Nearly each main PC maker has dabbled with the concept of a dual-screen laptop computer sooner or later. Method again in 2011, sporting not one however two 14-inch shows. Then at CES 2017, Razer confirmed off which bumped the panel rely to a few earlier than demoing one thing a bit much less extravagant a 12 months later in . Quick ahead to 2020, when Dell dazzled us with the . Even Apple gave the class a go on the previous , solely to reverse course and .

In the meantime, Lenovo has a whole household of units courting again to the unique and culminating most lately within the , with the latter coming extraordinarily near turning the promise of dual-screen laptops into an precise interesting alternative. However now after a number of generations of its personal units, ASUS has put the whole lot along with the It’s a brilliant smooth machine with two screens that’s barely bigger than a equally sized clamshell. There’s additionally a removable keyboard and a built-in kickstand for max adaptability. And beginning at $1,500, the Zenbook Duo doesn’t command a large premium for one thing with a ton of additional utility. So whereas it’s been fairly a journey to get right here, ASUS has lastly made a dual-screen laptop computer that proves as soon as and for all that two screens actually are higher than one.

Design

One of the vital spectacular issues in regards to the Zenbook Duo is that it doesn’t appear to be some sort of Frankendeivce. It’s only a regular-looking 14-inch laptop computer. Even after you open it, issues nonetheless look regular with a bodily keyboard and touchpad, to not point out a wholesome collection of ports across the outdoors (two Thunderbolt 4, one USB 3.2 Sort-A and a full-size HDMI 2.1 jack). A small a part of me needs ASUS had discovered room for some sort of SD card reader, however I perceive if there simply wasn’t house.

It’s solely after you take away the keyboard that issues get fascinating as a result of as quickly as you do, the Duo’s second show springs to life. From right here, you’ve gotten a ton of choices. Tapping three fingers on the decrease panel summons a floating touchpad. Alternatively, eight fingers makes a digital keyboard seem, which you’ll comply with with a swipe as much as reveal a conventional keyboard/trackpad combo. However the cool factor is that as a result of these are all digital stand-ins, it is easy to swap in a brand new structure (like for different languages), transfer the touchpad off to the facet or name up a numpad if you should do some information entry. There’s simply a lot extra flexibility when half of a laptop computer’s inside isn’t taken up by a inflexible set of bodily keys.

However issues hold getting higher, as a result of on the underside of the Duo is a flap that folds out right into a kickstand. This lets you prop the system up and use each screens as correct shows, form of like a conveyable dual-monitor setup however all in a single self-contained system. And since the removable keyboard connects wirelessly over Bluetooth, you may place it in entrance (or wherever you need) similar to a desktop. The one small disadvantage to this design is that when you rotate the Duo’s shows into portrait orientation facet by facet, the design of the kickstand means there’s no method to alter how far it tilts. This closely favors the stacked setup with one show above, which is ok as a result of I believe that association is extra helpful in most conditions.

One other nice shock is that for a tool with two screens, the Zenbook Duo isn’t a lot larger or heavier than a typical clamshell. It weighs 3.6 kilos and measures 0.78 inches thick versus the two.82 kilos and 0.59 inches for the standard Zenbook 14 OLED. And when in comparison with one thing like a Dell XPS 14 (3.7 kilos and 0.71 inches thick), each methods are virtually the identical measurement.

My one gripe is that ASUS’ darkish grey paint job colour doesn’t assist the Duo stand out. It’s nearly like somebody who wears subdued colours to keep away from drawing consideration. However this design is unbelievable and I want ASUS would give this laptop computer (and the engineers who designed it) the flowers it deserves.

Shows and software program

The centerpiece of the Duo is its pair of 14-inch shows, that are an absolute delight. Not solely do the matching OLED panels supply sturdy brightness (round 500 nits), additionally they pump out wealthy and correct colours (one hundred pc of DCI-P3). However the true magic is if you use each panels collectively.

Transferring apps from one show to a different is so simple as dragging and dropping or utilizing the helpful menus that seem on the high of the show. As well as, there’s a floating button within the backside left for ASUS’ ScreenXpert software program, which gives shortcuts for adjusting brightness (individually or as a pair), disabling particular panels or pulling up helpful widgets for issues like a management panel, a handwriting recognition instrument, information and climate and extra. If the objective was to get as a lot worth out of the Duo’s two shows, I believe ASUS’ software program does a fairly good job.

The draw back to all that is that regardless of ASUS’ greatest efforts, Home windows 11 and lots of apps nonetheless aren’t totally optimized for methods like this. For instance, after I performed a spherical of Teamfight Techniques and needed to tug up some recreation stats on the decrease show, I bumped into a difficulty the place the digital touchpad stopped working. It was solely after I set the sport to borderless window mode, closed the sport and relaunched the whole lot that it began working once more. Granted, conditions like this have been uncommon, nevertheless it’s necessary to keep in mind that if you’re utilizing a cutting-edge system, there could also 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. When you can improve it with double the reminiscence and a sooner Extremely 9 chip, I discovered the bottom configuration to be lots quick. On assessments like Geekbench 6 and PCMark 10, the Zenbook Duo turned in outcomes that have been equivalent to these from equally geared up clamshells, together with . That is nice as a result of it means there’s not a ton of overhead as a result of addition of a second display and even when setup in desktop mode, dragging apps from one show to a different felt snappy and responsive. The apparent disadvantage is that not like some 14-inch methods such because the XPS 14, there’s no room for a discrete GPU, which makes the Zenbook Duo higher suited to common productiveness than extra demanding duties like video enhancing.

Battery life

You may assume a system with two screens could be a battery hog, however the Zenbook Duo fared higher than anticipated. With only one display on, it lasted 13 hours and 12 minutes on our video rundown check, which is just about equal to (really a contact longer than) the Zenbook 14 OLED (12:43). And with each screens going, the Duo’s time solely dropped to 10:17, which remains to be greater than sufficient to outlive a whole workday.

Wrap-up

OK, so the Zenbook Duo delivers on the guarantees of dual-screen laptops. However one query I get loads is who’re units like this really for? The obvious software is for individuals who carry a conveyable monitor round whereas touring. However extra typically, this factor is geared toward anybody who appreciates a number of displays and desires a system that may recreate that have in a extra travel-friendly means, which is one thing the Zenbook Duo does with aplomb. The very best half although is that it doesn’t make main sacrifices to take action, as a result of because of its removable keyboard, it could operate similar to every other clamshell when house is tight (like on an airplane).

When you’ve gotten room to unfold out, it transforms into a conveyable workstation with loads of display house for a undertaking up high and bonus actual property for Slack, e mail, video calls or the rest you may want down beneath. It is bought ample ports so that you don’t want to hold a dongle round and due to its beautiful OLED screens, your work (or play) at all times appears to be like nice. The Zenbook Duo can do the whole lot a conventional laptop computer can and extra. Sure, the software program expertise may very well be a bit extra polished, although that’s not completely on ASUS. We nonetheless want a brand new model of Home windows to supply higher OS assist for dual-screen machines. However contemplating all of the struggles and a number of generations it took to get right here, the Zenbook Duo is a wonderful torchbearer for a brand new class of transportable PCs.