Asus ROG Flow Z13 ACRONYM review: it’s a lot

Sometimes my senses are a little overwhelmed when I receive one of these weird little computers that Asus has co-built with someone else. They made one with an animated exploding head on the lid. Some even turned into DJ decks. Some were covered by dogs.

But this latest release, the ROG Flow Z13 ACRNM, may be the quirkiest yet. No discernible theme, rhyme, or reason. Pure chaos from top to bottom. That’s fine, you know what. It’s 2023.

Flow Z13 is the second collaboration between ROG and ACRONYM. ACRONYM is an apparel brand that sells items like this $1,800… think of it as a dress?This is a 13.4-inch gaming his tablet with a kickstand and detachable keyboard.

Priced at $2,499.99, the Core i9 13900H/RTX 4070/16GB RAM/1TB SSD/2560 x 1600 model test unit appeals to a fairly niche user: well-funded, with a deeper desire to project edgy chaos. It targets gamers on the go with it. aesthetic. Most people shouldn’t spend this much. If you’re looking for a convertible tablet, you can get the Surface Pro 9 for $500 less. If you value gaming power and portability, the very comparable Zephyrus G14 is even cheaper. But the Z13, like any laptop, caters to a specific, specific niche.

Here are a few phrases that Asus uses in their press materials to summarize the aesthetic here.

• “Redefining Mobile Computing”
• “Beautiful and refined raw”
• “A truly unique machine”
• “Dream hands-free machine”
• “A functional yet striking work of art”

It’s avant-garde, that’s for sure. Every time I look at this I find something else. The bottom is covered with logos and typography (these aren’t just stickers, they’re laser etched into the metal). The dark leather cover also has a funky form. I can’t say that any of them really know. If you are taking ayahuasca regularly and think you are aware of its deep spiritual meaning, feel free to let us know in the comments.

The back is dotted with rubber pads, which look a little weird, but they do a good job of keeping the device in place, even when you’re trying to lay it on a table. adopts a shock-resistant bumper that is resistant to drops. There is also a strap that can be attached to the corner so that it can be worn over the shoulder like a briefcase. I’m so glad this didn’t come out while I was in college. Cool kids would have bullied me.

Eclectic design aside, this is a 13-inch tablet with an RTX 4070 and an H-series Core i9 inside. This is very unusual. These are the types of chips you’d expect to see commonly on larger gaming consoles. The keyboard is detachable. No kickstand. This kickstand allows both vertical and horizontal orientation. This is a feature that Asus has long been convinced people need. I don’t use a 16:10 Windows tablet in portrait orientation, but it is more powerful when I do.

Now the Z13 isn’t particularly portable like a tablet. At 2.91 pounds and 0.61 inches thick, it doesn’t feel like an iPad, nor is it the type you’d want to take out for an hour-long presentation. Still, whenever I have a choice between carrying this in my backpack or carrying the Titan GT77 for example, I choose this one. I’ve used this for work on couches and cafés, and it fits well on crowded work surfaces.

Another thing to highlight is the display. This model has a refresh rate of 165Hz and a resolution of 2560 x 1600. Quite lively. We found that it offers a number of different color modes that can be used with different types of games to enhance the viewing experience. The 13.4-inch screen is a bit small for most games, and I had to squint at windows here and there, but at least the QHD resolution offers crisp detail.

So those are bells and whistles. How to use things is like this.

It’s a Z13. It’s a 13 inch tablet. So the framerate was fine.

Especially demanding titles ran well in native QHD resolution.I saw an average of 232fps CS:GO and 55fps on red dead redemption 2, sets both titles to their maximum settings. Both of these are better results than last year’s Zephyrus G14 (which wasn’t his one of those tablets, it was a full-fledged conventional gaming laptop). They’re not surprisingly good at blowing other premium gaming laptops out of the water, and Asus clearly had to kneel down to squeeze into this chassis. It’s like cramming a college dorm room into the trunk of a sedan. Sure, you did it, but how much did it cost?

But I digress. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by how well the device was able to bring down the temperature. The nice thing about this form factor is that no matter how hot the chassis gets, the heat usually doesn’t transfer to the keyboard or palmrest, which doesn’t affect your gaming experience.

For an additional fee, you can also connect your device to XG Mobile. This is a line of external GPUs that offer very high frame rates. You can get one of these for around $1,000 today.

Oh, and the Z13 supports Nvidia’s Advanced Optimus. This basically drives his MUX switch automatically. The integrated GPU turns off while gaming and turns back on when the game ends (and the discrete GPU turns off). Try to manually configure your laptop. good! fun! love to see it.

If you were expecting this device to have great battery life, luckily it doesn’t. I averaged four and a half hours of continuous work. This included bouncing around 20 Chrome tabs, Spotify streaming, Slack, and more. I got better battery gaming results than I expected, consuming about 48 minutes of game time. red dead redemption 2 Play on a single charge. The included 130W adapter can get up to 50% utilization of the device in 30 minutes, according to Asus estimates.

Regular readers of my reviews might expect criticism here that good battery life should be a basic expectation of a portable machine, but honestly, I don’t have it. . We know no one is buying this for great battery life or top-end frame rates. They are buying this because it looks like it fell out of space. Likewise, they should.

I’ve been open-minded and lame throughout this review. Too many.

The key contains what Asus calls “Acronym’s own custom alphabet.” Nice to know that Acronym has its own alphabet. Unfortunately that’s not the alphabet I need to type at work.

When it comes to words, I am a very competent touch typist. For example, if Z13 requires you to enter a number, it will be a scavenger hunt. It’s not that the real numbers aren’t in the keys of the Z13, but my eyes instinctively couldn’t spot them, as they’re buried in a dump of so many other symbols, colors, and zany pranks. is not depicted. For example, the brightness down key is labeled “DARK” and has a little faint grid above it. I understand Acronym’s intention, but I just want the normal brightness icon. Brightness icons can be boosted. Please tell me the brightness icon.

Quirky designs are great until they start encroaching on the day-to-day functionality of the device. The Kooky laptop is a laptop first. The Zephyrus G14 Acronym (to rave reviews at release) labels the keyboard keys in a storybook-style font for easier reading. There were other decorations sprinkled around the keycaps, but they were clearly and distinctly separated from the actual actual labels on the keys.

The eye-popping design is stunning and makes this device a unique product that cannot be found anywhere else on the market. Whether it’s movies, clothing, or consumer technology, I admire products that are impeccable in their own right. But fundamentals don’t get lost. I want companies that continue to innovate to remember that.