Not all low carbohydrate diets are created equal and more rigorous experimentation is required.
The researchers at Stanford University's School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California who are behind the recent review of the benefits of a low-carb diet found many problems with the benefits and risks and consider these approaches controversial and unsolved, especially for very low-carb diets Carbohydrate Diets (VLCD).
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On the exercise platform, the world's best weightlifter pulls 220 kg, cleanly and jerks 255 kg with ease.
Giorgi Tchintcharauli, the doctor of the Georgian national weightlifting team, posted a video of Lasha Talakhadze's training sessions at the Tokyo Olympics and it should be enough to send any of his competitors home.
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Govee Aura Smart Table Lamp Review: Animated light show on your desk
RRP $ 60.00
"The Govee Aura table lamp is a smart lamp that uses RGB colors to illuminate its 360-degree surface."
advantages
Nice RGB lights
Well organized app
Lots of presets for different colors and palettes
Manual control on the device
disadvantage
Cheap plastic construction
App restrictions
Smart lighting is one of the easiest smart home technologies that you can incorporate into your home. It's simple, rarely requires anything special, and gives your home a flair that no other smart home category can. Sure, you can get your oven to talk to your phone, and that's a nice trick for showing off at parties. But lighting has a certain subtle charm that cannot be quantified.
So far, most of the smart home lighting I have in my home has come from Philips, and my attempts to expand outside the Philips area have been disastrous. So I was skeptical when Govee offered me the opportunity to try out his table lamp. My skepticism came from two sources. First of all, they're a lighting company that isn't Philips, and besides, I don't use table lamps very much in my house. My house has pretty much all of the lighting fixtures in the ceiling. Still, I wanted to try. So let's dive in.
Right out of the box, the Govee Aura Smart Table Lamp is a pretty cheap plastic lamp with five buttons on top and branding that is hard to miss on the front underside of the lamp. There is a small brick on the power cord that spoils the overall look of the lamp. It's a tiny brick – so small that it actually feels a bit unnecessary, so overall this wasn't a promising start.
Govee
The lamp is a cylinder that is about 8 inches tall and about 10 inches tall. When lit, only about half an inch at the bottom and a quarter of an inch at the top serve as a kind of aperture. The lamp is bright and can reach 350 lumens and has a temperature range of 2200 – 6500K. Inside is also what Govee calls RGBICWW lighting, which is a fancy way of saying animated, multi-colored lights. One of the nice things about the hardware is that the shell is translucent enough to convey colors clearly, but doesn't reveal the mechanisms inside that would dispel the illusion.
Personally, I prefer buttons on the top just because touch-sensitive panels tend to be either too sensitive or not sensitive enough. A common thread running through most smart lighting lamps is that they typically come in a variety of form factors. It is difficult to say whether this is “better or worse” than the smart table lamp “Tree of Light” from CET; It all depends on your personal preference for your facility.
The Govee Aura Smart Table Lamp is mainly controlled via the Govee app which allows you to use different effects and lighting patterns. You can move the lights to music or just show a specific pattern. You can even set up a custom pattern based on your color tastes. Govee also has a couple of dozen animated patterns that swirl the colors inside the lamp, some of which create a pretty cool effect while others move at a slightly jerky pace, giving the illusion of fish swimming in a tank quickly scattered.
Nevertheless, I particularly liked the animations in the lamp. You can choose one of several animations and watch a sunrise, drag clouds in the sky, or see the above fish swimming in a bowl. There were many choices and I found them very enjoyable. Govee got really creative here, which is great because when it comes to things like that, I'm one of the least creative people I know.
Whether for your living room or the children's room, the app offers a design that you will like.
Govee's software even lets you configure custom color swatches and help you by suggesting national flags, stars, seasons, and even the colors of the earth or any of the other planets in the solar system. Govee has put a lot of thought into this software, but in some places it just falls short. For example, yes, Govee suggests the colors of the earth, but you can only pick one at a time. I would like to cycle through all the colors of Mars; that would look really cool.
Additionally, the Govee lamp can be connected to Alexa or Google Assistant, although this is the least useful part of the lamp in my opinion. In all honesty, the Google Assistant rarely understood that I was talking about the lamp, even though I tried different name formats. I've tried "Govee Lamp", "Aura Lamp", "The Desk Lamp", and a few others that I can't print because this is a family friendly site. Needless to say, this part was a little frustrating. I can't tell if the problem was with the Google Assistant or Govee's software. I would often say “turn on the Govee lamp” and watch the Google Assistant transcribe “turn on the Gobi lamp”. Whatever the case, there is work to be done here.
Govee wants you to enjoy your RGB lamp in a variety of ways. You can customize it yourself or let the Govee software team do things for you. You can set the lamp on a timer and let it wake you up. When you don't feel like whipping out your phone and opening the app, you can tap the buttons at the top to turn the lamp on or off, adjust the brightness, and even switch to music mode. In short, I wasn't a fan of table lamps before. Now I'm looking for places in my house where I could put another one.
Adam Doud / Digital Trends
With its dazzling effect, the Govee Aura Smart Table Lamp can potentially be the center of attention anywhere. At the same time, its vivid colors and animations create an atmosphere that other static lights lack.
This is not a perfect product. The build quality is questionable and probably wouldn't survive a fall from the table to a wooden floor. The lump on the power cord is repulsive. The branding that is in the front and center of the lamp is honestly cheesy. But overall, I like what Govee is doing here, and that's mostly because of the software. Yes, there are a few shortcomings as well, but I imagine these are pretty easy to fix.
We've got a roundup of the best smart lights you can buy today. there is no lack of them. The next would probably be that Aukey Touch RGB lampwhich looks very similar to this lamp but has a touch sensitive base as opposed to buttons on the top.
The Philips Hue Iris costs a lot more, but it is a different type of table lamp that naturally fits in well with the Philips Hue ecosystem. Additionally, you can direct the light onto walls or wall art for some neat accent lighting.
The build quality of this lamp is not the best. It's pretty much top-down plastic that has some shock-resistant properties to be sure. Even so, I would be nervous if I put this too close to the edge of a table, especially over a hardwood or tile floor. The lamp has a one-year limited warranty from the date of purchase, which is nice, but there's no telling how long this would last.
Yes. This is a beautiful product that can be great fun. Whether for your living room or the children's room, the app offers a design that you will like. In fact, there are likely several designs out there that you will like. At $ 55 (as of this writing), this isn't the cheapest smart table lamp out there, but the app development really shows off at Govee. It also turns out that smart table lamps are fun! Who knew I really love this lamp and will definitely start with Govee when shopping for smart lighting in the future.
Editor's recommendations
Australian powerhouse Tia-Clair Toomey tops the leaderboard after a day at the CrossFit Games, but there's more to it than that.
That's the thing about Tia-Claire Toomey: she hadn't done CrossFit in a long time when she got to her first games in 2015. Her background was in athletics, but she represented her country in the 58kg weightlifting category at the Rio Olympics. This is 2016.
In the same year she took part in her second CrossFit Games. She was second on the podium. She's been number one ever since.
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Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED review: Two screens when you need them
RRP $ 3,000.00
"The Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED is a fantastic laptop for the creative when you can use its second screen."
advantages
Useful dual screen design
Excellent workmanship
Nice OLED displays
Strong performance in creative apps
Keyboard action is comfortable
Active pen is precise and responsive
disadvantage
Clumsy keyboard and touchpad
Battery life is awful
Expensive
Asus doesn't do without dual screens. The company has some laptops with second screens embedded in the touchpad, but last year it released the more extravagant ZenBook Pro Duo UX581, which positioned a second large display under the primary panel. For such a futuristic idea, the laptop was remarkably well made.
But Asus hasn't rested on its laurels and recently launched the ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED UX582 and made several significant changes to this experimental design.
I have a well-stocked configuration of the ZenBook Pro Duo with an Intel Core i9-10980HK CPU of the 10 x 2160) OLED panel and a second OLED screen at 3840 x 1100.
However, this is an expensive $ 3,000 machine. Is the dual display functionality enough to compete with the best laptops for video and photo editing?
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
Close the lid of the ZenBook Pro Duo and it looks like a chunky 15-inch laptop with a light industrial design in a Celestial Blue color scheme and the usual Asus concentric swirl on the lid. The edges are angled for aesthetic and functional reasons, especially the rear edge that houses the new ErgoLift AAS (Active Aerodynamic System) hinge that supports the lower chassis for better airflow and more comfortable typing upwards.
It bears a vague resemblance to gaming laptops due to the aggressive ventilation on each side, but overall the design is more function than form. A look at the ZenBook Pro Duo gives a clear impression that it is a working device. Compare that to the Dell XPS 15, which is far slimmer and adds a touch of elegance, making it a more attractive laptop. Another laptop with a different design, which also presents a pure work aesthetic, is the Acer ConceptD 7 Ezel with its foldable display design – not surprising that this device is also aimed at creative people.
There is nothing slim and light in the ZenBook Pro Duo.
Open the lid of the ZenBook Pro Duo and the second display rises at an angle – the previous version remained flat and less comfortable to use. Since both displays are OLED, there are tons of bright colors and deep blacks to stare at, and at least it looks cool. This angle is not only helpful for use in the east; it also provides additional airflow over the lower chassis for theoretically improved thermal performance.
The main display hinge is pretty tight and it takes some pressure to lift the second display. Despite the heavy weight of the underside, you need two hands to open the laptop, but everything feels sturdy and gives you the certainty that after a lot of opening and closing you won't have any problems with the second display in the long run.
Asus constructed the ZenBook Pro Duo from a mix of aluminum and magnesium-aluminum alloys, so the feeling of durability is carried over to the rest of the laptop. I would rate it with the best laptops for its rigidity without bending, bending, or twisting on the machine. It corresponds to the Dell XPS and Latitude and Lenovo ThinkPad lines, which are some of the toughest laptops built today. This quality is a common characteristic of Asus laptops – we rarely come across one that is not rock solid.
While the ZenBook Pro Duo isn't thin and light, it's not as big as you'd expect given the second screen. It's 0.83 inches thick and weighs 5.16 pounds, compared to the XPS 15 at 0.71 inches and 4.5 pounds. The ZenBook's bezels are larger at the top and bottom, making the case larger overall – not to mention the impact of the second display, but it's by no means a huge laptop. The Acer Concept D 7 Ezel is thicker and heavier at 1.13 inches at its thickest point and 5.6 pounds, and this device feels bigger than the ZenBook Pro Duo.
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
The ZenBook Pro Duo comes with a palm rest extension that slides up on the bottom of the case. That makes up for the fact that there is no palm rest built into the device and typing without the extension is uncomfortable (more on the keyboard later). Adding the extension pushes the laptop back onto your desk, which means it takes up quite a bit of space when fully configured. The extension has a pass-through for the LED on the bottom that shows the battery status, which is a nice touch.
There is no doubt, however, that you will be reconfiguring your desk to make everything fit, and the expansion is another thing to take with you if you want the convenience of using the ZenBook Pro Duo on the go. I would have recommended adding a magnetic link to keep the extension in place; As it is, it slides around while you work and that can be distracting.
Finally, Asus also offers an ErgoLift stand that further supports the back of the ZenBook Duo Pro. You can achieve a 12 degree angle by using the stand that attaches to the bottom of the chassis so you can always have it with you. I found it a bit clunky to use, but then I didn't attach the stand to the test device.
Certainly, it offers a more comfortable angle for both viewing the second screen and typing, with your palms resting more naturally on the desktop in the latter case. In theory, you could also use the palm rest extension, but it doesn't fit properly with the stand attached, and so it seems like one thing or the other. It's also another complication in setting up the laptop as you move from place to place.
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
Connectivity is decent for a laptop as thick as the ZenBook Pro Duo. On the left is a proprietary connector for the 240 watt power adapter, a full-size HDMI port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. On the right side there are two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3 support and one USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port. It is noticeable that there is no SD card slot, which would have made sense for the ZenBook Pro Duo in the creative market. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 offer wireless connectivity.
My test device was 10th with an Intel Core i9-10980HK eight-core / 16-thread CPU. Asus paid a lot of attention to thermal performance, with lots of airflow, as mentioned above, two 97-blade fans and a whopping six heat pipes, including one for the power supply module. There's also a G-sensor that detects when the display is closed at an angle of less than 80 degrees. At this point the power will be reduced to limit consumption and extend battery life.
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
Asus offers a performance optimization utility that switches between standard and performance modes. I found the utility inconsistent – it raised the Cinebench R23 multi-core score to 9968, making it one of the fastest laptops we tested, but it didn't affect our Handbrake test of a 420MB video in H. converted .265.
It also raised Geekbench 5's multi-core score to 7542, placing it higher in our peer group. In our gaming benchmarks, the utility either had a minimal positive impact or reduced performance; I will discuss this below. The utility had no influence on the PCMark 10 score, which was particularly strong in the area of content creation and is one of the fastest devices.
Overall, the ZenBook Pro Duo was a fast laptop, but maybe not quite as fast as you'd expect given the Core i9 CPU. I can imagine that despite all the efforts Asus put into heat treatment, the CPU still struggled to maintain full speed. The fans would certainly spin up, especially in performance mode, and a lot of heat was blown out of the side ventilation slots. In general, it can do CPU-intensive tasks and has managed to keep up with or outperform the latest Ryzen 7 CPUs – something we haven't seen on a lot of Intel-based laptops.
Given the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070, the ZenBook Pro Duo does well with apps that can use the GPU. It scored 647 in the PugetBench Adobe Premiere Pro benchmark, which is the fastest score we've seen on a laptop. The closest thing is the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro gaming laptop with a Ryzen 7 5800H and an RTX 3070 that managed 622. Anyone using Adobe's suite will be delighted with the performance of the ZenBook Pro.
| Geekbench (single / multiple) | Handbrake (seconds) | Cinbench R23 (single / multiple) | PCMark 10 | |
| Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED (Core i9-10980HK) | 1266/6918 | 106 | 1236/8326 | 5769 |
| Acer ConceptD 7 Ezel (10875H) |
1301/7949 | 114 | N / A | N / A |
| HP Envy x360 15 (Ryzen7 5700U) |
1198/6790 | 116 | 1258/8131 | 5419 |
| Asus ZenBook 13 OLED (Ryzen 7 5800U |
1423/6758 | 124 | 1171/7824 | 6034 |
| Dell XPS 15 (Core i7-10875H) | 1314/7549 | 122 | N / A | N / A |
| HP Envy 15 (Core i7-10750H) | 1274/5542 | 139 | N / A | N / A |
| MacBook Pro 13 (M1) | 1707/7337 | N / A | 1487/7547 | N / A |
Gaming was a mixed bag, perhaps due to the Nvidia Studio drivers installed on the ZenBook Pro Duo. These are designed to ensure consistent and reliable performance in creative apps rather than hardcore gaming, which appears to have impacted gaming performance. Either that or the GPU had thermal issues at times, as I suspect that happened to the CPU.
Additionally, as I mentioned above, the Asus Performance Utility only increased frame rates by a few or decreased performance. Civilization VI, for example, saw significant frame rate drops in performance mode. 3DMark scores rose, with the ZenBook Pro Duo hitting 8,763 in Time Spy and 17864 in Fire Strike in performance mode, but that increase didn't result in gaming.
The ZenBook Duo Pro did well in Fortnite on Epic graphics at 1080p, Civilization VI on Ultra graphics, and Assassin's Creed Vahalla on Ultra High graphics, but fell behind in Battlefield V on Ultra. The performance decreased disproportionately at 4K, whereby the ZenBook Pro Duo lagged far behind the crowd at this resolution. I haven't been able to test at 1440p, but it's possible you can run games there if you dive into Nvidia settings and enable that resolution.
The bottom line is that while the ZenBook Pro Duo doesn't always live up to its components as a gaming laptop, it is still quite usable for modern 1080p and maybe 1440p titles. You may get better performance if you remove the Studio drivers and install the regular Nvidia drivers, but then you lose the benefit of better creative application performance and reliability. This is likely not something that the laptop target market will go for.
| Laptop | 3DMark time spy | 3DMark fire strike | Assassin's Creed Valhalla (1080p Ultra High) | Battlefield V (1080p Ultra) | Fortnite (1080p Epic) | Civilization VI (1080p Ultra) |
| Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED (RTX 3070) | 7998 | 16932 | 74 fps | 78 fps | 102 fps | 111 fps |
| Razer Blade 14 (RTX 3070) | 8605 | 19673 | 60 fps | 96 fps | 96 fps | 84 fps |
| Asus ROG Strix G15 (Radeon RX 6800M) | 10504 | 26800 | 77 fps | 109 fps | 108 fps | 91 fps |
| Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (RTX 3070) | 9175 | 21033 | 61 fps | 73 fps | 101 fps | 101 fps |
| MSI GS66 Stealth (RTX 3080) | 9097 | 19175 | 70 fps | 97 fps | 140 fps | 140 fps |
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
The primary display of the ZenBook Pro Duo is a 4K OLED panel with DisplayHDR 500 support that looks just brilliant. OLED excels in that it usually highlights colors without becoming oversaturated and creates blacks that look incredibly deep, and the panel Asus selected for the ZenBook Pro Duo does both.
My colorimeter agreed with my subjective impression. First, the display was quite bright at 369 cd / m², well above our 300 nit threshold. That's less than the OLED display on the HP Specter x360 15, which registered 426 nits, and the Dell XPS 14 4K IPS display, which reached 442 nits, but is still bright enough for most indoor environments. The contrast was typical for OLED displays at 368,610: 1, compared to the Specter x360 15 OLED at 426,180: 1 and the XPS 15 4K at 1480: 1 (good for an IPS display).
The colors were wide at 100% of sRGB and 99% of AdobeRGB, with the Specter x360 15 OLED hitting 100% and 98%, respectively, and the XPS 15 4K hitting 100% of both color gamuts. Accuracy was good with a DeltaE of 1.25 (less than 1.0 is considered excellent) and was close to the 1.21 of the Specter x360 15 OLED, but not as good as the spectacular 0.65 of the XPS 15 4K.
Simply put, the display on the ZenBook Pro Duo was a joy to use. Black text appeared on a white background, the colors were vibrant and beautiful, and Netflix was a dream thanks to the 4K resolution and HDR support. This is a display that everyone will love including the creative professionals who demand wide and accurate colors.
The sound is driven by two downward-facing speakers, which ensure a clear sound and hardly sufficient volume. I want things to get a little louder, but it's good enough for the occasional YouTube video. The mids and highs are fine, but there is no bass. You will need a pair of headphones for Netflix bingeing and music sessions.
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
The second display of the ZenBook Pro Duo, called ScreenPad +, is also OLED and runs at 3840 x 1100. Like the primary display, it is bright and colorful with deep black tones. I couldn't position my colorimeter properly to get a formal reading of its quality, but it seems to be on par with its bigger brother. Speaking of size, the second display is big enough to be useful, though the extreme widescreen format means any maximized apps can look a little funky on it.
This laptop is designed with the creative in mind, and it is these users who will get the most out of the second display.
Asus has packed a lot of functionality into the second display, all of which are accessible via a ScreenXpert Control Center menu that can be pinned or left floating on the left, right, or bottom of the display. The menu provides access to Brightness, an App Navigator utility that makes it easy to move windows from one screen to another, a button to lock or unlock the keyboard, a button to view the ScreenPad + desktop, a button to open the MyAsus App, a button to open the Launcher app that provides access to ScreenPad + apps and setup.
Useful ScreenPad + apps include a Quick Key utility that provides quick access to features like copy and paste, a handwriting app that converts ink to text, a virtual numeric keypad, a Spotify control center, and a Corel Multicam utility. There are also buttons to open an AppDeals app and the MyASUS app, and a button to open the Asus Control Panel app (see below).
There are several ways to use the ScreenPad +. You can turn it into a massive touchpad, which is less useful than it seems as it is positioned above the keyboard and therefore not very comfortable to use. It can host app windows, so it can act as a typical external display. Asus has developed a new Control Panel app that supports Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop and Lightroom Classic, and has several commonly used functions for each app.
The app is fully customizable and is designed to optimize the use of the supported applications. One final way to use the secondary display is to move control windows out of the way in apps like Premiere and Photoshop to make more room to view and edit a video or photo. Note that the Control Panel app can start automatically and take away this functionality.
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
Overall, I found the ScreenPad + to be a useful addition, but mainly for certain users who can use the app-specific functions. That's fine, because this laptop was designed for creative people, and it is these users who will get the most out of the second display. Personally, I probably wouldn't use it for much more than dragging down windows that don't clutter my main display or that I want to see separately, like the Netflix app or a YouTube window. That might make the ScreenPad + a niche component, but a useful one nonetheless.
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
On its own, the ZenBook Pro Duo’s 3-tier, backlit keyboard is a good one. It has a lot of travel and comfortable key spacing, and the switches provide precise action with a nice click. My only complaint is that the ground movement is a little abrupt and therefore has a harrowing effect that can be tiring during long tip sessions. I would rate it a step or two behind the great keyboards of the HP Specter x360 15 and Dell XPS 15. The biggest problem with the keyboard is that there is no palm rest.
When using the laptop alone, your wrists rest on the desktop and your fingers are at an awkward typing angle. As mentioned earlier, Asus offers a palm rest extension that solves this problem, but the ZenBook Pro Duo extends further back on a desktop and it's another piece to take with you. Also, as mentioned above, you can attach the ErgoLift stand and that helps too, but again, it's another piece to play around with.
The touchpad, on the other hand, is just terrible. I hate being this negative, but it's tiny, vertically oriented (which is weird to use), and placed to the right of the keyboard where it's annoying. It includes Asus' virtual LED numeric keypad which is great for those who would use something like this, but that doesn't make up for its size and placement. It's a Microsoft Precision touchpad, so it works well enough. It's just terribly uncomfortable.
Both displays are of course touch-enabled and support the supplied Asus active pen, which can be magnetically attached to the lid. The pen works well and ensures fluid and precise coloring and control on both displays.
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
Finally, the passwordless login of Windows 10 Hello is supported by an infrared camera and facial recognition. It's quick and accurate, and I had no problems signing in. The webcam is a disappointing 720p as some vendors start configuring 1080p webcams in response to the pandemic-inspired surge in video conferencing.
Asus has increased the battery of the ZenBook Pro Duo compared to the previous generation by 29.5% to a capacity of up to 92 Wh. That's a lot of battery, but that's a lot of machine, so I didn't have extremely high expectations.
I was on the right track. The ZenBook Pro Duo doesn't do well in any of our battery benchmarks. In our web browser test, for example, it didn't quite make four hours, a meager score that even gaming laptops tend to outperform. The previous version lasted about 5.5 hours, but that was with the second screen turned off. I ran my tests with the second screen on, assuming that most users would want this feature in battery life as much as when plugged in. According to Asus, the second screen should reduce battery life by about 1.5 hours, which I've seen and which suggests that the updated version doesn't show better longevity, at least in this test, despite the larger battery.
In short, the ZenBook Pro Duo has terrible battery life.
Note that the Dell XPS 15 4K ran for seven hours and the HP Specter x360 15 ran a little over six hours. I realize I've picked a few comparison devices that aren't much better than the ZenBook Pro Duo. The latest laptops last around 10 hours in this test, but of course most of them don't have OLED displays and such powerful components.
In our video looping test, which repeats a Full HD Avengers trailer, the ZenBook Pro Duo reached six hours, compared to the XPS 15 with 20 minutes more and the Specter x360 15 with 6.5 hours. Again, other modern machines last much longer, usually over 13 hours or so. I also ran the PCMark 10 gaming test, where the Asus lasted less than two hours; This isn't all that bad, and the test itself is likely more of a measure of how aggressively a laptop is running on battery life than how long its battery lasts.
In the PCMark 10 application test, which is the best indicator of battery life, the ZenBook Pro Duo achieved 5.5 hours, which is about half of what most other laptops can do. We didn't test the XPS 15 with these benchmarks either, but the Specter x360 15 lasted three minutes less in the gaming test and two minutes less in the applications test.
In short, the ZenBook Pro Duo has terrible battery life. Of course, this is not unexpected in the design of the machine. This means that if you are on the road for a full day at work, you have to carry the powerful 240-watt power brick with you. Add that to the palm rest extension and ErgoLift stand, and your backpack will feel pretty full.
The ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED UX582 (www!) Is a great laptop for anyone who really benefits from adding a second display to the device, not to mention a powerful CPU and GPU that can handle demanding tasks. This includes creatives who use their laptops with apps like Adobe Premiere Pro and Photoshop, which makes sense because that's exactly what Asus is aiming for. In this regard, the company has succeeded in producing a laptop that meets special requirements.
For most other users, however, the ZenBook Pro Duo is too heavy, too complicated and suffers from a short battery life. It's also expensive at $ 3,000 when you can get equally powerful and much more portable laptops for the same or less money.
The Acer ConceptD 7 Ezel is another differently designed laptop tailored for creative types. It's also very fast, very heavy, and has a very short battery life. It's even more expensive, too, but if you're a creator and need its flexibility, the Acer is a great alternative.
The Dell XPS 15 is a cheaper device for developers because it's fast (though not as fast as the ZenBook Pro Duo), has its own great display, and is far more portable. If you don't need the second display, it's a viable option.
Otherwise, the ZenBook Pro Duo is in a class of its own. You won't find any other device with the same type of second screen, and if that matters to you, the Asus is your only option.
The ZenBook Pro Duo is extremely well built and feels tough enough to withstand years of use. Its components also keep up, so that your investment pays for itself. You will be disappointed with the one year warranty, which is industry standard but not long enough for such an expensive product.
Yes. When you need a second display, the ZenBook Pro Duo isn't just your only choice. It's a great choice, period. If you don't, your $ 3,000 will likely be better spent elsewhere.
Editor's recommendations
You have sport climbing and boxing so why not?
Let's face it, CrossFit and MMA are more popular than sport climbing and boxing these days. So why are we looking at the latter rather than the former at the Tokyo Olympics?
It could be that the process of reporting to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is lengthy and a minefield of politics and deliberation.
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It was enlightening to delve deep into a large amount of research into sarcopenia and learn that we are all largely in control of how much muscle and strength we have as we age.
It is common knowledge that as we age, we lose muscle mass and strength. This is known as sarcopenia.
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Nothing Ear 1 Review: Everything You Can Want For Just $ 99
RRP $ 99.00
"Fresh and unmistakably styled, the enviable specification list of the Nothing Ear 1 True Wireless Earbuds with ANC and wireless charging is backed by great convenience, good performance, and a great price of $ 99."
advantages
Distinctive design
Active noise cancellation
Wireless charging
Very light and convenient
Very competitive price
disadvantage
No support for virtual assistants
Bright sound can lack presence
The Nothing Ear 1 are an exciting product, but also a lot more than just a new pair of true wireless earbuds. Nothing is OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei's new business, but it's not specifically an audio company. It is a technology company that we can expect to see a wide variety of products in the future, spanning a multitude of different genres. What the Ear 1 represents in this context is the ethos of Nothing, showing its approach to design, quality and possibly price. The Ear 1 is Genesis for Nothing and undoubtedly gives us a glimpse of its direction for the future.
In that sense, there is a tremendous amount of weight on the shoulders of Little Ear 1. They are arguably also one of the most hyped products of this year, Pei's sizeable fan base is all waiting for them, and the success of OnePlus has led to the rest of the Tech community is watching Ear 1 with great interest. The expectations are huge.
With all this, is the Ear 1 nothing or everything?
When Nothing posted pictures of the Concept 1, it was clear (sorry) that transparency would likely be included in their first product, and in fact, it's an integral part of the design and identity of the Ear 1. The outer case and molded inner part are made of clear plastic while the components and battery are hidden in a white, irregularly shaped section. The square case mixes curves and slashes, round recesses and rectangular metal shapes to great effect. It's interesting and different, but still pocket-sized and conveniently sized.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
The earbuds have a transparent stem, and nothing has worked hard to make sure everything looks pretty on the display. Internal components are rarely attractive or aesthetically positioned, but the microphones, magnets, and other parts in the Ear 1's stem are neat and symmetrical. It looks brilliant. The housing is made of white plastic and there is a choice of three different sized silicone earplugs – small, medium and large – included in the scope of delivery.
Nobody will confuse the Ear 1 with any other earbud. While they have a short-stemmed design like the Apple AirPods Pro, they're not an exact replica, and the case is definitely one of a kind. There are wonderful little touches too, from the use of a single red dot to identify the right earbud, the uniform pixel-art style font used on the case and "buds", and the ease with which you can find the Taking out "buds" can do the trick itself. Little things that make a big difference in use and ownership.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
However, I haven't had the Ear 1 long enough to determine its shelf life. True wireless earbud cases can get rough handling and can soon pick up scratches and scuffs. The transparent finish looks a lot worse if it suffers the same fate. So far, however, it is intact. Other than that, I really can't fault the design and presentation of the Ear 1. They are modern, fresh, distinctive and accordingly different from everyone else.
A lot of work has gone into the shape and materials of the Ear 1, but has just as much attention been paid to the feeling in your ear? I have been using in-ear and over-ear headphones very regularly for months, trying several different models and giving up on those that hurt my ears. The Nothing Ear 1 is by far one of the most comfortable in-ear headphones I've ever worn.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
At 4.7 grams, they are very light, have a very small overhang outside the ear and the slightly oval silicone earplugs fit perfectly into my ear. I didn't have to switch from the middle tips included in the box and I rarely had to put the Ear 1s back in my ear, even when cleaning the house or washing the car, when my head is constantly moving and often at an unusual angle. If anything, the Ear 1s were easily forgotten. Even after three hours, my ears did not hurt. I'd equate convenience with the Apple AirPods Pro, but I'd say they might be a little more secure.
I mainly used the Nothing Ear 1 in conjunction with an iPhone 12 Pro with a pre-release version of the app. They use Bluetooth 5.2, and I regularly switched between the iPhone and an iPad Pro (2020) that had the app installed not without problems. A Fast Pairing feature will be available on Android phones where opening the case and pressing the Pair button will connect it to a phone without any further action, but this was not available in my app.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
The range is very good and I was able to move from one end of my humble apartment to the other, about 10 meters without line of sight, without losing contact. Control is only by touch and actions can be configured in the app. By default, a double tap plays and pauses, a triple tap advances to the next track, a long press cycles through the active noise cancellation (ANC) modes, and a swipe up and down changes the volume.
The entire stem is touch sensitive and since it's quite small the accuracy is vastly improved since you're not looking for the right spot. Plus, each earbud has the same controls, so you don't have to learn a lot. I found the touch control system intuitive and decisive, precise and precise. I didn't feel frustrated or feel the need to just pick up my phone and use it instead. A short beep plays to distinguish between the ANC modes, but I would prefer it actually been indicated which mode is active.
The Nothing Ear 1 has integrated easily, comfortably and very quickly into my everyday life
The Ear 1 comes with AAC and SBC codec compatibility, but there is no AptX, AptX Adaptive or AptX HD, no W1 chip for automatically activating Apple's Spatial Music feature. The Ear 1 does not connect to a virtual assistant. So if you want to talk to Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa, you need to use your phone. It's an unusual omission, and while it's a feature I rarely use personally, there will be others who will miss it. Apart from that, for general hearing, I have found that the Nothing Ear 1 has integrated easily, comfortably and very quickly into my everyday life.
The sound of the Ear 1 was tuned by Teenage Engineering, a company with decades of experience in audio hardware. In the app, you can switch between the standard balanced mode and one that emphasizes bass or treble. Balanced is by far the best option with its wonderfully flat EQ. For my personal musical preferences, the flat EQ usually works very well.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Its success is evident in AKB48's Sustainable, where the strong bass line and orchestral section can easily drown out the cute vocals when listening through headphones with a custom bass forward EQ. The mostly flat EQ of the Ear 1 keeps the vocals cleanly centered and the bass under control. The downside comes when listening to classical music. For example, Holst's Mars, The Planets' Bringer of War, lacked the all-important presence that gives it so much power.
The Ear 1 delivers a bright tone with a tight soundstage, and with complex songs there is some heaviness at the top end. This is noticeable in Curtis Mayfield's Fall Behind and in Iz * one's Mise-en-Scéne, where the highs overwhelm the mids to crescendo at the end of each track. The bass isn't quite as rounded as the AirPods Pro, and they don't have the same powerful punch or warmth as the Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch. They definitely don't lack bass, but it's not a strength either. Unfortunately, the added Bass EQ mode sounds a bit artificial, so if you want more it may not be happy.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
For call quality, I used it as a replacement for my usual Samsung Galaxy Buds Live in Teams and WhatsApp video calls. The general opinion was that the sound was good and at least comparable to my usual choice and not too different from the microphone performance on the phone, in this case a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.
I find the Ear 1's lack of presence more of a problem than the brightness, but it's not overly noticeable in all listening situations. The flat, natural EQ makes much of the music I hear sound the way I see it, and I would much rather have a brighter sound than one with overwhelming bass. Despite these points, I never felt like I wanted to switch to a different set of headphones to get the sound I wanted that should tell you all about the sound of the Ear 1.
You can choose between a light and a maximum setting for noise reduction, and there is also a transparency mode. I left it either at maximum or with transparency and found little use for the light mode. I either wanted to hear something or I didn't. On the street, the insulation is very effective, matching my AirPods Pro, but with a slightly less "airy" feel. You are certainly included in the Ear 1's ANC.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
The transparency mode is better than others that I've used in some situations, with a less artificial feel, minimal hiss, and no discomfort. Sometimes the transparency modes get messed up by moving air or when I move my head, but that didn't happen as often with the Ear 1 at all.
Nothing says the Ear 1 will last four hours with the case on for a total of 24 hours with the ANC turned on. Without the ANC, expect 5.7 hours per charge and a total of 34 hours with the case. The usage time cannot keep up with the Sony WF-1000XM4, but it is largely similar to the Apple AirPods Pro. Charging is done with either a USB Type-C or a wireless Qi charger. Put the earbuds in the case for 10 minutes and you will get 50 minutes of ANC playback. Charge the case for 10 minutes and there is enough power inside to provide six hours of ANC listening.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
In my experience so far, the Ear 1 lasted around four and a half hours with a mix of ANC and without and on two different phones, an iPad and my Mac Mini. I'm using the Ear 1 before it is released so the firmware may be updated in the near future which could further improve battery life. It's close to what Nothing claims, however, and a strong performance given the size and weight of the earbuds.
The Nothing Ear 1 will be released on August 17th and will be sold through Nothing's own online store and retail stores such as Selfridges in the UK. They cost $ 99 or £ 99.
I've been trying to find serious problems with the Nothing Ear 1 earbuds that I really have. I listened to them for hours, tested the ANC as best I could without getting on a plane, and doused the specs. I looked at the low price and then the product and tried to see where corners were cut off to reach it. I admit I'm at a loss. How are they $ 99 and so good?
I like the carefully balanced sound, the noise cancellation is effective without being uncomfortable, the design is very cool, and they are certainly one of the lightest and most comfortable earbuds I've ever put in my ears. I would have liked more codec support, especially AptX HD or AptX Adaptive, and the bright sound may not be to everyone's taste. It also lacks support for virtual assistants, so you don't have to verbally answer calls or check the weather. But when they have all of the above plus wireless charging and decent $ 100 battery life, they're little compromises I'm willing to make.
For a first product, the Nothing Ear 1 earphones are excellent. It's the business card most companies dream of, and I can't wait to see what Nothing brings out next.
For $ 100 with ANC and wireless charging? Finding a competitor for twice the price is a challenge. It's pretty puzzling how Nothing added that amount of functionality and sound quality for the price. For example, Cambridge Audio's Melomania Touch is $ 130 and doesn't have ANC or wireless charging, but I think the sound is noticeably more rounded and with a lot more presence. The $ 100 Google Pixel Buds A lack some bass, and they don't have an ANC either.
Where does that leave you? Our top pick for true wireless earbuds, the Sony WF-1000XM4, is $ 280 and Apple's AirPods Pro is $ 250. Both have ANC and wireless charging and great sound. This is a serious price increase compared to the Nothing Ear 1. Perhaps the best alternative to the Nothing Ear 1 is the Sony WF-1000XM3, which is still a current model despite its technical replacement by the WF-1000XM4 with its excellent ANC and excellent performance Audio performance. You can find them for around $ 200 if you shop around.
The Nothing Ear 1 has a splash protection class IPX4, so it should be suitable for use in the rain. Firmware updates are provided with the app, but there is no need to use the earbuds, so your earbuds will work even if they suddenly stop updating after years. Nothing grants a two-year guarantee on the Ear 1. The only question mark is the durability of the transparent surface of the case, otherwise the Nothing Ear 1 should last several years before battery life concerns could prompt you to upgrade.
Yes, you are unlikely to find a better pair of expertly designed, high-function, true wireless earbuds at this price point.
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Dell P3222QE 4K Hub Monitor
RRP $ 899.00
"The Dell 32 4K USB-C Hub Monitor is an ideal addition to a home office setup."
advantages
Excellent connectivity options
Great IPS image quality
Robust, modern construction
Large 4K panel
Super guarantee
disadvantage
Expensive
Not a wide color space
Choosing the best monitor for yourself is not easy, especially if you are looking for a display that can be connected to your notebook with a single USB-C cable and will handle all of the connectivity. Fortunately, Dell has a new 32-inch 4K offering called the Dell 32 4K USB-C Hub Monitor, codenamed P3222QE.
The two main highlights of this display are its large 4K IPS panel along with USB-C hub functions, which means that it can charge your laptop, display and audio data to the monitor as well as USB and Ethernet signals via a single cable can send. But this feature set doesn't come cheap: the P3222QE is priced at $ 899. Still, it has the potential to be a great home office centerpiece for those who just want to switch between laptop and desktop modes.
Niels Broekhuijsen / Digital Trends
When you unpack the display, you are immediately greeted with the sturdy stand and the solid workmanship of the display. You won't find a fancy metal construction here, but the plastic housing of the P3222QE is of high quality with a slim design and without ugly gaps in the panels. The P3222QE has a clean, professional appearance and fits well in most homes and offices, with its great visual feature being its large size.
The stand has a noticeable weight and has all the essential functions that we expect from Dell stands: height adjustment, tilting, swiveling and rotating into portrait format – this is essential for productivity monitors for an ergonomic, healthy posture.
Niels Broekhuijsen / Digital Trends
The stand also has a cable hole through the middle for neat cable management, although I would have preferred to see this cutout a little higher. At halfway up positions, many of the cables are still visible – but this is not a problem at lower positions.
As mentioned earlier, connectivity is the P3222QE's strong point with HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C inputs. The hub has four USB 3.0 ports and Gigabit Ethernet, although a headphone jack appears to be missing.
Two of the USB ports are located next to the display inputs for connecting other fixed devices such as mice, webcams and keyboards, while two more USB ports are located on the underside of the display in a practical place for connecting USB sticks or short-term connected devices of this type.
Two USB ports within easy reach make the P3222QE a practical desktop companion.
Some other USB-C monitors with abundant connectivity occasionally have a DisplayPort out, as is the case with the P2720DC. The P3222QE, on the other hand, doesn't have this feature, so you're limited to a single monitor if you only want to use a single cable. But there is a good reason for this: the Type-C connection does not have the necessary bandwidth for multiple 4K displays. So it's hardly a point of criticism.
The P3222QE can charge the connected USB-C device with up to 65 W power, which is sufficient for the vast majority of productivity-oriented notebooks. However, more powerful mobile workstations or gaming laptops may require more power. So please check your laptop's power requirements before purchasing this monitor.
The P3222QE's OSD (on-screen display) is simple but has most of the essential features needed for this type of monitor. There are two controls on the back of the monitor: a power switch and a small joystick to control the OSD.
The OSD itself is sharp and easy to navigate, although the text is quite small and is placed way down in the lower right corner of the display. Since it's a fairly large display, navigating the OSD is a bit un-ergonomic as you have to bend down to read. But it's just the OSD, and it's not that you're going to be spending much time there anyway.
All the important controls are there, including brightness and contrast settings, various preset color modes and a handful of device settings. For inputs, there is even the option to rename the inputs, which is nice if you want to name the USB-C port in "laptop", DisplayPort in desktop and HDMI in console, for example.
With a large, 31.5-inch IPS panel with a 4K resolution of 3840 x 2160, the P3222QE offers a pleasantly sharp image with great color performance. The panel is able to display 1.07 billion colors, with an evaluated color space covering 99% of the sRGB space. As such, this is not a monitor with a wide color gamut and is not supplied with a factory calibration. So we'll see how it does in our tests right now. Dell also promises a static contrast ratio of 1000: 1, which is expected from an IPS panel, and the typical brightness is stated at 350 nits.
One of Dell's strengths in its monitors are the coatings – where they were quite aggressive a decade ago, Dell has honed their coating process to create a very smooth anti-glare coating that is still very effective at reducing glare. The P3222QE also has this soft coating, which makes its image easy on the eyes even at higher brightness levels.
So without further ado, let's toss our Datacolor Spyder X Elite at the P3222QE and see how it performs.
Niels Broekhuijsen / Digital Trends
All in all, the P3222QE actually delivers a good performance. Its color space is limited to 99% of the sRGB space, which fans of wide-gamut panels will miss, but its color space is easy on the eyes and a very good sRGB panel in terms of quality. Gamma performance is perfect at 2.2 with a deviation of just 0.01, and color accuracy is tested with a Delta-E (difference from reality) of 1.67. This is good enough for photo editing work, which the P3222QE is great for with its large size and high resolution.
Meanwhile, the brightness performance of 350 cd / m² is just right, with the static contrast ratio measured with a peak value of 1100: 1 and exceeding the promised specification. Only the white point was a bit off target at 6900K, which creates a slightly colder image than desired.
After using the Spyder X Elite to calibrate the display and reevaluate its performance, we found we squeezed out 1% more sRGB coverage and improved color accuracy to an impressive Delta-E of just 1.01 . The white point has also been refined so that the overall performance of the P3222QE can be improved even further with a simple calibration. But the picture is more than good enough for most use cases. So if you're not doing professional editing, we'd just leave it as it is.
The P3222QE is an excellent 4K monitor that is particularly suitable for use with notebooks thanks to its integrated hub functions. With up to 65 watts of power output via its USB-C port, four USB 3.0 ports and Gigabit Ethernet, the P3222QC has all the connectivity required to set up a (home) office workstation that is connected to the Laptop docks.
And that's not to ignore the picture of the P3222QE: with a large 32-inch 4K panel, you get a lot of sharpness on a large panel, at a DPI that is just comfortable enough for most people to not allow UX scaling to need what offers you a lot of monitor real estate to work. Color performance is also excellent as long as you work in the sRGB color space. For most people, this is not a problem and might even be preferable for eye protection, although professional editors may opt for a high color gamut display if their job calls for it.
All in all, the P3222QE is an excellent large monitor for use with modern laptops that offers an unmatched level of practicality and excellent processing and image quality. The only real catch is the $ 899 price tag, though that's not entirely fancy considering the panel size and quality combined with Dell's connectivity options and excellent warranty program.
If a 4K panel is too big for you and you prefer smaller displays, the Dell P2720DC might be more for you.
Otherwise alternatives are the LG Ergo 32UN880 with similar specifications, or the LG 32UP550 at half the price if you're willing to sacrifice the quality of the IPS panel for a cheaper VA unit.
Dell covers the P3222QE with a 3-year upfront exchange service guarantee, which means you have a new one delivered to your office or home before you pick the old one up – and in my experience they get you there really quickly, too. This is ideal when you can't be without a monitor for long.
Outside of the warranty period, the P3222QE should also last at least five years, if not longer. LED lighting is not prone to failure and there are no other complexities that could affect its potential lifespan.
Yes, if you're looking for a large 4K monitor for your laptop that offers the convenience of a single cable connection, the Dell P3222QE is for you. It's a bit pricey at $ 899, but you get a lot of quality and gear for the money so the price is justified.
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