25 Aug
Blog

Asus ROG Flow X13 Review: 13-Inch Gaming Laptop, Done Right

The ROG Flow X13 on a table overlooking a city.

Asus ROG Flow X13 Review: The King of Small Gaming Laptops?

RRP $ 1,500.00

"The ROG Flow X13 is an ultra-compact and surprisingly powerful gaming laptop."

advantages

  • Amazing portability

  • Good performance for its size

  • Comfortable keyboard and touchpad

  • XG Mobile is a great option

  • 120 Hz refresh rate

disadvantage

  • Mediocre battery life

  • Screen could be brighter

  • Cumbersome port configuration

The Razer Blade Stealth 13 has long been the smallest gaming laptop you could buy. The Asus ROG Flow X13 has a lot to say about this.

It's the second 13-inch gaming laptop you can buy right now, but in some ways it goes further. With up to an RTX 3050 Ti GPU and Ryzen 9 5900HS processor, you can be sure that these are the most powerful components you can cram into a laptop this size.

Most configurations come with the interesting XG Mobile external graphics case. But my review unit is a standalone model that sells for $ 1,500 exclusively at Best Buy. That's not a bad price for a premium gaming laptop. Despite a few minor issues I've had, the ROG Flow X13 keeps the promise of playing in the smallest possible package on the go.

draft

The structured lid of the ROG Flow X13.

Judging by its size, the ROG Flow X13 is what was formerly known as an “ultrabook”. Thanks to the 360 ​​hinge and touchscreen, it is also a convertible 2-in-1.

But with its design and performance, it's unabashedly a gaming laptop. A small gaming laptop. The sleek, all-black exterior is similar to the rest of the ROG line of gaming laptops, including the Zephyrus G15 or some of the older M-series laptops. The lid features structured diagonal lines on the front and a small name tag in the lower corner for the logo. A more subtle version of this texture can be found on the palm rests. It's a pretty minimal design as long as you can overlook the typical gamer font used on the keycaps.

Asus claims that the textured lines add extra strength to the structure as well. Whether it's true or not, the Flow X13 feels very sturdy. The lid doesn't bend too much, especially at the top. The weakest point of the laptop is on the lid along the hinge. This is a common weak point, especially on laptops with a 360-degree hinge – another unique aspect of this laptop. The keyboard gives very slightly, but overall it's a laptop with a rigid feel.

Of course, the size of the Flow X13 is its calling card. I cannot stress enough how impressively small this thing is. A laptop this size just shouldn't be able to handle an 8-core CPU and discrete RTX graphics card – and yet it is here.

Play Fortnite on the ROG Flow X13.

The ROG Flow X13 is not alone, however. The dimensions of the Razer Blade Stealth 13 are almost identical. Razer's 13-inch gaming laptop is 0.2 inches thinner than the Flow X13 and has a different shape due to the screen view. The higher 16:10 shape of the Flow X13 makes it a bit longer on the table, while the 16: 9 Razer Blade Stealth 13 is wider. The ROG Flow X13 is lighter at just 2.87 pounds. In terms of portability, I can happily call it a tie, which makes the Flow X13 one of the smallest gaming laptops you can buy.

There are also some 14-inch gaming laptops that are only marginally larger than the ROG Flow X13. It certainly has a smaller overall pressure than laptops like the Razer Blade 14, ROG Zephyrus G14, or Predator Triton 300 SE – but not as much as you might suspect. Each is about an inch taller in either direction, depending on the laptop, and most are heavier. Still, they are a solid alternative to the ROG Flow X13.

Ports

The connections of the ROG Flow X13.

In terms of connections, the ROG Flow X13 offers the essentials for a gaming laptop. On the right side there is a USB-C port for charging and USB-A. On the left is a headphone jack and HDMI. That's pretty limited, especially on the USB side.

Then there is the most original thing about the ROG Flow X13: its proprietary PCIe interface is located on the left side of the laptop under a flap.

Laying the USB-C cable is particularly annoying for right-handed people. Due to the need for ventilation openings, the ports are located further down the side. This is common with gaming laptops, but since the system is powered by USB-C (and because there is only one USB-C port) there is only one place to plug it in – and right-handed people will be with the cord have to fight space with your mouse. Annoying that a second USB-C port on the left could have solved. Unfortunately, this space is reserved for Asus' proprietary port for connection to the external XG Mobile graphics card housing. However, if you don't want to use it, it's just a waste of space.

Another little annoyance? The position of the power switch. Like many convertible 2-in-1s, it is on the side of the device, right next to a USB port. However, this button is extremely sensitive, resulting in a lot of accidental presses while looking for a port or even just readjusting the laptop on my desk.

Keyboard and touchpad

I may not like the aesthetics of the ROG keyboard used here, but I can't deny its typing enjoyment. It's a big, luxurious layout – the same size you'd find on a 15-inch laptop. In addition, the keys have a chunky 1.7mm travel, which is practically unknown these days. The long stroke ensures fast, precise typing, which I immediately enjoyed. No learning curve.

Interestingly, the ROG Flow X13 doesn't include an RGB backlight. There isn't a rainbow of colors anywhere on this laptop. Some may find the refreshing, albeit individually illuminated, keypad to be a cost-saving measure. There are three levels of backlight control which is the minimum I would expect from a laptop.

The illuminated keyboard of the ROG Flow X13.

The touchpad is also good. I wouldn't have minded if it was a bit wider, but it has a smooth finish and the tracking feels accurate.

The ROG Flow X13 does not contain a Windows Hello IR camera for facial recognition, but the fingerprint reader is integrated into the power button.

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The ROG Flow X13 uses a 13.4-inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1200. That strange resolution comes from the 16:10 aspect ratio, which is increasingly becoming the new standard and is what you see on the MacBook Pro, Find the Dell XPS 13 and Lenovo Legion 5 Pro. Taller screens aren't great for watching movies, but for everyday work and general use, the 16:10 aspect ratio gives a bigger screen for almost anything you do.

The ROG Flow X13 has a glossy, touch-enabled display that is unique compared to the Razer Blade Stealth 13. It makes for a brighter and clearer screen, although reflections can be an issue. The screen achieves a maximum output of around 300 nits, which is good enough for everyday use as long as you're not sitting in a bright room or next to a window. In the dark lighting of a horror movie or game with lots of shadows, you might find yourself staring at yourself. That is not optimal.

The corner of the display of the ROG Flow X13.

However, the screen has other strengths. First, it has a refresh rate of 120 Hz. That's perfect for this performance. Most games won't hit this threshold, which means there's plenty of bandwidth to tweak settings in games and maximize frame rates.

The color saturation is good with 98% in sRGB and 76% in AdobeRGB color spaces. More expensive laptops like the Razer Blade 14 are better in this regard as well as color accuracy. Asus did a good job of keeping the colors natural and not too warm. They are "Pantone-validated", which means that they correspond exactly to the common colors within the Pantone matching system.

All in all, this is a solid screen for both work and play.

Asus has paired it with a decent set of speakers too. They're on the bottom of the laptop, which is fine if you have the laptop on a desk.

The good news, however, is that they sound great. Although facing down, they provide clearer and fuller sound than many laptops, whether it's audio for a video or sound effects in a game. Thanks to the solid separation, it's not bad to listen to some music either. There's not a lot of bass here – and they still don't hit the speakers in MacBooks.

power

You are right if you are skeptical about the performance of the ROG Flow X13. I was also special because of its size. My configuration includes an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS, RTX 3050 Ti, 16GB of dual-channel RAM, and a 1TB SSD for $ 1,500. The RTX 3050 Ti is a newer graphics card that we haven't seen in many laptops, but it is a replacement for both the older GTX 1660 Ti and GTX 1650 Ti. These were common in budget-range gaming laptops, and the GTX 1650 Ti is currently included in the Razer Blade Stealth 13. Razer's 13-inch laptop hasn't been upgraded to the RTX 30 series yet, which means the ROG Flow X13 is really the only option in that regard.

So while the ROG Flow X13 is one of the first to hit the market, you can expect the RTX 3050 to show up in a number of budget gaming laptops under $ 1,000. That means the ROG Flow X13 will likely be one of the more expensive laptops with this GPU. Of course, you can also buy a version with an RTX 3050 bundled with an XG Mobile that includes an RTX 3080. That gets you much better frame rates, but it also costs you $ 2,800.

The ROG Flow X13 alone was able to hold its own in terms of performance.

Laptop 3DMark time spy Cinebench R23 Underdog bench 5 PCMark 10 Fortnite (1080p Epic) Civilization VI (1080p Ultra)
Asus ROG Flow X13 (RTX 3050 Ti) 4503 1420/9701 1415/7592 6429 47 fps 65 fps
Acer Swift X (RTX 3050 Ti) 4073 1437/10135 1287/6663 6247 43 fps 66 fps
Acer Predator Triton 300 SE (RTX 3060) 6038 1412/5855 1503/4606 5776 78 fps 84 fps
HP Envy 14 (GTX 1650 Ti) 3147 1343/5028 1398/4741 5178 39 fps n / A

There's only one other laptop we've tested with the RTX 3050 Ti and that is the Acer Swift X. The ROG Flow X13 does well with this, with a slight head start in graphics performance. That's what you would expect from a gaming laptop.

The RTX 3050 Ti is a significant improvement over the GTX 1650 Ti, with an increase in 3DMark Time Spy scores of up to 30%. We don't have any GTX 1660 Ti laptop scores to compare, but that's a promising generational leap.

In games, however, you might get a little disappointed. Civilization VI was the only game I could play with maximum settings that stayed above 60 frames per second (fps). Fortnite and Battlefield V had to reduce the settings to get over 60 fps. The difference between the ROG Flow X13 and 14-inch gaming laptops with the RTX 3060 is clear.

The amount of VRAM makes a huge difference. The 4 GB in the RTX 3050 Ti (compared to the 6 GB in the RTX 3060) represent a hurdle for games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla. The game is almost unplayable on the ROG Flow X13 with an average of only 20 fps in 1080p at high settings.

Ryzen and Nvidia RTX stickers on the palm rests of the ROG Flow X13.

So if you are interested in the ROG Flow X13 it is important that you know what you are buying. Don't expect to play modern games at maximum settings, at least not without putting up with some choppy frame rates.

However, the processor performance is quite impressive. The AMD Ryzen 9 5900HS is a 35-watt processor with eight cores and 16 threads. Intel's Core i7-11370H is the direct competitor of this chip and comes in the Predator Triton 300 SE. But like many of the Intel vs AMD matches, AMD's additional cores offer improved multithreaded performance. The ROG Flow X13 achieved a whopping 40% better results than the Triton 300 SE in the multi-core test of the Cinebench R23 and was even able to beat it easily in the single core. I've never seen the Flow X13 go up to the promised 4.6GHz, but it did step up to 4.5GHz on occasion. That's not bad.

All of this plays out well in day-to-day tasks and productivity. The ROG Flow X13 scores great across the entire PCMark 10 suite, which ensures that it is a system that works just as well for web surfing, video conferencing, and word processing as it does in games.

Battery life

The Windows lock screen on the ROG Flow X13.

The battery life of the ROG Flow X13 is a disappointment. Given the 120 Hz screen and RTX graphics card, I'm not particularly surprised.

A 62 watt hour battery is big for a 13 inch laptop, but it turned out to be not quite enough to make the Flow X13 the battery life champion.

The system lasted just five hours and 25 minutes in our web browsing test, which ran through a series of difficult websites until the battery was drained. That's not great even when compared to other larger gaming laptops. The ROG Flow X13 did better in our lightest video playback test, which repeated a local 1080p video until the battery was drained. It took over nine hours in this test.

The Razer Blade 14 is still the most durable gaming laptop, even with the RTX 3070 that I tested in my test device. Despite a larger, higher resolution screen, it lasted a few hours longer than the ROG Flow X13.

Our opinion

The ROG Flow X13 is a one-of-a-kind gaming laptop thanks to its unique eGPU and incredible portability. Despite some strange design choices and mediocre battery life, it's hard not to be impressed with how much power Asus has put into this compact laptop.

Are there alternatives?

The Razer Blade Stealth 13 is the primary alternative. It's more expensive, however, and is currently still related to older graphics card and processor options.

The various 14-inch options are all good options, although they are a bit larger. The Razer Blade 14, Acer Predator Triton 300, and ROG Zephyrus G14 are all great 14-inch laptops that are more powerful than the ROG Flow X13 for a similar price.

How long it will take?

The ROG Flow X13 should last four or five years, assuming you don't want to keep abreast of the latest games and technology. Even if you do, the ability to add the XG Mobile is a nice addition that could extend the life of this laptop.

Should you buy it?

Yes, as long as you know what you're getting yourself into. This is nowhere near the most powerful gaming laptop in the world, but if portability is an attractive proposition, you've found an incredibly unique laptop that will fit your life.

Editor's recommendations



30 Aug
Blog

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Yoga Review: Falling Behind Rivals

Lenovo Thinkpad X13 Yoga review 06

"Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Yoga"

"The ThinkPad X13 isn't small, fast or durable enough to keep up with its toughest competitors."

  • Solid build quality

  • Great keyboard and touchpad

  • Good corporate support

  • Short battery life

  • Not as small as many rivals

  • Expensive

The traditional ThinkPad uses a 14-inch screen. However, with the trend towards thinner bezels and smaller laptops, Lenovo has started to downsize the old ThinkPad design a bit.

That was exactly the goal of the ThinkPad X390 Yoga, and now Lenovo has introduced its replacement, the ThinkPad X13 Yoga. The basic form factor of this laptop is kept while the internals are updated.

I got a configuration for $ 1,275 (on sale from $ 2,126) with a Core i5-10310U vPro CPU, 16 GB of RAM, a 256 GB solid-state drive (SSD), and a Full HD IPS Display viewed. Is the X13 keeping up with the rapidly evolving competition, or has this design fallen behind?

design

The ThinkPad X13 looks identical to its predecessor, the ThinkPad X390 Yoga, but there is one big difference: The materials used in the case. The X390 uses a carbon fiber hybrid material for the lid and magnesium for the lower part. The ThinkPad X13, on the other hand, is made entirely of a mixture of carbon fiber, nylon fiber and glass fiber, which is said to be both light and durable.

However, this change of material has a disadvantage in terms of processing quality. I found the lid to flex a little too much. There is a certain amount of keyboard flex and even the bottom of the case is under pressure. It's not the toughest ThinkPad I've ever used. It has always been a hallmark of the brand.

If you're a fan of the ThinkPad look, you're a lucky camper.

Lenovo says it put the X13 through its usual extreme ritual of military certifications and torture tests, and assures us that it is "one of the toughest in its class." With 13-inch laptops, both the HP Specter x360 13 and Dell XPS 13 feel more solid. When considering other business-class laptops like the Dell Lattitude 7400 2-in-1, I'm not sure the X13 lives up to Lenovo's expectations. However, the keyboard is splash-proof, which is a plus and isn't very common.

Otherwise, X390 and X13 are roughly identical. They are the same size, 0.63 inches thick and 2.76 pounds in weight. That's better than the Specter x360 13, which is 0.67 inches thick and weighs 2.88 pounds, but it's slightly thicker and heavier than the 0.58-inch XPS 13, which weighs 2.65 pounds. In terms of width and depth, however, the X13 is quite large compared to some of the other current 13-inch clamshells and 2-in-1 models.

Take another look at the Specter x360 13 and the XPS 13 – both are tiny compared to the X13 as the bezels are much smaller and are almost an inch smaller in each dimension. The X13 is the smallest ThinkPad, but it has relatively large bezels at the top and bottom, which give it a little more size than the new normal.

Aesthetically, the X13 is a ThinkPad through and through. It is completely black, has the usual ThinkPad logo in the corner of the lid with the red LED battery indicator above the “i”, the obligatory red TrackPoint nubbin in the middle of the keyboard and red accents on the TrackPoint keys. That's it for Bling, and it remains a good look that is both attractive on its own and holds almost the entire ThinkPad line together. If you're a fan of the look, you're a lucky camper.

Connectivity is excellent for such a thin and light laptop. You get two USB-C 3.1 ports (one with Thunderbolt 3 support), two USB-A 3.1 ports, a full-size HDMI 1.4 port, an Ethernet expansion port (which of course requires a dongle), and a microSD Card reader. Wireless connectivity is cutting edge with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.

performance

In reference to its business customers, Lenovo equips the ThinkPad X13 with Intel vPro processors, which enable connection to company systems to improve security, manageability and stability. My test device was equipped with the 10th generation quad-core Core i5-10310U vPro, which turned out to be a competent but unspectacular performer.

In Geekbench 5, for example, the X13 achieved 1,041 points in the single-core test and 2,781 points in the multi-core test. This is a bit behind other laptops with Core i5 CPUs, such as the Acer Aspire 5 with its Core i5-1035G1 (1,129 and 2,899) and the Dell Inspiron 14 5000 with the same processor (1,169 and 3,197). When I searched our rating database, I didn't find a single 10th generation Core i5 that the X13 beat in this benchmark.

In our handbrake test, which converts a 420MB video to H.265, the X13 took almost five and a half minutes to complete. The Aspire 5 was 15 seconds faster and the X13 40 seconds slower than the Inspiron 14 5000. The Acer Spin 3 with the same Core i5 was over a minute faster. Once again, the X13 was at the bottom of the pile of similarly equipped laptops.

That doesn't mean the X13 is a slow laptop. It's not – it's more than fast enough for productivity tasks and media consumption. It's not as fast as the non-vPro competition, however, which means you'll pay more for extended enterprise support than you would for extra performance.

The X13 also has the basic Intel UHD graphics, which means it is not a slot machine. You'll want to stick to older titles with lower resolutions and graphical detail if you want to gamble at all or play the occasional Windows 10 games.

display

My test device was equipped with a 300 nit Full HD IPS display (1,920 x. 080). According to my colorimeter, it's almost the average for premium displays today. As I mentioned earlier, this is a good thing as today's average display is exceptional for productivity work and multimedia consumption. Only creatives who need extremely wide and precise colors will be disappointed with most premium displays.

The brightness was a bit low at 274 nits (we want to see premium displays with 300 nits or more) and the contrast was 860: 1 (1,000: 1 or more marks a higher quality display). There aren't any terrible results either, but they're a little below average. You have a little trouble in bright environments and black text on a white background doesn't show up as often, which is important to me as a writer.

Note that we did not test the Full HD displays on the HP Specter x360 13. Instead, we tested the HP with an AMOLED display, which was very bright and with incredible contrast. However, our Dell test unit was Full HD, albeit in a 16:10 aspect ratio, and it was also very bright and had much higher contrast.

The colors of the X13 display were average at 96% sRGB and 72% AdobeRGB. Again, both HP and Dell exceeded those numbers, with the Specter x360 13 reaching 100% and 98% and the Dell 97% and 77%. Most premium laptops fall in the same range as the X13, however. The X13's color accuracy was 1.45, close to 1.0, which is considered excellent. This is better than the Dell 1.53, but not as good as the HP 1.29. You'll find plenty of premium laptops that are over 2.0, which makes the X13 a reasonably accurate display.

I didn't have any issues using the laptop screen during my review. This usually involves writing most of the copy on the verification device. I also watched Netflix and found the experience pleasant enough. This is a good display, but not a great one, although Lenovo does offer some other, brighter displays as upgrades that may offer better overall performance. The high-end display offers the privacy guard function from Lenovo, with which the display can be made illegible from the sides.

The display features Lenovo's ThinkShutter that moves to physically block the webcam. However, this is no longer a unique feature. For example, the Specter x360 13 has an electronic version that removes the webcam from the system.

The sound was surprisingly good, with enough volume and no distortion at full force. There's little bass, which is normal on all Apple MacBooks, but the mids and highs were crisp and bright. The two downward-facing, Dolby-tuned speakers are good enough for watching Netflix alone. However, for the best audio quality, you will need good headphones or a solid bluetooth speaker.

Keyboard and touchpad

The ThinkPad keyboard is another icon of the line and has long been one of the best on the market. The X13 has the standard version and offers the usual large buttons, generous spacing and a consistent and controlled mechanism that is very precise. It does have a bit of strength, however, and requires a little more pressure to activate a keystroke than some other keyboards.

I like a lighter feel, so I prefer the latest MacBook Magic Keyboard, as well as HP's Specter keyboard (and recently Envy) on the Windows 10 side. However, if you like a bit of pressure, or are just a fan of the ThinkPad keyboard in general, you will love the X13.

The touchpad is a bit smaller than it could be due to the buttons on top that operate the TrackPoint nubbin. Microsoft's Precision touchpad drivers are available, making the touchpad responsive and providing excellent support for Windows 10 multi-touch gestures. The TrackPoint is there for those who prefer it too, and it works as smoothly as ever.

The display is touch sensitive and precise. No complaints there. And it supports the Lenovo ThinkPad Pen Pro with 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity (other laptops like Microsoft's Surface line and the Specter x360 support 4,096 levels). The Pen Pro slides into a port on the side of the X13, which not only provides convenient storage, but also doubles as a charger. The main disadvantage of the Pen Pro is its size – it's smaller than a "real" pen and doesn't feel as natural when you write and draw. Without the spring mechanism, the pin cannot be removed from the slot even on a flat surface.

Windows 10 Hello login support without a password is provided on my test device by a fast and responsive fingerprint reader that offers the additional security of storing all fingerprint information on a chip. The other display options add an infrared camera for facial recognition.

Battery life

The X13 has 50 watt hours of battery life, which is not as much as some others (the Specter x360 13, for example, has 60 watt hours) but isn't terrible for a 13-inch laptop with a Full HD display. I would expect decent, if not very good, battery life.

I didn't get that. In fact, the battery life was downright disappointing.

Starting with our most demanding Basemark web benchmark test, which put a strain on the CPU and GPU, the X13 lasted a little over three hours. That is way below average, but not a terrible score. The Dell XPS 13 lasted almost five hours, while the Specter x360 13 with its power-hungry AMOLED display lasted almost four hours.

The battery life was downright disappointing.

In our web browser test, which best mimics the longevity of productivity, the X13 failed in just under six hours. That's a bad score. The XPS 13 ran for almost 12 hours, while the Specter x360 13 was almost the same as the X13 despite its display. In our video test, in which a local Full HD Avengers trailer is looped, the X13 didn't quite make it to eight hours. The XPS 13 lasted 14.5 hours and the Specter x360 lasted about 10 hours.

In short, the X13's battery life is hard to figure out. It should take longer, but it doesn't. You might spend an entire day doing very light productivity tasks, but you will likely need to carry your charger with you.

Our opinion

The ThinkPad X13 is the smallest ThinkPad you can buy, and that's all it has to offer. If you're looking for a ThinkPad that won't weigh you down or take up a lot of space in your backpack, this is the best option. But its performance, build quality, battery life, and display lag behind the competition. It's also relatively expensive at $ 1,275, and starts at a retail price of $ 2,126.

Is there a better alternative?

The HP Specter x360 13 is a great choice if you are sold with a 2-in-1 device. It looks better, is just as solidly built, if not more, and offers a spectacular display option. When you choose a low-power display, you get incredible battery life that dwarfs the X13. It's also $ 1,200 with a Core i7 CPU and 512GB SSD, which also makes it a cheaper choice.

If you're not sold with a 2-in-1, the Dell XPS 13 is a great alternative. It looks better too, is solidly built, has better performance, and has much better battery life. With the same configuration as the X13, you save about $ 175.

When you need the added security and manageability features of vPro, the HP Elite Dragonfly is a more modern and feature-rich commercial laptop.

How long it will take?

The ThinkPad X13 is designed to last as long as you possibly need the laptop. The components – especially Thunderbolt 3 and Wi-Fi 6 – are up to date and will keep you connected for years. The one-year warranty is disappointing, especially for a business-class machine.

Should you buy it?

No. The ThinkPad X13 doesn't have much going for it unless you're a die-hard ThinkPad fanatic.

Editor's recommendations