ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo 15 Review (Pros + Cons)

A 15-inch, 4K OLED display on top and a smaller OLED screen over the keyboard make up the distinctive dual-screen design of the ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo 15. Since the initial Asus ZenBook Duo (UX481), Asus’s approach to dual-screen laptops has changed, with advancements in build quality and ergonomics addressing some of the early issues.

Has it developed so that people yearn for Asus’s concept of a dual-screen laptop? Yes, in some ways, but it still feels like a specialized tool for a particular group of content producers (who have large budgets).

With superb features for those who need them, the ZenBook Duo Pro 15 UX582L delivers a lot, and a second screen adds to the wow factor and practicality. If you’re a content creator who needs a larger viewing area on the go, the ZenBook Duo Pro 15 is a great option. The price is high, and some people might not like the location of the keyboard and touchpad.

ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo 15 1

The ZenBook Pro Duo 15 is not the thinnest or lightest device in its comparison group, but the dual displays may contribute a few ounces of its weight. It measures 14.7 x 9.8 x 0.9 inches and weighs 5.3 pounds.

The Acer ConceptD 7 Ezel comes in at 14.1 x 10.2 x 1.1 inches and 5.5 pounds, followed by the Dell XPS 15 at 13.6 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches and 4.5 pounds. We conclude with the Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model, which measures 14 x 9.3 x 0.7 inches and weighs 4.4 pounds.

ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo

Specifications

  • 4K Matte Touchscreen
  • 15.6 Inch 4K UHD Screen
  • 12M Cache
  • 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD

This touchscreen can add further controls, like sliders for mixing recordings with music production software. It adds adaptability to the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 UX582L that other laptops lack. Because both screens are OLED, they both look incredibly gorgeous.

The Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 UX582L’s distinctive style isn’t for everyone, and it does increase the cost of the laptop over the other models on this list. Additionally, battery life is affected, so if you intend to use this while traveling, be sure to have a power supply.

Design

The celestial blue brushed magnesium-aluminum alloy of the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 is stunning, and when it’s opened, it looks better than the 17-year-old me with abs and a tan. It weighs 5 pounds, so it’s manageable for daily use.

The secondary ScreenPad Plus display pops up when the lid is opened, revealing two vivid OLED panels. The result is spellbinding. The durability of the first Duo had drawn criticism, but this one seems sturdy. The ScreenPad Plus felt solidly built when I pushed down on it to examine the hinge mechanism. Even more, the powerful laptop got through multiple U.S. MIL-STD 810G evaluations.

A webcam is visible at the top of the main screen of the practically bezel-less Pro Duo when you’re not swooning over its two displays. Although there isn’t a physical shutter, you can disable it by tapping the F10 key.

It takes some getting used to the backlit keyboard, which is left of center because of where the touchpad is located. The touchpad, which also functions as a number pad, is oddly positioned to the keyboard’s right.

For use on your desk, the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 has a dedicated palm rest and an active stylus. Although some people might critic about the lack of room for you to position your wrists, I didn’t have any trouble using a separate palm rest.

 Security And Durability

When you walk away from your conventional laptop, Windows Hello(opens in a new tab) facial recognition and an IR-capable camera on the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 lock it up and protect your data and information.

The ZenBook Pro Duo additionally makes use of TPM (Trusted Platform Module), an additional layer of system security that uses hardware-based cryptography to protect the data you keep on your computer from outside software intrusions.

The option to entirely turn off the webcam by using the F10 key instead of struggling with a cumbersome hardware shutter is an extra security measure. As I already indicated, the ZenBook Pro Duo 15 passed multiple military-grade durability tests against drops and spills, giving us confidence in its resilience.

Display

Can I emphasize how vibrant the 15.6-inch, 3840 x 2160 pixel OLED touchscreen display of the ZenBook Pro Duo 15 is for the people in the back? The smaller ScreenPad Plus display is likewise vibrant, but it stands out thanks to its anti-glare surface.

Sharp 3840 x 110-pixel resolution is available on the 14-inch ScreenPad. When we first see Starlord’s back to the camera in the most recent episode of Marvel’s What If on Disney Plus, the color quality and sharpness of the primary display are immediately noticeable.

What he is viewing is sharp and full of fine details. When we see a picture of T’Challa as Starlord in this timeline wearing his mask and the screen of the ZenBook Duo Pro brilliantly rendering the purple glow. When Nebula’s blonde hair contrasted with her blue-hued complexion so brightly, the 4K UHD screen shined. It was a treat to see this animated series on the ZenBook Duo Pro 15.

Our colorimeter measurements showed that the ZenBook’s display covered a significant 143.8% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. It not only outperformed its competitors, but it destroyed the 83.2% average score for premium laptops.

The Dell XPS 15 was the closest rival, scoring 93.7%, followed by the Razer Blade 15 with 87.8% and the Acer Concept D with 76.7%. The second display in the device achieved DCI-P3 average scores of 101.9% and sRGB scores of 108.4%, which were higher than the norms for high-end laptops.

The ZenBook Duo Pro 15’s primary screen averaged 422 nits in brightness, while its secondary screen came in at 347 nits. The Acer Concept D 7 Ezel came in second place with a score of 360 nits, while the XPS took the top spot with 434 nits. The Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model came in third place with a score of 244 nits.

Audio

Bottom-firing Harman Kardon-certified speakers are included with the ZenBook Pro Duo 15 and pair with Asus SonicMaster audio technology to produce a pleasant full-range audio experience. The baseline hit so effortlessly as I heard Jamie Fox sing about “blaming it on the Goose, it got you feeling loose,”

The ZenBook produced an excellent level of depth while the popping dance and hip-hop beat had me bopping my head and dancing in my chair. The speakers provided good sound for me to jam out even if it didn’t fill the space.

The vocals were recreated with clarity and strength as that Thor-empowering bassline propelled us on to conquer everything. I then listened to Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” The bass guitar had excellent depth, and the ZenBook Pro Duo 15 portrayed all the highs without being tinny.

Keyboard And Touchpad

I’ll admit that the tiny size and strange positioning of the keyboard on the ZenBook Pro Duo 15 worried me. I feared the worse when considering that my hands were the size of a 1970s-era Buick.

I typed 84 words per minute with 91% accuracy on the 10FastFingers.com test, so the unusual keyboard arrangement didn’t really slow me down. In reality, I’d estimate that the adjustment phase lasted for roughly a half-day of work. I retook the test after using the supplied palm rest and getting it in the correct position to score slightly higher with scores of 88 words per minute and the same 91% accuracy.

The vertical touchpad on the ZenBook is not the biggest at 2.5 x 3.4 inches and is situated to the keyboard’s right. Some people find its placement to be problematic, but it provides enough room to get things done.

Windows 10 movements, such as two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom, are rapidly executed on the touchpad. The touchpad of the ZenBook serves as both a number pad and a touchpad, and it performs well while entering numbers.

Software And Warranty

A few Asus-developed software, including MyAsus, which has excellent capabilities like allowing you to link your phone to the laptop and share files, are included with the ZenBook Pro Duo 15. Additionally, it provides an overview of how your system operates, enables you to make adjustments, and lets you manage features like the microphone’s noise cancellation and the display’s color.

There is some bloatware on Windows 10 systems, as is typical, including Microsoft Solitaire, Spotify, and Netflix. McAfee is the only piece of software that truly irritates me, reminding me that it’s there and wants your money. Additionally, Amazon Alexa is accessible if you need to order Oreos at 4 in the morning.

A one-year limited warranty is included with the ZenBook Pro Duo 15. Review Asus’ performance in our annual special reports, such as Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands, to see how it performed.

Pros

  • Good speakers
  • Excellent build quality
  • Punchy performance
  • Great curb appeal
  • The second display is functional

Cons

  • Awkward keyboard and touchpad
  • Pricey

Editors Rating

4.3 Out Of 5 Stars

Product Testing

An Intel Core i9-10980HK CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD are included with the ZenBook Pro Duo. The specifications are excellent and comparable to those of other high-end laptops (although most have switched to 11th Gen chips by now).

I tried to clog it down with 47 tabs on Google Chrome, three of which were playing YouTube videos at once, to see how it handled multitasking. Then I opened a couple of Google Docs, one for photographs and the other for a PDF I needed to alter. There were no performance stutters to note; the ZenBook handled everything efficiently.

ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo 15 2

The Acer Concept D outperformed the ZenBook Pro Duo 15, scoring 7,984 compared to 7,028 for the premium laptop average in our Geekbench 5.4 overall performance test (Intel Core i7-10875H CPU). With an Intel Core i7-10875H CPU, the Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model scored 6,531, while the Dell XPS 15 came in second with 6,179. (Intel Core i7-10750H CPU).

The ZenBook completed the Handbrake video transcoding test, which measures how quickly a laptop can downscale a 4K video to a 1080p resolution, in 8 minutes and 17 seconds, beating the industry average for high-end laptops of 10:44. It was slower than the concept, which finished in a quick 7:53, the Blade 15, which came in at 9:57, and the XPS 15, which took 10:06.

The 1TB SSD in the ZenBook performed admirably in our file-transfer test. At a speed of 950 megabytes per second, it replicated a 25GB multimedia file in 28.3 seconds. This outperformed the XPS 15 (512GB SSD, 298 MBps), but it put the concept (1,291.4 MBps, 1TB SSD), followed by the Blade 15 (890.2 MBps, 1TB SSD), in the second position.

The ZenBook’s battery life was 5 hours and 1 minute on the Laptop Mag battery test, which entails continuous web browsing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. The unit lasted 6:50 with the lower screen off, an increase of 1 hour and 49 minutes. That’s not good and falls predictably short of the 10:44 premium laptop average.

The Dell XPS 15 took first place with an 8:01, followed by the concept at 7:00, and the Blade 15, which just edged out our two-screen device at 5:14. The ZenBook’s single-screen rivals did significantly better.

Product Comparison

If you’re a creative professional looking for a powerful laptop with the versatility of a 2-in-1 without the actual hassle of using one, the Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) is an excellent piece of equipment, provided its extremely high price point is within your budget. You don’t need to type for a living.

Another excellent option for a large-screen laptop for music creation is the LG Gram 17. Due to the increased project visibility, working with numerous tracks and intricate arrangements is much simpler. The LG Gram 17 challenges the idea that 17-inch laptops must be large and cumbersome, much like the Dell XPS 17 did above.

In actuality, the LG Gram 17 weighs less than many smaller laptops. Both performance and battery life are good. Although it lacks the XPS 17’s luxury feel, it is surprisingly portable, given its size.

Conclusion

For content producers with the means to invest in this pricy device, the ZenBook Pro Duo 15 is a good premium laptop. Dual 4K OLED displays on the Pro Duo enhance its adaptability and effectively function as a built-in portable monitor. The stylus that comes with it and the superb performance make this a terrific option for artists.

Although the touchpad and keyboard require some getting used to, you shouldn’t let that stop you from picking the Duo. Before you invest your money, though, think about if using two screens might improve your workflow. Even if it’s ideal for someone who consistently creates content, like myself, others could find it too specialized for their needs.

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