metallic body feels sturdy and heavy, capable of dismissing the day-to-day bumps of going out and in of a backpack, or transferring between rooms at home. The reward panel flexes runt or no within the occasion you strive to curl it, the hinges in actuality feel rigid, and the keyboard panel stands up to a appropriate, company push. I’ve only spent a month or so with it, but it without a doubt feels esteem the hardiest funds pc pc I’ve ever tried.
That sturdy body makes it heavier than most other laptops at 2.2kg (appropriate unnerved of 5lbs), so whilst you happen to’d esteem something ultra-portable, take a look at in other locations. However that’s no longer outlandishly heavy for a gaming machine, and it modified into by no device dreadful to elevate by hand or in a score.
It’s moreover one of many better-having a take a look at funds gaming machines. The lid has an embossed TUF logo, dimples within the corners, and a cutaway portion so as that you also can take a look at four indicator lights (energy on/off, charging, no longer easy-drive entry, and airplane mode) when it’s closed. It’s no longer flashy or nefarious, and doesn’t take a look at out of station in a shared station of job or a cafe – however the gorgeous accents compose it in actuality feel particular.
It’s gleaming, too: the lid has a at hand flap that protrudes previous the underside of the pc pc when it’s closed, which you also can defend to commence it without clawing at the display conceal.
It is miles much less peaceful within the occasion you choose the lid. I esteem the semi-transparent WASD keys, however the cutaway portion on the lid makes the hinges take a look at moderately awkward – and the “CAUTION: HIGH FRAMERATE ZONE” all-caps ticket beneath the keyboard made me in actuality feel self conscious in public.
The structure of the keyboard is extra considerate, and Asus has filled a complete lot keys exact into a miniature home without it feeling crowded. You find a corpulent arrangement of function keys, collectively with one to toggle between performance modes, two to brighten or murky the keyboard backlight, and a at hand one for taking a custom screenshot at any time.
You moreover find a corpulent amount pad – something missing in some laptops of this dimension – and easy-entry quantity controls above the valuable keyboard home. It’s an intuitive structure and took nearly no time to find broken-appropriate down to.
The valuable presses are a plug too soft and shallow for my liking – I decide moderately extra resistance and depth. However it without a doubt’s by no device adverse to exercise: I would per chance well comfortably form for hours on it, and I by no device felt esteem the keyboard modified into transferring into my device in frantic in-game firefights.
It has the total ports you’d query on a gaming machine: two USB-A ports, a HDMI port, a headphone jack, a USB-C port and a Thunderbolt 4 port, which is ready to fee the pc pc at up to 100 watts. That’s at hand whilst you happen to’d esteem to leave the home without the energy brick – my Steam Deck charger, as an illustration, kept the pc pc’s battery ticking upwards even when I modified into the utilization of the display conceal.
My one gripe with the port structure – and it’s minor – is that the charger plugs in midway down the left fringe of the pc pc. The lead modified into repeatedly trailing at some level of my desk. It’s particularly awkward whilst you happen to’re a left-hander, on story of your mouse mat will seemingly sit down shut to where the charger plugs in. I defend up for a future when all chargers slot immediately into the abet of laptops.
Asus TUF F15 (2023) – Indicate & audio system
The 1080p reward does exactly what you’d query at this mark from Asus: it’s a shimmering, shiny IPS panel that doesn’t blow you away. Vivid video games equivalent to Jusant pop off the display conceal, while mopish video games esteem Alan Wake 2 in actuality feel dark and foreboding. The 144Hz refresh price mixed with G-Sync made every game I examined gentle and responsive.
At this mark, it is probably you’ll well even be repeatedly making replace-offs. If you happen to’re broken-appropriate down to mid-to-excessive fluctuate laptops, the display conceal obtained’t in actuality feel shimmering or colourful. It’s no longer usable in order sunlight, and while the 75% Adobe RGB color coverage is appropriate for gaming, it would per chance well fall rapid in heavy ingenious work.
The audio system are first price at medium volumes within the occasion you’re no longer blasting tune: I watched movies, listened to podcasts, and performed loads of video games out loud without offending my ears. That doesn’t mean they sound crisp or deep – even more affordable gaming headsets sound better – but they’re okay in a pinch.
At louder volumes, they sound tinny and washed out, and the bass is sort of non-existent. However that’s what you query in laptops spherical this mark.
Asus TUF F15 (2023) – Utility
The TUF F15 is thankfully free of bloatware, and comes with appropriate two valuable items of software program – MyAsus and Armoury Crate.
MyAsus is gentle-weight and no longer very precious, aside from toggling a “battery care mode” that stops your battery charging previous 80%, to retain it longer. I need it modified into appropriate constructed into Armoury Crate, which is some distance extra comprehensive.
The valuable dashboard is a runt overwhelming first and most predominant, but it without a doubt’s a sturdy software program if you find broken-appropriate down to scrolling thru it. Lovers would per chance well revel in digging into “handbook” performance mode to minutely adjust GPU offsets, thermal targets, and fan speeds – it’s easy to exercise and extra granular than other programs I’ve tried.
You would also moreover fiddle with the CPU, disabling some of its P (performance) cores or E (ambiance friendly) cores. Asus has a web page that explains succinctly why it is probably you have to to achieve that – both to place battery or to elevate performance in a runt replace of eventualities. Most folk obtained’t exercise it, but it without a doubt’s appropriate to know it’s there.
You would also moreover toggle between GPU modes, which is ready to be in actuality at hand for saving battery. “Final” forces the pc pc to exercise the graphics card, as an replace of integrated graphics, in any admire instances. I as an replace picked the urged “Optimised” mode. This disables the graphics card within the occasion you unplug the charger – and when it’s plugged in, it only uses the graphics card for intensive duties equivalent to gaming.
This environment made a enormous dissimilarity on battery tests – which I’ll touch on later. So too did “Panel Power Saver”, which is on by default and automatically limits the refresh price within the occasion you unplug your charger.
Away from the valuable dashboard, nonetheless, the Armoury Crate is cumbersome and advanced. It has a pointless files feed and a mysterious “featured” tab that kept failing to load. The constructed-in “Aurasync” would generally serve an eye for your keyboard RGB lighting – but that as an replace directs you to yet any other web page where you also can remove your colors and lighting modes. The keyboard peaceful has a actual “air of mystery” button, but it without a doubt doesn’t in actuality work: every time you click it to toggle between lighting modes, it switches the color to crimson. Extraordinary.
As pc pc hubs plug, it’s some distance from the worst I’ve tried – and I chanced on myself returning to the central dashboard generally to tinker with settings.
Asus TUF F15 (2023) – Efficiency and Gaming
I came in waiting for the Asus TUF F15 to annihilate AAA video games. I modified into no longer upset.
Its spectacular performance is partly on story of of Frame Know-how, a function made that you also can take into accounts by Nvidia’s Deep Finding out Huge Sampling (DLSS) AI tech. It creates unique frames and inserts them between the frames you’d generally take a look at, effectively boosting the body price
With Frame Know-how become on, this pc pc rips thru even essentially the most easy-having a take a look at video games. I hit a delicate 100 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 at Ultra graphics settings, and topped 100 in every Forza Horizon 5 and Hitman 3. These are the roughly numbers that Frame Know-how is making shut to-customary for more moderen funds machines. Some folk have reported input slip when the utilization of it – but I’ve by no device felt any.
Without a doubt, you also can’t simply rely on AI tech for appropriate performance. Some video games obtained’t ever serve Frame Know-how and you wish a pc pc that can play them, too.
Happily, the old-generation i7-12700H CPU and the RTX 4060 are a heavy-lifting duo. I hit 100 FPS in Call of Accountability: Warzone at excessive settings, and I would per chance well even play the contemporary Alan Wake 2 at 70 FPS without Frame Know-how (albeit with other Nvidia AI tech enabled).
In Cyberpunk, without any Nvidia wizardry, I got spherical 45fps at the best graphics environment. That would per chance well no longer sound inconceivable, but remove into story this is a funds pc pc enjoying one of essentially the most demanding video games of the previous 5 years. Dialing just a few settings down got me over 60 FPS.
What you’re getting here is a pc pc that can play the rest you throw at it, at excessive graphics settings, for years to shut. It feels in actuality future-proof.
The numbers don’t lie: in performance discovering out, it scored excessive at some level of the board. It fared better than the Gigabyte G5, which moreover has the 4060 graphics card, in every take a look at, and scored roughly equal to the MSI Stealth 14 Studio (2023), a critical extra costly machine.
Its enchancment on the G5 is seemingly appropriate down to two things. First, the Gigabyte pc pc limits graphics energy to 75W – in Asus’ machine, it’s 140W, which device you also can squeeze extra from the GPU.
Second, the i7 CPU trumps the Gigabyte’s i5 – it’s no longer essentially the most up-to-date mannequin, but it without a doubt’s a appropriate one, and would per chance well address heavy multitasking. I would per chance well commence dozens of Chrome tabs, get video games, see a video and analyze my storage drive concurrently without it slowing down.
My one hardware grunt is the ability of the solid affirm drive, which modified into 512GB within the mannequin I examined. Given the size of contemporary video games, that’s relatively limiting – set up four massive video games and you’ll shuffle out of home. It’s tense to need to juggle your downloads, though it wants to be talked about that it’s no longer extra special for laptops of this mark.
If you happen to have moderately extra cash to utilize it is probably you’ll peaceful decide for one of many extra costly – though peaceful moderately priced – configurations that has a 1TB SSD. You would also alternatively pop commence the pc pc and set up yet any other SSD in a 2d slot, but that’s no longer a repair every person will be chuffed attempting.
Asus TUF F15 (2023) – Battery lifestyles
Battery lifestyles is solid – and even better whilst you happen to exercise the exact settings. Our customary battery take a look at on PCMark10, which simulates in style utilization at 50% brightness and automated switching between GPU and integrated graphics, yielded an unspectacular 4 hours 49 minutes. That is sort of precisely the same as the Gigabyte G5, which has a smaller battery.
Nevertheless, by following the instructed settings in Armory Core – which disables the GPU on battery energy – and toggling the default “mute” fan mode I would per chance well find it to closing for extra than 10 hours within the same take a look at, which is something the G5 can’t attain.
These settings are fully life like, and don’t throttle performance within the same device that a battery saver mode does. It’s now my default device of the utilization of the pc pc.
