Asus ROG Flow Z13 In Review: Gaming Tablet With Powerful Alder Lake I9 CPU – Notebookcheck.net

Asus refers to the new ROG Flow Z13 as the most powerful gaming tablet on the market, and a look at the spec sheet definitely supports this statement. Our review sample is equipped with a brand-new Intel Alder Lake Core i9 CPU, a dedicated Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, and 16 GB of LPDDR5-5200 RAM. In order to be able to make reasonable use of the components’ performance, the manufacturer has implemented vapor-chamber cooling as well as liquid metal on the processor for improved heat transfer. In addition, there’s a 13.4-inch 16:10 display with a resolution of 1,920×1,200 pixels, a 120 Hz refresh rate, and G-Sync.

Optionally, there are other models with weaker i7 or i5 CPUs, as well as the normal RTX 3050 or even just the integrated Xe Graphics of the Alder Lake processor. This configuration with the iGPU could definitely be interesting if you don’t want to game while on the go, but want to use the external XG Mobile eGPU (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT) at home. Our test configuration is available for around 2,100 Euros (~$2,367). There aren’t many immediate rivals for the ROG Flow Z13, which is why we also resort to normal laptops with similar components as comparison devices.

Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

The aggressive design language is in line with the ROG laptops, and it also suits a gaming tablet. There’s also a small window in the case on the back, which can be illuminated and also supports Aura Sync technology (just like the keyboard backlight). However, this also creates a small hump, which is why the tablet is unable to lay flat on its back and wobbles. The fan grilles on the back have also been implemented as design elements, so they are hardly noticeable. There’s a large Republic of Gamers logo on the top, which is flanked by the two fan outlets.

The included keyboard cover also doubles as a cover and protects the display when the device is not in use. The back of the cover has some sort of velour finish, which feels nice to the touch and provides a good grip, but also picks up dust and dirt very quickly.

      Asus Zephyrus G14 GA401QEC       Razer Blade 14 Ryzen 9 RTX 3070       Schenker Vision 14 H35 RTX 3050 Ti       Asus ROG Flow X13 GV301QH       Asus ROG Flow Z13 GZ301ZE       Microsoft Surface Pro 8, i7-1185G7 {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_325060’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_323568’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_323568’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_327280’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_327280’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_320914’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_320914’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_328012’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_328012’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_325824’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_325824’).checked = false;return false;” title=”hide all”>❌

Considering it’s a tablet, the available ports are not bad at all. On the left side, there’s a USB-C port including Thunderbolt 4 support, as well as the connection for an external graphics card behind a small cover that consists of a USB-C port and a proprietary port with 8 PCIe lanes. A microSD reader and a regular USB-A port are on the right side. However, the latter only supports the outdated USB 2.0 standard, which is somewhat hard to understand.

We had problems with the Thunderbolt 4 port in our review sample because we were unable to charge the device via this port, regardless of whether we used the included power adapter or other USB-C power adapters. The operating system only displayed a notification saying that the device was not charging and that the included power adapter should be used. After some research, we discovered that the Thunderbolt 4 port doesn’t support charging in German models. We were very surprised about that, because the charging function is actually mandatory for the Thunderbolt 4 certification. We have contacted Asus about this and will update this article accordingly as soon as we receive official feedback.

Asus offers two different 13.4-inch IPS touchscreens in a 16:10 aspect ratio for the ROG Flow Z13. Besides a 4K display (3,840×2,400 pixels, WQUXGA, 60 Hz, 450 nits, P3 color space), you can also choose the Full HD panel (1,920×1,200 pixels, WUXGA), which only covers the smaller sRGB color space but has a slightly higher brightness (500 nits) and a higher refresh rate of 120 Hz. The Full HD resolution also suits the RTX 3050 Ti better, so overall, we think the Full HD panel is a better fit for the gaming tablet.

The subjective image impression is very good, and everything looks very sharp, even at the lower Full HD resolution. Colors also look rich and high-contrast, something that is confirmed by our measurements as well. The maximum brightness is around 515 cd/m² at the center of the screen, but it’s “only” 476 cd/m² on average. The black level is slightly elevated at 0.35 cd/m², but this still adds up to a very good contrast ratio of almost 1,500:1. Response times show no issues, and even at full brightness, screen bleeding isn’t a problem.

* … smaller is better

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Display response times show how fast the screen is able to change from one color to the next. Slow response times can lead to afterimages and can cause moving objects to appear blurry (ghosting). Gamers of fast-paced 3D titles should pay special attention to fast response times.

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To dim the screen, some notebooks will simply cycle the backlight on and off in rapid succession – a method called Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) . This cycling frequency should ideally be undetectable to the human eye. If said frequency is too low, users with sensitive eyes may experience strain or headaches or even notice the flickering altogether.

It’s not so easy to find the right test settings, because besides the normal Windows settings, there is also a range of additional energy settings in the preinstalled Armoury Crate software, which also override the Windows energy-saving plan anyway. In addition, there’s also the option to completely disable the integrated GPU via the MUX switch, but this requires a reboot. Furthermore, there are various settings for the hybrid graphics. For example, you can configure the dedicated GPU to only be used when the device is plugged in. All in all, there are so many options to adjust the device to your needs, but there’s also the risk of getting a bit confused and possibly not using the optimal settings.

We tried all the reasonable combinations and were able to get the best results (somewhat surprisingly) with the regular Windows “Balanced” power plan along with the Windows setting in the Armoury Crate software and the Windows performance slider set to “Best Performance”. There might still be updates, but we currently don’t see any advantage in the additional energy profiles.

Consequently, the review sample is actually always at the top of the comparison field in the CPU benchmarks. In the Cinebench loop, you can clearly see that power consumption has already settled at 55 watts in the third run, so performance is more than 20% lower compared to the first run. Nevertheless, the Intel chip is still competitive with 55 watts, and it performs on par with the current Ryzen 9 5000 chips found in the Asus Zephyrus G14 or the Razer Blade 14, which are operated at 75 and 80 watts, respectively, in those devices. The current Tiger Lake H35 chips, which are still used in many compact laptops at the moment, have absolutely no chances here with their 4 cores.

The high continuous consumption of 55 watts is also good news for users of the XG Mobile eGPU, since this means that the CPU will not become a bottleneck. However, power consumption is significantly limited to 30 watts on battery power, but this still enables very good benchmark results. Nevertheless, it has to be said clearly that the Core i7-12700H (same number of cores, slightly lower clock rate) would have achieved almost the same performance in this case (especially as soon as the 55-watt limit kicks in), and that the Core i9 wouldn’t provide a noticeable advantage. Additional benchmarks are available in our respective CPU Benchmarks article.

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In everyday use, the processor’s efficient Iris Xe Graphics G7 often takes care of graphics processing. This is the version with 96 EUs, with which we are already familiar from the Core i7 CPUs of the previous Tiger Lake U generation (e.g. Core i7-1165G7). For more demanding applications, such as games, the dedicated Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti is automatically enabled by the Optimus technology. As we mentioned before, this is the slowest version of the RTX 3050 Ti with a TGP of only 35 watts, where the processor can still provide 5 watts depending on the usage thanks to Dynamic Boost. We observed a maximum core clock rate of 1,297 MHz in the benchmarks, and there’s 4 GB of GDDR6 VRAM available.

The synthetic benchmarks again show that this is one of the slowest versions of the RTX 3050 Ti, since the ROG Flow Z13 is about 20% behind the average results available in our database for the RTX 3050 Ti. However, performance remains stable under prolonged load, and the 3DMark Time Spy stress test is completed with 97%. On battery power, consumption is initially limited to 35 watts. When the battery level drops below 50%, the maximum is still 26 watts. Additional GPU benchmarks are available here.