Asus TUF F15 (2022) review

[ntab Configuration]
When it comes to gaming laptops, Asus offers plenty of options that should match the needs of every user. Fundamentally, it splits its gaming laptops into two line-ups: the ROG series (Republic of Gamers) with laptops rocking high-end components and quality chassis, and the TUF series (The Ultimate Force) with mid-range components and build quality, oriented towards budget gamers. However, the 2022 TUF series, with the flagship model FX507, seems to break that rule. The new TUF series got an improved cooling solution and a cleaner look compared to last year’s model, but it also rocks the latest 12th gen Intel processor featuring the “big.LITTLE” technology. The “big.LITTLE” technology means that out of the fourteen CPU cores, six of them are performance cores activated when the laptop is performing high demanding tasks (like gaming), and eight of them are power-efficient cores that are kicking in when the laptop is under light usage (like browsing), thus improving the battery life. But Asus didn’t stop here. It gave the F15 the latest DDR5 memory and increased the TGP (Total Graphics Power) of the RTX 3060 from 95W to a whopping 145W, squeezing even more performance out of the dGPU. However, a spec sheet with high-end components is meaningless if the chassis isn’t built to hold them together. So how is F15 performing in real-life scenarios, and is it worth the higher price? Please stick with us to find out!

[ntab General overview]

At first glance, the F15 doesn’t look that different from last year’s model. However, taking a closer look reveals some slight differences like sharper palm rest edges and corners, a “cleaner” looking lid and the lack of left-click and right-click buttons on the now larger touchpad. The extra function keys like the Armoury Crate app or volume buttons have moved to a separate row. The LED indicators are also in a different position, grouped in an X shape right under the display. Overall, the chassis felt pretty sturdy.

The typing experience on the single-zone RGB keyboard was decent. The keys are large enough and decently spaced out, but the same thing cannot be said about the arrow keys that are smaller than the rest of the keys and are cramped together, taking away from their usability, which is a poor design choice for a gaming laptop. But at least the F15 has a classic Numpad which is always a good thing to see in a laptop.

The touchpad has a decent size now, probably due to the loss of its dedicated buttons. However, it is very mushy and awkward to use, and it didn’t even function during the Windows installation process.

Speaking of Windows, it is worth mentioning that the SSD wasn’t recognised during the installation process. This shortcoming is not an F15 issue per se, and it mostly happens on systems with newer Intel processors. This issue can easily be fixed by preemptively downloading the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) Driver on the USB or disabling Intel VMD in the BIOS before the installation.

The peripheral port selection is also similar to that of the last year’s model, with Asus mostly trading one USB type-A port for a Type-C one. However, being fitted with an Intel CPU means that the F15 has access to the Thunderbolt 4 technology. Overall, the laptop has:

On the left side:

And on the right side it has:

Another thing worth mentioning is that the laptop has a MUX switch, which lets the dedicated graphics card communicate directly with the display. Usually, the data from a dGPU is forced to go through the integrated graphics card before reaching the screen, which hurts the overall performance. With a MUX switch, this passthrough can be avoided at the cost of a significantly reduced battery life.

[ntab Display]
The biggest disappointment of the TUF F15 is the display. It features the Chi Mei CMN153C/N156HME-GAK panel, an IPS display with excellent viewing angles and a 144 Hz refresh rate. However, it suffers from excessive IPS glow, which is distracting during dark scenes in movies or games. On top of that, it has a poor colour coverage of 62.5% sRGB, 43.5% Adobe RGB and 44.6% DCI P3, making it unusable for any video/photo editing.

Here is a link to the calibrated display profile of the reviewed unit. Because each display is unique, this profile will not perfectly match other displays of the same model. Still, using this profile should give better overall colours.

sRGB profile and calibration

[ntab Disassembly]

[ntab Benchmarks]

Night Raid

SCORE	49825
Graphics score	98444
Physics score	13117

Fire Strike

SCORE	21185
Graphics score	22866
Physics score	27570
Combined score	11158

Sky Diver

SCORE	54132
Graphics score	70329
Physics score	27599
Combined score	42122

Time Spy

SCORE	9499
Graphics score	9152
Physics score	12107

Orange Room

SCORE	–
Average frame rate	– fps
Target frame rate	109.00 fps

Cyan room

SCORE	–
Average frame rate	– fps
Target frame rate	88.90 fps

Blue Room

SCORE	–
Average frame rate	– fps
Target frame rate	109.00 fps

Nvidia DLSS Test

DLSS Off	– fps
DLSS On	– fps

Cinebench R20

Single Core	662 pts
Multi Core	5531

Blender

CPU blend time	–
GPU blend time	–

Geekbench 4

Single-core score	Multi-core score
–	–

Geekbench 5

Single-core score	Multi-core score
1724	11518

PCMark 10 Web Score 9902 Apps Score 10209 Chat Score 7879 Photo Score 15125 Video Score 6257 Writing Score 4467 Spreadsheet Score 10372 Essentials 9269 Productivity 6800 Digital Content Creation 11129 SCORE 6370

Unigine Superposition benchmark
720p Low	27606
1080p Medium	16075
1080p High	11928
1080p Extreme	5520
4K Optimized	7276
8K Optimized	3075

Crystal Disk Mark

[ntab Gaming benchmarks]

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[ntab Temperatures]

The cooling solution of the TUF F15 also got an upgrade, and it now consists of five heat pipes (two of which are shared between the CPU and GPU) and four heatsinks (two on the back of the laptop the rest on the sides) and two medium-sized fans.

All the tests were performed at an ambient temperature of 24.6° C (76.2° F).

During the standard 30 minutes AIDA64 stress test (CPU, FPU, cache), the processor reached an average temperature of 75 °C (167 °F), with a maximum of 97 °C (206.6 °F). At these temperatures, the processor maintained an average frequency of 2.63 GHz on its performance cores and 2.30 GHz on its efficient cores, with occasional dips to as low as 2.59 GHz on its performance cores and 2.19 GHz on its efficient cores. Overall, these results seem pretty good, considering that, for this processor, the minimum guaranteed frequency by Intel is 2.30 GHz for performance cores and 1.70 GHz for efficient cores.

In the combined AIDA64 + Unigine Superposition stress test (which had both the processor and the dedicated graphics card under heavy load for 30 minutes), the processor reached a maximum temperature of 97 °C (206.6°F) and throttled until it settled at a temperature of 80 °C (176 °F). During this test, the processor kept an average clock speed of 2.06 GHz on its performance cores and 1.84 GHz on its efficient cores, with occasional dips to as low as 1.99 GHz on its performance 1.79 GHz on its efficient cores. The dedicated graphics card maintained an average clock speed of 1817 MHz with a maximum boost of 2062 MHz. Temperature-wise, the video card hovered between 85.1 °C (185.1 °F) and 82.2 °C (179.9 °F). This test has excellent GPU performance and temperatures, but the CPU cooling is only borderline ok. The frequencies achieved by the CPU area bit under Intel specifications which guarantee a minimum frequency of 2.30 GHz for performance cores and 1.70 GHz for efficient cores.

Finally, the laptop was tested with the AIDA64 stability test, another combined stress test for the video card and processor. The results were very similar to the previous stress tests. The processor reached a maximum temperature of 98 °C (208.4 °F) and throttled until it settled at a temperature of 88 °C (190.4 °F). Despite its throttling, the processor kept an average clock speed of 2.21 GHz on its performance cores and 1.90 GHz on its efficient cores, with occasional dips to as low as 2.19 GHz on average performance cores and 1.89 GHz on its efficient cores. The dedicated graphics card maintained an average clock speed of 1914 MHz with a maximum of 1995 MHz. Temperature-wise, the video card hovered around 87 °C (188.6 °F).

[ntab Noise]
Users can choose between four pre-defined fan profiles: Windows, Silent, Performance and Turbo. These profiles can be switched by pressing Fn+F5 keys or from the Armoury Crate app.
When gaming, the laptop can reach around 50 dB. However, because the spinning fans make a high pitched noise, the perceived noise is more stressful than it should be otherwise.

Asus TUF F15 (FA507ZM) fan profiles

The LatencyMon test evaluates if a laptop is suitable for video/audio editing and recording. The results are mixed. When the WLAN / wireless connection is in use, the laptop experiences high latency, which may result in clicks or pops when recording. This problem completely disappears if the laptop is used on the LAN / wired network. Otherwise, LatencyMon did not signal any other issues with this machine. Overall, the device should work well for video/audio editing and recording as long as the laptop is used with a wired connection.

LatencyMon test – WIFI	LatencyMon test – LAN

[ntab Battery life]

Since most laptops are used on battery for mundane office activities and web browsing, the laptop was tested using a simulated continuous web browsing session over WiFi. The browsing session involved checking emails/news, social media and accessing multimedia websites, similar to the behaviour of an average user. The level of brightness was set according to visibility and usability. At 50% brightness, the laptop provided an enjoyable viewing experience. The sound volume was also set to 50%.

With its 90 WHr battery, the laptop lasted 1 hours and 35 minutes. The machine was tested using Firefox and Edge and yielded similar battery life results regardless of the browser.
The dedicated GPU usage was at 0% for most of the test, indicating that the laptop switched to the integrated GPU. There is no clear explanation for this meagre battery life, but hopefully, ASUS will improve it with future BIOS updates.

Charging the laptop from 5% to 95% took almost 2 hours.

[ntab Conclusion]

Pros:

• good 1080p gaming performance
• high refresh rate display
• decent RGB keyboard
• classic Numpad
• MUX switch

Cons:

• low colour coverage display
• higher than average IPS glow
• annoying high pitched noise fans
• sharp palmrest edges
• short battery life

In conclusion, is the TUF F15 worth it? Well, it depends on the user’s needs. It is one of the best value for money machines out there for gaming. Still, for anything else, like video/photo editing, the user is better off upgrading to a more expensive/better screen since this one is the worst downside of this laptop or purchasing another machine altogether.

[ntab Videos]