![]() ![]() The underside is coated in an Alcantara-like material, while the top of the tray is coated in a soft-touch rubber. I really like the finish on the keyboard. The integrated kickstand is another brilliant touch, allowing you to adjust the angle of the display up to 170°, supported by a pair of industrial looking and very strong hinges. One element I love is the transparent RGB backlit panel at the rear, offering a glimpse of the motherboard and circuitry inside. The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 is absolutely stunning, with some eye-catching design flourishes that elevate the visual appeal without looking gaudy. ![]() It truly is one system that can do everything. You’ve got a portable media and gaming system, a high-performance laptop, dedicated desktop gaming at home, and if you often head into the office you can keep another setup ready to go using the Thunderbolt USB-C connector. Now that the world is opening up again, this combination of powerhouse laptop/tablet hybrid and potent eGPU makes a lot of sense. When you get home, you are one (enormous) connector away from a true desktop gaming experience with zero fuss. This allows you to enjoy competent mobile gaming performance when you’re travelling, whilst leaving your XG Mobile docked at home connected to your monitor/s, keyboard and mouse. This time, we have received the ROG XG Mobile eGPU, which houses a full-power mobile RTX 3080 16GB with a TGP of 150W. It was a phenomenal portable workhorse but gaming on it was uninspiring. ![]() When I reviewed the Flow X13, we didn’t get the eGPU, so were restricted to the criminally underperforming GTX1650. The ROG Flow Z13 has another trick up its sleeve, though. In comparison with other tablets/convertible systems, there’s no contest if you’re into gaming, and it even holds up well against dedicated gaming laptops. The Flow Z13 is a very capable portable gaming system – the RTX 3050Ti only has a TGP of 40W, so you’re realistically looking at 60fps at medium settings for most AAA games, but for competitive titles like CS:GO, Halo Infinite, Fortnite and R6: Siege, you can feasibly hit the display’s 120Hz refresh rate with a bit of tweaking. Inside the Flow Z13 is a brand new 12th-gen Intel i9-12900H CPU, 16GB soldered DDR5-5200 memory (32GB can be specified at purchase, but not upgraded), a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050Ti. The version of the Flow Z13 we have in for testing is a compact juggernaut, with specs that put many desktop systems to shame. With the graphics work offloaded, all of the Z13’s cooling is focused on the CPU, which barely topped 80℃ at full chat. This has given it the best thermal performance of any gaming system I’ve tested when connected to the eGPU. It’s a remarkable piece of engineering, with all of the components housed behind the screen in the main chassis, but it still has exceptional cooling, venting hot air from the top of the notebook. Unlike the X13, the Z13 has a removable keyboard, so can be used much more comfortably as a tablet. When I first saw the Flow Z13 I assumed it was just an updated version of the Flow X13, but it’s so much more. The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 is the ultimate portable desktop replacement when combined with the ROG XG Mobile ![]()
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