The iPad Pro Got Nothing On The Overpowered Asus ROG Flow Z13 Tablet

The CES 2022 product launch spree for Asus includes a tablet-laptop hybrid called the ROG Flow Z13, a Surface wannabe that comes armed with up to an Intel Core i9 processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050Ti graphics. And it can even tap into the power of the beastly NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 or the AMD RX 6850M graphics. Now, there is no dearth of brands out there that want to replicate the Surface formula and create a Windows laptop that can truly rival the iPads. On the other side, the M1 chip quite literally supercharged the iPad Pro and further widened the performance gulf.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT

Acer and Dell are some of the established names that have been eyeing glory for a while, and even names like Huawei are taking a stab at the idea. And then comes the demand for playing modern age games. Dedicated gaming laptops with all their cooling tech still get toasty after a session of Doom Eternal on high graphics presets. Imagining a slim Windows tablet to handle the demands of a modern game with its low-power CPU and mobile GPU without much in the name of thermal hardware seems like a pipedream.

Related: The Next Asus Gaming Phone Might Look Every Bit As Tacky As It Should

Say hello to the ROG Flow Z13, which is essentially a ‘Super Surface’ at heart. The design of Asus’ latest machine screams gaming, thanks to an aggressive all-black paint job, a glass window with RGB accent lighting effects that gives a peek at the innards, and Aura Sync lighting on the detachable keyboard. The material used is aircraft-grade aluminum with spacecraft-inspired lines carved right into it. And to manage heat, there are fans inside, a vapor chamber cooling system, four heat sinks with copper vents, liquid metal over the CPU, and three modes to choose from — Silent, Performance, and Turbo. All that inside a tablet form factor with the ROG genes splashed all across it.

You Must Really Want It To Buy It

The innards are serious business and demand all the thermal tricks described above. Processor options start at the quad-core Intel Core i5-12500H and peak at the hexacore Intel Core i9-12900H clocked at 5.0GHz. Graphics options reach the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050Ti (4GB VRAM) mark. For folks unimpressed by the modest GPU option, they can connect the ROG Flow Z13 with the XG Mobile series of eGPU enclosures and experience the raw firepower of NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD’s Radeon RX6850M XT graphics.

In a nutshell, every current-gen game will absolutely fly — at a steep price, that is. The 2021 ROG XG Mobile eGPU is currently listed for a humble $1,500 on the Asus US website. That’s enough to buy the Surface Pro 8 or a decent gaming laptop on its own. But this is a tablet being discussed here, and cramming all that power in the thin chassis ain’t no cheap effort.

Over at the front is a full-HD display with a 120Hz refresh rate to answer the iPad Pro comparison, but interested buyers can get a 4K model as well. There’s 16 gigs of DDR5 RAM inside, 1TB of M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD, and one Type-A, Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Display Port / PD / G-Sync), and Thunderbolt (with DisplayPort / PD) port each. An 8-megapixel camera sits at the back, Dolby Atmos-ready speakers are there for audio output, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 handle wireless connectivity, and there’s 100W charging support as well. No word on the pricing yet, but the ROG Flow Z13 will definitely be one pricey machine.

Next: The Asus ROG Phone 5S Pro Gaming Phone Is An Exercise In Excess

Source: Asus (1, 2)