Zenbook Professional Duo laptops from Asus have a predominant display and a secondary show that sits above the keyboard. I’ve reviewed the 15-inch ZenBook Professional Duo 15 OLED, and now it is the flip of the smallest member of the household, the Zenbook Professional 14 Duo OLED. 

When the Zenbook Professional 14 Duo OLED closed it appears to be like like an everyday 14.5-inch laptop computer — albeit one which’s on the thick and heavy facet. It measures 32.35cm broad by 22.47 deep by 1.79cm thick on the entrance, rising to 1.96cm thick on the again. The load of 1.7kg is a good bit for a laptop computer of this dimension, which relates largely to the second display. MIL-STD-810H certification ought to deal with any issues about potential harm from knocks and bangs in transit. 

It is solely once you open it up that this laptop computer’s key variations – the secondary display and distinctive keyboard space setup – turn out to be obvious. The primary display can be noteworthy: a 16:10 OLED contact show with 2.8K (2,880 x 1,800) decision that is vivid (550 nits) and advantages from a 120Hz refresh fee. 

Inventive customers engaged on graphics-heavy initiatives will recognize the show’s quicker refresh fee and OLED expertise, which delivers sharp and vivid colors and gives broad viewing angles. 

The display sits in small bezels throughout which Asus says ship a 93% screen-to-body ratio. Shallow bezels make viewing extra pleasant, in addition to serving to to maintain the general footprint of the laptop computer as small as potential. There may be for a webcam above the display – 720p with IR for Home windows Hi there face authentication in our case, though 1080p can be obtainable in line with the Asus spec sheet. 

Asus bundles its Asus Pen 2.0 stylus and a brief cost cable. The stylus can be utilized with each the primary and secondary screens. Sadly there isn’t any housing for the stylus on the laptop computer, and no magnetic system for conserving it connected to an fringe of the system.  

The secondary ScreenPad Plus is a 12.7-inch IPS panel with 2,880-by-864 decision. It matches the width of the primary display and is 3.75 inches tall. When the laptop computer lid is lifted, the ScreenPad Plus raises at its again in order that it sits at an angle. This makes it simpler to view and likewise supplies house for warmth dissipation, however you possibly can’t alter the angle of the secondary display.  

As with earlier ZenBook Professional Duo laptops, the secondary display has a number of capabilities. Asus is now at model 3 of its ScreenPad Plus software program, and this delivers new use circumstances.  These embody utilizing the additional 3.75 inches of depth to increase the peak of content material on the primary display, establishing software teams that each one launch at one faucet of their group icon. You’ll be able to run apps independently on the second display, together with by dragging them from the primary display. It is also potential to run two or three apps independently on the second display, clearly in small app home windows. Creators may use the second display for specialist contact controls developed for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom Traditional, Premiere Professional and After Results. 

These options work fairly effectively, however the ScreenPad Plus has two vital penalties for the keyboard and touchpad, and if these might be used as the first enter methods, then potential customers could wish to attempt earlier than they purchase. 

First, there isn’t any wrist relaxation. This implies your wrists both dangle in mid-air or sit very awkwardly on a desk — except you purchase a separate wrist relaxation. I discovered the primary two choices uncomfortable and unsustainable long run. Nonetheless, the keyboard is made up of enormous and well-spaced keys which have a bouncy and responsive motion. As soon as I had discovered an outdated wrist relaxation lurking in a drawer, I used to be typing at regular pace with no downside, though there was nonetheless a persistent off-centre feeling due to the relocation of the touchpad.  

The portrait-mode touchpad’s location to the suitable of the keyboard is unsuitable for navigating a landscape-mode display, though I ultimately grew to become used to it. It is also very small, in order that the mousing space felt very confined even after I had adjusted to the orientation. 

The audio system are fairly good. Sound high quality is above common, most quantity is sort of excessive, and there isn’t any distortion at high quantity. I used to be blissful listening to rock and classical music, in addition to spoken-word podcasts. 

There is no such thing as a compromise on specs, with Twelfth era Intel H-series Core i7 and Core i9 processors on provide, together with as much as 1TB of storage, as much as 32GB of RAM, and both built-in Intel Iris Xe graphics or discrete Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics.  

The highest-end £2,499.99 UK mannequin has a Core i9-12900H processor, 32GB of RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 graphics and 1TB of SSD storage.  My assessment unit was the entry-level mannequin, which prices £1,999.99. This runs on a Core i7-12700H processor with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SDD, plus built-in Iris Xe Graphics.  

With the Zenbook Professional 14 Duo OLED on the Finest Efficiency setting, Geekbench 5 returned scores of 1774 (single core) and 11607 (multi core). For comparability, Apple’s 13-inch M2 MacBook Professional scored 1900 (single core) and 8986 (multi core). 

No matter configuration is chosen, the array of ports and connectors is identical. Unusually, there are connections on the again: a MicroSD card reader, a full-size HDMI port and a round-pin energy enter. A warmth dissipation grille can be positioned right here. On the left edge there may be only a 3.5mm combo audio jack. The suitable edge homes two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports and a single USB-A port. All three USB ports are accessible always due to the devoted energy enter.

Asus makes use of a 76Wh battery, and my expertise suggests customers will wrestle to get a full day’s work from the Zenbook Professional 14 Duo OLED, particularly in the event that they wish to use the ScreenPad Plus. I did two battery life exams, one with the ScreenPad Plus on and the opposite with it off. In each circumstances I ran my traditional workload of working into net apps, net searching and streaming; when the ScreenPad Plus was in use, no matter else it was doing it additionally always streamed video into one software window. 

Three hours of working from a completely charged battery with the ScreenPad Plus off depleted the battery to 36%, and after a full recharge I labored once more for 3 hours with the ScreenPad Plus on, and the battery went right down to 16%. That means battery lifetime of round 4.7 hours utilizing simply the primary display and simply 3.6 hours utilizing the primary and secondary screens. 

There’s some excellent news on the charging entrance. After one working session, 45 minutes of charging with each the primary display and ScreenPad Plus on and in use took the battery from 18% to 73%. Usually, although, you will not wish to stray removed from mains energy, and all-day engaged on battery energy appears unachievable.   

Conclusions 

The Zenbook Professional 14 Duo OLED gives an fascinating various tackle a normal laptop computer. The secondary ScreenPad Plus has its makes use of, but in addition creates some important compromises — notably the lack of a wrist relaxation, touchpad points, and important battery drain. If you can also make good use of the second display, these compromises could also be acceptable. Nevertheless, this in all probability is not a tool for mainstream customers. 

Asus Zenbook Professional 14 Duo OLED specs

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