ASUS has been making headlines lately. First, with the launch of its ZenFone 6, a phone designed for creators, featuring two impressive rear cameras (48MP and 13MP) that rotate for selfies, a 6.4-inch screen with 2340x1080 resolution, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, and a 5,000mAh battery, among many other great features. And while we were still catching our breath, they reveal this beautiful portable monster.
Called the ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo, it includes a second 4K screen called ScreenPad Plus, placed below the keyboard. With IPS technology, this second screen is 14 inches, touch-sensitive, with a 32:9 aspect ratio, a 3840x1100 resolution, and a 178-degree viewing angle. A true beauty!
The main 15.6-inch touchscreen is 4K OLED and is no slouch. It has a more traditional 16:9 aspect ratio and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, perfect for video editing and graphic design.
The numeric keypad is also touch-sensitive and doubles as a touchpad. It's located to the right of the traditional keyboard, where the numeric keypad has always been. Without a doubt, ASUS has managed to pack an astonishing number of features without breaking the classic laptop design.
It's clear that so many screens and features need a powerful engine under the chassis. The ZenBook Pro Duo delivers. You can choose between two processors: a Intel Core i9-9980HK or a Intel Core i7-9750H. RAM is also customizable: 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB of DDR4 at 2666MHz. The graphics card is the impressive Nvidia GeForce RTX2060 with 6GB of GDDR6 VRAM. SSD storage offers options up to 1TB PCIe x4. Finally, it includes an HDMI output, a USB Thunderbolt 3 Type-C port, and two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports.
As said, a beautiful mutant monster that manages to include two touchscreens, a numeric keypad that works as a trackpad, and top-notch technical features. A perfect computer for media creators, video editing, graphic design, and for illustrators who don't want to carry an extra graphics tablet.
There will be a more modest version called ZenBook Duo (without the Pro), which obviously comes with the two screens but with smaller dimensions and much more modest hardware (the screens won't be 4K but Full HD, no Intel i9, and a much inferior graphics card: an NVIDIA GeForce MX250 with 2GB).
Nothing is known yet about the final price of either version, nor the exact release date, although they are expected sometime in the third quarter of this year.
Official site: ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo
