Asus Zenbook Duo 2024 review: A near-perfect dual screen laptop

At a glance

Expert’s Rating

Pros

Dual luminous oled screensSmart keyboard solutionGood performanceGood battery life

Cons

Never completely silentNo good place for the stylusAngular and thick design

Our Verdict

The Zenbook Duo (2024) is superbly flexible for everything from office work to creative projects. While it never runs totally silent and the design is more angular than we like, we feel as though the pros far outweigh the cons.

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The latest iteration of the Asus Zenbook Duo (2024) is ideal for content creation because of its double screen. The extra screen allows you to expand your workspace while still having a full-size keyboard. It’s the best of both worlds, really. It’s similar to the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i in terms of concept, but it’s bigger and more powerful. It has also been quality stamped with the MIL-STD-810H durability test, which means it’s more than capable of handling the daily abuses of life. It’s not unreasonably heavy either, especially when compared to other powerful 2-in-1’s. While the design is a little too angular for our liking, overall it’s a pretty good machine. Read on to learn more.

Looking for more options? Check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best laptops available today.

Asus Zenbook Duo 2024: Work all day

It also has more battery power built in, with a solid runtime of eight to 12 hours of mixed use during a workday, or up to 15 hours when running low. Heavy tasks like video rendering and 3D modelling can drain the battery faster. It’s nice that the computer comes with a minimal charger, the smallest and lightest 65-watt adapter I’ve ever seen.

The keyboard is full-size, with both keyboard and separate mouse pad, where Lenovo’s only has a half-height keyboard and uses the screen as a mouse pad. So, the Zenbook Duo is both thicker and heavier, as it folds up with the keyboard part on.

Asus’ keyboard solution has clear advantages. You know where you have the keyboard, and a real mouse pad gives much better mouse control. Everything about the keyboard feels like any quality laptop to work on and use. There’s even plenty of travel in the well-built keys, for a laptop anyway, and you can activate backlighting in the keyboard.

The only thing I miss is the fingerprint reader, but you can log in with IR-supported facial recognition, a separate camera for which sits next to a well-approved 1080p webcam. As the Zenbook Duo is equipped with Intel’s new Core Ultra processor, Core Ultra 7 155H to be exact, it has access to inbuilt NPU and the new AI features that elevate the quality and function of the webcam, automatic background blurring, eye contact filter, and dynamic framing of your face. You also get smart noise cancelation for the microphone.

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

Asus Zenbook Duo 2024: CPU can handle most tasks

There’s a noticeable boost in performance from previous generations of Intel processors, not least thanks to integrated Arc graphics that give it plenty of computing power in many programs, and even make it possible to play simple games. As long as you stick to one screen, set it to 1080p mode, and don’t have high frame rate requirements.

But no, that’s not the purpose of the computer, but flexibility, productivity, and creativity are paramount. The ways you can fold and set up the computer are many. On its side like a folded-up book, flat on the table to work with the included active stylus, or upright with two screens at the height and the keyboard in front. The only thing missing for full flexibility is the 360-degree flip screen. You can’t set it up as a double photo frame.

Despite brisk performance, the computer isn’t overly hot or has intense cooling. In performance mode, a setting that can be activated in the My Asus control software, the fans are at their loudest and even then they’re no more than moderately loud. However, the computer is not completely silent even when the fans are stationary. There’s a distinct whirring and clicking from the electronics, which can be a possible source of irritation.

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

Asus Zenbook Duo 2024: Smooth inking experience

The pen has a comfortable grip and provides good control with nice pressure sensitivity and tilt, as long as you use the right drawing program to exploit it, it becomes really professional. You also get a selection of different pen tips that provide different amounts of paper feel to use. The pen needs to be charged via USB-C before pairing with Bluetooth. Unlike the smooth keyboard, which charges and communicates with surface contact when it is in place.

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

Mattias Inghe

With top quality screens, 1800p resolution, full OLED contrast and dynamics, and modes for SRGB, this is an excellent computer for all kinds of media creation. Setting up the Zenbook Duo and editing video on dual screens is something I could quickly become addicted to… if I can afford it.

The computer costs $1,499.99. It’s not exactly a budget choice, but it’s perfectly reasonable for what you get and well worth the investment if you’re an ambitious creator who doesn’t feel the need to optimize weight. If you buy it directly from Asus, they throw in a handy backpack. A simple carrying case is also always included in the package. You’ll also find an attachment for the pen, which otherwise has a certain risk of being lost, as there’s no way to attach it to the computer.

This review was translated from Swedish to English and originally appeared on pcforalla.se.