ASUS TUF Dash F15 2021 TUF516PE-AB73 model with RTX 3050 Ti Review.
Do you want to have an 11th Gen Intel i7 powered laptop that is paired with the RTX 30-series rather than the RTX 20-series? And all this is packed in an attractive thin laptop for a competitive price? If you do, check out this lightweight gaming laptop. Whether it packs enough power inside? Let’s find that out now.
Initial Impression
When you see the laptop for the first time, you will immediately notice how well built the laptop is. It does not feel like it is a budget gaming laptop. This device looks elegant and very sleek for a gaming machine. It is also surprisingly light and thin (19.9mm). It’s an ideal device for gamers on the go. Thin, lightweight yet complies with US military-grade MIL-STD standards.
If you’re a road warrior or often game on the go, it’s definitely worth considering this machine.
The grey cover has a clean design with the “TUF” word on the side. You will also see a tiny logo on the other side. On the bottom side of the machine, you will see its speaker grills and a decent amount of air vents. These vents are there to dissipate the generated heat when you are gaming or do other heavy-load computing tasks.
When you open the lid, the whole layout is well designed. You can open it with one hand, by the way. So yeah, that portable!
The Full-HD IPS screen also has very thin bezels, which give you an advantage, to have more of real-estate of the screen.
Main Features
| Product | ASUS TUF Dash 15 (2021) Ultra Slim Gaming Laptop, 15.6” 144Hz FHD, GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, Intel Core i7-11370H, 8GB DDR4, 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD, Wi-Fi 6, Windows 10, Eclipse Grey Color, TUF516PE-AB73 |
| Screen | 15.6″ LED Backlit IPS screen Full-HD (1920×1080) Anti- Glare Display
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| Processor | Quad-Core Intel Core i7-11370H (11th Gen) 4.80GHz with max. Turbo Boost Speed |
| Dedicated Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti |
| RAM (2x memory slots) | 8GB DDR4-3200MHz |
| Storage | 512GB SSD |
| Ports & Other features | 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A 1x RJ-45 Ethernet port 1x HDMI 2.0b 1x USB-C (Thunderbolt with DP 1.4 & Power Delivery) 1x Audio Jack 1x Kensington Lock Backlit Precision Gaming Keyboard Wi-Fi 6 ROG Intelligent Cooling system |
| Pros & Cons | VIEW |
TUF516PE-AB73 Performance
The ASUS TUF Dash F15 TUF516PE-AB73 performs very well for its size and its price. It comes with the 11th Generation of i7 rather than the i5 or i3 CPU. The latest generation of Intel i7 CPU with 4.80 GHz Turbo Boost speed, 3200MHz DDR4 memory, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti can play most of the games with maximal settings at good framerates.
Intel Core i7-11370H CPU is the new Tiger Lake Intel processor which was released in early 2021 and is designed specifically for thin and lightweight gaming laptops. When compared to the older generation (i7-10750H), this chipset has a better manufacturing process (10 nm vs 14nm).
Compared with the i7-10750H (10th generation), the dual-core and single-core speed of i7-11800H is 27% and 34% faster, respectively. Also, this 11th generation CPU needs about 22% less energy than its predecessor.
The RTX 3050 Ti GPU outperforms the popular GPU from RTX 2000 series, which is the RTX 2060 Max-Q, and it shines for game titles that require raytracing and DLSS. You can play Cyberpunk2077 with RTX and DLSS on at 50-58 fps without issues. For outside of gameplay, this laptop can run 3D rendering, content creation, and other heavy tasks without problems. Consider this variant if you want older Graphics.
To sum up, you are not getting the best gaming laptop in the universe, but this ASUS TUF F15 TUF516PE-AB73 can perform well for its price range.
Nice things with this laptop
The ASUS TUF Dash 15 TUF516PE-AB73 gaming laptop comes with these nice features that you hardly find in other laptops for the same price.
Thunderbolt 4
One of the nice highlights of this laptop is the newest generation of Thunderbolt which is Thunderbolt 4, which many more expensive gaming laptops do not even offer. In the coming months, there will be more laptops that come with this Thunderbolt generation. At the moment laptops that have the 11th Gen of Intel CPU, like this ASUS Dash 15 2021 have Thunderbolt 4.
This port enables you to connect to an external GPU or your docking stations. The USB Type-C connector offers a maximum of 40 Gbp/s data transfer, power charging, networking, DP 1.4 (DisplayPort), and supports dual external 4K or 8K display.
Other than simplifying your cables, this new Thunderbolt 4 can improve your gaming and streaming experience. For a graphic performance boost, you can easily connect this laptop to an external GPU to enable you to increase your games’ settings. Furthermore, you can use connect this port to an external device to capture your gameplay in full-HD or 4K video quality.
Compared to the previous generation, Thunderbolt 4 is more secure, and faster, since the PCIe minimum data specification is now bumped up from 16Gbps to 32Gbps. Learn more about Thunderbolt 4 here.
Sharp 144Hz Display
For the money you are paying, this laptop screen’s quality will surprise you. The ASUS TUF Dash F15 TUF516PE-AB73 comes with a 15.6-inch Full-HD IPS display that has a 144Hz screen refresh rate. If you are searching for the 17-inch version of ASUS TUF, visit this page.
The frames of the display are incredibly thin, and it has an anti-glare coating. This will reduce eye restrain risk if you often use your laptop to game for quite a long time.
The 1080p screen resolution looks clear and sharp, it is a real joy to see more details on your laptop’s screen. The 144Hz refresh rate helps a lot while gaming, with no lagging on the moving graphics. The more refresh rate your screen has, the more visual information you will be getting. In gaming, this is an important factor to win, every second does matter to win your game. This video below demonstrates the advantage of a 144Hz screen over a 60Hz screen.
With the HDMI output, you will also be able to connect your 4K television to your gaming laptop to play games or watch HDR movies without issue.
Quiet Backlit Keyboard
The first impression of the keyboard, it looks similar to the keyboard of the Zephyrus G15, which is 2x the price or even more. This TUF516PE-AB73 gaming laptop has a nice spacious keyboard design. The chiclet keys have low noise when you are typing on them, and have good tactile feedback.
ASUS also highlights the WASD keys and gives them a good space, so you won’t hit other keys while gaming. There are also 4 dedicated shortcut keys on the top of the deck. You can use them to access volume setting, Mute, and Armoury Crate utility quickly.
It is a backlit keyboard, however, it is one zone RGB, so you cannot change the default lighting, you can only change the brightness levels, and turn off the backlighting if you wish. If you often play at night, this laptop’s keyboard won’t disappoint, the illuminated keys are very helpful.
Ethernet Port
While this ASUS TUF Dash F15 2021 model is equipped with Wi-Fi 6 feature, it also comes with an RJ-45 ethernet port. By using the Ethernet port, you will get a more solid internet connection, that can be useful while you are working remotely, playing games online, or download Windows 10 updates. Gigabit Ethernet offers more reliable connections and better speed.
Especially when you stay in a dorm, having an ethernet port on your laptop is beneficial. Wireless connection (Wi-FI) is more convenient, however, when you have many people in your dorm using the same Wi-FI channel, your wireless connection can generally be slower. Hence having an Ethernet port and Wi-Fi is a must for some.
TUF516PE-AB73 Supports Wi-Fi 6!
This ASUS TUF516PE-AB73 supports Wi-Fi 6. All devices will start to support faster, and more secure wireless standards, which is this Wi-Fi 6. In terms of transfer speed, this wireless generation offers 40% better speed than its predecessor (Wi-Fi 5).
Lastly, this newest Wi-Fi generation is also more energy-efficient. It’s nice to have this new technology on board.
Outstanding Battery Life
Although the ASUS TUF516PE-AB73 is a thin gaming laptop, it comes with a pretty good battery life. What’s more, you can charge it quickly with its USB Type-C. For gaming activity, you can get 3-4 hours but when not gaming (e.g multiple tabs browsing, streaming YouTube, and working with documents) you can get around 7-8 hours with 100% screen brightness.
This is the normal battery life for Ultrabooks, but for a “gaming” laptop with a dedicated RTX GPU and Intel i7 CPU? This is pretty incredible. If you set on airplane mode and lowering your screen brightness, you can even get a few hours more.
Worth a Look?
If you are looking at an affordable RTX 30-series gaming laptop at under 1k, yes definitely worth a look. For a relatively affordable price, you will be getting pretty top-of-the-line updated features. If you don’t need a gaming laptop, opt for this Acer Aspire 5 notebook.
This unit got the newest 11th Gen Intel i7 CPU rather than the 10th Gen of i5, and RTX 30-series GPU rather than the 20-series. Add that to the Thunderbolt 4, 144Hz gorgeous screen, Wi-Fi 6, Ethernet port, 3200MHz RAM, Backlit Keyboard, and SSD. You’ll be getting a powerhouse in a 4.4 lbs attractive package.
ASUS TUF Dash F15 TUF516PE-AB73 is not the best on the market but is a worthy contender, if you want better than this one, then you’ll need to pay more.
