Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED review: a dual-screen laptop that works

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A person did it. There was a time when I didn't think I'd be saying these words, but now I do.

We haven't seen anything like the ZenBook Pro Duo 14 OLED before, and it's a dual-screen form factor. There is a bigger screen on the top of the Duo line and a smaller screen on the back of the keyboard deck. The keyboard is all the way to the front of the deck, with a teensy touchpad on the right.

The company made a small change that made the experience more comfortable, raising the secondary screen by 12 degrees.

This has changed everything. The Zenbook Duo model only tilted the secondary screen up by seven degrees. The model in 2020 was even flatter. In both cases, I leaned over to see what was on the second screen.

The increase to 12 degrees doesn't look huge on paper, but it's finally made the screen high enough that I no longer need to crane. I am sitting in my office chair. I am reclining a bit. I can see both the primary and secondary screens of the Pro Duo. The words are legible on the secondary screen.

The secondary screen is easier to see from a distance than it has been in the past. It is now reaching 500 nits, which is brighter than last year. It has a resolution of 2880 x 864. A new anti-glare etching keeps it from reflecting ceiling light, which has been a nuisance in the past.

The second screen is useful now. On previous models, it has been a place to distract myself from my real work while I was on the top half. I can look at and read reference materials while I work.

Does that mean that the benefits outweigh the compromises in order to fit a whole second screen onto this laptop? We're at the point where it's just a preference for keyboard location. Everything else has been fixed by the company.

For example, ScreenXpert. The Duo's two screens have come a long way from the glitchy and unresponsive mess it used to be. The new version of the device looks more professional than previous versions. It's all quick to use, and windows were supposed to be. I occasionally had to use a button to get something to open, but that was the extent of the issues I had. It is easy to learn and intuitive, which has not always been the case with ScreenXpert software.

The ScreenPad has a floating mini Windows taskbar with quick buttons for various features like toggling brightness, phone mirroring, opening an app navigation screen, locking the keyboard, and making all the windows disappear to display the desktop background. I was prepared to complain about the questionable utility of some of these, but it turns out that there is a lot of customization you can do in the Control Center settings panel. You can change the location of the taskbar by dragging it to either side.

The task groups feature allows you to save a configuration of tabs and apps in an arrangement of your choice, and I still like it. I use this a lot on Duo devices.

The other fix I'm very happy about is the touchpad. The Duo 14's touchpad is so small that it's useless. I have used a stylus on previous models. I was doing that until I discovered TouchPad mode.

The ScreenPad can be turned into a giant touchpad with touchpad mode. You just have to tap it with three fingers. To turn it into a ScreenPad, you have to tap an X in the top-right corner. The touchpad is as responsive to all the gestures as a regular one would be. Of course there are downsides. There is no clicking mechanism, but tap-to-click does work well. It's weird that you are reaching over the keyboard to use it. You can't see the other content on the ScreenPad if you pull up the touchpad interface. I'm very happy to see this feature here, but I hope that in the future it will be even more translucent.

Alienware's X14 is one of the few high-performing gaming laptops and workstations we've seen with the mainstream Intel Core i7-12700H inside. My unit has 16 gigabytes of memory and 1 terabytes of storage. I don't hate these specifications, but it will cost $1,999.99.

The performance in my general work use cases was very good. I would have tabs on top of the calls and streams with no issues on either screen. The RTX 3050 Ti isn't designed for games of the highest caliber, but it can make older, lighter titles a possibility, since it's weaker than other laptop graphics cards.

I never felt uncomfortable heat on the bottom of the device or the keyboard, even though it was sometimes warm. This appears to be thanks to the new cooling system, which has two 12-volt fans with 97 and 93 blades. I can't tell if it's true that the device stays under 28 decibels when on the Whisper Mode cooling profile. I barely heard the fans when I wasn't on Whisper Mode.

The battery life was mixed. I worked for around five hours with both screens. This device is running two high-resolution screens so it is not a terrible result, but it is not close to a full day. The original Pro Duo only lasted over two and a half hours, and the more expensive Zephyrus Duo 15 only lasted one hour and 48 minutes. If you need a lot of juice, you can use the keyboard to turn off the ScreenPad.

One of the first 120Hz displays on a laptop is the primary screen, which is 16:10. The port selection is good, with two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a full-sized HDMI 2.1, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, an SD Express 7.0 card reader, and a combo audio jack. I'm happy to see this device holding onto the HDMI and SD card slot, as other premium 14-inchers ditch them for the world ofusb-C. I have never wanted to plug an external keyboard and mouse into something more, so this thing should not be skimping on ports. The device automatically connects to the best signal in its current environment with the help of the wi-fi smart connect feature.

It's unfortunate that I'm still not loving it, because all this is great. The Pro Duo 14 has convinced me that even the best version of the dual-screen form factor isn't enough to overcome the fact that I can't stand having a keyboard in this position. For the life of me, I will never understand you people's love for front-mounted keyboards. This is a great keyboard. The keys are clicky and have a decent amount of travel. I hate typing with my hands pressed against my chest.

I don't know if it's possible to fix it. We are running into a wall of personal preference with this design. I don't like using a keyboard that doesn't allow me to rest my wrists. I think this is a good buy for people who don't have this issue.

The Pro Duo 14 is a dual-screen system that has been made by Asus. Most of the problems that could have been fixed have been fixed. In our review of the first-generation Zenbook Duo, Chaim Gartenberg wrote that there was a great laptop buried within the raw clay. This is great.

The story with Duo laptops from here on out may just come down to whether you like having a keyboard on the front of your deck. It's a good sign that these devices have had issues in the past.

Monica Chin is a photographer.

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it. It is impossible for us to read and analyze all of these agreements. We started counting how many times you have to agree to use devices when we review them.

The setup of the Zenbook Pro Duo 14 OLED presents you with a number of things to agree to or decline on.

An agreement is required for the mandatory policies.

• A request for your region and keyboard layout
• Microsoft Software License Terms and Asus Notice
• Sign into a Microsoft account
• Create a PIN

There are a lot of optional things to agree to.

• Connect to Wi-Fi network
• Name your device
• Set up Windows Hello
• Device privacy settings: Find My Device, Inking and Typing, Advertising ID, Location, Diagnostic data, Tailored experiences
• Customize your device for personalized tips, ads, and recommendations (you can choose between entertainment, gaming, school, creativity, business, and family)
• OneDrive backup
• Microsoft 365 free trial
• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate free trial
• Provide your name, region, email address, and phone number to save to your device and autofill in the Asus member registration form in the MyAsus app

There are six mandatory agreements and 14 optional ones.