Asus Zenbook Flip 13

Three hundred and sixty degrees of cool.

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, but at just under $1,300, it’s not exactly the most affordable notebook in the business.

You get a lot for your money, though. 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 whispersilent, thanks to passive cooling, and has a smaller footprint compared to its predecessor, with a tiny bezel around the screen. The 360-degree hinge is rated for 20,000 cycles.

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.

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 too easy for prying eyes to spy 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.