Asus ROG Flow X13 (2023) Review: A premium ultrabook with a powerful alter ego

Asus has been consistently pushing the boundaries of innovation on gaming laptops. And the Asus ROG Flow series is a prime example of this innovation. The ROG Flow X13 laptops have aim to deliver reliable gaming performance is a thin and light form factor.

The latest entrant to the line-up is the Asus ROG Flow X13 (2023) with the latest AMD Ryzen 7000 series mobile processor and Nvidia's latest RTX graphics. Our model of the ROG X13 Flow arrives with an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 laptop GPU. The Asus ROG Flow X13 (2023) series starts at Rs 1,74,990, while our model will set you back Rs 1,84,990. Now back to our full Asus ROG Flow X13 review.

Design

In terms of design, not much has changed for the new Flow X13. The notebook features a 360-degree convertible display that rotates 360 degrees. The Flow X13 features a metal lid with a smooth textured matte finish that makes the laptop feel premium and easy to grip, although it wasn't immune from fingerprints and smudges.

The lid also has the ROG logo embedded on the bottom, while the hinge design feels extremely sturdy. It allows you to use the laptop in various modes - laying it flat on the table or in a tablet or tent mode. The convertible form factor makes the Flow X13 extremely convenient to use.

Asus has managed to equip the Flow X13 with a keyboard fit for a 15-inch laptop, despite the compact chassis. Despite being made primarily of plastic, the chassis is smooth to the touch and feels sturdy and well-built. The keyboard and palm rest area do tend to attract fingerprints and smudges but that's the price of black finishes.

Keyboard

For a 13-inch laptop, the Flow X13's keyboard is comfortable to use for gaming and typing. The keys are well spaced out and have a nice 1.7mm travel distance to offer some tactility. The keyboard features a single-zone white LED backlight, so no fancy RGB lighting here. You also get four customisable multimedia keys that can be utilised as macro keys.

The keyboard does have some flex but that did feel like a minor hindrance that I could overlook. Additionally, the power button also doubles as a snappy fingerprint reader for Windows Hello support. Asus has also increased the size of the trackpad on the new Flow X13, making it 56 precent larger than the previous generation.

The trackpad is bang-on average a rather inconvenient physical button, although the glass surface was smooth. The touch response was accurate for the most part and Windows gesture support worked well.

Asus also bundles a stylus in the box with the Flow X13 (2023), which is good for sketching and taking down notes. I have used the ROG Flow X13 (2023) while travelling and it is safe to say that the notebook is rather comfortable to work on whether it's on your lap or on a table.

Ports

In terms of ports, the Flow X13 has a limited selection as with any 13-inch laptop. You get a USB 4.0 Type-C port, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, a second USB Type-C port with 3.2 Gen2 speed, and a SD card reader. Additionally, there's a 3.5mm combo audio jack and Asus' proprietary ROG XG Mobile interface, which allows you to connect to an external XG Mobile E-GPU.

For wireless connectivity, the Flow X13 features a Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.0. Lastly, the ROG Flow X13 features an IR Full HD webcam with support for Windows Hello, offering quick face unlocks. The webcam does a pretty good job for video calls, even in more dimly lit rooms.

Display & Audio

When it comes to the display, Asus has equipped the Flow X13 with a 13.4-inch IPS display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and a WQXGA (2560 x 1600 pixels) resolution. The panel boats a 165Hz refresh rate and a 3ms response time. The panel is Pantone Validated with 100% sRGB and 100% DCI-P3 coverage.

Moreover, the display also supports Nvidia's G-Sync technology to ensure no screen tearing or ghosting. The panel features the "ROG Nebula" branding, offering 500 nits of peak brightness, a contrast ratio of 1200:1 as well as Dolby Vision and HDR support. The screen also supports touch input and can be used with the stylus.

The screen on the ROG Flow X13 (2023) is perfect for everything from gaming to consuming entertainment. I also didn't have any issues using the laptop outdoors when travelling for work. Asus has found the right balance of play and productivity with the ROG Nebula display on the Flow X13.

The ROG Flow X13 (2023) features bottom firing speakers that support Dolby Atmos with virtual 5.1.2-channel surround sound. The audio lacks any bass or thump but offer richer sound at the lower end. The audio is loud enough to fill a small, quiet room and do not distort at higher volumes. For a 13-inch laptop, the speakers here were just-about decent.

Performance

For performance, the ROG Flow X13 (2023) is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS mobile processor, which features 8 cores and 16 threads as well as a max clock speed of 5.2 GHz. Moreover, the CPU is paired with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 1TB of PCIe Gen 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD storage. Our model came with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 laptop GPU. Here's a look at some real-word results.

It is worth noting that we tested all the games here without ray tracing, prioritising frames instead of graphics. The shooters were also primarily tested in multiplayer mode. We did test Forza Horizon 5 with ray tracing set to high and maxing out the graphics with the e-GPU. Additionally, all titles used with the XG Mobile GPU ran on max settings.

All the games tested were done in Quad HD+ resolution, so turning down the resolution to 1080p should yield an at least 10 to 20 percent boost in frame rates. The CPU and GPU also remained relatively cool while gaming, with the former going up to 90 degrees and the latter peaking at under 80 degrees. All games were also tested on the laptop's 'Turbo' mode.

Let's look at some benchmark results. In Cinebench R23, the Flow X13 (2023) managed a multi-core score of 15331 points and a single-core score of 1761 points. In the Cinebench R23 stress test, the notebook managed a multi-core score of 13300 points and a single-core score of 1613 points. In Geekbench 6, the Flow X13 recorded 12,001 points in the multi-core test and 2607 points in the single-core test.

Overall performance on the Asus ROG Flow X13 is just about average for the price. However, the notebook overachieves in the performance department, compared to other 13-inch premium notebooks. The upgraded cooling also ensures stability while gaming or running graphic-intensive work. To fit this much power in a notebook of this size is impressive to say the least.

Battery

With the combination of a new 4nm Zen 4-based CPU and a larger 75Whr battery, the new ROG Flow X13 does get a bump in battery life over its predecessor. I got a little over 8 hours running MS Word and Google Chrome simultaneously. To achieve this, I ran the laptop on the Eco mode and set the brightness to around 40 percent.

The screen also automatically switched to 60Hz, and laptop used the integrated AMD graphics as opposed to the dedicated RTX 4060 card. Additionally, the Flow X13 also gets an updated 130W charger in the box. The battery life figures don't quite reach the level of a premium laptop like the XPS, but that's the cost of having a more powerful CPU and a capable dedicated GPU.

Verdict

With a starting price of Rs 1,74,990, the Asus ROG Flow X13 (2023) doesn't come cheap and upgrading to the RTX 4060 adds another Rs 10,000 to that amount. If you are looking for a gaming laptop that delivers good value for money, this isn't it. However, Asus aren't trying to mask that fact.

The ROG Flow X13 (2023) is more of a professional laptop that moonlights as an entry-level gaming machine. It feels like a premium laptop replacement, for say the Dell XPS 13 or HP Spectre x360. However, unlike the traditional premium laptop, the ROG Flow X13 can run just about any title without any hitches.

Sure, this comes at the expensive of some battery life. But if you are a professional who still saves a few hours to game every day, then that feels like a good trade off. In our experience, the Asus ROG Flow X13 (2023) is easily the most powerful 13-inch laptop out there. And all of this is before we get to the XG Mobile E-GPU.

If for whatever reason you aren't content with the graphics and frame rates offered by the Flow X13 (2023), Asus offers a mobile e-GPU, which can be paired with the laptop to turn it into a gaming powerhouse capable of 4K gaming. If you are a content creator or working professional by day and gamer by night, the Flow X13 (2023) should be at the top of your Wishlist.