Asus ROG Z13 Flow review: a heroic gaming hybrid unlike anything else

Introduction

It wasn’t too far back into PC gaming history that “integrated graphics” was considered a curse word. An Asus ROG device without a dedicated GPU would’ve been unthinkable. Madness, even. Fast forward to 2025, though, and the Z13 Flow is very much flying solo in the graphics department – yet I couldn’t be happier.

Chip-maker AMD has pulled off some silicon wizardry with its Strix Halo processors, letting this 13in tablet deliver impressively high frame rates in the latest games, but also last for an entire working day while away from the mains when handling desktop duties. So it has the oomph to replace many full-fat gaming laptops and is compact enough to ditch your gaming handheld for; that’s taking “hybrid device” status seriously if you ask me.

The Z13 Flow (2025) doesn’t come cheap, though. The base model tested here will set you back $2000/£2200, which is rubbing shoulders with considerably more powerful machines that don’t have to balance performance with portability. Does that make it a niche proposition, or can it really be all things to all gamers?

Design & build: fun form factor

Imagine a Surface Pro that was built for gaming instead of productivity, and I bet it’ll look something like the ROG Z13 Flow. It’s an angular 13in tablet with a built-in kickstand and detachable keyboard (which comes bundled in the box, imagine that?), emblazoned with Mecha-inspired graphics. There’s even a see-through panel at the rear, illuminated by rainbow RGB, that shows off the internal circuitry. Subtle it ain’t.

It’s a thick boy compared to your average iPad, but 12mm isn’t all that much given the powerful hardware lurking inside, and with the keyboard removed it weighs a manageable 1.2kg. That’s not so low you’ll be waving it around one-handed, but is easily light enough to take on the move.

The whole thing has been CNC milled out of metal, giving it real rigidity, and the see-through cutout is now real glass rather than plastic. I like how firm the kickstand is, letting you adjust the tablet to almost any angle – including an extreme one I found perfect for playing poker roguelike Balatro using the touchscreen. The keyboard cover clips in at the bottom using pogo pins, and is held in place by strong magnets. It’s made from PU leather, which feels soft to the touch and resisted marks throughout my testing.

There’s not a huge amount of space for connectivity at the sides, with just two USB4 type-Cs and a single USB type-A on top of the 3.5mm combo audio port, HDMI 2.1 video out and microSD card reader. One USB-A mean I had to constantly change dongles when swapping between my gaming mouse and controller, and I’d personally find a full-size SD card reader more useful. You can refuel over USB-C, but need the moderately chunky power brick – which provides juice through Asus’ proprietary rectangular port – for maximum gaming performance.

Power and volume keys live on the right edge along, with an action key. This jumps straight into Asus’ game launcher software, just like the ROG Ally X handheld, which I found handy when playing using a controller rather than a keyboard and mouse.

Other nice-to-haves are the 5MP webcam and 13MP rear camera, which are really only useful for video calls and unlocking the tablet with Windows Hello face recognition.

Screen & sound: sensible choice

I can already hear the moaning. “Boo, why isn’t it OLED?” I like to think it’s because Asus’ engineers understand the battery trade-offs just aren’t worth it in a machine like the Z13 Flow. Besides, this power-friendly IPS touchscreen is fantastic, with practically zero light bleed around the edges of the frame, even when you crank the brightness. Black levels aren’t perfect, but they’re still good enough that the dimly-lit opening of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle wasn’t a chore to play through.

Asus hasn’t overcooked it on pixel count, either. A 4K display would be asking too much of the integrated graphics, but the 2560×1600 resolution is spot on. It looks sharp from a typical viewing distance, and meaningfully more detailed than 1080p. It gives games more chance of hitting the maximum 180Hz refresh rate, too. It’s a big jump from the 120Hz setup seen on the outgoing Z13 Flow. The 16:10 aspect ratio is also great for productivity, with enough space for side-by-side multitasking.

There’s Dolby Vision HDR support and brightness tops out at 500 nits, which is decent for a compact laptop. The adjustable kickstand meant I never struggled to find a position that worked for face-on viewing.

It won’t impress like a mini-LED or OLED can in the darkest scenes of movies or night levels in games, but colours are otherwise wonderfully punchy. The green trees of Atomfall‘s post-apocalyptic Cumbria looked luscious, and colour space coverage is good enough for creative work.

I thought that the quad speaker setup, which has Dolby Atmos upmixing for a bit of added immersion, put in a suitably shouty performance at full volume. They get loud enough for casual viewing and don’t totally skimp out on bass, but the treble could get a bit peaky when I really cranked it. I’m betting most owners will still be reaching for their headphones before booting up any games.

Keyboard & touchpad: there when you need them

I wouldn’t say the old Z13 Flow’s detachable keyboard felt like an afterthought, but it wasn’t exactly a joy to type on. Asus has listened to fan feedback for the successor, using larger key caps and significantly extending the key travel. 1.7mm doesn’t sound like a lot of movement, but it definitely made a difference.

Each key feels much more convincing to press, while staying springy enough that I wasn’t bottoming out every time I pushed down. There’s more travel here than you’ll find in Asus’ Zenbook A14 ultraportable, and I like that you can either position the board at a raised angle or have it flat to your desk. I had no issues using it as my daily work machine, even if the board flexes quite a bit when placed in the raised position.

Naturally it’s RGB backlit, with software for customising the colour and animations. You can only pick one colour at a time, though, so the effects aren’t as fancy as gaming laptops with per-key illumination. Key brightness is really low, too; even once I’d set the LEDs to white, they weren’t the easiest to see unless I was sat in the dark.

The oversized touchpad is smooth and responsive enough that I wasn’t constantly reaching for the touchscreen, though two-finger right clicks sometimes wouldn’t register at the first attempt. It’s otherwise no better or worse than any other Windows laptop I’ve used lately; Apple still rules the roost for tactile trackpads, as far as I’m concerned.

My biggest takeaway was that I didn’t actually need to keep the keyboard cover connected when I was gaming. With the kickstand built into the tablet portion, I could forgo it and stick with my existing gaming keyboard, or ditch it altogether when using a controller. The touchscreen handled everything else, with the tablet’s tiny footprint able to squeeze onto a coffee table or foot stool that had no hope of holding a traditional gaming laptop.

Performance: rewrites the rule book

If you’ve not been keeping up with the APU voodoo that AMD’s engineers have been cooking up lately, the ROG Z13 Flow will leave your jaw on the floor. My review unit’s Ryzen AI Max 390 is a 12-core, 24-thread powerhouse that can boost to 5GHz and delivers the sort of desktop performance to essentially tie with Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285H. Some benchmarks favour team Red, others team Blue, and there’s very little in it.

3D tests and games, though? The AMD’s Radeon 8050S integrated GPU and its 32 graphics cores effectively deliver twice the muscle of its rival. It also trades blows with an Nvidia RTX 4060 – a dedicated GPU, don’t forget – while consuming a heck of a lot less power. Games that would’ve previously demanded Medium or Low settings now run at High or better, while AMD’s FSR 3.1 upscaling tech makes more demanding modern titles perfectly playable.

At the Z13 Flow’s native 2560×1600 resolution, Gears Tactics delivered 65.7fps with every graphics setting maxed. Shadow of the Tomb Raider managed 67fps on the highest details. Cyberpunk 2077 saw 44.6fps using the High preset, with FSR and frame generation boosting those numbers to a frankly incredible 98.54fps. Atomfall comfortably runs at over 60fps without having to pick and choose which settings to dial back.

Those figures were achievable after a quick dive into Asus’ Armory Crate software. By default just 4GB of memory is assigned to the GPU, but there’s an option to boost this to 16GB. It’s all but essential. Even then, ray tracing remains the one big weakness: Cyberpunk’s RT High preset fell to 54fps with FSR and frame generation, which didn’t feel nearly as smooth to play. But now much of that fancy lighting are you really taking in on a 13in screen, anyway?

Even better, because the processor isn’t sucking down ridiculous amounts of voltage, it’s not pumping out excessive heat either. The internal fans operate at a sensible volume even while gaming, so I could play next to my wife without incurring the side-eye. This is thanks in part to Asus fitting larger fans, bigger exhaust cutouts, and a redesigned motherboard layout that means temperatures are around three degrees celsius lower than the old model.

Ultimately you’ve got to be spending big bucks on a gaming laptop with an RTX 4070 dedicated GPU to go any better. The same amount put towards an ultraportable with Intel integrated graphics won’t get anywhere close to this. And this isn’t even the best one. A more potent Ryzen AI Max 395 promises even more frames per second.

Your other option is Asus’ XG Mobile external graphics dock, which has also been upgraded for 2025 with Thunderbolt 5 connectivity (goodbye proprietary connectors) and Nvidia RTX 5000 series GPUs. Just keep in mind adding a 5090 to your setup will set you back another $2000/£2000.

Battery life: but this is a gaming machine?

An efficient CPU, lack of dedicated graphics demanding power, and an LCD display all add up to give the Z13 Flow impressive staying power for a device aimed at gamers. The bigger 70Whr battery (up from 56Whr on the last-gen model) also helps.

I regularly saw between nine and ten hours of productivity use. Video playback lasts closer to eight, depending on brightness levels. I could even manage a few hours of gaming when the titles in question weren’t that demanding. While this isn’t going to rival the best ultraportable laptops for workday staying power, I had no reason to grumble given this tablet’s ability to blast through Diablo IV dungeons with any remaining juice once I’d clocked off for the evening.

Charging takes a little over an hour with the 200W power brick, which is suitably speedy.

Asus ROG Z13 Flow (2025) verdict

For go-anywhere gaming with very little compromise, the Asus ROG Z13 Flow is seemingly in a class of one. Stick one of these in your backpack with a gaming mouse or controller and it really can do it all, as long as you aren’t fussed about ray tracing. Even the latest titles run smoothly at high details and native resolution, yet it can be quiet and long-lasting when the GPU is put to bed in favour of desktop working.

The form factor won’t be for everyone. More traditional gaming laptops might not have the battery life of the Asus, but they deliver the same (or better) performance for less cash. Many also have nicer OLED screens, and better connectivity. The price disparity is even bigger once you factor in the optional yet eye-wateringly expensive XG Mobile external GPU.

And yet its sheer flexibility should still mean frequent flyers can justify the outlay.

Asus ROG Z13 Flow (2025) technical specifications