Asus ZenBook Duo (2026) Review

Anyone that has to bash a batch of enactment – oregon adjacent gaming – connected a machine knows the virtuousness of having aggregate displays. After all, it makes multitasking easier, without having to trust connected alt-tab going to the close window. That’s benignant of what the Asus Zenbook Duo is looking to capitalize on, and dissimilar immoderate of the half-baked designs seen connected this laptop enactment successful the past, Asus has really nailed the look this clip around.

In a nutshell, the Asus Zenbook Duo is conscionable similar immoderate different thin-and-light laptop. It’s powered by Intel’s caller Panther Lake CPU – specifically the Core Ultra X9 388H – which is powerful, but not the benignant of desktop-class show you’d expect successful a heavier workstation oregon gaming laptop. Still, due to the fact that of the improvements Intel has made with this procreation of mobile processors, this laptop is really susceptible of gaming astatine decent prime settings with a high-ish framework rate.

That said, I wouldn’t urge this for anyone looking for a strictly gaming laptop. But if you’re a originative idiosyncratic that wants thing thin, light, and capable to bash immoderate gaming connected the broadside – portion having a full 2nd show attached – the Asus Zenbook Duo has a batch to love. That is, if you tin get past the $2,299 terms tag.

Design and Features

The ZenBook Duo is ostensibly a ‘thin and light’ laptop, but it’s not really that bladed erstwhile everything is folded up, measuring astir 0.9 inches heavy astatine its thickest point. But erstwhile you see that thickness is 2 displays, a keyboard and a full system, it’s really awesome that Asus was capable to acceptable it into specified a bladed package.

The other show besides makes the Zenbook Duo a small heavier than it’d different be, coming successful astatine 1.65kg, oregon 3.63 lb, with everything included. That’s overmuch lighter than thing similar the Razer Blade, but considering it’s not packing the aforesaid benignant of hardware, that’s lone to beryllium expected.

When the laptop is archetypal opened, it looks similar beauteous overmuch immoderate different 14-inch laptop. There’s a beauteous 16:10 OLED display, and a keyboard. But erstwhile I glanced astatine the broadside of the laptop I could instantly archer that the keyboard tin beryllium removed, conscionable by the quality successful code betwixt the keyboard and the remainder of the chassis. The quality is subtle, but it’s conscionable capable that they look similar 2 abstracted pieces.

However, it’s not instantly wide however the keyboard should beryllium removed. I mean, successful theory, it’s not complicated, due to the fact that it’s conscionable magnetic, but the archetypal clip I opened the instrumentality I recovered myself gingerly pulling up connected the keyboard successful random places making definite I was removing it from the close place. It would person been bully if Asus added a small grip of immoderate benignant to the top-right country of the keyboard, conscionable to marque pulling the keyboard disconnected the bottommost show a small easier – adjacent if it’s not that complicated.

The keyboard itself attaches magnetically to a acceptable of POGO pins astatine the bottommost of the 2nd display. This serves 2 purposes: it connects the keyboard to the PC without relying connected Bluetooth, and besides keeps it charged wirelessly.

When you propulsion the keyboard disconnected of the bottommost display, the PC should automatically alteration the 2nd screen, and the keyboard itself volition automatically power to Bluetooth mode. The lone clip it didn’t bash this for maine was successful the mediate of testing, and I was very upset until I figured retired that I had disabled Bluetooth for the artillery test. Every different time, though, it conscionable worked.

Due to however bladed it needs to be, the keyboard doesn’t athletics the deepest travel. It’s conscionable a chiclet keyboard astatine the extremity of the day, but it’s comfy capable to benignant on. However, what’s truly annoying is the gestures Asus built into the trackpad. For years now, Asus has had a fascination with making its trackpads arsenic feature-packed arsenic possible, but what really ends up happening is that my thenar is perpetually turning up oregon down the brightness arsenic I’m typing. This is simply a diagnostic you tin thankfully disable successful the MyAsus app, but it annoys maine every time. What’s chaotic is that erstwhile the diagnostic is disabled, the trackpad really has fantabulous thenar rejection. Make it marque sense.

On the near broadside of the laptop, the ZenBook Duo sports an HDMI cable, a Thunderbolt 5 larboard and a headphone jack (they inactive marque those). The keyboard besides has a USB-C larboard connected its near side, but that’s conscionable determination for charging the keyboard. On the right, you’ll find the powerfulness button, different Thunderbolt larboard and a singular USB-A larboard for bequest peripherals.

Around the back, there’s a kickstand. That seems weird astatine archetypal glance, but it’s really indispensable to usage the Zenbook Duo successful dual-display mode. It works excellently erstwhile the displays are sitting horizontal, but for immoderate crushed the kickstand lone covers the halfway of the device, which means if you privation to crook the instrumentality sideways – which would beryllium large for moving connected documents oregon coding – you person to benignant of space the displays successful a weird publication configuration. And adjacent then, it’s not precise stable.

A Second Display?

Having a 2nd show is ever going to beryllium utile – that’s wherefore portable monitors beryllium successful the archetypal spot – but having 1 built into the laptop is simply a compelling idea. This isn’t the archetypal clip Asus has made a instrumentality similar this, with the ZenBook Pro Duo UX581 debuting mode backmost astatine Computex 2019. However, that laptop looks a batch antithetic than the caller 2026 model.

On that erstwhile model, the 2nd show was chopped successful fractional and placed supra the keyboard deck. This instantly constricted its usefulness, arsenic you couldn’t enactment full-sized apps connected it. Plus, this was astir the aforesaid clip that Asus was experimenting with the Screenpad concept, which embedded the numpad into the touchpad – and it’s ne'er truly been executed connected properly.

In 2024, though, Asus debuted the Zenbook Duo with a afloat 2nd display, which made it a overmuch much usable device. Now, the institution has followed that up with a much refined Zenbook Duo for 2026. For the archetypal clip successful the 7 years since I saw that archetypal ZenBook Pro Duo astatine Computex 2019, I’m sold connected the concept.

Critically, the Zenbook Duo simply works similar a mean laptop successful its one-screen-configuration. The 2nd show is lone determination erstwhile I request it, meaning I don’t person to sacrifice a comfy keyboard similar connected the archetypal models. And past erstwhile I bash privation to whip retired that 2nd display, it’s incredibly useful.

It was truly erstwhile I sat down to constitute this reappraisal that it started to click for me. I enactment the laptop successful its dual surface mode with Asus’ reappraisal usher connected the 2nd display, portion typing connected the apical arsenic normal. You see, I bash astir of my penning connected a laptop, and I’ve gotten very bully astatine utilizing touchpad gestures to swap betwixt aggregate displays to look astatine notation material. That’s conscionable however I’m utilized to moving these days, but this laptop makes it truthful overmuch easier to notation oregon entree a 2nd papers oregon different root of information.

With the Zenbook Duo, I person Google Docs unfastened connected the apical show with the notation materials close beneath it. And, due to the fact that they’re some interaction displays, I tin conscionable scroll done documents with the interaction screen. It feels incredibly natural.

It doesn’t wounded that they’re some gorgeous displays, either. In my colorimeter tests, some displays deed 100% of the RGB and P3 colour gamuts, making beauteous overmuch immoderate contented outpouring to life. This is besides large for photograph and video editing, arsenic I tin beryllium definite that the edits I’m making are close without having to 2nd conjecture anything.

You tin besides conscionable region the keyboard and summon an on-screen keyboard connected the 2nd show by utilizing a motion by pressing 4 fingers from some of your hands connected the surface astatine the aforesaid time. You tin adjacent shrink the on-screen keyboard by pressing those aforesaid fingers connected the screen, and dragging them down. With the latter, it is astir similar the Zenbook Duos of old, even! However, really typing this mode is simply a nightmare, truthful I wouldn’t urge it arsenic thing much than a enactment trick.

Even though I’m not the biggest instrumentality of the carnal keyboard and trackpad, the Zenbook Duo is rapidly becoming 1 of my favourite laptops to work on. Even if I wouldn’t needfully urge it for gaming.

Performance

The Zenbook Duo that Asus sent for reappraisal is powered by an Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. And adjacent though it doesn’t person a discrete graphics chip, the integrated Intel Arc B390 is nary slouch.

Intel spent the months starring up to CES bragging astir however bully Panther Lake – the architecture down the 388H – is astatine gaming. So I did what immoderate sensible tech reviewer would bash and ran it done the aforesaid investigating regimen arsenic immoderate different gaming laptop. And portion it decidedly does conflict astatine its autochthonal solution of 1800p, astatine 1200p you’ll beryllium capable to play beauteous overmuch anything, arsenic agelong arsenic you enactment distant from the highest prime settings.

Our modular benchmark suite for gaming laptops tests each the games astatine their max prime settings, and arsenic such, the integrated graphics successful the Zenbook Duo bash commencement to struggle. In Cyberpunk 2077, connected the Ray Tracing Ultra preset astatine 1200p, this laptop gets 29 fps – not great. However, crook the settings down to the High preset and it gets 65 fps – and that’s earlier framework generation.

Oh, yeah, Panther Lake’s integrated GPU supports up to 4x multi-frame generation, conscionable similar DLSS oregon FSR Redstone. With framework procreation enabled, Cyberpunk connected the High preset goes up to 103 fps astatine 2x FG and 165 fps astatine 4x FG. Those numbers look good, but support successful caput that it besides comes with a flimsy summation successful latency, going from astir 39-42ms without framework gen to 55-72ms with framework gen maxed out.

Compare that to the Lenovo Legion Go 2 – besides powered by a mobile-class integrated GPU – which gets 37 fps astatine 1200p with the aforesaid settings. The 2 processors aren’t straight compatible, arsenic the Legion Go 2’s Z2 Extreme tops retired astatine 35W, compared to astir 54W for the ZenBook Duo, but it’s adjacent capable that I’m truly looking guardant to seeing however this architecture does successful a handheld gaming PC.

Gaming show does truly endure erstwhile you play games astatine the autochthonal 1800p resolution, though. For instance, successful Cyberpunk, the framework complaint drops to 21 fps with the Ray Tracing Ultra preset and XeSS acceptable to the show setting. And, successful Metro Exodus: Enhanced Edition, the framerate goes from 20 fps with the Extreme Preset astatine 1200p each the mode to a measly 13 fps astatine 1800p.

Even with the caller Panther Lake architecture, The Zenbook Duo is intelligibly inactive not a gaming laptop, but it does person bully capable gaming show that you should beryllium capable to play immoderate games successful your downtime.

Battery Life

When a laptop truly wants you to enactment each time connected it, it really has to past astir of the day. After all, you don’t privation to beryllium successful the mediate of an important task lone to person it dice connected you halfway through. Luckily, the Zenbook Duo does past rather a portion connected battery.

In the Procyon Office Productivity Battery benchmark, the ZenBook Duo lasts a whopping 17 hours and 35 minutes connected battery, which makes it 1 of the longest lasting laptops we’ve tested by a batch – though admittedly we astir ne'er reappraisal this people of laptop astatine IGN. The artillery puts the Zenbook Duo successful the aforesaid people arsenic the MacBook Air. Only, Apple’s laptops don’t person a 2nd surface attached to them.

Even extracurricular of the tests, successful the week oregon truthful I’ve spent with the Zenbook Duo, I ne'er had to unreserved to plug it in, with it sitting connected my table for a mates of days of intermittent usage earlier needing to charge. This is decidedly the benignant of laptop I’d similar to instrumentality with maine to an lawsuit similar CES, wherever its originative chops and agelong artillery beingness would assistance maine retired immensely.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor astatine IGN and the PC components queen. You tin travel her @Jackiecobra