Asus pitched up to CES 2022 with some interesting gaming hardware in their ROG-branded suitcase. And most of it fits in a suitcase, based on its most interesting device this year. This is Asus’ ultra-portable ROG Flow Z 13 gaming laptop.
With an increased focus on mobile gaming technology, Asus’ ROG Flow Z13 joins the Flow X13 we managed to get our hands on last year. The Asus Flow X13 also received the upgrade treatment with flashy new internals – but we’ll get to that later.
Go with the Flow
The Flow Z13 is based on a similar format – it’s an ultra-portable laptop that features a detachable display. Kinda like Microsoft’s Surface Pro range. Except that users have the ability to connect an external GPU hub to the 2-in-1 device and turn it into a far more powerful gaming machine.
That makes the Z13 of the smallest gaming setups we’ve ever seen. It measures just 12mm thick, but that doesn’t mean it’s skimping on those all-so-important specs. Inside the chassis is a 14-core Intel Core i9-12900 CPU and Nvidia’s newly-announced GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU, along with a 1TB SSD in the dedicated PCIe port. And then there’s the 16:10 touchscreen that’ll offer either 120Hz Full HD resolution or a 60Hz 4K option – depending on your needs.
Opt for the XG Mobile external GPU system, and you’ll upgrade that GPU to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 or the newly announced AMD Radeon RX 6850M XT GPU. That’s a serious set of hardware for what is essentially a gaming tablet to be packing.
The other ROG announcements at CES 2022
In addition to the intriguing gaming format that is the ROG Flow Z13, Asus managed to squeeze a few more announcements into its CES 2022 keynote today.
That includes some updated and brand new CPUs and GPUs à la Intel, AMD and Nvidia. In short, gamers can look forward to: 12th-gen Intel Core processors, AMD Ryzen 6000-series processors, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti laptop GPUs, and AMD Radeon RX 6000S-series graphics cards.
In Asus’ arsenal of new machines, a few will come equipped with 16:10 displays, featuring what the company calls ROG Nebula HDR and ROG Nebula Display – both naming conventions it’ll use to standardise its display tech across products.
Of course, we also saw spec upgrades for the ROG Flow X13 and the ROG Zephyrus Duo, G14, G15, and M16 —
which’ll see ‘em fitted with some of those fancy new GPUs.
South Africa may get some of the abovementioned products, including the GPUs and some of the notebooks, but no pricing is available at the moment. That’s hardly unexpected — they’ve just been announced. We’ll have a short wait before confirmation of what, when, and how much turns up. When that happens, we’ll let you know.