Gaming laptop rarely shy away from introducing new and potentially improved features. These range from ever-evolving display technology to second monitors and new external graphics card unit (eGPU) solutions. Asus ROG’s gaming sub-brand has dived into all of these categories, but it’s the latter that’s the focus here. It’s an interesting idea that offers portability with more spending options to upgrade your slim device to the level of a full-fledged gaming laptop.
ROG XG Mobile eGPU joins Asus ROG Flow X13 for the first time — an ultra-thin clamshell laptop with the option to power up gaming with an eGPU unit. ROG’s new kit takes this performance-boosting idea further, with the Flow Z13 being the rare complete 2-in-1 gaming tablet.
Asus has made an effort at making a good Microsoft Surface Pro-like device with the VivoBook 13 Slate OLED, a machine that looks a lot like this one. However, in the end it was too poor and too expensive to use Microsoft’s 2-in-1 formula. The Z13 doesn’t make the same mistakes. As a gaming device, the level of portability achieved by being a tablet enhances this unique proposition.
Promising
Photo: Asus
The tablet and keyboard combo weighs in at 2.6 lbs (1.2 kg), which isn’t as light as many slim laptops, but it’s impressive given the specs under the hood. It is also a device that invites you to remove the detachable keyboard (included in the price, unlike with Face Pro), allowing you to easily position it when you’re playing on a separate gaming keyboard or controller. This is in contrast to many other connectionless 2-in-1s that don’t typically consider themselves standalone tablets. It feels like a real mobile gaming PC, which cherry picks out the best of a monstrously powerful laptop from Valve. Steam floor.
However, the ROG Flow Z13 doesn’t quite live up to its interesting form factor, and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics card is the culprit. For a device so thin and relatively light, it’s hard to expect more horsepower than what’s on offer from the aforementioned GPU, however, it limits the potential and overall appeal of the Z13.
But despite the power provided by the RTX 3050 Ti, coupled with the Intel Core i9-12900H chip, it’s far from superior if you’re a lover of games that focus on framerate rather than finesse. Graphics. For titles in the second category, like Borderlands 3 and Ghost Recon: Breakpointyou’ll get 50 to 80 fps performance with the ‘Low’ setting on this machine’s 1080p 120 Hz display.
The Flow Z13 is also available in models with lower power graphics and processors, as well as the option for a higher resolution UHD+ display, but with a lower 60 Hz refresh rate. Those results aren’t exactly great, but for such a thin device and the option to drop down to 720p for some sub-frames, they’re not all bad either.
Photo: Asus
