
The field of competitors for comparison is thin here, so we have to resort to real gaming laptops in on top of the predecessor and the special edition. We also recently reviewed an special edition of the Z13. This one has a different case and an RTX 4070, whereas the predecessor only had an RTX 3050 Ti. Of course, we include both models for comparison. The compact, powerful device should also appeal to content creators.

What's special is that instead of tempered and economical office components, the not-so-thin tablet utilizes real high-end gaming hardware. The Asus ROG Flow Z13 is a 13-inch tablet with a high-resolution touchscreen and a magnetically attachable keyboard case. The new CPU and GPU generations are becoming more and more efficient, and manufacturers are now attempting to cover new niches by installing powerful components in ever smaller and thus more mobile cases.
ASUS ROG FLOW Z13 PC
are currently making the concept of a small form factor gaming PC respectable.
ASUS ROG FLOW Z13 PORTABLE
The ports were inconvenient to access, and the X13's poor battery efficiency and lackluster gaming performance without the support of an external GPU hampered its appeal as a portable gaming machine.Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally and co. Of course, the X13 was far from a perfect device. The reason is simple: the Flow Z13 delivers the promise of gaming laptop power in a thin, light and versatile design. This year the company announced a successor at CES 2022, the ROG Flow Z13, and once again we honored it as the best 2-in-1 in our CES 2022 Awards. When Asus unveiled its ROG Flow X13 gaming laptop/tablet hybrid at CES 2021, we called it the best 2-in-1 laptop of the show. While we're hopeful the new Flow Z13 will be more battery-efficient than its predecessor, we won't be able to say for sure until we get one in for testing. That's not terrible, but it's not ideal either, and it curtailed the Flow's viability as a mobile gaming device. In our review of last year's Flow X13 we criticized its 62WHr battery for lasting less than two hours (1:19, according to our lab testing) when playing demanding 3D video games. Asus ROG Flow Z13 battery lifeĪsus hasn't made any official claims yet about how long the Flow Z13's 56WHr battery will last when gaming on battery, but we don't have high hopes. It also appears as though Asus has moved the power button on the edge of the laptop further away from the ports than it was on the X13, which would be great since it was too easy to accidentally hit the power button while plugging accessories into the X13's ports.

That's more ports than were available on last year's X13, which is nice to see. It sports a USB-A port, 2 USB-C ports (one with support for Thunderbolt 4), a headphone/mic jack, a microSD card reader and a proprietary port for plugging in the external ROG XG Mobile GPU enclosure. The Asus ROG Flow Z13 looks to offer a pretty decent port array for a thin-and-light gaming laptop/tablet.

ASUS ROG FLOW Z13 UPGRADE
That's a decent upgrade over the AMD Ryzen 9 5000-series CPU powering the Asus ROG Flow X13 we reviewed last year, and we're excited to get a new Flow Z13 in for testing so we can see how much of a difference this CPU upgrade makes while gaming. However, unlike last year's model, the ROG Flow Z13 will be configurable with the latest Intel 12th Gen CPUs, up to a Core i9-12900H.
