Figured I’d make this review as these are the two mainstream devices in this niche of device and i had a chance to have both and return the one I didn’t like.
To preface i had a surface pro 6 for many years and grew attached to the form factor.
Summary: The Flow Z13 has higher highs and lower lows, but i went with it for my use case.
The Surface device is an absolute pleasure to pick up and hold as a tablet. It gives you a novel amazement that so much computing power can be fit in a small lightweight package. That sleek cold smooth metal is a pleasure to touch. The Z13 in comparison is awful tactilely to feel in your hands and heavy, but usable.
The surface has wayy better speakers and the display (IPS) is better to look at; the colors have a neutral vibrancy you’d expect of a flagship Microsoft/Apple tier device. The Flow Z13 in comparison has a blooming effect and more “desaturated” look despite which color profile you set it to.
With that said, the 180hz refresh rate of the Z13 along with 64gb of ram makes it seem way more responsiveness than the surface pro’s 120hz, and possible nearly-imperceptible stuttering due to the 16gb ram this one had. The Z13 just feels more responsiveness, fast, and is the better experience in this regard.
The large trackpad of the Z13 is a pleasure, and this surface didn’t have the Flex keyboard but I’m being mindful of this. The smaller trackpad of the regular keyboard on surface is honestly unacceptable in this day and age, it seems it’s only small to upsell you on the Flex keyboard.
Now I’m not sure if the flex keyboard is sturdier in regards to how the edges are glued on, but with my experience with the older surface pro 6 keyboard, these surface keyboards are a time bomb for the corners to delaminate and begin peeling after about 5-6 years, amplified by humid weather, though it seems the newer ones appear a bit sturdier in this regard. The Z13 however has a much sturdier feeling keyboard that I’m much more confident will not delaminate around the corners for a decade at least if at all.
Both have strong magnets, which imo is stupid because you have to be careful when yanking off the keyboard. The surface pro 6 i had had a weak magnet which is actually great, strong enough to hold onto tablet but you can yank it off without a care in the world about damage.
For future repairability, I like that the Z13 does not use any adhesive around the screen, it’s only clipped on, while the Surface has adhesive. Better than previous years, possibly necessary so it never creaks, but still makes me think of it as future e-waste if you gotta get past glue to open it.
Final word:
The Asus Flow Z13 has both higher highs but lower lows compared to the Surface. The Surface is aesthetically and tactilely pleasing, it’s a beautiful minimalistic device that’s a pleasure to own and use. The Lunar Lake processor is used in gaming handhelds, so it’s fully competent for older and light gaming.
Obviously the Z13 is stronger in raw power, giving you solid local LLM capability with at least 64gb ram and plays the latest AAA games with ease on 1440p. In receiving this power though, you trade those beautiful minimalist aesthetics and the tactile pleasure that comes with the surface. It’s a more crude machine.
I decided i valued the raw power more and returned the Surface, but if local LLM and gaming isn’t a concern to you, and you’d rather prefer a great tablet experience, lightweight, minimalist design and feel, you might be better suited for the Surface. You could still attach an eGPU and get on par for gaming.
I see Surface pro 11 with flex keyboard for $1200 at the lowest on eBay for 16gb ram, while i got this open box Z13 with 64gb ram for $1600 at Best Buy, so it was a no brainer for me to sacrifice the tactile pleasure of the surface for 4x more RAM, double the SSD in the Z13.
