Hideo Kojima's new Asus gaming tablet isn't a Steam Deck killer, but is the weirdest device I've ever reviewed

Hideo Kojima is a legend of the gaming industry. The man behind the Metal Gear Solid series and, more recently, the Death Stranding series, his games are infamous for having a quirkiness with which few competing triple-A titles can compete. From the obsessions of Metal Gear Solid to the entire point of Death Stranding being to carry around babies in liquid-filled backpacks, he's not a man afraid to try something new, and his latest venture is the Asus ROG Flow Z13-KJP, a new gaming tablet from Asus that takes an already intriguing idea and packs it with Kojima strangeness.

At its core, the Asus ROG Flow Z13-KJP is just the Asus ROG Flow Z13 tablet that I reviewed last year, and which, almost by dint of being the only real contender, claimed the crown of best gaming tablet on our best gaming laptop guide. However, not only does this version have a different spec from that Asus tablet, but its look has been completely reworked by designer, Yoji Shinkawa, to fit in with the aesthetic of Ludens, the mascot of Kojima Productions, making it even more of a peculiar piece.

Unboxing

As a premium product, the Asus ROG Flow Z13-KJP comes with a suitably premium unboxing experience. Every part of the packaging has been given the Kojima design treatment, starting with the main shipping box.

Inside you get a carry case, a box containing the power supply, and a sealed box containing the tablet itself.

Yes, opening this was as satisfying as it looks.

Specs

Features

Having already reviewed the base version of the Flow Z13, I won't explain and test every aspect of this tablet in this review. My Asus ROG Flow Z13 review covers aspects such as the screen quality, battery life, speaker quality, cooling and noise, and upgradeability. However, I'll cover the basics and retest the upgraded spec of this tablet.

To that end, the Asus ROG Flow Z13-KJP is effectively a Windows gaming laptop but in a tablet form factor. So, instead of the hardware being housed in the section underneath the keyboard and having a thin display lid, all the guts are housed in the rather thick 13-inch tablet, and the keyboard is a thin cover for the tablet that can be removed.

The cover has a proper laptop-style keyboard with backlit keys and even a trackpad, so you can mostly use this tablet like you would a laptop. The keyboard and trackpad are as good quality as many gaming laptops, too. The keyboard cover can't, however, be used wirelessly, so it needs to be attached via its magnetic strip in order for it to work.

For you to use it in a similar way to a laptop, the back of the tablet section has a flip-out kickstand that props up the device at a variety of angles, allowing it to be used in a fairly low-angle sketchpad way, or sit more upright for use more like a laptop. Ditch the keyboard cover altogether, and you can use the tablet in pure touchscreen mode.

The screen is a fantastic quality 13.4-inch IPS LCD with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 and a maximum refresh rate of 180Hz, making it fast enough to use for reasonably competitive gaming situations.

Meanwhile, around the sides, thanks to the relative thickness of this tablet (as compared to an Android or Apple tablet) it has loads of connections. There are two x USB Type-C, a full-size USB 3.2 Type-A port, a full-size HDMI 2.1, a microSD slot, an audio combi jack, and a proprietary port for the power supply.

Packed inside the tablet is an AMD CPU with ultra-powerful integrated graphics. On the previous version of this tablet that I tested, it used the slightly lower-spec AMD Ryzen AI Max 390 chip, whereas this version uses the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395. That means it has a CPU with 16 cores instead of 12 and a Radeon 8060S GPU with 40 graphics cores instead of a Radeon 8050S GPU with 32 graphics cores.

Effectively, it's the most powerful single chip for these sorts of devices. You can get more powerful separate laptop GPUs, but for a super-compact, single-chip solution, this is the pinnacle.

Continuing that trend of peak performance, this tablet is equipped with a frankly ludicrous 128GB of RAM. That's a useful amount if you plan to run your own local AI on this machine, but it's way more than you need for gaming.

On the complete flip side, for some reason, this tablet only has a 1TB SSD. The tablet is limited to using the small 2230 format SSDs that the Steam Deck uses, but these are still available in 2TB models, even if you can't get the 8TB drives available with larger format SSDs.

Design

As mentioned, the core design of this tablet is the same as the standard Flow Z13 tablet. However, Kojima has given it a thorough makeover that definitely gives this device a unique look, but comes with some compromises, too.

The bulk of these changes are to the design of the external case of the tablet. Kojima has swapped the black soft-touch plastic of the previous version for a golden anodized aluminum frame that's full of quirky, angular design details.

These include several text labels for parts of the tablet, such as the rear camera having "do not touch lens surface" written next to it, and the intake for one of the cooling fans having "heat vent do not cover" beside it. Open up the kickstand, and there's loads more information written on the device, including what looks like a timeline, running from 2006 to 2015, which would seemingly be a reference to Kojima starting his own Kojima Productions game studio in 2015.

It's all fun enough, but these changes - including adding a second little grab tab to the side of the kickstand - have some serious consequences when it comes to weight. The original Z13 was already a fairly unwieldy 2.65lbs / 1.2kg, but this version weighs in at 3.79lbs / 1.72kg. Considering none of these design changes come with any actual benefits, that's a yikes.

Looking at the keyboard cover, Kojima has again brought extra bulk and weight by adding extra tabs to the corners. These make it easier to find the edges of the cover and open the device up, but they stick out way beyond the footprint of the tablet itself.

Less controversial are the changes to the keyboard itself. Instead of the all-black look of the standard Flow Z13, the WASD keys are gold, while the central block of letter keys are all white. All the keys, meanwhile, have a unique angular font to them.

The overall look is definitely different and has lots of fun touches to it, but there's no denying it's an utterly impractical rework of what was already a slightly cumbersome device.

In terms of software, there aren't really any changes here except for a reskin of Asus' Armory Crate software. However, one of my favorite changes is the addition of a unique startup screen that shows the Kojima Productions logo accompanied by an eerie screaming sound. Never change Hideo, never change.

Included with the tablet is a fantastic carry case that is a rigid plastic briefcase with metal details and proper clasps on the front. It's such a fun experience setting it down on your desk, flipping open the clasps and unveiling your mighty machine. However… It is quite bulky for what it is, and doesn't provide any extra room for the power supply for the tablet or any other accessories, so it's not the most practical design.

Performance

I've run the ROG Flow Z13-KJP through a handful of my usual gaming laptop benchmarks to see just how much of a step up in performance the Ryzen Max+ 395 chip and 128GB of this machine provide over the Ryzen Max 390 and 32GB of the previous Flow Z13 I tested. I ran games at the tablet's native 1600p resolution, sometimes with help from FSR upscaling, as well as at 1080p.

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077  continues to be a stern test for any gaming laptop, especially when running it with ray tracing. I started testing at the screen's 2,560 x 1,600 (1600p) native resolution with the Ultra Ray Tracing preset and using no upscaling, and, as expected, it didn't cope well, hitting just 10fps average.

However, engaging FSR upscaling set to Balanced, performance jumped up to 25fps, which is just about playable with a controller. Performance at 1080p was similar, at 20fps average, but dropping down to High detail settings without ray tracing, this tablet can get a smooth 43fps average at its native 1600p resolution.

These aren't class-leading numbers for a gaming laptop, but you've got to remember this is a gaming tablet that's using integrated graphics. Also, compared to the Ryzen Max 390 chip in the other Z13, it could only hit 16fps at 1080p Ultra ray tracing, compared to the 20fps of the Ryzen Max+ 395, so it's clear the faster chip really does deliver noticeably more performance.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

We see this speed advantage for the more powerful chip play out in our second game test, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, too. What's more, this tablet can deliver playable performance even at native resolution without upscaling.

At 1600p Ultra settings, this tablet averaged 47fps, which is ample for playing this relatively slow-paced game with a controller. Interestingly, compared to our tests of the other version of this tablet, it seems like AMD has possibly optimized its drivers quite a bit in the eight months since that review, as while the Kojima version could hit 62fps average at 1080p, the older model could only average 32fps.

Cinebench

Moving on from gaming to test the raw CPU power of this tablet, I fired up Cinebench R24 and ran its single and multi-core tests. As expected, its single-core speed doesn't improve, but the extra four cores of this higher-end CPU deliver a 19% jump in multi-core performance.

Elsewhere, performance of this tablet is, to all intents and purposes, the same as the standard Flow Z13, with it using the same screen, same 70Wh battery, same cooling setup, etc. So, again, check out my previous review for details on that, but in terms of battery life, this is one area where this tablet does impressively well, as it'll last over 80 minutes while gaming and over ten hours in general desktop use.

Price

If you were hoping that the use of integrated graphics and the compact form factor of this gaming tablet would mean its price is on the lower end of the gaming laptop spectrum, I'm afraid I've got bad news for you. We're still awaiting an official USD MSRP, but the Asus ROG Flow Z13-KJP price in GBP is £3,599.99 for the spec I've tested.

The standard Flow Z13 sells for £2,899.99, so it's already an expensive option, but you're definitely paying a hefty markup for the Kojima tweaks.

Verdict

The Asus ROG Flow Z13-KJP is a fun product that will no doubt be given pride of place by die-hard Kojima fans. It looks great, is well-made, and the briefcase is a nice extra. The fact that this gaming tablet also delivers genuinely impressive performance is great to see, too.

However, the Flow Z13 was already a weird product, and this version is even more so. The form factor of a rather thick, heavy tablet that runs quite loud and hot and is awkward to hold doesn't present any real benefit compared to a normal gaming laptop. It topples off your lap more easily, the keyboard wobbles more, cables sit really awkwardly when plugged in. Oh, and of course, Windows is still a terrible touchscreen/tablet interface.

So, once you take that foundation, then make it heavier and bulkier, add a carry case that doesn't have room for a power supply, and jack up the price by $1,000, there's very little reason I can see to recommend that anyone buys one of these. If you want to show your Kojima dedication, go right ahead, but if you want to make a sensible portable gaming device purchase, grab the normal Flow Z13 or, even better, get a normal gaming laptop or a Steam Deck.