When it comes to innovative mobile gaming, Asus takes the cake with past and present machines like the ROG Mothership, ROG Zephyrus Duo, and the most ROG Flow X16. And now, Asus is taking mobile gaming to a whole new level with the ROG Flow Z13.
The Asus ROG Flow Z13 debuted earlier this year as the most powerful Windows gaming tablet. The ROG Flow Z13 is a clever take on a 2-in-1 gaming laptop. To sweeten the deal, Asus has equipped this tablet with the latest 12th Gen Intel processor and Nvidia RTX 30-series graphics. To match its top-tier specs, the ROG Flow Z13 boasts a starting price of Rs 1,29,990 in India, although our mode costs Rs 1,79,990. But how does this ultra-portable form factor bode for gaming and is it worth paying the premium?
Design and Build
The ROG Flow Z13 does take some of its design ques from the Surface Pro. Essentially, the Z Flow 13 is a chunky and heavy tablet with a kickstand, the hinge of which is quite sturdy. The gamer aesthetic is evident when you flip the tablet around, it also has a small window that gives you a sneak peek at the tablet’s internals. The window also features RGB accent lighting because you can’t have an ROG machine without RGB lighting. The build quality of the Flow Z13 is solid and feels premium thanks to the tablet’s aluminum chassis.
Despite the ‘gaming tablet’ branding, the ROG Flow Z13 is very-much intended to be used as both a laptop and tablet as it does come with a detachable keyboard, which can be magnetically attached to the bottom of the device. However, it weighs 1.2 kg and is 12mm thick, which is quite heavy by tablet standards but considerably light by laptop standards. While the kickstand and detachable keyboard do sit well on a table, they are not meant to be used on the lap, with fatigue setting in after just two hours of use over my lap, which is why the Flow Z13 is justifiably referred to as a ‘gaming tablet’.
Speaking of the keyboard, it is made of a faux-leather material that has a premium look and is quite soft and comfortable. The keyboard has chiclet style keys with a travel distance of 1.7mm. The detachable keyboard features single-zone RGB backlighting and supports the Aura Sync software. The keyboard is generally comfortable for typing but the keys feel a bit too cramped while gaming. I also didn’t feel that the keyboard was ideal for typing over a pro-longed period.
The touchpad on the keyboard is also quite small and does take some time getting used too. But the touchpad is still smooth and responsive and works well for navigation. Overall, the addition of a detachable keyboard is a solid move by Asus, but that keyboard isn’t quite made for gaming. I would have attached a gaming keyboard to the Z13, but it doesn’t have enough of ports.
The ROG Flow Z13 has a USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 4 on the left and a combo audio jack and USB Type-A port on the left. It is worth noting that the Type-C port is also used for charging the device, so Asus hasn’t given us a lot to work with, once again revealing the weakness of a Window’s gaming tablet. On the flip side, Asus has added a microSD card slot underneath the kickstand. The largest port on the left of the laptop is Asus’ proprietary XG mobile port.
The function of this port is to connect one of Asus’ ROG XG Mobile e-GPU, which starts from Rs 54,990 for the Nvidia RTX 3070 laptop GPU. We didn’t have the unit this time out but did check it out while reviewing the Asus ROG Flow X13 (Review). If you do happen to get Asus’ external laptop GPU, you’ll be pleased to know that it comes with a whole host of ports, even more so than enthusiast gaming laptops. Apart from all the ports, the Flow Z13 also has a volume rocker on the right along with a power button. Asus also include a carry bag for the Flow Z13 and a Stylus in the box.
Display & Audio
The Asus ROG Flow Z13 sports a 13.4-inch IPS LCD touch display that is offered in WUXGA (1920 x 1200 pixels) or WQUXGA (3840 x 2400 pixels) resolutions, our model came in the former. There’s no OLED option, although that would have been a nice touch. The good part of the WUXGA panel is that is offers a 120Hz refresh rate. The panel is Pantone Validated out of the box and has 100 percent sRGB coverage. There’s a Mux Switch built into the software to switch to Nvidia Optimus for better power efficiency. The screen has a comfortable 16:10 aspect ratio and Dolby Vision HDR support, which makes it excellent for viewing content.
It also offers up to 500 nits of brightness, which is above and beyond your average gaming laptop. The panel supports both Adaptive Sync and boasts a 30ms response time. Additionally, the bezels are very narrow on either side, ensuring maximum screen real estate. For audio, the Flow Z13 opts for Dual Smart Amp speakers with Hi-Res Audio and Dolby Atmos. The stereo speakers here aren’t as loud as some of the gaming laptops we’ve used in the past but produce crisp and clear audio even under high volumes. They also work quite well for taking video calls in the absence of headphones. Overall, the display on the Flow Z13 is excellent, while the stereo speaker setup is well-above the average.
Performance
For performance, Asus is holding nothing back! Our model of the ROG Flow Z13 was equipped with the latest 12th Gen Intel processing hardware, up to a Core i9-12900H. The CPU is paired with an Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti laptop GPU. It also had 16GB of DDR5 RAM with dual-channel memory support and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD. The ROG Flow Z13 also comes with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. Even without the XG Mobile e-GPU, the Flow Z13 is backed by some powerful hardware. But how does it function in this ultra-portable form factor; let’s find out.
First let’s look at some benchmarks but before we get started, it is worth noting that all tests were done in Discrete GPU mode. The ROG Flow Z13 managed a single-core score of 1809 points and a multi-core score 12010 points. In Cinebench R23, we saw the notebook score a single-core score of 1821 points and 12122 points in the multi-core test. When switching to the 10-minute stress test in Cinebench R23, the single-core performance remained more or less the same, although multi-core results dropped to 9401 points. of We did test a few titles on the ROG Flow Z13, all of which ran at an average of 60fps or higher.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War saw an average of 70fps on Medium Settings, while Apex Legends also saw similar numbers on High Settings. Battlefield V averaged 60fps on average with Graphics set to Medium. Overwatch managed 85fps on average on High Settings. Both Call of Duty and Battlefield weren’t tested with raytracing and all four titles were tested in multiplayer mode.The two single-player titles tested were Rise of the Tomb Raider and Horizon Zero Dawn, both of which averaged 65fps on Medium Settings.
All the games were tested in 1080p resolution and in the laptop’s Turbo mode with the ‘Ultimate GPU’ option toggled in the Armoury Crate software. CPU temperatures ranged between 70 and 80 degrees Celsius while gaming, while GPU temperatures remained 70 degrees Celsius. Storing the components in the back of the screen gives the Flow Z13 plenty of room to breathe when you are using the detachable keyboard. As opposed to tradition gaming laptops that use heat pipes to cool both the CPU and GPU individually, the Z13 has one big vapour chamber to cool off both components.
The downside to this is two components are being cooled together as opposed to individually. However, this works on the Flow Z13’s favour when you attach Asus’ XG Mobile e-GPU as then one big vapour chamber is only cooling the CPU, which theoretically result in much better CPU performance, despite the thin and light form factor. The Asus ROG Flow Z13 is reliable enough for light gaming and editing, although this machine will require the XG Mobile e-GPU to reach its peak potential.
Battery Life
The downside of packing heavy-duty specifications in a small chassis is battery life. The 56Whr battery on the Flow Z13 barely gave us four hours of screen-on time while working. While running Raid: Shadow Legends and MS Word together, we managed to squeeze out little under 90 minutes. For normal typing and browsing work, you should get anywhere between four to five hours depending on the apps you run. On the flip side, the USB-C Power Delivery can be used for other devices as well. If I were to sum up battery life in one word, it would be ‘mediocre’.
Cameras
The ROG Flow Z13 does feature two cameras, one on the front and another on the back. The 8 MP camera on the back supports 1080p video recording at 30fps, while the front camera is limited to 720p video capture. I found the cameras quite mediocre and in the absence of a light source produced a lot of noise. There’s no IR sensor so no Windows Hello face unlock, while the lacks a privacy shutter was disappointing. I think a decent front camera with 1080p video support would serve the Flow Z13 quite well.
Verdict
First off, let’s start by saying that the Asus ROG Flow Z13 is one innovative laptop or gaming tablet, whatever you want to call it, with tons of potential. This is just the first iteration of the device and Asus has got most of the fundamentals right. But is it worth the premium price? I have to say, “Yes and No”. No, because the Z13 is highly uncomfortable to use on the lap, it has poor battery life, underwhelming cameras, and not the most comfortable keyboard for long gaming or work sessions.
And don’t forget the premium price tag for an RTX 3050 or RTX 3050 Ti. Yes, because it is a cool and innovative device with a good display, solid build, and reliable cooling. But that’s not all! When paired with a controller, the gaming experience is much more enjoyable than the traditional gaming notebook. It’s portable size also makes it easy to lug around, instead of a chunky 3kg gaming laptop.
However, pairing the ROG Flow Z13 with a tablet makes all the difference by giving get the utility of a tablet, the portability of an ultrabook, and the power of an enthusiast gaming laptop. If you are looking for the best bang for your buck, you aren’t going to find it with the Flow Z13 but that seems to be the price of innovation. That being said, the Asus ROG Flow Z13 has ‘standout’ written all over it.
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