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.
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