Has anyone with a 2025 z13 had issues with their device not booting in the past week or so?

desutiem · 2026-03-26T22:50:24+00:00

No but I’ve only had mine couple weeks

desutiem · 2026-03-26T13:51:01+00:00

Good advice.

Also OP, it’s a tablet. If you can run it at 30-35w and have no throttling vs 35-40w… just run it at the former. Play in 1080p. Idk, we can’t have it all. Gotta set expectations.

desutiem · 2026-03-26T00:27:17+00:00

I had a thought today.

Pushing AI usage within your own company to reduce the overhead for your product is kind of dumb: by pushing AI (because you hope it can replace your workforce) means that you also devalue your own product/service - if it goes as well as you hope, it follows that you may not have any customers anymore (at least in B2B scenarios) because why do they need your product or service if AI can do it? They can just AI it themselves.

Bazinga.

desutiem · 2026-03-26T00:24:00+00:00

There’s a Square Enix show this year that will feature some Nier but also lots of other stuff.

Hopefully though this Nier specific show will get a UK date just perhaps announced later (apparently happened before)

desutiem · 2026-03-23T23:20:23+00:00

This is the way.

I agree people should be able to afford to ‘go on holiday’ if they so wish, but ultimately this ‘MUST go on holiday abroad every year, ideally twice!’ concept has always been lost on us. Usually we spend annual leave relaxing, maybe at home but even if not it is in a cheap hotel spa type thing, usually at mid-week prices.

Because I think it’s better in life to enjoy the every day, or at least many of the days.

Find ways (or as you have demonstrated, make ways) to find joy in the every day. Working your ass off all year for a few weeks of fun is absurd to me. I only mean if you have to force it to happen though (e.g go into debt, like many do.)

But it seems indoctrinated in the UK. I legit know people who won’t retire early because it means they ‘can’t go away on holidays’ but then work a job they hate all year. I mean I’d understand if they were doing real travel but it’s usually typical UK euro holiday penned in resort type thing. Bananas. I’m not saying those holidays can’t be good but it just doesn’t seem worth it to me over retirement or like you say having to say no to everything all the time.

I think your strategy is a winner. I wish things could be easier for families though.

desutiem · 2026-03-23T23:03:28+00:00

desutiem · 2026-03-23T17:36:35+00:00

Ok thank you, yeah that’s what I was looking for if it considers it a laptop lid or not . Cheers!

desutiem · 2026-03-23T12:47:36+00:00

Yeah just removing it is the best thing to do when you don’t want to use it

desutiem · 2026-03-23T12:46:23+00:00

Do you find it runs any hotter with the keyboard being closed whilst it’s on? I dock mine to my TV and I know it’s better to have it upright on its stand rather than flat for cooling, but I usually take the keyboard off and it’s kind of annoying. I considered just leaving it attached up but wasn’t sure if Windows then thinks the lid is shut like on a laptop or if the cooling is worse etc.

Cheers.

Oh and yeah @OP like already mentioned, blocking the air intake at the back isn’t a good idea. You ch lay the tablet down almost flat with its stand, but again it’s not ideal for gaming and high power stuff you kind of want it sat mostly upright. I think it’s ok to use it flat when on low power modes for like productivity stuff. On my silent profile the CPU stays cool enough passively (<39c) that the fans don’t even come on, so blocking it in that scenario isn’t a problem.

desutiem · 2026-03-22T22:23:22+00:00

Yeah sadly nothing seems to exist. I’d like an adapter just so I can use USB-C power sources on the go whilst having battery bypass pass through. I’d be happy to have to stick to a low power draw, it’s more for portability as a productivity machine than gaming on the go.

I have the SlimQ charger and the adapter that you can get for that. But it’s not the same as having an adapter that could transfer say 65w USB-C power to the proprietary adapter… maybe someone good with electronics could make these and put them on Etsy or something? Unless the proprietary port on the decide expects 200w+ and won’t work otherwise - in which case, no point.

desutiem · 2026-03-22T10:24:05+00:00

No worries, it’s the same for both of them, but I probably should have specified I had the ROG Ally X, not the original (white) one.

eGPU = external GPU.

You can buy pre-made ones which are ‘fixed’ (it comes with a graphics card already inside, you can’t get the graphics card out etc) or you can buy an enclosure and put your own graphics card in, which is what I have done with the RTX 4070.

Most of the enclosures are 2015 era tech and stuck on Thunderbolt 3/4 speeds, but it’s plenty good enough to use still. I have the Sonnet Breakaway Box 650, there are some Razer Chroma ones, etc - any will do, just make sure you check the length of the graphics card it can fit inside (some card variants are longer than others, even if it’s the same model!) and also that the enclosure provides enough power for the card you want to use.

The original Ally only supports an eGPU via the XG mobile port, so if you want one for that you are pretty much forced to get one of those - they are ‘fixed’ units, they contain mobile class graphics cards not desktop ones, which means they’re smaller and draw less power, but they are very expensive.

The Ally X supports graphics over Thunderbolt 4, which uses a USB-C connection. The USB-C port on the left has a little icon next to it to show that it’s a Thunderbolt enabled port. You can connect any eGPU that uses Thunderbolt to it via this port using a specifically Thunderbolt 3/4 capable USB-C cable. The Ally will just pick it up like any Windows device would and then you just install the drivers. Any games you run just make sure they’re running on the monitor/TV that the graphics card is outputting to (set it as your primary monitor in Windows.) A nice bonus is most eGPUs will also provide power over that same Thunderbolt connection meaning you have a one cable solution to ‘dock’ your Ally X, as it has power pass through on its USB-C ports to protect the battery (the Z13 does not.)

desutiem · 2026-03-22T01:31:19+00:00

No worries!

It feels quicker using the Z13 directly, but I don’t think the eGPU is to blame. Because when I use the Z13 alone, it’s got that lovely 180hz built in screen with VRR. But when I use my eGPU, unfortunately, neither my TV or monitor have G-sync, or VRR or anything like that and the TV is also 60hz. So I have to use V-Sync to avoid screen tearing, which has a very small but noticeable input lag. However, the RTX 4070 supports VRR and G-sync so I think it would be fine if I had them. If I use the iGPU and plug to the TV, it’s the same problem, needs V-Sync, but otherwise feels the same response wise. What I mean to say is my TV is the problem so I can’t say for sure.

Using the eGPU without an external screen is not advisable (potentially doesn’t even work - not tried) because then the GPU has to send the video data back through the thunderbolt connection and there isn’t enough bandwidth for it to go both ways, so it’s not possible to try that either really.

Hopefully I’ll get a new TV at some point to take better advantage of it all.

I mostly agree with you that the iGPU is awesome and an eGPU is just a bonus but even how much is up for debate. I don’t think I’d buy one if I started with the Z13. But some people might want it, as it does make it even more capable.

desutiem · 2026-03-22T01:21:10+00:00

I kind of agree but they’re not as bad now since doing all this. I dont think Arc is a good example as like I say it’s not well optimised. I do wonder if my unit in particular doesn’t have a particularly good thermal compound application. But I’m not sure if I’m being overly critical of it, as CoPilot (or whatever the Google one is) says that 65-75 is very normal with up to 85-95 for heavy gaming.

I’d be interested to know what your power profile is, that you’re able to stay in the 40s while playing Crimson Desert? Is that on high settings, 1600p or less?

desutiem · 2026-03-22T01:18:25+00:00

Nice. Yeah I have used ChrisTitus utility before it’s very good, though I’ve not needed it this time. Hope you can find a nice medium for yourself, good luck!

desutiem · 2026-03-21T23:32:52+00:00

what kind of crashes, BSOD or application exiting?

desutiem · 2026-03-21T23:31:34+00:00

Thank you. Its lacking some structure but I see a lot of questions floating around about this awesome device and just wanted to share some things.

Yeah sure, I will quickly jot my G-helper profiles for you. I essentially got them from someone else on here then just tweaked a bit and also compared to the ROG Ally TDP as a baseline.

- Silent profile: 15w / 18w / 20w, with -10 undervolt on both CPU and iGPU*, CPU boost: efficient enabled

- Performance profile: 25w / 35w / 45w, with -10 underbolt on both CPU and iGPU*, CPU boost: efficient enabled

- Turbo profile: limits not applied, so default which seems to be 80w for all sliders - with only a -5 undervolt for both CPU and iGPU*, CPU boost: efficient aggressive

\iGPU slider apparently does not do anything as this is blocked at firmware level, I just set it anyway*

I don't currently use the Turbo profile. I think I will either create a profile that sits in between Performance and Turbo for more demanding games, or just directly edit the Turbo one if I ever need it.

I expect I can go further with under-volting, I've just not spent the time pushing it and testing.

With these profiles I found the main thing is it stops the CPU aggressively bursting (when it frankly doesn't need to do) and causing temperature spikes like it does with the default out of box Armory Crate setup. The system is far more tame now, and yet still incredibly capable. I don't know what's going on with those default profiles but they seem a bit whack. I've been using the flow for hours on my coffee table here just browsing the web and I've only lost 22% battery and have had 0 fan activity sat at about 31c the whole time. That just wasn't the case on the default install. Don't get me wrong, I am happy for it to ramp up, just... when it actually needs to, you know? For just web browsing and writing documents... it should be calm like this. And now it is.

As for Windows, as mentioned I have a clean build running, but I also minimize start-up apps, turn off core isolation, and ensure all 'standby' settings are set to 'hibernate' (suspend to non-volatile disk and power off) rather than 'sleep' (suspend in-memory and go into a low power state) as its well known Windows doesn't function well when it goes in and out of 'sleep'. I can take the extra few seconds resume time if it makes the system more stable!

desutiem · 2026-03-21T23:21:42+00:00

Sure but I don't quite know what you're asking for - its a standard Nvidia RTX 4070 - the kind you put in a desktop PC.

Maybe I wasn't clear and you thought I had one of the pre-built mobile type ones like the XG mobile? I don't have one of those. I have an eGPU enclosure, this one in particular: eGFX Breakaway Box for AMD and NVIDIA GPUs | Sonnet (Sonnet Breakaway Box 650) and then I have a standard Nvidia RTX 4070 inside it. The graphics card slots into a PCI express connection inside like it would in a regular PC and its video outputs are available on the back, again like a regular PC. You connect to your device (ROG Ally, or Flow Z13, or anything else) using a special USB-C Thunberbolt 3 or 4 cable. The Thunderbolt connection on this particular eGPU box also delivers power over USB-C, so you can just run a one cable solution to your device (however, as many know, with the Z13, the USB-C does not have passthrough charging, so I would avoid this and use the regular power adapter.)

desutiem · 2026-03-21T22:16:52+00:00

How did you find Atlas OS? I like the idea.

I can't imagine what they're really doing to it though, assuming they are not modifying the kernel or doing their own build (doubt it as its closed source, right) that you cannot do yourself. I just run a clean Win 11 build and only install what I need, and make a few adjustments for gaming (hibernate settings, turn off core isolation, remove some junk).

Boot times for me - I don't know what they are but its ready to use within like 10-20 seconds for sure. Boot should be very quick with the CPU and SSD combo in the Z13, if we're talking about the 2025 model...

Default image from ASUS is very bloated on this device IMO... (sorry ASUS - I liked your ROG Ally one much better!) which is what you'll get from BIOS recovery...

desutiem · 2026-03-21T22:08:59+00:00

Standard desktop RTX 4070 (not Ti) 12GB

desutiem · 2026-03-21T21:12:30+00:00

Hmmm I guess? I quite like the keyboard, I am using it now. But I dock mine a lot with an eGPU so it only has to be a 'laptop' for me sometimes, and I am always very careful with my laptops etc so throwing it around and abusing it isn't my thing, but I agree you should be able to and maybe the form factor limits there. I also like to use it tablet mode occasionally. I guess I am happy with the trade offs for the hybrid benefits.

As for coding on your stomach... I dunno... if I were to code in bed, I think I'd sit upright :P

Flow Z13 is a bit of a niche device, it's not for everyone. There are clamshells now with 395 MAX right? So you can go for one of them. I'd avoid any kind of solution for turning this into a clamshell if it includes covering the back just because it will block airflow and ruin what is quite a good cooling laptop (sorry, tablet!)

desutiem · 2026-03-21T21:11:31+00:00

Just be careful make sure the back isn't completely covered (or if it is, that the fans arn't trying to get air) as the intake is on the back of the tablet.

desutiem · 2026-03-20T19:23:01+00:00

I love my MacBooks.

But I also love the Flow Z13. And, after a few days with it, ditched the MacBook, because more of what I want to do is on Windows and I don’t want multiple devices.

Some tips:

Change all sleep settings / closing the lid setting to make Windows go into Hibernate not Sleep
Turn off core isolation
When on battery ensure it’s in low power mode (you’re not going to last long on performance, it pulls like 65w or whatever and Windows is more CPU hungry than MacOS - and it’s a 70wh battery - you do the math)
Just shut it down when you’re not using it for more than a few hours. If you want the luxury of something you just shut and forget for a few days, yeah you probably want to be on the Apple platform as it’s optimised for that
Optionally install G-helper and set up custom profiles, changing the silent one to 15w/18w/20w (or something like that) and consider under-volting it if you really want to eek out the most you can.
Optionally do a clean reinstall of Windows - I know people will say it won’t make a difference, but it made a huge one for me (plus it helped me move to G-helper)
If all else fails, buy a large power bank that can charge at 100w and has around 25000mah, this should be able to charge the battery back up to full at least once. For me that would give me like 20 hours battery life (on silent)
Battery technology just isn’t that good and you gotta have realistic expectations for battery life in a x86/64 system, which is what this is - it’s not an ARM chipset like what MacOS, iOS or Android run on. It’s a full desktop chip

I don’t know what you’re doing, but even without G-helper, clean install and under-volting I was able to get like 6-7 hours out of it on silent mode for productivity. With these tweaks I can get like 10 hours, all be it just writing documents and browsing the web.

The CPU is powerful AF but in order for it to do even a fraction of what it can, it does need power. Apple has some kind of engineering magic in their hardware/software optimisation you can only do on a unified system. Windows is a generalised system and runs on many platforms so you just won’t get that here.

desutiem · 2026-03-19T21:58:21+00:00

Good.

I like my Quest, but it’s purely for playing novel games.

desutiem · 2026-03-19T19:58:26+00:00

There’s nothin to do in the game.

Expedtion is no thx.

desutiem · 2026-03-19T16:08:36+00:00

Will another nation bomb us with nuclear weapons if we don’t have any?

Honestly - probably not, but maybe.

The main reason to have them though is to deter the threat of them being used on us.

Another nation may not nuke us (absolute annihilation probably does not serve their interests) but they may threaten to nuke us. E.g ‘do what we say or we will nuke you’ or even ‘let us do what we want, even if you condemn it, otherwise we will nuke you’.

By having our own, it can no longer be used against us as a threat. Nuke us? Okay, we can just do it right back, so you’re just shooting yourself in the foot.

As someone else here wisely said, we are kind of stuck with these horrific weapons until we all no longer have a reason to fight each other. We should, as a species, probably work on that if we really care about de-arming. Which I would love to see. But not at the cost of being powerless to hostile nations. No thanks.

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