Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Robust, sturdy {hardware}
- Fast efficiency
- Cool dual-screen type issue
- Includes stylus and detachable Bluetooth keyboard
Cons
- High worth
- Half a pound too heavy
- Middling battery life
- Some complicated software program quirks
Our Verdict
The second-generation Asus Zenbook Duo affords unparalleled multitasking prowess with its dual-screen configuration, however it’s hefty and costly.
Price When Reviewed
This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined
Best Pricing Today
Price When Reviewed
$1,699.99
Best Prices Today: Asus Zenbook Duo (2025)
$1699.99
Laptops are infinitely extra transportable than a desktop system, however you need to sacrifice a whole lot of computational would possibly for a pc that slips in your bag. The Asus Zenbook Duo offers you a few of that energy again with a second built-in show underneath the keyboard. And behind that second display is among the greatest {hardware} you’ll discover in a 2025 laptop computer.
With double the display actual property of most laptops, this machine may help you get extra carried out on the go, and the design is surprisingly well-thought-out. However, it’s nonetheless a heavy, costly laptop computer that you must solely contemplate in case you demand probably the most out of your PC expertise, even on the highway.
Asus Zenbook Duo: Specs and options
This is the second-generation model of the Asus dual-screen Zenbook. The original Zenbook Duo shipped with Intel Meteor Lake processors, however the machine has now been up to date with the most recent Lunar Lake chips.
The mannequin I’ve been testing has two an identical 2880×1800 OLEDs, however there may be one other mannequin with 1200p OLED panels and twice the storage that shall be out there at Costco for a similar $1,699.99. There is one cheaper mannequin coming at a later date, that includes the 1200p OLED and a Core Ultra 7 265H as an alternative of the Core Ultra 9 within the different SKUs. However, it’s solely $100 cheaper. For my cash, the mannequin featured on this overview (UX8406CA-PS99T) is the one to get.
- Model quantity: UX8406
- CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 285H
- Memory: 32GB LPDDR5X
- Graphics: Intel Arc 140T
- Display: 14-inch 2880 x 1800 OLED
- Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD
- Webcam: 1080p IR Webcam
- Connectivity: 2x USB-C (Thunderbolt 4, 40Gbps), 1x USB-A (5Gbps), 3.5mm audio jack, HDMI 2.1
- Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
- Battery capability: 75Whr, 65W charging
- Dimensions: 12.34 (W) x 8.58 (D) x 0.57-0.78 (H) inches
- Weight: 3.64 lbs (1.65 kg)
- MSRP as examined: $1,699.99
The 2025 Asus Zenbook Duo is an undeniably cool laptop computer. It’s a quick machine with two beautiful OLED shows. Along with the intelligent detachable keyboard, this machine affords unparalleled multitasking capabilities on the go.
Asus Zenbook Duo: Design and construct high quality
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
Looking on the Zenbook Duo, you may not instantly notice it’s far out of your common laptop computer. The aluminum-magnesium chassis is a bit chunky however not sufficient that it stands out. The physique is powerful sufficient that there’s little or no discernible flex. Even the fan grilles on the underside really feel sturdy.
The Zenbook has a shiny 14-inch OLED touchscreen and what seems to be a typical laptop computer keyboard. However, the keyboard is held in place by magnets, making it fast to take away. Under that could be a second OLED touchscreen with loads of choices for increasing your cellular computing expertise.
The keyboard feels stable when connected—under no circumstances like one thing you may yank free with one finger. It connects to a cluster of pogo pins on the machine when connected, however it has Bluetooth to remain related when eliminated. There’s additionally a USB-C port on the keyboard for charging (no information), in addition to an on/off swap.
The machine’s precise ports are on the left and proper edges on the decrease display portion. There’s a full-sized HDMI and USB-C on one aspect, and reverse that’s one other USB-C, and USB-A, and the 3.5mm jack. I admire that the USB-C ports are break up up, permitting you to connect a charger to both aspect.
With the keyboard eliminated, you’ve got a number of choices to make use of the Zenbook’s twin screens. There’s a customized on-screen keyboard that may eat half or the entire decrease display, providing you with a digital trackpad to regulate the mouse. Alternatively, you should use handwriting enter with the included Asus stylus. However, I didn’t discover the handwriting enter to be very correct.
Typing on the display isn’t superb, both, however it’s nice for tapping out a brief e-mail or social media put up. If you propose to get extra writing carried out, you must make use of the Bluetooth-enabled keyboard.
There’s a 1080p webcam above the primary OLED display. It has acceptable video high quality and is sweet at holding you within the body. Since this can be a Copilot+ machine, it additionally has AI-assisted video results. The webcam additionally helps IR for Windows Hello biometric login. That’s good as there’s no fingerprint sensor on this laptop.
Around again, the second-gen Zenbook Duo has an aluminum kickstand that may prop it up vertically, making the 2 screens simpler to see. This “stacked” mode, mixed with the wi-fi keyboard, was probably the most compelling manner to make use of each of the Zenbook Duo’s screens in my testing.
You may also flip the machine sideways to make use of the panels vertically. Regardless of orientation, the dual-screen setup is nice for multitasking, which is normally troublesome on laptops that lack display actual property.
Admittedly, the Asus Zenbook Duo isn’t probably the most sensible machine. It’s noticeably heavier than different 14-inch laptops, and utilizing each screens will drain your battery shortly. However, no different laptop computer can match its multitasking and productiveness chops.
Asus Zenbook Duo: Displays and audio system
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
Both of the 2880×1800 OLED panels on this machine look very good. The decision affords a crystal clear picture, together with the proper blacks and vibrant colours of OLED. The brightness is great, clocking in at 500 nits for each panels. That’s shiny sufficient to show HDR content material (which is supported) the way in which it’s meant to be seen. The contact response on each screens is exact, as effectively.
The solely problem with the screens is the extraordinarily reflective glass cowl. You’ll want each little bit of that prime brightness to make the Zenbook Duo readable outdoor or underneath very shiny lights. Asus manufacturers its OLEDs as “Lumina,” which ensures a set of capabilities and options; the screens are licensed for Dolby Vision, Pantone Color, and extra.
Lumina screens additionally get Asus’ OLED Care options, which refresh and shift pixels over time to scale back picture persistence and burn-in, which is a priority for any OLED that may show the identical UI parts (just like the Windows taskbar) day after day. I haven’t used the laptop computer lengthy sufficient to know if these options make a distinction, however it’s good that Asus is cognizant of this potential problem.
The Zenbook Duo doesn’t double up on audio system prefer it does screens. You get two audio system on the underside with Dolby Atmos help. If you’re hoping for residence cinema-level Atmos audio, suppose once more—there’s solely a lot you are able to do with down-facing laptop computer audio system. That mentioned, the audio system get very loud, and audio is crisp even when it’s turned nearly all the way in which up. The audio system are above common for a non-gaming machine.
Asus Zenbook Duo: Keyboard and trackpad
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
The Zenbook Duo’s keyboard feels surprisingly just like different Asus laptops regardless of being a detachable Bluetooth-enabled slate. There’s a small USB-C port on the left edge to recharge the board, however it additionally receives energy from the laptop computer when related. Next to the port is an on/off swap for the Bluetooth performance.
There’s little or no key journey, which is predicted given the skinny type issue, however the backside of every press is at the very least fairly stable and never mushy. Unfortunately, there’s no backlight within the detachable keyboard. The format is at the very least fairly commonplace, so contact typists received’t want the LEDs. The solely side of the format I don’t like is the arrow cluster, which makes use of half-sized keys although there’s loads of wasted area.
The trackpad is built-in with the keyboard. Like the keys, the trackpad feels surprisingly sturdy for one thing not completely connected to the laptop computer. It’s fairly massive—larger than the trackpad on business-oriented machines just like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. The click on mechanism is quiet and constant, and contact response has been good. The solely problem I observed was a little bit of lag for a number of seconds after switching from connected to wi-fi modes.
Asus Zenbook Duo: Software and efficiency
The Asus Zenbook Duo runs the identical underlying Windows 11 software program as each different 2025 Windows laptop computer. However, Asus has included a collection of instruments that can assist you benefit from its distinctive type issue. For instance, you may immediately transfer home windows between the screens, open and shut the customized on-screen keyboard with a floating icon, and launch customizable management interfaces particular to your apps.
Most of those options are accessible from the Asus ScreenXpert software program. Unfortunately, these options aren’t very discoverable. There’s no tutorial while you begin up the pc for the primary time, and the included guide had nothing to say concerning the software program. It’s not the smoothest software program expertise, however with some tinkering, you’ll have the ability to benefit from the twin screens.
There’s additionally an Asus app that features system settings and updates. This app does hearth off some notifications hoping to upsell you on the premium model of the Asus GlideX cross-device software program, which can be pre-installed. After silencing these pop-ups, you may ignore the Asus app till you want it.
With 32GB of RAM and the top-of-the-line Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, the Zenbook Duo is a really quick laptop computer. I by no means felt like I used to be ready on the machine to catch up, even when operating a number of apps throughout each screens. While this can be a Copilot+ machine, Asus didn’t exit of its manner so as to add generative AI instruments. Those have been extra miss than hit on different AI PCs, in order that’s no nice loss.
To offer you a greater thought of how the laptop computer performs, listed below are our commonplace benchmark exams.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
PCMark 10 is designed to check a machine throughout quite a lot of metrics like internet shopping, video chat, and picture modifying to provide scores for varied duties in addition to an total rating. The Asus Zenbook Duo managed a really spectacular total rating of 7,261, topping the charts for Intel-powered laptops. The newest high-end chips from AMD are a number of hundred factors forward, however the Core Ultra 9 is not any slouch.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
Cinebench is a CPU-focused check that exhibits how a PC handles heavy however transient multi-core workloads. More CPU cores grant greater scores in Cinebench and cooling doesn’t matter very a lot. Intel’s Lunar Lake chips wrestle a bit extra in Cinebench as a result of they lack hyperthreading. As a end result, the AMD-powered HP Omnibook Ultra 14 takes the lead. The Core Ultra 9 285H does present a considerable enchancment over different Intel CPUs, although.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
The Handbrake check is just like Cinebench in that it exhibits how a pc handles multithreaded duties, however this can be a longer-duration check the place thermals matter extra. It’s the identical story right here, with the Ryzen 9 and its gaggle of processing threads manner out in entrance. The Zenbook Duo is king amongst Intel laptops, although.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
Our foremost gaming check is 3DMark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU efficiency. This isn’t a gaming laptop computer, however Intel’s newest iGPUs are fairly good, and the Core Ultra 9 285H has the most effective model of Intel’s Arc graphics. The Arc 140T iGPU beats out all the opposite Lunar Lake variants, in addition to the most recent from AMD. Intel’s newest chips are adequate to play easier trendy video games or premium titles which might be a number of years previous.
Asus Zenbook Duo: Battery life
The 2025 Asus Zenbook Duo has a wholesome 75Whr battery, barely bigger than most 14-inch laptops. However, its energy calls for are important with twin OLEDs and a Core Ultra 9. The machine comes with a cumbersome 65W USB-C charger, however I’ve examined it with quite a lot of extra compact third-party USB-C chargers that hit the identical 65W peak charging velocity.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
In the usual PCWorld battery rundown check, the Zenbook Duo trails different lately launched laptops by an hour or extra. It’s nonetheless a usable laptop computer for a full workday, however you received’t have as a lot buffer as among the competitors.
That’s simply in single-screen “laptop” mode. If you’ve got each screens operating, the battery life takes a predictable dive of somewhat greater than one-third. It could be arduous to get a full workday out of the Zenbook Duo in dual-screen mode, particularly because the battery ages. This benchmark was run within the default 60Hz mode, so switching to 120Hz will even cut back its longevity.
Asus Zenbook Duo: Conclusion
The 2025 Asus Zenbook Duo is an undeniably cool laptop computer. It’s a quick machine with two beautiful OLED shows. Along with the intelligent detachable keyboard, this machine affords unparalleled multitasking capabilities on the go. And the Core Ultra 9 is greater than quick sufficient to maintain up. However, the battery life is simply okay.
Windows 11 remains to be not a really compelling contact OS, however Asus has included a number of options that enhance issues considerably. The on-screen keyboard is healthier than the default Windows model, and the customizable management panels are helpful. I additionally admire that the Zenbook Duo comes with a stylus, even when handwriting enter is hit or miss.
For individuals who need all this dual-screen energy, they received’t be dissatisfied. However, the Zenbook Duo is a bit heavier and thicker than competing laptops. The worth, whereas cheap for a machine with two 1800p OLEDs, remains to be objectively some huge cash for a laptop computer. There are machines which might be simply nearly as good at being a laptop computer whereas additionally providing a thinner, lighter body and a lower cost. So, you must solely decide up the Zenbook Duo in case you intend to unleash the dual-screen energy.