Note: The second bottom screen on the laptop is not an OLED, but an IPS. Sorry about that!
Terrobility
That's all fine, but what is causing the graininess for Alex? There has to be a reason behind it. PWM? Subpixel structure?
Jeremiah Domer
16 I think
Amani Sadiki
@ShowXTech No it is not, the basic things you must get right is the SPECS, and all in all they suck at reviewing laptops, even at the main channel. They try to touch on everything (review,Overclocking,cars, GPUs etc) and at the end they do not become good at any of them
ShowXTech
@Amani Sadiki To be fair this is an unboxing and initial thoughts, not a review.
Blue
FYI, the ZenBook Duo series are entirely Intel exclusive, meaning "co-developed with and paid by Intel to use Intel CPUs only". So that's the reason for 2-3 hour battery on the Duo Pro 14, despite ASUS touting "portability". Whereas VivoBook Pro and Zephyrus Duo are ASUS line of creator laptops that use AMD Ryzen H-series CPUs, if you'd like some decent battery life to go with that power. Another FYI, the "pixel graininess" of OLED touch screen is only unique to certain laptops. Few Lenovo laptops that share the same display apparently do not have this issue.
Blue
@DKB Zephyrus Duo 16 (2022) is now available starting in Europe
rleoNIU
Smaller screen has a matte finish so you can still see it with less reflection, since it's likely pointed up at lights. I've been looking at these for a while now, the larger zenbook duo pro seems like a good choice for what I need, but the zephyrus duo has the highest specs.
Freestyle
@Beef Ingot you know what i want? rainbows and ponies
Bigbo 1
Cry harder amd fanboy. You aren’t buying a laptop with 2 screens, a powerful graphics card, and an overhauled cooling system for battery life - you are looking for a moveable powerhouse on par with Lenovo p-series laptops. Regardless if it has an amd chip, it’ll run out of battery life in a ridiculously fast amount of time when compared to a traditional laptop; if your priority is battery life an wireless portability, then this type of device is out of the question.
Jonathan Jabbour
I got the zephyrus duo 15. Ryzen 9😎
Neoxon
Didn’t Taran use one of these in his editing competition against iJustine? Speaking of whom, I’m gonna miss Taran at LMG. I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.
Nagusame
It was the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo (I think)
Jensen Healey
@Sreeram S Nair it was more than likely agreed that Taran was leaving before the intel upgrade. Probably pushing him further up the waiting list for employees
Klever
@Sreeram S Nair I really hope you're being ironic. Taran's been around LMG since it's creation and done a ton of good for the company. That 5k is well deserved
Sreeram S Nair
@Klever He's a bad person. He stayed for the $5k worth of stuff. Good that a bad guy left lmg 🤢🤮
Rüçhan Kaan
@Klever Well, a lot of people mentioning that :)
Tomáš Holčík
The lower one is an IPS display. not OLED. Source: I have a review sample too. Even the subpixel structure is different.
Eidam Volf
cz?
Dan Simms
Cool yeah I figured it was, the blacks didn't look OLED.
Peti Kemény
@ShortCircuit yes it looks awful the grayish ips compared to the oled when switched off even for a design standpoint too. also. what is the wattage of the 3050ti with or without boost, and also max boost tdp on the i9?
ShortCircuit
Thanks for the note!
Nigel Smith
I almost bought this, but the OLED Version was too expensive for me. I've had the dual-IPS version for 9 months though and have loved it! This is a great laptop. It was funny seeing Ned from No Way Home use the gamer version of it too lol
Robert Neve
I have the non pro and really like it. As a portable workstation it's nice having that second screen
Nigel Smith
@Mike are you talking about Ned? I couldn't find videos, but there are photos online of his Zephyrus Duo
Mike
Could you link the video?
Nigel Smith
@FollowMyStepsWOTB I got mine for $1400. The base model is $1000, but I wanted a dedicated GPU and had a coupon, so I went up a few models
FollowMyStepsWOTB
How much was it? , and thanks.
jaytee444444
The main display appears exceptionally bouncy, even with the slightest movement. I think ASUS need to look at that in V2.0
MementoMori
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a windows laptop that isn’t floppy on the hinge, certainly nowhere near a Mac.
jaytee444444
@PSYCHO My apologies "PEDO", damn auto correct, sorry I meant "PSYCHO"... I used the wrong word (oh look, I did it again). However, it could be said it is "unstable" instead of "Wobbly". But thank you for picking me up on it.
Pavel Kaminek
Just a note that this is already V3 (maybe even V4)
Konarcoffee
@PSYCHO Both work
PSYCHO
Wobbly. NOT bouncy.
めっちゃ抹茶
That absolutely messy screen wobble is such a deal breaker. I'm amazed you guys didn't even talk about it because for such premium products, you'd expect Asus to at least have the basics down.
Peter's Terror Dome
If I had the money to burn, I'd want the dual screen one. I like having as much screen real estate as possible, so on my desktop I have 3 monitors, and I've always loved the idea of having multiple screens on a laptop.
Jesus Martinez
I use to own the gaming version of the dual display asus laptop and it wasn’t that great… the software has probably matured though from the last two years
Roy Rubio
@Shaiyan Hossain Not expensive, but it's another thing to carry, to pack, takes up space, another charger/power supply, more cables, more time to set up, less mobile. This laptop is a dream for digital nomads
Shaiyan Hossain
@Lars Radtke mobile displays are not that expensive ipads also work well with macs with sidecar and universal share
Lars Radtke
You can use an iPad or Android tablet as external screen, or get a mobile display. Works, too.
UAY
Its IPS !!
CarthagoMike
This second screen actually seems pretty useable and practical. We have come a long way since the trackpad-screen.
I'm Kairyu
@Goku555 Mercenario SC2 unfortunately Asus makes other laptops.
Goku555 Mercenario SC2
no, no numpad and mouspad is a joke.
[]
@I'm Kairyu yup, I daily the Zephyrus Duo and it’s awesome.
I'm Kairyu
yeah, and if u want the most powerful you can get the ROG version :)
BetterThanAverageJoe
I love the design of these dual screen laptops, but I want to know what happens if you lose Windows and install a Linux distro
Eris
I'd 100% go for the dual screen, I'm pretty much always in need of any extra screen real estate I can find while traveling. Will probably buy one of these when it comes out to replace my Book 13.
DoObs
@Eris I've only just come off having a desktop setup. So I'll be leaning onto the go to on the go setup soon too. We shall see how it goes. I bought the M1 16 Pro.
Eris
@DoObs Oh certainly, I'm not discounting that. My current go-to setup for work involves an ultrawide monitor linked to a thunderbolt dock that also has all my peripherals for it that I dock my laptop to, and that's more or less my "main" setup. But I like the freedom of being able to easily unplug it without losing anything.
DoObs
@Eris of course. I'm on of those people with back and neck problems. Suppose that's how the medical side make their money. Hahaha. But if you going to spend that much on the machine. May aswell get a proper monitor setup then. It's just my observation.
Eris
@DoObs As if a good 90% of people who sit in front of a computer all day don't already have terrible posture regardless of the setup they're working with. And even taking that into consideration for people who are going to be stuck at a desk you can just dock it to a more ergonomic monitor, which is what I do currently when I'm at home.
mewym
@Roy Rubio wow, unfortunately i dont do remote work.
Dan Simms
Love these laptops with dual screens, great design, great way to get more airflow. Seems like the smaller one is an IPS panel, not OLED like the main screen, which does make sense, that's where I'd be storing my icons to prevent burn-in.
AshtonKI
The 16 has great specs, io and internals. The 4k oled looks amazing, however the 60 hertz at that price alongside the weak keyboard are the deal breakers when it comes to would I buy it. 120 hertz (something that should be default at $2.6k), extra supports/hinges for the keyboard, and I'm sold. The 14 was pretty cool but all it really has to offer in my eyes is the dual screen. Other than that, the screen wobble was worse, and I don't see myself using the weird keyboard and mouse pad. The extra screen real-estate during media consumption can't be bigger than my phone. For work, I thought it might be helpful, but upon more consideration as I watched, I decided it would most likely be like a hot bar for tabs or a secondary screen used to keep my music tab open so I can skip it using my finger. Both are great laptops, I'm sure, however the negatives of the 14 shine brighter than its positives to me which makes me want the 16 however the 16 is near useless to me with the 60 hertz screen holding it back. Feither,
Russell Smith
The ZenBook ProDuo is my absolute favorite laptop design ever. I do video editing and the dual screen augment that capability to a phenomenal degree. They're both touch screens and both work with the pen. The one thing I don't like is the very small track-pad way over on the right of the keyboard. It's one reason I almost always use it with a mouse. The unit I have not only has a powerful CPU but also includes a fairly powerful GPU so rendering is quick, even if you don't add an external GPU. Mine also came with an wrist-pad that connects (via magnets) at the bottom of the keyboard. It's OK, but not phenomenal. Asus is leading the market on these specialty-designed laptops (with Lenovo coming out with a few interesting ideas recently). I really look forward to seeing what they'll come out with next.
Roy Rubio
@PSYCHO Depends on profession. As a dev, using a mouse slows down productivity. Every slight travel between my keyboard and my mouse is time lost. In the right hands, keyboard navigation + AutoHotkey > mouse
Pavel Kaminek
I have the ZBPD 15 OLED and that wristpad does not connect with magnets anymore! Or i've never noticed it, so i stopped using it completely. I don't even know where that wristpad is anymore. Also higher angle of the bottom display would be better. Even with the attached stand i find the bottom screen angle not good :(
TheExileFox
If only they could fix the goddamn keyboard. I need real arrow keys.
PSYCHO
Any self-respecting professional will use a mouse no matter what. Track pads slow down productivity.
Russell Smith
@BakaDani I've never had that experience with my pen, so yours might be defective at that. At one point, I thought about just setting the trackpad as a keypad, but the lack of actual spaces between the keys made it a little hard to find the right one without looking and the necessary force to register the number was a bit on the high side. My only complaint with using it as a track-pad is that it's a bit small and sometimes I find myself just reaching up and tapping the screen rather than scrolling over to that point. I hadn't realized the Thunderbolt port wasn't directly attached to the CPU. That does explain a few hinky things I've noticed about it though I primarily use it to attach a port brick. (I have one at the office and one at home that are permanently attached to sound and a mouse so my docking procedure is just power, the brick, and yet another monitor (!) I neglected to mention that I also find the 2nd monitor useful for a/v calls. I have both OBS and the control window for Zoom there.
Dippy twit
The Duo I’ve always like through their constant upgrade of it each time… it’s perfect for on the go music production having control by the fingers of faders and knob on plugins… I would also like the Duo for video editing also for this same reason… the bottom screen is great for a not too packed time line also leaving all the editing options above it… but it’s swappable at any point so whatever is best for workflow can be adjusted on the fly… it having thunderbolt 4 is a big “finally” for me for connecting thunderbolt 3 interfaces and having them run as smoothly as they do on Mac… thunderbolt 3 ports on windows can be a bit temperamental, well, with audio interfaces that is
Yonatan Avhar
I'd go for the Duo 100%, both to flex and because being able to throw a terminal or 2 down there sounds like a great idea
Bruno Bronosky
@SteamPunkEnie good to hear. I'm not worried about the shortcuts working. I can remap any of those things. The trouble is being able adjust the brightness of the screens independently using anything (preferably a cli command). Can you do that on yours?
smackindaface
How's gnome support for it?
SteamPunkEnie
@Bruno Bronosky I have an older zenbook duo running fedora, I cant guarantee it would run great on the new hardware, but its pretty good. There's a few minor bugs and the shortcut keys don't work but I still enjoy using it :)
Bruno Bronosky
If the Linux compatibility didn't suck, I would have bought one. #sigh
BBROPHOTO
I really really like this. This is the first multi display laptop in all the recent years that seems actually somewhat practical. I would SOOO love something like this as a video editor and have my timeline or media on the bottom screen as more screen space for the video preview on the top screen.
TheExileFox
Apart from the useless arrow keys sure. And the touch screen as a selling point isn't entirely legitimate as it doesn't work on the entire display area. You have to get the 15 inch model if you want proper touch and not this fake implementation.
Dark_Matter
I love the X16, but starting at 2600 bucks seems very rough for the specs at hand. I suppose the practicality of the layout has to really fit your workflow to make it worthwhile.
Marco Ronzani
I personally use the zephyrus-forward-style keyboard since 2019, and it is fantastic, you need a decent surface to rest your palms on in front of the laptop, but aside from that the feeling is AMAZING! The trackpad on the right, with numpad integrated, is also something pretty damn smart as well IMO!
Kova Films
As a professional filmmaker and Photographer i love my Zenbook Duo 14. ive been using it for almost a year now, and its great for working on the plane or on the go. Having the timeline on the second screen or the creator controls for lightroom there as well is game changer. Asus has been killing it with their laptops.
Kova Films
@Em you get used to it pretty quickly. On a desktop its the same as a regular keyboard of course. On your lap for short burst typing it's totally fine. For anything longterm typing I would suggest getting a laptop table or tray with a wrist rest built in. When I edit on the couch or in bed I want something like that anyways it keeps the laptop cool and angles them for better viewing.
Em
As someone who edits films and works on VFX and art related activities, how do you find the keyboard arrangement? I had a small go on my friends because he was doing info per take on set and I struggled to type on it with it on my lap. He said he mainly uses it on a table and only that, which I can understand, but for me I want to have something that I can do either with haha
edward leen
I'd go for the zenbook 16, cause I feel it has alot of functionality going for it cause of the dial, I'd personally prefer having that big trackpad with the slightly elevated keyboard cause it would feel good!
Michel van Briemen
I love how ASUS keeps iterating on this idea. Hope they'll bring the thermal gimmick to their €800-1200 range.
Unknown Username
Top screen on Duo wiggles a lot. I think this would be pretty annoying, especially if it's not on really solid surface.
Blankbane
@Unknown Username Yeah i wish you luck bro, getting to the second stage of our type of photosynthesis is really hard but i made it. I'm kinda scared to try the third stage tbh, ive heard it gives Legs but its even worse than the Body stage 😬
Unknown Username
@Blankbane I hope I grow one for the summer
Blankbane
@Unknown Username Thanks brother, when will you gain a body?🤣
Unknown Username
@Blankbane XDDDD, Nice profile pic😝
Blankbane
Hello there
I Agree
Absolutely loved Alex's review of this laptop, us normies need someone that can review something like this in a fun way :D
Emeraude
Overall pretty solid. I just started my new job as a software dev and I loved the first gen zenbook duo that I currently have. Might seriously consider an upgrade
Proto-moto
Really interesting to see these kind of laptops come out, I know ASUS will be releasing a second stand alone screen for laptops later. They will also be making the second smaller screen as a standalone for desktop later on, which will be a touch screen.
Bigbo 1
Love how asus is changing things up an bringing rivals to well-established mid-sized powerhouses like thinkpads.
DragoserakerIT
I daily a 2020 pro duo, my two complaints have always been the display on the top screen not being bright enough, excellent clarity though. And the second is the lack of usb-c charging, I regularly use thunderbolt docks so it would be nice to have a 1 cable dock solution rather than a dock + charge cable. At least they addressed one of the issues.
A CABA
I'm in love w/the dual screen concept. Being able 2 play games n cheat on da fly, I mean researching my next move... is AMAZING. Right up there w/consoles getting internal modems. IMO
Beer Zerker
I actually like the Zenbook 14, I would make use of the dual screens so often in my line of work.
vbddfy euuyt
Overall pretty solid. I just started my new job as a software dev and I loved the first gen zenbook duo that I currently have. Might seriously consider an upgrade
Eelco Wesemann
I would love to see Anthony do Short trying to run Linux on it. I would definitely consider one of these if Linux runs decently on it with both screens usable
Nigel Smith
The Duos have ran Linux fairly well so far. I currently Dual Boot Elementary OS on my UX481 ZenBook Duo, and I've heard others have run Linux as well. The biggest issue is that you need a third party application to control bottom display brightness, but the same is true on Windows lol. The main reason I don't full time use Linux is personal preference, and Win11 has better touch support, which makes using the cramped touchpad less of an issue.
KD
I think it does run Linux, I'm pretty sure one of my professors was daily driving a duo and he is an absolute linux geek
Centbair Darrex
Why not both? 16" with a second screen. c: The Duo, IMO a good option for multi-tasking in productions. Throw your timeline on the bottom and more room. I would go with the 16" as I like a slightly bigger screen to play on.
Sapioit
Finally, another laptop with dual-screen! I wish more laptops had multiple screens. *Especially cheap laptops!* (At $250-$300, too.) The space opened by the second screen could be used for better cooling, honestly. I wish we would see AMD-only versions of this laptop, with the CPU being an APU and having a dedicated graphics card, too. It would be awesome! Also, adding sliders and slider-based-joysticks (to be as low-profile as possible) would be great! And 15" laptops would definitely have room for such joysticks with a reset (re-center, re-zero) pinhole against joystick-drift and slider-drift (and for after replacing the springs), pinhole like the one smartphones use to eject the sim tray. And the smaller laptop could use two sliders instead of the joystick would mean you have to sacrifice a lot less space from the keyboard, but you need to use two fingers to control it in joystick mode. And a button which to get both the sliders and the joystick to work as (1) a mouse with acceleration, (2) mouse without acceleartion, (3) two independent sliders, (4) scroll wheel with side-scroll or scroll ball, (5) wheel like the one the 16" laptop in the video has.
TCL987
I really didn't like the ZenBook Duo's screen when I looked at the 2019 model. The screen door effect was so bad it always looked dirty. It's disappointing that 2-3 years later they haven't fixed it.
Brazen H2
We have the regular duo at our tech store and apparently the previous version had oled on both screens. dont know why they changed the bottom screen back to ips but definitely dislike the grainy film look even with teh hi res. i would choose a double screen version of the 16x. Bigger battery and duo layout would benefit a solid keyboard while still portable (but maybe i7 version to bring the price down not battery life?).
Pslamist SSB
I'm just imagining being able to have a game on the main display, with OBS and Discord splitting the bottom display. That would be fantastic. Any workflow would benefit immensely from that. (So I'd go for the 14")
Barron Cohen2
I have last years model for a bit now and love the trackpad. Its so natural after a bit, I move the cursor less with typing, getting to the arrow keys is quick and is less cramped on a smaller form factor.
HACK BUSTERS MINECRAFT
Since the OG review on the Pro duo I've always been a fan of the series of laptops and I managed to acquire an older model last year (well if you consider from 2019 older) for a decent price on Ebay. I have seen the new 14 inch model out as a sample laptop in stores and I found the keyboard on the 14 inch a bit too small for my liking, It's also missing some of the cool features of the OG, like the light up numpad, that you can toggle to transform the trackpad into a numpad. Been daily driving the UX581 for about half a year now and I love it. It's great to do video editing and coding on and the touchscreen has been a bigger quality of life improvement than I had thought before (I came from a used w520). The pen works great for taking notes, so a big plus on that one. Edit: I just wish it had a bigger Linux community so maybe someone could decompile and reverse engineer the windows drivers and get the light bar at the bottom of the laptop working on arch
exyra curxe
I would use the Zenbook 14 due to the second screen. It's easier to have a Premier/AE timeline there.
dinckelman
I would lowkey kinda like to have this for programming, although I'm not sure how much the extra display would help vs just having swipe gestures for virtual desktops
R.
This is great for working and seeing videos on youtube, or for gaming and youtube, all of which I do a lot. This would cut on the need for a second external usbc monitor. Though all in all, for portability sake, i still much prefer my zenbook 14.
Daniel Cook
Oh Zenbook 14 for sure! Multi-tasking dream! One question, I assume you could output a higher GPU via eGPU/thunderbolt?
zdanee
I use an Envy X360 13" because docked in tent mode I can position it between my main screen and my keyboard and have a drawing tablet. It's also better for it's thermals. I would probably go with the 14, but probably neither, the battery life must be horrible on them with the OLEDs and frankly these "cabrio" notebooks make me anxious how dirt and fluff can get in effortlessly inside the chassis.
Niklas
I'd take the 14", that second display intrigues me and 16" is too big for using it on the go anyways
Yannick Landry
i'd want the duo 14 if it could come with a better video card. I guess we'll see what the spec options will be once it's for sale.
Lightning Gamer
This is really nice. I do love these type of laptops but I don’t think they’re for me and they’re definitely out of my budget but if I had a use for this and the budget id get one ☺️ I like the overall footprint it’s nice and slim.
Caden Churchill
Got to check the price of this thing in Canada. Love what Asus is doing with laptops right now, but still a huge fan of the M1 MacBook Air. Both laptops are obviously for completely different customers, and as much as I love the Asus, the Air just makes more sense for my needs.
Joaquin Rodriguez
For software development the dual screen is a game changer for me, i would love to have that in my mb pro
Note: The second bottom screen on the laptop is not an OLED, but an IPS. Sorry about that!
That's all fine, but what is causing the graininess for Alex? There has to be a reason behind it. PWM? Subpixel structure?
16 I think
@ShowXTech No it is not, the basic things you must get right is the SPECS, and all in all they suck at reviewing laptops, even at the main channel. They try to touch on everything (review,Overclocking,cars, GPUs etc) and at the end they do not become good at any of them
@Amani Sadiki To be fair this is an unboxing and initial thoughts, not a review.
FYI, the ZenBook Duo series are entirely Intel exclusive, meaning "co-developed with and paid by Intel to use Intel CPUs only". So that's the reason for 2-3 hour battery on the Duo Pro 14, despite ASUS touting "portability". Whereas VivoBook Pro and Zephyrus Duo are ASUS line of creator laptops that use AMD Ryzen H-series CPUs, if you'd like some decent battery life to go with that power. Another FYI, the "pixel graininess" of OLED touch screen is only unique to certain laptops. Few Lenovo laptops that share the same display apparently do not have this issue.
@DKB Zephyrus Duo 16 (2022) is now available starting in Europe
Smaller screen has a matte finish so you can still see it with less reflection, since it's likely pointed up at lights. I've been looking at these for a while now, the larger zenbook duo pro seems like a good choice for what I need, but the zephyrus duo has the highest specs.
@Beef Ingot you know what i want? rainbows and ponies
Cry harder amd fanboy. You aren’t buying a laptop with 2 screens, a powerful graphics card, and an overhauled cooling system for battery life - you are looking for a moveable powerhouse on par with Lenovo p-series laptops. Regardless if it has an amd chip, it’ll run out of battery life in a ridiculously fast amount of time when compared to a traditional laptop; if your priority is battery life an wireless portability, then this type of device is out of the question.
I got the zephyrus duo 15. Ryzen 9😎
Didn’t Taran use one of these in his editing competition against iJustine? Speaking of whom, I’m gonna miss Taran at LMG. I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.
It was the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo (I think)
@Sreeram S Nair it was more than likely agreed that Taran was leaving before the intel upgrade. Probably pushing him further up the waiting list for employees
@Sreeram S Nair I really hope you're being ironic. Taran's been around LMG since it's creation and done a ton of good for the company. That 5k is well deserved
@Klever He's a bad person. He stayed for the $5k worth of stuff. Good that a bad guy left lmg 🤢🤮
@Klever Well, a lot of people mentioning that :)
The lower one is an IPS display. not OLED. Source: I have a review sample too. Even the subpixel structure is different.
cz?
Cool yeah I figured it was, the blacks didn't look OLED.
@ShortCircuit yes it looks awful the grayish ips compared to the oled when switched off even for a design standpoint too. also. what is the wattage of the 3050ti with or without boost, and also max boost tdp on the i9?
Thanks for the note!
I almost bought this, but the OLED Version was too expensive for me. I've had the dual-IPS version for 9 months though and have loved it! This is a great laptop. It was funny seeing Ned from No Way Home use the gamer version of it too lol
I have the non pro and really like it. As a portable workstation it's nice having that second screen
@Mike are you talking about Ned? I couldn't find videos, but there are photos online of his Zephyrus Duo
Could you link the video?
@FollowMyStepsWOTB I got mine for $1400. The base model is $1000, but I wanted a dedicated GPU and had a coupon, so I went up a few models
How much was it? , and thanks.
The main display appears exceptionally bouncy, even with the slightest movement. I think ASUS need to look at that in V2.0
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a windows laptop that isn’t floppy on the hinge, certainly nowhere near a Mac.
@PSYCHO My apologies "PEDO", damn auto correct, sorry I meant "PSYCHO"... I used the wrong word (oh look, I did it again). However, it could be said it is "unstable" instead of "Wobbly". But thank you for picking me up on it.
Just a note that this is already V3 (maybe even V4)
@PSYCHO Both work
Wobbly. NOT bouncy.
That absolutely messy screen wobble is such a deal breaker. I'm amazed you guys didn't even talk about it because for such premium products, you'd expect Asus to at least have the basics down.
If I had the money to burn, I'd want the dual screen one. I like having as much screen real estate as possible, so on my desktop I have 3 monitors, and I've always loved the idea of having multiple screens on a laptop.
I use to own the gaming version of the dual display asus laptop and it wasn’t that great… the software has probably matured though from the last two years
@Shaiyan Hossain Not expensive, but it's another thing to carry, to pack, takes up space, another charger/power supply, more cables, more time to set up, less mobile. This laptop is a dream for digital nomads
@Lars Radtke mobile displays are not that expensive ipads also work well with macs with sidecar and universal share
You can use an iPad or Android tablet as external screen, or get a mobile display. Works, too.
Its IPS !!
This second screen actually seems pretty useable and practical. We have come a long way since the trackpad-screen.
@Goku555 Mercenario SC2 unfortunately Asus makes other laptops.
no, no numpad and mouspad is a joke.
@I'm Kairyu yup, I daily the Zephyrus Duo and it’s awesome.
yeah, and if u want the most powerful you can get the ROG version :)
I love the design of these dual screen laptops, but I want to know what happens if you lose Windows and install a Linux distro
I'd 100% go for the dual screen, I'm pretty much always in need of any extra screen real estate I can find while traveling. Will probably buy one of these when it comes out to replace my Book 13.
@Eris I've only just come off having a desktop setup. So I'll be leaning onto the go to on the go setup soon too. We shall see how it goes. I bought the M1 16 Pro.
@DoObs Oh certainly, I'm not discounting that. My current go-to setup for work involves an ultrawide monitor linked to a thunderbolt dock that also has all my peripherals for it that I dock my laptop to, and that's more or less my "main" setup. But I like the freedom of being able to easily unplug it without losing anything.
@Eris of course. I'm on of those people with back and neck problems. Suppose that's how the medical side make their money. Hahaha. But if you going to spend that much on the machine. May aswell get a proper monitor setup then. It's just my observation.
@DoObs As if a good 90% of people who sit in front of a computer all day don't already have terrible posture regardless of the setup they're working with. And even taking that into consideration for people who are going to be stuck at a desk you can just dock it to a more ergonomic monitor, which is what I do currently when I'm at home.
@Roy Rubio wow, unfortunately i dont do remote work.
Love these laptops with dual screens, great design, great way to get more airflow. Seems like the smaller one is an IPS panel, not OLED like the main screen, which does make sense, that's where I'd be storing my icons to prevent burn-in.
The 16 has great specs, io and internals. The 4k oled looks amazing, however the 60 hertz at that price alongside the weak keyboard are the deal breakers when it comes to would I buy it. 120 hertz (something that should be default at $2.6k), extra supports/hinges for the keyboard, and I'm sold. The 14 was pretty cool but all it really has to offer in my eyes is the dual screen. Other than that, the screen wobble was worse, and I don't see myself using the weird keyboard and mouse pad. The extra screen real-estate during media consumption can't be bigger than my phone. For work, I thought it might be helpful, but upon more consideration as I watched, I decided it would most likely be like a hot bar for tabs or a secondary screen used to keep my music tab open so I can skip it using my finger. Both are great laptops, I'm sure, however the negatives of the 14 shine brighter than its positives to me which makes me want the 16 however the 16 is near useless to me with the 60 hertz screen holding it back. Feither,
The ZenBook ProDuo is my absolute favorite laptop design ever. I do video editing and the dual screen augment that capability to a phenomenal degree. They're both touch screens and both work with the pen. The one thing I don't like is the very small track-pad way over on the right of the keyboard. It's one reason I almost always use it with a mouse. The unit I have not only has a powerful CPU but also includes a fairly powerful GPU so rendering is quick, even if you don't add an external GPU. Mine also came with an wrist-pad that connects (via magnets) at the bottom of the keyboard. It's OK, but not phenomenal. Asus is leading the market on these specialty-designed laptops (with Lenovo coming out with a few interesting ideas recently). I really look forward to seeing what they'll come out with next.
@PSYCHO Depends on profession. As a dev, using a mouse slows down productivity. Every slight travel between my keyboard and my mouse is time lost. In the right hands, keyboard navigation + AutoHotkey > mouse
I have the ZBPD 15 OLED and that wristpad does not connect with magnets anymore! Or i've never noticed it, so i stopped using it completely. I don't even know where that wristpad is anymore. Also higher angle of the bottom display would be better. Even with the attached stand i find the bottom screen angle not good :(
If only they could fix the goddamn keyboard. I need real arrow keys.
Any self-respecting professional will use a mouse no matter what. Track pads slow down productivity.
@BakaDani I've never had that experience with my pen, so yours might be defective at that. At one point, I thought about just setting the trackpad as a keypad, but the lack of actual spaces between the keys made it a little hard to find the right one without looking and the necessary force to register the number was a bit on the high side. My only complaint with using it as a track-pad is that it's a bit small and sometimes I find myself just reaching up and tapping the screen rather than scrolling over to that point. I hadn't realized the Thunderbolt port wasn't directly attached to the CPU. That does explain a few hinky things I've noticed about it though I primarily use it to attach a port brick. (I have one at the office and one at home that are permanently attached to sound and a mouse so my docking procedure is just power, the brick, and yet another monitor (!) I neglected to mention that I also find the 2nd monitor useful for a/v calls. I have both OBS and the control window for Zoom there.
The Duo I’ve always like through their constant upgrade of it each time… it’s perfect for on the go music production having control by the fingers of faders and knob on plugins… I would also like the Duo for video editing also for this same reason… the bottom screen is great for a not too packed time line also leaving all the editing options above it… but it’s swappable at any point so whatever is best for workflow can be adjusted on the fly… it having thunderbolt 4 is a big “finally” for me for connecting thunderbolt 3 interfaces and having them run as smoothly as they do on Mac… thunderbolt 3 ports on windows can be a bit temperamental, well, with audio interfaces that is
I'd go for the Duo 100%, both to flex and because being able to throw a terminal or 2 down there sounds like a great idea
@SteamPunkEnie good to hear. I'm not worried about the shortcuts working. I can remap any of those things. The trouble is being able adjust the brightness of the screens independently using anything (preferably a cli command). Can you do that on yours?
How's gnome support for it?
@Bruno Bronosky I have an older zenbook duo running fedora, I cant guarantee it would run great on the new hardware, but its pretty good. There's a few minor bugs and the shortcut keys don't work but I still enjoy using it :)
If the Linux compatibility didn't suck, I would have bought one. #sigh
I really really like this. This is the first multi display laptop in all the recent years that seems actually somewhat practical. I would SOOO love something like this as a video editor and have my timeline or media on the bottom screen as more screen space for the video preview on the top screen.
Apart from the useless arrow keys sure. And the touch screen as a selling point isn't entirely legitimate as it doesn't work on the entire display area. You have to get the 15 inch model if you want proper touch and not this fake implementation.
I love the X16, but starting at 2600 bucks seems very rough for the specs at hand. I suppose the practicality of the layout has to really fit your workflow to make it worthwhile.
I personally use the zephyrus-forward-style keyboard since 2019, and it is fantastic, you need a decent surface to rest your palms on in front of the laptop, but aside from that the feeling is AMAZING! The trackpad on the right, with numpad integrated, is also something pretty damn smart as well IMO!
As a professional filmmaker and Photographer i love my Zenbook Duo 14. ive been using it for almost a year now, and its great for working on the plane or on the go. Having the timeline on the second screen or the creator controls for lightroom there as well is game changer. Asus has been killing it with their laptops.
@Em you get used to it pretty quickly. On a desktop its the same as a regular keyboard of course. On your lap for short burst typing it's totally fine. For anything longterm typing I would suggest getting a laptop table or tray with a wrist rest built in. When I edit on the couch or in bed I want something like that anyways it keeps the laptop cool and angles them for better viewing.
As someone who edits films and works on VFX and art related activities, how do you find the keyboard arrangement? I had a small go on my friends because he was doing info per take on set and I struggled to type on it with it on my lap. He said he mainly uses it on a table and only that, which I can understand, but for me I want to have something that I can do either with haha
I'd go for the zenbook 16, cause I feel it has alot of functionality going for it cause of the dial, I'd personally prefer having that big trackpad with the slightly elevated keyboard cause it would feel good!
I love how ASUS keeps iterating on this idea. Hope they'll bring the thermal gimmick to their €800-1200 range.
Top screen on Duo wiggles a lot. I think this would be pretty annoying, especially if it's not on really solid surface.
@Unknown Username Yeah i wish you luck bro, getting to the second stage of our type of photosynthesis is really hard but i made it. I'm kinda scared to try the third stage tbh, ive heard it gives Legs but its even worse than the Body stage 😬
@Blankbane I hope I grow one for the summer
@Unknown Username Thanks brother, when will you gain a body?🤣
@Blankbane XDDDD, Nice profile pic😝
Hello there
Absolutely loved Alex's review of this laptop, us normies need someone that can review something like this in a fun way :D
Overall pretty solid. I just started my new job as a software dev and I loved the first gen zenbook duo that I currently have. Might seriously consider an upgrade
Really interesting to see these kind of laptops come out, I know ASUS will be releasing a second stand alone screen for laptops later. They will also be making the second smaller screen as a standalone for desktop later on, which will be a touch screen.
Love how asus is changing things up an bringing rivals to well-established mid-sized powerhouses like thinkpads.
I daily a 2020 pro duo, my two complaints have always been the display on the top screen not being bright enough, excellent clarity though. And the second is the lack of usb-c charging, I regularly use thunderbolt docks so it would be nice to have a 1 cable dock solution rather than a dock + charge cable. At least they addressed one of the issues.
I'm in love w/the dual screen concept. Being able 2 play games n cheat on da fly, I mean researching my next move... is AMAZING. Right up there w/consoles getting internal modems. IMO
I actually like the Zenbook 14, I would make use of the dual screens so often in my line of work.
Overall pretty solid. I just started my new job as a software dev and I loved the first gen zenbook duo that I currently have. Might seriously consider an upgrade
I would love to see Anthony do Short trying to run Linux on it. I would definitely consider one of these if Linux runs decently on it with both screens usable
The Duos have ran Linux fairly well so far. I currently Dual Boot Elementary OS on my UX481 ZenBook Duo, and I've heard others have run Linux as well. The biggest issue is that you need a third party application to control bottom display brightness, but the same is true on Windows lol. The main reason I don't full time use Linux is personal preference, and Win11 has better touch support, which makes using the cramped touchpad less of an issue.
I think it does run Linux, I'm pretty sure one of my professors was daily driving a duo and he is an absolute linux geek
Why not both? 16" with a second screen. c: The Duo, IMO a good option for multi-tasking in productions. Throw your timeline on the bottom and more room. I would go with the 16" as I like a slightly bigger screen to play on.
Finally, another laptop with dual-screen! I wish more laptops had multiple screens. *Especially cheap laptops!* (At $250-$300, too.) The space opened by the second screen could be used for better cooling, honestly. I wish we would see AMD-only versions of this laptop, with the CPU being an APU and having a dedicated graphics card, too. It would be awesome! Also, adding sliders and slider-based-joysticks (to be as low-profile as possible) would be great! And 15" laptops would definitely have room for such joysticks with a reset (re-center, re-zero) pinhole against joystick-drift and slider-drift (and for after replacing the springs), pinhole like the one smartphones use to eject the sim tray. And the smaller laptop could use two sliders instead of the joystick would mean you have to sacrifice a lot less space from the keyboard, but you need to use two fingers to control it in joystick mode. And a button which to get both the sliders and the joystick to work as (1) a mouse with acceleration, (2) mouse without acceleartion, (3) two independent sliders, (4) scroll wheel with side-scroll or scroll ball, (5) wheel like the one the 16" laptop in the video has.
I really didn't like the ZenBook Duo's screen when I looked at the 2019 model. The screen door effect was so bad it always looked dirty. It's disappointing that 2-3 years later they haven't fixed it.
We have the regular duo at our tech store and apparently the previous version had oled on both screens. dont know why they changed the bottom screen back to ips but definitely dislike the grainy film look even with teh hi res. i would choose a double screen version of the 16x. Bigger battery and duo layout would benefit a solid keyboard while still portable (but maybe i7 version to bring the price down not battery life?).
I'm just imagining being able to have a game on the main display, with OBS and Discord splitting the bottom display. That would be fantastic. Any workflow would benefit immensely from that. (So I'd go for the 14")
I have last years model for a bit now and love the trackpad. Its so natural after a bit, I move the cursor less with typing, getting to the arrow keys is quick and is less cramped on a smaller form factor.
Since the OG review on the Pro duo I've always been a fan of the series of laptops and I managed to acquire an older model last year (well if you consider from 2019 older) for a decent price on Ebay. I have seen the new 14 inch model out as a sample laptop in stores and I found the keyboard on the 14 inch a bit too small for my liking, It's also missing some of the cool features of the OG, like the light up numpad, that you can toggle to transform the trackpad into a numpad. Been daily driving the UX581 for about half a year now and I love it. It's great to do video editing and coding on and the touchscreen has been a bigger quality of life improvement than I had thought before (I came from a used w520). The pen works great for taking notes, so a big plus on that one. Edit: I just wish it had a bigger Linux community so maybe someone could decompile and reverse engineer the windows drivers and get the light bar at the bottom of the laptop working on arch
I would use the Zenbook 14 due to the second screen. It's easier to have a Premier/AE timeline there.
I would lowkey kinda like to have this for programming, although I'm not sure how much the extra display would help vs just having swipe gestures for virtual desktops
This is great for working and seeing videos on youtube, or for gaming and youtube, all of which I do a lot. This would cut on the need for a second external usbc monitor. Though all in all, for portability sake, i still much prefer my zenbook 14.
Oh Zenbook 14 for sure! Multi-tasking dream! One question, I assume you could output a higher GPU via eGPU/thunderbolt?
I use an Envy X360 13" because docked in tent mode I can position it between my main screen and my keyboard and have a drawing tablet. It's also better for it's thermals. I would probably go with the 14, but probably neither, the battery life must be horrible on them with the OLEDs and frankly these "cabrio" notebooks make me anxious how dirt and fluff can get in effortlessly inside the chassis.
I'd take the 14", that second display intrigues me and 16" is too big for using it on the go anyways
i'd want the duo 14 if it could come with a better video card. I guess we'll see what the spec options will be once it's for sale.
This is really nice. I do love these type of laptops but I don’t think they’re for me and they’re definitely out of my budget but if I had a use for this and the budget id get one ☺️ I like the overall footprint it’s nice and slim.
Got to check the price of this thing in Canada. Love what Asus is doing with laptops right now, but still a huge fan of the M1 MacBook Air. Both laptops are obviously for completely different customers, and as much as I love the Asus, the Air just makes more sense for my needs.
For software development the dual screen is a game changer for me, i would love to have that in my mb pro