MSI have been steadily making leaps into business and productivity, at least in South Africa where the brand is more synonymous with its gaming hardware. The new Modern 14 F13MG presents itself as a lightweight laptop tailored for the business-savvy market – small, versatile and most importantly, sufficient for work-related purposes, this is a laptop that continued to impress me despite one or two small issues. Firstly, the specifications for the MSI Modern 14 F13MG are as follows: • Intel® Core™ i7-1355U (Up to 5.00GHz, 10 Cores, 12 Threads) • 16GB DDR4 RAM / 512GB NVMe SSD • 14” Full HD IPS-Level Display • Intel Iris Xe Graphics • Windows 11 Home • Intel WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 • White backlit keyboard, HD webcam • Plenty of ports: USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, RJ45, MicroSD slot • 1-year warranty Like its Modern 15 H counterpart, the Modern 14 F13MG is incredibly lightweight, coming in at 1.5kg. The laptop’s overall aesthetic is quite pleasing too with a glossy surface that’s thankfully not prone to fingerprints as much as other similar work-oriented laptops. It’s also incredibly low-key, clearly designed to not stand out too much in a work environment. It blends in perfectly with your work space, making it ideal for business and work use without drawing attention to it for all the wrong reasons. Due to its light weight and small size, it affords the laptop a tremendous amount of portability. It’s relatively easy to pack up and put in even the smallest laptop bags. Whether you’re using it on a busy desk or even taking it to coffee shops, the Modern 14 F13MG is the kind of reliable laptop that caters to your travelling needs by trimming the fat and condensing the experience into a compact, on-the-go item. Focusing more on the design, the white backlit keyboard really stands out on its dark keys, creating a pretty mesmerising sight when used in the dark or during loadshedding. The best thing I can say about the Modern 14 F13MG’s design, apart from its size and weight, is that it feels incredibly premium and tailored for professionals, whether in the creative or business space. As far as productivity laptops go, MSI has found a great middle-ground here between being ergonomic and delivering a smooth technical experience (more on that in a bit). The best thing I can say about the Modern 14 F13MG’s design, apart from its size and weight, is that it feels incredibly premium and tailored for professionals, whether in the creative or business space. If you were ever concerned about not having enough I/O ports, the Modern 14 F13MG is loaded with them. It packs 3x Type-A USB3.2 Gen1, 1x Micro SD card reader, 1x Type-C, 1x RJ45 and 1x HDMI port. In business environments where you need to quickly set up presentations or transfer data quickly from external devices, it’s a tremendous benefit having this many I/O port options available to you. Sure, it’s not a novel concept but due to the laptop’s small size and portability factor, it’s safe to say that the Modern 14 F13MG is one of the best I’ve had the pleasure of using. The 14-inch FHD IPS-level display is stunning, presenting crisp colours and vibrant images on its 1920x1080 resolution. An argument could be made that 1080p displays are a bit behind the curve, though you don’t really need added resolution if your laptop’s primary function is to be used for business and work instead of gaming. On that note, this is not a gaming laptop, though you could probably sneak a few less-demanding indie games on here without hassle. I managed to install and play Undertale and Balatro perfectly fine on the laptop – in fact, it looked fantastic with the FHD display - and to be honest, Balatro is all you need, but I digress. I was even able to run CS:GO 2 on low settings without sacrificing the framerate too much, but once again, you probably wouldn’t want to use the laptop for strictly gaming purposes. At least the option is there in a somewhat limited capacity. If you were ever concerned about not having enough I/O ports, the Modern 14 F13MG is loaded with them. On the storage front, the MSI Modern 14 F13MG comes with an on-board 512GB NVMe SSD. However, it also has the added benefit of upgradable memory. Packed with a max memory of 64GB and DDR4-3200, having the option to upgrade its memory capacity is honestly fantastic and perfect for creatives who tend to export large files or install more demanding software. Storage-wise, 512GB is perfectly fine for the business and work environment while also having ample space to store personal pictures, videos, music and more. It adds a bit of versatility to the device, making it a capable personal laptop while also being cut in stone for work use. In the unfortunate age of loadshedding (for non-South Africans, this means we get extended periods of blackouts for a plethora of inexplicable reasons), the Modern 14 F13MG on full charge will typically last you a handful of hours if you aren’t using it for extensive work. On the pesky stage 2-4 blocks, it will easily carry you across those 2.5 hours of power outages, assuming you tweak certain settings to reserve energy and power. Moving onto the price, this is usually the part of reviews where I weigh the pros and cons of the laptop and whether or not it’s worth the asking price. Knowing what you’re getting out of the MSI Modern 14 F13MG – that being a laptop mostly intended for work and business – the price point of R11,999 is honestly about right. It’s not going to break the bank and compared to other business-centric laptops on the market, the Modern 14 F13MG is priced reasonably, if not a steal for a reliably solid MSI laptop. In terms of performance, this is the newer model with the Core i7 so it’s a leg above its other alternatives, and multitasking is mostly a breeze, but if you put the laptop under strain, you’ll likely run into your usual dips in speed. For instance, running a number of background tasks did result in a slight lag when pulling up or opening new windows and folders, but it’s barely noticeable and the laptop does a fine job of keeping up with the workload. The compact size of the laptop meant that certain exclusions unfortunately had to happen. The biggest offence here is the lack of a Numpad. I’m the kind of person who typically likes to hotkey certain functions to a Numpad while working, but sadly the Modern 14 F13MG had to make the cut to keep its size condensed. For people with larger hands, typing on the laptop’s keyboard also takes some getting used to due to its smaller, tighter spacing, so keep that in mind if you prefer to give your fingers a little more breathing room. Overall, the MSI Modern 14 F13MG is a pretty solid, no-nonsense business and work laptop that aims to boost productivity and excels with flying colours in most areas. Thanks to its range of I/O ports, crisp display and low-key pleasant design, it goes the extra mile to cater to your needs, be it for work, personal use or a very light degree of gaming. At a modest price point, it’s also pretty affordable considering what you get out of it.

The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 2025 GZ302 is a flagship product from Asus that combines the benefits of both tablets and gaming laptops into one exceptionally versatile device. It’s aimed at gamers and creators and Asus have made this quite clear with its technical specifications. So is the ROG Flow Z13 something you should keep an eye on and is it worth purchasing? First up, the technical specs. This is quite hefty for a “tablet” and honestly, even puts gaming laptops to shame. You can see them below: Technical Specifications Processor: AMD Ryzen™ AI MAX+ 395 Processor 3.0GHz (80MB Cache, up to 5.1GHz, 16 cores, 32 Threads); AMD XDNA™ NPU up to 50TOPS GPU: Radeon 8060S GPU RAM: 32GB LPDDR5X 8000 on board Storage: 1TB PCIe® 4.0 NVMe™ M.2 SSD (2230) Display: 13.4-inch 2.5K (2560 x 1600, WQXGA) 16:10 aspect ratio, 180Hz, ROG Nebula Display, Pantone® validated, 100% DCI-P3 color space coverage. Battery: 70Wh Operating System: Windows 11 Wireless Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7(802.11be) (Triple band) 2*2 + Bluetooth® 5.4 Wireless Card (*Bluetooth® version may change with OS version different.) Ports: 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, 1x HDMI 2.1 FRL, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (data speed up to 10Gbps), 2x Type-C USB 4 with support for DisplayPort™ / power delivery (data speed up to 40Gbps), 1x card reader (microSD) (UHS-II) Additional Features: Pantone validation, Dolby Vision HDR, vapor chamber cooling, and liquid metal thermal compound Dimensions (W x D x H): 30.0 x 20.4 x 1.30 ~ 1.49 cm (11.81" x 8.03" x 0.51" ~ 0.59") Weight: 1.2kg The ROG Flow Z13 (2025) makes use of AMD’s latest technology in the form of the AMD Ryzen™ AI MAX+ 395 Processor. This combines the CPU and GPU on a single chip which leads to some very interesting advantages over traditional separate CPU and GPU configurations. The major advantage being that this combination significantly improves efficiency between the two chips communicating with each other. Since they are on the same chip now, you can leverage reduced latency and effectively perform faster. At least on paper. We’ll get to the performance aspects a bit later where I’ll showcase the benchmark test results. The second major advantage lies with thermal optimisation and heat dissipation. Asus have integrated a vapor chamber and liquid metal cooling into the system and since there’s only a single chip that needs to be addressed, it’s far easier to manage heat generation due to the increased free space this opens up. This also leads to another additional advantage of reducing the overall weight of the device too. Moving on to the device’s aesthetics, the ROG Flow Z13 looks great. When the keyboard is attached, you wouldn’t be able to tell that this is a tablet. The keyboard itself is fine with larger keycaps and an anti-fingerprint coating which is so desperately needed on devices these days. The touchpad is also quite large too. This is a device that does not feature a numpad so number crunching Microsoft Excel users might find it a bit lacking in that regard. The overall look and feel of the ROG Flow Z13 is great with my only personal gripe with it being that even though it “only weighs 1.2kg”, that 1.2kg is very hefty for a tablet. Doubly so when you consider that Samsung’s similar sized tablets weigh much less and are a lot thinner. I will concede a bit though since this is clearly a powerful multimedia gaming device and not just a tablet and as such, its sheer power needs to be factored in. The see through segment at the back of the device where you can see the PC board along with some RGB lighting is very stylish. However, Asus’s software clearly needs to talk better to their devices. Trying to use Asus Armoury Crate to control the lighting on the device was a massive struggle. I couldn’t get the lighting at the back to respond correctly and eventually just gave up. Maybe a future update will fix this issue but it just refused to sync up correctly using Aura Sync, which is the Asus specific lighting software. The RGB lighting on the keyboard also could use a bit of a brightness bump since it doesn’t show up all that well in brightly lit environments. The ROG Flow Z13 feels very tough. I wouldn’t recommend ever dropping the device but it will definitely survive a daily commute in a laptop bag or sleeve. The display has Gorilla Glass 5 and has an anti-glare coating which reduces screen reflection quite a lot. Using it’s touch features felt perfectly natural and Asus have built in some nifty controls with a “Command center” button on the side of the device that launches some quick commands. This also allows users to open up Microsoft CoPilot since A.I is clearly all the rage these days and it needs a dedicated button apparently. The ROG Flow Z13’s display is definitely one of its best selling points. The higher than usual 2.5K resolution, 180Hz refresh rate, and 100% DCI-P3 color accuracy means that everything looks sharp and vibrant. It also has Dolby Vision HDR which really makes things stand out. Moving on to the device’s performance. I was extremely surprised to see how well it performed with not only multitasking but also with gaming. Booting up 3D Mark, I ran the Solar Bay test, TimeSpy and Steel Nomad benchmarks and the Sampler Feedback test. I obtained the following results with the ROG Flow Z13 plugged into its charger: From the above, what was remarkable was how the ROG Flow Z13 blistered through the tests with the exception of the Steel Nomad benchmark. Steel Nomad is quite a demanding test though and the fact that it still managed to get 11.99 FPS means that older games will run with no real issues at lower resolutions and reduced graphics settings. With that said though, I obviously had to test a brand-new title on the device which brings me to being so shocked by the result I got. I booted up the Monster Hunter Wilds benchmark test and low and behold, the ROG Flow Z13 chewed through it with barely any issues. In fact, it yielded such a high score I was flabbergasted. See the result below: Almost 50FPS at higher than 2K resolution on Ultra settings? That’s crazy for a device that’s essentially a tablet. I have full confidence that the ROG Flow Z13 can run modern games after these tests. AMD’s “Strix Halo” RDNA 3.5 CPU with the Radeon 8060S GPU is clearly a powerhouse. One thing that I did find a tiny bit lacklustre however was that the NVME in the device was seemingly quite ordinary. Running the good old trusty CrystalDiskMark 8.0.6 Shizuku Edition revealed that the NVME’s read and write speeds were fairly standard. You can easily replace this with a faster drive but it would have been nice to see something faster in here like a 7000MB/s Read/Write NVME right out of the box. I also ran Cinebench R24 just to round off my testing and obtained a pretty decent score too of 1296. If you want to do some quick rendering, or work on some creative work like drawing or photo editing, you’ll be fine. It also helps a lot that the display is Pantone certified and colour accurate too. The Asus ROG Flow Z13’s fans did spin up during some of the benchmark testing but surprisingly it never sounded like it was going to take off. The way it handles heat seems to be extremely well designed with the heat being directed away from the device very efficiently. That said though, it does heat up after prolonged usage so if you’re gaming with it plugged in and with the keyboard docked, you’ll want to let it cool off a bit before you pick it up and start using it as a tablet. The battery life on the ROG Flow Z13 is absolutely amazing. On a full charge, it seemed like it would just keep going for hours and hours on end. I quite literally used it for almost 5 hours typing up reviews in the darkness due to a power outage and the battery was still quite full. Under load though, as expected, it does start to drain quite quickly and the performance takes a big knock. The battery charges very quickly so the ideal situation would be to use the device docked with its keyboard and plugged in for more demanding tasks and using it as a tablet for less demanding tasks on the go. The charger is disappointingly quite big and delivers 200 watts of power to the 70Wh battery through a rectangular port on the left side of the device that’s sadly not a standard laptop charging port. The ROG Flow Z13 has quite a few ports on its sides but I would have liked to see another extra USB 3.2 Type A port on the left side too. Only having one of the right-hand side means that you may want to invest in a USB Type C hub for the left side if you have multiple external USB 3.2 Type A devices that you want to use. Asus claims that “These dedicated I/O ports make the Flow Z13 the only tablet that lets you truly leave your dongles behind.” but an extra port on the left would have made a world of difference in actually supporting this claim. On the software side of things, the ROG Flow Z13 comes with the standard Asus programs pre-installed. MyAsus for support and ROG Armoury Crate for controlling the fan speeds and more. Again though, Armoury Crate refused to let me control the RGB lighting at the back for some unknown reason. Finally, the ROG Flow Z13’s price point needs to be considered. At an RRP of R42999, this is a very pricey device that not many will be able to afford. It also directly competes with a lot of Asus products that can deliver better performance - Especially in the ROG and TUF lineup of gaming laptops. If you’re looking at this product, you’ll need to really consider your options. Are you actually going to use it in tablet form often? If yes, then by all means, this is a great device but then, why not just get a regular tablet? Or a Microsoft Surface? A high end Apple iPad? The ROG Flow Z13 is a well-engineered device but the price and some baffling design decisions means that there’s plenty of other options to consider that will negatively influence your purchasing decision. “Why should I opt for this over a traditional laptop?” is the main question that I kept asking myself and personally, I couldn’t come up with a good answer. I’m sure there’s people out there for whom this would be a great device but it certainly is not for me given its price point.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced the arrival of the 2025 ROG Flow Z13, a powerful gaming tablet. This versatile 2-in-1 gaming machine now features the brand new ultra-powerful AMD Ryzen™ AI Max+ 395 with Radeon™ 8060S Graphics and a unified memory structure, allowing for incredible performance and power efficiency. A new stainless steel and copper vapor chamber, larger intake vents and 2nd Gen Arc Flow Fans™ offer 70% more airflow for quiet and efficient cooling. This 13-inch tablet boasts a stunning ROG Nebula Display, a 2.5K resolution 180Hz touchscreen with 500 nits of peak brightness, and Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5 protection. The Flow Z13 now also features a larger 70Wh battery, a larger touchpad and keycaps, and a convenient Command Center button for quick access to vital system functions. With dual USB-C® ports, both of which support USB4® and power delivery, as well as a dedicated HDMI® 2.1 port, the Flow Z13 lets gamers leave their dongles at home. Power efficiency reimagined The beating heart of the 2025 ROG Flow Z13 is the brand new AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 with Radeon 8060S Graphics from AMD. With 16 high-performance Zen 5 CPU cores and 40 compute units worth of RDNA 3.5 graphics on the same processor, the Z13 has the muscle for both intense multitasking and heavyweight gaming. The RDNA 3.5 GPU cores power gaming performance that rivals dedicated graphics, with the added benefit of drawing significantly less power, making it the perfect choice for a gaming tablet. The Z13’s processor also boasts 50 TOPS of NPU performance, making it a certified Copilot+ PC that offers incredible versatility with built-in AI features and tools. Unified quad channel memory With both the CPU and GPU cores sharing a single processor die, the ROG Flow Z13 is able to utilize a unified memory structure, allowing for incredible flexibility and versatility. Traditional gaming laptops and tablets have a dedicated CPU and GPU, both with distinct pools of RAM that can’t be shared. The Flow Z13 has one large pool of memory that can be allocated to the Zen 5 and RDNA 3.5 compute cores dynamically, giving gamers access to plentiful VRAM in modern games and excellent performance in other memory intensive tasks when not gaming. Up to 128GB of ultra-high speed LPDDR5X 8000MHz RAM gives gamers plenty of memory for even the most demanding games and applications, all shared dynamically as needed for a seamless experience. This quad-channel memory configuration offers maximum bandwidth and minimal latency, offering both the CPU and GPU cores the most performance possible. With a dedicated NPU, a high-performance GPU, and the ability to allocate up to 96GB of VRAM, the Flow Z13 is the ultimate portable workstation. Capable of running a 70B large language model locally on the machine, the Z13 is ready for any advanced AI task. Revamped cooling The 2025 ROG Flow Z13 features a brand-new vapor chamber, now built with lightweight stainless steel and copper and offering 54% more coverage of the mainboard compared to the previous generation design. Larger intake vents and dual 2nd Gen Arc Flow Fans help push exhaust air through ultrathin 0.1mm heatsink fins that are extra-efficient without adding bulk to the machine. As a tablet, the Flow Z13 houses all of its heat-producing components behind the display and rarely sits flat on a table, with a standing design granting ample access to fresh air and a natural cooling advantage compared to gaming laptops. The Flow Z13 features a redesigned routing for air from the pair of 2nd Gen Arc Flow Fans, diverting a small amount to a specially designed channel behind the touchscreen to keep the user’s skin temperatures lower during use. In addition, integrated dust filters help keep hair and debris out of the machine, keeping the Z13’s cooling system reliable for years to come. Brilliant visuals This compact 13-inch laptop boasts a gorgeous high-resolution 2.5K and 180Hz refresh rate Nebula Display, for incredibly immersive games and video content. Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5 protects the touchscreen from accidental knicks and scratches. With 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, a 16:10 aspect ratio, and 500 nits of peak brightness, this ROG Nebula Display is ready to light up the gaming world. More ports and features than ever Despite its svelte size, the 2025 ROG Flow Z13 stands ready to become the centerpiece of any gaming battlestation. Featuring dual USB-C ports, both of which support USB4, DisplayPort™ 1.4 output, and power delivery, the Z13 offers incredible flexibility for any devices and peripherals. It also sports a dedicated HDMI 2.1 port, a USB Type-A port, a microSD card reader, and an audio combo jack. The Flow Z13 is the only tablet that truly allows gamers to leave their dongles behind. The Flow Z13 now sports a much larger 70Wh battery, which when combined with the new power efficiency of the Strix Halo processor, gives gamers more battery life than ever before. A larger touchpad and individual keycaps offer a more comfortable typing experience. And as a final touch, a brand-new Command Center button allows for seamless access to vital system functions, essential for any tablet. Availability and Pricing The 2025 ASUS ROG Flow Z13 will be available from R42,999 in select retailers/etailers. Visit the official ASUS website for further information.

Sony has announced a new limited edition DualSense controller themed around its popular IP and franchise, The Last of Us. The controller will be available to pre-order next week, featuring a striking black and white design with symbols prominently featured in the franchise. The Last of Us limited edition DualSense controller celebrates the legacy of Naughty Dog’s award-winning franchise, featuring a distinct black and white colour scheme including white thumb sticks that really stand out. Symbols from The Last of Us representing factions or groups appear around the controller, giving it a unique look and aesthetic. The controller will be priced at $84,99 when it arrives on 10 April, though players can start pre-ordering it as soon as next week. While South African pricing has yet to be determined, you can probably expect the controller to cost around R1,700 – R2,000. We’ll update the article with correct local price listings as soon as we receive the information. The themed DualSense controller releases just in time for HBO’s second season of The Last of Us, which will largely adapt the events of The Last of Us: Part II video game. Actress Kaitlyn Dever will play Abby while Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey will reprise their roles as Joel and Ellie, respectively. Sony has remastered or remade both games in the franchise, which are now playable in their best forms on PS5. However, those hoping that Naughty Dog will continue the franchise might be out of luck. Director Neil Druckmann recently stated in an interview that a third game might not happen after all. Naughty Dog is currently focused on its new sci-fi game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which debuted its cinematic reveal trailer at The Game Awards last year. Check out the trailer for The Last of Us DualSense controller and keep an eye out on pre-orders as they open up on 14 March 2025. Original article on GLITCHED