The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 is not a tablet/convertible that claims to be for gamers. Inside is a tablet with a dedicated graphics card, in this case, an RTX 3050 Ti. But we can also enhance more with a complete Nvidia RTX 3080 in external format.
A muscular tablet with a surprise inside
When I tell you that the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 is a gaming tablet, I am not exaggerating or buying anything from any brand. Its format is that of this product, although since it comes with a keyboard that we can easily place and remove, convertible, we also accept it as a pet.
With a removable keyboard, the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 can be defined as a tablet or as a convertible
With the interior that we will see later and a screen diagonal of 13.4 inches, do not expect this ASUS ROG Flow Z13 to be a tablet model that you can use to consume content comfortably lying on the sofa holding it in one hand. That’s not what it was designed for.
Nor is it a tablet model that we can associate with the idea of a screen with which to play freely because it is a somewhat heavy device for that functionality (a little more than 1 kg).
Here we are instead before another twist around the gaming laptop to expand the ecosystem of something that a few years ago had a somewhat defined format and design.
One thing cannot be denied about the ASUS ROG Flow Z13: it is very well built, and there is nothing like it on the market.
The construction of the ASUS gaming convertible is impeccable. The feeling of robustness is fantastic. It has a design with straight edges and slightly softened corners.
Far from leaving a completely flat or classic design, ASUS gives the ROG Flow Z13 a vast personality with a gaming touch here (strong air vents on the upper frame) and exclusivity there, in this case in the form of a rear with more air vents and a small red tab (with ROG logo) that opens the integrated stand of this tablet.
Tremendous hinges articulate this folding support beyond 160 degrees in terms of resistance, allowing it, from about 45 degrees, to hold the heavy tablet at any inclination safely and reliably.
At first, it looks like a screen to take advantage of the dedicated internal graphics; remember that it is an RTX 3050 Ti.
The screen of the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 offers high brightness, around 500 nits, 1500:1 contrast, 8-bit color depth, and 100% coverage of the sRGB space. It also has factory calibration certified by Pantone.
And indeed, the screen display for all consumer market purposes is correct, but it is not a specific panel for creatives or designers.
The behavior of the panel can be managed from the Armory Crate software, where we find a specific space to calibrate the board ourselves with the help of the X-Rite i1 Display Pro, as well as a section called GameVisual to choose between different display modes (8 different, some of them specific for gamers), as well as adjust the color temperature.
game visual
A convertible that aspires to everything could not leave aside the aspect of sound. Here we do not have four high-quality speakers as we have seen in many high-end tablets on the market, but rather something similar to what the laptop segment can offer us.
The main speakers of this ASUS ROG Flow Z13 are located at the bottom of both side frames. There are two, and it offers a good balance between power and audio quality without distortion, although there are no miracles at the bass level.
They also have Dolby Atmos, thus configuring aspects of the sound and obtaining a particular sensation of surround sound.
Dolby
The only drawback is that we must be careful when holding the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 with both hands, and in landscape mode, we do not cover the speakers because the sound is significantly reduced.
As a tablet, convertible, or laptop, the webcam does not miss its appointment in this ROD Flow Z13. We have a webcam with 720p quality, and we already said that it is not compatible with Windows Hello (a real shame) and that it offers us a satisfactory quality, here again inheriting the worst of laptops when it could have chosen to provide a bit of the world of the tablets. Too bad also because AI’s level of microphones and noise cancellation by this ASUS is well equipped.
From fair to outstanding with a single connector
The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 is available with a single hardware configuration featuring the Intel Core i9-12900H (14 cores and 2 4 MB of cache), the Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti graphics card (4 GB GDDR6 and 40W), 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM (soldered to the plate) and a 1 TB NVMe M.2 SSD. It is an excellent technical sheet, although at first, it seems unbalanced due to the processor’s ambition and the GPU’s limitation.
However, we can choose to buy three different models, which differ in the accessories and additions they include. The model that we have analyzed is the most complete, including the ASUS ROG XG Mobile eGPU (GC31S with Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080).
This external GPU comes in its corresponding case, in the same black tone as the ASUS convertible, and, in addition to including the RTX as mentioned above 3080, multiplies the connectivity possibilities of the equipment.
But let’s first start assessing the performance of the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 with the internal stock configuration. For its user profile, we will see that it offers everything it promises and beyond the format. There is not much difference in the performance of a laptop with a similar technical sheet except in the graphic section.
