Asus ROG Flow X13 (13.4-inch, 2021)

Superb, versatile design of laptop and dock ; RTX 3080 delivers great gaming speed ; GTX 1650 is a solid eSports chip ; High-quality display

Laptop and dock design won’t suit everyone ; Laptop is sometimes too hot ; Middling battery life ; Minimal laptop connectivity

“The ROG Flow X13 is an ultracompact and surprisingly powerful gaming laptop.”

Slick, compact chassis ; Vivid 13.4-inch display ; Solid all-around specs

Slim chassis limits performance ; 165Hz display doesn't help battery life

If you want pure performance, there are better gaming laptops. But for sheer versatility, not to mention excellent build quality, the 2-in-1 convertible Asus ROG Flow X13 nails it. The only catch is disappointing battery life.

Strong gaming performance ; The laptop is light and portable ; Well priced for a gaming laptop

Laptop RTX 3080 doesn’t run as fast as the desktop version ; Disconnecting the Docking Station is complex ; External GPU can’t be upgraded like a desktop card

The Asus RoG Flow X13 offers a lot of gaming punch for the price, but it has some compromises.

Compact, well-built chassis ; Excellent performance from fifth-generation AMD Ryzen 9 ; Accompanying eGPU can boost graphics performance ; Comfortable keyboard ; Crisp 4K display ; 360-degree hinge

Short battery life for an ultraportable ; Pricey

A quirky 2-in-1 convertible, the Asus ROG Flow X13 offers decent gaming performance, extraordinary speed on CPU-centric tasks (thanks to a fifth-generation AMD Ryzen 9 CPU), and as compact a chassis as you’ll find on any premium gaming laptop. Plus, a...

Compact convertible chassis ; Powerhouse processor ; 16:10 screen with stylus support ; Comfortable keyboard

Battery life isn’t great ; Comes in a $3,000 bundle ; Some screen wobble ; XG Mobile doesn’t always deliver 3080-level performance

Asus’ ROG Flow X13 is a 2-in-1 convertible gaming laptop, with the most powerful processor you can find in a 13-inch chassis. It comes with the XG Mobile, an external GPU that delivers high-end frame rates when it’s plugged in.

High-end Ryzen 9 5980HS performance in a tiny laptop ; High-end GeForce RTX 3080 performance in a tiny laptop

eGPU is cumbersome on the go ; Cover for eGPU port is flimsy

Besides the Ryzen 5000 CPU, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 is the other star of this show. Sure, compared to the RTX 3080 desktop it’s a slight letdown, but it’s also completely unrealistic to expect identical performance from the laptop version of any GPU,...

Excellent battery life for a compact machine ; Fantastically portable ; Good for productivity and gaming ; Decent frames per second - even without the XG Mobile external GPU

Lacks USB ports without the XG Mobile external GPU ; Fan design makes it hot on the lap

This 13-inch ultraportable with a 2-in-1 design style is tiny, lightweight and we think pretty fascinating. Assuming you purchase it with the XG Mobile external GPU as a complete package then you've got a real winner here.

Head-turning, versatile design ; Great gaming and overall performance ; Excellent battery life ; XG Mobile is a compact, portable eGPU

Keys are a bit small ; Display could be brighter and more vivid ; Expensive

The Asus ROG Flow X13 gives gamers versatility, power, endurance and innovation in one gorgeous chassis.

classy black design, well built and portable for what it is ; good inputs and IO ; beautiful and fast QHD wide-gamut display ; excellent performance for the format and versatile power profiles ; no longer throttled when running sustained loads in...

smudges easily ; heat builds-up in the middle of the chassis with demanding loads ; average audio quality ; 32 GB RAM only available with the expensive RTX 4070 model