ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (2025) review: Meant for everything and everyone?

The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 seems to be capable of everything at first glance. Its powerful internals, combined with touch and pen support, make it a versatile machine on paper. We put it to the test to see if this is truly the case. Check out our review of the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (2025) below.

Out of the box, the ROG Flow Z13 feels like a love child between an iPad and a gaming laptop. The weight distribution between the screen and the keyboard halves of the device strongly resembles that of the iPads. The detachable keyboard is just that, and is missing any of the weight, ports, and fans that your regular gaming laptop has.

All of these can instead be found on the screen half. ROG's signature rugged aesthetic is interrupted only by the backlight panel, which is also slightly transparent to give you a look at the inner machinations of the Flow.

The screen half has a nice and sturdy kickflip stand that comfortably supports the device's hefty weight.

These are the specifications of the ROG Flow Z13 (2025) on which this review was done.

It came with Windows 11 Home and Copilot+ PC support.

The display is the ROG Nebula Display, a 13.4" screen with 2560 x 1600 WQXGA resolution and 180Hz refresh rate with the option for Adaptive-Sync.. This is a 16:10 aspect ratio.

All the ports are located along the side of the Flow. In total, it features two USB-C ports, a DC input for charging, a USB-A port, an HDMI port, a microSD reader, and a 3.5mm jack. It also has the volume rocker, power button, and a menu button.

Its lack of ports can be attributed to its small build. However, if you have a lot of accessories or external drives, this would present a real issue. If you feel like two USB-Cs and one USB-A won't be enough for you, then I highly recommend getting a USB hub. During this ROG Flow Z13 review, though, I didn't really find the ports lacking unless I wanted to plug in an external keyboard.

It has support for Wi-Fi 6, which partly makes up for the fact that it doesn't have an Ethernet port. However, you can plug into almost all routers via Ethernet, and not all of them support Wi-Fi 6.

ROG offers several external graphics docks that can both enhance your gaming experience and provide you with more ports on the Flow Z13. These do deal some significant damage to the wallet, though.

The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 came with a lot of proprietary ASUS software. Out of all of them, Armoury Crate was the most important one as it allows users to control the lighting effects on the back panel and the keyboard. It also provides diagnostics and fan profiles that would not otherwise be visible

It is my firm belief that the ROG Flow Z13 is not a gaming laptop. It certainly is a gaming device, but it should not be considered a laptop.

I played several games on the ROG Flow Z13. I mainly focused on its performance on a multiplayer title, Marvel Rivals, and a AAA game: Cyberpunk 2077. I also tried Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on it.

From experience, Marvel Rivals is currently the worst-running popular multiplayer title. Not only because there are 12 players in a game (and Doctor Strange's performance-ruining portal), but the game just feels like an unoptimized mess.

On the Flow Z13, the game automatically set itself on mostly low settings. I got about an hour of gameplay to take the battery from 100% down to 15%, averaging at 90 FPS. Note that this entire time, the game was running on the screen's full 2560p resolution, and I was on maximum brightness and volume.

While plugged in, I was averaging 120 FPS on the same settings. Not bad.

The device did get a little hot, peaking at 80 degrees during the heat of battle. This is quite impressive, given that I only set the fans to the "Performance" tab and did not opt for any overclocking. The fans were also not making that much noise, compared to regular gaming laptops. If you really needed to scratch your Rivals itch, this would be enough.

And yes, I did try playing with the touchscreen. No, it did not work, and it was not fun.

To my surprise, Cyberpunk 2077 defaulted to the Ray Tracing Low profile. This setting turned on Ray Tracing and set most options to High or Ultra.

When the game loaded, the Flow Z13 astonishingly had 50 FPS, even while running on battery. Granted, I was in a sparsely populated area. So I drove off into a part of the map with more NPCs, more cars, and more lights. I even started a shootout just to see the capabilities of the machine.

Here, it started to buckle. Amidst the explosions, gunshots, and car crashes, I was hovering at around 25 to 30 FPS. Hooking it up to power didn't change much, either.

Again, this is quite impressive for a device this size. Running Cyberpunk 2077 in one of its highest profiles while being the size that it is should be considered a feat of engineering.

Cyberpunk 2077 has a built-in benchmark tool. See the image below for its results after I ran it on the Flow Z13 while charging.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 may not be a AAA title, but it is a game running on Unreal Engine 5. I opted to connect a DualSense controller via Bluetooth to play it.

The game was mostly on High settings, with all effects enabled. I was getting 30-40 FPS both on the overworld and in combat, still in the screen's native 2560p.

Again, the performance difference between plugged in and on battery was not noticeable.

The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 was able to run these games in an acceptable manner, and these titles were some of the most demanding ones in their own right. Decent performance in Marvel Rivals means you can expect great frames in games like Overwatch, VALORANT, and Fortnite. Cyberpunk 2077, despite being a few years old, remains an incredibly challenging game to run (kind of) smoothly on portable devices. If you're looking at playing titles like Red Dead Redemption II or Elden Ring, then you're in good hands with the Flow Z13.

During the review for the ROG Flow Z13, I found it overpowered for a work device if you're doing clerical work and bouncing between Google Docs with chill lo-fi music in the background. You can also expect it to last you throughout most of the work day, given you manage your brightness, sounds, and connectivity well.

However, if you're doing some rendering on Blender or After Effects, then you'll make full use of the Flow's powerful internals. It's a good machine for the creative for this reason (and more, see below) — you'll experience fewer hiccups overall, and you have a formidable tablet capable of taking a beating when it comes to renders.

It's also quite useful to doomscroll on in its portrait orientation. Just be careful of its rugged build and make sure it isn't pressing on your finger the wrong way. It's still a hefty device, and I wasn't able to find a way to carry it comfortably in one hand.

The battery also lasts a respectable 3 hours while watching on streaming services.

The ROG Flow Z13 comes with a proprietary ASUS Pen 2.0 with 4096 pressure points. This matches the Apple Pencil, another point of similarity between the two devices.

I have no drawing ability at all, so here's my best stick-man drawing of myself on MS Paint. This doesn't showcase the pressure points, though.

For those inclined toward digital art, the ROG Flow Z13 is a good consideration, especially if they prefer working on Windows over iOS.

The screen having HDR support and being Pantone Validated makes sure that your colors are accurate, too.

Now comes the rough part. This specific model that I had the pleasure of reviewing and praising for the majority of this article will run you $2,099. More powerful options can be purchased with prices going as high as $2,799.

The ROG Flow Z13 boasts a lot of features that make it seem like it's for all use cases. And, in a way, it is! It's capable of handling meager desk work for long periods, reliably playing AAA games, digital art, and rendering. However, its high price point makes it only for everyone who can afford it.

The weaknesses of this device are quite limited. Simply speaking, its price is just too high, even if slightly justified by its herculean capabilities. And, if I'm being nitpicky, there are too few ports on it. That second point makes me think that if you do want to replace your gaming PC with this, you should get one of ASUS' proprietary external graphics docks.

Whether it's worth the money is ultimately up to you. If you're someone who values portability and would rather have one device that can replace your gaming laptop, iPad, and drawing tablet, then the ROG Flow Z13 is worthy of your attention. But, if you want to get a device for one purpose only, perhaps it would be better to consider picking up a specialized device instead.