CES 2021: ASUS Unveils New ROG Flow X13 Convertable Gaming Notebook
by Gavin Bonshor on January 12, 2021 1:40 PM EST
At the all-digital CES 2021 event, ASUS has unveiled a brand new convertible 14" gaming laptop, the ROG Flow X13. The Flow X13 can harness the power of AMD's Ryzen 9 5980HS mobile processor, with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card, with a flippable 360° touch screen.
The ASUS ROG Flow X13 represents an interesting segue into the gaming capable convertible space. Some of its most notable design aspects revolve around the 13.4" display, which has a 16:10 aspect ratio, with support for both touch and stylus input. The screen is coated with robust Corning Gorilla Glass, supports adaptive sync, and includes Pantone color validation. In terms of specification, the panel will be available with either 1080p 120 Hz or at 4K.
One of the biggest features includes its ability to convert into four different configurations on the fly, including a regular laptop, tablet, tent, and stand modes. Looking at the internals, the ROG Flow X13 will support up to and including the Ryzen 9 5980HS mobile processor, with up to and including NVIDIA GTX 1650 graphics. ASUS also states that it will be using AMD's top binned CPUs for this model to ensure the best performance and highest quality silicon.
Another claim from ASUS is that the ROG Flow X13's battery can hold out up to 18 hours, with 10 hours of expected battery life during continuous video playback. It comes supplied with its new 100 W USB Type-C PD charger that can charge an empty battery to 60% in around 39 minutes.
ASUS hasn't revealed when the ROG Flow X13 will be available to buy and hasn't supplied any pricing information.
Interested in more of the latest industry news? Check out our CES 2021 trade show landing page!
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
43 Comments
View All Comments
Farfolomew - Thursday, February 4, 2021 - link
Having recently played around with a Razer eGPU enclosure, and dealing with all the peculiarities that running one over a USB-C Thunderbolt connection involves (ie, hot swapping issues, buggy USB peripheral device performance, random lag, etc), I do wonder whether this proprietary ASUS PCI-E connection will resolve a lot of those problems. If eGPU is ever to be considered mainstream, it really needs to solve these problems. It needs to be as simple, or even more so, than removing a USB thumb drive.s.yu - Wednesday, January 13, 2021 - link
Actually double check that pen input. Just because they claim it's compatible doesn't mean the stylus is actually usable. There's more than one manufacturer throwing unusable crap digitizers onto the market in the name of convertibles.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qzCQuGOFaI
(And this video doesn't even test for lag and stabilization)
Personally for me I don't think the 1650 is worth the trouble, if they made room for a dGPU at least make it a 1660Ti, in 2021. 1650 belongs with the entry level stuff.
Spunjji - Wednesday, January 13, 2021 - link
I honestly don't think they could squeeze a 1650 in, thermally speaking - although they could have gone for a 1660Ti and a U-series processor?But then it looks like a big draw on this is meant to be the dock, which might explain the choice of beefy CPU and relatively anaemic GPU. 🤷♂️
Prestissimo - Monday, January 18, 2021 - link
It should be a 1650 Max-Q, a lower 35 watt design than a regular GTX 1650.Tams80 - Thursday, January 14, 2021 - link
A 1650 is still much better than iGPUs.And this laptop is clearly supposed to be used with a dock if want powerful graphics. A 1660Ti would be nice, but it may well be too power hungry and hot.
As for the stylus digitisers: they are all a bit crap apart from Wacom EMR/S-pen and whatever Apple are doing. No, Microsoft's Pixelsense is not good, especially considering they use additional hardware and it's still wonky.
JustAnotherPCEnthusiast - Tuesday, January 12, 2021 - link
Now this is a very interesting machine. I've got the Zenbook Flip 14 with the MX150 and its my go-to travel PC, and this looks like a major upgrade in every way, especially CPU performance.arthuryip - Tuesday, January 12, 2021 - link
The other convertible with GTX 1650 is HP's Spectre x360 15. Glad to see some competition. Hopefully it's priced right.JustAnotherPCEnthusiast - Tuesday, January 12, 2021 - link
Not sure why this article is so light on info, but other sites point to the Asus preorder page for this: https://store.asus.com/us/item/202101AM120000009Note that this link is for a bundle with an external 3080 for $3000 (yes, you read that right). Unless the laptop itself without the eGPU is less than half that price, unfortunately this model might be a hard pass. At least its under 3 lbs.
Spunjji - Wednesday, January 13, 2021 - link
Thanks for sharing!Tams80 - Thursday, January 14, 2021 - link
According to LTT, it's about $1,500 each for the laptop and dock.Seems fair enough.