ASUS TUF FX705 Gaming Laptop Review

The Asus TUF FX705 is a mid-range gaming laptop with good overall performance at a fair price (beginning at $999; evaluated at $1,299). The GeForce GTX 1060 GPU and 6GB of VRAM in the 17.3-inch TUF Gaming FX705 can run contemporary games at medium-to-high settings, despite the fact that it isn’t equipped with one of Nvidia’s more recent, more potent RTX graphics cards. A comfy keyboard and a vibrant, 144-Hz IPS display are also features of the laptop. Unfortunately, the FX705 has a massive, heavy chassis and poor speakers, but it’s still a fantastic deal.

Pricing and Specifications for the Asus TUF Gaming FX705

An Intel Core i5-8300H processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and an Nvidia Geforce GTX 1060 GPU is included in the $999 base model FX705. A Core i7-8750H processor, 32GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and a backup, 1TB HDD, as well as a GTX 1060 GPU featuring 6GB of VRAM were all included in our $1,299 review unit. An online shop like Amazon offers a Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, and a GTX 1060 GPU package for $1,199.

ASUS TUF FX705

Technical Specifications

Pros and Cons

ASUS TUF FX705 Review

Display

When you aren’t using graphics-intensive software or demanding games, the ASUS TUF FX705 switches to an Intel Ultra HD Graphics 630 GPU to conserve power.
When I viewed a promo for the upcoming movie Teen Spirit, the image on the screen was so clear that I could see the stitching on Dakota Fanning’s blouse. The pop artist entered the stage, the show erupted in a rainbow of vivid hues. From Fanning’s mustard-yellow waiter outfit to the deep, neon-pink tones lighting the wall behind her, the FX705’s display created a variety of hues.

As my Shadow of the Tomb Raider avatar moved through the display’s beautifully recreated lush forest, I had the overwhelming need to dive into the stunning turquoise-blue water. The perilous Peruvian jungle’s vegetation and wildlife appeared nearly lifelike with visuals on Ultra. The vegetation was a vivid, dark green, and I could pick out specific tree leaves hanging far above me.
The sRGB color spectrum is 123 percent covered by the FX705’s display. The Omen 15’s (111%), Gaming Laptop 17+’s (120%), and the typical mainstream gaming laptop’s (111%) screens aren’t quite as vibrant. Even more, colors are produced by the Legion Y7000’s 15.6-inch screen (153 percent), though.
The display of the FX705 has an average brightness level. The Omen 15 (266 nits), Gaming Laptop 17+ (260 nits), Legion Y7000 (277 nits), and the average for the mainstream gaming category are all brighter than the Asus gaming laptop at its highest brightness of 270 nits (273 nits).

Design & Built

You can exhale with relief. The unsightly red lightning bolts that erupted from the edges of the ASUS TUF FX504 last year have been eliminated by Asus. The only decorative element on the lid is a line of indents running from each corner to the center. The ASUS TUF FX705 has a stylized X design that gives it the appearance of being Captain America’s replacement shield. The lid’s sleek, grey metal surface is adorned with a chrome Asus emblem. The unassuming front has a cutaway through which LED indicators can be seen, giving it a little of flair.

When the laptop is opened, a plastic deck bearing the TUF Gaming logo in the bottom right corner is visible. The middle of the deck has a horizontal brushed texture, but the edges have a vertical pattern that clashes. The FX705 makes an effort to look aggressively “gamer” with sharp contours surrounding the keyboard and close to the fan vents.

The TUF Gaming emblem and a power button with a parallelogram form are also visible on the deck. I don’t like how this laptop has so many different textures, from the overly polished plastics on the base to the honeycomb structure on the back and the mottling texture on the FRX705’s tiny bezels.

The ASUS TUF FX705 is larger and heavier than the Overpowered Gaming notebook 17+ (15.6 x 10.3 x 1 inch, 5.7 pounds), the 15.6-inch HP Omen 15 (14.2 x 10.4 x 1 inch, 5.4 pounds), and the Lenovo Legion 7000. (14.2 x 10.5 x 0.9 inches, 5.3 pounds).

Keyboard & Touchpad

The FX705’s springy keyboard was a true delight to type on. Thanks to the 1.7-millimeter travel of the RGB-illuminated keys on the FX705, I never bottomed out when tapping away at them (above our recommended minimum of 1.5 mm). I also valued the strong, substantial feedback they gave me each time I exerted the 62 grams of power necessary to activate a key. Furthermore, despite a complete num pad occupying up the right half of the deck, the keys are big and well spaced out.

The WASD keys on the Asus keyboard have transparent keycaps, making them easier to identify when pursuing foes in first-person shooter games. The RGB backlit keyboard has basic features like breathing and strobing, and you can change the colors and select other ones using the Aura Core program.

The quick and responsive 4.1 x 2.8-inch trackpad is located under the keyboard. With minimal effort, I used Windows 10 motions like pinching to zoom and three-finger swipes to switch between windows. The FX705’s touchpad has little grey arrows ticks on each edge that enhance its appearance. My only issue with the trackpad is that when I tapped on it, it made a loud banging noise as if it were missing.

Performance

Our TUF  RX705 review machine was equipped with a Core i7-8750H processor and a huge 32GB of RAM, and it breezed through every test I gave it. Even with twenty Google Chrome tabs open, four of which were playing 1080p videos (two on YouTube and also another pair broadcasting Apex Legends on Twitch), the laptop never slowed down during normal use. Astonished, I realized that the entire time I was surfing the web, Shadow of the Tomb Raider had been downloading on Steam.

The ASUS TUF FX705 laughed in the face of our benchmarks, scoring an impressive 23,179 just on Geekbench 4 test. The Core i7-8750H-powered Omen 15 (21,870), Gaming Laptop 17+ (22,633), and Legion Y7000 (22,474) all fell short of the target (20,748).

The TUF FX705’s 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (with secondary 1TB, 7,200-rpm HDD) completed our File Transfer Test at a rate of 391.5 MB/s, taking just 13 seconds to replicate 4.97GB of mixed-media files. Other laptops in the mainstream gaming category, such as the Omen 15 (256GB, PCIe NVMe M.2/2TB, 5,400-rpm HDD, 231 MBps) and the Gaming Laptop 17+ (256GB SSD, 203 MBps), fell short of that threshold (329.1 MBps). The competitors, including the FX705, were obliterated, however, by the Legion Y7000 (256 GB SSD / 1 TB 7,200 rpm HDD, 636 MBps).

The TUF Gaming FX705 struggled a little more with our video-transcoding test. A 4K movie required 10 mins and 45 seconds on the Asus laptop to be downsized to 1080p. Although it beats the standard gaming average (11:10), the Omen 15 (10:25), Gaming Laptop 17+ (8:59), and the Legion Y7000 are faster (9:24).

Graphics & Gaming

Although RTX cards are now all the rage, the GTX 1060 within the ASUS TUF FX705 still has plenty of power. I averaged a clean 58 frames per second while swinging from one tree limb to the next while playing Rise of the Tomb Raider (1920 x 1080, Highest settings). As I rummaged through the dense forest floor in search of ammunition and supplies, the RX705 didn’t lose a frame.

Despite similar budget competitors offering marginally greater gaming performance, the ASUS TUF Gaming FX705 performed admirably on our simulated gaming testing.

The FX705 maintained a frame rate of 36 on our Rise of the Tomb Raider test, above our 30-fps playability criterion. The GeForce GTX 1060 GPU-equipped Gaming Laptop 17+ (37 fps) & Legion Y7000 (37 fps) had comparable performance, but the Omen 15 (50 fps) outperformed its competitors. Each laptop outperformed the average for popular gaming (35 fps).

On our Hitman test, the ASUS TUF FX705 managed to surpass the average frame rate for mainstream gaming (66 fps), although it lagged behind the Omen 15 (88 fps), Gaming Laptop 17+ (71 fps), or the Legion Y7000 (67 fps) (70 fps).

The TUF Gaming FX705 managed to maintain our minimum suggested frame rate of 30 fps while playing Metro: Last Light, but it fell well short of the Omen 15 (58 fps), Gaming Laptop 17+ (46 fps), and the Legion Y7000 (46 fps).

The FX705 shifts to an intel Uhd Ultra HD Graphics 630 GPU to save power when you aren’t running graphics-intensive applications or demanding games.

Audio

Dual side-firing speakers on the FX705 are underwhelming. As soon as I reached the maximum capacity, the FX705 was hardly able to occupy the little lab area. I noticed a distinct absence of the bottom end when I heard Glass Animals’ “Youth.” During the climax of this experimental composition, the deep rumbling I was expecting sounded weak and splashy. To the loudspeakers’ credit, the guitar and strumming sounds produced by conventional instruments were clearly distinguished from the complicated electric noises created by a synthesizer. However, when I turned to Flora Cash’s “You’re Someone Else,” Cole Randall’s gentle voice seemed distant but clear, and when I listened at 50% level, I had to struggle to distinguish specifics in the song.

These muted speakers detracted from the flawless sound design of Shadows of the Tomb Raider. Lara Croft’s cargo trousers rubbed against the plants, and I could listen to the rustle of the leaves, but only with the volume intensity at 80% or higher. Positively, I could hear birds singing above and the whooshing of arrows as they flew through the air because high-frequency noises were airy and clear.

You may modify the sound configuration of the ASUS TUF FX705’s speakers using a DTS audio program that was included in it. A complete equalizer is included, along with a number of preset settings, some of which performed better than others. For instance, Bass Boost did little to enhance the bottom end, while 3D mode split sounds and increased volume while degrading clarity. Given that Volume Leveling seems to boost production without compromising quality, I advise leaving it on.

Connectivity

Gamers will like the Ethernet connector and HDMI input on the FX705, even though they will lament the lack of a USB Type-C port. A USB 2.0 port, two USB 3.0 ports, and a headphone jack are all located on the left side of an ASUS TUF FX705. I loved it if Asus had separated the USB Type-A ports onto the laptop’s two sides. A Kensington lock is the only item on the laptop’s right side.

Battery

On our Notebook Mag battery test, which involved continual web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits, the TUF FX705 performed admirably, lasting for 4 hours and 19 mins. The FX705 was outlasted by the Legion Y7000 (4:28) and the typical mainstream gaming laptop (4:26), but the Gaming Laptop 17+ (2:36) and Omen 15 (3:47) shut down much earlier than the Asus.

Others

Heating

Under a high workload, the ASUS FX705 maintained its coolness. The touchpad warmed up to 82 degrees Fahrenheit when we watched a 15-minute HD film on full screen. The keyboard’s bottom and center both reached 89 degrees, which is below the 95-degree comfort criteria. The middle of the keyboard reached 92 degrees. The temperature was 95 degrees at the bottom, in the left-hand corner.

After playing Shadow of a Tomb Raider on Ultra for 15 minutes, the two fans on the bottom of the Gaming FX705 performed a respectable job of preventing the laptop’s massive chassis from overheating. The bottom panel reached a maximum temperature of 94 degrees, but the touchpad barely warmed to 80 degrees. The keyboard’s bottom-right corner and the chassis’ bottom-right corner both ascended to 118 and 104 degrees, respectively. Although I would have preferred less warmth, we’ve seen considerably higher readings from similar gaming laptops.

Webcam

If you want to broadcast your gaming experiences, you’ll need to get an external webcam. When I took a selfie in our poorly lit office, the 720p camera above the FX705’s screen created a murky, blotchy image. My face was just so hazy that the camera appeared to have been smeared. Unfortunately, cleaning it with my polyester sleeves did not improve the situation.

Although the overall picture was gloomy and it seemed as though an orange filter was covering the lens, the camera was capable of capturing the bright and dark tones of blue in my clothing.

Conclusion

Anyone looking for a big, midrange gaming laptop should choose the ASUS TUF FX705. The 17.3-inch, 144-Hz display on the FX705 is vibrant and crisp, while the GTX 1060 GPU and Core i7 CPU offers top-notch all-around performance.

The FX705 has minimal drawbacks and no particularly noteworthy features. However, the FX705’s subpar speakers are a disappointment, and a better camera will certainly cost more money. But neither of those is a deal-breaker, especially when you consider how reasonably priced the FX705 is.

We suggest the Dell G7 15, a sub-$1,000 gaming notebook with outstanding overall performance and long battery life, assuming you don’t care about scaling down to a 15.6-inch display. However, it is difficult to ignore its dull display and subpar keyboard. Another terrific 17-inch laptop with amazing speed and a gorgeous display is the HP Omen 17, however, it costs a little more than the FX705 and does not include a GTX 1070 graphics card.

In conclusion, the ASUS TUF FX705 is a superb midrange gaming laptop that provides potent performance and a vibrant display at a reasonably affordable cost.