ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (GZ301) review – this tablet will change the industry

Last year, ASUS had an ace up its sleeve. Its name was the ROG Flow X13, and it was the fastest and baddest 13-inch convertible on the market. As if it hadn’t disrupted the market enough already, the company released an even more groundbreaking notebook. Or… a tablet?

Perhaps, the ROG Flow Z13 (GZ301) is indeed a tablet, since it can work without a keyboard, and relies on a stand to stay upright. You see, this concept is poised to take over the laptop world. Actually, ASUS itself tried such a device in the form of the Mothership. Indeed, it was a beast that housed all of its major components inside of the display part.

In fact, this is the special part of the Flow Z13 as well. Yes, it is significantly smaller, thus far more comfortable to carry around. However, by moving all of the heating elements to the “lid”, you can’t get an uncomfortably warm keyboard. Moreover, the design of the device has the exhaust grills up top, which is great in terms of convection. We’ll talk more about that later.

Obviously, the display is super important here, and the so-called base option features a 1200p 16:10 IPS panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and supposedly – a full sRGB coverage.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-rog-flow-z13-gz301/

Contents


Specs Sheet

ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (GZ301) - Specs

  • Sharp LQ134N1JW54 (SHP154F)
  • Color accuracy  2.3  1.2
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 2000GB SSD
  • M.2 Slot
  • 1x 2230 M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 
  • RAM
  • up to 16GB
  • OS
  • Windows 11 Pro, Windows 11 Home
  • Battery
  • 56Wh, 4-cell, 56Wh, 4-cell
  • Body material
  • Aluminum
  • Dimensions
  • 302 x 204 x 12 mm (11.89" x 8.03" x 0.47")
  • Weight
  • 1.12 kg (2.5 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 1x USB Type-A
  • 2.0
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
  • 1x USB Type-C
  • Thunderbolt 4, Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
  • Card reader
  • MicroSD
  • Ethernet LAN
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.2
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5mm Combo Jack
  • ROG XG Mobile Interface
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Web camera
  • HD
  • Backlit keyboard
  • optional
  • Microphone
  • 3x Microphone Array with Ai noise-canceling
  • Speakers
  • 2x Speakers, Smart Amp, Dolby Atmos
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot

All ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (GZ301) configurations

#CommissionsEarned

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, you will find an optional ASUS carrying bag, a 100W USB Type-C charger, some paperwork, an ASUS Pen, and the tablet + keyboard combo.


Design and construction

This laptop’s body is entirely built out of metal. Hence, it has a pretty rugged structure. Well, there is some flex when you twist it, but after all, it is a tablet. It weighs 1.12~1.18 kg without the keyboard, which has a weight of 340 grams itself.

Here, the display comes with a Gorilla Glass 5 protection, and rather slim bezels around it. Hidden in the top border, there is an HD Web camera, while on the back, you will find an 8MP snapper. It can shoot 3264x2488p videos at 15 fps, and 1080p ones in 60 fps.

Looking at the tablet from the back, we see that it sports a stand. It comes with a couple of very sturdy hinges. Interestingly, ASUS has managed to hide a MicroSD card reader and a tiny door for SSD replacement. In fact, this is the only upgrade you are allowed to do, and you have to keep in mind that while the M.2 slot supports Gen 4 drives, they can only have a length of 30mm.

Additionally, there is a see-through panel on the back, that doesn’t show anything in particular. However, it looks cool and has an RGB illumination.

Now, it’s time to talk about the external keyboard. It connects to the device via a magnetic connector, which is pretty secure. Also, there is a more ergonomic mode, which also eliminates the bottom bezel of the screen. In terms of comfort, the unit is great, with its surprisingly long key travel, clicky feedback, and a single-zone RGB backlight.

Ports

Naturally, the port selection here is quite limited. You get a Thunderbolt 4 connector on the left, and a USB Type-A 2.0 port on the right, where you also get an audio jack. Furthermore, the two sides are home to the speaker cutouts, while the right side houses the volume rocker, and the power button, which is equipped with a fingerprint reader. On the left is where you get another exciting port – the XG Mobile interface, where your tablet can communicate with the “XG” external graphics card.

Display quality

ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (GZ301) is equipped with a Full HD IPS panel, Sharp LQ134N1JW54 (SHP154F). Its diagonal is 13.4-inch (34 cm), and the resolution – 1920 х 1200p. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:10, the pixel density – 169 ppi, their pitch – 0.15 х 0.15 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 50 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels).

Viewing angles are comfortable. We offer images at different angles to evaluate the quality.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

The maximum measured brightness is 511 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 483 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 12%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 7090K – a bit colder than the 6500K temperature standard for sRGB.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 33% Brightness (White level = 141 cd/m2, Black level = 0.11 cd/m2).
Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is good – 1230:1.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (GZ301)’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 95% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976, providing a punchy and vibrant image.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you can compare the scores of ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (GZ301) with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 25 ms.

After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.


Health impact – PWM / Blue Light

PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (GZ301)’s backlight does not use PWM for brightness adjustment, which makes it comfortable for long periods of use.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (GZ301) configurations with 13.4″ Sharp LQ134N1JW54 (SHP154F) (FHD+, 1920 × 1200) IPS panel.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (GZ301)’s speakers produce a sound of good quality. Its low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations.


Drivers

All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://rog.asus.com/laptops/rog-flow/rog-flow-z13-2022-series/helpdesk_download

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. Here, the 56Wh battery pack lasts for 10 hours of Web browsing, or 7 hours and 15 minutes of video playback.


CPU options

Surprisingly, ASUS hasn’t crippled the Flow Z13 and provides it with the Core i5-12500H, Core i7-12700H, or Core i9-12900H.


GPU options

Given the unique physics of the machine, it comes in three strict configurations. The Core i5 only has integrated graphics. Respectively, the Core i7 features an RTX 3050, while the Core i9 is paired with an RTX 3050 Ti. Both of the GPUs have 40W of TGP, consisting of 35W of base power, and 5W of Dynamic Boost.


Gaming tests

Metro ExodusFull HD, Low (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Extreme (Check settings)
Average FPS93 fps41 fps15 fps

Borderlands 3Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Badass (Check settings)
Average fps80 fps53 fps40 fps

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018)Full HD, Lowest (Check settings)Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)
Average124 fps74 fps68 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon WildlandsFull HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average fps78 fps71 fps62 fps

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average P-core frequency; Average E-core frequency; CPU temp.; Package Power

Intel Core i9-12900H (45W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (GZ301)3.54 GHz @ 2.68 GHz @ 64°C @ 95W3.04 GHz @ 2.48 GHz @ 70°C @ 83W2.45 GHz @ 2.07 GHz @ 67°C @ 50W

Honestly, the only limiting factor in this laptop is its charger. The 100W unit is not capable of sustaining high outputs, thus we got a 50W reading at the end of the test with the temperature being only 67°C.

Real-life gaming

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 TiGPU frequency/ Core temp (after 2 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (after 30 min)GPU frequency/ Core temp (Max fan)
ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (GZ301)1299 MHz @ 62°C @ 40W1285 MHz @ 62°C @ 40W
Lenovo ThinkBook 15p Gen 21539 MHz @ 69°C @ 50W1536 MHz @ 69°C @ 50W
HP Omen 16 (16-b0000)1781 MHz @ 68°C @ 80W1767 MHz @ 71°C @ 80W
HP Envy 15 (15-ep1000)1681 MHz @ 87°C @ 75W1376 MHz @ 74°C @ 48W
ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 OLED (UM535)1530 MHz @ 66°C @ 50W1529 MHz @ 68°C @ 50W
HP Pavilion Gaming 15 (15-dk2000)1613 MHz @ 65°C @ 60W1576 MHz @ 73°C @ 60W
MSI Sword 151633 MHz @ 73°C @ 60W1605 MHz @ 79°C @ 60W1644 MHz @ 69°C @ 60W
Dell XPS 15 95101187 MHz @ 74°C @ 40W1293 MHz @ 75°C @ 44W
Dell G15 55111882 MHz @ 71°C @ 88W1878 MHz @ 72°C @ 89W
Dell G15 55151857 MHz @ 76°C @ 80W1850 MHz @ 77°C @ 80W
Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-57)1616 MHz @ 70°C @ 66W1607 MHz @ 72°C @ 65W1632 MHz @ 69°C @ 66W
MSI Katana GF761619 MHz @ 76°C @ 60W1594 MHz @ 82°C @ 60W1632 MHz @ 70°C @ 60W

Again, the low power output of the adapter prompted ASUS to use a 40W TGP version of the RTX 3050 Ti. Obviously, the vapor chamber cooling solution inside can handle a significantly more powerful GPU.

Gaming comfort

Thankfully, the laptop doesn’t get too loud during gaming. While its fans can be clearly heard – something we didn’t experience on the Microsoft Surface Pro 8, they are far from being too loud. And yes, the back of the laptop gets warmer than 40°C, but provided you are gaming with the keyboard, or a controller, there is no way you’re going to feel it.


Verdict

One thing is sure, you can find a lot more powerful devices than this one for far less money. However, this would be a safe choice. ASUS wants you to be bold. And we really encourage this. We think that this tech is part of the future of mobile computing. Having all of your components behind the display is easier on your hands and a better choice from a thermal standpoint. The reason for that is that heat goes upwards. Thus, by having your motherboard straight up, you make it easier for the convection. As a result, the thermal efficiency of the cooling system is improved.

What is even better, here, you will find a vapor chamber. We saw some reviews out there, stating that having such cooling in this device is great because if you plug in an external GPU, all of the thermal capacity of the cooler will be effectively used only by the processor. While this is true, we never saw cooling being the limiting factor for the processor. Instead, it was the 100W charger that comes inside the box. In this regard, skipping the dedicated GPU inside of this tablet should make a difference for the power funneled directly at the CPU, which should increase its performance.

Unfortunately, we don’t yet have an XG Mobile external GPU to test this device with. Once we do manage to get our hands on one, we will update the review (and why not make a dedicated article on that matter as well).

Other than that, ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (GZ301) in the configuration we tested has an IPS touchscreen panel that has a Full HD resolution, high maximum brightness, good contrast ratio, and comfortable viewing angles. Its backlight doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment, which is great for long gaming sessions. Also, 95% of sRGB coverage means that you get a pretty image to look at. Our Gaming and Web design profile further enhances the experience, as it makes the colors accurate enough for professional use. Moreover, this panel has a 120Hz refresh rate, and you can clearly see that in the smooth experience.

Now it’s time to talk about the disadvantages. Unfortunately, this laptop’s memory comes soldered to the motherboard. To make matters worse, you can’t access the motherboard without the risk of breaking this device. Thankfully, you can upgrade the storage via a single M.2 PCIe x4 slot. It supports Gen 4 drives but only with the 2230 form factor.

Also, the port selection is far from being the widest out there. You only get one USB Type-A port and it is fairly slow. However, the Thunderbolt 4 connector can be split up to numerous other outputs, although you’ll need to get a third-party dongle.

On the other hand, the laptop supports Wi-Fi 6E, which means its connection should be faster, more stable, and have lower latency. All of them are crucial for the perfect online gaming experience.

We can easily spend nights and days talking about this machine. What is more important is that it deserves to be talked about. We need to see more companies experiment with this form factor, but until this happens, we have to give credit to ASUS for going the extra mile, and once again outshining their competition with innovation. For the next generation, we would like to see a larger power adapter, more powerful bundled dedicated graphics cards, and not in the last place – an easy and safe way to access the internals (at least let us take some photos of that vapor chamber). Until then, we feel that it’s worth investing in the future, although that future might be a bit niche for now.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/asus-rog-flow-z13-gz301/

Pros

  • The most powerful tablet out there
  • Vapor chamber and liquid metal on the CPU
  • The 16:10 aspect ratio is great for work and the 1200p panel has a 120Hz refresh rate (Sharp LQ134N1JW54)
  • Covers 95% of sRGB and our Gaming and Web design profile helps it reach an Average dE of <2.0 (Sharp LQ134N1JW54)
  • Doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment (Sharp LQ134N1JW54)
  • Can make use of XG Mobile eGPUs
  • Great build quality and revolutionary design
  • Fingerprint reader + Stylus inside the box
  • Thunderbolt 4 + Wi-Fi 6E + MicroSD card slot
  • Has a MUX switch


Cons

  • Pricey
  • Soldered memory and hard to get inside of
  • Limited I/O
  • 100W charger is a bottleneck for the CPU performance

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Tom
Tom
1 year ago

great review! I am wondering about the CPU maxing out at 50W on sustained loads, was the GPU also active at that time? In that case using an eGPU will likely not increase CPU performance and the throtteling is either due to a crappy power supply, or perhaps thermal limits that are set at +/-70C?
If you rivisit this review maybe you could try a different PD charger, curious to see what would happen then.