Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo Review: Every Laptop Should Have Two Screens”.
[ Announcer ] Sponsored by Surfshark, VPN., (, upbeat music ). Whenever a tech company tries something really different, there’s always a cawdrey of killjoys in the comments.. Yes, but how practical is it? What problems is it trying to solve? Well, what’s the point [ Announcer ]? Actually that third, one yeah that was me., Sorry Shalmey. And you know what It’s not a bad thing..
You should be alert to gimmicks.. You should want real utility for your money., Not just a buzz worthy tool to drool over. Every once in a while. A company manages to give us both.. This is the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo. Duo because of its dual 4K touchscreen displays.. It has more working area than any laptop.. It has more power than most people will need.. It has terrible battery life and barely fits in a bag., Never the less.
It also has my glowing recommendation. ( upbeat music ). I teamed up with Windows Central to buy this machine when I got tired of waiting for a review unit and hey Robino., Just real quick, the ZenBook Pro Duo. Yeah., I’m not going to give it back to you., I’m not going to give it to you. ( Laughing ) Okay. You don’t get to have it., I’m keeping it. You like it that much Yeah you want it Come get it. ( laughing ), I’m joking.
Of course. I need Daniel Robino to run all those benchmarks, so I don’t have to., But I really don’t want to give the machine up because it turns out having more than one display, is incredibly useful. Up until now to do that on the go you needed to buy A portable monitor., Which I tried once and hated. For me, it’s just not fun or worth it to carry that much extra stuff..
The ZenBook Pro Duo builds that second screen right, in., It’s just as sharp as the main display and it’s no tiny touch bar either. But a fully fledged 14 inch touchscreen. Spanning the entire width of the machine.. You probably know the first compromise, I’m gon na call out about it..
This is not a small computer. At almost an inch thick and five and a half pounds., Even without its monster charging. Brick of which it need, since it can’t charge through USB-C. Carrying it, reminds me of trucking around my old HP Pavilion from 2006., Also to make room for the screen pad Asus had to bump the keyboard down to the very edge and cram the track pad along Side it., If that sounds uncomfortable, the included wrist rest in the box would seem to be an omission of that.
In a lap. It’S awkward. On a bus or an Amtrak seat back tray. It’S hilarious. But put the thing on a desk either in your office or at your local coffee shop, and really it’s not all that different from typing on a typical notebook., At least not for me. Bonus points for the touchscreen num pad that you can summon when You need and dismiss when you don’t., So how do you go about using that added screen? Well, Windows treats the screen pad just like a second display that you would plug into the HDMI port.. So if you want, you can just use it as an extension of your desktop., You can run one program in full screen or you can run two or three apps side by side.. The screen is sharp enough that that kind of multitasking is still useful.
Ill. Give you a perfect example.. I was setting up the Wi-Fi connection and I needed to look up how to change a setting on Microsoft.com.. So I pinned the instructions down on the screen pad and I followed them up on the main screen. For every day tasks. Like writing this review. My daily set us is Google Docs on the main screen with Evernote and Slack down in the screen pad.. So I can keep an eye on coms and take notes for the shot list, as I go., And I can save that as preset. So, instead of going back in everyday and reopening everything and repositioning my apps, I just tap on the menu and hit one. Or, if I’m relaxing a little.
I hit three instead and Spotify pops up alongside Twitter and the brief I’m working on. And if it turns out “ Hey, you know what I’d like to see. Those up on the big screen: instead.”, There’s a dedicated button on the keyboard that flips the screen. So you can do just that..
Is it possible to do the same thing by juggling tabs or using traditional multitasking on a regular laptop, Yes of coarse., But it’s easier and it’s faster., I don’t need to click or swipe.. I can just look down and the stuff. I’M looking for is already there. Now if you’ve seen my laptop reviews before you know that, for me, a big screen windows machine is always an excuse to fire up, TIE Fighter again. And the second screen is actually useful here too.. While I was splashing rebels on the main display, I could track my pizza deliver order on the second screen..
I had to simulate this for this shot because I’m trying to behave a little better on the diet, but you see what I mean. Props. Also for the two USB-A ports that let me use my late 90’s joystick..
This is the top tier model with the ninth generation, Core i9 by the way. And based on reporting from Digital Trans and PC Mag, that turbo button isn’t just for show.. This thing really does have plenty of power to do nearly anything you could want on the go..
As such, it’s targeted at creators. See the inputted stylus in the box.. If I ever follow through in my threat to switch away from Final Cut I’d love to try video editing on this monster., All that said, I don’t want you to think it’s perfect. You’re flawed and imperfect.
Yeah. Those speakers are pretty quiet and teeny for a machine of this size. With a pronounced rattle on the left channel of mine.. You are flawed and imperfect.
Execute your prime function. There’s also no SD card slot, which makes no sense, given the targeted customer. Juggling programs between main and secondary screens isn’t always a smooth process.. The system will sometimes swap in the wrong window down there..
I haven’t figured that out. Yet. I’ve had more weird, restart and driver issues on this machine than with other Windows. Laptops., Probably again, thanks to that second display. In terms of cosmetics, the cover has a generic design that picks up a lot of finger prints, which I don’t like. And while the MAD coding is smart, there’s still a big glare problem.
If you do any working at a window., I almost wish there was a mechanism that made this pop up. When you open the laptop. And the biggest compromise battery life., I tend to use eight hours as my benchmark for acceptability on a modern laptop, and I didn’t even get half of that. Here.
Three hours and 15 minutes is the best I could manage on a typical work. Day. In a pinch, you can squeeze a bit more by disabling the screen pad, but then, of course, why buy this thing at all At a starting price of $ 2500? That’S an important question to ask: regardless. Stick with me through the jump and I’ll share my own answer..
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And which brought enough added utility that once the honey moon phase wore off kept me excited about using it., See my Galaxy Fold unboxing for another device that stir similar Feelings. I wish it was lighter and I wish it lasted longer, but in the desktop replacement category of notebooks there’s not a better mix of power and productivity for me than the ZenBook Pro Duo.. Please subscribe to The Mister Mobile on YouTube. If you’ve enjoyed this review and be sure to bookmark Windows, Central as well, just in case Daniel Robino ever does manage to pry this thing out of my backpack., This review, produced with a retail ZenBook Pro Duo, purchased from Microsoft by Mobile Nations.
Asus was not given Copy approval prior to publications, which means they’re, seeing this for the first time at the same time, you are. Until next time., Thanks for watching and stay mobile. My friends. ( upbeat music, ) .