ASUS Zenbook Duo overview: The first twin-camouflage laptop worth buying

Virtually every predominant PC maker has dabbled with the theorem that of a twin-camouflage laptop one day. Components again in 2011, Acer released the Iconia 6120 carrying no longer one but two 14-run displays. Then at CES 2017, Razer showed off Challenge Valerie which bumped the panel depend to three sooner than demoing one thing rather less extravagant a year later in Challenge Linda. Hasty forward to 2020, when Dell dazzled us with the Theory Duet. Even Apple gave the class a stir on the passe MacBook Pros with Touch Bars, handiest to reverse course and ditch them fully about a years up to now.

Within the meantime, Lenovo has a complete household of devices relationship again to the customary Yoga Ebook and culminating most currently in the Yoga Ebook 9i, with the latter coming extremely close to turning the promise of twin-camouflage laptops into an exact appealing different. But now after a lot of generations of its devour devices, ASUS has place every little thing alongside with the Zenbook Duo. It’s an amazing sleek machine with two monitors that’s barely better than a equally sized clamshell. There’s additionally a detachable keyboard and a built-in kickstand for most adaptability. And starting at $1,500, the Zenbook Duo doesn’t characterize a huge top price for one thing with a ton of further utility. So whereas it’s been quite a bolt to make your mind up on up here, ASUS has by hook or by crook made a twin-camouflage laptop that proves once and for all that two monitors in actuality are better than one.

Create

One in all the most spectacular issues about the Zenbook Duo is that it doesn’t gaze adore some extra or less Frankendeivce. It’s trusty an everyday-taking a gaze 14-run laptop. Even after you initiate it, issues aloof gaze trendy with a physical keyboard and touchpad, no longer to advise a wholesome series of ports across the outside (two Thunderbolt 4, one USB 3.2 Kind-A and a corpulent-size HDMI 2.1 jack). A minute segment of me wants ASUS had chanced on room for some extra or less SD card reader, but I perceive if there trusty wasn’t attach of dwelling.

It’s handiest after you do away with the keyboard that issues select up attention-grabbing because as quickly as you fabricate, the Duo’s 2d be aware springs to lifestyles. From here, that you may maybe maybe dangle a ton of alternate choices. Tapping three fingers on the decrease panel summons a floating touchpad. Alternatively, eight fingers makes a virtual keyboard seem, which you may maybe be in a attach of dwelling to follow with a swipe as much as point to an everyday keyboard/trackpad combo. But the cool train is that because these are all virtual stand-ins, it’s a ways straight forward to swap in a brand new layout (adore for other languages), movement the touchpad off to the side or name up a numpad for individuals who are searching for to fabricate some files entry. There’s trusty so great extra flexibility when half of of a laptop’s internal isn’t taken up by a rigid attach of physical keys.

But issues defend making improvements to, because on the backside of the Duo is a flap that folds out into a kickstand. This lets you prop the machine up and say each monitors as perfect displays, form of adore a moveable twin-note setup but all in a single self-contained machine. And for the rationale that detachable keyboard connects wirelessly over Bluetooth, you may maybe be in a attach of dwelling to connect it in entrance (or wherever you favor to dangle) trusty adore a desktop. The one minute drawback to this make is that for individuals who rotate the Duo’s displays into portrait orientation side by side, the make of the kickstand skill there’s no system to adjust how a ways it tilts. This closely favors the stacked setup with one be aware above, which is okay because I reflect that device is extra worthwhile in most scenarios.

Any other stress-free surprise is that for a tool with two monitors, the Zenbook Duo isn’t great better or heavier than a same old clamshell. It weighs 3.6 pounds and measures 0.78 inches thick versus the 2.82 pounds and zero.59 inches for an everyday Zenbook 14 OLED. And when when put next with one thing adore a Dell XPS 14 (3.7 pounds and zero.71 inches thick), each programs are practically the identical size.

My one gripe is that ASUS’ dark gray paint job coloration doesn’t again the Duo stand out. It’s nearly adore somebody who wears subdued colours to defend a ways from drawing consideration. But this make is improbable and I wish ASUS would give this laptop (and the engineers who designed it) the flowers it deserves.

Shows and machine

The center-piece of the Duo is its pair of 14-run displays, that are an absolute pride. No longer handiest fabricate the matching OLED panels provide solid brightness (round 500 nits), they additionally pump out rich and trusty colours (100% of DCI-P3). But the proper magic is that if you happen to say each panels together.

Transferring apps from one be aware to any other is as easy as dragging and dropping or the utilization of the to hand menus that seem at the tip of the be aware. As well, there’s a floating button in the backside left for ASUS’ ScreenXpert machine, which affords shortcuts for adjusting brightness (one by one or as a pair), disabling articulate panels or pulling as much as hand widgets for issues adore a adjust panel, a handwriting recognition tool, files and climate and further. If the goal was once to make your mind up on up as great attach out of the Duo’s two displays, I reflect ASUS’ machine does a rather trusty job.

The downside to all here’s that despite ASUS’ ideal efforts, Home windows 11 and plenty apps aloof aren’t totally optimized for programs adore this. As an instance, after I played a round of Teamfight Ways and wished to drag up some sport stats on the decrease be aware, I impulsively met a neighborhood the attach the virtual touchpad stopped working. It was once handiest after I attach the game to without boundary lines window mode, closed the game and relaunched every little thing that it began working any other time. Granted, scenarios adore this had been uncommon, but it’s fundamental to set in mind that if you happen to’re the utilization of a slicing-edge tool, there may maybe maybe well be some bugs or awkward interactions.

Efficiency

The Zenbook Duo comes with an Intel Core Extremely 7 155H processor, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB NVMe SSD. While you may maybe be in a attach of dwelling to fortify it with double the reminiscence and a faster Extremely 9 chip, I chanced on the excessive configuration to be plenty instant. On tests adore Geekbench 6 and PCMark 10, the Zenbook Duo was in outcomes that had been such as those from equally geared up clamshells, together with ASUS’ devour Zenbook 14 OLED. Here is abundant because it skill there’s no longer a ton of overhead on account of the addition of a 2d camouflage and even when setup in desktop mode, dragging apps from one be aware to any other felt lickety-split and responsive. The evident drawback is that no longer like some 14-run programs such because the XPS 14, there’s no room for a discrete GPU, which makes the Zenbook Duo better suited to trendy productivity than extra nerve-racking initiatives adore video editing.

Battery lifestyles

You may maybe maybe well reflect a machine with two monitors may maybe maybe well be a battery hog, but the Zenbook Duo fared better than expected. With trusty one camouflage on, it lasted 13 hours and 12 minutes on our video rundown test, which is rather great same to (in actuality a contact longer than) the Zenbook 14 OLED (12:43). And with each monitors going, the Duo’s time handiest dropped to 10:17, which is aloof better than sufficient to outlive a complete workday.

Wrap-up

OK, so the Zenbook Duo delivers on the guarantees of twin-camouflage laptops. But one place a query to I select up plenty is who are devices adore this in actuality for? The most evident application is for individuals who carry a moveable note round whereas traveling. But extra on the total, this train is aimed at someone who appreciates a lot of displays and wants a machine that may maybe maybe recreate which dangle in a extra shuttle-pleasant system, which is one thing the Zenbook Duo does with aplomb. The trusty segment though is that it doesn’t make predominant sacrifices to fabricate so, because on account of its detachable keyboard, it can well feature trusty adore every other clamshell when attach of dwelling is tight (adore on an airplane).

Whenever you happen to may maybe maybe dangle room to spread out, it transforms into a moveable workstation with plenty of camouflage attach of dwelling for a project up high and bonus proper property for Slack, electronic mail, video calls or the leisure that you may maybe maybe need down beneath. It be received tall ports so you don’t must dangle a dongle round and on account of its lovely OLED monitors, your work (or play) persistently appears to be like to be like abundant. The Zenbook Duo can fabricate every little thing an everyday laptop can and further. Sure, the machine trip will likely be rather extra polished, though that’s no longer fully on ASUS. We aloof desire a brand new edition of Home windows to present better OS toughen for twin-camouflage machines. But fascinated by the total struggles and a lot of generations it took to make your mind up on up here, the Zenbook Duo is a pleasing torchbearer for a brand new class of moveable PCs.