Asus ZenBook Duo (UX482) Overview

The Asus ZenBook Duo is an outstanding all-round Ultrabook, nonetheless the ScreenPad arguably gives further factors than benefits. Whereas the second touchscreen is sweet for multitasking with apps harking back to Slack, Spotify and Premiere Skilled, it moreover pushes the keyboard all the way in which all the way down to a further awkward place, limiting the attraction of this design.

Professionals

• Superb productiveness effectivity
• Glorious battery life
• ScreenPad is helpful for apps
• Pleasingly transportable

Cons

• Keyboard is uncomfortable to type on
• Show is just not appropriate enough for creative professionals

Key Specs

• Overview Worth: £1499
• 14in 1920 x 1080 touchscreen
• Additional ScreenPad present
• Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU
• As a lot as 32GB RAM
• As a lot as Nvidia GeForce MX450 GPU
• As a lot as 1TB SSD
• Dimensions: 324 x 222 x 16.9mm
• Weight: From 1.57kg

Don’t worry, you don’t have double imaginative and prescient. The Asus ZenBook Duo (UX482) genuinely does have two screens, with an additional panel embedded on the deck to make multitasking less complicated than ever. 

This isn’t the first iteration of the ZenBook Duo, with this new 2021 model seeing software program program enhancements to the ScreenPad along with boosted specs harking back to Intel’s Eleventh-generation processor. 

Nevertheless the question stays: what’s the aim in a secondary laptop computer pc show display screen? And is it truly positively well worth the compromises and additional worth over a further customary laptop computer pc? After spending just a few weeks with it, I’m not happy, no matter offering useful choices for multitaskers and creative professionals alike. 

Asus ZenBook Duo (UX482) worth and availability 

The Asus ZenBook Duo has an official starting worth of spherical £1499 inside the UK, which sees the laptop computer pc fitted with an Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor and 16GB of RAM. It’s moreover doable to beef up the RAM and storage, along with together with a Nvidia MX450 GPU for added graphical grunt.

You might get an ever cheaper $999.99 configuration over inside the US, which sees the laptop computer pc housing an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. It’s a shame this model isn’t in the mean time obtainable inside the UK, as a result of it might then compete further fiercely with the MacBook Air M1 and Flooring Laptop computer pc 3.

Nonetheless, third-party retailers do appear to be offering the laptop computer pc at a decrease value than the RRP, with Newegg seemingly supply the i7 model for £1254. The Asus ZenBook Duo has solely merely launched, and is proving powerful to look out at totally different retailers presently.

Design – Twin-screen compromises 

• ScreenPad is most useful for creation-focused apps

• Awkward placement of keyboard results in uncomfortable typing

• The Asus ZenBook Duo (UX482) is mild and thin enough to slip in a bag

Let’s not skirt throughout the elephant inside the room. How useful is the ScreenPad Plus secondary show display screen? After spending a few weeks with it, I’ve decided it truly will depend upon the needs you constantly use. 

Personally, I most well-liked with the ability to tug Spotify all the way in which all the way down to the secondary touchscreen, so I’ll merely skip tracks or pause the music with out having to ever depart my Phrase doc on the first panel. I moreover pretty liked watching YouTube motion pictures on it whereas I labored. Nonetheless, I can’t help nonetheless assume that I can already receive such use with my smartphone, and at a further pleasing aspect ratio. 

The ScreenPad makes further sense used along with a creative app, harking back to Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom Conventional, Premiere Skilled and After Outcomes, which all provide a useful touch-friendly administration panel. Office-related apps harking back to Slack could be moved all the way in which all the way down to the ScreenPad, so you can’t declare to have missed your boss’ nagging. 

Asus has included additional choices harking back to a handwriting app and amount pad substitute, nonetheless it’s the usual of life enhancements I’m most impressed by, with Asus making it less complicated than ever to navigate the ScreenPad Plus. It even helps stylus enter, although Asus doesn’t embrace one for the worth. 

Asus has neatly propped up the ScreenPad on a hinge, which swings up as I open the laptop computer pc.  This ensures I don’t should strain my neck to take care of my eyes glued to the present, whereas moreover providing the internals with further room to breath, maximising effectivity.

Whole then, I pretty just like the considered the ScreenPad – it looks as if an evolution of Apple’s TouchBar that you just’ll uncover on the MacBook Skilled – nonetheless I’m not so blissful regarding the compromises Asus has wanted to make to launch room for the secondary show display screen. 

The keyboard has been shunted to the doorway of the deck, and the trackpad squeezed within the place the amount pad would typically be found, which is perhaps a specific ache stage for left-handers. 

This peculiar design results in a careless typing experience, with the keys feeling uncomfortably cramped and the dearth of wrist-rest forcing me to sit down further away from the laptop computer pc than I’d often. I truly wouldn’t advocate this laptop computer pc for individuals who desire a transportable for churning out prolonged essays and research.

To Asus’ credit score rating, it has managed to take care of the compromises to a minimal. The laptop computer pc continues to be comparatively skinny at 17.3mm, and its 1.57kg starting weight is heftier than customary Ultrabooks, nonetheless nonetheless mild enough for me to easily pop in a bag for transporting spherical metropolis. The ZenBook Duo appears fairly ugly when opened up, due to the weird keyboard construction, nonetheless the thin show display screen bezel and glossy blue lid are undeniably elegant. 

Asus has managed to fit in an abundance of ports, too, with USB-A, 2 x USB-C, HDMI, headphone jack and a microSD card all present. That’s far more generous than what the Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Air provide. 

A webcam offering so-so video top quality sits above the first present, with a kill swap on the keyboard allowing you to cut the feed. Sadly, there’s no fingerprint scanner proper right here, nonetheless you can nonetheless whizz through the login course of due to the IR webcam with House home windows Hello there assist.

Screen – The Asus ZenBook Duo (UX482) misses the mark for expert creatives

• Brightness and distinction are pleasingly extreme

• No 4K show display screen chance obtainable

• Coloration accuracy isn’t okay for professionals

Asus is clearly pitching the ZenBook Duo as a laptop computer pc for expert creators, what with its ScreenPad assist for Adobe Premiere Skilled and its discrete GPU decisions. This gave me extreme hopes for its present top quality, nonetheless the laptop computer pc didn’t fulfill these expectations. 

Don’t get me fallacious, show display screen top quality proper right here is secure. Testing it with a colourimeter, I found the ZenBook Duo provides 340-nits of brightness and 1521:1 distinction, which might be every above widespread scores for an Ultrabook. These outcomes suggest that darkish and lightweight shades will stand out further clearly, resulting in further detailed pictures whether or not or not you’re watching Netflix or enhancing pictures. 

The problem proper right here is the colour safety: 98.8% of sRGB is nice, nonetheless the underwhelming Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 outcomes of 71% and 73.2% suggest that photo-realistic pictures acquired’t appear as exactly as they’d on, say, a MacBook Skilled or Razer Blade 15 Studio Model.  

As soon as extra, the ZenBook Duo’s outcomes are pretty typical for regular high-end ultrabooks, however when Asus needs to considerably chase the creative crowd then these outcomes must be larger. 

It’s moreover fairly peculiar that there’s no 4K (and even Quad HD) model obtainable, as quickly as as soon as extra limiting the usefulness for expert content material materials creators. 

Performance – Asus ZenBook Duo (UX482) is Important House home windows Ultrabook power

• Superb productiveness effectivity

• Will likely be configured with a GeForce NX450 GPU

• The Asus ZenBook Duo (UX482) has speedy SSD is spectacular

Other than the ScreenPad, in all probability probably the most noteworthy part of the 2021 model of the Asus ZenBook Duo is the inclusion of Intel’s Eleventh-generation processors. The laptop computer pc is obtainable with each an Intel Core i5-1135G7 or Intel Core i7-1165G7 – Asus despatched inside the latter for overview. 

That is similar chip current in our Dell XPS 13 overview unit, however the Duo seen marginally superior outcomes after I ran long-running benchmark exams harking back to PCMark 10 and 3DMark TimeSpy. This means Asus’ clever ScreenPad hinge is worthwhile at enhancing airflow for the internals and squeezing out that further effectivity power. 

You probably can’t ignore the reality that the MacBook Air seen significantly larger results in Geekbench, guaranteeing Apple nonetheless boasts in all probability probably the most extremely efficient ultrabook you can in the mean time buy. Nevertheless does the effectivity gap matter? For fundamental day-to-day duties, the Duo is comfortably extremely efficient enough to ensure speedy effectivity, no matter what variety of web browsers you will have open. It even has the effectivity capabilities for mild image and video work.

Asus will also be offering the discrete Nvidia GeForce NX450 GPU for a lot of who must push the graphical effectivity up a notch. Discover that that’s nonetheless an entry-level effectivity for content material materials creators, with the likes of the MacBook Skilled offering significantly further power.

The Duo moreover has a lightning-fast SSD, with a 3553MB/s be taught tempo and 2993MB/s write tempo – which might be simply concerning the excellent scores you can discover in an ultrabook correct now. This means loading and saving data on the drive is perhaps a speedy course of, which is significant for these working with pictures and flicks. 

Battery – Glorious stamina with and with out ScreenPad

• Battery lasted 10hrs 7mins with the ScreenPad in use

• Deactivating the ScreenPad added a further six hours

Considered one of many principal points regarding the ScreenPad is the extent of battery drain it might have on the laptop computer pc.

Nonetheless, Asus has completed an exquisite job of enhancing the laptop computer pc’s effectivity, with the Duo lasting a excellent 10hrs 7mins with the ScreenPad activated all through the PCMark 10 office battery simulation. 

The ScreenPad stays a leech on the battery, though. I repeated the check out with the ScreenPad turned off and the laptop computer pc managed to chug away for a whopping 16hrs 30mins. 

This consequence’s so spectacular that I genuinely need I’ll scrap the ScreenPad altogether, as a further six hours of stamina is arguably further helpful than being able to indicate the likes of Slack, Spotify and YouTube on a secondary show display screen. That said, the 10-hour battery life with the ScreenPad activated continues to be prolonged enough to outlast a working day, so I can’t complain an extreme quantity of. 

You should buy the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX482) if… 

• You might want to multitask whenever you work
  The ScreenPad means that you would be able to hold watch over Slack, administration your Spotify playlist, and even watch a YouTube video with out ever leaving your Phrase doc. 

• You might want to engage with entry-level image and video enhancing
  The ScreenPad will also be fairly useful for content material materials creation apps due to the customisable administration panel, although the laptop computer pc lacks the grunt for professional-grade work. 

• You’re looking for a laptop computer pc with an unbelievable battery
  I’m very impressed with the battery life, notably with the ScreenPad deactivated. There are few ultrabooks larger on this house.

You shouldn’t buy the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX482) if… 

• You don’t care regarding the ScreenPad
  The laptop computer pc’s complete design revolves spherical this space-hogging ScreenPad, so we strongly advocate you look elsewhere for individuals who don’t fancy the look of it. 

• You want a laptop computer pc for high-end content material materials creation
  The show display screen’s widespread shade accuracy and lack of extremely efficient discrete GPU means the Duo isn’t the one possibility for demanding image/video work. If you’re an knowledgeable content material materials creator, check out the MacBook Skilled or Razer Blade 15 Studio Model in its place. 

• It’s advisable write quite a lot of research or essays
  The Duo choices one of many essential uncomfortable keyboards I’ve ever examined. If you’ve received a job or school course that requires quite a lot of typing, I strongly advocate you go for a laptop computer pc with a further customary keyboard construction.