Asus Zenbook Duo Series: One Laptop Two Screens
You could call it the next new thing in laptop. After all it's not every day you see a laptop which has two screens, the usual screen plus a full-width secondary touchscreen. Is the Asus Zenbook Duo really worth it?
Zenbook Duo Series
ASUS yesterday launched its dual screen laptop series in India which comprises the Zenbook Pro Duo (UX581) and the Zenbook Duo (UX481) at a starting price Rs 2, 09,990 and Rs 89,990, respectively. ZenBook Pro Duo features a full-width 4K ASUSScreenPad Plus that works seamlessly with the main 4K UHD OLED display, while Zenbook Duo features a full-length 1920p ASUSScreenPad Plus that works seamlessly with the main 1080p FHD LCD display.
The Secondary Display
The secondary display is full-width 4K secondary touchscreen that works seamlessly with the main 15.6-inch 4K UHD OLED HDR touchscreen. ZenBook Duo comes with a full-length 1920p that works seamlessly with the main 1080p FHD LCD display.
Built-in Apps
A series of handy built-in apps help boost productivity. Quick Key allows one-tap automation of complex keyboard sequences, and Handwriting lets you input text intuitively. There are also useful quick controls such as App Switcher, ViewMax and Task Swap for intuitive interactions between the main display and ScreenPad Plus. Task Group lets you lock into work mode by opening multiple tasks with a single touch. And now you can drag any Windows app or in-app toolbar onto ScreenPad Plus to give you more room to work on the main display, wherever you are.
Display
ZenBook Pro Duo offers a 4K UHD NanoEdge OLED HDR display. It is well complimented by a four-sided frameless design featuring ultra-slim bezels. OLED touchscreen delivers ultra-vivid colors and deep blacks, with a cinema-grade 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and 100,000:1 contrast ratio. The screen-to-body ratio to a near-borderless 89%, thus offering more screen.
ZenBook Duo is equipped with 1080p FHD NanoEdge display, with a four-sided frameless design featuring 90% screen to body ratio. The main LCD display comes colour calibrated form the factory and offers 100% sRGB with Pantone Validation.
Processor
ZenBook Pro Duo is powered by up to a 9th Generation Intel Core i9 eight-core processor, the latest gaming-grade NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics and fast storage. ZenBook Duo is powered by the up to latest 10th Generation Intel Core i7 10510U, the latest NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphicsand fast storage.
Connectivity
ZenBook Pro Duo offers dongle-free connectivity with the latest Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port. The latest Intel Wi-Fi 6 with Gig+ (802.11ax) delivers fast wireless speeds. ZenBook Duo comes with 2xUSB 3.1 Gen 2 USB-C ports – supporting 4K display and up to 10Gbps of DATA transfer speed.
Accessories
The Zenbook Pro Duo(UX581) is bundled with a stylus, laptop stand for better viewing and a palm rest, given the size. The Zenbook Duo (UX481) is accompanied with a stylus, laptop stand for better viewing and a sleeve.
What's Great
Treat for Multitaskers
I tried the Zenbook Duo X481. The work place, interchanging between the two screens is smooth and seamless. This is truly a delight for multitaskers.
Fast Performance
The Corei7 16 GB RAM hardware delivers blistering fast speed in just about anything. From gaming to graphics its speed all the way.
Display
The display is crisp and really good. Right from watching Netflix to viewing graphics, the vividity and clarity easily comes out.
What's Not Great
Battery Life
It's a premium laptop but leaves one with with wanting a better battery life. Every couple of hours I had to plug in the mains.
Design
The design is uncomfortable at times.
The Last Word
The dual screen is probably the biggest innovation in laptops in a long time. The pricing starting from Rs.89,900 and going up to Rs.2,09,990 which puts it in a premium segment. The laptop does deliver in terms of performance. The display is great and the dual screen capabilities deliver seamless workflow. Should you buy it? If you are a multitasked instead of working on multiple screens this one should work well.
