ASUS ZenBook Duo OLED 2025 review: because two is better than one
Review Summary
Expert Rating
You know what’s better than a laptop with a lovely display? A laptop with two lovely displays. Cheesy puns aside, the ASUS ZenBook Duo is a device that does elicit oohs and aahs when you lay your eyes on it for the very first time, before muttering “What? Why?”. And these are pertinent questions, because this isn’t your conventional run-of-the-mill laptop. It’s a device that sports two touch-enabled OLED displays and comes with a detachable keyboard. Let’s take a closer look.
Table of Contents
Design and displays: solid and capable
Clad in dark grey, this laptop looks like it means business. When closed, it resembles a conventional, albeit slightly bulky, laptop, and you could be deceived even after opening it. Opening it up reveals a lovely 14-inch display, with a seemingly conventional keyboard below. It’s not immediately apparent, but the keyboard can be lifted and detached completely, revealing the second 14-inch display.
So you get double the screen space and can use the extra real estate either vertically or horizontally. It works as a dual-monitor setup, and could do wonders for productivity if you’re multitasking between a bunch of apps. It could also be quite handy for the creative types, with the bundled ASUS Pen 2.0 handling drawing and doodling duties. Speaking of, the pen is chargeable via Type-C and boasts 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity.
The 2,880 x 1,800, 120Hz OLED displays are quite vibrant, and great for all types of use cases — web browsing, productivity, multimedia and creativity. The port selection, however, isn’t the Zenbook Duo’s strong suit. You get a couple of USB Type-C ports with Thunderbolt 4.0 (one port on either side), a USB Type A, an audio jack, and a full-sized HDMI port. These ports should suffice for regular usage, but there’s no Ethernet port, and you might need an additional dongle if you want to hook up more peripherals.
Keyboard, trackpad, and audio: getting the job done
The detachable keyboard is quite slim and fashioned out of plastic. When detached, it works over Bluetooth, and placing it back on the lower half of the laptop (over the second screen) attaches it magnetically, with the pogo pins below being utilised for connection and also for juicing up the keyboard’s built-in battery.
There’s a Type-C port on the left side of the keyboard if you want to charge it using an external power adapter, and also a sliding switch that turns the Bluetooth function on and off. The keys are backlit and spacious, with ample travel that makes for ergonomic and comfortable typing. The trackpad is large and quite responsive, too. The built-in speakers do a decent job, churning out reasonably loud audio which should suffice for regular usage.
Performance and battery: solid
Powered by the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H processor and mated to 32 gigs of LPDDR5 RAM, the ASUS Zenbook Duo packs serious grunt and makes mincemeat of regular tasks. There’s a speedy 1TB gen4 SSD in there for storage, and while the Intel Arc graphics aren’t meant for serious gaming, tasks like photo and video editing work fine. Benchmark performance paints a nice picture overall, and while you can check out the scores below, suffice it to say that the device won’t leave you wanting for more in the performance department. Unless you’re a serious gamer, in which case you should ideally set your sights somewhere else.
The 75Whr battery also scores high, logging a solid 13 hours 38 minutes in PCMark video test. However, your mileage could vary, especially if you use it with both screens on. ASUS has also done well to include a compact 65W Type-C charger with the laptop, and since it’s hardly bigger than a phone charger, it doesn’t add significant weight to your laptop bag.
Verdict
Carrying a sticker price of just a little under Rs 2 lakh, the ASUS ZenBook Duo OLED isn’t for everyone. And if you’re spending that kind of money, you’d better be sure before you buy one. It’s really meant for power users… the serious multitaskers and the creative ones. From a flexibility and value-for-money perspective, using a regular laptop with an external monitor could be a more practical solution, but the Zenbook Duo OLED could be for you if you either already use, or covet a dual-monitor setup, and want one everywhere you end up using your laptop. The device mixes portability with the productivity benefits of a dual-screen in a way only this can, and it’s not as if the market abounds with a ton of similar options. Convertibles and 2-in-1s are ASUS’ forte (Lenovo comes across as one of the closest rivals), and the Taiwanese brand stands out with its unique offerings. The Zenbook Duo is another device that ranks high on innovation. A nifty, unique device this, and one that could serve you well if you know what you’re getting into.
Editor’s rating: 7.5 / 10
Pros:
- Solid build
- Lovely OLED displays
- Flexible usage
- Smooth performance
- Limited port selection
- Tad heavy
