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

Every once in a while I get one of these weird little computers that Asus has made in collaboration with someone or another, and my senses are slightly overwhelmed. They made one with an animated exploding head on the lid. There was one that was turned into a DJ rig. There was one covered in dogs.

But this latest release, the ROG Flow Z13 ACRNM, might just be the craziest to ever cross my desk. There is no discernible theme, rhyme, or reason for it. It’s pure chaos, top to bottom. Which, you know what, good. It’s 2023. Fair enough.

The Flow Z13 is the second collaboration between ROG and ACRONYM, a clothing brand that sells pieces like this $1,800 dress… I think? It’s a 13.4-inch gaming tablet with a kickstand and detachable keyboard — a gaming Surface Pro, for lack of a better description.

Priced at $2,499.99, our Core i9 13900H/RTX 4070/16GB RAM/1TB SSD/2560 x 1600 test unit is aimed at a fairly specific audience: gamers on the go with deep pockets and a deeper desire to project a bold aesthetic. chaotic. . Most people shouldn’t spend that much. If it’s the convertible tablet you’re looking for, you can create a Surface Pro 9 for $500 less. If it’s gaming power and portability you’re looking for, a very comparable model Zephyr G14 it’s even cheaper. But the Z13 serves its particular, specific niche just as well as a laptop.

Here are some phrases Asus uses in its press materials to sum up the aesthetic you’re going for here:

• “A redefinition of mobile computing”
• “Wonderfully refined yet raw”
• “Truly unique machine”
• “A hands-free dream machine”
• “A functional yet eye-catching work of art”

It’s avant-garde, that’s for sure. Every time I look at this thing, I see something else. The underside is covered in logos and typefaces (and they’re not just stickers, they’re laser etched into the metal). The dark leather cover also sports a modern-looking shape. I can’t say I really know what they are. If any of you take ayahuasca regularly and hope to become aware of its deeper spiritual significance, please feel free to let me know in the comments.

The back is dotted with rubber pads, which look a bit fun, but will also do a solid job of keeping the device in place if you try to lay it down on a table. The corners have “drop resistant drop proof bumpers”. There’s also a strap you can attach to the corners to sling the thing over your shoulder like a briefcase. Let’s just say I’m really glad this didn’t come out while I was in college, because I absolutely would have wandered campus with this hanging from my forehead like a fanny pack. The cool kids would have intimidated me, and rightly so.

Eclectic design aside, this is a 13-inch tablet with an RTX 4070 and an H-Series Core i9 inside. That’s highly unusual – those are the types of chips you’d typically expect to see in much larger gaming rigs. The keyboard is detachable; the kickstand is not. Said kickstand allows for both portrait and landscape orientations, a feature Asus has long been convinced people need. I have no use for a 16:10 Windows tablet in portrait orientation, but more power to you if you do.

Now, the Z13 isn’t particularly portable as far as tablets go. At 2.91 pounds and 0.61 inches thick, it’s barely an iPad, and not the kind of thing I necessarily want to bring up for an hour-long presentation. Still, when choosing between carrying this in my backpack and carrying, say, a Titan GT77, I’d pick this one any day. I used this for some couch and coffee work, and was able to place it on those crowded surfaces with no problem.

Another thing to highlight: the screen. This model has a 165Hz refresh rate and a 2560 x 1600 resolution. It’s quite vibrant. There were several different color modes available for different types of games, and I found that they enhanced the viewing experience. The 13.4-inch screen is a bit small for playing most games, and I did have to squint in a few windows here and there, but at least the QHD+ resolution delivers sharp details.

So those are the bells and whistles. This is what it is to use the thing.

The Z13, well, you know. It is a 13.4-inch tablet. So with that in mind, the frame rates were fine.

In particular, it had no problem running demanding titles at its native QHD resolution. I saw an average of 232 fps on CS:GO and 55fps in red dead redemption 2, with both titles at maximum settings. Those are better results than what we saw on last year’s Zephyrus G14 (which was a traditional gaming laptop, not one of these tablets). They’re not surprisingly good to the point where they’re blowing other premium gaming laptops out of the water, and Asus has clearly had to kneel (it only gets 65W of power, yes, it can run that low) RTX 4070 to squeeze it into this chassis. . It’s a bit like having packed an entire college dorm room into the trunk of a sedan. Sure, you did, but at what cost?

But I digress. Throughout, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the device was able to keep the temperature down. I didn’t see many spikes above 70 degrees Celsius while gaming. The nice thing about this form factor is also that regardless of how hot the chassis gets, it generally won’t transfer to the keyboard or palm rest and affect your gaming experience.

For an additional fee, people can also connect the device to XG Mobile, a line of external GPUs that should offer significantly higher frame rates. Currently you can get one of these for about $1,000.

Oh, and the Z13 supports Nvidia’s Advanced Optimus. Basically, this operates your MUX switch automatically – it will turn off the integrated GPU when you’re gaming, and turn it back on (and turn off the discrete GPU) when you’re done gaming, saving you from having to dig through your laptop’s settings to do it manually. . Nice! Fun! I love watching him.

If you expected this device to have excellent battery life, bless your heart, but it has no such thing. I averaged four and a half hours of continuous work usage, which involved bouncing around 20 Chrome tabs, streaming Spotify, Slacking, and whatnot. I got a better than expected battery gaming result, getting around 48 minutes of red dead redemption 2 play a load. The included 130 W adapter can power the device up to 50 percent in 30 minutes, according to Asus estimates.

Regular readers of my reviews can expect a rant here about how excellent battery life should be a basic expectation for a portable machine, but honestly, I don’t have it in me. I know people aren’t buying this for its great battery life or the best frame rates; they are buying this because it looks like it just fell from outer space. As well they should.

I’ve been an open-minded non-curmudgeon all the way through this review, so I hope you’ll allow me to grumble about one thing. I can’t with the keyboard. It’s too much.

The keys contain what Asus calls “the acronym’s own custom alphabet.” I’m glad to know that Acronym has its own alphabet. Unfortunately, it’s not the alphabet I need to write with to work.

I am a very proficient touch typist when it comes to words. But when I need to, for example, type a number into the Z13, it becomes a treasure hunt. It’s not that the actual numbers aren’t on the Z13’s keys, but they’re buried in a dump of so many other symbols and colors and wacky tidbits that my eyes couldn’t instinctively find them. Other things are just not outlined. For example, the key that reduces brightness is labeled “DARK” and has a small dim grid on it. I understand what you’re looking for, Acronym, but I just want the normal brightness icon. You can animate the shine icon. Just give me the glow icon.

Quirky designs are a wonderful thing until they start encroaching on the daily function of a device. Kooky laptops are laptops first. The Zephyrus G14 portmanteau (which I was excited about when it launched) labeled the keys on its keyboard with a storybook-like font that made them easier, not harder, to read. He sprinkled other decorations around the keys, but they were clearly and obviously delineated from the actual actual labels on the keys.

The eye-catching designs are fantastic and this device is a unique offering that you won’t find anywhere else on the market. I admire products that don’t apologize for themselves, whether it’s movies, clothing, or consumer technology. But the fundamentals cannot stay by the wayside. And I hope that companies, as they continue to innovate, remember that.