I love a skillful unicorn , and I ’m not talking about the mythical beast with a pointy horn . I ’m talking about engineering that feel like it should n’t exist or deliver the goods — but still does anyway . The Asus ROG Flow Z13 is one such unicorn , and that ’s because it block a blisteringly fast central processor and a surprisingly speedy GPU into an audacious detachable tab .
Are you face for aWindows play tablet ? in all likelihood not . But then again , perchance you never thought about it . I had n’t , at least not since the originalROG Flow Z13was premise in 2022 . Now that I ’ve reviewed the update and even good model ( still current in early 2024 ) , I ’m totally sell .
Specs and configurations
Asus offers two versions of the ROG Flow Z13 , both of which admit a detachable keyboard . The entry - grade contour begin at $ 1,750 with an Intel Core i9 - 13900H , 16 GB of RAM , a 1 TB SSD , an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU , and a 13.4 - in QHD+ IPS exhibit . The more powerful model is $ 1,880 with an RTX 4060 . you could sure as shooting buy a gaming laptop for considerably less with an RTX 4060 , so you ’re paying additional for this form factor .
you could get aMicrosoft Surface Pro 9for quite a number less if you do n’t mind a much slower CPU , less storage , and integrated graphics . With a faster processor ( but not as tight ) and a 1 TB SSD , you ’ll spend $ 2,200 for Microsoft ’s detachable tablet before add together another $ 120 for a keyboard . So , the ROG Flow Z13 is n’t excessively expensive dedicate the business leader it pack inside .
Design
Yes , the ROG Flow Z13 really is a tablet . It ’s thicker than the industry standard Surface Pro 9 at 0.56 inches at its thickest versus 0.37 inches . And the Asus is expectant , at 2.6 pounds for just the tablet versus 1.94 pounds . Thanks to its slightly larger display , it ’s a scrap wider than the Surface . It also has a 16:10 aspect ratio that ’s less tablet - favorable than the Surface ’s 3:2 .
But a big pill is okay , because physic imposes certain limits . If the ROG Flow Z13 were any slimmer or lighter , it would no longer be such a witching beast . And even when I ’ve used Microsoft ’s Surface Pro tablet , I ’ve always propped them up on something . I ca n’t remember using a Windows lozenge alone in my hands , and I would n’t employ the ROG Flow Z13 that agency .
The Asus is certainly built just as well as the Surface too . There ’s no flexing or deflect anywhere . And the somerset - out kickstand is similar in function ( but not in form ; more on that in a second ) to Microsoft ’s and works just as well .
I would compare the ROG Flow Z13 to more Windows detachable pad of paper , but not many manufacturers are still making them . And there ’s no point in comparing it to theApple iPad Pro , which is a well - built , thin , and faint tablet , but simultaneously a completely different thing .
Now , on to the good stuff . Somehow , Asus incorporated enough extra into the ROG Flow Z13 to make it stand out uniquely as agamingtablet . From the front , it ’s the typical black slate with modest video display bezels on the position and more or less chunky bezel on the top and bottom . But turn it around , and there ’s some ROG styling , with holes drill in that double as discharge .
The kickstand has some graphics and , most notably , a cutout that reveals an RGB - light window into some internal components on the back . It ’s just enough to make for a distinct gaming aesthetic , but it ’s notso muchthat you could n’t carry it into a conference room . And the RGB light can be turned off if you want to go full stealth style .
Like most pad of paper , the ROG Flow Z13 is seal up fast . The only upgradeable part is the SSD , which is easily accessible via a ready to hand masking on the back . The SSD is in the smaller M.2 2230 formatting , which enable double the storage to 2 TB . The Surface Pro 9 also allow for for switch out the SSD .
Keyboard and connectivity
The keyboard is very near and a lot like other ROG keyboard . individual - zone RGB backlighting works well and does n’t leak , and the key are deep and snappy . The keycaps are large enough and the layout is big enough to avoid flavour cramped . It ’s at least as good as Microsoft ’s Type Cover and probably better for gamers . The keyboard bind magnetically via a pogo pin and can be propped up at an slant .
When it is , there ’s some give that makes mashing the keys a slightly bouncy experience . The small mechanically skillful touchpad is fine , and the display is touch- and pen - enabled . Asus does n’t let in the pen , which is weird at these price , but it ’s around a $ 50 purchase for those who need to write and imbibe on the display .
Connectivity is very good for a detachable pad of paper . There are three USB - C port , one that is cover inside a covert that also reveals an XG Mobile user interface ( more on that below ) and one that supports Thunderbolt 4 . There ’s also a legacy USB - A port , a 3.5 mm audio adapter , and a microSD add-in reader . The Surface Pro 9 has one more Thunderbolt 4 port and is appoint via its Surface Connect porthole , but it lack a earphone jack and an Coyote State card lector . I like the ROG Flow Z13 ’s connectivity a lot more . Wireless is good enough .
Asus include a 5MP front - confront webcam that exceeds the 1080p standard and volunteer a squeamish , clear image for videoconferencing . There ’s also a 13MP rear - facing camera and an infrared television camera on front for Windows 11 facial recognition . It works chop-chop and is a honorable choice for a tablet , but I still would have like to see a fingerprint reviewer .
Thermals
Yes , that ’s right . Asus put a 45 - watt Intel Core i9 - 13900H into the ROG Flow Z13 . That ’s a 14 - core ( six Performance and eight Efficient ) , 20 - yarn monster move at up to 5.4GHz . It ’s not the up-to-the-minute and peachy Meteor Lake chipset , but it ’s still very fast and the only C.P.U. that Asus offers in the 2 - in-1 .
It also packs in an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 , a midrange GPU many times faster than the integrated art in every other Windows tab . The RTX 4050 is an option too , and both GPUs receive 65 watts of power ( out of a utmost of 115 Watt with the RTX 4060 ) . For around $ 100 , there ’s no reason not to choose the much faster RTX 4060 . In theory , it should be a major upgrade over theRTX 3050 Ti include in the original framework .
You may be entice to think there ’s no way that combination could perform well in such a flimsy material body . But you ’d be wrong . Asus expend vapor cooling , swimming metal , and fans that bucket along up quite a spot when necessary . The back of the pad of paper get a bit toasty at times — not hot enough to do damage . While doing day-to-day tasks like web browsing , email , and media using up , the organisation stays nerveless and subdued .
One of the other major benefits of this design is the way it keeps heat off from your hand . Regardless of how hot the back of the tablet gets , your palms and hands continue cool , which ca n’t be said of almost any other clamshell gaming laptop computer .
It all works because of the strong-growing tuning that you could dial in for a range of operating modes : cooler and quiet ; moderately tight , warm , and kind of loud ; and extremely fast , almost hot , and very loud ( for a lozenge ) . The Asus Armoury Crate utility manipulate things , letting you pick out your performance mode and giving you a gross ton of insight into how the car is work .
There ’s remarkably minuscule thermal throttling even in intensive undertaking , with CPU temperature remaining in the 70 degrees to 80 grade Celsius range for most cognitive process . It will lace at up to 95 degrees Celsius when gaming , but overall , the cool system work well .
The let in ROG software , Armoury Crate , offers a short ton of customization , and I test three modes out of a handful of selection . The standard Windows way sets the Windows big businessman setting to Balanced and adjusts the showing smartness ( all modes do ) . public presentation mode switches the Windows setting to Best Performance and adjusts power above and beyond what Windows does . Turbo mode does the same and even more .
you may also create a manual conformation , and the GPU can be flip between Eco , Standard , and Ultimate modes . I formally ran our benchmarks in Windows , Performance , and Turbo modes . I also poked around in the GPU and usage options a little , and nothing I try made much of a difference — at least not in our benchmark suite . Your mileage may dissent .
What I discovered is that Windows and Performance modes were about the same in most mental test , and Performance mode was even slower on social function . If it were my laptop , I ’d die hard it in Windows fashion except when I needed to drive thing , and then I ’d swop to Turbo — which make a immense dispute . As I said above , I did n’t compass much into the manual preferences , but if you need to play around with them , they ’re there . It ’s a tinkerer ’s dream car .
One affair I get word when testing the ROG Flow Z13 is that youmustuse the included mogul adapter . It ’s a 130 - watt USB - C adapter , which I thought would be more or less tantamount to the one Dell ship with theXPS 16 . So , out of wash room , I used the Dell adapter to power the Asus . That was a fault . The ROG Z13 wants to use its own adapter , or it wo n’t switch into Turbo mode — and performance across the plug-in is dreaded . I do n’t sleep with what additional circuitry Asus is using , but it weigh . Fortunately , the power transcriber is pretty small .
Performance
OK , now that I ’ve set the stage , how did the ROG Flow Z13 perform ? Well , let ’s put it this way : if this were a big laptop , its performance would be telling . As a ( relatively ) smaller and light tablet , it ’s prominent .
While the ROG Flow Z13 is clearly intended as agaming laptop computer , I ’m going to start by evaluating its performance as a standard tablet and a highly portable Divine ’s laptop . Unlike every other Windows pill , it can do quite well in both function .
To begin with , I mean it ’s fairly safe to say that the ROG Flow Z13 is the most hefty creator ’s workstation usable in such a diminutive chassis . If you let in the detachable keyboard , then maybe you could say it ’s only as portable as some 14 - column inch laptops , but most wo n’t be nearly as fast . intrust me . And productiveness users will find it more than fast enough . A draw more .
To make for an actionable comparison , I included some much larger laptops in the chemical group . I also included the Surface Pro 9 ’s results , which are more modified because we did n’t vex running some of our more intensive bench mark on Microsoft ’s relatively underpowered tablet .
Even compared to larger motorcar with faster GPUs , the ROG Flow Z13 is very fast . Maybe most impressive is its performance in the PugetBench Premiere Pro benchmark , which tests how tight a laptop can perform demand video - redaction labor . That benchmark uses the GPU to belt along up some tasks , and the ROG Flow Z13 did super well . It ’s 50 % faster than theDell XPS 14with an RTX 4050 , and it ’s almost as fast as the XPS 16 andAlienware M16 R2with an RTX 4070 . The ROG Flow Z13 is slightly faster than theHP Omen exceed 14with the RTX 4060 .
The Asus is also very debauched in central processor - intensive project . TheApple MacBook Pro 14is faster , but it ’s also a heap more expensive and it wo n’t be virtually the same kind of gambling laptop . The MacBook is much quicker in PugetBench thanks to various encoding and decipher optimizations in Apple ’s M3 Max chipset .
And that ’s not all . Asus makes the XG Mobile international GPU enclosure that can put up up to an RTX 4090 . That means that when stationary , the ROG Flow Z13 will rival machines like theAsus ROG Strix 18 . It wo n’t be quite as fast , but come on , it ’s a tablet !
Gaming
By now , you wo n’t be surprised to hear that when it comes to gaming performance , the Flow Z13 again impressment .
To begin with , the showing hunt down at up to 165Hz , meaning it will acquire rip - barren figure rates across the board . It also underpin Nvidia ’s GSync applied science for adaptive sync that can eliminate tearing entirely . As a service line , I lead the 3DMark Time Spy test and the ROG Flow Z13 hit 9,273 . That ’s almost as fast as the XPS 16 ’s RTX 4070 that hit 9,352 , and it ’s a lot faster than the HP Omen top 14 ’s RTX 4060 at 7,958 .
I ran our gambling benchmarks in all three performance modes , but Turbo mode is the most important . To start with , the ROG Flow Z13 did n’t get along withCivilization VI , refusing to run in anything other than 1600p . It negociate 88 frame per second ( FPS ) with ultra computer graphic , which is n’t an telling performance . Other RTX 4060 laptops are close to 120 fps in this title of respect .
Switching toAssassin ’s Creed Valhalla , the ROG Flow Z13 was faster . It run into 98 Federal Protective Service at 1600p and ultra high nontextual matter , which is faster than theAsus ROG Strix G17with an RTX 4060 at 73 Federal Protective Service . The XPS 16 with its RTX 4070 was slightly faster at 104 fps .
InCyberpunk 2077 , the ROG Flow Z13 hit 45 fps at 1440p and ultra art , with FSR 2.1 at Quality . The Alienware M16 R2 with an RTX 4070 high school was faster at 55 fps . The XPS 16 was also more or less faster at 50 fps . After a few tweak in this game , such as change by reversal FSR 2.1 to performance , the ROG Flow Z13 went up to 65 fps . The HP Omen exceed 14 with the RTX 4060 hardly cracked 30 fps .
Then I ranRed Dead Redemptionand the ROG Flow Z13 managed 62 Federal Protective Service at 1440p and ultra nontextual matter . The Alienware M16 R2 remove 69 Federal Protective Service and the XPS 16 was at 66 Federal Protective Service . At 1600p and extremist graphics , the HP Omen Transcend 14 was just over 40 Federal Protective Service , while the Asus arrive at almost 60 fps .
The theme here is that the ROG Flow Z13 is capable of 60 Federal Protective Service or better in a stack of titles at 1440p . Switch to 1080p and you ’ll hit closer to 100 fps . That ’s singular for such a portable machine . And the half-baked thing is , you may tote up the XG Mobile for really fast gambling when you ’re at your desk . Attach that to an external exhibit and you could run at 4K+ and maintain gamy frame rate . Insanity .
Display
Asus use a very dear 13.4 - inch 16:10 IPS display run at 2560 x 1600 , which is plenty penetrating . It ’s promising and coloured out of the box , and make believe for an gratifying gaming experience and a buttery smooth Windows 11 at up to 165Hz .
According to my colorimeter , Asus chose a very good display for creators , everything view . To begin with , the panel was very bright at 482 nits , and contrast was good for IPS at 1,040:1 . colour were wide at 100 % of sRGB , 88 % of AdobeRGB ( most information processing panels are around 75 % ) , and 100 % of DCI - P3 , with excellent truth at a DeltaE of 0.83 ( less than 1.0 is indistinguishable to the human eye ) . The ROG Flow Z13 ’s display is brighter and more coloured than the Surface Pro 9 ’s , by a fair margin .
That ’s upright enough for creator and very good for productivity users . Media consumers will also treasure the Dolby Vision high dynamic compass ( HDR ) support , which offer a nice Netflix experience with enough light to pull out details in non-white scene .
Audio is cater by two side - firing speakers , and it ’s OK . Use headphones .
Battery life
I wo n’t spend a circle of time on stamp battery life . The ROG Flow Z13 has a 56 W - hour battery , really fast components , and a high - resolution IPS exhibit . It was a little arduous to absolutely match our common stamp battery life summons because Asus has work up so many things into Armoury Crate . I had to hollow through several options to strain to agree up with other laptops .
So , the 3.5 hours of web browsing and 6.5 hours of looping our test video is probably close enough . Maybe you could get respectable battery lifetime by adjusting something I missed , but I ’d rather err on the side of caution . The bottom line is that you ’re very unlikely to make it to tiffin on battery even with undemanding tasks . It ’s a dependable thing that the power transcriber is n’t very large .
Considering the ROG Flow Z13 strictly as a portable equipment , that limited barrage fire sprightliness is dissatisfactory . As a gaming laptop computer , though , it ’s unsurprising . Most gamers and creators will want to plug away it in , because Turbo manner is only available when connected to ability — and that ’s the way they ’ll want to use . If someone wants a tablet that gets groovy shelling liveliness , this is n’t it .
More than just a gimmick
So , is the ROG Flow Z13 deserving buy ? The brusque response is , absolutely ! If you ’re a Almighty or a gamer who desire a extremely portable simple machine that can easily be carry around and can work in a variety of spaces , then it ’s an excellent pick . It may even be unparalleled .
Sure , it might not be quite as ripe on your lap given the detachable pill format , but it ’s in force enough . When place on a desktop , you would n’t detect the difference between it and a standard grapple . And you wo n’t determine a 14 - inch or smaller laptop that ’s faster unless you fling on a bona fide play machine — and that wo n’t be as portable . cast out in the XG Mobile and no car is going to be much flying . The ROG Flow Z13 truly brook alone .
