Test the 2023 version plz!

The wi-fi antenna seems to be under the palm rest (hidden by the battery if not removed). This could account for disappointing wi-fi performance (and is, design wise, also completely ridiculous).

I've had mine for about a month. Most things are better than expected and everyday performance feel snappy.

2 Major issues:

1. My biggest complaint is the dim, lackluster, 1080p screen coming from more affordable ultrabooks that had better screens than the Flow X13.
Really hope the 2nd gen will have an optional 3:2 ,QHD, 600nit+, P3, <3ms Response, as I will gladly pay for that premium upgrade. Premium OLED or mini-LED option would be nice too, as the whole industry is moving in that direction.

16:10 is a good compromise between 16:9 and 4:3, but I personally prefer 3:2 on both laptops and tablets. Same goes for resolution, QHD is the better compromise than UHD for both sharpness and battery life under 17" size, regardless of the "gaming resolution" issue.

2. Bezels are way too thin on the sides and top, it's impossible to use the X13 as a tablet because Windows 10 does not have any touchscreen palm rejection, unlike Android or iPadOS. This is really frustrating because the device is not light enough for one-hand use, so you need to hold the device with both hands, whether for horizontal or vertical operation. And when I do so, my palms dig into the bezels and constantly register clicks and mess with macro gestures that I've set using a program called 'GestureSign'.


Other minor things to note:

- Audio is the best part of this laptop. Speakers are still not on par with the 13" MacBook or Lenovo Yoga 9 'soundbar hinge', but better than many other "Premium" 12-14" ultrabooks including Thinkpad X1 and T series, Asus ZenBook, HP Spectre and Dell XPS 2-in-1.
One of the Top 5 ultrabook speakers I've heard to date. You can actually watch a movie with these and they're also well-positioned for tablet mode.

Amp + Dac are excellent as well. Volume boosting has very little distortion on headphones and speakers connected by 3.5mm jack.
Microphone is okay. What's great is Asus's 'two-way AI noise-cancelation' feature is not a gimmick, it's actually been really helpful during business meetings.
So the Audio on the X13 has been the biggest, most positive surprise for me coming from non-MacBooks, more so than its stellar performance.

- Touchpad is smooth mylar (plastic). But it's good mylar very similar to glass, a little subpar, and very small in size. Gestures don't register well when swiping from the edges and corners, which is an issue for me as I use rely on a lot of macro touchpad gestures.

- Whole C-Cover(keyboard, deck, palmrest and touchpad) is a huge finger oil magnet. Reminds me of Thinkpad and Latitude's "soft-touch finish".

- X13 falls prey to S0 Sleep or "connected standby", so it keeps waking up from sleep and drains battery, whether it's overnight or in my bag. There is no way to enable traditional S3 sleep, since the 20H2 Windows 10 Update has permanently removed it. So I've set up the laptop to use hibernate only.

- Keyboard is good by ultrabook standards. However its layout has no dedicated Home/End/PgUp/PgDn keys, small Arrow keys, and no Fn Lock which are all very inconvenient for office work.

- No physical volume or brightness control buttons, no IR Webcam, no magnetic pen attachment, no pen charging, and thin bezels. Tablet ergonomics clearly weren't prioritized on this 2-in-1.

- Due to the H35 CPU, sometimes the laptop gets too hot and uncomfortable to touch in 'tablet' and 'stand' mode, unplugged. CPU temps gets as high as 75C average while browsing.

- Webcam isn't great, but better nothing like on other Asus ROG laptops, which t would've been a deal-breaker for me.

- I/O needs just one more USB-C port (hopefully USB 4) and a full-size SD reader. Since one USB-C is always plugged in, you only get 1 other USB-C port for use, which is not enough.

- AMD SoC still has a few driver specific and optimization issues that need ironing out. Touchscreen occasionally freezes up and Bluetooth has many issues depending on the accessory. Google Chrome x64 has touch issues with 5800HS. And AMD gyro sensor drivers for detecting tablet mode is very janky.

- Stylus pen is MPP 2.0. Asus Pen that comes in the box is not good even with a matt screen protector, not recommended for note-taking. I've bought MS Surface Pen, and use it on the glossy display without any screen protector, which is much better. No visible difference in latency for 120Hz refresh rate enabled, probably due to very high display and pen response times.

- Battery life is 5.5 hours consistently, browsing only (ryzen7, 1080p 60Hz, 250nit, windows 10 'battery saver' and Asus 'silent' profile), 6 hours if I lower the brightness down to 150nit. This may be a deal-breaker for some people who need more juice.
Could've used a more compact 75-80Wh battery and maybe a custom cTDP 25watt down, to at least achieve the standard work-day battery mark of 8hrs on a higher-resolution display.


Overall the Asus ROG Flow X13 makes an excellent portable ultrabook, and an okay-ish 2-in-1 tablet. If Windows 10's Tablet function is your absolute priority, get a more ergonomic convertible or better yet, a detachable like the Surface Pro that has more battery life, has better tablet ergonomics, and doesn't overheat and stays cool to the touch.

Still, the X13 is one of the best 'First-generation' tech products I've used that felt like it was very reliable and solid without running into any big problems.
Sadly I'm planning to sell my X13 because I've realized I much prefer to have a 17" Gaming Laptop + 12" Detachable Tablet setup rather than a single 13" 2-in-1 Gaming Convertible + eGPU.

Quote from: Ahlixemus on February 16, 2021, 20:54:29
This is considerably worse than the Blade Stealth 13 Tiger Lake... Well I guess you can't expect too much more when this is more of an experimental product in all reality. Maybe the 2nd iteration will be better.

ROG Flow X13 vs Blade Stealth 13:

- 32 GB vs 16 GB max RAM config
- 2-in-1 vs clamshell
- 8 core 35W vs 4 core 25W CPU
- 62 Wh vs 53 Wh battery
- 16:10 vs 16:9

Clearly worse in your logic

This is considerably worse than the Blade Stealth 13 Tiger Lake... Well I guess you can't expect too much more when this is more of an experimental product in all reality. Maybe the 2nd iteration will be better.

Quote from: mca2 on February 14, 2021, 14:49:32
A problem I tend to have with current laptops is their noise level at light to medium loads. Despite promises of being quiet, I tend to experience quite some fan noise.

Would have been nice to have some more information on the noise levels. Other reviews show the more detailed tables with idle max, load average etc.

This would be awesome.
Aslo maybe add at least a Cinebench run on different power plan settings. I just back a X13 Yoga, because the perforamnce was super bad an anything but max performance.

Quote from: Spunjji on February 12, 2021, 15:50:50



I feel similarly - a pretty-much identical device no dGPU and using the freed-up space for another m.2 slot (80mm ideally) would be an absolute peach. Offer the dock with a 3060 inside and you'd have something really neat for people who want to work on the go and game at home on one portable system, but can't blow $3000 on the whole thing.

That'd be awesome, because the price is crazy high.

A problem I tend to have with current laptops is their noise level at light to medium loads. Despite promises of being quiet, I tend to experience quite some fan noise.

Would have been nice to have some more information on the noise levels. Other reviews show the more detailed tables with idle max, load average etc.

Quote from: Mothertrucker19 on February 12, 2021, 13:45:45

Quote from: Dorby on February 12, 2021, 10:01:00

And MPP 2.0 is a huge improvement from the previous ZenBook Flip convertibles with first-gen N-Trig. This is nice to see.
Seeing those thermals, there really should have been a R5-5600HS processor option.

Yes, MPP2 is nice to see.
If this had a R5 option I'd probably put it on my list. It has everything I need apart from the battery life, but that might be better with an R5. Also if it had an iGPU only.
For my university things it would be perfect. Ample computing power and a screen supporting an active pen.

I feel similarly - a pretty-much identical device no dGPU and using the freed-up space for another m.2 slot (80mm ideally) would be an absolute peach. Offer the dock with a 3060 inside and you'd have something really neat for people who want to work on the go and game at home on one portable system, but can't blow $3000 on the whole thing.

Quote from: Dorby on February 12, 2021, 10:01:00

And MPP 2.0 is a huge improvement from the previous ZenBook Flip convertibles with first-gen N-Trig. This is nice to see.
Seeing those thermals, there really should have been a R5-5600HS processor option.

Yes, MPP2 is nice to see.
If this had a R5 option I'd probably put it on my list. It has everything I need apart from the battery life, but that might be better with an R5. Also if it had an iGPU only.
For my university things it would be perfect. Ample computing power and a screen supporting an active pen.

As a 8TB M.2 SSD owner, the 2230 is a bit disappointing.
At least I'm glad Asus used both HDMI 2.0b and USB-C 20Gbps. Those two ports together on a lightweight ultrabook is still rare in 2021.

And MPP 2.0 is a huge improvement from the previous ZenBook Flip convertibles with first-gen N-Trig. This is nice to see.
Seeing those thermals, there really should have been a R5-5600HS processor option.

Would of loved to see the eGPU tested too.
It's a bit strange ASUS would send you this laptop without it since that's a huge selling point for this laptop.
Hopefully you get  to test the whole package soon

Where is the 3dmark time spy score?

Quote from: ThinkPad X1E Ryzen9 on February 11, 2021, 11:53:10
A shame the M.2 slot does not support 2280 modules and 2230 is limited to 1TB :(

Which means no DRAM either for the SSD? See what Linus has to say about those: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybIXsrLCgdM

A shame the M.2 slot does not support 2280 modules and 2230 is limited to 1TB :(