blog: flow x13 post
Anirudh Oppiliappan x@icyphox.sh
Mon, 02 May 2022 21:31:46 +0530
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+--- +template: +slug: flow-x13 +title: The Asus ROG Flow X13 +subtitle: My hunt for a new laptop has finally concluded +date: 2022-05-02 +--- + + + +I've been on the lookout for a new laptop for a while now. While the HP +Envy was good -- is good -- the measly 8 gigs of RAM was struggling to +hold in all the beefy stuff that I run these days (skaffold, k3s, etc.). +And it being a "budget" laptop of its time didn't do its chassis any +favors -- the bottom was very scratched because the rubber bumpons +came off; the keyboard deck had some rather mysterious scuff marks. +Anyway, off I went looking for a replacement. + +My requirements for a laptop are somewhat specific. From the title it's +obvious that I'd like to have good Linux support; here's a list of +other things that I expect to see: + +- HiDPI: Any resolution above 1080p (or 1200p). I look at text all day, + and I'd like it to be _crispy_. +- 13" - 14": I don't like overly large or heavy laptops. I think 13.3 + inches is the perfect screen size; 14 is a compromise. +- A decent CPU: I don't really do anything very compute intensive, but + an i7 or a Ryzen 7 should be ideal. +- 32 GB RAM: Having struggled with 8 gigs for so long made this a hard + requirement. Never again will I have to `pkill gopls`. + +I can't say I had a specific budget in mind, but anything more than 140k +INR (1.4L, ≈1800 USD) is somewhat hard to justify. Listed below were the +contenders for the prestegious position of being my laptop of choice: + +- **Tuxedo InfinityBook Pro 14**: While this ticks all the boxes, the + cost including shipping (as of this writing) is about 1700 EUR. And + that's without opening the massive, stinky can of worms called Indian + Customs. Expecting a very lenient 40% duty, it's safe to say it's + _batshit expensive_. +- **ThinkPad X13**: Lenovo's site allows you to customize orders for + certain models, and these will be custom built and shipped from China. + The nice thing is Lenovo takes care of the customs and shipping and + other logistics. The not-nice thing is it takes a minimum of _12 + weeks_ -- at least for the X13. That's 4 whole months. I think I'll + pass. + +With that preface out of the way, the machine I finally settled on was +(as the title reads) the **Asus ROG Flow X13**. My model set me back by +about 130,000 INR (1.3L, ≈1700 USD). The trick was to look in the +"gaming laptops" section, because this model didn't show up anywhere in +the thin-and-light/productivity/ultrabook searches. And it doesn't look +gamery at all. Here's what my Dad had to say, as a serial ThinkPad user: + +> "It looks like a ThinkPad." + +## hardware + +I opted to buy the 2021 model because, really, the only difference in +the 2022 model is the marginally better CPU and a MUX switch. I don't +care much for either. The octa-core Ryzen 9 5900HS has more compute +power than I could ever need. + +The chassis is made of a "magnesium alloy", with a grooved finish that +feels very nice to touch. There's very minimal branding -- one somewhat +"iridescent" label with the Republic of Gamers logotype on one corner of +the lid, and the ROG logo on the right palm-rest, made out of the same +groove design. + +| | | +| ---- | ---- | +|  |  | + +The hinges are sturdy and allow for 360° rotation. The lid can be opened +with a single finger, which is much appreciated. The screen itself is a +gorgeous 4K (3840×2400) touch screen panel. While the need need for 4K +on a 13" screen is questionable, I welcome it wholeheartedly. It is the +best screen I've used; the colors are punchy, text is (naturally) very +crisp. It's glossy, and attracts a ton of fingerprints. A stylus is +included in the box -- or at least it was for me -- but I haven't found +much use for it after the initial excitement. + + + +The keyboard is pretty good. Given the choice, I wouldn't have picked +the font on the caps, but I suppose it could be worse. Three backlight +modes for low, medium and high brightness exist. These can be controlled +via the sysfs device at `/sys/class/leds/asus::kbd_backlight/`. The +dedicated volume buttons are nice and work out of the box; the mic-mute +toggle key however needs special treatment to get detected by X11 -- +adding the below udev rule did the trick: + +```nix +udev.extraHwdb = '' + evdev:input:b0003v0B05p19B6* + KEYBOARD_KEY_ff31007c=f20 +''; +``` + +For ports, you get a USB-C and a USB-A on the right along with the power +button; on the left: a 3.5mm headphone/microphone jack, a HDMI 2.0 port, +and the proprietary XGm port for use with the [XG +Mobile](https://rog.asus.com/in/external-graphic-docks/2021-rog-xg-mobile-model/) +external GPU. The eGPU port, while being generally useless to me, also +happens to contain a USB-C port, bringing the total to two. The ports +selection could be better -- a single USB-A is one too less, forcing me +to have to use a dongle to connect both my keyboard and mouse. + +| | | +| ---- | ---- | +|  |  | + +The entire package weighs in at about 1.3 kilograms, which is just as +much as my HP Envy. For how well it's built, I'm not complaining. + +Finally, here's the full spec list: +- Ryzen 9 5900HS, 8 cores & 16 threads +- 32 GB LPDDR4X RAM @ 4266MHz +- Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q, 4 GB GDDR6 +- 1 TB SSD + +## software + +Installing NixOS was straightforward. Basically everything works out of +the box. I'd have liked to run OpenBSD on it, but I unfortunately +require Linux for work. NixOS, while I understand nothing of Nix (the +language), works well enough. Being able to configure your entire system +from one single place is quite nice. Overall, it's a lot more cohesive +than other Linux systems. + +The Nvidia GPU is handled surprisingly well. Looks like Linux has +improved a lot in this regard. "Offload mode" is especially neat -- you +can selectively "offload" certain tasks (like running Steam) to the GPU, +and otherwise have it suspended. Here's how I do it: + +```nix +{ pkgs, ... }: + +pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "nvidia-offload" + '' + export __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 + export __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD_PROVIDER=NVIDIA-G0 + export __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia + export __VK_LAYER_NV_optimus=NVIDIA_only + exec -a "$0" "$@" + '' +``` + +Now simply run + +```sh +$ nvidia-offload steam +``` + +to have Steam run on the GPU. Use the `nvidia-smi` tool to inspect +processes currently using the GPU. + +The laptop has an accelerometer to detect when it's in tablet mode, and +invert the display accordingly. Unfortunatly, I couldn't figure out how +to get it to work in X11/cwm. Instead, I wrote a handy script to rotate +the display and the touch input: + +```nix +{ pkgs, ... }: + +let + xrandr = "${pkgs.xorg.xrandr}/bin/xrandr"; + xinput = "${pkgs.xorg.xinput}/bin/xinput"; +in +pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "invert" + '' + orientation="$(${xrandr} --query --verbose | grep eDP | cut -d ' ' -f 6)" + if [[ "$orientation" == "normal" ]]; + then + echo "turning screen upside down..." + ${xrandr} -o inverted + ${xinput} set-prop 'ELAN9008:00 04F3:2C82' 'Coordinate Transformation Matrix' -1 0 1 0 -1 1 0 0 1 + ${xinput} set-prop 'ELAN9008:00 04F3:2C82 Stylus Pen (0)' 'Coordinate Transformation Matrix' -1 0 1 0 -1 1 0 0 1 + ${xinput} set-prop 'ELAN9008:00 04F3:2C82 Stylus Eraser (0)' 'Coordinate Transformation Matrix' -1 0 1 0 -1 1 0 0 1 + else + echo "reverting back to normal..." + ${xrandr} -o normal + ${xinput} set-prop 'ELAN9008:00 04F3:2C82' 'Coordinate Transformation Matrix' 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 + ${xinput} set-prop 'ELAN9008:00 04F3:2C82 Stylus Pen (0)' 'Coordinate Transformation Matrix' 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 + ${xinput} set-prop 'ELAN9008:00 04F3:2C82 Stylus Eraser (0)' 'Coordinate Transformation Matrix' 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 + fi + '' +``` + +Then, simply run `invert` to toggle your current orientation: +```sh +▲ invert +turning screen upside down... + +▲ invert +reverting back to normal... +``` + +Battery life could be better, but with TLP/powertop + switching the CPU +governor to `powersave` on battery, I get about 7 - 8 hours on light +workloads, and about 5 on heavy. I'm going to guess the 4K panel is to +blame. + +Also worth mentioning is the [Asus Linux](https://asus-linux.org) +project. They have some useful resources for running Linux on Asus +laptops, and [asusctl](https://gitlab.com/asus-linux/asusctl) / +[supergfxctl](https://gitlab.com/asus-linux/supergfxctl) -- two great +tools for managing power profiles, fan curves and the dGPU. + +Overall, I couldn't be happier with this machine. It wasn't cheap, but +it sure does check all the boxes and it's incredibly future proof. As +for my trusty old HP Envy 13, I haven't decided yet what to do with it. +It'll most probably end up in my closet, enshrined under a layer of +clothes. + +You can find all the scripts mentioned in this post (and more!) +[here](https://github.com/icyphox/dotfiles/tree/master/nix).