Asus ROG Flow X13 gaming laptop review: Tiny yet tremendous

(Pocket-lint) - The Asus ROG Flow X13 is simply a 13-inch ultraportable 2-in-1-style gaming laptop that's tiny, lightweight and beauteous fascinating too. It's designed to beryllium utile successful galore ways, acknowledgment to a plan that tin beryllium flipped into antithetic positions.

When gaming, you tin besides link it to the XG Mobile outer GPU which doubles not lone arsenic a accepted eGPU but besides arsenic a hub for each your gaming peripherals and gear. This further container of tricks not lone boosts gaming show with Nvidia's RTX 3080 but besides has a built-in 280W powerfulness module arsenic good arsenic connections for USB, Ethernet, DisplayPort and more. 

So if you privation thing you tin instrumentality with you to work, past travel location and dock with a bigger show oregon TV for immersive gaming, past you can. In theory, it's fantastic - and here's wherefore it's greatly amazed and pleased us.

Compact portability and power

• AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS CPU
• Up to 32GB of LPDDR4X 4266MHz RAM
• Up to Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q GPU 
• USB-C PD charger with fast-charging (60 per cent successful 40 mins)
• 1TB NVMe

The Asus ROG Flow X13 is intelligibly a looker. It mightiness beryllium tiny, but it's casual connected the oculus with stylish accents and plan highlights that marque it appealing. It has a swanky looking ridged effect connected the lid and connected the country that surrounds the keyboard, that's oddly pleasant connected the wrists. In classical ROG fashion, it's besides sturdily constructed with a bully coagulated framework that doesn't flex oregon crook unnecessarily. 

As a 2-in-1 with a touchscreen it means that erstwhile you're not gaming connected it, you tin flip it and usage it successful tablet-style, oregon popular it into a structure oregon basal mode for casual contented viewing. In structure mode it'll besides tally cooler, which is an absorbing item for gaming. 

Despite its diminutive size, the Flow X13 has plentifulness connected offer. There's an AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS CPU, truthful it's got large artillery beingness for a start. Not arsenic overmuch arsenic the 11 hours Asus claims, but surely much than the different thin-and-light gaming laptops we've tried implicit the past fewer years. 

Considering that it weighs conscionable 1.3kg and is lone 15mm thick, it's besides nary slouch successful presumption of gaming specs. It packs an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q graphics paper into that slender assemblage - which gives immoderate reasonably decent framework rates. Though that acquisition surely depends connected the game. We managed to get 60+fps connected games similar Forza Horizon 4, Back 4 Blood and Rage 2, but Far Cry 6 didn't execute arsenic good - adjacent connected little settings. 

One downside of the compact quality is the vigor and noise. This is often an contented with ultra-thin gaming machines, but the positions of the fans connected this laptop are peculiarly problematic if you're gaming connected your lap. We sat connected the sofa to crippled and recovered that the presumption of the fans connected the underside pb to the laptop getting excessively blistery connected our thighs. 

Naturally, you tin set the show capabilities successful the Asus Armoury Crate software. Increasing show with turbo oregon show mode gives you a frames-per-second boost, but besides results successful immoderate reasonably large instrumentality noise. The laptop's speakers are bully capable to overpower it for the astir part, but the sound tin beryllium taxing astatine times. 

One happening we bash similar astir this instrumentality is it's capable to tally indie games and little taxing titles astatine decent framework rates portion not plugged in. We utilized it to casually crippled connected Obsidian Entertainment's fantastic endurance crippled Grounded and got creaseless framework rates and a mates of hours play earlier it needed plugging in. 

When you request much power, there's ever the XG Mobile outer GPU.

Extra powerfulness and expandability

• Benchmarks (without eGPU): TimeSpy Extreme, Firestrike, CPU Profile, Night Raid, PC Mark

The Asus ROG Flow X13 isn't without its problems. The compact framework is reasonably constricted successful presumption of ports arsenic standard: there's conscionable 1 USB-A and 1 USB-C port. So if you're plugging successful a rodent and the powerfulness cable, past you can't truly link thing else. 

That's wherever the XG Mobile outer GPU comes in. This is simply a tiny container of tricks that holds a much almighty graphics paper successful the signifier of the RTX 3080. It connects to the laptop with a ample XGm adapter connected the left-hand broadside and past enhances the usability of the instrumentality massively. 

Obviously, the main entreaty is the other graphics powerfulness you past get entree to, but it besides has different features too. It acts arsenic a powerfulness source, for a start. Meaning that you don't request to usage the modular USB-C powerfulness ceramic portion you're utilizing it, which frees up that larboard connected the right-hand side. 

The XG Mobile outer GPU besides has 4 USB-A ports, DisplayPort, HDMI output, and an Ethernet connection. Connect it and you've abruptly got much connectivity options and you tin output to bigger monitors. We made the astir of it by utilizing this tiny laptop and its eGPU to powerfulness a 65-inch 4K TV and to play Forza Horizon 4 and Far Cry 6 successful a overmuch much satisfying way.

That's 1 of the large highlights of this laptop successful this setup: not lone tin you play casual games connected it without being plugged in, but you tin besides link it up and maximise your framework rates connected larger monitors. It besides brings other graphical technologies that you don't get arsenic modular arsenic well. The GTX 1650 graphics successful the laptop itself can't negociate ray tracing, but erstwhile you've connected the eGPU you tin crank those settings on.

However, we volition enactment that the transportation for the outer GPU tin beryllium a spot of a faff. In theory, it's casual enough: plug it into the mains for power, past link the cablegram to your laptop and you're away. But erstwhile you request to disconnect it, you archetypal person to click buttons successful the taskbar and acceptable it to unopen off. Think of this arsenic akin to safely removing hardware, but it's not a measurement you tin conscionable skip if you don't consciousness similar it.

You don't request to bash this if you're conscionable turning the laptop off, leaving it connected to the eGPU acceptable for adjacent time, but you can't conscionable unplug the eGPU connected a whim. Doing truthful volition pb to the laptop nagging astatine you that the eGPU is not detected and you'll person occupation booting backmost into Windows. It's not a large issue, but 1 foible of the design. Once you get utilized to that logic it becomes a batch easier to negociate though.

Convenient touchscreen fun

• Corning Gorilla Glass touchscreen
• 13.4-inch panel, 16:10 facet ratio
• 120Hz refresh rate, 1920 x 1200 resolution
  • or 60Hz astatine WQUXGA (3840 x 2400) resolution
• Pantone validated, sRGB: 116%, DCI-P3: 85%, 
• Adaptive sync support

The ROG Flow X13 has a 16:10 facet ratio, 13.4-inch display. You tin take from either 3840 x 2400 astatine 60Hz oregon 1920 x 1200 astatine 120Hz. The second is the exemplary we reviewed and apt the much logical prime with a show of this size and with the modular GPU choice. You get a higher refresh complaint and the imaginable for amended frame-rates without the eGPU arsenic well. Though it is worthy noting that determination are models of the Flow X13 which travel with an RTX 3050 GPU arsenic standard. 

Obviously, the show connected this laptop isn't precisely huge. But someway acknowledgment to the comparatively bezel-less framework it manages to look larger than it really is. Yes, it has a 16:10 facet ratio alternatively of the accustomed 16:9 - but this isn't a occupation for the bulk of games.

As with different Asus laptops we've tested, it besides has assorted antithetic GameVisual settings that set the surface colours to marque the astir of assorted crippled formats. So you tin prime FPS, Racing, RTS/RPG and much and bask the changes that brings. 

We were pleasantly amazed by what this surface is similar to crippled on. It has much beingness than you mightiness ideate from its tiny framework and it didn't origin america loads of oculus strain adjacent erstwhile playing for agelong periods. Multi-tasking for enactment is simply a spot of a antithetic story, but with the quality to easy link to a larger monitor, it's not overmuch of an issue. 

Writing by Adrian Willings. Editing by Mike Lowe. Originally published connected 13 December 2021.