Arrr, mateys! Avast ye! 'Tis a tale of screen-age swashbuckling—dual screen laptops be changin' the way we compute!
2024-01-12
Avast, me mateys! Behold, ASUS hath crafted laptops from the future, ye can scarce believe yer eyes! But hold yer doubloons, for these marvels be as cheap as they be wondrous. Aye, ASUS hath made the impossible possible!
The new ASUS Zenbook Duo is a laptop like no other. When it's closed it looks and feels like a premium ultraportable laptop, but open it up and you'll see something incredible: two 14-inch 3K OLED displays, delivering an absolutely massive place for you to work or play. It's an astonishing, revolutionary laptop – and it's also a promise delivered. Way back in 2018 ASUS showed us the future of laptops, and now that future is right here.In 2018, ASUS caused gasps when it unveiled the PRECOG concept at the Computex trade show. The PRECOG made jaws drop, but as it was a concept there was some scepticism over whether it would ever become a real product. However, ASUS launched the dual-display Zenbook Pro 15 (UX580) later that year. ASUS called its second screen the ScreenPad and it sat where you'd usually see a trackpad – but this trackpad doubled as a display that you could use to launch apps and carry out key tasks in apps.
In 2019 ASUS launched the ScreenPad Plus, and this time the ScreenPad was the full width of the laptop. That meant it was a fully usable display, not just a place for app icons and shortcuts. While ASUS was making ever-smarter laptops, display technology was improving dramatically too. OLED didn't just deliver vivid colours, exceptional contrast and excellent energy efficiency. It also did so in panels that were much thinner than the LCD ones that you'd typically find in laptop displays.
With the ScreenPad Plus ASUS had demonstrated that a second screen could be a must-have feature. The next step was to make it even bigger and even better, taking full advantage of those thinner OLED panels. 2022's ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED was the result, a proof-of-concept laptop that delivered a "gorgeous, foldable OLED display" with an "innovative design" to create a "weird, awesome laptop".
This year, ASUS is going to make jaws drop again. The new ASUS Zenbook Duo (2024) is an incredible dual-display laptop with an astonishingly affordable price – and ASUS hasn't been cutting corners to make that happen. In addition to those gorgeous 3K 120Hz OLED displays there are all-new Intel Core Ultra 9 H-series processors, up to 32 GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and up to a 2 TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. Those processors also feature Intel's very first Neural Processing Unit (NPU), which delivers on the AI promises we first saw in the PRECOG concept.
It's been fascinating to see ASUS take the dual-screen laptop from the concept of the PRECOG and the early ScreenPad to today's incredible no-compromise Zenbook Duo – and you won't have to wait very long to get your eyes and your hands on one. The new ASUS Zenbook Duo (2024) UX8406 will be available from the end of January in the UK from just £1,699.