Asus ROG Flow X13 for mobile work and stationary gaming
Asus ROG Flow X13 is, on the one hand, a light, mobile and efficient computer for work, and on the other - after connecting an external GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card - a powerful gaming machine. The idea behind it seems interesting, but I checked how it works in practice.
Probably no one doubts that the average age of the player is growing every year. I can see it perfectly from my friends. When I was little myself, only my peers played the popular Pegasus, and later PlayStation and PC. The reason is obvious - gaming was not available in our parents' youth
The same 30-40-year-olds may have a problem, however. When working for profit, many of them need an efficient and light laptop that, on the one hand, will fit in a small bag, and on the other hand, will offer enough power to work with several open tabs in the browser, Office suite, and often Photoshop or Premier Pro. At the same time, they do not have enough space at home to put a powerful desktop with a monitor, keyboard and mouse, which will allow you to run the latest games without worrying about the smoothness of the rendered image.
What to do in that case? A small laptop, although powerful, may not offer enough power, and there is no room for a traditional PC. The answer to the question may be an external graphics card. How does it work in practice? I checked the Asus ROG Flow X13 laptop as an example, to which you can connect an external GPU in the form of a powerful GeForce RTX 3080. In combination with the AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS processor, 16 GB of RAM and a fast SSD drive, we have very efficient gaming equipment, closed in small housing. But does it have the right to work?
Asus ROG Flow X13 with external GeForce RTX 3080 graphics
At the beginning, it would be necessary to answer what the Asus ROG Flow X13 is at all. First of all, it is simply a very powerful, yet compact laptop that will be perfect for demanding work. In the specification that I received, it is equipped with a powerful, 8-core AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS processor clocked up to 4.8 GHz in Turbo Boost, 32 GB of LPDDR4X 4266 MHz RAM, a fast 1 TB NVMe SSD and the GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q graphics (an even more powerful version with RTX 3050 Ti was also available for sale). Such a specification is already impressive in a computer that measures 299 × 222 × 15.8 mm and weighs only 1.3 kg. Yes, it's a laptop that you can easily put under your arm. This is due to the 13.4-inch IPS screen in 16:10 format, which has a WQUXGA resolution, i.e. 3840 × 2400 pixels. Impressive isn't it?
However, this is just the tip of what the Asus ROG Flow X13 has to offer. It is enough to look at its left edge to see a very unusual connector. It turns out that you can buy the laptop in a set with an external GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card, which further increases its performance, primarily in games, but also in many utility applications, such as Adobe Photoshop, Premier Pro, Autodesk and many others.
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The idea behind such a solution is simple. On the one hand, we have a strong, mobile laptop that you can take with you to work or to a meeting with a client and do even more demanding things, such as assembling a high-definition movie. In addition, should you feel like it, e.g. when traveling by train or plane, the GeForce GTX 1650 graphics system allows you to run games in lower resolutions and in medium or low graphics settings. However, after returning home, all you need to do is connect the external and, above all, powerful GeForce RTX 3080 graphics to it, to indulge in relaxing and favorite gameplay not only in high settings, but even in 4K Ultra HD resolution. You can use both the laptop screen and connect it to the TV. The whole set is so small that everyone should find enough space for it on the TV stand. The mobility of Ultrabooks on the one hand, and the performance of powerful gaming laptops on the other. This should be a very tempting prospect for many people. What's more, it is a converted model, which is a unique feature among laptops that can be played, and is also useful for work.
How it's working?
The Asus ROG Flow X13 laptop is equipped with a special connector, which the manufacturer called ROG XG Mobile Interface. This is Asus's own interface, which completely prevents any blockages that may occur when using other solutions. It is to this connector that we connect the external graphics card, which has the form of a small box with a few additional connectors. It is the smallest on the market and is only 6% of a standard eGPU in size. Graphics require a separate power supply to work, because the 100 W laptop power supply is not able to provide it with enough energy. However, this is not a big problem. Although the external graphics are relatively small in size and you could actually take them with you in a backpack or bag, in practice I am convinced that most people will use it stationary. Simply plug the card into the ROG XG Mobile Interface connector, and then switch a small switch to protect it against accidental disconnection. After a while, a message appears on the laptop screen asking if it should switch to the GeForce RTX 3080. Just confirm it and after a while the laptop becomes an even more powerful machine than it was before.
Asus ROG Flow X13 is an impressive device. Not only on paper, but also in practice. I did not expect the effects of the work of Asus engineers to be so good. Meanwhile, a small laptop with powerful external graphics just works. 30 seconds is enough to turn a work model at home into a machine for passing levels or completing new tasks, whether in Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3 or any other game, because no laptop will have any problems with it. I will not cheat you - Asus ROG Flow X13 with external RTX 3080 graphics is an expensive toy, but you will pay the same or even more for an equally good Ultrabook and an equally strong gaming desktop or laptop. In this context, the set of the Taiwanese manufacturer makes even more sense.
