Asus has wowed attendees at Computex 2019 with its new ZenBook Pro Duo with dual-screens. A quick glance of the photos in this article will make the appeal of this new laptops immediately clear. In brief, Asus has equipped the ZenBook Pro Duo with dual-screens; an expansive 4K UHD OLED HDR main screen, plus a full width touch-sensitive 4K 'ScreenPad Plus' beneath. Furthermore, to the right of the physical keyboard area is an LED backed touchpad which can double as a numpad.
This 2.5kg laptop is designed to "take your creativity and productivity to the next level," but I'm sure we've heard that plenty of times before. Nevertheless, the dual-screen setup here is certainly attractive and opens up multiple possibilities for multitasking.
In its promo video below, Asus shows off a ZenBook Pro Duo user:
- Shifting apps between displays - toggling apps between displays.
- Using the ScreenPad as an extended workspace.
- Utilising a section of the ScreenPad as a multi-app launcher.
- Using the ScreenPad as a multitask switcher / window manager.
- Using ScreenPad for handwriting input and drawing with a stylus.
- ScreenPad can be an area for app tools, content creator galleries, and gaming chat and streaming apps.
Asus hasn't held back in the tech specs department with its ZenBook Pro Duo. I've already mentioned the screens but it is worth highlighting them again, with greater detail. The main screen is a 15.6-inch OLED 4K (3840 x 2160) 16:9 touchscreen with 5mm-thin bezel with 89% screen-to-body ratio, a 178° wide-view and 100 per cent DCI-P3 colour. The ScreenPad is a 14-inch 4K UHD (3840 x 1100) touch display with 178˚ wide-view technology.
Powering the ZenBook Pro Duo, Asus offers the choice of an octa-core Intel Core i9-9980HK or hexa-core Core i7-9750H processor. The CPU is partnered with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 6GB, between 8 and 32GB of 266MHz DDR4 RAM, your choice of 256GB, 512GB or 1TB PCIe SSD, a good selection of ports including 1 x Thunderbolt 3 USB-C, HDMI 2.0, and others. Other technologies present include; Wi-Fi 6, BT5.0, Harman Kardon audio, IT Webcam with Windows Hello, and an array mic.
In terms of other important laptop experience components Asus has equipped a full-size backlit with 1.4mm key travel, a Precision touchpad (PTP) supporting smart gestures, and an integrated LED backlit numpad on touchpad. The stylus shown in the video is included in the box.
Asus also launched a non-Pro version of the above, the Asus ZenBook Duo. The size and specs have been toned down in this machine but it might still appeal to some, being more portable and affordable. Most notably, its spec pinnacle with an Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce MX250 GPU, and maximum 16GB of 2133MHz LPDDR3 RAM. It is smaller and lighter (1.5kg) being based around a 14-inch LED-backlit Full HD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 slim-bezel NanoEdge main screen with a 12.6-nch FHD touch display as the ScreenPad display. Both displays offer 178˚ wide-view technology.
We can expect the pricing of these ZenBook (Pro) Duo laptops to be revealed nearer the availability date which is set for Q3 this year.
