The world of high-end laptops continues to get competitive every year and ASUS has been one of the vocal brands when it comes to such models.
The Zenbook Duo has definitely been one of the most fascinating lineups from the company. This is highlighted with the double screen form factor that made its debut last year and still feels new in the industry. Well, it seems like the Japanese tech firm will be keeping a hold of the design thanks to a refreshed lineup that was announced in the virtual CES 2021.
Improvements
Both laptops are set to bring in noticeable improvements from their predecessors. According to ASUS, the displays will offer improved brightness with a few extra nits added on. For laptops that have lots of moving parts, the ErgoLift hinge for the main and secondary displays have also been tweaked. Users will also notice the bezels have been made slightly thinner in order to offer more field of view.
The motherboards have also been made smaller in order to offer more space for the battery and make the laptops lighter. The batteries on both laptops are also set to offer up to 28% more capacity.
As for the second display (Screepad Plus)on both models, the UI has now been revamped making it smoother and more responsive while also adding a few extra gesture controls.
Creative workflow on this display is also meant to improve on this display thanks to the new ASUS Control Panel. This is a fully customisable app that gives users precise and intuitive controls of creative apps. This includes brush-size adjustment, saturation, layer opacity and more.
The app currently works with Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Premiere Pro and After Effects. ASUS notes that compatibility will be expanded in the near future.
15-inch ZenBook Pro Duo
The lineup includes a 15-inch(UX582) and a 14-inch model that might differ in size but also borrow a lot from each other.
The 15-inch ASUS Zenbook Duo is the superior of the two as it packs a Core i9 8-core CPU that works alongside 32GB of RAM. Considering the fact that it is more of a creator’s machine, 1TB of SSD would be enough for storing files and videos.
The sides pack an array of ports including 2 thunderbolt USB-C ports, 1 HDMI port, 1 USB 3.2 port and a microSD reader slot.
Opening up the laptop introduces you to the improved 4K OLED touch display complemented by the 14-inch 4K screenpadPlus sitting just below it. Unfortunately, the screen pad is not OLED but is still meant to offer impressive user experience.
14-inch ZenBook Duo
Th 14-inch model comes with Intel’s 11th Gen Core i7 processor that is integrated with Iris Xe Graphics. Alongside the chip lies 32GB of DDR4 RAM and 1TB of solid-state drive (SSD).
Standing at 1.6kg and 16.9mm, this model is meant to be the more portable version although you do not get the kind of performance that the 15-inch offers. The screen is a full HD (FHD) OLED giving off 1920 x 1080 pixels. The 12.6-inch Screenpad plus is also FHD but not OLED.
Prices for both models will be confirmed once they ship into the Kenyan market.
Other than the ZenBook Duo, ASUS did announce a renewal to other models like VivoBook S14, ExpertBook B9, Chromebook Flip CX5 and BR1100. The first two are now Intel EVO-verified.
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