The Asus ROG Movement Z13 is a tribute to Asus’ manufacturing and design. It is a fantastic factor to behold and a formidable 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 value, however there’s one thing very interesting about what Asus is making an attempt to do right here. If nothing else, it ought to be applauded for pondering exterior 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 is because there is not quite a lot of area inside their svelte dimensions to accommodate cutting-edge {hardware}, significantly on the GPU entrance. They merely do not have the area 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 strong Asus ROG Movement 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} assist for ray tracing and DLSS. To be truthful, “fully-fledged” is a bit sturdy, 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 a lot of its pill predecessors.
It is price highlighting that the RTX 3050 Ti solely lays declare to 4GB of GDDR6 although, which could be 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 making an attempt to tweak settings to hit playable body charges versus taking part in round with hi-res textures.
The fundamental takeaway is that the RTX 3050 Ti in Movement Z13 is nearly able to gaming on the go. It is not a powerhouse, and you’ll must knock down settings and attain for DLSS or FSR wherever doable, however you can sport 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 Movement Z13 specs
CPU: Intel Core i9 12900H
GPU: Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti (40W)
Display screen dimension: 13.4-inch
Decision: 1920 x 1200
Refresh price: 120Hz
Reminiscence: 16GB LPDDR5-5200
Storage: 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0
I/O: 1x 3.5mm audio jack, 1x USB 2.0 Kind-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Kind-C, 1x Thunderbolt 4 Kind-C, 1x ROG XG Cellular interface
Weight: 1.18kg (2.6lbs)
Worth: $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 a couple of choices right here, topping out at a 4K show, though the smart cash is on the 1920 x 1200 decision discovered on this evaluate mannequin. That is not too huge an ask for the RTX 3050 Ti, but nonetheless seems 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 aspect of it, which implies you are set for video conferences and streaming. The Movement Z13 is not awash with ports, though you do get a Kind-A on the right-hand aspect and a Thunderbolt Kind-C port on the left. Then there is a quantity rocker on the best together with the facility button.
The left-hand aspect can also be residence to Asus’ proprietary ROG XG Cellular interface that allows you to hook up the identical XG Cellular dock that it launched with the Movement X13. Aside from providing 4 USB ports, HDMI and DisplayPort video out, and an RJ45 for ethernet connectivity it is also residence to a cellular RTX 3080 (working at 150W) to significantly increase the graphical energy of the machine. This makes for a totally competent gaming system, though it provides to the general bulk of the machine and likewise means you are taking a look at an general system value of $3,299.
Around the again, you will discover the built-in kickstand which holds the pill at a snug 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 Movement Z13 with the help of magnets. This can be utilized flat or popped up for a extra comfy typing angle. It is not the best typing expertise ever, with a notable flex, but it surely’s usable and responsive sufficient.
The keyboard/display screen protector additionally has a touchpad, which is on the small aspect, however completely wonderful. You have got the choice of touchscreen enter as properly, after all, though provided that you are feeling significantly masochistic—Home windows 11 nonetheless does not make for the perfect 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. Although this can be a gaming pill, there are only a few PC pill video games to talk of—Hearthstone and MTG Area work properly not less than.
With regards to straight system efficiency, there’s loads to love right here. The Alder Lake CPU brings some severe horsepower to proceedings, significantly 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 will be odd if it was the case. It is a respectable possibility if you wish to do some quantity crunching although, and greater than sufficient for most conventional work.
You do get a couple of efficiency settings to play with after all, and the numbers proven above had been derived from working the benchmarks utilizing the default ‘Efficiency’ system profile. Pop the system settings to Turbo mode in Asus Armory Crate and you will hit even larger 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 you could 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 Movement 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 often 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 sport, it is getting on a bit now, and you are going to have to drop the settings down lots in an effort 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 Movement Z13 is connected to the XG Cellular, as you’d count on. The RTX 3080 in that machine produces far larger body charges, and when you’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 Movement 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 probably the most half, runs quiet too.
It’s nonetheless underwhelming in relation to precise gaming, particularly if you think about the price of the system. You may get much more energy from a extra conventional gaming laptop computer for this kind of cash, or a extra succesful machine for lots much less as properly—RTX 3060 machines may be had for round $1,000 and Nvidia additionally guarantees that we’ll see RTX 3070 Ti laptops from $1,500, which is able to 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 actually is not quite a 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 business wants proper now.
So whereas Asus ought to be applauded for making an attempt to do one thing new and producing a ravishing machine, it is one that does not actually have a spot available in the market. 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 greatest. General, this merely is not a machine for PC players, and I am nonetheless not solely positive precisely who it is for.
