When you think of mobile gaming PCs you probably either think of giant laptops with big screens (and lousy battery life) or handheld systems like Valve’s Steam Deck which sacrifice some graphics horsepower for portability.
But for the last few years Asus has been offering something in between with its ROG Flow line of products. The Asus ROG Flow X13 is a convertible notebook with a 13.4 inch display and a 1.3kg (2.9 pound) starting weight, while the ROG Flow Z13 is a 13.4 inch tablet with a detachable keyboard. It’s actually a little heavier if you weight the tablet and keyboard combined, but the tablet alone is just 1.1 kg (2.4 pounds). Now Asus has introduced new versions of each with support for the latest Intel and AMD processor and NVIDIA graphics.
The new ASUS ROG Flow X13 (2023) convertible notebook supports up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 graphics (with a 60 watt TGP and 8GB of GDDR6 memory) and up to an AMD Ryzen 9 7000 series processor with a Zen 4 CPU.
The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (2023) is an Intel-powered tablet with support for up to an Intel Core i9-13900H processor and up to a 65-watt NVIDIA RTX 4060 GPU with 8GB of GDDR6 memory.
And if you want higher-performance gaming or graphics horsepower, both systems are compatible with the latest Asus ROG XG Mobile graphics dock with a 150-watt NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 mobile GPU. The dock connects to a special XG Mobile port on the ROG Flow laptop or tablet and also provides additional ports including HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and Type-C.
The dock is more portable than most external graphics solutions, but at 1.3 kg (2.9 pounds), it weighs about as much as the PC you’ll pair it with. So you can take it with you for gaming on the go, but since it needs to be plugged in, it’s most likely designed for stationary use once you get where you’re going.
Asus hasn’t announced pricing or availability for either model yet, but here are some key specs for each:
| ROG Flow X13 (2023) | ROG Flow Z13 (2023) | |
| Display | 13.4 inch ROG Nebula Display (2560 x 1600, 165 Hz, 3ms, IPS LCD) 13.4 inch 1920 x 1200, 120 hz, 3ms IPS LCD | 13.4 inch ROG Nebula Display (2560 x 1600, 165 Hz, 3ms, IPS LCD) |
| Processor | Up to AMD Ryzen 9 Zen 4 | Up to Intel Core i9-13900H |
| Graphics | Up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 (8GB GDDR6, 60W TGP) | Up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 (8GB GDDDR6, 65W TGP) |
| RAM | Up to 32GB LPDDR5-6400 1 x SODIMM slot | Up to 16GB DDR5-5200 |
| Storage | Up to 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD | Up to 1TB PCIe 4.0SSD |
| Keyboard | Built-in Backlit 1-zone RGB lighting | 3Detachable Backlit 1-zone RGB lighting |
| Audio | Stereo speakers 3D array microphone | Stereo speakers |
| Wireless | WiFi 6 Bluetooth 5.2 | WiFi 6 Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Ports | 1 x ROG XG Mobile Interface 1 x USB4 Type-C (DP 1.4 & USB_PD) 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (DP 1.4 & USB-PD) 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A 1 x HDMI 2.1b 1 x microSD card reader | 1 x ROG XG Mobile interface 1 x Thunderbolt 4 (DP 1.4 & USB-PD) 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (DP 1.4 & USB-PD) 1 x USB 3 Type-A 1 x 3.5mm audio 1 x microSD card reader |
| Battery | 75 Wh | 56 Wh |
| Dimensions | 299 x 212 x 16.7mm | 303 x 207 x 14.3mm |
| Weight | 1.3 kg | Tablet: 1.1 kg Keyboard: 340 grams |
With the earlier Flow models, I always assumed that they were using desktop model GPUs in that external enclosure. However I notice now that they’re saying this 4070 has a TGP of 60W.
Since the desktop model of the 4070 has a TGP of 285W, I suspect this is likely the “4070 Laptop” model, which has a configurable TGP between 35W and 115W.
The value of the previous Flow generation didn’t really make sense to me. The price of the Tablet alone (without the GPU) was more expensive than a similar gaming laptop WITH a GPU. Once you added the external GPU, it was like $1200 more expensive than a comparable gaming laptop.
Yes, this is not going to be recommended based on like for like specs in a different form.
You have used a photo of the X16 not the X13 !
Thanks, I’ve fixed that!
Oh, cool, they’re saying they support styluses this time.
I’m glad they’re actually committing to something instead of just falling back to the lowest common denominator, but I really hope they fixed the problems I’ve heard these have like how you can’t adjust fan speed profiles and how by default you’ve basically got “off” and “high” with nothing in between.