💻 ASUS Zenbook Duo (2024) review: The first dual-screen laptop worth buying ✨

For over a decade, nearly every major PC manufacturer has experimented with the concept of a dual-screen laptop 🕰️. The journey dates back to 2011 with the Acer Iconia 6120, a device boasting two 14-inch displays. By CES 2017, Razer was showcasing Project Valerie, an ambitious triple-panel prototype, followed a year later by the slightly more restrained Project Linda 💻. In 2020, Dell captured imaginations with the Concept Duet, and even Apple briefly flirted with secondary screens via the Touch Bar before eventually abandoning the feature entirely 🍎.

While Lenovo has persisted with its Yoga Book family—culminating in the impressive Yoga Book 9i—it is ASUS that has finally refined the concept into a truly cohesive package with the Zenbook Duo 💎. This sleek machine offers dual screens within a footprint barely larger than a standard clamshell, complete with a detachable keyboard ⌨️ and an integrated kickstand for ultimate adaptability 🏗️. Perhaps most importantly, with a starting price of $1,500 💰, it avoids the exorbitant “early adopter” tax usually associated with such utility. It has been a long road, but ASUS has finally produced a device that proves, unequivocally, that two screens are better than one! ✌️🖥️

 Two screens really are better than one ✌️

ASUS Zenbook Duo 💻

With a starting price of $1,500 💸 and dimensions comparable to a standard laptop, the ASUS Zenbook Duo is the first dual-screen device that feels like a practical purchase rather than a novelty 💼.

 Pros ✅

Sleek design ✨

Gorgeous screens 🤩

Built-in kickstand 🏗️

Good port selection 🔌

Solid battery life 🔋

 Cons ❌

Slightly pricier than a traditional clamshell 💰

Windows 11 still isn’t optimized for dual-screen laptops 🪟

$1,500 at ASUS 🛒

Design 🎨

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Zenbook Duo is its unassuming appearance. It avoids looking like a Frankenstein’s monster of technology; at a glance, it is simply a 14-inch laptop 💼. Even when opened, the experience feels familiar, featuring a physical keyboard, a responsive touchpad, and a healthy array of ports—including two Thunderbolt 4 inputs, a USB 3.2 Type-A, and a full-size HDMI 2.1 jack 🔌. While the omission of an SD card reader is a minor annoyance, it is understandable given the internal spatial constraints.

 The device truly reveals its character once the keyboard is detached, causing the second display to spring to life ✨. The possibilities here are extensive. A three-finger tap on the lower panel summons a floating touchpad, while an eight-finger tap generates a virtual keyboard ⌨️. Swiping up reveals a traditional keyboard and trackpad layout. Because these interfaces are virtual, they offer immense flexibility—you can instantly swap language layouts, reposition the touchpad, or call up a numpad for data entry 🔢. It is a liberating experience to no longer have half of the laptop’s interior permanently occupied by rigid physical keys.

 ASUS built a very handy kickstand into the bottom of the Zenbook Duo 🏗️.

 The experience is further elevated by the integrated kickstand on the bottom of the device. This simple addition allows you to prop the system up, effectively creating a portable dual-monitor workstation contained within a single chassis 🏢. Since the detachable keyboard connects via Bluetooth, it can be positioned freely, just like a desktop setup 🖱️. There is one minor drawback: the kickstand’s design offers no tilt adjustment when the displays are rotated into a side-by-side portrait orientation. However, this design choice clearly favors a stacked arrangement with one display above the other, which is arguably the more ergonomic and useful configuration for most users 🔝.

Surprisingly, doubling the screen real estate hasn’t resulted in unmanageable bulk ⚖️. The Zenbook Duo weighs 3.6 pounds and is 0.78 inches thick. For comparison, a standard Zenbook 14 OLED is 2.82 pounds and 0.59 inches thick, while a premium Dell XPS 14 comes in at 3.7 pounds and 0.71 inches. In essence, the Duo is no more burdensome to carry than many high-end clamshell laptops 🎒.

Moving apps from one screen to another is as simple as dragging and dropping or using ASUS’ handy snapping menus 📂🖱️. 

 If there is a critique to be made, it lies in the aesthetic. The somber dark gray finish feels like a missed opportunity for such a revolutionary device—it’s almost as if ASUS is trying to downplay the innovation 🌑. This machine, and the engineering team behind it, deserve a design that celebrates its uniqueness rather than hiding it 🎨🖌️.

Displays and software 📱

The true stars of the show are the twin 14-inch displays 🌟. These matching OLED panels are nothing short of spectacular, delivering robust brightness (peaking around 500 nits) and rich, accurate colors that cover 100 percent of the DCI-P3 gamut 🌈. The real magic, however, lies in how these two screens operate in tandem.

 In tight spaces, the Zenbook Duo can function just like a traditional clamshell laptop 💻. 

 Navigating between the two screens is intuitive, whether dragging and dropping apps or utilizing the snapping menus that appear at the top of the display 🖱️. ASUS’ proprietary ScreenXpert software further enhances utility, offering a floating button for quick access to brightness controls, panel management, and widgets for tools like handwriting recognition or weather updates 🌤️. ASUS has done a commendable job of maximizing the value of the dual-display setup through software.

The limitation, however, lies less with ASUS and more with the operating system. Windows 11 and many third-party applications still lack full optimization for this form factor 🪟. During testing, I encountered glitches—such as the virtual touchpad becoming unresponsive while playing *Teamfight Tactics* with stats on the lower screen 🎮. Resolving the issue required switching to borderless window mode and restarting the game. While such hiccups were rare, they serve as a reminder that early adopters of cutting-edge hardware may occasionally face software friction ⚠️.

Performance 🚀

The Zenbook Duo features an excellent selection of ports for its size including two Thunderbolt 4, one USB 3.2 Type-A, 3.5mm audio, and a full-size HDMI 2.1 jack 🔌.

 Under the hood, the Zenbook Duo is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD ⚙️. While configurations with double the memory and a faster Ultra 9 chip are available, the base model proves more than capable. In benchmarks like Geekbench 6 and PCMark 10, the Duo posted results identical to similarly equipped clamshells, confirms that the secondary screen imposes no significant performance tax 📊. Even in desktop mode, dragging applications between displays feels snappy. The only notable trade-off is the lack of a discrete GPU, meaning the Duo is optimized for general productivity rather than intensive video editing 💼.

 Battery life 🔋

One might assume that powering two displays would decimate battery life, yet the Zenbook Duo defies expectations 🔋. With a single screen active, it lasted 13 hours and 12 minutes in our video rundown test. Even with both screens blazing, the device managed a respectable 10 hours and 17 minutes, which is more than sufficient to survive a full workday away from a power outlet ⏳.

 Wrap-up 🎬

The most impressive thing about the Zenbook Duo is that it offers two screens without adding a ton of extra bulk or cost 🏆. 

 The Zenbook Duo successfully delivers on the long-held promise of dual-screen computing. But who, exactly, is this device for? While the most obvious candidates are travelers who rely on portable monitors ✈️, its appeal is much broader. This laptop is for anyone who prizes screen real estate and desires a self-contained system that can replicate a multi-monitor desktop experience anywhere 💼. Best of all, it demands few sacrifices; thanks to the detachable keyboard, it functions perfectly as a standard laptop when space is at a premium, such as on an airplane tray table 🛫.

Given space to spread out, it transforms into a versatile command center, allowing you to manage a primary project on the top screen while relegating Slack, email, or video calls to the bottom 📧. It provides ample ports to avoid dongle fatigue, and thanks to the stunning OLED panels, everything looks exceptional 🌈. The Zenbook Duo matches the capabilities of a traditional laptop and then surpasses them. While the software experience requires further polish, the hardware is a triumph. After years of prototypes and false starts, the Zenbook Duo stands as a marvelous torchbearer for a new class of portable PCs 🕯️🏆.