THERE’S SOMETHING rather enticing about
the Zenbook Flip 13, but we can’t quite put
our finger on it. Convertible laptops can
be hit and miss, but the latest in Asus’s
Zenbook line feels as though it might have
struck gold. Lightweight but not flimsy,
silent but not underpowered, this is the
ideal on-the-go tablet or at-home work
laptop. We’d love one of these for the long
treks to distant press conferences and
media events, but at just under $1,000, it’s
not exactly the most affordable notebook
in the business.
You get a lot for your money, though.
Despite weighing less than a bag of
apples, it packs plenty of hardware.
Our model comes with an Intel Core
i5-8265U—a more powerful i7 version is
also available—along with 8GB of RAM,
a 256GB PCIe SSD, and integrated Intel
UHD Graphics 620. It’s whisper-silent,
thanks to passive cooling, and has
a smaller footprint
compared to its
predecessor, with
a tiny bezel around
the screen.
It’s a lovely unit, and one
we’re not afraid of snapping like so
much sp aghet ti w hen we fl ip it into t ablet
mode with our giant hands. Yes, some of
our reviewers are comparable in stature
to the Sasquatch. The 360-degree hinge
is supposedly rated for 20,000 cycles,
Three hundred and sixty
degrees of cool
Asus Zenbook
Flip 13
8
VERDICT Asus Zenbook Flip 13FLIP Resilient design; bright
screen; high-quality audio.
FLOP Little in the way of privacy features;
SATA-speed SSD.
$900, http://www.asus.comSPECIFICATIONSProcessor Intel Core i5-8265U
Graphics Integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620
RAM 8GB LPDDR3-2133
Screen 13.3-inch 1080p 100 percent
sRGB color gamut
Storage 256GB SATA3 SSD
Keyboard Full-size island-style backlit
Battery Three-cell 50Wh
PSU 65W AC adapter
Weight 2.9lb
Our notebook zero-point is the HP Spectre X360, with an Intel Core i7-8565U, integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620, OS Windows 10 Home 64-bit
and 8GB of DDR4-2400. All games tested at 1080p at the highest graphical profile.BENCHMARKS
ZERO-
POINT
Cinebench R15 Multi (Index) 561 671 (20%)
CrystalDisk QD32
Sequential Read (MB/s) 3,100^559 (-82%)
CrystalDisk QD32
Sequential Write (MB/s)^557500 (-10%)
3DMark: Fire Strike (Index) 1,062 1,176 (11%)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (fps)^5 5 (0%)
Total War: Warhammer II (fps) 2,543 3,385 (33%)
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon:
Wildlands (fps)^840 480 (-43%)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%according to Asus’s “hinge testers.” Yes,
apparently that’s a real job. The hinge
testers have clearly been working hard,
though, because the hinges do indeed
feel nigh-unbreakable. The metallic blue
finish looks great, and on inspection, is
quite resistant to light damage.
The same can’t be said of the
touchscreen, which, like many two-in-
one notebooks, was frustratingly covered
in fingerprints after just a brief period of
use. Be prepared to either shell out for a
compatible stylus or carry a microfiber
cloth around. Yes, this half-tablet doesn’t
come with a stylus or smart pen, which
feels slightly like a missed opportunity,
but is by no means a deal-breaker for
most users. For on-the-go artistic types,
though, it could be a drawback. Asus
does sell its own smart pen, which by all
accounts is a good tool for digital art, but
it weighs in at an extra $80.
The 1080p display looks brilliant,
providing vibrant color and glare
reduction, which comes in handy when
working in a brightly-lit or outdoor
environment. The 90 percent screen-
to-body ratio is a great improvement
on older Zenbooks, and the screen is
viewable from wide angles without color
or image distortion—perfect for watching
movies in the tent orientation. This does
raise some privacy concerns, however;
with such a wide viewing angle, it’s all tooeasy for prying eyes to espy your work in
a public space.
Staying with the notion of privacy, the
Flip 13 has two cameras: one in the usual
above-screen orientation for standard
webcam purposes, and a second one to
the left of the keyboard, facing directly up.
It’s an odd design choice, but it effectively
works as an external rear camera when
the notebook is in tablet mode. The
downside is that neither camera has a
cover or dedicated kill switch, features
that have become increasingly popular in
modern notebooks.
With regard to the external hardware,
the keyboard feels comfortable and
responsive, with white backlighting and a
satisfying amount of key travel. The
trackpad functions well and conceals
a nifty new feature: With the click of a
button, a hidden numpad illuminates
beneath the trackpad. Not everyone will
use it, but it’s handy for anyone who works
with numbers (and is a nice little feature
to show off on your cool new notebook).
There’s not much else to say; this is a
solid convertible notebook that performs
reasonably well. The brilliant audio—
courtesy of sound master Harman
Kardon—only serves to sweeten the
deal. One disappointment lies in the lack
of an M.2 SSD, but many users won’t
notice much of a difference; the relatively
small 256GB storage capacity means that
shuffling massive files around isn’t really
a possibility anyway. This notebook isn’t
without its drawbacks, but for a busy
professional on the move, it gets the job
done well. –CHRISTIAN GUYTONmaximumpc.com DEC 2019 MAXIMUMPC 83