ASUS - ROG Flow Z13 13.4" 2.5K 180Hz Touch-Screen Gaming Laptop - Copilot+ PC - AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 - 64GB RAM - 1TB SSD - Off Black - Open Box - Fair

Hello there, it’s Marcniel, here to give some insights on the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 Touch-Screen Gaming Laptop. After four weeks of use, the ROG Flow Z13 has truly exceeded my expectations. Its unique form factor as a 13.4-inch tablet-style laptop with a detachable keyboard is not only functional but also incredibly fun to use. The build quality is superb, and while it might be slightly heavier than a Microsoft Surface, it remains portable enough to be my go-to device for work and play when traveling. The laptop boasts an impressive 64GB of LPDDR5X RAM at 8000 MHz, which is more than enough to handle multitasking and ensure that your applications run seamlessly. Coupled with a 1TB SSD, you’ll enjoy lightning-fast boot times and quick access to your files and games. The storage capacity is ample enough, but for those who need even more space, the MicroSD slot offers a convenient solution for additional storage. The startup experience on the ROG Flow Z13 is nothing short of spectacular. The flashy logo and sound effects make you feel like you’re stepping into a Cyberpunk game, setting the tone for an exciting user experience. Setting up the device is straightforward, typical of any Windows-based computer, and I appreciate the flexibility to adjust the Video Memory allocation to suit my needs. Currently, I’ve allocated 16GB of memory from the 64GB RAM, and I highly recommend opting for the 64GB version over the 32GB for just $100 more. It’s a worthwhile investment for enhanced performance. When it comes to device warranties, ASUS offers the standard 12-month manufacturer’s warranty. However, the 64GB version is exclusively available from two retailers, as per ASUS’s website. One of these retailers is Best Buy. If you purchase the device from Best Buy, you have the option to sign up for their Best Buy Protection. This extended coverage extends the warranty to up to 24 months, in addition to the default 12-month manufacturer’s warranty. It’s essential to note that the ASUS Premium Care extended warranty package does not apply to units purchased from Best Buy, as stated in the ASUS Premium Care Terms and Conditions. Therefore, if you prefer an extended warranty, you might want to consider opting for the Best Buy Protection instead. The 13.4-inch IPS Touch Screen panel with a 180Hz refresh rate is a standout feature. While I rarely use the touchscreen, having it available is a nice touch, especially for those who prefer touch input. However, I do wish ASUS had opted for an OLED or Mini-LED panel to enhance the visual experience further. Battery life is a crucial factor for portable devices, and the ROG Flow Z13 delivers with a 70-watt-hour capacity. It’s sufficient for travel, and I recommend turning off the RGB lighting to conserve battery when on the go. Gaming on battery will drain it faster, but for casual use, it’s quite impressive. The 200-watt charger, while powerful, could benefit from being USB Type-C and more compact to reduce bag weight. The left side of the device offers two USB Type-C ports that support DisplayPort and Power Delivery, enabling data transfer speeds up to 40 gigabits per second, along with an HDMI port. On the right side, you’ll find a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port and a 3.5mm audio jack. This diverse range of ports ensures seamless connectivity for all your peripherals. The front-facing speakers deliver decent sound quality. It features a 5-megapixel infrared camera and built-in 3-microphone arrays, making it suitable for Windows Hello login and video calls. The 13-megapixel rear camera is a nice addition, although I personally don’t use it. The chiclet-style keyboard features 1-zone RGB backlighting, providing an average typing experience. However, I’ve noticed that my oily fingers tend to leave smudges on the keys, necessitating regular cleaning. In conclusion, the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 is an exceptional portable gaming laptop that combines power, versatility, and a unique design. Its impressive specifications, coupled with its sleek form factor, make it an excellent choice for those seeking a device that can handle both work and gaming with ease. While the price tag might be a consideration, the performance and features are reasonable for the investment. If portability and casual gaming are your priorities, the ROG Flow Z13 is definitely worth a look. https://youtu.be/SXII96LBtOU

Impressive build quality and gaming performance. I appreciate the amount of RAM and ability to quickly and easily upgrade the M.2 SSD. I love the flexibility of this being a laptop and then being a tablet.

I absolutely adore this thing, and couldn’t recommend it enough to anyone looking for a powerful, portable, and creative-friendly machine. It’s also great for gaming on the go. On battery, this thing performs better than essentially all laptops on the market at this point. Meaning, you can get great performance with great battery life (a combo people don’t expect from laptops). Pros: - Performance/Watt is absolutely insane on this thing! On battery, at all power levels, you can out perform every laptop on the market while also achieving a longer battery life. For example, you can lower your TDP to 15watts and still game at Low-Medium settings w/ 60 FPS and ~4.6 hours of battery life (70WH battery / 15 w/h = 4.6 hours of use). - Portability. This thing is tiny, and it packs a punch. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?! Lol. - Microsoft Pen Protocol support. The pen support is great! I’m a 3D character artist for games, and I’m comfortably able to use this in every part of my workflow (painting, sculpting, etc). This thing is perfect for creative workflows, especially if you’re looking to work on the go. - Great Screen. - Great Battery life… if you know what you’re doing. Use the TDP BAT menu (you can find it on GitHub). For browsing, I recommend 7 watts. Gaming (low settings), 15 Watts. Gaming (medium-high settings), 18-25 watts. - Decent Camera - Perfect amount of IO - Easy to Upgrade Cons: - There aren’t any cases for this thing! Why?! - It only has one M.2 (2230) slot. - MPP hover detection could use some work (not the fault of this laptop, Microsoft needs to update the MPP drivers). - Poor Battery life - If you don’t know what you’re doing. If you’re not willing to mess with the system’s TDP (super easy to do, btw), you will not get very good battery life. - No HDMI in. - Not a deal breaker, but this would have been a cool feature. - Kickstand gets a little annoying if you’re working on your lap.

This device is for a very few people, and I think I am one of them. For the price to performance it is terrible, but the form factor is really nice. You can get the CPU on the laptop/tablet to work at just 15w to up to 90w (80w default, use G-Helper instead and uninstall all ASUS/ROG software). In the 15w CPU TDP mode it uses a max of 17w total and is having amazing battery life. I do not feel the need to bring my charger if I am out of the house. About 6 to 8 hours from a combination of Discord, Google, and watching videos. When set to 90w and undervolting -5 on both the CPU and GPU (currently no overclock since that is a waste on mobile devices imo), I am getting performance better than a lot of desktop processors. By default this CPU gets up to 5.1 GHz, with the changes I made I am getting 5.325 GHz on the first 8 cores. The rest are 5.15 or so, further tuning is needed but this passes OCCT CPU stability tests.

First time using a laptop with this ram size (64gb). Pros: Coming from a MacBook Pro with m3 pro, I like how as snappy this tablet is. The device is also significantly faster than my surface pro 11 with a snapdragon processor. I like that I’m able to flexibly allocate the memory to system memory or video memory. The memory also has a very wide bandwidth, similar to that in m4 pro in MacBook. It handles tasks relatively easily and never feels like I’d need more RAM. The device is silent for light tasks like writing, web browsing etc. The fan never turns on except when the system is overloaded. Cons: the camera on this device is very low quality. Although it is a 1080p camera, it has a narrow FOV and struggles under lowlights. The image is grainy even under good lighting conditions. Given that this is a thick tablet by modern standards, there is enough room to put a larger and quality sensor and a good lens. Since I use this tablet for meeting, I had to buy a camera. The camera on my surface pro 11 is very good under low light scenarios and has a wide filed of view. Also, Microsoft did a clever job placing the camera sensor in such a way that when you slant the tablet, the camera is still looking at you, showing you correctly. Asus on the other hand placed the camera sensor just like the ones on other regular tablets. So, you have to place the tablet really upright to be able to place yourself in the camera frame. Again coming from a MacBook Pro with m3 pro, I miss the all day battery life of my apple laptop. This laptop lasts only around 3-4 hours with silent, energy saving mode is enabled. I also made sure to turn on the variable refresh mode for the screen. Gladly I bought a Gan charger much smaller than the original charging brick, which I’m planning to take with me everywhere I go. That was not something I did with my MacBook. The trackpad is not very good. I hope Asus used a haptic trackpad like the one on surface pro. Conclusion: if you take into consideration the windows software and hardware ecosystem, this is one the best devices you can get in this form factor. We’ll see how powerful Qualcomm’s next generation chip for windows will be. But I don’t expect it to be as powerful as the one in this laptop. Also, given the ram shortage, we mightn’t see larger ram models. So, I’m overall satisfied with my purchase. The large ram in this device will help me survive the ram apocalypse.