Hands-on: Asus’ new ROG Flow Z13 gaming tablet with AMD integrated graphics

Asus has a new version of its Surface Pro-like gaming tablet for CES, and it’s making some considerable changes both inside and out. The Asus ROG Flow Z13 for 2025 is once again a bit thick, almost half an inch thick, a 13-inch tablet with a built-in kickstand, a magnetic keyboard cover, a lot of ports, and a clear window at its rear with RGB Lighting to show its internals.

That funny glass window is now bigger, with a direct view of the motherboard, but the biggest change for the ROG Flow Z13 is its switch to integrated graphics. This may seem like a step backwards for a gaming-focused tablet since gamers crave dedicated GPUs, but Asus equips it with AMD’s powerful new “Strix Halo” processor. The ROG Flow Z13 can be configured with the Ryzen AI Max 390 for $1,999.99 or Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 for $2,199.99. The top model with the Max Plus 395 has 16 CPU cores and 40 graphics cores, while the base model Ryzen AI Max Plus 390 (curse these names) has 12 CPU cores and 32 graphics cores. The Z13 uses a redesigned stainless steel vapor chamber to cool these heavy graphics chips, which are capable of 120W TDP.

All the power in the Z13 is responsible for driving a 13-inch, 2560 x 1600 touchscreen display with a fast refresh rate of 180 Hz (up from 165 Hz in the last generation model), which is not often found in laptops and tablets. this size For ports, it has two USB 4, one USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI 2.1, a microSD card slot capable of UHS-II speeds, and a 3.5mm headphone/mic jack combination. There’s also a 5-megapixel front-facing webcam and a 13-megapixel rear camera — so you can flash your RGB while awkwardly snapping tablet photos in public. It also has Wi-Fi 7.

The Z13 supports USB-C Power Delivery for charging, but that will not be powerful enough to allow its full performance under load. Instead, it comes with a 200W power adapter that uses Asus’ proprietary, reversible slim power jack – just like in their recent laptops.

Other quality-of-life improvements for the Z13 include a new detachable keyboard with larger keys and a more generously sized touchpad. And on its right side, next to the power button and volume rocker, is a new “ScreenXpert” button that invokes a Command-Center-like widget that includes multi-display window management controls, quick access to operating modes such as Turbo Mode or Silent Mode. , and other settings like muting your mic. It’s mainly there to help you control things in tablet mode as the keyboard contains shortcuts for most of these functions.

I got a quick look at the new ROG Flow Z13 at a preview event, and Asus sent me a pre-production model right before CES to get some hands-on time. That’s what I’m writing this post now, and boy do I appreciate the updates of this keyboard cover. The 1.7mm key travel and larger touchpad go a long way to get work done. While the Ryzen 395 chip has the potential to be power hungry, the battery life in the Z13 shows some promise. Asus only claims 10 hours of battery life, and I managed to get through a workday of more than eight hours of Chrome tabs, streaming music (although the speakers sounded a little bad at first listen), and typing on multiple virtual desktops. the day before flying to CES – with almost no problems.

I definitely prefer a proper laptop to a tablet with a kickstand and keyboard cover, but being able to remove the keyboard tray for a little more flexibility and comfort when it’s time to fire up a game is pretty slick. I tried a little Helldivers 2 on the Flow Z13, and it did quite well, especially for a tablet. Set to the Z13’s native 2.5K resolution, in-game rendering scale at Ultra Quality, and texture detail on medium, I saw 60fps or just under, and it looked really nice. If I dropped it from the Ultra Quality scale to Quality, it jumped to an even smoother 80fps. This was, of course, while the tablet was connected and its fans were fired in Turbo mode. Diving in again while unplugged dropped Ultra Quality render scale performance down to the 45 to 50fps range as gaming on battery limits you to Performance Mode instead of Turbo.

This is pre-production hardware, but so far, it’s pretty impressive for integrated graphics. AMD’s new chip could have something special here for thin and light devices, but since it lacks Thunderbolt 5, this means that the Flow Z13 cannot use the full GPU bandwidth of the new Asus. eGPU XG Mobile. (Earlier models could use the old XG Mobile because of its proprietary connector.) But, of course, that would make this portable PC gaming solution a little less portable, and the new XG Mobile costs as much as the Flow Z13 itself.

But does a gaming tablet make much sense in 2025 when portable PC gaming is so well served by the Steam Deck and a host of other dedicated handhelds? We’ll see how a production model of the ROG Flow Z13 does when it launches sometime in February.

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge