ASUS Zenbook Pro Duo 14” OLED review: look twice

Having access to both a laptop and a desktop computer sometimes means that the laptop stays in the closet. Desktops offer a comfort that is hard to find with laptops. The lack of space on the screen in particular dares to play tricks on this: a larger or perhaps even an extra monitor would make life so much easier. You can also see this in laptops that are connected to external monitors everywhere. But what if you just have that second screen with you? Let that be the recipe that the ASUS Zenbook Pro DUO 14” OLED brings to the table: a laptop with two screens.

Eye-catchers

It doesn’t matter who you show the laptop to, everyone’s first reaction to a laptop with two screens is usually the same. Often the gaze goes up and down a number of times – from the top to the bottom screen and vice versa – and then lingers on the whole. We can’t blame anyone for that: the ASUS Zenbook Pro DUO 14” OLED just looks really, really good. It all starts with a brushed aluminum housing, with the ASUS logo on the back nicely accentuated. When you open the laptop, you are immediately greeted by two screens, the smallest of which takes up a large part of the keyboard. Practical or not, it leaves a lasting impression.

The device becomes all the more impressive when you turn it on and the two screens light up. As for the main panel, we get a screen with a somewhat unusual resolution of 2880 by 1800 pixels or 2.8K. That makes the screen clearly better than a 2K panel, while it is certainly not inferior to 4K resolutions. However, this sharpness is not the greatest asset for the Zenbook, but the colors are. The OLED screen ensures that what should be black is really jet black. As a result, the other colors almost jump out of the laptop screen – and there are quite a few: you get to see the full 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Movies and series from Netflix or Disney + actually look better on the laptop than on most televisions – which is not really surprising. With a screen like this, the device is extremely suitable for editing video or photos.

Just no screen

Of course it is that second screen that draws all the attention. That strip at the top of your keyboard is called the “Screenpad Plus” by ASUS, which is actually a better name. With a resolution of 2880 by 864 pixels, the 12.7-inch Screenpad is clearly inferior to the larger screen. You won’t be able to surf the internet or stream movies on that smaller screen. So what is it good for? For daily use, you will often put your programs aside to send them back to the big screen at the touch of a button. A matte coating ensures that reflections are minimized and at the same time provides a pleasant surface to write on.

So if you want to use the supplied ASUS Pen 2.0, you will also often use the Screenpad Plus. However, for those who do photo or video editing, the Screenpad could well be the holy grail: just about any toolbar that appears in a separate window can give you a place there – so the Screenpad is more than a hand tool walked Touch Bar. Partly due to the matte coating, it is very pleasant to operate those toolbars via the touchscreen with your fingers or pen. You can keep an eye on your work without distractions on the much better primary display.

If you often want to use the laptop on your lap or on a small table, the Screenpad is more of a curse than a blessing. The keyboard on the Zenbook Pro types very well under normal circumstances, but that changes when you have the laptop on your lap: it’s almost impossible to reach the space bar comfortably. The Screenpad Plus shifts the keyboard downwards. The touchpad is placed in the bottom right corner, where it is actually a bit too small. Whether you realize it or not: in no time you will be using the touchscreens more often.

Looking for power outlet

You can largely determine the computing power of the device yourself. The strongest variant of the laptop comes with an Intel Core i9-12900H as CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti for laptops as GPU. This makes the device strong enough for photo and video editing or 3D modeling. If you put the laptop in ‘performance mode’ and let the fans blow at full speed, you can perfectly pass all stress tests. Then you have to take into account that the laptop sounds like it could take off at any moment – your GPU will stay below 50 °C. The CPU has a slightly more difficult time and after a while it starts to suffer from the heat in Cinebench. If you plan to do such heavy tasks on the road, you will still have to get the charger after four or five hours. You can extend that to about 9 hours by switching off the Screenpad Plus and reducing the brightness considerably.

Final verdict

Despite the fact that there are two screens attached to the laptop, it is the primary screen that draws the attention. The second screen certainly offers added value to this Zenbook, although it is not for everyone. If you have to miss a decent trackpad because of a Screenpad you don’t use, that’s just a shame. Do you really use it, such as for creative work? Then that small touchpad is quickly forgotten and the ASUS Zenbook Pro DUO 14” OLED could be the ideal device.