Asus ZenBook Duo is all about two shows, a know-how that Asus has been pushing and enhancing for a number of years now. The 2021 duo lineup consists of Zenbook Duo 14 and Zenbook Duo 15 with costs beginning at INR 99,990 and 239,990, respectively.
This yr Asus brings in a slimmer design, up to date efficiency {hardware}, and a number of other enhancements to the core dual-screen know-how. In our Asus Zenbook Duo 14 UX482E evaluation, we’ll discover if the 2 screens on a conveyable laptop computer are certainly helpful and the way far the Screenpad know-how has advanced. Let’s get began with the worth and specs.
Asus ZenBook Duo 14 UX482E Value and Specs
Asus ZenBook Duo 14 UX482E Overview: Design
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Score: 4 out of 5.
On the surface, the brand new Zenbook Duo can go off as a daily 14-inch ultrabook and there may be nothing that results in suspicion of its distinctive two-screen format. It’s pretty slim (16.9 mm) and fairly gentle (1.6 Kg), and really snug to hold in a backpack.
Asus makes use of magnesium-aluminum alloy for the chassis and the lid, and the signature brushed steel end nonetheless feels premium and chic.
As with earlier Zenbook Duo fashions, the dock makes room for a secondary 12.6-inch touchscreen. It’s a vivid IPS Panel that helps contact and stylus enter and the great factor is that the Stylus is bundled inside the field.
The most important change this yr is the brand new AAS Plus (Lively Aerodynamic System) and hinge that seamlessly lifts the secondary panel to a 7-degree angle. This light carry reduces the spacing between the 2 screens and in addition ensures higher airflow. This implies you gained’t should crane your head downward or regulate your posture each time you turn your gaze from one to a different.
We’ll get to the usability of the extra show in a bit, however accomodating two shows includes some design tradeoffs. The most important is that there isn’t any house for handrests. Asus addresses this by shifting the keyboard to the very backside so customers might comfortably relaxation their palms on a desk whereas typing. The makeshift elevation stand bundled within the field helps too.
The trackpad crammed to the far proper can be removed from splendid. The press buttons are small and productiveness functions mandate using an exterior mouse. There’s choice to convert the secondary display screen into a large touchpad, however that didn’t minimize it for us.
Attributable to these limitations, the Zenbook Duo is greatest suited to use on a desk. Utilizing it in your lap or in odd locations just like the handrests of your front room sofa may be very inconvenient.
The laptop computer sits firmly on a desk with none wobble and the general construct appears extraordinarily sturdy. The webcam is appropriately positioned on the highest bezel above the display screen.
Additionally Examine: LG Velvet Overview – Exploring twin screens on Android
Asus ZenBook Duo UX482E Overview: Twin Shows
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Score: 4 out of 5.
The first 14-inch display screen has slender facet bezels which make it seem extra immersive. Asus targets 100% RGB shade house, which ought to make the duo extra interesting to its goal of artistic professionals. There’s additionally Pantone Validated certification which ought to be related to a piece of designers and people concerned in publishing work.
Sure, the first display screen feels completely befitting the worth tag, however the principle cause why you’d be shopping for a Zenbook Duo is for its two screens. This yr, the 12.6-inch secondary IPS LCD panel is brighter and extra vibrant, and higher matched to the first one – which actually helps. Each screens can get 400 Nits vivid, however the matte end on the ScreenPad makes it seem a tad uninteresting in opposition to the shiny and reflective major panel.
Home windows acknowledges the Screenpad as a secondary display screen and you need to use it as an prolonged monitor. The brand new management heart for the Display screen Pad is much more intuitive and it’s fairly straightforward to pull functions and chrome tabs between the 2. There are separate brightness management and an app drawer for Display screen Pad apps like calculator, Spotify, and so forth (the record is presently very restricted).
With a couple of functions like Adobe Premiere, After Results, Photoshop, and Lightroom, the ScreenPad opens up a management panel with related buttons, sliders, and dials for zoom, distinction, and extra. This ought to be useful for creators who steadily use these apps.
Adjusting workflow for 2 screens takes some getting used to. Initially, we needed to drive ourselves to make use of the secondary display screen, however finally, we took to it and actually loved the expertise. It’s form of handy to not have to change screens to examine mail or to check with a tutorial or to examine and check with notes whereas writing a evaluation.
The twin-screen expertise isn’t a gimmick. On the similar time, convincing lots to interrupt years of single-screen conditioning and get used to twin screens ought to be an uphill job.
Asus ZenBook Duo UX482E Overview: Keyboard, IO, and Connectivity
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Score: 3 out of 5.
The keyboard clearly feels a bit cramped and spacing between keys isn’t splendid. Our major use case includes numerous typing and surprisingly we bought used to the Zenbook Duo keyboard pretty rapidly.
Keys have 1.4mm journey and there are a number of hotkeys together with one to change home windows between the 2 screens or to disable the display screen pad. We consider it gained’t be laborious for most individuals to get used to typing on a Zenbook duo positioned on a tabletop.
There’s a wealthy assortment of connectivity choices, just like what we now have on different Zenbook fashions this yr. These embody a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Kind-A port, two USB Kind-C thunderbolt ports, an audio jack, a Card Reader, and customary HDMI 1.4. The brand new duo additionally helps dual-band Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.
Asus ZenBook Duo 14 UX482E Overview: Efficiency, Battery & Audio
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Score: 4 out of 5.
Our evaluation unit is powered by a 2.80 GHz Intel Core i7-1165G7 quad-core processor paired with 16 GB 4266 MHz LPDDR4x RAM and 1TB M.2 NVME PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD storage. The Zenbook Duo 14 comes with optionally available NVIDIA GeForce MX450 graphics with 2GB GDDR6 VRAM. For the Duo 14, there may be additionally a Core i5 -1135G7 choice with 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD, which begins at INR 99,990.
Compared, the Zenbook Duo 15 UX582 begins at INR 239,990 ought to be higher suited to superior productiveness wants. It has a 15.6-inch OLED show and goes as much as Core i9-10980HK and Nvidia RTX3070 graphics.
Asus additional brandishes Intel Evo certification, which Intel diligently awards solely to laptops with premium elements that may match up a sure efficiency threshold.
The Zenbook 14 Duo that we now have with us is a robust laptop computer for routine work and reasonable productiveness wants. This isn’t a machine that might stutter if you happen to push it with umpteen chrome tabs or aggressive multitasking. Nevertheless, the Nvidia MX450 is just about entry grade and it gained’t be sensible to anticipate a lot by way of graphics-intensive masses like gaming or video enhancing.
We didn’t face any random stutters, the laptop computer boots up very quickly and switch speeds over WLAN have been wonderful. Heavy graphics video games like Assasins Creed didn’t work effectively. Different much less demanding video games like Witcher 3 work effectively in medium settings.
Asus has a really spectacular warmth dissipation mechanism that features two 59-blade followers, a heavy-duty warmth dissipation pipe, and the brand new Ergolift hinge that supposedly improves airflow by 49%. The system proved very efficient and the Zenbook Duo 14 may maintain efficiency rather well.
The 70-watt-hour battery is rated to final for 17 hours of all-day utilization. We may persistently handle greater than 12 hours with each shows turned on. The ZenBook Duo additionally helps quick charging and might go from zero to 60 p.c in below 49 minutes. So, battery mileage is kind of spectacular, particularly factoring within the further display screen.
As for audio, there Asus-tuned and Harman Kardon licensed audio system that get pretty loud. We nonetheless needed to depend on exterior audio system and TWS earbuds more often than not.
Overview Verdict: Must you purchase the Asus ZenBook Duo 14 UX482E?
The 2021 Zenbook Duo Laptops herald a number of enhancements to the secondary ScreenPad show like a brighter and extra vibrant panel, extra customizable and intuitive UI, and the brand new elevating hinge. The Duo 14 is remarkably effectively designed – it seems to be premium and may be very moveable despite making room for an additional show. The efficiency is similar to what you’d get from ultrabooks in the identical finances.
The core premise stays that two screens are higher than one, and if that doesn’t sound convincing to you, the entire expertise may fall flat. Over the generations, Asus has been preserving its ears to the bottom and has included neighborhood suggestions to get the inspiration of dual-screen laptops proper.
The Zenbook Duo 14 is for anybody who has a particular dual-screen use case in thoughts or values two screens sufficient to bear a cramped keyboard and trackpad. If not, the extra standard Zenbook 14 UX435 ultrabook ought to be a more sensible choice.
Asus Zenbook Duo 14 UX482E evaluation score:
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Score: 3.5 out of 5.
Execs
Wonderful design
ScreenPad is genuinely helpful
Wonderful battery mileage
Spectacular connectivity choices together with two Thunderbolt 4.0 ports
Cons
- Cramped keyboard with out correct handrest
- Squeezed trackpad and its odd positioning
