03 Nov
Blog

Microsoft Surface Duo 2 Review: A Great Second Impression

The Microsoft Surface Duo 2 has a unique design with two screens.

Microsoft Surface Duo 2

RRP $ 1,499.00

“The Microsoft Surface Duo 2 resolves almost every concern we had with the original. It's a quirky phone that is fun. "

advantages

  • Marked camera upgrade compared to its predecessor

  • Large aspect ratio for reading and multitasking

  • Software is largely repaired

  • Top tier flagship specs

  • Superior multitasking skills

disadvantage

  • Poor lowlight camera performance

  • Awkward to hold for camera use

  • There are still a few software bugs that need to be fixed

You only have one chance to make a first impression. But if your second impression is good enough, you can undo a lot of damage. A year ago. Microsoft has tried to create a new class of mobile devices with the Surface Duo that lives somewhere between the phone and tablet. It is designed for multitasking professionals who need to prepare a presentation before a meeting or put the finishing touches to a contract before it is sent to the lawyers. To fit into that category, Microsoft created the Surface Duo – and it failed quite spectacularly.

This year, Microsoft released the Microsoft Surface Duo 2, which is a pretty big correction in course while still trying to fill the same niche. The Microsoft Duo 2 is still a device for power users and multitaskers who want to get things done. It's a flagship for those who have a hell of a lot of on-demand disposable income. I am a writer and blogger. I am not the target audience for this phone. But that doesn't make it any less fun to use.

I've been using the Surface Duo for three days since it was released, which isn't enough time for a full review, but it's enough time to get a pretty good idea of ​​what Microsoft is trying to do. This is just a hands-on review that will remain something of a living document as I really put this phone through its paces over the coming days and weeks.

The Microsoft Surface Duo 2 is intended for business people who do business tasks.Adam Doud / Digital Trends

Design and display

As with the first generation Microsoft Duo, the workmanship on this phone is exquisite. You have two 1892 x 1344, 90 Hz screens with up to 800 nits of brightness. They are connected by a thin hinge and there is a bit of curved glass on the hinge side. (We'll talk about the meaning in a moment). The polycarbonate ring that runs around the outside of the screens and the camera bump are the only knock we have on the design. It looks good but feels downright cheap. Occasional hairs can get caught in the seam between glass and plastic, which does not look nice.

When you use this phone people will notice and ask you about it. Be prepared.

On the hinge-free side there is a power button with an integrated fingerprint sensor and volume rocker. There is a single USB-C port on the bottom. The hinge itself is a 360 degree hinge that allows you to put the phone in many different positions, such as: B. in tent mode, tablet mode, laptop mode and more. On the back there are three camera sensors in a camera mound large enough to be shown on some topographic maps. It's not subtle.

The Microsoft Surface Duo 2 is the thinnest 5G phone in the world.Adam Doud / Digital Trends

The two screens are curved on the hinge side, which gives you what Microsoft calls a viewing bar. The two curves form a notification window that can show you which notifications you are waiting for, your battery level and the time. I found this to be of limited use in my short time with the device. Personally, I prefer to put the phone open on the table so I can see everything.

The big screen is both a blessing and a curse. The 4: 3 aspect ratio gives you plenty of screen space when reading or scrolling. It's pretty refreshing to read in bed or scroll through the latest Twitter crisis. But the size of the screens serves as a disadvantage when doing something with one hand or taking a photo. Remember that to take a photo you need to have the phone open, but not open so that the second screen is blocking the camera module. I found it most convenient to take photos by opening the screen 90 degrees and resting the lower half on the palm of my hand while leveling the camera. It's not particularly convenient, but honestly, when you have a phone like this one, you have to compromise.

Overall, however, I am more satisfied with the design than I expected. This is a beautiful phone and Microsoft knows it. When you use this phone people will notice and ask you about it. Be prepared.

software

Last year, Microsoft really dropped the ball in the software department. It had an extra year to weed out bugs and peccadillos and it's safe to say it's showing, but there is still work to be done here. When using this phone, it is important that you are as conscious as possible when using gestures. Also, note that Microsoft has changed some of the gestures to suit what it wants to do.

Usually when you're using an app in landscape mode on an Android phone, the gesture still shows up from the bottom. That is not the case here. Microsoft had to change that in order for the dual screens to work. Every time you use an app with the phone in landscape mode, the swipe gesture to multitask and return to the home screen is instead swiped in from the right side. It's a strange, if necessary, change, and hard to get used to.

The Microsoft Surface Duo 2 has a number of apps optimized for this, including Amazon Kindle.Adam Doud / Digital Trends

As for bugs, despite the fact that I've only been using this phone for three days, I've already seen a few oddities that made me shake my head, including a case where I got stuck on a blank home screen and had to boot Restart the phone to get everything back to normal. One constant irritation is the software keyboard's insistence on covering the text field I type in in chat apps like Teams or Slack. This wouldn't be overly irritating, except that I found this behavior most often in Teams, Microsoft's own software, and suggests poor optimization or just a simple oversight.

Fortunately for the keyboard, it's not bad. Microsoft uses its own Swiftkey keyboard that is pretty accurate when it comes to typing and autocorrection. I also installed Gboard to play around with. Gboard works fine, and in fact, I enjoy typing with Gboard in 4: 3 aspect ratio, but when you open an app across multiple windows, Gboard won't be shared while Swiftkey does it automatically. Both keyboards work pretty well in laptop mode, with the keyboard taking up the bottom of the screen while your text field taking up the top half. I was pleasantly surprised that Gboard worked as well as it did in this pose.

The Microsoft Surface Duo is a great device for multitasking.Adam Doud / Digital Trends

Microsoft has also designed its apps to work well when they span both screens. Outlook opens your message list on the left, while your messages are displayed on the right. Microsoft has also partnered with a few third-party apps like Asphalt 9, Kindle, and TikTok, so they all use both screens – with varying degrees of success.

Microsoft has also partnered with a few third-party apps like Asphalt 9, Kindle, and TikTok, so they all use both screens – with varying degrees of success.

Microsoft has come a long way when it comes to software, but there is still work to be done. I shouldn't have to restart a phone due to an error in the first 48 hours. Needless to say, this part of the phone requires a ton of more testing before I'm happy with the overall performance.

Performance and battery

Speaking of performance, it should come as no surprise that this phone works quite well. The Snapdragon 888 and 8 GB of RAM ensure that everything runs smoothly and efficiently. There weren't any stutters or lags that I noticed even while playing Call of Duty Mobile. I haven't had a chance to put heavy loads on the phone, such as running benchmarks, but I haven't had any complaints about performance so far.

The Microsoft Surface Duo 2 is almost too big for a car holder. Almost.Adam Doud / Digital Trends

The battery life isn't bad. My standard battery test includes GPS for 30 minutes at 75% brightness, streaming Netflix over WiFi at the same brightness for 30 minutes, and playing Call of Duty Mobile for 30 minutes at maximum brightness. After all that, the phone came in at 76% which is the lowest of the phones I've tested using this method so far including the iPhone 13 Pro which got 81%. I spent the rest of the day off charging and ended up at 20% before bed. All in all, that's not a bad thing. I've used both screens quite a lot during the day and was surprised it lasted that long.

camera

The camera sensors are a 12-megapixel wide-angle sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS), a 12-megapixel dual telesensor and an ultra-wide 16-megapixel sensor with a 110-degree field of view. They're an improvement over the original Surface Duo cameras, but that was a very low bar. Unfortunately, the camera hump prevents the Surface Duo 2 from lying flat when you fold one screen behind the other, but like most other flaws in smartphones, you get used to it.

The cameras are definitely an improvement; But let's face it, a potato would be an improvement over the first generation sensor. This camera module was built in-house by Microsoft. There are three cameras on the back and one on the front. The cameras are pretty average on most points, with a few surprises. The term I would use is "social media good," which means that the photos you get here are usually good enough for social media, but probably not much more.

The Microsoft Surface Duo uses both screens in the camera app.Adam Doud / Digital Trends

There are a few issues here in terms of software and performance. The camera is often quite slow to take photos. Missing moments to capture, I ended up with a dog's back rather than its head. That was too bad. I also often had to rotate photos that I had taken because the camera was in the wrong orientation. That quickly became annoying.

As for the camera itself, it worked admirably during the day. The color rendering between the three sensors is very close, and you won't notice a significant change in color. Portrait mode in particular seems to be quite good. It's one of the best I've seen, even when stacked against the iPhone 13 Pro. The camera is able to blur the background without capturing anything in the foreground other than a few strands of hair. That was a pleasant surprise when it came to the camera.

Most cameras these days can work very well if the light is good. If the light isn't good, a camera can glow or, in the case of the Surface Duo, fall behind. The nightly photo samples I took were all pretty bad except photos from the main camera sensor. Again, this is usually the case when it comes to a typical phone camera set. The selfie camera is very poor, with focus problems and excessive pixelation in the dark behind the subject. Avoid selfies at night.

On the video side, none of the cameras can record stable videos despite optical image stabilization, which makes any kind of movement almost nauseating. Recording a video while walking is erratic and jarring regardless of the resolution or the software Microsoft is using under the hood. All cameras are pretty bad at night. This is common, unfortunately even the best cameras struggle mightily when recording video at night.

Price and availability

The Microsoft Surface Duo 2 is available from $ 1,499.99 on Microsoft.com and in retail stores such as: Best buy. It is available in the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, and Japan. The phone starts shipping today.

Our opinion

It's a cliché to say this about second generation hardware, but this is how the first generation duo should have been. But the reason it's a cliché is that it's true so often. I posted my wish list for improvements from the Surface Duo to the Surface Duo 2 and Microsoft ticked all the boxes. The phone is more powerful and comes with a much improved camera set.

Then we come to the price. Microsoft is charging $ 1,500 for this phone, which is quite a lot, especially after the ball was dropped with the first generation. But since Microsoft fixed most of the bugs in the previous generation, it's not difficult to justify this price. This is a pretty good phone in a mostly new form factor. It's a pioneer in the Wild West, breaking new ground for mobile devices. That deserves a lot of recognition.

At the same time, this phone doesn't offer the perfection that the price tag demands. The hardware is awesome. The software is very good. The camera is no match for a modern flagship, but that's probably fine for the customers Microsoft is targeting. All of the above statements come with the caveat that I will need even more testing time with the phone before I can make my final judgment.

Is there a better alternative?

Secure. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 is only $ 300 (around 20%) more than this phone and has better software and a better set of cameras. One could argue that the Surface Duo 2 is better than the Fold 3 in terms of hardware, but that's more subjective. The Fold 3 is aimed at a different audience than the Duo 2. Microsoft wants this to be your productivity powerhouse, while the Fold 3 is meant to be a multimedia tablet that fits in your pocket (and admittedly has a lot of productivity potential). . But who these companies imagine as users of their devices are two different things. Microsoft wants the business power user. Samsung wants everyone.

How long it will take?

Despite the standard one-year warranty, a smartphone is a piece of hard hardware that needs to be protected. Most smartphones are glass sandwiches, but the duo is a glass sandwich on a glass sandwich. Plus, it's hard to find a good case for it. That's enough to make anyone nervous. On the plus side, when a screen breaks it doesn't fold, so it's probably not that expensive to replace. But it's fair to say that there are some question marks here that I can only answer after a long time with the device.

Should I buy it?

It's just beginning of my review, but I'll say yes – if you fit into Microsoft's audience. These are business people who want to get things done on the go and who are also heavily invested in Microsoft services. You can buy this phone even if you have a lot of disposable income lying around. While it's expensive, the tech, beauty, and productivity here make this a good buy … if you can afford it.

Editor's recommendations



30 Jul
Blog

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 Review: Dual Screens, If You Need It

Illustration of the ZenBook Pro Duo with a second display.

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?

design

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo sits on the table.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.

Right side view of the closed Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 with connectors.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.

ZenBook Pro Duo ErgoLift Stand.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.

perfomance

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.

Illustration of the ZenBook Pro Duo with a second display.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

Primary display

Close-up of the image of the ZenBook Pro Duo display.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.

Secondary display

Second display of the ZenBook Pro Duo, ScreenPad +.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.

Close-up of the second display of the ZenBook Pro Duo, ScreenPad +.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.

Touchpad and keyboard

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 keyboard with stylus on top.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Close-up of the vertical touchpad on the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15.

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Close-up of the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 keyboard.

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.

Close-up of the webcam of the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15.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.

Battery life

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.

Our opinion

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.

Are there alternatives?

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.

How long it will take?

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.

Should you buy it?

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



05 Jul
Blog

Lockly Duo Smart Lock Review: Steep Price for Convenience

Lockly Duo Smart Lock

Duo ™ Smart Lock

RRP $ 450.00

"The Lockly Duo replaces both your door lock and your deadbolt, but the price is just too high."

advantages

  • Replaces both locks on your door

  • Open and lock both locks with one handle

  • Precise fingerprint sensor

  • Random number pad for security

disadvantage

  • Some design problems

  • App is just ok

One of the biggest problems I've encountered with smart home door locks is that they tend to replace the deadbolt or latch. The Lockly Duo replaces both. I have mixed feelings about this lock setup, but I think those mixed feelings come from dealing with the unknown rather than from Lockly's mistakes. I know that it was nice that both locks were intelligent and accessible by fingerprint, key or code for a change.

Lockly behaves in an unusual way. Both the door lock and the deadbolt are controlled by a single door handle. A push-down unlocks both locks, a pull-up locks both locks. It definitely takes getting used to, and despite its strangeness, I like this mechanism. It's just easier to have a single handle that releases both locks, even if it's unusual.

Installation and setup

Setting up the lock required a bit of work and some complex mechanisms. The lock is designed to cover a latch and door handle that are either 4 "or 5½" apart. My door is 5 ½ inches so it worked. Or at least if my latch handle had been drilled to the right size. To attach the cover plate to my door, I had to sand about a quarter of the door. It's not Lockly's fault. The cover plate itself is also significantly larger than the door lock on the outside, so it doesn't look that great.

With the Lockly Duo, there is a clear gap between the locking mechanism and the door handle.

On the inside there is an additional mechanism that mounts between the door lock and the door called the connecting plate. This plate connects the bolt and the door lock with the single handle. It's not a bad device, but it does add a complexity to the lock that I wasn't expecting. In addition, the connecting plate is not flush with the door handle. It's not particularly noticeable, but if I hold a flashlight to the end of the lock, I can see the light on the other side.

There is no shortage of smart locks on the market, but none of them control both the trap and the bolt.

The Lockly Duo also has an integrated wired door sensor for the Lockly security system. I didn't install this as I already have a Vivint security system installed. But the fact that it's wired to the door handle and I couldn't remove it was a bit annoying.

properties

Once installed, use the Lockly app to set up PINs and fingerprints for users. The fingerprint sensor is located on the side of the door lock and a screen above the door lock shows the buttons for the codes. Most of the time the screen is turned off. A single tap usually turns it on, although occasionally I had to tap it a second time to wake it up. The numbers displayed are randomized into four buttons with three digits per button. This ensures that repeated tapping of the same point for the same codes does not develop a wear pattern. After entering your code, you can press some sort of "Enter" key below the keys, but there is no indication that the key is an Enter key. At first glance it looks like a fingerprint, so I initially confused it with the statement: "Sure, you can enter a code, but don't forget the fingerprint sensor." The button needs a better design, or it just has to "Enter" say.

The Lockly Duo uses a fingerprint sensor or a code to allow access.

The fingerprint sensor works very well, although I'm not convinced the placement is the best. When you have a door handle on the left side of the door, your natural instinct is to reach for the door with your left hand. But when you do, your fingers are pointing away from the sensor. The fingerprint sensor is a bit too cumbersome to use a thumbprint, so you end up reaching across your body to scan a finger on your right hand and then actually using your left hand to open the door.

software

The app also lets you lock and unlock the door, and is supposed to be able to pair it with the Google Assistant, but I couldn't get this to work. The app itself is pretty simple and easy to understand. You use it to set fingerprints and PIN codes. Setting up fingerprints works similarly to setting up a fingerprint on your phone. You press your finger on the sensor several times until the app tells you that you're done.

The app also allows you to activate "Welcome Mode" and this is one of my other main problems with the lock. Welcome mode means your door will stay unlocked on a schedule. That's nice, but in the summer when people come in and out all day it would be nice if there was a button or button that you can use to unlock the door. The only way to toggle the welcome mode on or off is currently through the app. That is not optimal.

Our opinion

Overall, this is a decent device with some oddities (and a price tag) to get used to. It's a great concept to be sure of. Using one door handle is much easier than locking and unlocking two locks individually. You still get the security of a dead bolt along with the convenience of a single door handle. There are some quirks here, like the inability to leave the door unlocked without using your phone and the oversized mounting plates for the lock. The handle also sticks out quite a bit which actually bothered my screen door. Many of these are minor issues that can certainly be fixed in a 2.0 product.

But at $ 450, you really don't want any compromises from a door lock. That's way more than double the average smart door lock on the market. That's a high price to pay for a little comfort. I usually leave my door lock unlocked because only my bolt was smart up to the Lockly. Having a door lock that works for both the deadbolt and the deadbolt is great, but I'm not convinced that $ 450 is great.

Is there a better alternative?

The Lockly's fingerprint reader and code field both work great. There's no shortage of smart locks on the market – check out our list of the most popular smart locks – but none of them control both the trap and the bolt. Is that the best in the world? It is certainly convenient. There were times when I would lock myself out of the house when I forgot to unlock the doorknob. With this lock, that's never a problem.

For roughly the same price, the ultimate Smart Lock is available in the Lockly Vision. It is the Swiss Army Knife among intelligent locks because it offers all modern conveniences, but also serves as a video doorbell. If you prefer something a little more discreet, the Level Touch looks like an ordinary deadbolt lock on any door and doesn't have the distracting keypads and bulky bolts normally associated with smart locks. And finally there is the August Wi-Fi Smart Lock, which is characterized by its moderate price, easy installation and incredible security features.

How long it will take?

I have no reason to believe this door lock won't hold. It is built from durable materials. The locks are backed by a five-year guarantee on mechanics and workmanship and a two-year electrical guarantee. The gap between the lock plate and the door handle makes me pause, but it's inside so it should be affected by rain. In general, I have no complaints about the durability.

Should you buy it?

No. There are certain reasons why you wouldn't want this lock from a functional standpoint. If your door has no awning or other weather protection, you will find that the fingerprint sensor and the code board are very sensitive to rain and practically no longer work. If you don't like the aesthetics of the door handles and prefer doorknobs, you should insist.

But the main concern I have is the pricing which is very high. Put simply, you can buy a smart door lock and bolt and still have money for a few battery packs before you hit that price threshold. Lockly needs to bring the price down before it is considered a solid buy.

Editor's recommendations



10 Sep
Blog

Microsoft Surface Duo review: Features, Software and More

"The Surface Duo is wonderfully thin and wonderfully intelligent and redesigns the smartphone."

  • Impossible, wonderfully thin

  • The hinge is perfectly constructed

  • Luxurious build quality

  • Smart app management software

  • Buggy software (still)

  • Design compromises

  • Steep learning curve

Technocrats flat-out rejecting a certain amount of Microsoft hardware, hiding the fairly successful Surface product line, ignoring the Xbox platform, and skipping decades of innovation in keyboards and mice. With a knowing twinkle in their eye, these people will point out the failure of Windows Phone, then lean over and say smugly, "Do you remember the Zune?"

Yes, we all remember the Zune. And Clippy. Sigh.

That same crowd put the Surface Duo on the list of flops and found that their hardware just wasn't competing. However, this new device offers a lot more than megahertz and microchips. With the duo, Microsoft wants to rethink what to do with those 7 or 8 ounces of metal and glass that you take with you everywhere like a Bible, just like how the first iPhone turned portable phones into smartphones we can't stop using. But does it succeed?

design

Let's get this out of the way. It's easy to look at a data sheet for the Surface Duo and see a number of tradeoffs. Sure, it's thin, but where's the wireless charging or 5G? Sure, it's way cheaper than other foldable devices, but you are losing the fastest chipset on the market.

Instead, think about design decisions. Smartphone manufacturers have been battling physics and Moore's Law for years to save a tenth of a millimeter from their phones while adding a few minutes more talk time. These decisions are designed to squeeze as much engineering goodness as possible into a device about 7mm thick and about 6 inches long.

The latest example of this is the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, a beautiful piece of glass 6.5 inches long and 8.8 mm thick. Compare it to the Samsung phone launched in 2019, the Galaxy S10 Plus – a beautiful piece of glass 6.4 inches long and 7.8 mm thick.

Jeremy Kaplan / Digital Trends

Microsoft Duo is different. Each screen is 4.8mm thin, a little over half the size of this new Galaxy. Half the size! When folded, it is 9.9 mm, a little more than a millimeter thick. It's all about the thickness of a magazine, which is just remarkable.

If your average smartphone is roughly the thickness of a PB&J, putting two of them together – like other foldable devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 2 or the LG V60 ThinQ – is like building a hoagie. And I'm not in the habit of putting submarine sandwiches in my pockets.

This is where the "design decisions" come into play. Microsoft engineers wanted a device that was thin enough to make you gasp. That decision powered the hardware and shaped the device. This means that wireless charging was not possible. And 5G chipsets and the multitude of antennas running through the innards of most phones like your circulatory system just don't work. Because of this, Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 865 chip is missing. NFC still requires an additional antenna, which is why it was omitted and with it the possibility of paying in a grocery store or a subway turnstile. And an ordinary battery is too thick to fit in this device. More on that in a second.

Yes, there's a reason the Duo lacks a number of features that are common to other phones. However, it's still some kind of compromise even if you know why they were left out.

Display quality and hinge durability

The Surface Duo consists of two 5.6-inch AMOLED displays with a resolution of 1800 × 1350 at 401 pixels per inch. Microsoft's marketing team calls them "PixelSense Fusion" displays for some reason. Together they make up an 8.1-inch tablet with a resolution of 2700 × 1800. The duo pushes roughly 5 million pixels, in other words what seems like a lot for a device with a small battery. The battery life is still decent, which speaks for countless hours of technical work.

The screens are covered in Corning & # 39; s Gorilla Glass and are deep and dark with clear contrast. When looking at Carfection's 2020 Mini JCW GP review, colors popped off the screen – a little warmer than natural, but very pleasing to my eyes. Thanks to all of those pixels, it's sharp like a turn.

A continuous torque system allows you to fold the device 360 ​​degrees to any position, but there are really four to lean into: flat like a tablet, folded like a book, fully open or closed, and propped up like a tent. This is the last one useful when watching videos. I put the duo next to my laptop and watch music videos or John Oliver. It's liberating.

Jeremy Kaplan / Digital Trends

There is also a special mode. Just open it a crack and you will see it tell you the time and date. That seems a little silly. When you raise your arm, can't you just look at your watch? Oh, that's right – we ditched watches in favor of the more convenient smartphones and then took away some of that convenience. Hmm

In any case, you can stop the device at any point in those 360 ​​degrees, which means you can shorten the tent and crouch if you are a taller person, or more acute if your tabletop is at eye level. Regardless of its position, the hinge is responsive, pliable, and frankly fun. It also holds any position tenaciously; This tablet won't cut you in half. Permanent? You bet.

I most often use the duo with both hands like a book. Opened in my right hand, I open apps and check email with my left hand. However, if there's something to delve into, I fold the device back on itself and do it on a single screen. Note that this still requires two hands. This is a big change from almost every other phone you've used.

With regular phones, you can hold a subway belt on the left and read a Kindle book on the right. The duo is so wide that I can't reach my thumb over it and can barely hit most of the icons at the bottom of the screen. Held in one hand, my thumb hits the center of the screen. Forget about reaching for a menu.

Use the Surface Duo

Nothing escapes the fact that the duo are tough. When I first flushed, I called it light. I was surprised that two screens would no longer weigh. But if I'm being honest with myself, every phone I've worn for the past three years has gotten progressively heavier. We all just ignored it and we're caught up in the race for faster and newer. So I'll say it here. At 250 grams, the duo is heavy. Android Authority called the 220-gram Galaxy S20 Ultra "too damn heavy". If it's more than half a pound, that's worse. I wonder what they are going to say about the Galaxy Z Fold 2 that weighs you down like a brick with about 280 grams.

Even so, I am ready to look beyond weight if you can do more with it. And you can! It just takes some work.

Here's the thing: this device is incredibly familiar, but it doesn't work quite like other smartphones. Keep in mind that the Duo is the first device I've ever seen and it knows how to hold it thanks to a series of sensors that line the edges of each screen.

Jeremy Kaplan / Digital Trends

Thanks to these accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers, it knows when you are holding it like a book and reacts appropriately when you camp it next to your plate. (Caution: The speakers are on one side of the display, so camp them right or pump soundtrack on your roommate. You won't be happy.)

Common gestures are more or less the same, except that you have to learn some new ones. Swiping up and left or right is different here. Some phones come with a menu with the latest apps. Here's where you can use this action to close an app and forget about it off-screen.

Likewise, you can move a window from one screen to the other by dragging it from the bottom to the top and hurling it over the partition. This action is absolutely fascinating. I could do it all day. Drag the default settings menu down at the top of the screen. Do it from ¾ the way down for a search bar.

Details like this litter the user interface and show the attention to detail Microsoft has wasted on this device. Look at the row of quick start icons that stretch across the bottom of both screens. Open an app on one screen and the six icons will flit and dance to the other side, where they'll nestle together to adjust. It's charming.

When it comes to buttons, the duo has little to offer: the right screen has a volume rocker, an on / off switch, and a biometric reader in a dent that sits right under your thumb. I worried unnecessarily about that. It works well. It also gives the entire duo a little vibration when you record it as the device notices you and suggests that it rarely goes. I like that. It's like the rumble of an engine on the gas.

software

The Duo runs Android 10 with a little Microsoft. To take advantage of the real estate, Microsoft worked closely with the team of software engineers at Google to create special functions just for a device like this one with two screens: a new type of icon groups a pair of apps and launches them side by side, one per Screen. This seems immensely powerful.

Likewise, Microsoft has integrated drag-and-drop functions into some of its apps, with which you can, for example, highlight a few sentences from an email in Outlook and drag them into tasks where they become the agenda.

The big feature is dual screen support: expand an app to fill both screens by dragging it from the bottom to the hinge. Outlook has been redesigned to show a list of emails on the left and a reading pane on the right. It's kind of a game changer. Think for a second how many times you hit the back button on your phone to go back to what you did.

Microsoft has integrated a smart keyboard for this device into SwiftKey, which can be used to switch between single, double and full screen mode. Thanks to all of these sensors, it knows if the left or right screen is active and moves to pick up just that thumb. Getting to the center of the keyboard can be difficult in full screen mode, but it's still neat to hold the duo like a small laptop. I wipe more often than usual.

Jeremy Kaplan / Digital Trends

Finally, the company built a key instruction into the duo: use the screens wisely. Apps that others launch do so intelligently on the second screen, so you can keep doing what you did. The All Trails app starts Google Maps on the second screen. News apps can access individual site apps from the screen.

I'm just glossing over these tech efforts because there are few: Microsoft built drag and drop support into an app or two, including OneNote, which I've never really found convincing use for. And almost no apps are designed to make smart use of both screens, despite Microsoft talking about this device a year ago. Sure, they can invent this new user interface, but it's up to others to make hay with it. Google has had endless problems getting developers to create apps for big screens, as has Samsung. Microsoft has struggled in the past to get developers to support its latest initiatives. There is a risk that Instagram, Tik Tok, Adobe, and everyone else will simply refuse to do the job, which dramatically hinders the duo.

Speaking of work, this is clearly work in progress. After I and a number of other journalists complained about annoying malfunctions in the software, Microsoft released a weekend update that improved the camera, reduced the jerky scrolling, corrected strange behavior and much more.

But it's still not quite there, which is frustrating. Every now and then I open the duo and no screens appear, but both. Or I expect an app on the left and right. Or I turn the device and the app stubbornly refuses to leave portrait mode. These mishaps are hard to forgive. Those basics have to work every time … or Microsoft sees a higher response rate than the national debt.

camera

Outside of smartphone reviewers, few people take advantage of the ridiculously advanced features built into today's smartphone, like unexpected extras in a cookie. Spinach and chocolate chips? No thanks. Butterscotch and Baked Beans? Why would you even offer this? By skipping these unwanted features, Microsoft saved money and avoided the raised bezel that scars the back of most flagship phones.

It must be said that the company has also made compromises.

The duo contains a single camera: an 11-megapixel sensor with a basic aperture of 1: 2.0, very small pixels and without OIS (optical image stabilization). It's on the right side and ready for a selfie if you want. There is 4K 60 fps video, slow motion video support, panorama and portrait mode as well as digital zoom up to 7x. But they are basic things, and not everything works well.

Jeremy Kaplan / Digital Trends

The autofocus on this camera is … not good, let's just come out and say it. I saw some bees buzzing around my Rose of Jericho bushes, and after saying a silent prayer for them (after all, someone has to do it) I leaned over for a moment, pressed the button, and watched the bees whiz before the camera picked up a shot. It took a few tries before I learned to properly measure my recordings.

And while the colors are decent, your photos will never match the great shots from the best camera phones like the Huawei P40 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro. That said, it does some nice tricks: start the camera, flip the right control panel (the one with the lens) back, and the camera app will automatically switch to the correct control panel so you can snap a picture of what you are look at. Flip it back and you're ready for selfies. Expand the app to fill both areas and you'll be able to see your photo library on one side and the live image on the other, making it easy for you to review all of those self-portraits.

95% of people find the camera perfect for 95% of the photos they want to take. Most of them would be happier with a camera as powerful as the Google Pixel 4a, which is literally $ 1,000 less than the fancy phones I mentioned earlier. No one looking at your photos will ever know that your pictures could have been a little better. More importantly, nobody will care.

performance

As you've probably heard, the Surface Duo runs last year's Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 platform, the same chip used in the 2019 Galaxy S10 phones rather than the 2020 Galaxy S20. The same processor as in the 2019 OnePlus 7 Pro instead of the 2020 OnePlus 8. The same … well, you get the picture. It also has 6GB of DRAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage depending on how much money you want to lose.

But is any of that really important? The benchmarks certainly tell a story: we ran the popular 3DMark suite of benchmarks and got results in line with last year's chips:

3D Mark Sling Shot Extreme: 5,745 (OpenGL)

3D Mark Sling Shot Extreme: 5,055 (volcano)

Geekbench 5 CPU: 735 single core, 2,768 multi core

But numbers are numbers; real performance is something else. Over the course of several days and a series of apps, I never had the feeling that the performance was below average anyway. If you've bought a laptop in the past few years, you know what I mean: it is probably good enough for most of your work, isn't it? Sure, a new one is faster, but it's just good enough for surfing the web and checking your email.

Battery life

The duo are a marvel of engineering for a variety of reasons. One of them is the 3,577 mAh battery, which is spread over two different sides of the device. According to Microsoft, special controllers ensure that both sides run evenly and wear out. Amazing! You will never notice, but I find such little facts fascinating.

Jeremy Kaplan / Digital Trends

The company claims you have up to 27 hours of talk time, but let's face it: who wants to spend that much time chatting? In my tests, I was able to easily stretch the battery throughout the day with a lot of Internet surfing, email use, and video-based use. The box contains an 18 watt fast charger that seemed to do the trick.

Our opinion

The Surface Duo is eye-catching, functionally distinctive and expensive. Having two screens seems like a novelty, but I've been better able to work with two screens working more or less together. With my calendar on one side and my email on the other, I can see my day at a glance. With my inbox on the left and a reply message on the right, my phone is suddenly much better at email. And propping it up to watch a video is just incredibly satisfying.

However, the fact that the software still needs work is worrying. How long does the polishing take? And will developers adopt this strange new device? We still have questions.

Is there a better alternative?

The obvious alternatives are foldable screen devices like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 and the LG V60 ThinQ. The duo makes them seem silly. These things are just huge, and in the case of the Galaxy Z Fold 2, hundreds of dollars more. And anything with 5G could be a smarter buy given the huge global pressure to develop the new networking technology. Microsoft can't just "add" it. It's either there or not, and in two years' time the lack of 5G will become more prominent, just as poison ivy will develop days after you touch this pretty plant.

How long it will take?

The physical shortcoming of such a device should be the hinge, but this one feels designed for nuclear warfare. The software could be the Achilles' heel, however: developers should start supporting the features Microsoft developed as it will be widely supported in future Android builds. But will they?

Should you buy it?

Are you the kind of person who buys version one of anything? Who likes to dazzle friends with the latest sharpness? Then grab the duo and impress the world. Everyone else should wait a couple of weeks to make sure Microsoft can resolve the software issues and encourage Twitter, Facebook, Zoom, and the world's game makers to endorse this platform. And they will … probably.

Editor's recommendations




22 Jun
Blog

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 Review: Dual-Screen Gaming

Asus Rog Zephyrus Duo 15 Rating 05

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 review: dual-screen gaming in your lap

"The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo Pro 15 offers PC games with two screens like no other laptop."

  • Good performance

  • Intuitive secondary screen

  • Beautiful 4K screen

  • Relatively thin and light

  • Insanely expensive

  • Bad battery life

You have never seen a gaming laptop like the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15.

Of course there are other dual screen laptops like the HP Omen X 2S or the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo. The Zephyrus Duo 15 surpasses them all with its flip-up secondary screen, which is integrated directly into the housing.

The starting price of $ 3,700 will put off anyone who is not committed to the idea of ​​having a built-in second screen on their gaming laptop. But for those who are ready to do the dive, the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 may be the most interesting gaming laptop ever made.

ScreenPad Plus

The secondary screen of this laptop, which Asus calls the ScreenPad Plus, is located under the primary screen and is automatically flipped up when the lid is opened. The frame of the screen looks a bit thin, but I was impressed with how stiff it was. Behind it is a back plate made of magnesium alloy for support. Everything is built into a hinge that enables seamless and stable opening.

The idea of ​​a tiltable secondary screen seems exaggerated – and maybe also. However, the inclination of the ScreenPad Plus has one purpose. The secondary screens of other laptops are all flat on the keyboard deck, which is not a good viewing angle. This is particularly noticeable when you have lights over you.

The Zephyrus Duo 15 solves the problem by supporting the screen in a more natural viewing angle. No more bending or angling. The angle that Asus has reached is not perfect, but far better on a flat surface. However, this angle cannot be adjusted, which is a shame.

While playing, you can easily slide a guide down or create an order, reducing the need to remove the Alt Tab key from a game.

This increased usability may sound easy, but it has inspired me to want to use the second screen more and more. Asus offers a number of proprietary applications and functions for the ScreenPad Plus. There is a handwriting app, a calculator and of course the Armory Crate settings app. Armory Crate is useful for monitoring your system, changing performance modes, and changing lighting settings.

However, the most useful feature of the ScreenPad Plus is a second screen. If you are working from home and do not have access to an external monitor, the ScreenPad Plus ingeniously replaces this. It is great to shutdown Spotify or YouTube while using the primary screen to write or edit photos. While playing, you can easily slide down a guide or build order, reducing the need to remove the Alt Tab key from a game.

Windows 10 already has excellent snap-in functions and lights up on the ScreenPad Plus. With a 20 cm diagonal, the ScreenPad Plus feels big enough to do these types of tasks with ease. The touchscreen function helps and only requires a short swipe to where your hands rest on the keyboard. The possibilities feel endless.

This does not mean that the ScreenPad Plus is a perfect implementation. It's still a little strange to see your cursor shrink down, and there's a slight shade of green on the second screen. I also wish that the distance between the screens was slightly smaller to create a more uniform field of view.

From a software perspective, there are still a few missed options. Windows is simply not well set up to support a second touchscreen. When you play a game, touching the ScreenPad Plus freezes your controls or pauses the game. This is a limitation of Windows, but it stands in the way of the full potential of this design.

performance

The angle of the ScreenPad Plus has a second advantage. According to Asus, there is also a performance gain. Other Zephyrus laptops have a ventilation opening that rises from below and supports the laptop at an angle. The angle of the ScreenPad Plus offers the same advantages for cooling. The fans are located under the gap in the screen and promote airflow and thermal throughout the system, while the bottom of the laptop stays flat.

This is important because some very hot components need to stay cool. The Zephyrus Duo 15 is available in two configurations – and both are extremely high quality. The model I checked is the 4K configuration that was created for content creation. The other is a game-oriented device with a 1080p 300Hz screen. Both cost $ 3,700 and only offer premium specs. You get an Intel Core i9-10980HK processor, an Nvidia RTX 2080 Super Max-Q, 32 GB RAM and 2 TB solid-state storage.

The processor gives you 8 cores and 16 threads to work with, resulting in powerful processor performance. This is also from the latest 10th generation Intel product line, which contains slightly faster boost clock speeds than the previous generation. The Zephyrus Duo 15 impresses in Cinebench R20 and Geekbench 5 with record values ​​for a laptop. The Asus ZenBook Duo Pro was another powerful Core i9 laptop with a second screen last year. The Zephyrus Duo 15 outperforms it in both single-core and multi-core performance. It also gains single-core performance against the Zephyrus G14, an AMD Ryzen 4000 laptop with the same number of cores and threads.

It has a trusted screen where professional color corrections and edits can be done.

I encoded a 4K handbrake video clip in H.265 to test the processor. It wasn't as consistent as I hoped. The first runs were incredibly fast and only lasted one minute and 38 seconds. From there, the runs slowed down 33% and stayed there for the next few tries. That's a solid speed for this processor, although some less expensive laptops like the Dell G5 SE can keep up.

However, the Zephyrus Duo 15 has a powerful CPU and GPU. To see how the system balances a heavy workload, I rendered a two-minute 4K clip in Premiere in ProRes 422. I was particularly interested in these results because Nvidia Dynamic Boost, a new function supported by the Zephyrus Duo 15, is managed by a unique thermal system. The power supply can be shared between the GPU and the CPU. In other words, if an application or game can use more of the GPU, it can run over 100 watts.

The Zephyrus Duo 15 completed the task in 7 minutes and 44 seconds. This is slightly faster than the Dell G5 SE and offers a big head start on the 9th generation Razer Blade that I tested in 2019. However, there are no other Core i9 options like the Dell XPS 15 or the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo. The ZenBook Pro Duo’s thicker casing seems to do more for its video rendering capabilities than Nvidia's Dynamic Boost for the Zephyrus Duo, which is disappointing.

Since my computer was the model for creating 4K content, these tests are critical. The 4K screen is beautiful in itself – a color-calibrated panel with precise colors, 96% AdobeRGB and a contrast ratio of 1,040: 1. The maximum brightness is 381 nits, although the matte surface of the display reduces reflections to a minimum. All of this ensures a trustworthy screen on which professional color corrections and edits can be performed.

Gaming performance

The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 offers fantastic gaming performance. If smooth frame rates are your top priority, the 1080p 300Hz model is clearly the model you want. Thanks to the Nvidia RTX 2080 Super Max-Q and G-Sync panel, even the 4K option I tested is a functional gaming laptop.

Because the 4K panel is locked at a refresh rate of 60 Hz, much of the 1080p is wasted, so 4K resolution is a solid option in some games. Civilization VI is a good example. The Zephyrus Duo 15 averaged 70 FPS (frames per second) at 4K with settings at Ultra. The same was true for Battlefield V, where it achieved an average of 56 FPS for Medium in 4K. Sure, the over 90 FPS at 1080p are better, but if you're not connected to an external gaming monitor, those extra 40 FPS won't help.

G-Sync was a big help with gaming and made up for the lower refresh rate of the 4K display.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey was the exception. The Zephyrus Duo 15 mastered this difficult game with 1080p Ultra High with an average of 59 FPS quite well. At 4K, however, it was choppy.

Other gaming laptops that use the RTX 2080 Super Max-Q are slightly faster than the Acer Predator Triton 500. While the Zephyrus Duo 15 isn't the fastest gaming notebook I've tested, I was happy with how It balances warmth, size and performance.

G-Sync has been a great help throughout to compensate for the display's lower refresh rate. Remember that G-Sync is not enabled on the laptop by default. You need to go into the armory and restart the system to turn it on.

design

The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 is a large laptop. Although Asus only had a 15-inch screen, it took up a lot of space to push in the ScreenPad Plus without crushing the keyboard. The result is a massive bottom bezel under the primary screen. It is absolutely huge and supports the screen higher than a normal 15-inch laptop.

Elsewhere, the Zephyrus Duo 15 does its best to stay in shape. It's only 0.78 inches thick and weighs only 5.3 pounds. The whole system uses a magnesium alloy to keep things light. Asus is right that the use of aluminum would have resulted in a heavy laptop, although the magnesium alloy leaves the slightest bend in the lid.

This is not the right laptop to take to a coffee shop.

This is not my favorite keyboard in the world. Because of this second screen, the keyboard and touchpad are pressed to the bottom of the keyboard deck. This is not the first time Asus has tried this design. Even the Zephyrus S used this design. There are disadvantages, such as the lack of wrist-rest. This makes using the Zephyrus Duo 15 on your lap pretty uncomfortable. On a flat surface, it can even be exhausting and requires a lot of additional space on a table. This isn't the right laptop to take to a coffee shop, but few gaming laptops fit that bill. However, Asus has a palm rest in the box, which is a nice addition.

The key drop feels a bit flat at 1.4 mm, although this is comparable to laptops like the Dell XPS 15 or the Razer Blade. The fast typing takes getting used to when I come from the Dell XPS 15, although I typed quickly after a few hours. The keyboard is equipped with RGB lighting per key, which can be fully adjusted in the settings of the armory.

The Zephyrus Duo 15 uses the same key layout as other Asus gaming laptops like the Zephyrus S. There are some special features, e.g. B. the print screen key between the Alt and Ctrl keys. The function bar (and above the touchpad) gives you quick access to helpful shortcuts such as deactivating the ScreenPad Plus or switching it off completely.

The thin touchpad is to the right of the keyboard, which will always be an afterthought in these designs. The tracking feels responsive, although the size isn't ideal, especially if you're left-handed.

Asus still does not have a built-in webcam for its gaming laptops. This makes the Zephyrus Duo 15 unsuitable for the home life that many of us are currently living. That's a shame for a laptop that can act as both a work machine and a gaming laptop. The laptop also lacks Windows Hello login support, either in the form of a fingerprint reader or an IR camera. Other high-end gaming laptops like the Razer Blade have taken this up in recent years.

The port selection is fantastic and offers a solid mix of gaming must-haves and future security. On the sides of the case there are two USB-A ports, a USB-C Thunderbolt 3 port, a headphone jack, a microphone input and your barrel-shaped power plug. Thanks to the Thunderbolt 3 connector, you don't have to constantly lug around the power adapter to keep the laptop charged during occasional use. For full performance, you should of course use the cylinder plug.

On the back, Asus adds HDMI 2.0, an Ethernet socket and an additional USB-A port. The location of these rear ports is convenient and ensures a cleaner desk configuration when fully docked.

Battery life

The battery life of the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 is not a highlight. I assumed that this was based on the 4K screen alone. Throw in a second screen and a powerful GPU – and you can't expect much.

The Zephyrus Duo 15 is a G-Sync laptop that blocks GPU usage on the Nvidia card and usually results in terrible battery life. Asus offers the option to switch to Nvidia Optimus mode, which allows the system to automatically switch between graphics. That didn't seem to help – at least not enough.

Without the secondary screen on, the laptop only lasted about two hours. With the screen on, this was reduced to just one hour. Yikes. According to Asus, there were some issues with turning on the Nvidia GPU when it wasn't. During local video playback or surfing in Google Chrome, the system occasionally taxed the graphics card.

That would explain the bad battery life, but it's not a good excuse. Regardless of whether Dynamic Boost or Optimus is the culprit, I expected at least a few more hours from the Zephyrus Duo 15. Despite a large 90 watt hour battery, you should leave this battery connected most of the time.

Our opinion

The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 is based on a great idea. I like it when experimental designs like this leave the prototyping stage. The second screen is great, but the Zephyrus Duo 15 is more than just a one-trick pony – it offers both the performance and usability of its second screen. However, $ 3,700 is a high price. That's $ 400 more than a comparable Razer Blade, which was already one of the most expensive gaming laptops you could buy.

This is not the final form of Asus' vision for second-screen computing, but it is the best there has been.

Are there alternatives?

If you are only interested in the second screen, Asus offers the ZenBook Duo. It's not a gaming laptop, but it does offer a similar second screen – except without the raised angle.

Apart from that, no other laptop can reproduce the functions of the Zephyrus Duo 15 on the second screen. There are many gaming laptops that offer excellent performance at a much cheaper price.

How long it will take?

The Zephyrus Duo 15 is robust and well built. The gap under the ScreenPad Plus is worrying. It is not difficult to imagine that things get stuck inside, whether they are small objects or just dust.

Should you buy it

Yes. Not everyone is willing to pay the bill for a second screen bonus, but it's undoubtedly one of the most interesting gaming laptops ever made.

Editor's recommendations




15 May
Blog

Asus ZenBook Duo Review: A Dual-Screen Laptop You Can Afford

Asus Zenbook Duo review 01

"The second screen of the Asus ZenBook Duo is a great addition."

  • Solid productivity performance

  • Good battery life

  • Secondary screen is useful

  • Attractive design

  • Tight keyboard and touchpad

  • The chassis is a bit chunky

Microsoft is on its way to a future with two screens. Asus started experimenting with its own dual-screen laptops in 2019. Regardless of whether the touchpad is replaced by a second screen or a second 4K screen is installed directly on the keyboard deck, Asus is a leader in the innovation of dual screens that you can buy today.

The ZenBook Duo is the latest attempt to make this technology accessible to the masses. It is a more portable and affordable version of the ZenBook Pro Duo with a 14-inch 1080p screen and a quad-core processor. However, a premium is required at $ 1,500.

Is the second screen a must? Let's take a look.

ScreenPad 2.0

The standout feature of the ZenBook Duo is clearly its second screen, a 12.6-inch IPS panel that is as wide as the primary display and about a third as high. That is what makes the ZenBook Duo so special.

The so-called ScreenPad 2.0 can be touched and touched. You can drag apps and app windows – such as the control panel for a photo editing app – onto the ScreenPad and treat them like any "external" display.

It's handy if you watch Netflix at work (as I've done more than once) or open a second browser instance for multitasking. I opened a Firefox tab with the specifications of this laptop on the ScreenPad 2.0 and made checking facts and figures child's play.

Asus has numerous proprietary utilities and features that make the ScreenPad more useful. You can launch a numeric keypad to make data entry easier, and you can use the launcher to access various apps on the ScreenPad. You can also expand your main display to the ScreenPad, giving you (strangely angled) access to more information in a productivity app.

The ScreenPad is far more useful than the touch bar on the MacBook.

The ScreenPad supports the active Asus pen and offers the same responsiveness and accuracy as the main display. It's a blessing to be able to tap and ink on both displays and switch seamlessly from one to the other depending on how it fits your creative workflow. There's even a working handwriting app that reads my sketches pretty closely. A second display for writing was an advantage.

Overall, I was impressed with the ScreenPad. It's an unusual feature outside of the ZenBook Pro Duo and far more useful than Apple's Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro, for example. The additional screen size makes the ScreenPad a really useful addition to the ZenBook Duo and is of particular interest to anyone who can benefit from access to controls or additional apps while working. If you are a creative professional or do multiple tasks regularly, the ScreenPad is probably a real asset. It is much more than just a party trick.

design

The aesthetics of the laptop is obviously Asus, for better and for worse. It's a refinement of ZenBook design that's both recognizable and striking in the line. You'll enjoy the ZenBook's usual concentric swirls on the lid, which is perhaps the most iconic Asus design feature. Here the eddies are not centered, but asymmetrical, a noticeable change. There is also a new Celestial Blue color that offers a touch of elegance.

Overall, the ZenBook Duo is an attractive laptop that manages to cross the line between fancy and conservative, but I wouldn't say it stands out.

Connectivity is acceptable, with one USB-C 3.1 port, two USB-A 3.1 ports (one Gen 1 and one Gen 2), a full-size HDMI port, and a microSD card reader. Unfortunately Asus skipped Thunderbolt 3 support again, just like with other current ZenBooks. To be honest, that's unforgivable for a $ 1,500 laptop. Thunderbolt 3 offers the best connectivity performance, including the ability to connect to an external GPU chassis. This would be a blessing for the creative types who might be interested in the ZenBook Duo.

Keyboard and touchpad

The most noticeable victim forced by the second ad is right below. While the keyboard has snappy keys with a fixed mechanism and a lot of travel, I found it too small for comfortable typing. The keys are small and the keyboard layout felt tight, which made typing a challenge. It cannot be compared to the excellent keyboards of the latest Apple MacBooks and the HP Specter x360 13. There's also no wrist, so your palms hover just behind it. It is a recipe for fatigue.

This Asus has an ErgoLift hinge with which the props are attached at an angle to the back of the laptop. This helps in the absence of a palm rest and improves airflow for better performance. On the other hand, the laptop gets thicker when placed on your lap or desk.

The touchpad is small, but it responds, and it's on the right of the keyboard. It has the same lack of a palm rest as the keyboard, and it's almost impossible to use left-handed. You want to take a mouse with you for use with the ZenBook Duo because the touchpad becomes a real task.

I liked the infrared camera that Windows 10 Hello supports without a password. It worked fine during my tests, and although I prefer to have a fingerprint reader (either in addition to or instead of face recognition), I appreciated its presence.

Display quality

The ScreenPad 2.0 is characterized by its additional utility. The 14-inch full HD main display remains important. I prefer 4K displays, but I also like displays with wide and precise colors, great brightness and a lot of contrast.

Unfortunately Asus has equipped the ZenBook Duo with a mediocre display. The color gamut is not wide at only 70% of AdobeRGB and 94% of sRGB, although its color accuracy is reasonable at an average DeltaE of 1.45 (less than 1.0 is considered excellent). The display only reaches 251 nits, far below our preferred 300 nits, and the contrast is low at 730: 1 (we want laptops to reach 1000: 1 or more).

The display quality prevents it from being ideal for content creation.

Subjectively, this is a pleasant indicator of productivity work and watching Netflix videos. However, creatives won't like the narrow range of colors, especially if you can buy great displays on other laptops, including the HP Specter x360 13 AMOLED panel, which has spectacular colors (100% of sRGB and 98% of AdobeRGB) and brightness (405 nits) offers) and contrast.

The ZenBook Pro Duo’s AMOLED display is just as great, which makes the ZenBook Duo’s main screen a little disappointing. I would have preferred to see a brighter display with better colors and contrast on a laptop designed for creative types. Ultimately, the display quality prevents it from being ideal for content creation.

performance

While the larger ZenBook Pro Duo has an eight-core Core i9 H series for serious performance, the ZenBook Duo is in the middle of the road. It uses a quad-core Comet Lake Core i7-10510U CPU that is good enough for productivity tasks, but not particularly suitable for demanding creative workflows. Overall, the ZenBook Duo is fast compared to other 14-inch laptops, but cannot compete with more powerful creative platforms.

In our real handbrake test, which converts a 420 MB file to H.265, the ZenBook Duo lasted exactly three and a half minutes. This is solid for a quad-core Intel Core i7. However, the ZenBook Pro Duo completed the same test in one minute and 16 seconds, while the Dell XPS 15 finished in one minute and 42 seconds – but still significantly faster than the ZenBook Duo. The Dell XPS 13 completed the test in three minutes and 13 seconds.

In terms of graphics performance, the ZenBook Duo is again far behind the larger ZenBook Pro Duo. The latter has a very fast Nvidia GeForce GTX 2060, which makes it a powerful tool for creative apps that support the GPU. The ZenBook Duo is limited to the Nvidia GeForce MX250. It's faster than built-in Intel graphics (and about as powerful as the new Intel Iris Plus graphics), but doesn't make much of a difference when rendering videos.

You will also find that the ZenBook Duo is a bit challenging to play with. Fortnite runs at just over 30 frames per second (fps) at 1080p and Epic settings and shifts down towards 60 fps with details. However, it is difficult for you to run more demanding titles with the same resolution and the same graphic details.

The ZenBook Duo is only available in the United States in a configuration that includes 16 GB of RAM and is sufficient for the vast majority of productivity users. It also has plenty of 1 TB of SSD storage.

Portability and battery life

Portability is also compromised on the Altar of the ScreenPad – the ZenBook Duo is pretty bulky at 0.78 inches thick. Thanks to the relatively small display bezels, it's not too big in width and depth, but at 3.3 pounds it's pretty heavy. Other 14-inch laptops are smaller than this, including the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon and the ZenBook 14 from Asus.

However, the battery life is solid. When the ScreenPad was turned on, the battery capacity of 70 watt hours kept the ZenBook Duo for a surprisingly long time, considering that the batteries supply two displays with power. In our web browser test, nine hours passed, which is good, if less than the 11.5 hours of the Dell XPS 13.

The ZenBook Duo looped our test video for almost 12 hours, again a good score, but less than the XPS 13 at 14.5 hours. And in our demanding Basemark test, the Asus managed almost five hours less than the XPS 13 with 10 minutes less.

Our opinion

At $ 1,500, the ZenBook Duo is more expensive than comparable laptops. That hurts when you look at the less-than-great screen, the chunkier design, and the lack of Thunderbolt 3.

The ScreenPad 2.0 is the salvation of this laptop. It goes beyond the cool factor (although it also has a lot of it). Even with compromises on the keyboard and touchpad, extreme multitaskers will be happy to access another panel directly on the device.

Are there alternatives?

You will find a variety of 14-inch (and 13.3-inch) laptops that can easily compete with the ZenBook Duo. None of them offer the second display, but all are thinner and lighter. Some of them offer better performance and durability, and most offer much better keyboards and touchpads.

One example is the Dell XPS 13 with an aspect ratio of 16:10, which has a positive impact on productivity and makes the display about as tall as the ZenBook Duo, if not as wide. The XPS 13 is significantly faster than the ZenBook Duo, even in terms of video editing, where the ZenBook Duo itself works fairly quickly. Depending on the configuration, you can spend less on the XPS 13 or a lot more, but it is a good alternative for anyone who is not interested in the ScreenPad 2.0.

Asus also makes several 14-inch models that deliver solid value. They lack the ScreenPad 2.0, which cuts hundreds off the price. This is the obvious step if you don't find ScreenPad attractive.

How long it will take?

The ZenBook Duo is well built and promises years of productive performance thanks to its modern components. You'll miss Thunderbolt 3, however, and the ultimate usefulness of ScreenPad 2.0 depends on developer support. The one-year warranty is industry standard and is shorter than desired. However, Asus offers one year of accident protection if you drop your ZenBook Duo or spill a cup of coffee on the keyboard.

Should you buy it

Yes. There is no other laptop like the ZenBook Duo except the larger and more expensive ZenBook Pro Duo, which makes this a uniquely useful option.

Editor's recommendations