ASUS Republic Of Gamers (ROG) introduced the ROG Flow series last year as an unconventionally tiny gaming laptop. But at CES 2022, ROG has unveiled a new twist to the Flow line, turning this new ROG Flow into a PC gaming tablet.
The new ROG Flow Z13 only weighs 1.1kg and is 12mm thick, but it packs the power to play the latest video games. Somehow, it is fitted with an Intel 12th-gen Core i9-12900H (not an AMD, curiously) and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 inside the tiny slab with a 13-inch screen.
And if you need to up the graphics power, just like the Flow X13, it can plug into the XG Mobile external GPU, which can house any desktop GPU. New for 2022 is the addition of AMD’s new Radeon RX 6850M XT, so you have the option for either Nvidia or AMD cards for the external GPU.
Folks might remember that ROG made a gaming tablet before with the monstrous (and expensive) ROG Mothership. ROG says it has taken the lessons learned from the Mothership when designing the Flow Z13.
Having it be in tablet form instead of the usual laptop form factor also benefitted in designing its cooling solution. The lack of a hinge lets the Flow Z13 have a bigger vapour chamber and larger fans. It also uses liquid metal for its thermal compound. And on full load, will only generate sounds under 40dB, and can run with no fans (thus, close to silent noise) when used for lighter workloads.
The ROG Flow Z13 has a touchscreen, but its cover is also a keyboard with keys with 1.7mm travel. And you can connect the Flow Z13 to other accessories like a dedicated keyboard and mouse, as well as additional monitors.
Note that this is not replacing the ROG Flow X13. The X13 is getting a spec refresh in 2022, for those who still want a small 13-inch gaming laptop that is still in laptop form.
Here are the specs for the ROG Flow Z13, as revealed at CES 2022:
- CPU: up to Intel Core i9-12900H
- GPU: up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti (4GB VRAM) (TGP: 35W, 40W with dynamic boost)
- RAM: up to 16GB LPDDR5
- Storage: up to 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD
- Display: 13-inch, 3840 x 2400 16:10, (60Hz 85% DCI-P3 or 120Hz 100% sRGB), touchscreen display with Adaptive Sync, Pantone Validated, and Dolby Vision
No word on availability yet, but like the ROG Flow X13, it’s possible to see the ROG Flow Z13 arrive in Malaysia soon.