Asus Rog Flow Z13 Review- Most Powerful Laptop with a Detachable keyboard

The all-new Asus Rog Flow Z13 features the latest Intel and RTX Graphics card and comes with a detachable keyboard and can be used as a tablet!

The ASUS ROG series has always surprised us with their new lineup of Laptops. And this year as well, at CES 2022, they didn’t fail to meet our expectations. In the previous year, they introduced their X13 laptop from the ROG Flow family and it performed really great. But this year along with major brands like Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Razer, Gigabyte, and Acer. they did some modifications on that and launched this updated product.

Unlike the X13 model, this laptop has also listed itself in the tablet form factor series. Feels like it comes with a little bit on the heavier side in weight along with a powerful surface pro-like touch and feels. The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 Laptop features an Intel Core i9-12900H CPU, fast NVMe Storage, DDR5 Memory along an RTX 3050Ti GPU.

Talking about the design, it comes in a tablet format. Featuring a 13-inch 16:10 touch screen display with a decent dual-fan decent cooling system inside. Battery life is a little bit disappointing.

Apart from your daily usage, the ASUS ROG Z13 Flow Laptop is more than you need. On one hand, you can do your business work, editing, watching movies, video calling flawlessly. On the other hand, you can enjoy your gaming with Nvidia’s RTX 3050Ti Graphics Card.

Z13 offers you 3 variants according to your needs. They are- GZ301ZE, GZ301ZC, and GZ301ZA. These models come with Core i9-12900H, Core i7-12700H, and Core i5-12500H respectively. All of these 3 models come with 16 GB LPDRR5 memory along with Nvidia RTX 3050Ti GPU.

Now without further delay let’s quickly check out the all-new Asus Rog Flow Z13 Laptop.

Asus Rog Flow Z13 Specs

Here are the Asus Rog Flow Z13 2022 Laptop Specifications

Display	13.4-inch, 16:10 format, touch, glossy with Gorilla Glass, 2-panel options: FHD+ 1920 x 1200 px IPS 120 Hz, 100% sRGB, 500-nits, Pantone validated UHD+ 3840 x 2400 px IPS 60 Hz, 85% DCI-P3, 550-nits, Pantone validated
Processor	Intel 12th gen Alder Lake, Up to Core i9-12900H, 6C+8c/20T
Video	Intel Iris Xe + Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050Ti 35-50W 4GB GDDR6, with MUX and Adaptive Sync.
Memory	16 GB LPDDR5-5200 (soldered)
Storage	1x 1 TB SSD (M.2 2230 PCIe 4.0 x4 slot)
Connectivity	Wireless 6E (Intel AX211) 2×2, Bluetooth 5.2
Ports	1x USB-C gen2 with Thunderbolt 4, 1x USB-C 3.2 gen2 with data, DP 1.4 and charging, 1x ROG XG Mobile Interface, 1x USB-A 2.0, microSD card reader, headphone/mic.
Battery	56 Wh, 100 W USB-C power adapter.
Size	303 mm or 11.77” (w) x 205 mm or 8.74” (d) x 12 mm or .47” (h) 17.6 mm or .69″ (h) with the keyboard folio.
Weight	1.19 kg (2.62 lbs) for the tablet (starts at 1.1 kg for the base models without a dGPU) 1.53 kg (3.37 lbs) for the tablet and keyboard folio. + .36 (.8 lbs) for the charger and cables, EU version.
Extras	Single-zone RGB backlit detachable keyboard, HD front camera and 8 MPx back camera, stereo mics, Stereo speakers on the sides, Dual-fan vapor chamber cooling module with liquid-metal compound.

Asus ROG Flow Z13 Laptop – Pricing and Availiability

Asus has listed their Rog Flow Z13 with different prices according to its variants. The top GZ301Z-E comes with a price tag of $1899 MSRP in North America and €2100 in Europe. While the “C” variant comes with €1900 EURO but sadly, the “A” variant is not available yet.

Asus ROG Z13 Laptop – Design and Build Quality

If you have tried the last generation X13 or Microsoft Surface Pro laptops before, you will get some similar things here also in here. Z13 has a sturdy metal chassis build quality and tablet-like form factor. The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 Laptop also has an RGB-lit glass window that lets you peek at the internals inside.

Without the detachable keyboard, it allows for a multitude of use cases with the help of an adjustable kickstand. Kickstand material is very sharp in design, so it should be handled with caution. Because either it would leave a scratch on the contact surface or it could get slipped.

Asus Rog Flow Z13 – Display

Flow Z13 has a similar 13-inch, 16:10 ratio touch display to the previous X13 series. But here are some changes that Asus has done. With Z13, Asus is offering 2 different panel options.

• FHD panel, 120Hz, 500+ nits of brightness, 100% sRGB
• QHD panel, 60Hz, 550+ nits of brightness, 85% DCI-P3

Both of these panel products feature Adaptive Sync, so forget tearing problems. However, choosing the FHD panel will be better for the 120Hz refresh rate for the lower resolution. But somehow you will get ghosted because of a slow response time.

Here are the full display specs of the FHD+ panel of the ASUS Z13 Flow Laptop.

Panel Hardware ID	Sharp SHP145F (LQ134N1JW54)
Coverage	100% sRGB, 69.8% AdobeRGB, 70% DCI-P3
Amount of Gamma	2.22
Max Brightness in the center of the screen	547.19 cd/m2
Min Brightness in the center of the screen	30.26 cd/m2
Contract when brightness in Maximum	1400:01:00

Asus Rog Flow Z13 Laptop – Keyboard and Trackpad

Keyboard

The ASUS Z13 delivers a detachable keyboard folio which is an attachment of an RGB backlit keyboard along with a trackpad. This folio bonds to the tablet display with a connector and magnet. Thus, there are no more lagging or connection hazards.

We found no issues in our typing test. Classic typing methods can be applied here accurately with speed. Flow Z13 keys are quiet and quick with a 1.7mm stroke depth.

Trackpad

With bright LED along implemented single RGB zone, it has also a trackpad. Its build quality is very ordinary and acceptable according to today’s standards. Manufactured with a small plastic surface, physical clinks are clunky and noisy.

But the surface does not rattle with taps like on this Laptop. The trackpad however is extremely responsive to gestures like pinch to zoom, double finger to drag, etc.

Asus Gaming Hybrid Laptop – Ports and Connectivity

Asus constructed all Z13 variants with two USB-C ports on the left side and one USB-a port on the right side. Along with a headphone jack on the right side, it also comes with a microSD card reader on the back. The proprietary XG mobile connection is placed on the left, covered with a protective rubber cap.

Asus also has put the latest Gen Wifi 6 and Bluetooth 5 in this lappy through an Intel module. We did a setup for testing and it performed well. We did several experiments, but haven’t noticed any kind of disconnecting or lagging issues. Gives good results also from long ranges.

Asus Rog Flow Z13 – Audio, Battery and Webcam

Audio

For the audio, this laptop comes with a set of stereo speakers placed on the sides. We have installed the latest audio drives and did some tests and the results were just ok. Volume levels are okay and the bass is a little bit on the lower side.

Battery

It comes with a 56 Wh battery which is ok for this kind of hybrid laptop. We did some experiments to measure its battery life and here are the results when the screen brightness was set to 120 nits with Hybrid mode and Wifi on.

• Max usage of 4-5 hrs while demanding 13W while doing text editing in G drive, silent mode
• Max usage of 5-6 hrs while demanding 10W while Youtube on 1080p in Edge, silent mode
• Max usage of 5-7 hrs while demanding 9W while Netflix on 1080p in Edge, silent mode
• Max usage of 3-4 hrs while demanding 16W while Browsing internet in Edge, silent mode
• Max usage of less than 1hr while demanding 60W while playing Witcher 3 Wild hunt, Gaming

Webcam

The 720p webcam on the ASUS Z13 Flow Gaming laptop is good enough for video calling and conference meetings. We did expect a 1080p webcam but the provided webcam is good enough for conference calls, zoom meetings, etc. Please note that the webcam is not IR so you might not be able to use Windows Face unlock feature with this laptop.

Asus ROG Flow Z13 Performance and Benchmarks

We did various types of experiments with the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 GZ301ZE model. For software, we ran some Games and Cinebench R15, 3D Mark, PCMark, Uniengine, Blender, etc tests in Windows 11.

With the RTX 3050Ti configured, we tried some modern games with an FHD+ 120Hz display with ultra settings. It gave us good results when we switched the MUX to the dGPU.

So without further delay let’s quickly check out the performance of the all-new Asus ROG Z13 2022 Laptop.

Asus ROG Flow Z13 Performance

3DMark 13- Fire Strike	10653 points
3DMark 13- Time Spy	4613 points
Uniengine Superposition 1080p Extreme	2504 points
PCMark 10	7131 points
CineBench R23	16337 points
x265 HD Benchmark 64-bit	26.98 s
Blender 2.93 BMW Car scene	3m 12(Turbo)

Asus ROG Flow Z13 Gaming Benchmarks

Dota 2	87 fps
Far Cry 5	55 fps
Metro Exodus	29 fps
Red Dead Redemption 2	53 fps
Shadow of Tomb Raider	39 fps
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt	61 fps

Asus Z13 Laptop – Thermals

The impressive thing is Z13 comes with powerful cooling components. Its thermal architecture design provides an unobstructed airflow. Along with an advanced vapor-chamber cooling module, the system pushes hot air outside and keeps the whole inside system absolutely exhausting free.

In our measurement, when it gets heavy on task loads, the system goes up to 50°C in the backside. For daily usage, it shows decent good results and keeps the system really cool, and prevents thermal throttling.

Asus Rog Flow Z13 Tablet – Free softwares

The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 Laptop comes with a pre-installed Windows 11. Apart from that, you will get some of the Asus ROG software for your own customization. It also comes with a free copy of the Microsoft Office 360 Package.

ASUS ROG Flow Z13 Laptop – FAQ

How much Warranty does ASUS ROG Flow Z13 Laptop have?

The Flow Z13 Laptop carries a 1 Year Standard Warranty.

Can I upgrade the ASUS ROG Flow Z13’s RAM and SSD?

You can upgrade the SSD of the ROG Z13 Flow but you cannot upgrade the RAM as it is soldered on the Motherboard.

Asus Rog Flow Z13 – Verdict

Pros

A. Beautiful design with moderately good build quality. Compact product.
B. Good detachable keyboard with great typing experience.
C. Screen options are correctly given according to the user’s demands.
D. Impressive performance for daily office usage, occasionally or part-time gaming.
E. Thermal fans are quiet and good, fans keep the internal system cool.

Cons

A. An average battery life which is unexpected from a Tablet point of view.
B. No 32GB memory option on the top configuration model.
C. No option of upgrading RAM.

That’s all folks!