T3 - UK (2020-03)

MARCH 2020 T3 83

Asus ZenBook Duo

inevitable, particularly if you’re using

demanding software. In our tests, the

processor’s heat often spiked.

There’s plenty to like here, though.

The exterior design of the laptop is

beautiful, from the circular milled

pattern on the back of the screen to

the robust feel of the keys. The laptop

opens on an ergonomic hinge that

pushes the keyboard up towards the

user at an angle for more comfortable

typing. The lower screen (named the

ScreenPad Plus) occupies half of the

laptop’s lower segment, with the

trackpad then pushed to the side next

to a somewhat truncated keyboard.

The ScreenPad Plus is a proper

high-res touch display, and the Duo

comes with a nice Bluetooth stylus for

precision touch controls. It’s not

really ideal for digital artists, as the

display is only about three inches tall,

but it acts directly as a second screen,

enabling you to shrink open tabs

down and neatly fit them there.

It’s something of a shame that the

upper screen - also an LED-backlit

1080p panel - doesn’t have touch

functionality, as the slender nature of

the ScreenPad Plus makes it feel

rather cramped to use.

From top to bottom

There are other issues with dual-

screen integration too. The lower

display links directly to the top,

meaning that your cursor can move

seamlessly between the two. When

using the device, this means that it’s

easy to miss the taskbar at the bottom

of the upper screen by ‘overshooting’

with your mouse or trackpad. It’s a

minor frustration only amplified by

the tiny size of the trackpad - which

doesn’t contain a hidden numpad,

like the larger Zenbook Pro Duo.

A few good design choices do shine

through. There’s a function key

dedicated to locking keyboard input,

so you can rest your hand on the

keyboard while using the touchscreen.

The included software is also pretty

good: use it to independently control

the brightness of the lower screen,

act as a digital numpad, or open a

number of apps with quick taps.

The ScreenPad Plus desperately

wants to make itself useful here, but

we can’t help but feel that a lot of

users will make frequent use of the

function button that deactivates the

bottom screen.

With regard to the internal

hardware, it’s all fairly bog-standard

stuff for a modern laptop. A 10th-

generation Intel Core i7 processor

adds up to decent computing power

capable of performing at the same

level as anything else in its price

bracket, while 16GB of RAM can

handle most tasks. An M.2 SSD means

that file transfer speeds are super fast;

not quite up to spec with comparable

laptops, but not by so much that most

users will notice the difference.

The one strange inclusion here is a

discrete GPU, specifically the GeForce

MX250 from Nvidia. While the

MX250 is a modern graphics chip,

only a year old, it’s already fallen out

of favour thanks to Iris Plus, the

integrated graphics solution now

available on certain 10th-generation

processors from Intel. The CPU in this

laptop is not one of those processors,

leaving the question of why Asus

didn’t simply go with Iris Plus.

The trackpad is a

bit on the small side

FEEL UPLIFTED
The ‘ErgoLift’ hinge tilts
the keyboard and lower
screen by 5.5 degrees,
and the keyboard being
pushed to the bottom
of the chassis means
that your wrists can rest
comfortably on the table