Asus’ Latest Rog Flow Z13 Gaming Tablet Uses Amd’s New Integrated Graphics

Asus has a caller type of its Surface Pro-like gaming tablet for CES, and it’s making immoderate sizable changes immoderate incorrect and out. The Asus ROG Flow Z13 for 2025 is erstwhile again a somewhat chunky, almost-half-inch-thick, 13-inch tablet pinch a built-in kickstand, magnetic keyboard cover, a bunch of ports, and a clear exemplary connected its rear pinch RGB lighting to show disconnected its innards.

That nosy coagulated exemplary is now larger, pinch a nonstop position of nan motherboard, but nan biggest alteration for nan ROG Flow Z13 is its move to integrated graphics. That whitethorn look for illustration a measurement backward for a gaming-focused tablet since gamers covet dedicated GPUs, but Asus is outfitting it pinch AMD’s powerful caller “Strix Halo” processor. The ROG Flow Z13 tin beryllium configured pinch nan Ryzen AI Max 390 for $1,999.99 aliases nan Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 for $2,199.99. The top-end exemplary pinch nan Max Plus 395 has 16 CPU cores and 40 graphics cores, while nan base-model Ryzen AI Max Plus 390 (curse these names) has 12 CPU cores and 32 graphics cores. The Z13 utilizes a redesigned stainless alloy vapor enclosure for cooling these graphics-heavy chips, which are tin of 120W TDP.

All that powerfulness successful nan Z13 is responsible for driving a 13-inch, 2560 x 1600 touchscreen show pinch a speedy 180Hz refresh title (up from 165Hz connected nan last-gen model), which you don’t often find successful laptops and tablets of this size. For ports, it’s sewage 2 USB 4, 1 USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI 2.1, a microSD insubstantial slot tin of UHS-II speeds, and a 3.5mm cognition headphone / mic jack. It’s too sewage a 5-megapixel front-facing webcam and 13-megapixel rear-facing camera — truthful you tin flash your RGB arsenic you awkwardly return tablet photos successful public. It too has Wi-Fi 7.

The Z13 supports USB-C Power Delivery for charging, but that won’t beryllium powerful tin to fto its afloat capacity nether load. Instead, it comes pinch a 200W powerfulness adapter that uses Asus’ proprietary and reversible slim powerfulness jack — for illustration connected its caller laptops.

Other quality-of-life improvements for nan Z13 spot a caller detachable keyboard pinch larger keycaps and a overmuch generously sized touchpad. And connected its correct side, beside nan powerfulness fastener and measurement rocker, is simply a caller “ScreenXpert” fastener that summons a Command-Center-like widget that includes multiple-display exemplary guidance controls, speedy entree to operating modes for illustration Turbo mode aliases Silent mode, and different settings for illustration muting your mic. It’s chiefly location to thief powerfulness things while successful tablet mode since nan keyboard contains shortcuts for astir of these functions.

I sewage a speedy glimpse of nan caller ROG Flow Z13 astatine a preview event, and Asus sent maine a preproduction exemplary correct earlier CES to get a mini spot of hands-on time. It’s what I’m penning this position connected correct now, and boy do I admit nan updates to this keyboard cover. The 1.7mm cardinal recreation and bigger touchpad spell a agelong measurement toward getting activity done. While nan Ryzen 395 spot has nan imaginable to beryllium power-hungry, nan artillery life connected nan Z13 shows immoderate promise. Asus is only claiming 10 hours of artillery life, and I did negociate to get done a afloat eight-plus-hour workday of Chrome tabs, streaming euphony (though nan speakers look benignant of bad astatine first listen), and penning crossed aggregate virtual desktops nan clip earlier flying to CES — pinch beautiful overmuch nary issues.

I decidedly for illustration a owed laptop to a tablet pinch a kickstand and keyboard cover, but being tin to region nan keyboard level for a mini overmuch elasticity and comfortableness erstwhile it’s clip to occurrence up a crippled is beautiful slick. I tried retired a mini Helldivers 2 connected nan Flow Z13, and it performed alternatively well, peculiarly for a tablet. Set to nan Z13’s autochthonal 2.5K resolution, in-game render modular connected Ultra Quality, and texture specifications connected medium, I saw 60fps aliases conscionable somewhat under, and it looked really nice. If I bumped it down from Ultra Quality to Quality scaling, it jumped up to an moreover smoother 80fps. This was, of course, while nan tablet was plugged successful and its fans were blasting connected Turbo mode. Diving successful again while unplugged dropped nan Ultra Quality render modular capacity down to nan 45 to 50fps scope since playing connected artillery limits you to Performance mode alternatively of Turbo.

This is preproduction hardware, but truthful far, it’s beautiful awesome for integrated graphics. AMD’s caller spot mightiness personification point emblematic coming for bladed and ray devices, but since it lacks Thunderbolt 5, that intends nan Flow Z13 can’t usage nan afloat GPU bandwidth of Asus’ caller XG Mobile eGPU. (Previous models could usage nan older XG Mobile via its proprietary connector.) But of course, that would make this somewhat portable PC gaming solution a mini small portable, and nan caller XG Mobile costs astir arsenic overmuch arsenic nan Flow Z13 itself.

But does a gaming tablet make overmuch consciousness successful 2025 erstwhile portable PC gaming is being truthful adequately served by nan Steam Deck and a bunch of different dedicated handhelds? We’ll personification to spot really a accumulation exemplary of nan ROG Flow Z13 fares erstwhile it launches sometime successful February.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge