Asus ROG Flow Z13

A tablet PC with true desktop replacement performance? That’s what the incredible Asus ROG Flow Z13 and its ROG XG Mobile sidekick promise.

Asus ROG Flow Z13
(Image: © Future)

Our Verdict

The Asus ROG Flow Z13 is an astonishing technical achievement, but is also undeniably flawed. Cramming an Intel Core i9-12900H 14-core CPU and RTX 3050 Ti graphics into a tablet PC is completely crazy, for both better and worse. It makes for a remarkably powerful tablet and yet the 12900H processor in particular simply can’t give its best in such a confined space. As for the ROG XG Mobile graphics dock and its Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics, it’s a similar story. As impressive as it is that the whole ensemble actually works, ergonomically it's a bit of a mess, the physical connection feels fragile and the performance isn’t on par with a good laptop with similar components, let alone a desktop. There's still real appeal here for certain very specific workflows, but it's squeezed into an uncomfortably narrow niche.

For

  • Staggering performance for a tablet PC
  • Mostly fabulous build quality
  • Stellar feature set

Against

  • Ergonomically a bit of a mess
  • ROG XG Mobile connection feels fragile
  • An expensive route to high performance

Why you can trust Creative Bloq Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Where to begin with the extraordinary new Asus ROG Flow Z13 and its ROG XG Mobile RTX 3080 sidekick graphics box? This is a tablet PC unlike any other. It’s absolutely rammed with high spec components, including no fewer than three GPUs in this configuration.

To that you can add a 14-core Intel 12th Gen CPU, 1TB SSD, 16GB of DDR5 memory, CNC milled aluminium chassis, vapour chamber cooling with liquid metal and a clip-on keyboard with RGB lighting. Yes, all in a tablet. But the really exceptional bit is that triple-graphics config. You get one integrated GPU in the Intel processor, a dedicated laptop GPU in the tablet itself and then yet another in the external ROG XG Mobile box, the latter being a beefy Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 mobile chip.

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The Verdict
7

out of 10

Asus ROG Flow Z13

The Asus ROG Flow Z13 is an astonishing technical achievement, but is also undeniably flawed. Cramming an Intel Core i9-12900H 14-core CPU and RTX 3050 Ti graphics into a tablet PC is completely crazy, for both better and worse. It makes for a remarkably powerful tablet and yet the 12900H processor in particular simply can’t give its best in such a confined space. As for the ROG XG Mobile graphics dock and its Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics, it’s a similar story. As impressive as it is that the whole ensemble actually works, ergonomically it's a bit of a mess, the physical connection feels fragile and the performance isn’t on par with a good laptop with similar components, let alone a desktop. There's still real appeal here for certain very specific workflows, but it's squeezed into an uncomfortably narrow niche.

Jeremy Laird

Jeremy has been writing about technology since the 90nm Netburst era (Google it!) and enjoys nothing more than a serious dissertation on the finer points of input lag and overshoot followed by a forensic examination of advanced lithography. Or maybe he just loves machines that go 'ping!'. He has written for a variety of publications, including TechRadar, The Independent, Digital Camera World, T3, PC Gamer, GamesRadar+. 

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