• 2 days ago
Transcript
00:00Hey guys, I'm TunnelTechChap, and I want to show you something very cool
00:03This is the Asus ZenBook Duo for 2074 and as the name would suggest
00:09We're getting more than one or something
00:11So looks like any ordinary ZenBook, but if I just detach the keyboard here and pop it over there
00:18You will see that we in fact have
00:21two screens
00:23Dual 14-inch OLED displays this thing is incredible and it actually might be the best thing
00:30I've seen all year so far although granted
00:33We are only like a week and a half in but look at it
00:36So in one laptop you get a dual screen setup with two 14-inch
00:41120 Hertz 3k OLED touchscreens, which look absolutely incredible
00:46I might add and you can use it any which way you'd like
00:49Vertically is that vertically I'm not sure either way like a book perhaps handy if you're coding you could pop out the
00:56Kickstand back here, which actually supports up to 15 grams of grams kilograms of weight
01:02Although I think you'd be hard-pressed to really put that much weight on this and with the keyboard here
01:06Perhaps you've got your sort of traditional laptop plus second external monitor above it except
01:12This is all in one 14-inch form factor
01:16Which I'm sure you'll agree is pretty damn nifty and actually it weighs just under three pounds
01:21So around 1.3 kilograms and it's actually thinner and lighter and actually cheaper than the previous ZenBook Duo
01:29starting I believe at a hair under
01:32$1,500 and well, I've only had this for like a week or so and this is just like a first impression hands-on video
01:37Not a full review
01:38You can play tell I like this thing a lot and together with this new detachable keyboard
01:43Which actually uses these pogo pins when it's connected
01:46So there's no latency or battery limitations and Bluetooth when detached
01:49You don't have to hunch over your laptop anymore
01:52You can take it off and use it
01:53However, you like and the backlit ergo sense design and smooth touchpad are every bit as good as any other simple keyboard
02:00I've used something you can't say about most two-in-ones and they've also somehow squeezed in this little Bluetooth on off switch and also a
02:06USB C charging port if you regularly use it away from the laptop now as you would expect for a 2024 model
02:12This is backed up by some pretty impressive specs including as I almost drop it the latest 14th gen
02:19Meteor Lake Intel processors. This guy can be spec'd with up to the
02:23Intel core ultra 9 let me get that right
02:26But this one has the core ultra 7 1 5 5 H
02:29Which of course also comes with the much improved Intel arc graphics
02:33And of course this year is all about AI with both Intel and AMD
02:37So we have a dedicated NPU or neural processing unit in here, which can offload some of those AI tasks now to be fair
02:44There are only a handful of AI use cases right now that you run locally on the device
02:48One of the main ones is with the webcam
02:50We've got this TTP asus AI sense webcam and some of those windows studio effects like your eyes looking at the camera and background blur
02:57Things like that freeing up more of that CPU and GPU, but obviously it does make a lot more future-proof
03:01We are going to see a lot more AI integrated into apps
03:04Locally as well because there are benefits as opposed to cloud AI, but that's a conversation for another video
03:09But with these much more powerful h-series Meteor Lake processors, which normally would be like a p-series in the past now
03:15We've got h-series along with 32 gigs of RAM 2 terabytes of storage. I've got in here
03:20It's actually very powerful, especially with those arc graphics, which we'll talk more about later on
03:24So I'm recording this on the TTP webcam at the top of the ZenBook Duo
03:28Quite a nice position being on the top of the second screen and I can also move around a little bit
03:34It's gonna track me. You can see I've got this portrait blur enabled as well
03:38Both things are part of the windows studio effects
03:40Which right now are actually able to be offloaded to that new MPU on the second screen below here
03:46I've got the Intel AI boost is showing like 27%
03:50Utilization so it's offloading a little bit off the CPU and GPU and much more efficiently doing all these AI effects
03:56Which is one of the benefits of the new 14th gen chips. But yeah qualities. Okay, it seems again
04:01This is non-final software non-final hardware
04:04But that's the webcam now five years ago 2018 when Harry married Megan
04:09We came forth in the World Cup disappointing as always
04:12But also asus unveiled this project precog concept their first dual screen laptop, which was very exciting
04:19But I remember thinking no one's gonna want to use a virtual keyboard
04:22Anyway over the next five years asus evolved the idea with screen pad
04:27We had the Zenbook and ROG Zephyrus duos and even last year their fantastic Zenbook fold OLED
04:33Which did also come with a Bluetooth keyboard that can be popped onto the lower half of the screen and that's kind of evolved into
04:38This the Zenbook duo something that actually works really well is about half the price of the fold and I actually might go out and buy
04:45for myself
04:46Now to be fair Lenovo did beat asus to market with their yoga 9i which launched early 2023 last year
04:53But in my experience, this is a more refined experience
04:56We also have the newer better hardware and it's also a good deal cheaper
04:59Actually that starts at like two grand this starts about 1500 although very good to see competition
05:04So why would you want something like this?
05:06Well, really it's for anyone who's ever sat in front of their laptop and thought I wish I had a second screen right now
05:12And of course you still have the option of connecting external monitors or TVs via the two Thunderbolt 4 or HDMI 2.1 ports
05:19So you could have up to what five screens with this?
05:22It might turn a few heads if you do set this up in your local coffee shop or on the train
05:27But half the time I've just been using this like a regular single screen laptop
05:30Anyway, and except for being a tiny bit thicker
05:32You wouldn't really know this is hiding a second screen
05:35But then when you're at home or at the office you have the benefit of the dual 14-inch screens
05:40Which also frees up a USB C port which otherwise you'd use for an external monitor
05:44But given how low-profile this whole setup is being able to use the keyboard wherever you like and also offering this
05:50180 degree hinge. So even if you are using it on your lap or laptop stand you have so much flexibility
05:56So I've been using this well like a little bit over a week. I guess over Christmas and New Year
06:00I've showed it to a few people probably shouldn't have because I saw it in the day
06:03But you know family just to get their impressions and they were all pretty blown away by it
06:07I've also found myself figuring out a new way of using it every day. Like I went on a zoom call the other day
06:13I had my video at the top
06:15So the webcams like nicer in my eye line compared to a regular laptop
06:18But then my notes and emails and things on the bottom screen or using the top for my Premiere Pro
06:22Timeline bottom for the assets folder you could game on one screen and have discord or Spotify on the other or maybe with your finger
06:29Or the Asus pen 2 you could use the bottom screen as your canvas and the top as your reference
06:33You get the idea and I have to say overall build quality is top-notch with this
06:38The stand is really secure and sturdy. There is a little bit of screen wobble with the top screen
06:43Which is why I'd suggest if you are going to use the pen perhaps the bottom screen because actually that doesn't move at all
06:48But overall really nicely designed no creaking or anything. It's properly well built nice and slim bezels
06:54You've got the TTP webcam up top here, which also has an IR sensor for your Windows
06:59Power button here, which is actually above the screen
07:02If I just take this off above the screen on this like what would you call it bezel a little bit of chassis?
07:07That isn't screen and also the usual range of ports on the side
07:11HDMI 2.1 three and a half mil headphone jack to Thunderbolt 4s and a full-size USB a the only thing really missing
07:17I guess will be a SD card reader
07:18That would have been nice and they've also managed to pack in stereo speakers, which actually sound pretty good now
07:23Unlike last year's fold
07:2517 OLED this obviously has bezels and a hinge in the middle
07:28So you're not getting one continuous screen, but actually this makes it much easier to use particularly with Windows
07:34Which is always a bit of a pain in the ass when it comes to different form factors
07:38But the benefit of this having two distinct separate screens is you can actually full screen things more easily
07:44You can drag things multitask use the snap tool feature. And also you can use this as his own little
07:50Software here to quickly switch your apps between the screens having two screens like essentially an external monitor is
07:56Much better running in Windows, but it gets better if you tap this little screen expert widget
08:02You can manually adjust the brightness of each screen or keep them synced
08:05So they're the same which I do you can turn on the virtual keyboard, which I must admit does look very futuristic
08:11Although you can also switch it to a half screen which leaves room for a handwriting space and a virtual asus dial all of which
08:16Of course can be customized moved around. However, you like it
08:19You can also turn off the lower display if you're not using it to save battery. You can mirror the screens literally
08:25So if you have it laid flat
08:26I want to share it with someone across from you and I think the best bit is being able to create a task group
08:31So you can set up both screens
08:32However, you like with up to well
08:34I guess eight apps on each and then save it
08:36so with the press of a button you can instantly bring back your ideal work or say gaming setup and
08:42As usual you've got a whole bunch of options to play around with and customize and it's also definitely worth checking out this my asus app
08:48Which gives you performance display and lots of other options for preventing burn-in
08:53Which may all sound a little bit overwhelming
08:55But you can use all these features as much or as little as you'd like and at the end of the day it can still
09:00Just be a regular clamshell laptop now
09:04I mentioned asus sent this out to me a couple of weeks ahead of CES so I could make this little hands-on first look
09:09For you, but it is just that this is a pre-production model
09:12So I can't actually test the performance or the battery life of this
09:15I actually spent I think like a day and a half running a ton of benchmarks comparing it to other laptops
09:19And then they told me no. No, this is actually tweaked for CES. The performance isn't quite there yet
09:24It will be faster and perform better
09:26So I will revisit that in a full review
09:28although I did test the new and
09:30similarly specced asus symbol 14 OLED the other week also with 14th gen meteor lake processors and the results from that show a
09:37Smallish uptick for the processor
09:39But a massive boost for the graphics up to two or even three times faster in some cases
09:44Making it genuinely capable of tainty P gaming and some light 4k video editing
09:48So I also contest the battery life yet
09:50Although the good news is that despite having a slimmer chassis overall and also adding you know a second full-size screen
09:57This actually has the same size
09:5875 watt-hour battery as the previous assembled duo and I think together with the new more efficient 14th gen chips
10:05Battery life should actually be pretty good. Although, of course, it will depend if you're using it in single or dual screen mode
10:10That's gonna take up a fair bit more battery if you're using both screens at the same time
10:14Although chances are when you're traveling you might use it like this
10:17But when you're at home or at the office, you'll probably have it plugged into the charger
10:21Anyway, when you're using the dual screen setup, so first impressions, I absolutely love this thing
10:26I definitely need more time with it and to properly test performance and battery life before I give a recommendation
10:32But I can tell you now it's gonna be difficult to go back to any
10:35Regular single screen laptop after getting used to this
10:38I feel like everyone needs two screens and as I say, I believe prices will start at around
10:44$1,500 thereabouts
10:45But I'll leave more information about that and availability in a pinned comment below and also check out as this is other big launches here
10:51At CES. We've got the ZenBook 14 OLED
10:53Also a new s13 OLED three new Vivo books in 14 15 and 16 inch sizes
10:59But what do you reckon? Could you be tempted by a dual screen laptop like this?
11:03Do you think they've finally nailed this form factor a big?
11:06Thank you to Asus for working with me on this video and I'll see you guys next time right here on the tech chat

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