Asus ROG Z13 Flow 2025 hands-on review: greatest gaming 2-in-1?

Introduction

For go-anywhere gaming with zero compromise, the last-gen ROG Z13 Flow had even the best gaming laptops beat. Squeezing dedicated graphics into a touchscreen tablet and playing nicely with external GPUs, it was a novel concept – a pricey one, sure, but one Asus clearly saw promise in.

It has just unveiled a new 2025 version of the hybrid hero, with the latest AMD Strix Halo CPU and an uprated cooling system that should be able to handle games just about anywhere. I got the chance to see one in person ahead of the official reveal, to see if there’s merit in going 2-in-1 instead of taking the more well-travelled gaming laptop route.

Design & build: breathe easy

It doesn’t look drastically different from previous Z13 Flow models, but the 2025 edition has been thoroughly tweaked both inside and out. The 2-in-1 gaming tablet still has a detachable keyboard cover and a built-in kickstand, but the see-through RGB cutout on the lid is now real glass rather than plastic, and the whole thing has been CNC milled out of metal.

That gives it real rigidity, despite being just 12mm thick, and keeps weight to a manageable 1.2kg. Not so low you’ll be waving it around one-handed, but easily light enough to take on the move. A redesigned motherboard layout, larger internal fans and big exhaust cutouts at the top of the device help channel even more airflow around the hot components, which Asus says lowers temps by 3.1 degrees more than the old model could manage.

There’s a decent selection of full-size ports at the side of the machine, including two USB4 type-Cs, a single USB type-A, 3.5mm combo audio port, HDMI 2.1 and a microSD card slot, as well as Asus’ unique rectangular power port. It’s needed to provide the laptop with enough power (USB-C can’t handle that sort of voltage safely, apparently).

You’ll also find an action key next to the power and volume keys, just like the ROG Ally X handheld. It’ll jump straight into Asus’ game launcher software, which is handy if you’re playing using a game controller rather than a keyboard and mouse.

Screen & sound: pixel packing

Asus has stepped up the Z13 Flow’s screen for 2025 in a few ways. The 13.4in display now has a 3200×1800 resolution, and refresh rate maxes out at 180Hz – a big jump from the 120Hz panels used before. It’s still a 16:10 touchscreen, which seems more productivity focused than gaming-centric.

There’s Dolby Vision HDR support and brightness tops out at 500 nits, which is decent for a compact laptop. Notably absent, though, is any sort of OLED panel tech. It meant black images on my demo unit had a slight grey tinge and viewing angles were merely OK – though the adjustable kickstand meant I never struggled to find a position that worked for face-on viewing.

It’s not like Asus doesn’t have gaming-grade OLEDs in its parts bin, either. The Zephyrus G14 might’ve ‘only’ managed 120Hz, but produces far better contrast and colour – at least from what I could see during my demo.

I can’t vouch for the Z13 Flow’s quad speaker setup, either. It has Dolby Atmos upmixing and promises plenty of volume, but I’m betting most owners will still be reaching for their headphones before booting up any games.

Keyboard & touchpad: bigger is better

While the new Z13 Flow doesn’t shake up the formula introduced by the old one – standalone tablet with attachable keyboard – it does fix a few issues. Namely the key caps, which were too small and had very little travel on the outgoing model. The 2025 variant now uses larger key caps, and key travel has been extended to 1.7mm.

That might not sound like a lot, but it definitely made a difference during my short hands-on session. Each key felt 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 the Zenbook A14 ultraportable, which bodes well for using this as a work machine as well as for gaming.

It’s RGB backlit, of course, with software that lets you customise the colour and animations. I like that with the kickstand being built into the tablet portion, you could also forego the keyboard cover entirely and stick with an existing gaming keyboard if you have one.

The oversized touchpad is very handy when working on the move, though, saving you from reaching for the touchscreen. It felt smooth and responsive enough during my test session. The surrounding cover is made from PU leather, so felt soft to the touch and should withstand marks and stains pretty well.

Performance: fill in the blanks

Ah, the joys of multiple trade show embargoes. Because Asus showed me its CES line-up ahead of AMD and Nvidia’s keynote conferences, the firm couldn’t give me any benchmarks or performance figures to show what the ROG Z13 Flow was capable of. It wasn’t even able to confirm exactly what next-gen AMD processor it was using, or which graphics card was in the XG Mobile external GPU.

It doesn’t take much digging to discover there’s a Ryzen AI MAX 395+ APU at the heart of this machine, a 16-core chip known internally as Strix Halo. 32 threads, support for fast LPDDR5X-8000 unified memory and a peak 5.1GHz clock speed all sound pretty monstrous for a mobile chip that can fit inside a tablet-style chassis – and the Radeon 8060S graphics core should have enough oomph to take on Nvidia’s XX60-series laptop GPUs.

That’s all in theory, of course, as I’ve yet to see the device running anything other than a picture of its spec sheet. And anything over 1440p will be asking a lot, especially in the latest titles. That’s where the new XG Mobile external GPU comes in.

It’s 25% lighter and 18% more compact than the previous generation, and uses a Thunderbolt connection so can be plugged into other laptops, not just Asus ones with a proprietary connector (one of the reasons the last one was so niche). There’s a generous selection of ports at the side including full-size HDMI and DisplayPort, two USB-As, Ethernet and USB-C. The Casing is slightly transparent now, and the RGB lighting fully customisable.

As for what’s inside it? I’m betting an Nvidia RTX 5080, though nothing is confirmed until either firm admits as much. I’ll update this story as soon as I know for sure.

The Z13 Flow’s battery life is also a mystery. AMD’s chipsets are a lot more power efficient than they used to be, but this is still a seriously powerful tablet – expect a lifespan in hours, not days.

Asus ROG Z13 Flow initial verdict

On first inspection, the ROG Z13 Flow doesn’t do anything more to convince me gaming hybrids with external graphics are the future than its predecessor did. But it’s great to see Asus championing the form factor, while addressing a few of the previous version’s pain points.

An improved keyboard, more effective cooling and ample connectivity should make it every bit as usable on the daily as a traditional 2-in-1, while the next-gen AMD internals will be better placed to handle games without having to fall back on the eGPU. Exact performance is a mystery until AMD and Nvidia spill the beans about their newest silicon, but I don’t doubt performance will be suitably epic.

Unfortunately you can expect the price to be similarly stratospheric (I didn’t have specifics at the time of writing), but arguably the small minority that see the Z13 Flow’s appeal will be happy to pay it.

Asus ROG Z13 Flow initial technical specifications