ASUS ROG Flow Z13 2025 Review

Gaming tablets have always existed in a curious space. They are not quite full-fledged laptops, yet they are far more powerful than your typical handheld. For gamers who value both performance and portability, they offer a unique blend of both worlds. The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 2025 aims to push this hybrid category further, delivering serious gaming power in a slim, tablet-style form factor.

That’s what the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 offers – a 2-in-1 Windows gaming tablet. With a 180Hz refresh rate display and the new AMD chipset, it seems like the perfect on-the-go gaming solution. There’s just one problem – the price. At PHP 174,995USD 3,052INR 262,895EUR 2,821CNY 22,137, it isn’t exactly the most affordable ROG model out there.

Still, the question remains – is the ROG Flow Z13 a device you should consider if you want a portable gaming device? Or are you better off with a gaming laptop or even an ROG Ally? Better yet, would I consider this since I’m currently looking at the ROG Ally X for myself?

Design and Construction

This being an ROG device, the Flow Z13 comes with everything you would expect from ASUS’s gaming arm even if it is in the form of a tablet. The entire device is made out of metal, and it feels very premium, especially with this all-metal design finished in black. No excessive styling cues here too.

At the back, there is a built-in stand, allowing it to be used similarly to a laptop or even flat. Although subtle, when you open the stand, you can see the components of the Flow Z13 laid out, too—from the M.2 slot to the battery packs. Aside from that, you have the AMD Ryzen AI sticker, which gives users an idea of what it’s packing under the hood.

But my favorite part is the semi-clear slit that gives you a view of the tablet’s board. More importantly, it lights up too, giving a proper gamer vibe. If you were expecting more RGB on this tablet, well that’s the only one visible. Still, there’s no way to mistake it for anything else; one look and you could tell this is an ROG device.

As the name implies, it has a 13.4-inch screen, similar to the iPad Pro. Though identical in size, this thing is a lot heavier and thicker than the iPad Pro weighing 1.2kg and measuring 15mm thick. So if you’re used to lighter tablets, you will have to get used to it.

I don’t mind the weight and thickness though, since it does come with a bunch of ports. There are two USB-C ports with support for DisplayPort which doubles as a charging port, a USB-A 3.2 port, an HDMI 2.1 port, a microSD port, and even a 3.5mm audio port. For a tablet, that’s a lot, but if you plan on gaming or working on the go, I would still recommend bringing a USB hub.

Interestingly, there are two cameras on the Flow Z13 – a 5MP front and a 13MP rear camera. The rear camera isn’t the best, and it’s hard to use to take photos especially with its size. However, the front camera is decent if you are going to be on a conference call.

The ROG Flow Z13 also comes with a keyboard and trackpad included. In fact, it’s already attached to the device from the get-go. This also doubles as a screen protector when you’re not using the device. It also connects magnetically to the bottom of the device, and cannot be paired with Bluetooth.

The keyboard itself is similar to most tablet keyboards, made out of a lightweight fabric-like material. For a detachable keyboard, it’s quite big and there’s good spacing between the keys. As you would expect, it doesn’t have the same tactile feel as you would on a laptop keyboard, but it is comfortable to type with. It does come with RGB lighting, which is neat.

I was able to write a good chunk of this review using the Flow Z13. I didn’t make too many typing mistakes either, and I was able to have a good flow going. There are also a bunch of shortcut commands on the keyboard which are nice to have.

Similar to the keyboard, the trackpad has a good feel too. It’s quite accurate, and it has a good size. It’s not intrusive when typing, and I don’t have the usually accidental clicks with trackpads on detachable keyboards. Still, I would use a mouse if you have the opportunity.

Our review unit did come with an ROG mouse after all, but that automatically takes up the USB-A port. There’s also a stylus that came with it, but we’ll talk more about that later.

Display and Multimedia

Moving on we have the display of the ROG Flow Z13, and as mentioned earlier it comes with a 13.4-inch touchscreen with 2.5K resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio, and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection.

If you were expecting an OLED panel, well you will be disappointed since this only uses an IPS panel. ROG did make up for it by giving the display a 180Hz refresh rate, which is insane to find on a tablet. This is something that you would normally find on a gaming monitor or a gaming laptop, not a tablet.

More importantly, the display has very accurate colors. The screen is Pantone Validated and even supports Dolby Vision HDR. This made it great for editing and creative work, which I enjoy doing on the go.

Even when I was outside, I didn’t have a hard time editing photos and even videos. The screen also has a layer of DXC coating to help prevent glares, which does work. I’m sure those who love to draw or sketch would also enjoy using the device a lot more especially with the supplied ASUS stylus.

Since this is a tablet, you can detach the keyboard and enjoy watching movies or series in more relaxing positions. You can also open the stand, put it on a bench, and have a watching session with friends. Of course, you will enjoy the 180Hz refresh rate the most when gaming, but more on that later.

When using the touch screen, everything is responsive. No accidental misclicks of links or what too. But I didn’t use the touch screen too much since I kept leaving fingerprints on the screen, which was irritating.

For a tablet of this size, you get a quad-speaker system with support for Dolby Atmos. Usually, tablets don’t have the best speakers, but the ones ASUS fitted onto the ROG Flow Z13 are great.

As is, they are just decent at best, but if you open the Dolby Access app and turn on Dynamic, you get better sound quality. There’s a lot more bass and the sound stage is enhanced to give users a more enhanced listening experience. Of course, if you’re gaming, I would still recommend using earphones/headphones, and that’s where the 3.5mm audio port comes into play.

Performance and Benchmarks

Now here’s where things get interesting. The past ROG Flow Z13 used to have a dedicated GPU, but with the new AMD Ryzen AI Max 390 chipset, that changes everything. It features 12 cores, 24 threads, and 32 graphic cores, all combined into one architecture.

You might think this is similar to the integrated graphics with less GPU power, but you’d be wrong. Whether you’re working or playing, you won’t feel any lack in the performance department.

Starting with work and productivity, the ROG Flow Z13 did not slowdown even when I had multiple tabs of Chrome open while editing photos in Lightroom and jamming out to Spotify. It could even easily render 4K videos easily while all of that is running in the background. Mind you, this was on Silent mode since I was working outdoors and didn’t bring the charger with me.

Since this is an ROG product, I’m sure you’re all wondering how it performs when gaming. Similar to a gaming laptop, the Flow Z13 works best when you’re plugged into a socket and using Turbo mode to extract all the power it has. I would also recommend going into the AMD app and adjusting the settings to give you more Dedicated Graphics Memory.

As I expected from this device, light games like Genshin Impact can be run on the highest settings without any issues. Even if you’re fighting in the Abyss, you won’t have any problem with framerate drops.

For more graphic intensive games, I mainly played Call of Duty Warzone. This is where the ROG Flow Z13 struggled a little bit. With most of the graphic settings set to high, the game was capping out at around 50~60 FPS with the occasional framerate drop.

To get the best gaming experience, I had to adjust most of the graphic settings to Medium in order to have a more constant 90~100 FPS. With these settings, I had a more enjoyable gaming experience on the tablet.

While it runs Warzone the best on medium graphics, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Some people are comparing the chipset to that of a new RTX 4060 mobile chipset afterall, which isn’t the most powerful out there.

Since the board and the chips are hidden away behind the display, you won’t feel any heating on the keyboard. And even the tablet itself doesn’t seem to heat up that much, which is great.

But of course, if you want to check out the benchmark scores we’ve listed them below.

Battery

If there’s one thing I don’t like about gaming laptops, it’s the short battery life. Thankfully, that’s not an issue with the ROG Flow Z13. It comes with a 70WHrs 4-cell Li-ion battery pack. ASUS does claim 10 hours of battery life (but that’s from watching a video on loop).

In reality, the ROG Flow Z13 has an average battery life of 6-7 hours based on my user experience. For reference, this was done mainly in Silent mode, and I was mainly doing productivity work that included photo editing in Lightroom and video editing in Premiere. If you start playing games, that’s an entirely different story.

When gaming in Performance Mode, you will find yourself looking for a charger quite soon. After around 30 minutes of a Warzone match, the battery of the Flow Z13 dropped from 100% to 65% already. With that, I highly recommend bringing a charger around if you know you’ll be playing games.

Two chargers come with the ROG Flow Z13 – a more compact and lighter 100W charger, and the bigger 200W charging brick. The 100W charger comes with a USB-C plug, while the 200W charger uses ASUS’s proprietary plug.

You can get away with just the 100W charger if you want to pack light. But if you plan on doing long gaming sessions, bring the 200W charger. Because without it, you won’t be able to unlock the Turbo mode profile.

Conclusion

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with the ROG Flow Z13 gaming tablet. It has a great form factor, a long battery life, and amazing performance all in a very compact package. There are no heating issues too, and if you’re someone who loves drawing and gaming, this is indeed a perfect compromise.

However, there’s just one thing that bothers me about it. During my time with it, I used it mainly like a laptop rather than a tablet. Instead, I think of this more as a laptop with a detachable keyboard and a touchscreen rather than a tablet.

Then there’s the price – PHP 175,995USD 3,069INR 264,397EUR 2,837CNY 22,263. That is a lot of money for a tablet that you will probably use similar to a laptop. At that price, you could get yourself a more powerful 14-inch gaming laptop possibly with an OLED display. You sacrifice the portability a bit, but you get more bang for your buck.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to user needs. If you work in the creative industry and need a tablet to draw and sketch, but also play at the same time, then the ROG Flow Z13 might suit your needs. But if you just want to game on the go, you might be better off with a gaming laptop or even a handheld gaming device like the ROG Ally X.

And to answer my question of whether it’s for me? It’s not. But I’m sure there are a lot of users out there who would find the ROG Flow Z13 perfect for their needs.

What we liked:
Great performance in compact form factor
Smooth and color-accurate display
Long battery life

What we didn’t like:
Priced at a premium

ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (2025) specs:

13-inch Nebula Display (2560 x 1600 resolution)
180Hz refresh rate, 500 nits (peak brightness)
100% DCI-P3
Corning Gorilla Glass 5
AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 processor (16-core Zen 5)
AMD Radeon 8060S Graphics (RDNA 3.5, 40 CUs)
32GB LPDDR5X RAM (quad-channel, 8000MHz)
1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD storage
2x USB Type-C 4.0 (40Gbps)
1x HDMI 2.1
1x USB Type-A 3.2
1x 3.5mm audio port
microSD card slot
Dual 2nd Gen Arc Flow Fans
Stainless steel vapor chamber
70Wh battery, 130W fast charging support
30.2 x 21.4 x 1.27 cm (dimensions)
1.3kg (weight)