The ROG Flow Z13 is a unique device that offers exceptional portability and performance. In our testing, we found that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 eGPU was able to significantly boost the GPU performance of this small 13” tablet device. However, it's worth noting that Adobe Photoshop didn't show a huge difference in terms of performance.

In contrast, other applications like DaVinci Resolve and SPECviewperf, which test professional 3D workloads, showed significant improvements with the XG Mobile eGPU. The ROG Flow Z13's CPU also performed well in our tests, particularly in single-threaded workloads. This is impressive for a device of its size.

When it comes to gaming, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti was fine on its own, but the XG Mobile took things to the next level. However, this would likely increase the price of the device. But can you get a cheaper gaming laptop that will outperform this combination and even an additional tablet if you really need one? Yes, absolutely.

The ROG Flow Z13 is not for everyone, as it comes with some sacrifices such as limited upgradeability, lower battery life, and fewer ports. However, if you're after the best portability and performance possible at this size and can afford it, then there's not a whole lot of competition. There are indeed some compromises to be made for this smaller machine.

In terms of pricing and availability, we don't have much information yet. In the US, the i7 plus 3050 config is listed at $1800 USD, but it's out of stock until April, and no word on price if the XG Mobile is included. It's expected that prices will be high due to the unique nature of this device.

The most impressive thing about the ROG Flow Z13 is its level of CPU performance from such a small 13” tablet device, particularly in single-threaded workloads. Gaming was fine with the 3050 Ti, but the XG Mobile absolutely takes things to the next level. This would likely increase the price of the device, which may be out of reach for some users.

The Z13 is extremely unique and definitely not for everyone, but if you're after the best portability and performance possible at this size, and can afford it, then there's not a whole lot of competition. There are indeed some sacrifices that need to be made for this smaller machine, including limited upgradeability, lower battery life, and fewer ports.

We've also tested Linux support on the ROG Flow Z13. By default, the keyboard, touchpad, touchscreen, both cameras, speakers, and keyboard shortcuts to adjust volume worked. However, keyboard lighting did not work, and neither did Wi-Fi. It's likely that this is just a matter of drivers needing to be installed.

Finally, let's discuss pricing and availability next. These will change over time, so refer to the links below for updates. Obviously, we're expecting super high prices here, as that's always what you have to pay in order to get a small machine with high levels of performance. It's how tech works.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enThis is the most powerful gaming tablet in the world right now!And it also doubles as a regular gaming laptop by attaching the included keyboard.It’s the ROG Flow Z13 from ASUS, and what makes it special is this box over here.This optional extra is the XG Mobile, and this one has an Nvidia RTX 3080 laptop GPU inside it.By connecting the XG Mobile to the Z13 we’re able to boost gaming performance to the next level!I’ve got the highest spec Z13 here with Intel’s Core i9-12900H 14 core processor  and Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti graphics with 16 gigs of LPDDR5 memory and a 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD.  There are cheaper versions with i7 or i5 CPUs and even no discrete graphics in the Z13 if  you don’t need them. For example if you’re just programming or if you plan on using the XG Mobile.The build quality of the Z13 feels great,  you’re either touching aluminum or the glass touch screen.The tablet alone weighs 1.2kg or 2.6lb, with the keyboard combined we’re looking at 1.5kg or 3.4lb,  then about 2kg or 4.3lb with the 100 watt power brick and cables,  or 2.5kg or 5.6lb if we instead use the XG Mobile eGPU to power everything.As a 13” tablet device, the Z13 is definitely on the slimmer side  for something with this level of hardware inside.The Z13 has a 16:10 touchscreen with two resolution options,  1920 by 1200 120Hz like I’ve got here, or 3840 by 2400 60Hz, so taller 1080p or 4K resolutions.The 13.4” 1080p 120Hz version I’ve got here has decent color gamut, good contrast,  and I didn’t really notice the glossy finish as the screen can get quite bright.At full brightness we’re looking at more than 500 nits. I think 300 nits  is the minimum to go for, and some equally expensive machines like MSI’s GE76 can’t  even manage that. Meanwhile the Z13 can achieve that at 50% brightness.The Z13 has a MUX switch, so you’ve got the option of running with optimus enabled for  higher battery life or optimus disabled for higher performance in games, but there’s no  advanced optimus so you’ve got to reboot when you want to swap between those two modes.There’s no G-Sync with the 13” screen, but adaptive sync is enabled with optimus on.Overall the screen looked nice, but I did notice some blurriness when playing games.  We’re looking at a 21.5ms average grey-to-grey response time, so not super impressive,  but at the same time this is still the fastest 13” result I’ve recorded so far.  There just aren’t a whole lot of panel options at this size for gamers yet.The smaller 13” size definitely isn’t for everyone, it’s great for portability but  you might need to sit a little closer. You could of course dock it with a larger screen,  perhaps one with better response time if you’re an eSports player,  and optionally with the XG Mobile or a Thunderbolt eGPU if you’re after more graphical performance.The XG Mobile increases the total system latency a little, as optimus must be enabled in order  to use it. You can’t use the XG Mobile with Optimus disabled. This is the total  amount of time between a mouse click and when a gunshot fire happens on the screen in CS:GO.If you’re connecting an external screen directly to the XG Mobile  and not using the laptop’s screen though, then the integrated graphics shouldn’t be involved.I’m by no means an artist, but the included pen seemed to work well with minimal lag.  I confirmed it’s pressure sensitive and palm rejection was fine while writing notes.My unit had no backlight bleed at all, but this will vary between panels.There’s a 1080p camera on the back.So the quality of that rear facing 1080p camera just objectively isn’t very good.At least in terms of video, photos were noticeably better,  not as great as many modern smartphones, but certainly usable.There’s also a 720p camera above the screen in the middle,  but there’s no IR for Windows Hello face unlock.Here’s how the camera and microphone look and sound by default, but what happens if  someone starts making disruptive noises in the background during an important meeting?Most laptops aren’t going to be able to deal with big disturbances like this on their own.That's where this video's sponsor Krisp comes in!With the simple click of a button,  you can now hear me much better over this insanely loud noise that's happening in the background.Krisp is an AI DeepTech noise cancellation app that removes everything except your voice.It works bi-directionally too,  so you can remove unwanted noise from both ends of a call. That's pretty cool,  even if the disruption is coming from the other end you'll still be able to hear clearly.Krisp works with both Windows and MacOS, and supports more than 800 communication apps  including popular ones like Zoom, Teams, Slack, Discord and more!So what are you waiting for? Get the latest AI  powered noise removal for free with the link below the video.Krisp has a huge research team and works for all sorts of background noise like construction,  dogs barking, or even that one guy who never stops eating during the call.Again you can try Krisp for free using my referral link below the video, now back to the review!The chiclet keyboard has a 1.7mm travel distance and a single zone  of RGB backlighting which lights up all keys and secondary functions.  It can be adjusted between three brightness levels with the F11 shortcut.As a keyboard, I thought it worked fine, the keys felt nice to press and I never had any problems,  and I thought the clicky precision touchpad worked well too. The touchpad was a little small,  but it is what it is, there’s only limited space at 13 inches.The palm rest has a sort of felt texture,  sort of like the Alcantara finish on a Microsoft surface device.The keyboard is connected to the tablet by magnets, so you can pull it off to use the Z13 in  tablet mode. It’s very easy to reconnect and it’s quite satisfying when it snaps itself into place.The keyboard can also be used in two different modes. You can have it completely flat,  or you can fold it up a little for an inclined angle when typing. In the  latter mode there’s some flex if you go out of your way to intentionally press down hard,  but I found it perfectly stable during normal use.The keyboard also folds up to protect the screen during travel.The rear kickstand holds the device up, it feels very sturdy and can be  adjusted smoothly to go right back by 170 degrees. There’s a little red rubber tab  sticking out of the right side to help you grab it when setting up the device.The left has a speaker right down the bottom, the XG Mobile port which also has a USB  3.2 Gen2 Type-C port within, followed by the Type-C Thunderbolt 4 port towards the top.There’s a rubber cover for the XG Mobile port included  if you want to protect the PCIe connectors.The right has a speaker down the bottom too, a 3.5mm audio combo jack, USB 2.0 Type-A port,  volume adjustment buttons and the power button right at the top.I did ask why the USB Type-A port was the older and slower 2.0 and was basically told that it  was just a requirement in order to get the PCB from this side to this side. So if that’s just a  genuine constraint then I suppose I would at least prefer a slower Type-A port compared to none.Now both of the Type-C ports can be used to charge the laptop and they both also offer  DisplayPort output. With optimus enabled, the Thunderbolt port goes to the Intel iGPU  while the Type-C port in the XG Mobile port goes to the Nvidia graphics.With optimus disabled though, both of those Type-C ports connect directly to the Nvidia  graphics. However, only that lower Type-C port gives you G-Sync support. The display  outputs on the XG Mobile obviously connect directly to the RTX 3080,  I mean the ports are on the box with the 3080 in it.But the HDMI port didn’t seem to offer variable refresh rate support.The power button includes a fingerprint scanner. Although I found it to work well when I can get my  finger straight on it, because it’s on the side I can’t see it when sitting in front of the machine,  so I often get my finger in the wrong spot when trying to unlock it. Like other ASUS models,  pressing the power button to turn it on will cache your fingerprint  and present it to Windows once it loads up, so one press to power on and log in.The back has some customizable RGB lighting that shines through this window,  just so you know it's for gaming.I can’t show you the internals because I wasn’t able to open it up,  but there’s nothing to really upgrade anyway except for the single SSD,  though that’s easy to access behind this hatch door with a single Phillips head screw.The upgradeability score ties with the MacBook Pro 16, which isn’t too unexpected  from a smaller 13” device. I gave it half a point for having a user upgradeable SSD.  Normally that’s a full point, but I drop to half a point when the more  common larger 2280 size isn’t supported, as that offers more storage capacity.The Wi-Fi performance was decent, basically as long as we don’t have  MediaTek or RealTek we’re looking pretty good. It’s got Wi-Fi 6E,  but unfortunately my access point only goes up to 6, so faster may be possible.The small speakers on the left and right sides down the bottom sound  decent considering the size. There’s a little bass, but they lose clarity at higher volume.Speaking of sounds, it plays this one by default on boot.Fortunately you can disable it through the Armory Crate software or BIOS.The latencymon results weren’t looking great. This is only the second 12th gen machine I’ve tested,  and the first one was worse, so it’s still too early to say if this is due to 12th gen or what.The Z13 is powered by a 4-Cell 56Wh battery. ASUS have some cool features here including panel power  saver which automatically lowers the screen’s refresh rate down to 60Hz when you unplug to  save battery - this is why the screen will flash black when disconnecting and reconnecting power.You’ve also got the option to disable the Nvidia graphics and  only use the Intel integrated graphics when on battery power for further power savings.Using the iGPU only mode was able to give us a bit of extra run time compared to with just optimus  enabled. It’s only a small improvement, but still an improvement nonetheless.  Optimus on will of course prioritize the iGPU, but the dGPU can still be called by  random processes and that’s where the iGPU only mode has its use. Of course  the battery life was even worse if we instead run off the Nvidia graphics.It doesn’t stack up super well compared to other machines,  but yeah we have to keep in mind it’s a smaller 13” machine so there’s only so  much room for battery. Not to mention it’s packing higher tier specs compared to other  13” devices I’ve tested. We're looking at around 6 hours of runtime in this testLet’s check out thermals next.As the Z13 is essentially a tablet,  all of the heat generating components like the CPU and GPU are behind the screen.  Unlike a traditional gaming laptop with the air intake vents pressed up against the desk,  this means fresh air can easily be pulled in from the back. Hot air then gets exhausted  out of the vents on the top, so you also don’t have to deal with any heat hitting your hands.To top it all off, there’s a vapor chamber cooler inside with liquid metal on the processor.The ASUS Armory crate software let’s us change between different performance modes,  which from lowest to highest are silent, performance, turbo, then manual mode lets  us further control fan speed and temperature limits of the GPU. The following overclocks  are also applied to the GPU in Turbo and Manual modes depending on which GPU is in use.The CPU and GPU temperatures were fine at idle considering it was completely silent.  The rest of the results were measured with a combined CPU and GPU stress test to represent  a worst case scenario. Honestly, without the XG Mobile, the Z13 was running relatively cool  compared to other laptops, peaking at 65 degrees Celsius. Things warm up a bit with the XG Mobile  connected as it uses more power, but this is still far cooler compared to most gaming laptops I test.These are the clock speeds during the same tests just shown. I’ve split the P and E  cores up as they reach different speeds. The difference in GPU clock speeds obviously gets  higher with the XG Mobile attached, it’s a higher wattage RTX 3080 after all, but check  out the CPU clock speeds in blue, they start getting far higher with the XG Mobile in use.The reason for this becomes clear when we look at the power levels being reached. Without the  XG Mobile, we’re seeing the RTX 3050 Ti in the Z13 max out at 40 watts as per the spec sheet,  but the CPU seems to cap out at 20 watts - quite low for a 14 core 20 thread chip. Based on the  cooler temperatures earlier, ASUS could probably boost the power limit further without too much  downside to increase performance. With the XG Mobile attached, not only does the RTX 3080 use  far more power, but with the 3050 Ti in the Z13 now idle the CPU is able to get more power budget.  Not to mention the entire vapor chamber inside the Z13 is now only working to cool the CPU  and not the GPU, as the GPU workload has moved externally to the XG Mobile.That’s only with both the CPU and GPU loaded up though. The CPU wattage goes  higher in a CPU only workload like Cinebench. I was seeing about 50 watts in manual mode  with or without the XG Mobile connected, however interestingly turbo mode was a little ahead here.If we use the best case turbo results to compare against others, well it’s actually the best single  core score I’ve ever recorded from any device. Let that sink in for a moment, a 13” tablet  has the highest single core performance. The multi core performance is decent, but larger  and thicker machines like MSI’s GE76 at the top can sustain the i9 processor at around 90 watts.  Still though, the Z13 is ahead of a number of other 15 and 17” gaming laptops from last year.Single core performance hardly changes when running on battery power, but like most machines  except for the MacBook, multi core performance lowers. It’s now behind  the Flow X13 from last year in that regard, despite the X13 having a last  gen 8 core 16 thread Ryzen processor. Ryzen just seems to be more power efficient there.At idle the keyboard was cold as expected, it’s just a keyboard,  no heat generating components behind it. The screen was barely warm at 30 degrees Celsius.  The temperature of the screen hardly changes with the stress tests underway  in silent mode. Performance and Turbo modes increase the temperature a few degrees,  but even touching the “hot spot” hardly feels warm at all. Let's listen to the fan noise.The Z13 was completely silent at idle, and then with the stress tests running it honestly wasn’t  bad at all. Even with the fans manually maxed out we’re talking like 45 decibels,  so it was noticeably quieter compared to most gaming laptops I test.Of course that’s with the Z13 alone,  things obviously change with the XG Mobile attached, let’s listen to that.It’s quite loud in turbo mode with the stress tests running or with the fans manually maxed out,  both modes were about the same, but still this worst case scenario ends  up being comparable to most gaming laptops I test.Now let’s find out how well the ROG Flow Z13 actually performs in games,  both by itself and with the XG Mobile connected.We’re going to look at 1080p and 1440p resolutions here as it’s just what I’ve  got data for for the purposes of comparing. But definitely check out this video afterwards if  you want to see how the Z13 performs in 10 games with its native 1920 by 1200 screen resolution.Cyberpunk 2077 was tested the same on all laptops, and I’ve got the Z13 highlighted in red. We’ve got  two results here, the lower one is just with the laptop’s RTX 3050 Ti while the far higher one is  with the XG Mobile attached, so a laptop 3080 GPU connected via PCIe. We’re looking at a 175%  boost to average FPS simply by connecting the XG Mobile, and it’s performing similarly to other  larger top spec 3080 gaming laptops such as the Legion 7 slightly ahead of it. The 3050 Ti  wasn’t even as good as a 1660 Ti here, and those are usually pretty close, granted the power limit  difference is double there, plus of course we could always enable DLSS on the 3050 Ti.There are fewer results at the higher 1440p resolution because we only test laptops that  actually have a chance of running it. The RTX 3080 XG Mobile is performing in between  a number of other 3080 results that I’ve got data for. Sure it’s not quite up there with  the larger 17” models, but it’s still ahead of a number of 15 inch laptops, not bad at all.Red Dead Redemption 2 was tested with the game’s benchmark,  and again the XG Mobile result was towards the top near other RTX 3080 machines. The Z13 was  just a little ahead of last year’s Ryzen based X13 with the same eGPU, while the 3050 Ti wasn’t  quite as far behind the 1660 TI this time, plus again as mentioned we could still enable DLSS.The Z13 wasn’t quite doing as well compared to other 3080 laptops at the higher 1440p  resolution in this game. Don’t get me wrong it’s still an excellent result and absolutely playable,  but other laptops with higher wattage 3080s were further ahead in this one,  but hey it is still ahead of other larger 3080 gaming laptops.Control was tested running through the same part of the game on all laptops. Again the RTX  3050 Ti was ahead of other 1650 series laptops while not quite matching a best case 1660 Ti,  though again as mentioned, DLSS may change this. Check the game benchmark video linked in  the description as I test DLSS and FSR there. The RTX 3080 was one of the better results here too,  again only just a few FPS behind the Legion 7. At least in terms of  average FPS, as the gap in 1% lows was a bit bigger compared to the two machines above.The 1440p result was quite good here,  just a couple of FPS ahead of the same eGPU connected to last year’s X13,  but the 1% low from the newer Intel 12th gen machine was more than 20% ahead of that Ryzen one.Here are the 3DMark results. As expected the XG Mobile in the red bars was  much higher compared to the 3050 Ti in purple. Now for some content creator tests.Adobe Premiere was tested with the Puget Systems benchmark, and I’ve got the Z13 highlighted in  red. The score was significantly higher with the XG Mobile attached, giving one of the better  results. Presumably the 12th gen CPU is able to make up some ground given the 40 watt 3050 Ti  is only a few points behind last year’s larger G14 with higher tier 3060 GPU.Adobe Photoshop on the other hand didn’t have anywhere near as big of a difference.  This test depends more on the processor than the GPU,  so adding the XG Mobile with RTX 3080 graphics didn’t give us as much of a boost.DaVinci Resolve is more GPU heavy, so there’s a fairly big difference between the 3050 Ti  and 3080 eGPU this time. The 3080 eGPU was basically able to match last year’s GE76,  a far thicker and heavier machine - impressive stuff.I’ve also tested SPECviewperf which tests out various professional 3D workloads,  and the XG Mobile in red was significantly ahead of the 3050 Ti in the Z13 in the purple.Despite Intel 12th gen having PCIe 4 storage, we’re not seeing particularly  amazing results from the 1TB SSD, decent, just not amazing. The MicroSD card slot was  doing great for the reads. The card clicks in behind the rear kickstand,  it’s kind of awkward to access but it’s better than not having one at all.The XG Mobile also has a full sized SD card slot.There’s not a whole lot of settings in the BIOS, you can disable the E cores if you’ve  got compatibility options and undervolting in version 305 was definitely available,  but in the latest 308 at the time of recording it appears to be gone,  or I’m going blind. I mean it's possible I look at a lot of RGB.Linux support was tested by booting an Ubuntu 21 live CD. By default the keyboard,  touchpad, touchscreen, both cameras, speakers, and keyboard shortcuts to  adjust volume worked. Keyboard lighting did not work and neither did Wi-Fi,  but that probably just needs drivers and I’m just testing out of box here.Let’s discuss pricing and availability next.  These both will of course change over time so refer to those links below for updates.Obviously we’re going to be expecting super high prices here, that’s always just what you  have to pay in order to get a small machine with high levels of performance. It’s how tech works.Right now straight after release there’s not a whole lot of information,  but in the US the i7 plus 3050 config is listed at $1800 USD,  though it’s out of stock until April, and no word on price if the XG Mobile is included.Alright, so is the ROG Flow Z13 something that you should consider?The most impressive thing was the level of CPU performance from such a small 13” tablet device,  particularly when it comes to single threaded performance.Gaming was fine with the 3050 Ti, but the XG Mobile absolutely takes things to the next level,  though of course that would significantly increase the price too.Can you get a cheaper gaming laptop that will outperform this combination  and even an additional tablet if you really need one? Yeah, absolutely.The Z13 is extremely unique and definitely not for everyone,  but if you’re after the best portability and performance possible at this size,  and can afford it, then there’s not a whole lot of competition.There are of course sacrifices that need to be made for this smaller machine,  including not much in the way of upgradeability, lower battery life,  and fewer ports to name a few, but there’s no denying this isn’t a cool setup.Check out this video next to see how the Z13 performs in 10 different games at all  setting levels with the native 16:10 resolution,  both by itself and with the XG Mobile, and make sure you’re subscribed for when  I compare the XG mobile with a desktop RTX 3080 graphics card in a Thunderbolt eGPU enclosure.\n"