Asus Put Two Large Displays in One Laptop

Asus is launching a very interesting device at Computex this week. On Monday, the company showed off its new ZenBook Pro Duo, the company’s latest ZenBook laptop with…two displays in one.

The idea of the ZenBook laptop is kind of like Apple’s TouchBar on the MacBook Pro — except it’s way larger, and seems actually useful. Both of the displays are a 4K display, with the main panel being a 15-inch 16:9 OLED panel, whereas the second one is a 32:9 IPS panel.

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The placement of the secondary keyboard means there isn’t much space left for the keyboard and the trackpad — but Asus has managed to cramp both in. The keyboard is a full-sized keyboard, with the numpad showing up on the trackpad when you need to use it. The trackpad is on the right side of the keyboard, which might be a little awkward to use it, but we have seen similar designs in gaming keyboard in the past.

As for the actual dual-screen experience, which Asus is calling the ScreenPad Plus, it’s actually kind of cool.  You can use the secondary display as an actual display on Windows so you can use any apps you want on there. You can also use it to expand the content from your main screen to the secondary screen, giving you more screen real estate. Asus has also included a bunch of custom software that lets you quickly switch between apps, launch apps, etc.

Weighing around 2.5Kg, the ZenBook Pro Duo comes with Intel’s octa-core Core i9 processor with the NVIDIA RTX 2060 GPU, a Thunderbolt 3 port, and two USB-A ports. Asus will also be selling a cheaper 14-inch model that comes with full HD screens rather than 4K panels, and less powerful CPU and GPU options.

Asus is not announcing pricing or availability details yet, though.

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Conversation 8 comments

  • dontbe evil

    28 May, 2019 - 4:59 am

    <p>not my type of laptop, but millions of time more useful than the apple touch bar</p>

  • jbinaz

    28 May, 2019 - 9:20 am

    <p>This seems like one of those things that looks gimmicky at first, but I think may have some real utility in the long run. </p>

  • cyloncat

    28 May, 2019 - 9:52 am

    <p>Thumbs down from a southpaw.</p>

  • TheJoeFin

    Premium Member
    28 May, 2019 - 11:47 am

    <p>I like the idea, but with the Trackpad pushing the keyboard to the left I can't see myself considering this as a new laptop. Even laptops with a numpad on the side don't feel good on my hands when typing for a long time.</p>

  • hellcatm

    28 May, 2019 - 1:34 pm

    <p>With this it would be cool to have a foldable screen.</p>

  • igor engelen

    28 May, 2019 - 2:37 pm

    <p>Can you use a pen on the 'keyboard screen'? If so I can see this as competion for the large ipad Pro.</p>

  • Passinttd

    29 May, 2019 - 8:32 am

    <p>This is the first time I have ever thought that two displays on a laptop would actually be useful! I work in the IT field in a medium size company with large company problems and the staff of a small company. As such, I wear many hats for IT. From help desk tech in the morning to network admin in the afternoon. PLC guy after that and finish the day with working on the servers. </p><p><br></p><p>A great example for use case is when I work on networking equipment though. I have teraterm up to get into the equipment, a notepad with the current running config, a notepad up with a similar config from other equipment and my normal applications. I can easily see myself moving the notepads to this little screen purely for viewing. Using it as a quick reference. The touch screen on both means I can easily use my fingers to scroll through the notepad document to the spot I need. Move my hands back to the keyboard to work on the configuration. </p><p><br></p><p>Next would be server administration. We use vcenter and I would love to throw vcenter into the small screen to see alarms or just an overview of everything. In the main screen I could have my actual remote desktop or virtual sessions. </p><p><br></p><p>I really believe that it all comes down to the keyboard. I feel like it looks a little scrunched in there. I love the trackpad adding in the number pad. I dearly miss that on 100% of my laptops. This is the first time I've ever seen it put there and I am 100% sold without even using it. I would also love if it had cellular on it. That would be an amazing bonus feature. Sure, I can hotspot to my phone but built in has always worked better for me!</p>

  • SaintKaze

    09 September, 2019 - 12:31 pm

    <p>This laptop is now available and really thinking of getting it. Current deal you get Chinema 4d and redsift . Thats kind of awesome. But are we expecting the Surface book 3 to be more powerful then this.. WELP!! haha</p>

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