The Asus ROG Move Z13 is a tribute to Asus’ manufacturing and design. It is a fantastic factor to behold and a powerful chunk of hardware. It is not for everybody although. To be trustworthy, there is a good probability it is not for anybody, particularly given the excessive worth, however there’s one thing very interesting about what Asus is attempting to do right here. If nothing else, it must be applauded for considering outdoors the gaming laptop computer field and giving us a real PC gaming pill.
Home windows tablets have been with us for a very long time after all, however they’ve historically struggled in relation to gaming. It’s because there is not a whole lot of house inside their svelte dimensions to deal with cutting-edge hardware, notably on the GPU entrance. They merely do not have the house for the required cooling to make a GPU worthwhile.
It is not for everybody although. To be trustworthy, there is a good probability it is not for anybody.
That is not the case right here. Contained in the impressively stable Asus ROG Move Z13 you will discover a fully-fledged Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti. Constructed round Nvidia’s Ampere structure, you are taking a look at 2,560 CUDA Cores, with hardware help for ray tracing and DLSS. To be truthful, “fully-fledged” is a bit robust, because it’s solely rated as much as 40W, which is a way off its full potential as an 80W GPU, however nonetheless, it is extra highly effective than lots of its pill predecessors.
It is price highlighting that the RTX 3050 Ti solely lays declare to 4GB of GDDR6 although, which is usually a limiting issue for some video games. This might nix makes an attempt at utilizing high-resolution texture packs, though, given the comparatively low energy on supply, your time might be going to be spent attempting to tweak settings to hit playable body charges versus enjoying round with hi-res textures.
The fundamental takeaway is that the RTX 3050 Ti in Move Z13 is nearly able to gaming on the go. It is not a powerhouse, and you’ll should knock down settings and attain for DLSS or FSR wherever doable, however you can game on it. And that is nothing to be sniffed at.
Asus has managed to squeeze a surprisingly highly effective CPU into this 12mm thick chassis too, within the type of an Intel Intel Alder Lake Core i9 processor. The Core i9 12900H is a formidable chip, packing 6 efficiency cores and eight E-cores, for a complete of 20 threads. The bottom clock ticks alongside at 2.5GHz, with the potential to spice up as much as 5GHz. Whereas I by no means anticipated to hit 5GHz in such a skinny chassis, I’ve discovered it truly does handle to do precisely that.
Asus ROG Move Z13 specs
CPU: Intel Core i9 12900H
GPU: Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti (40W)
Display dimension: 13.4-inch
Decision: 1920 x 1200
Refresh fee: 120Hz
Reminiscence: 16GB LPDDR5-5200
Storage: 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0
I/O: 1x 3.5mm audio jack, 1x USB 2.Zero Sort-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-C, 1x Thunderbolt Four Sort-C, 1x ROG XG Cellular interface
Weight: 1.18kg (2.6lbs)
Value: $1,899 | £1,899
This spectacular duo of core parts is backed up by 16GB of LPDDR5-5200 RAM and a speedy 1TB NVMe SSD. Asus has slid these parts right into a chassis that’s dominated by the plush IPS-level 16:10 display screen. There are just a few choices right here, topping out at a 4K show, though the wise cash is on the 1920 x 1200 decision discovered on this assessment mannequin. That is not too huge an ask for the RTX 3050 Ti, but nonetheless appears to be like nice for work and video games.
A 720p webcam squeezed into the highest edge above the display screen as properly, together with a few microphone spots on both facet of it, which suggests you are set for video conferences and streaming. The Move Z13 is not awash with ports, though you do get a Sort-A on the right-hand facet and a Thunderbolt Sort-C port on the left. Then there is a quantity rocker on the fitting together with the ability button.
The left-hand facet can be dwelling to Asus’ proprietary ROG XG Cellular interface that allows you to hook up the identical XG Cellular dock that it launched with the Move X13. Other than providing 4 USB ports, HDMI and DisplayPort video out, and an RJ45 for ethernet connectivity it is also dwelling to a cell RTX 3080 (operating at 150W) to noticeably enhance the graphical energy of the machine. This makes for a completely competent gaming system, though it provides to the general bulk of the machine and in addition means you are taking a look at an general system worth of $3,299.
Around the again, you will discover the built-in kickstand which holds the pill at a cushty 170° angle for work and play. The bundled chiclet keyboard, which doubles as a display screen cowl when in transit, clips into place on the backside of the Move Z13 with assistance from magnets. This can be utilized flat or popped up for a extra snug typing angle. It is not the best typing expertise ever, with a notable flex, nevertheless it’s usable and responsive sufficient.
The keyboard/display screen protector additionally has a touchpad, which is on the small facet, however completely effective. You might have the choice of touchscreen enter as properly, after all, though provided that you feel notably masochistic—Home windows 11 nonetheless would not make for one of the best contact expertise. You do have the choice of plugging a mouse into the USB port as properly, which is what you will need for any gaming. Even if this can be a gaming pill, there are only a few PC pill video games to talk of—Hearthstone and MTG Area work properly no less than.
In the case of straight system efficiency, there’s a lot to love right here. The Alder Lake CPU brings some severe horsepower to proceedings, notably because it’s backed up by that speedy DDR5 RAM. It is not the quickest machine we have had within the labs, however given the shape issue that might be odd if it was the case. It is a first rate possibility if you wish to do some quantity crunching although, and greater than sufficient for most conventional work.
You do get just a few efficiency settings to play with after all, and the numbers proven above have been derived from operating the benchmarks utilizing the default ‘Efficiency’ system profile. Pop the system settings to Turbo mode in Asus Armory Crate and you will hit even greater numbers—5,627 for the multi-core take a look at in Cinebench R20 and 12,677 in Cinebench R23, with a single-core ranking of 1910.
The video encoding benchmark, X264 additionally noticed an uptick utilizing this profile, boosting as much as 43.08fps, which equates to a 13% enchancment to the usual efficiency settings. That is not an enormous distinction, but when it’s essential to do some severe quantity crunching, then flipping to Turbo mode can definitely prevent a while.
Plugging within the ROG XG Cellular dock additionally noticed the uncooked CPU numbers enhance, because the vapor chamber cooling system solely has to cater to the Alder Lake chip and never the combo of CPU and GPU.
As predicted, the RTX 3050 Ti struggles in relation to gaming. It is not a write-off, however when you think about how a lot the Move Z13 prices, you do not really feel such as you’re getting nice worth for cash. In spite of everything, this can be a GPU you’d normally discover in a laptop computer costing half of what Asus is charging right here.
The likes of Metro Exodus simply tipping over the 30fps mark tells the story properly sufficient. Whereas that may be a demanding game, it is getting on a bit now, and you are going to have to drop the settings down lots to be able to get nearer to 60fps.
Older, much less demanding titles like Horizon Zero Daybreak and F1 2020 are a bit extra forgiving and are a lot smoother experiences. Once more although, you are taking a look at efficiency that’s roughly half of what you’d get from equally priced laptops.
Issues enhance significantly when the Move Z13 is connected to the XG Cellular, as you’d count on. The RTX 3080 in that machine produces far greater body charges, and for those who’re severe about gaming, then the exterior dock makes much more sense—though for the cash you’d count on nothing much less.
General, the Asus ROG Move Z13 is one thing of an oddity. It is a ravishing machine to carry and use. It has been brilliantly manufactured, with loads of CNC-machining on present, and actual consideration to element. It feels good within the hand, and for essentially the most half, runs quiet too.
It’s nevertheless underwhelming in relation to precise gaming, particularly once you think about the price of the system. You will get much more energy from a extra conventional gaming laptop computer for this form of cash, or a extra succesful machine for lots much less as properly—RTX 3060 machines could be had for round $1,000 and Nvidia additionally guarantees that we’ll see RTX 3070 Ti laptops from $1,500, which can go away this consuming mud.
In order a gaming pill/laptop computer this does not make a lot sense. It simply prices far an excessive amount of for the gaming efficiency on supply. There truthfully is not a whole lot of name for a gaming PC pill both, with most video games not lending themselves to touchscreen controls. It is like an outsized Steam Deck with out the controllers, and that is actually not what the trade wants proper now.
So whereas Asus must be applauded for attempting to do one thing new and producing a ravishing machine, it is one that does not actually have a spot out there. Even the XG Cellular dock cannot actually redeem it, because it anchors it to your desk, which is not actually the place a pill performs finest. General, this merely is not a machine for PC players, and I am nonetheless not fully positive precisely who it is for.