The ASUS TUF Gaming F17 laptop recently had a 2023 refresh featuring Intel’s 13th generation processors coupled with Nvidia’s RTX 40 series mobile GPUs. Spending two weeks with the TUF Gaming F17 FX707VU model was an absolute pleasure. This laptop’s performance was rock solid throughout and I was really blown away by what it could do despite its relatively modest specs. Don’t let the RTX 4050 GPU inside this device fool you though. It’s quite powerful and can run even the most recent triple A titles without much fuss.
Before diving into the benchmarks, here are the technical specifications:
ASUS TUF Gaming F17 FX707VU4
⦁ 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900H up to 5.40GHz Processor, 24MB Cache, 14x Cores, 20x Threads
⦁ 16GB DDR4 RAM (8GB DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM x 2)
⦁ 1TB Ultra-Fast NVMe SSD
⦁ 17.3″ FHD 1920×1080
⦁ 144Hz Refresh-rate Anti-Glare IPS Level Display
⦁ NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 6GB GDDR6 Dedicated Graphics
⦁ Windows 11 Home (64bit)
⦁ Intel Wi-Fi 6 Wireless LAN
⦁ Bluetooth v5.1
⦁ 720P HD camera
⦁ 1x USB 3.2 Type-C support DisplayPort
⦁ 1x USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4 support DisplayPort
⦁ 2x USB 3.2 Type-A
⦁ 1x HDMI
⦁ 1x RJ45 LAN
⦁ 1x Headphone & Microphone Combo Jack
⦁ RGB Backlit Keyboard
⦁ Dolby Atmos Sound System
⦁ 3 YEARS WARRANTY
The ASUS TUF Gaming F17 FX707VU looks pretty low profile and doesn’t exactly scream gaming with flashy RGB tail lights, fins or cut outs like we’ve seen with some other brands. This laptop could blend in quite well in any boardroom or workplace – The only real major physical “gaming” feature that stands out being the different coloured keycaps on the “WASD” keys.
Typing on the laptop felt pretty good with the keyboard having just the right amount of tactility to it. Tastes may vary though and it’s best to try it out for yourself first if you can. If not, you’ll have to invest in a separate keyboard to pair with the laptop but I digress. Typing and more importantly, gaming, with the laptop keyboard was perfectly fine.
The top surface of the laptop has a metallic sheen to it and even though it does give off a mecha theme and vibe, it’s not overdone and is rather classy. ASUS claims that their TUF range of products are tested against rigorous standards. The exact claim being that “In order to earn the TUF Gaming name, these laptops must successfully survive a rigorous battery of MIL-STD-810H tests. Test devices are exposed to drops, vibration, humidity and extreme temperatures to ensure reliability. Dependable even in the harshest conditions, the F17 is more than capable of withstanding the accidental bumps and knocks of everyday life.” I’m inclined to believe this.
The laptop does give off a feeling of sturdiness and weighs around 2.6 kg. It could most likely take a beating and survive but just don’t drop it of course. There was little to no flex even when pushing down on it or trying to bend it and the aluminium chassis is a step up over hard plastic often seen on competing brand’s devices. It will definitely survive being lugged around daily inside a laptop bag to work or school. Credit must be given to ASUS here for somehow working their magic and making this 17-inch laptop smaller than its predecessor but still retaining the same screen size.
The screen on the ASUS TUF Gaming F17 is an IPS-level 144hz display and colours certainly look crisp and vivid on it but don’t expect OLED-level colour accuracy. The colour space here is pretty average at a claimed sRGB coverage of 62.50% and Adobe coverage at 47.34%. If you’re looking for a colour accurate laptop for doing design work, you should elsewhere such as ASUS’ ProArt series of laptops. This is an all-rounder gaming laptop.
Now, finally moving onto gaming itself, I ran a couple of new games on the laptop and was extremely surprised by the performance it was giving. Loading up Resident Evil 4 (2023), I got some intriguing results. Even going above and beyond the graphics memory limit stated in the options menu, RE4 still ran in a playable state with every setting maxed out including Ray Tracing.
You can see the FPS counts in the following screenshots and the associated settings respectively. Playing this game at 1080p 144hz is definitely within the realm of possibility provided you drop down a couple of graphics intensive options. Disable Ray Tracing and tone down the shadows and you’ll easily have upwards of 90 FPS in-game even when things get heated in battles.
To further test the laptop’s capabilities, I also ran Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s benchmark on both the High and Ultra settings (With Ray Tracing set to Ultra too) and got well over 60 FPS in both benchmarks. This is remarkable considering that this is a laptop GPU at work here and it’s giving performance that could be better than the average gamer’s desktop with Ray Tracing enabled. The RTX 4050 in this laptop is clearly working wonders while still remaining relatively cool thanks to the vents at the bottom of the laptop.
To test both the GPU and CPU, I ran Company of Heroes 3’s built-in benchmark and this yielded good results showing well over 50 FPS even with an intense battle happening on-screen.
Running the 3D Mark suite of tests, I obtained the following benchmark scores in TimeSpy, Port Royal, DirectX Ray Tracing, DLSS and the CPU Profile tests.
To round off my testing, I ran Cinebench R23 and CrystalDiskMark to test the CPU and NVME respectively. In Cinebench, the scores obtained were about what I expected for a laptop CPU and the NVME read/write tests scores obtained were satisfactory too.
In my real world usage of the laptop, it really came in quite clutch since during the period I had it, South Africa was experiencing quite a high amount of loadshedding. For our international readers out there, these are rotating blackouts enforced by the government-run electricity supply company that can last up to 4 hours at a time if not more.
The ASUS TUF Gaming F17 remarkably has a long battery life lasting throughout an entire 4 hour block of loadshedding (with brightness set to the lowest setting and power saving mode enabled). What’s also great is the fact that the laptop charges ridiculously fast, reaching 50% capacity in around 30 minutes. ASUS states this in their marketing and they aren’t lying about it. It really does charge super quick. Playing games on battery life will drain it way faster but if you have work to do in the dark, this is certainly going to get you through in a pinch.
Overall, the ASUS TUF Gaming F17 FX707VU is an all-rounded gaming laptop that delivers performance that exceeded my expectations. The i9 coupled with the RTX 4050 might seem like an odd choice but it worked well. It also makes me wonder what a different configuration with say, an RTX 4060 and DDR5 RAM could do. The pricing on the ASUS TUF Gaming F17 FX707VU is rather hefty coming in at R29,999 and ASUS themselves have some other gaming laptops which are in the same price that can give this one a run for its money. If you’re in the market for a new gaming laptop, this should definitely be on your radar but do keep an eye out for ASUS’ ROG Strix lineup of laptops too.
Reviewed by Sahil Lala
ASUS TUF Gaming F17
Summary
The ASUS TUF Gaming F17 is all-round excellent laptop that delivers great performance with its impressive specs and sturdy design, though you could probably pick up a better laptop at the same price point.