Whenever anybody asks me to recommend a great Windows laptop to rival the MacBook Air, the name Zenbook is never far from escaping my mouth.

Asus' Zenbook line offers some of the most visually impressive, sleek, and slimline laptops on the market, built from premium materials with unique finishes and proportions that make these laptops so thin they look like optical illusions.

Making the Zenbook all the more of a recommendation, Asus on Monday teased an all-new Copilot+ PC model of its popular laptop, set to be revealed as part of the company's Always Incredible CES 2025 event kicking off on January 7, 2025.

The world's lightest Copilot+ PC

Last year, Asus' Zenbook S 13 became one of the thinnest laptops on the market at just 0.42 inches thick.

It would seem that the lessons Asus learned on its way to crafting such a thin laptop have been expanded, as the company now claims it's made the lightest Copilot+ PC in the world with its upcoming Zenbook.

The machine's lightweight build is likely down to refinements on the same qualities that made last year's Zenbook S 13 so slim: A magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis, a solid CNC keyboard deck that requires no additional support, and a more optimized internal layout with an ultrathin cooling fan and slimline vapor chamber.

However, that's not to say Asus hasn't innovated even further in making every millimeter inside its Zenbook count. We'll need to wait for CES 2025 to learn more.

A Zenbook with a 'cutting-edge processor'

While we can't say ahead of time which processor the new Zenbook will feature or confirm any specifications, the mention of a "cutting-edge processor" may suggest several options for the laptop's CPU selection.

The obvious processor options for the Zenbook include Intel's Lunar Lake, Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite, and AMD's Ryzen AI Strix Point chips.

However, CES 2025 will likely bring several new silicon announcements. As such, there's an outside chance that we can take the "cutting-edge" claim at face value, with the potential to see the laptop adorned with Intel's next-generation Arrow Lake or AMD's Krackan processors.

On the far end of speculation, the Zenbook could also host Qualcomm's rumored Snapdragon X Elite Gen 2 processor (also known as the Snapdragon X2 Elite). However, that may be more wishful thinking on our part.

One thing we can say for definite is that the shift to Copilot+ computing will undoubtedly benefit Asus' upcoming laptop.

Copilot+Zenbook: Perfect harmony

Not only will the new Zenbook be ultra-lightweight, with Asus claiming it to be the world's lightest Copilot+ PC, but it'll also be among the most ultra-efficient thanks to its Copilot+ PC branding.

AI and Copilot+ PCs have had an impressive outing throughout 2024, showcasing impressive performance and longevity thanks to their improved efficiency and battery life.

A particular star among this year's release has been the Dell XPS 13 (9345), outfitted with the powerful Snapdragon X Elite CPU, which dazzled during our Laptop Mag battery test — lasting over 19 hours of web surfing at 150 nits of brightness on a single charge.

According to Asus' testing, this new model may become a go-to for laptops with the best battery life, rating the Zenbook with a jaw-dropping 32-hour battery life. We look forward to going hands-on with the Asus Zenbook to see how well those claims hold up in our proprietary tests.

What's next?

Next up, CES 2025. That's where the always-interesting Asus will be hosting the Always Incredible launch event (streaming live, January 7, 2025, at 9 a.m. Pacific and Noon Eastern) showcasing this new Zenbook in full alongside similar hardware offerings from other manufacturers — like the recently announced Acer Swift 14 AI.

Here, we can expect processor details to be revealed and wider specifications and potentially more information about how the company achieved its new ultra-thin-and-light design. Not to mention when this new Copilot+ Zenbook will become available for purchase.

More from Laptop Mag

• Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED (2023) Review: Lighter than (MacBook) Air
• Laptops with best battery life in 2024 — longest-lasting laptop batteries
• Microsoft Surface laptops to return in early 2025 with a surprise new addition, says report

Asus is pitting the Zenbook S16 against the MacBook, and we think it might win.

Asus held its "Always Incredible" Computex launch event on Monday, unveiling its new laptops and monitors, and how the company is committed to the future of AI. 

Halfway through the keynote, Jack Huynh, AMD Senior Vice President & General Manager of Computing and Graphics Group, came on stage to discuss the benefits of AMD's partnership with the company. 

While discussing the power of its new 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen AI processor, he made a bold statement when comparing it to MacBook: "Our mission was to create the most powerful processors in the world that are in super light and thin laptops. Laptops that are faster than MacBook Pro, thinner than MacBook Air. And we have done that today with Asus with the Zenbook S16."

Is Asus for real? Let's jump into what Asus claimed.

What is Asus claiming exactly?

Huynh continued to say "we have 1.7x more performance than MacBook Pro, 2.8x more AI TOPS than the Apple M3." Accompanying him are slides stating that these comparisons are made with the AMD Ryzen AI 300 vs the Apple M3.

But what is the Asus Zenbook S16 actually packing that makes it so impressive? It's built with up to an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor featuring AMD Radeon 890M integrated graphics and 50 NPU TOPS. A series of slides reveal how it outperforms the MacBook Air 15 (M3) in AI through UL Procyon by 118%, Geekbench CPU scores by 20%, 3D rendering through Cinebench by 60%, image processing by 22%, and gaming by 62% (playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider).

Its design also features what Asus calls an "industry first innovation" that "offers the best of both worlds" by providing the sturdiness of aluminum alongside the malleability of ceramics. Asus calls this "ceraluminum." It also features a 16-inch OLED touchscreen at 3K resolution with a panel at 120Hz refresh rate, a 78Wh battery, and six speakers (four woofers/two tweeters).

Claiming that the Zenbook S16 will outperform the Apple MacBook Pro M3 while staying thinner than the MacBook Air is phenomenally bold. This would create a unique combination of phenomenal performance and ultraportability. You might assume Asus is just blowing hot air, but based on previous tests, we have reason to believe the company could pull through on this promise.

Asus' challenge to Apple has more weight than expected

Asus claims that its laptops can be "faster than MacBook Pro, thinner than MacBook air" through the power of the 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen AI processor. And when it comes to the Zenbook S16, it apparently manages both. While that may seem like a bold challenge at the surface level, our tests on previous MacBook laptops showcase that they've already outperformed MacBook in these categories.

Insofar as performance, the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (2024) is built with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor. On the Geekbench 6 test, which is a benchmark that measures system performance, it achieved a score of multi-core score of 12,707. The MacBook Pro 14 with M3 managed a multi-core score of 11,870 on the same test.

If we look back to 2023, the Asus Zenbook S 13's 2.2-pound design with 0.43 inches of thinness made it smaller and lighter than the MacBook Air M2's 2.7-pound weight and 0.44 inches of thinness. In reality, that difference is practically invisible, but it still shows that the company can compete with Apple in this category.

However, the Zenbook 14 OLED does not outdo the latest MacBook Air in thinness, while last year's Zenbook S 13 performs significantly worse when compared to a MacBook Pro M2. To state that the Zenbook S16 will do both at the same time is a bold statement, but if the company can pull it off, it would be a massive accomplishment.

We don't have exact measurements of the Zenbook S16, but the company claims it's 1.1 centimeters thin. A rough conversion into inches brings that to around 0.43 inches, which would beat the MacBook Air M3 13 and 15's 0.44-inch and 0.45-inch thinness respectively. If that reflects its exact measurements, it's just a matter of whether the Zenbook S16 can outperform the MacBook Pro M3.

Asus cannot beat MacBook at everything

While Asus is so proudly flaunting how its Zenbook S16 will compete against MacBook, there are some things that the company has solidified itself as unstoppable in. The biggest is battery life, with the latest M3 MacBooks featuring a power efficiency that makes every other notebook shiver in fear.

On the Laptop Mag battery test, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits, the MacBook Air 13 M3 lasted 15 hours and 13 minutes, while the MacBook Pro 16 M3 Max lasted 18 hours and 5 minutes. While exceptions like the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED lasted 15 hours and 52 minutes, battery life that good is the standard for Apple. It's unlikely we'll see longevity anywhere near this good on the Zenbook S16, but we're more than ready for a surprise.

The Asus Zenbook Duo gets its name from one key feature: Nestled beneath its gray aluminum deck yields a display identical to its primary, resulting in two 1920 x 1200-pixel touchscreen OLED panels side-by-side. And as soon as you decide you no longer need both, you can magnetically attach its included keyboard to the deck. 

But beyond its dual screen functionality, does the Zenbook Duo find its own ground? The short answer is yes, offering phenomenal processing speeds, a surprisingly clicky keyboard, and solid battery life in a decently affordable package. It will definitely make our best Asus laptops list. If you want the longer answer, let's jump right into whether or not the Zenbook Duo is right for you.

Asus Zenbook Duo price and configuration 

Our review unit of the Asus Zenbook Duo is built with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, integrated Intel Arc graphics, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, and two 1920 x 1200-pixel resolution OLED touchscreens. It’s available at XOTIC PC for $1,499.

The most expensive model boosts the processor to an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H, increases RAM to 32GB, and pushes the screen resolution to 2880 x 1800. It’s available on XOTIC PC for $1,749.

Asus Zenbook Duo design 

On the surface, the Zenbook Duo appears like any other mainstream laptop you could find on the market, perhaps with just a slightly bulkier deck. You might think nothing of the device when lifting its Inkwell Gray lid, but if you place your fingers at its sides, you’ll notice an indent halfway down. Lift that up and viola, a second 16:10 screen with the same OLED panel and 1920 x 1200-pixel resolution appears.

While the design is fantastic on paper and works surprisingly well, you should expect a small delay between taking the keyboard off and placing it back on. It’ll always need a moment to register its new mode, but beyond that, I wish removing the deck was easier. It’s a bit of a struggle every time I do so, without a convenient place to latch onto, forcing me to slightly jimmy the thing to get it off. Outside of its “Duo” namesake, the design is minimalist with a few diagonal lines traveling across the lid and a Asus Zenbook logo in the top left.

The Asus Zenbook Duo also comes with Asus Pen 2.0, a pressure sensitive pen that works with both of the laptop's touchscreens. It's sold for $99 on its own and comes with a USB-C charging port, four pen tips, and a Bluetooth pair button. It also has three shortcut buttons, one on top for customized shortcuts, while the other two can mouse click and erase.

It’s probably no surprise that the Zenbook Duo is a bit heavier than larger laptops thanks to its unique functionality, coming in at 3.6 pounds and measuring 12.3 x 8.6 x 0.6~0.8 inches. Even then, competitors like the MacBook Pro 14 M3 (3.4 pounds, 12.3 x 8.7 x 0.6-inches), HP Spectre x360 14 (3.2 pounds, 12.4 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches), and MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo (3.3 pounds, 14.1 x 10 x 0.7 inches) are all in a similar ballpark in weight and size. 

Asus Zenbook Duo security and durability 

The Zenbook Duo is surprisingly sturdy, featuring military grade certification through the US MIL-STD 810H standard. This means that it has been put through rough conditions and still remained intact, potentially including high or low temperatures, moisture, shock and more. While the hinge itself can be a bit wobbly, the aluminum deck and chassis are nice and firm. It also comes with an IR camera compatible with Windows Hello and TPM 2.0.

Asus Zenbook Duo ports 

Built with a decent selection of ports, the Zenbook Duo should be more than capable of handling your needs, especially if you’re a big fan of Thunderbolt 4. On its left side, it has two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a USB 3.2 Type-A. On its right there’s an HDMI 2.1 and a 3.5mm audio jack. 

Asus Zenbook Duo display 

Not only does the Zenbook Duo have a 14-inch, 1920 x 1200-pixel resolution glossy touch screen at a 60Hz refresh rate, but a duplicate is nestled beneath its keyboard. The first screen is always on when the magnetic keyboard is attached, but once removed, the other comes to life after a few seconds.

I watched the trailer for The Fall Guy and as it cut to slow-motion shots on a set of an alien planet, the intense orange and yellow smoke of explosions against a faded open sky overwhelmed with spaceships looked both colorful and bright. With the harsh white lights of my office put to its maximum brightness, I could still see the screen perfectly clear. I noticed a subtle reflection, but I had to focus on it to become visible.

However, I had seen this trailer on my Alienware AW2725DF OLED monitor and quickly noticed that everything on the Duo looked too orange. Other OLED laptops often have an issue highlighting intense vivid colors over accuracy, but the Duo took things to a whole other level. I went into the MyAsus settings and was able to change the Color Gamut from Native to either sRGB (for web content), DCI-P3 (for cinema) and a custom Display P3, which is designed to provide “wider true-to-life colors.” Each looked a little too intense, but my favorites were the DCI-P3 setting for film and sRGB for everything else.

But the key feature of the Duo is its second display. Lifting the magnetically attached keyboard will automatically duplicate any contents of one screen onto the other. It works flawlessly, with everything on one happening on the other, making it perfect for larger groups of people who need to huddle over one project and work together on it.

It’s also perfect if you’re an artist seeking to emulate using a drawing tablet without having to look down at the lower screen, as everything is instantly duplicated on the upper screen, allowing you to illustrate with eyes upwards. And since both displays are the same specifications in every way, there are no discrepancies.

Alternatively, you can press F7 if the keyboard is still attached and swap to Extend. If you don’t have the keyboard attached anymore, go to System > Display > and then swap Duplicate these displays to Extend these displays to have two separate screens operating at once. Having a second screen available is great for productivity, but it’s especially good for artists who need visible references while working on the second screen.

The Zenbook Duo did decently on our color tests, reproducing 80.5% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. While this is an okay score in general, it’s surprisingly average for an OLED display. This is way below the 98.5% premium laptop average, which also includes non-OLED devices. It’s also worse than what’s seen on the MacBook Pro (81.3%), Prestige 16 (137.9%), and Spectre x360 14 (85.8%).

It did a little better on our brightness tests, hitting a peak of 351 nits on average, which is also lower than the 436 nits mainstream laptop average. Again, this puts it behind the MacBook Pro (558 nits), Prestige 16 (368 nits) and Spectre x360 14 (366 nits), but it is pretty close to the last two competitors.

Asus Zenbook Duo keyboard and trackpad

Considering the Duo is a laptop with a detachable keyboard, I’m impressed by how clicky and satisfying it is to use with its 1.4mm travel. I typically expect companies to cheap out when it comes to this, but if you were to give this to the average consumer, they probably wouldn’t even be able to tell there’s a second screen underneath the keyboard just because of how good it feels to use.

I took the 10fastfingers typing test and managed 111 words per minute with a 98.5% accuracy. I can normally score anywhere from 110 to 120 words per minute with a 95 to 99% accuracy on my mechanical keyboard, so this is pretty much indistinguishable from my normal performance, which once again goes to show how good the keyboard feels.

Beyond type feel, the FN keys can project the display, mute the microphone, connect the keyboard via Bluetooth, bring up a list of emojis, quickly go to MyAsus, and turn off the second screen. Since the keyboard itself is detachable, it features a little switch on its side to turn the Bluetooth setting on. It can be used wirelessly and then recharged using a USB-C port on the side.

The 3 by 5.3-inch trackpad is equally satisfying, allowing me to browse the internet and move files from folder to folder without feeling too sluggish. Multi-gesture actions were also no issue, I used three fingers to reveal and hide everything with ease, alongside swapping tabs with no issue.

Asus Zenbook Duo audio

The Zenbook Duo’s speaker system is far from great, but it’ll get the job done for the less picky listeners. It’s loud, offers clear vocals, and can be sufficiently punchy, but the balance is all off. Certain sounds will drown others out, and some will feature a bass that seems to wildly overcompensate for what the speaker can handle.

I began listening to Blood Mary by Lady Gaga at maximum volume and was  blown away by how loud this thing could get, and while it was clearly prioritizing Gaga’s voice over certain elements like the bass and the background vocals, it still sounded pretty good. The explosive chorus’ punchy sound had me uncontrollably bang my head, but I do wish the system provided a greater balance to some of the electronic instruments lost in the noise.

I then moved onto my latest obsession, O Children by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, which I’ve been listening to non-stop for the last month. It’s a complex song with lots of instruments that can easily be lost beneath one another, and this is where I got less impressed by the quality of the speakers.

While the opening droning noise sounded great, the acoustic guitar that followed shortly after was hollow and flat. And then when the vocals and percussion jumped in, they were accompanied by an overwhelming amount of bass, and it felt as if the speaker system was pushing itself to its limits. Even then, by the time the final stretch came through, the high volume and clear vocals were enough to carry it to a decent auditory experience.

Asus Zenbook Duo performance 

The Zenbook Duo is built with a Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage. Considering it’s utilizing the latest Intel Ultra processors, it’s safe to say you shouldn’t expect any less than the best from this laptop in terms of performance. You can have dozens of YouTube videos on at once, with Twitch streams and Spotify running in the background with little to no issue.

On the Geekbench 6.2 overall performance test, the Zenbook Duo’s multi-core score of 12,873 is fantastic. This puts it far above the category average of 8,423. The MacBook Pro (M3, 11,870)  and Spectre x360 14 (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, 12,358) stood no chance, but it was defeated by the Prestige 16 (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, 13,310).

While converting a 4K video into 1080p using the HandBrake app, the Zenbook Duo managed to accomplish the task in 8 minutes and 56 seconds. Unfortunately, this is slower than the 8 minute and 13 second category average. The MacBook Pro (5:38), Prestige 16 (5:17), and Spectre x360 14 (7:30) all performed the task quicker.

The Zenbook Duo duplicated 25GB of multimedia files in 20 seconds at a transfer rate of 1,349 megabytes per second, which is slower than the 1,410MBps category average. The MacBook Pro (512GB SSD, 4,752MBps) was miles ahead, but the Prestige 16 (1TB SSD, 1,400MBps) and Spectre x360 14 (1TB SSD, 1,362MBps) were just barely better.

Asus Zenbook Duo gaming and graphics 

The Zenbook Duo is not built for gaming by any means, including nothing but its integrated Intel Arc graphics. And even if you’re looking for a laptop to fire up some casual gaming, you might want to look elsewhere.

During the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm test at 1080p, the Duo achieved a pretty underwhelming 34 frames per second (which is technically playable). Its competition mostly blew it out of the water, with the MacBook Pro (51 fps) and Prestige 16 (66 fps) doing pretty well, while the Spectre x360 14 (36 fps) was in the same lane.

Asus Zenbook Duo battery life 

During Laptop Mag battery life test, which involves continuous web browsing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits, the Zenbook Duo lasted 10 hours and 34 minutes in laptop mode, which is pretty solid and pushes a bit above the 10 hour and 30 minute average. And even when having both screens on simultaneously, the laptop still hit 8 hours and 22 minutes, surpassing our 8-hour minimum threshold. While this is pretty good, it couldn’t quite compete with the MacBook Pro (17:16), Prestige 16 (13:22), and Spectre x360 14 (11:01).  

Asus Zenbook Duo webcam 

The Zenbook Duo won’t make it to the top of any best laptop webcams lists, but it does a good enough job with its 1920 x 1080-pixel resolution. I was pretty impressed with how it accurately portrayed the vibrancy of my pink walls and white ceiling, with the harsh white lights in my room not turning into an overexposed mess. But it did turn my lamp’s light blinding. You probably won’t need to purchase an external webcam, but if you need one, check out our best webcams. 

Asus Zenbook Duo heat 

The Zenbook Duo exceeded our 95-degree comfort threshold, with it reaching 113 degrees at its hottest point both in laptop mode and with dual screens on. We normally perform heat tests on the keyboard and touchpad, but neither of them are actually part of the machine, so there’s not much getting hot except the back of the machine itself.  

Asus Zenbook Duo software and warranty 

While installed with Windows 11, the Zenbook Duo also features MyAsus, which provides a bunch of useful software and settings. You can view metrics for battery, CPU load, memory, hard disk space, warranty information, run system diagnostics, and update software. Further settings to modify audio and visuals are also available, like increasing the warmth of the screen or changing the color profile.

The Zenbook Duo comes with a one-year limited warranty. You can see how X did in our Tech Support Showdown special report.  

Bottom line 

The Asus Zenbook Duo strives to fulfill a specific purpose and does that exceptionally well. Anyone who needs a new machine with a satisfying keyboard that can seamlessly be swapped into a dual-screen setup for artistic projects will not be disappointed. Alongside exceptionally high performance metrics and solid battery life within a surprisingly affordable package, it is a great pick for artists and creators.

But it’s far from perfect, with its least offensive aspects being its underwhelming audio and difficult-to-remove magnetic keyboard. What really sets this laptop back is an OLED display that doesn’t meet our expectations in color, even when compared to non-OLED displays. If you’re on the lookout for a great laptop and can do without the dual-displays, the MSI Prestige AI Evo 16 provides phenomenal performance at a slightly lower cost. Otherwise, we recommend the Zenbook Duo for anyone who loves the appeal of its dual-screen configuration. 

Our newsroom was in a bit of a fuss as we saw the materials for the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED slide our way — the previous model is one of our favorite affordable laptops and especially our favorite college laptop.

We don't have price just yet, but it'll release sometime in 2024 — if the Zenbook 14 OLED maintains its low price point, it could take the crown once more. 

We're on the scene in Las Vegas to check out the latest tech at this year's CES 2024 showcase. Be sure to tag along on our CES 2024 journey by following Laptop Mag on TikTok, Twitter/X, Instagram, Flipboard, and Facebook for the most up to date hands-on impressions and news coming from the convention floor.

CES 2024: Asus Zenbook 14 OLED specs & features

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED comes in two models: UX3405 (Intel) and UM3406 (AMD). We don't know much about the Intel version right now, so let's talk about AMD.

The UM3406 will be outfitted with an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor, 16GB of RAM, and up to a 1TB SSD. In terms of the OLED display — it clocks in at 14 inches, 1920 x 1200, 16:10 with a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and up to 550 nits of brightness. If those numbers are accurate, this will be one gorgeous as hell machine.

Sizing up to 12.3 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches and 2.7~2.8 pounds, the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED retains its slim and light stature. You'll get one USB 4 port, one USB Type-C port, one USB Type-A port, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a headphone jack.

Asus claims that the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED will have a longer battery life thanks to its 75 Wh battery. For reference, the previous model featured a life of 10:52, so upping that would be hella impressive.

CES 2024: Asus Vivobook S Series specs & features

On top of the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED announcement, a new Asus Vivobook S Series slides right in. There are three models, two AMD and two Intel, all of which feature OLED panels.

The Asus Vivobook S 15 OLED (S5506) is expected to launch with an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 15.6-inch, 3K, 16:9 display with 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and up to 600 nits of brightness.

The Asus Vivobook S 16 OLED (S5606) will launch with an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 16-inch, 3.2K, 16:10 display with 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and up to 600 nits of brightness.

The Asus Vivobook S 15 OLED (M5506) is slated to come with an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS CPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, and a 15-inch, 3K, 16:9 display with 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and up to 600 nits of brightness.

The Asus Vivobook S 16 OLED (M5606) will offer an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS CPU, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 16-inch, 3.2K, 16:10 display with 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and up to 600 nits of brightness.

There's a lot to choose from, but overall, these seem to be higher end models of the original Zenbook 14 OLED, which means they'll be more expensive and naturally be more scrutinized if they don't deliver.

We're excited, but we'll see where this piece of tech lands in the lab. For news, rumors, and updates on everything CES 2024 related, and all things tech, follow Laptop Mag on Twitter, Facebook, and Flipboard for the latest word as it arrives.

Cyber Monday 2023 has arrived and while deals abound in just about every category from laptops to phones, it's also inarguably one of the best times of year to pick up an OLED laptop. Are they usually expensive? Yes, but we found one for $499.

That's right, you can snag the Asus Zenbook 14X OLED for just $499 at Best Buy in this stellar Cyber Monday deal. This is the best OLED laptop deal we've ever seen, especially since this is one of the best touchscreen laptops around. If you're bargain shopping for a capable PC for work, school and play, this deal is for you.

You won't find a better OLED laptop deal than this, and I'm not sure you'll find better laptop options in general in this price range.

The Asus Zenbook 14X OLED is one of the best touchscreen laptops around. If you're bargain shopping for a capable PC for work, school and play, this deal is for you. 

Currently, the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED is on sale for $549 at Best Buy. It normally costs $799, so that's $250 in savings and the lowest price ever for this particular Asus laptop. Best Buy further sweetens the deal with a free 1 month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and 6 free months of  Trend Micro Internet Security (valued at $30).

In terms of value, this is one of the  best laptop deals you can get. 

The Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED is a lightweight content-creating beast in an ultraportable form factor that will make it popular with on-the-go creators. Unassuming in appearance with svelte dimensions that combine the potency of an Intel Core i9-13900H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, a gorgeous 2.8K OLED Pantone-certified touch display is tossed in for good measure.

Very few ultraportable content creation laptops pack the kind of power the Zenbook Pro 14 does at this price point. I edited several 6K videos without any hiccups, and I experienced solid Windows laptop battery life while going about my day pushing documents. Obviously aimed directly at the MacBook Pro 14, this ZenBook Pro 14 is a serious contender for our best laptops for video editing and should make the fruit monikered tech titan from Cupertino nervous. Let’s dive a little deeper into this sly content creator from Asus.

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED  pricing and configurations

Our Zenbook Pro 14 OLED model costs $2,099.99 and comes with an Intel Core i9-13900H CPU, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD SSD, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, and a 2.8K (2800 x 1800) 14-inch OLED touch display, with a 16:10 aspect ratio, running at 120Hz of refresh rate.

A base model Zenbook Pro 14 OLED, is available at Amazon for $1,799.99. This model has the same Core i9-13900H processor, RTX 4070 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage.

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED design

The tech black all-metal Zenbook Pro 14 OLED has this reserved outer appearance that's utilitarian and unassuming, perfectly hiding the raging internals craving to be tested. In the hand, the Zenbook feels like a slim cold slab of finely chiseled slate. A refined Asus logo in black chrome on the lid teases that something special lies hidden beneath. Also, knowing that the ZenBook Pro 14 is MIL-SPEC 810 certified is comforting, as it can handle some drops, bumps, and bruises.

When opening the lid, your eyes are introduced to the super bouncy Chiclet-style keyboard with white font letters and symbols. Centered beneath is the touchpad with an inset programmable wheel that lights up when you tap and slide your finger toward the center of the touchpad. It’s a very attractive feature, and the touch wheel works very well when editing audio.

Above the deck, the ample 14-inch, 2.8K (2800 x 1800) touch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio sits within nearly nonexistent bezels. Gazing up a bit, we find the FHD (1920 x 1080) webcam centered in the thickest part of the bezel.  

The overall styling for a high-powered laptop is understated, and you would never know you were about to create your magnum opus on it. Flip the unit over and we find the Harmon Kardon speaker vents on the bottom of either side of the chassis, followed by an area of cooling vents.

The Asus Zenbook Pro 14 measures 12.67 x 8.79 x 0.70 inches and weighs 3.5 pounds. This Zenbook Pro 14 feels tiny, and I slid it into my backpack next to my MacBook Pro 16 without giving it much thought or adding much noticeable weight. 

The Lenovo Slim Pro 9i weighs 4.9 pounds (14.3 x 9.6 x 0.75 inches), followed by the MSI Stealth 14 Studio (12.4 x 9.69 x .75 inches) at 3.75 pounds. Our final group member is the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UM3402Y (AMD), which measures 12.35 x 8.69 x 0.67 and weighs 3.06 pounds. Who doesn’t love a little sibling rivalry?

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED ports

On the left, we find the 3.5mm combo audio jack, one USB Type-A port, an HDMI port, and an AC power port.

We find an SD card reader and 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports on the right side.

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED display

The 16-inch, Pantone-certified OLED display boasts a 2.8K (2800 x 1800) resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio with a 120Hz refresh rate. Whether you care about Pantone certification or not,  you will notice it immediately as it is an incredibly saturated display. 

The Pantone certification gave me confidence while color grading footage in DaVinci Resolve, and knowing that it's rated for color accuracy is incredibly important to content creators.

While Watching “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse,” the computer-animated world was brilliantly saturated, with immersive imagery as it popped off the Pro 14’s display. The ZenBook Pro 14’s OLED display produces excellent black and contrast, and the black web lines of Peter Parker’s red spider suit were crisp and popped. Everything is lushly reproduced in the scene where Miles gets bitten, with excellent detail and inspiring color.

During our testing, the Pro 14 reproduced 78.2% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is below the mainstream average of 91.2%, which was surprising. Meanwhile, the Stealth 14 Studio led our group with 114.4%, followed by the Slim Pro 9i which tallied 111.2% with the Zenbook 14 OLED shutting the door averaging 79.1%.

Our Zenbook Pro produced 346.6 nits of brightness, just a hair below the mainstream laptop average of 357 nits. The Lenovo Slim Pro 9i had a blinding 637 nits of brightness, producing brightness to spare, followed by the Stealth’s 370 nits, and the Zenbook 14, which averaged 346 nits. 

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED keyboard and touchpad

The Zenbook Pro 14’s backlit keyboard is well appointed, with excellent travel between keys, allowing my massive hands to type comfortably.  During the 10FastFingers.com typing test, I typed 89 words per minute with 87% accuracy.

Usually, I am in the 85 to 90 words per minute range with 85% accuracy, so I surpassed my averages and enjoyed the bouncy, responsive keys.

The 5.3 x 3.4-inch touchpad is responsive and accurate when navigating websites or documents. It nicely performed all Windows 11 gestures, such as two-finger swipes and three-finger taps. The bottom corners give firm and clicky feedback when using right or left clicks.

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED audio

The audio experience on the Zenbook Pro 14 features Harmon Kardon tuned speakers, which performed very well during my time with it. The speaker system created precise tonal separation, allowing for the easy detection of high, mid, and low tones. The speakers are not overly thumpy, but the bass has depth and is loud enough for me to enjoy music in my studio apartment, which is about the size of a college dorm room. 

I fired up The Bass Police's “Shake That,” and the Pro 14’s speakers remained clear without distortion, even with the too-heavy bassline pushing its drivers. It held up well, delivering very discerning, clear audio with depth. In honor of Hip-Hop’s 50th birthday, I listened to the classic “I’m Bad” by LL Cool J. The Harmon Kardon speakers did a good job of delivering all the flashback-inducing bass, and Uncle L’s lyrics were reproduced crisply. 

While watching the news on the Spectrum TV app, the reporter's voices were clear and clean as I learned about the day's weather and political craziness happening worldwide. The ANC of the built-in mic array worked very well without being choppy during video conference calls. I held a brief chat via Google Meet with my daughter to hear about her evening before she went to bed, and she reported I sounded clear, with minimal background noise leaking through. 

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED graphics

The Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED has an Nvidia RTX GeForce 4070 GPU with 8GB of VRAM. The 4070 efficiently handled editing 6 and 4K videos in DaVinci Resolve, as I spent a grueling workday producing videos without worry as the Zenbook performed smoothly. 

On the 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark, the Pro 14 scored 19,010, which crushes the average mainstream laptop (6,856). However, the MSI Stealth (Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060) crushed this benchmark with a score of 22,675, followed by the Lenovo (Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050) 20,193, with our sibling Zenbook 14 OLED (integrated AMD Radeon graphics)) closing things out at 3,657, way below the benchmark average. 

During the TimeSpy benchmark, our Zenbook destroyed the mainstream average score of 3,229, tallying 8,651. The MSI Stealth 14 Studio led our group scoring 9,906, followed by the Lenovo Slim Pro 9i at 9,000, with the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED closing this benchmark with 1,481.

The Zenbook blew away the 45 frames per second mainstream gaming laptop average during our Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (1080p) benchmark, averaging 115.33 frames per second. The Lenovo Slim Pro 9i blew this benchmark away, averaging 124 fps, with the Zenbook non-Pro 14, averaging 28 frames per second. Our Stealth 14 was not tested using this benchmark; however, on GTA V in 1080p, it averaged 83 frames per second. It’s safe to assume it would score extremely well during the Sid Meier benchmark.

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED performance

With an Intel Core i9-13900H CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD, the Pro 14 delivered a solid performance throughout my time. I never experienced any lag while using different applications.  

When I got the Zenbook Pro 14 in hand, I plugged it in, powered it up, and immediately opened up 60 tabs in Google Chrome. Several were playing YouTube videos, one running "Spider-Man Into The Spiderverse.” There was no lagging performance, and the fan noise was minimal, but I could feel them pushing out warm air. The cooling system on the Pro 14 helps with performance, although occasionally, the fans revved up a bit loudly.

Our Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED review unit surpassed the category average during our synthetic tests, starting with Geekbench 6, an overall performance benchmark. The Pro 14 scored 13,249, leapfrogging the average mainstream laptop score of 8,508 and leading our group.

The MSI Stealth 14 Studio (Intel Core i7-13700H) was second with a score of 12,841, followed by the Non-Pro 14 7,785 (AMD Rvzen 7 7730U). The Lenovo Slim Pro 9i (Intel Core i9-13905H) tallied 8.351.

During the Handbrake video-editing test, which requires the laptop to transcode a 4K video to 1080p, the Zenbook Pro 14 scored above the mainstream laptop average of 7 minutes and 39 seconds, taking 5:42 to transcode the media. 

The Slim Pro 9i dominated this benchmark taking just 3:59 seconds to finish the task, with the Stealth 14 Studio following coming with an acceptable 4:41 seconds. The other Zenbook 14 handled the job in 8 :5. 

During our file transfer test, the Pro 14 OLED (1TB SSD) averaged a transfer rate of 1,239.69 megabytes per second, shooting past the 929.39 mainstream laptop average when duplicating 25GB of mixed-media files. The 9i (1TB SSD) delivered a group-leading transfer rate of 1,964.94 megabytes per second, blasting past the rest of the group. The third spot belongs to the M 310.05 MBps.

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED battery life

When you combine a potent CPU and GPU, as we find on the Pro 14, battery life is going to take a hit. During our in-house battery test (continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits), the Omen lasted 6 hours and 51 minutes, so you can get through most of your day without plugging it in. However, I would toss the charger into my backpack, just in case. 

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (AMD) led our group, averaging 11:32, with the Lenovo coming in at 6:12. The MSI Stealth took 3:17 minutes as it treated its battery like a bag of dark chocolate almonds, devouring it in no time.

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED heat 

The Zenbook’s cooling system is adequate, and I never felt like it was too hot for my lap. However, our test results tell a slightly different story. During our heat tests, which consisted of a series of temperature scans after running a fullscreen HD video for 15 minutes. The touchpad measured an acceptable 81.5 degrees Fahrenheit, and the space between the G and H keys measured a comfortable 91.6 degrees. The laptop’s underside barely exceeded our 95-degree comfort threshold at 95.7 degrees.

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED webcam

The FHD (1920 x 1080) webcam on the Zenbook Pro 14 OLED is an excellent webcam that produces nicely saturated still images and video. You experience crisp, clear videos and images even with inadequate lighting.

I also found the camera did an excellent job adjusting to changes in my surroundings and never became pixelated. The Windows camera software has accurate autofocus and tracking. There is also a push-button security shutter to keep peeping eyes out. 

Although the Pro 14’s webcam offers solid imaging, if you need more resolution, I would check out our best webcams page for some extra guidance if you need more. 

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED software and warranty

The Zenbook Pro 14 OLED comes with Windows 11 Home but doesn’t come with an obnoxious amount of software or bloatware. Although, like every Windows 11 computer, there are apps for Skype, Office 365, Microsoft Solitaire suite, and Xbox console. Other than that, you can get into gaming or pushing documents without dealing with deleting extraneous software. 

The My Asus app allows users more intimate control of the laptop performance and grants the user access to battery performance, adjust the ANC levels, MUX switch, and cooling.

The Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED comes with a one-year limited warranty. See how Asus performed on our Tech Support Showdown special report.

Bottom line

If you need a lightweight, super potent content-creator laptop, the Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED is hard to beat. It has a better display and can go toe to toe with the MacBook Pro 14 performance-wise. The only place where the MBP 14 dominates the Zenbook is in battery life, where Apple laptops are own the market. 

The Zenbook Pro 14’s 2.8K OLED touch display is stunning, and Apple doesn’t do touch. Also, to get a MacBook Pro 14 with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage will run you $2,899. If you want to save some money and get equal performance, the Asus Zenbook Pro 14 is a great option you need to take seriously. You may lose a battery life battle, but you can afford a good external battery pack with what you save and still have money for other gear. 

The MacBook Pro 14 with M2 Pro just dropped $300 in a surprise limited time flash deal. If you act fast, you can snag this best in class laptop for a rock-bottom price. 

Today only, you can get the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro for $1,699 at B&H. It typically costs $1,999, so you're saving $300 with this deal. This marks a new all-time low price for this particular MacBook Pro making it one of the best MacBook deals of 2023.

Today's best MacBook Pro deal

Apple's 2023 MacBook Pro is its best pro-grade MacBook release to date. This particular model on sale has a 14.2-inch (3024 x 1964) Liquid Retina XDR display, M2 Pro 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB SSD.

In our MacBook Pro with M2 Pro chip review, we were floored by its impressive performance, 14+ hour battery life, and generous amount of ports. We also praise its vibrant, crisp display and outstanding speakers. We give the MacBook Pro with M2 Pro Chip an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5-stars and our esteemed Editor's Choice award.

In Geekbench 5.4 overall performance tests, the 2023 MacBook with M2 Pro scored a high with 14,965. This beats the premium laptop average of 6,173 and scrapes competitors like the Asus ZenBook 14X (12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H CPU, 11,142), Dell XPS 13 Plus (Intel Core i7-1280P CPU, 10,621) and the Acer Swift 5 (Core i7-1260P CPU, 9,859). 

Weighing in at 3.5 pounds, and  0.6-inches thin, the MacBook Pro M2 Pro is heavyweight, yet fairly portable. It's slightly heavier but just as thin as the Asus ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition (3.1 pounds, 0.6 inches), Dell XPS 13 Plus (2.7 pounds, 0.6 inches) and Acer Swift 5 (2.7 pounds, 0.6 inches). Connectivity-wise, the 2023 MacBook Pro 14 is outfitted with 3 x Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port, headphone jack, and SDXC card reader. 

B&H's MacBook Pro with M2 Pro deal ends Sept. 8, so act fast!

The base model M2 Pro MacBook Pro is more than enough for most pro users, and you can pick one up for its lowest ever price after a huge $250 saving!

Make no mistake about it, this is one of the best MacBook deals we've seen all year. Typically, we see the price stoop as low as $1,799, but this is the second time Amazon has dropped an extra 50 bucks off the cost.

MacBook Pro 14 with M2 Pro deal 

Apple's 2023 MacBook Pro is its best pro-grade MacBook release to date. This particular model on sale has a 14.2-inch (3024 x 1964) Liquid Retina XDR display, M2 Pro 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB SSD.

In our MacBook Pro with M2 Pro chip review, we were floored by its impressive performance, 14+ hour battery life, and generous amount of ports. We also praise its vibrant, crisp display and outstanding speakers. We give the MacBook Pro with M2 Pro Chip an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5-stars and our esteemed Editor's Choice award.

In Geekbench 5.4 overall performance tests, the 2023 MacBook with M2 Pro scored a high with 14,965. This beats the premium laptop average of 6,173 and scrapes competitors like the Asus ZenBook 14X (12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H CPU, 11,142), Dell XPS 13 Plus (Intel Core i7-1280P CPU, 10,621) and the Acer Swift 5 (Core i7-1260P CPU, 9,859). 

Weighing in at 3.5 pounds, and  0.6-inches thin, the MacBook Pro M2 Pro is heavyweight, yet fairly portable. It's slightly heavier but just as thin as the Asus ZenBook 14X OLED Space Edition (3.1 pounds, 0.6 inches), Dell XPS 13 Plus (2.7 pounds, 0.6 inches) and Acer Swift 5 (2.7 pounds, 0.6 inches). Connectivity-wise, the 2023 MacBook Pro 14 is outfitted with 3 x Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port, headphone jack, and SDXC card reader. 

As with all Apple deals, this likely won't last too long so grab it while you still can. 

Asus has been killing it with the 14-inch form factor this year, and the updated Zenbook 14X OLED takes its place alongside the standard Zenbook 14 OLED to make for a pretty formidable lineup.

With 13th Gen Intel power, a sumptuous OLED panel, a respectable port array, and a stellar keyboard and touchpad, there isn’t really anything to grumble about. But I’m British, so of course I found something — but it’s not a dealbreaker. In fact, I rather love this system. But there are some foibles I must bring to your attention.

Asus Zenbook 14X OLED price and compatibility

You can pick up the Asus Zenbook 14X OLED from $1,199/£1,199, which is a reasonable price when you take into account the Intel Core i7-13900H CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD. For the model we tested, you get double the RAM and a dedicated RTX 3050 GPU for £1,799 (currently £200 off on Amazon).

That’s £200 less than the base model M2 Pro MacBook Pro, but also £250 more than a similarly-specced Lenovo Slim Pro 7. Asus has placed this smack bang in the middle of this category — now it just needs to nail the fundamentals.

Asus Zenbook 14X OLED design

Similar to the Zenbook S 13, the 14X OLED is quite the stand out stunner. From the utilitarian aesthetic and sharp edges to the clean lines on the lid, the build quality looks and feels unmistakably premium. You’ll be proud to whip this out at a café or in your next meeting.

The plasma ceramic aluminum lid is a particular favorite of mine — the silver-etched lining kicks up the dynamism, and the textured surface feels like a high-quality piece of paper. Open it up, and you’ll notice some impressively thin bezels and a spacious keyboard with clearly lit characters that is covered in an equally gracious matte texture that your fingers will adore.

Plus, Asus has managed to keep this device nice and portable. It’s slightly larger than the Macbook Pro and Slim Pro 7, but a touch lighter.

It’s beautiful from every angle — and that even includes the symmetrical vent ports on the bottom and round back. 

Asus Zenbook 14X OLED ports

The port array is respectable for most things, but I would have expected more in a 14-inch laptop. As it is, you’re getting a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A on the left, along with two Thunderbolt 4, an HDMI 2.1, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack on the right.

That’s going to be enough to get the vast majority of tasks done, but what about an SD card reader? What about a second USB-A port? There are just a couple of omissions that limit it from being a perfectly effective prosumer system, so you may need to grab one of the best USB Type-C hubs.

Asus Zenbook 14X OLED display

Asus has been spreading OLED throughout its entire lineup, and of course, the Zenbook 14X got a taste, too. This 14.5-inch panel rocks a 2880 x 1800-pixel resolution and 16:10 aspect ratio, alongside capacitive touch that supports all your standard multi-touch gestures.

From the brightest of vivid hues to the inkiest of blacks, the content looks gorgeous here. The vivacity of watching tasty food in Somebody Feed Phil — the deep pink of the perfectly cooked steak exudes vivocity and almost makes you want to drool while looking at a screen. Flip on over to something darker in tone like The Last of Us, and the deep contrast ratio really adds a sense of deepening tension to every scene.

But when it comes to the numbers, we hit something of a weird snag here.

Yep, you read it right. While the brightness falling slightly below our premium laptop average isn’t so surprising when you take into account the Asus OLED laptops we’re seeing, that is a surprisingly low DCI-P3 color gamut, and a higher-than-usual color accuracy score.

In most circumstances when you’re using this display, it’s going to be quite the vivid looker. But while it’s been fine for my more casual use of Photoshop, there may be some doubts as to the accuracy of those shades if you’re working on anything more professional.

Asus Zenbook 14X OLED audio

The speakers fire out from underneath, and with the Harman Kardon tuning, the end result is a nice clarity across highs and mids, along with enough space to express those lower tones.

When faced with the bone-crunching breakdowns of Bring Me The Horizon's “AmEN!” the guttural screams were kept in check across the wide soundscape featuring distorted guitars and thunderous drumming.

Comparatively, though, Apple’s 14-inch MacBook Pro continues to be the undisputed champion of laptop speakers — the difference is night and day. However, Asus does a good job on producing a nice soundscape with zero distortion at high volumes.

Asus Zenbook 14X OLED keyboard and trackpad

Asus’ keyboard and touchpad ergonomics have been improving nicely during my tenure at Laptop Mag, and the Zenbook 14X is basically a victory lap. It’s seriously a fantastic typing and clicking experience.

The depth of travel to each key, along with the tactile snap, gives each letter, number, and punctuation mark a sense of intent. Pair that with a nice snappiness to the pointing device, and you’ve got a great workhorse.

Each key on this full-size QWERTY board has a subtly cushioned impact while maintaining that tactility, so you can go for hours without a hint of fatigue. When putting it through the 10FastFingers.com wringer (I usually hit an average of 80 words per minute), I achieved 88 WPM at 99% accuracy. 

On top of that, the touchpad is a healthy size at 5.3 x 3 inches, which offers a little more width and less height than both the MacBook Pro (5.1 x 3.2 inches) and Lenovo Slim Pro 7 (5.3 x 3.1 inches). The glass surface of the pad has a nice slickness to it as your fingers glide effortlessly, which is complimented by a satisfying click. Support for all of the Windows 11 multi touch gestures is here, too, which is great news for power users.

Asus Zenbook 14X OLED performance

The combination of an Intel Core i9-13900H CPU, RTX 3050 GPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD makes this a bit of a beast when it comes to crushing processes and multitasking.

Whether you’re hitting some high-resolution edits on a massive PSD in Photoshop, or putting the Zenbook 14X through its paces with multiple RAM-hungry apps, this machine didn’t break a sweat. You can see how favorable it performs against its competition — even leapfrogging the M2 Pro in the MacBook Pro.

Improvements over the premium laptop average are impressive, and the 14X runs rings around the Slim Pro 7. The only two places where it is pipped to the post is in Handbrake and the SSD speed. The M2 Pro’s supreme media encoding capabilities beat out the Asus laptop, and it falls behind the Slim in our 25GB file copy test.

As for the graphics capabilities, it’s clear that the dedicated GPU in here has a focus on being used for creative pro tasks rather than gaming. 

Not to say that you can’t fire up a AAA title, but be prepared to crank those graphics settings way down to accommodate the lower vRAM of the 3050. For example, to get Forza Horizon 5 to more than 60 FPS, it took me reducing everything down to a variety of low and medium settings. It would’ve been great to see a RTX 4050 utilized here to make the most of DLSS 3.0 and squeeze out those extra frames.

But with that said, this thing absolutely flies for the day-to-day, which includes Google Chrome with several tabs, Spotify playing in the background, a couple of Microsoft Office apps and occasional Photoshop editing, this capably handled it without much slowing down at first.

Asus Zenbook 14X OLED battery life

In practice, you won’t necessarily be worrying too much about the battery life of the Asus Zenbook 14X OLED. It will comfortably last you most of a working day. But when put up against the competition, it does fall behind everyone.

The 70 WHr cell in here isn’t quite up to par in our own testing. Fortunately, the 100W fast charge support is capable of juicing this laptop back to full in just under an hour. But we can’t ignore that it falls behind its competition. For most of you, this will be fine, but if stamina is important (maybe you spend a lot of time away from plugs), there are better choices.

Asus Zenbook 14X OLED heat

Much like other 14-inch Windows laptops, this thing can get a little spicy in certain areas — far hotter than the MacBook Pro (and its ungodly thermal-management skill). But the 14X OLED does a good job of keeping cool and eliminating thermal throttling.

Everywhere except for the underside and the vents round back, temperatures remain below that 95-degree threshold that remains comfortable to use. So if you are doing anything particularly intense, keep this thing on a desk or laptop tray — otherwise your lap is going to start feeling like it’s been put under a broiler.

Asus Zenbook 14X OLED webcam

The 14X OLED comes packed with a 1080p webcam, which is better than I expected it to be. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a little noise in challenging lighting, but the picture is sharper, and the aperture seems to have been improved to ensure a brighter image.

The end result is a decently crisp picture with reasonable color and contrast. Of course, most built-in webcams aren’t great (check out our extremely short list of the best laptop webcams you can get). If you want to step up your picture, you need to snag one of the best external webcams. But with a decent enough image for all your conferencing needs, and built-in IR capabilities for Windows Hello, this is a convenient snapper that’s not a potato.

Asus Zenbook 14X OLED software and warranty

Asus has become nicely reserved when it comes to Windows 11 bloatware, and the Zenbook 14X OLED is no different. Once you’ve taken the obligatory 30 seconds to quickly remove McAfee and its relentless onslaught of notifications, the whole OS is nice and clean. 

For all your firmware updates, system info, and customization needs, you’ll be heading over to MyAsus. Performance mode is something I’d recommend sticking on permanently. It doesn’t activate when running on the battery, and it keeps the clock speed of that CPU nice and high while using it.

This laptop also comes with a one-year limited warranty. See how Asus performed on our Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands ranking.

Bottom line

While I can be British and make a hullabaloo about the battery life not quite being where I’d want it to be, the reality is this is a really good option to buy.

The Asus Zenbook 14X OLED gives you a gorgeous touchscreen, great ergonomics, and plenty of power for even pretty intense tasks that your average creative pro would throw at it — all at a reasonable price.

Is it a MacBook Pro murderer? Not so much, but it is still a good system that’s quite the looker, too. Whether you’re looking to turbo boost your workload, you want to get creative with some touchscreen art, or you have eyes on this as a laptop to whip out at college when you go back to school, the 14X OLED is a good pick.

Have you ever looked at something and knew it possessed timeless elegance, but also some undefinable beauty, that you lack words for? That is the Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3402). It is so well designed and engineered its exterior and display left me speechless. 

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED combines portability, performance, and a stunning Pantone- calibrated OLED display. Packed with a spunky AMD Ryzen 7 7730U processor, and thoughtful design elements, this laptop caters to super productive, highly mobile users who may hotdesk in several locations.

However, when it comes to laptops, beauty must be backed by brawn, lets's see if this Zenbook 14 OLED has a little She-Hulk in her to make it to our best laptops, best laptops under $1,000, and best 14-inch laptops. 

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UM3402Y price and configurations

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3402) I received sells for $869.00 and features the beautiful 14-inch OLED display, AMD Ryzen 7 7730U CPU, integrated AMD Radeon graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. 

There is also a less expensive configuration for $699.00, which features the same gorgeous 14-inch OLED display, AMD Ryzen 5 7530U, integrated AMD Radeon graphics, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UM3402Y design

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED showcases an elegant and slim profile, making it an ideal choice for users seeking portability without compromising on productivity power. The laptop's all-metal construction is premium and enhances its durability. Weighing in at just over three pounds, the Jade Black Zenbook 14 OLED is perfect for users who are always on the move, while its thin bezels contribute to a more immersive visual experience.

Once opened, the ErgoLift hinge design lifts ever-so-slightly, providing a comfortable typing angle and improving airflow for enhanced cooling.

 You’ll also find the stunningly colorful 14-inch, 2.8K (2880 x 1800) display. After opening it, I closed it again just to get another glimpse of the lovely Asus monogram on the lid in all its luxuriousness.

But I quickly opened it back up to spend some more time gazing into the stunning display.

At the top center of the display, you will find the FHD (1920 x 1080) webcam sitting seamlessly within the micro-edge bezel. The Asus Zenbook logo at the bottom of the display is a perfect kiss of chrome added to the visual splendor.

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED measures 12.35 x 8.7 x 0.67 inches and weighs 3.06 pounds. Comparatively, the MacBook Air M2 13-inch measures 12 x 8.5 and weighs 2.7 pounds, the MSI Prestige 13 EVO A13M measures 11.8 x 8.3 x 0.67 inches and weighs 2.2 pounds, with the Acer Swift Go 14’s measurables being 12.3 x 8.6 x 0.59 inches and coming in at 2.87 pounds. 

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UM3402Y security and durability

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED uses Windows Hello in conjunction with the fingerprint reader embedded in the power button to keep your files safe and secure. There is also an integrated Trusted Platform Module (TPM), creating several layers of protection for your personal and business files.

Although the Zenbook is elegant and svelte, it is very durable, having passed MIL-STD 810H certification, a rigorous standard of testing developed by the U.S. military that proves that it can withstand extreme temperatures, moisture, dust, shocks, and more. The display is made of Gorilla Glass to survive bumps and bruises. One small thing it’s not safe from? Fingerprints. So if you’re looking to become an international jewel thief, this might not be the laptop for you because it’s an absolute fingerprint magnet. 

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UM3402Y ports

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED is slim, lightweight, and still packs a solid amount of ports that you can use to connect your favorite peripherals.

On the left, you’ll find the AC power port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port, and a combo audio jack.

The right side features a single USB-Type A  port, but if you need more, check out our list of the best docking stations that should do the trick. 

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UM3402Y display

The 14-inch OLED, 2880 x 1800-pixel resolution touch display on the Zenbook is vivid and bright while consistently producing crisp text while working on documents in Google Workspace and Microsoft Office. When you open this laptop and start it up, you can really see that Pantone-calibrated color comes to life. It also helps that the 14 OLED display fills the space thanks to its micro-edge, barely-there bezel, and 16:10 aspect ratio, creating an immersive view for you to enjoy. 

Asus included an Asus Pen 2.0 stylus (every touchscreen laptop should come with one) that works well and is highly accurate. 

I watched Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War on Disney Plus, and the fight between Cap and Iron Man leaped off the display with Stark’s hot white and yellow repulsor blasts creating a powerful lambent light off of Cap’s shield. The display renders color exceptionally while nicely capturing skin tones and dark shadows within images thanks to its excellent contrast.

We measured the Zenbook 14’s display with a colorimeter, covering 79.1% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is shockingly below the average mainstream laptop (95.6.1%) — I was disappointed by this score because it passed the eye test. The Swift Go 14 not only led our group but obliterated the average by covering 175.7% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. The Prestige was next with 79.4%, followed by the MacBook Air M2, which covered 75.9% of the space.

Next, we ran our display brightness tests, and again, the Zenbook’s 346-nit display came in just above the 345-nit mainstream laptop average. As expected, the MacBook Air led this category averaging 489 nits, followed by the MSI with 415 nits, with the Acer Swift Go averaging 395 nits of brightness. 

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UM3402Y audio

The laptop's Harman Kardon-tuned speakers deliver above-average sound quality, producing clear audio with a decent amount of bass thanks to the Smart amplifier tech and Dolby Atmos with multi-dimensional audio. Asus did a nice job combining the right software and hardware to gain a great audio experience from this slim laptop. 

I fired up Spotify and listened to Megan Thee Stallion’s “Her.” The house music bassline hit pretty hard, but the Zenbook’s speakers handled the bassline, delivering excellent depth for such tiny speakers. High tones were reproduced clearly and cleanly without tinny distortion. Again, the Smart amp tech came through as I pumped up the volume and listened to some tunes.

Next, I listened to John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things album with its beautiful melodies, smooth piano, and soft jazz drums. The Harmon Kardon speakers allowed me to turn it all the way up so I heard the warm melodious horns across my studio apartment. The Zenbook’s speakers are more than sufficient for a laptop, actually, the audio performance has been one of my favorites on a laptop this year. However, if you require more, I would have a look at our best wireless headphones page. 

During my Google Meet and Zoom calls, the AI noise-canceling mics worked very well, focusing in on my vocals while keeping out background noise without any of the audio choppiness you can sometimes get with overly aggressive ANC. 

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UM3402Y keyboard and touchpad

The Zenbook 14 OLED features a perfectly centered, near-to-the-edge keyboard that delivers a comfortable typing experience with well-spaced keys and perfect key travel. When you open it and get a look at the new ErgoSense keyboard with the tap-on Number pad within the touchpad, it’s really one of the best thought-out decks on a laptop I have used this year. The keys are backlit, allowing users to work efficiently even in dimly lit environments. The precision touchpad supports multi-touch gestures, providing accurate and responsive navigation, although some users might find it slightly smaller than preferred.

My Mack truck-sized hands managed a spritely 91 words per minute during the 10FastFingers.com test with 93% accuracy. Normally, I hit 88 wpm with 91% accuracy, slightly above my averages. My typing is improving, but that could be my ego talking.

The touchpad is centrally located beneath the keyboard and features a tap-on digital numerical pad Asus calls NumPad 2.0, which I really enjoy. The 5.1 x 2.9-inch touchpad is very clicky and very responsive. It quickly and smoothly handled all my Windows 11 gestures, including two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom. 

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UM3402Y performance

The ZenBook 14 OLED comes with AMD Ryzen 7 7730U, integrated AMD Radeon graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB SSD, which are solid specs, so I pushed it a bit. I cranked up Google Chrome and opened 50 tabs while working on some documents in Google Docs. Plus, I had three YouTube videos playing. I tried to bog it down, but it held up well with no noticeable laggy performance. It also remained relatively cool with little to no fan noise. 

In our Geekbench 6 overall performance test, the Zenbook scored 7,785, which is below the mainstream laptop average of 9,189. The Acer Swift Go 14 (Intel Core i7-13700H CPU, 16GB of RAM) led our group with a score of 11,950 with the Prestige 13 (Intel Core i7 1360P CPU 32GB of RAM) tallying 8,611. Our MacBook Air M2 (M2 CPU, 8GB of RAM) was tested using Geekbench 5.4 and it scored 8,919 during testing. 

On the Handbrake video transcoding test, which tests how fast a laptop can convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution, the 14 OLED took 8 minutes and 5 seconds, which isn’t too far off the 7:54 mainstream laptop mark. The Acer Swift Go led our group converting the same 4K media in just 5:35 =, with the MBA M2 converting the media in 7:52. The MSI Prestige finished in 10:4. 

The 512GB SSD in the Zenbook took 1 one minute and 44 seconds to duplicate a 25GB multimedia file for a transfer rate of 310.50 megabytes per second (MBps) which is way below the mainstream laptop average of 837.21 megabytes per second. 

The Swift Go’s 512GB SSD said, “watch this kids,” and delivered 1,481.12 MBps, smoking the competition. The MSI’s 1TB SSD lagged behind at 743.81 MBps. Our MacBook Air was not tested using this benchmark. 

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UM3402Y graphics

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED comes with integrated AMD Radeon graphics which is solid, but mostly meant to handle document pushing, and media consumption. However, I did download the GPU-heavy DaVinci Resolve on it and was able to edit a short three-minute 4K video without too much lag. As expected, the more I tried to do with the footage, the more AMD’s integrated GPU struggled. Also the integrated GPU isn’t meant for gaming at all.

We tested the GPU using Sid Meier’s Civilization VI benchmark in 1080p. The Zenbook scored 28.1 frames per second, below the mainstream laptop average of 34 fps. The MacBook Air M2 averaged 40 fps during the same test, with the MSI following behind averaging 31 fps, and the Swift Go closed us out tallying 27 fps during this benchmark. 

Running the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark, the 14 OLED tallied a score of 1,481, which sadly is below the 1,977 category average. The Prestige 13 led the way with a score of 2.036, followed by the Swift Go at 2,025. The MacBook Air wasn’t tested with this benchmark. 

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UM3402Y battery life

The Zenbook 14 OLED’s battery life is solid as it lasted 11 hours and 13 minutes during the Laptop Mag battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. It surpassed the mainstream laptop average (10:01). The MacBook Air M2 led our group with 14 hours and 6 minutes, with the MSI Prestige 13 coming in at 12 hours and 3 minutes and the Acer Swift Go 14 running out of time in 8 hours and 5 minutes. 

I will add that this laptop features fast charging, and it works, recharging in 25 mins to 65%, which is great when you’re a highly mobile person who must stay productive. When you add this quick charge capability and the over 11 hours of battery life, the Zenbook 14 OLED may outlast you. 

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UM3402Y heat

During our heat test, which involves playing a 15-minute 1080p video, the Zenbook’s underside reached 92.5 degrees Fahrenheit, within our 95-degree comfort range. The keyboard hit 77.9 degrees between the G & H keys, and the touchpad was a cool 84.2 degrees.

During my time with the Zenbook, it never got steamy, hot, or even noticeably warm. That is a major plus because sometimes, when I am running around, I actually use my lap. Also, I never noticed the fans coming on. I sat outside in my backyard on a pretty hot day and worked on some writing, and the fans came on once and were barely audible.

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UM3402Y webcam

The Zenbook’s FHD (1920 x 1080) webcam is a solid performer that will easily handle all your daily Google Meet, Zoom, and Teams video meetings. It does very well in good lighting and has quick tracking and autofocus. You will notice some pixelation in darker conditions, but it’s not too bad for a built-in webcam.

If you need a better-performing webcam, look at our best webcams list if you need help. 

Asus Zenbook 14 OLED UM3402Y software and warranty

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED has a clean installation of Windows 11 Home with barely any bloatware, except for the common offenders: Netflix, Spotify, and the Microsoft Solitaire collection. I do like the MyAsus application as it offers intimate control over the Zenbook, giving users a central location to easily and quickly adjust their laptop's settings. 

The 14 OLED comes with a one-year limited warranty. If you want to see how Asus customer service did in our annual ranking, check out our Tech Support Showdown page.

Bottom line

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3402) is a beautiful workhorse. It features a balance of productivity performance while being an excellent content-devouring device. You will want to binge-watch everything and anything on its 2.8K OLED display when you add to its durable build, excellent battery life, portability, and price point. It truly is one of the best mobile productivity laptops around. 

If you need a stylish laptop to impress clients, push documents, or add things up that will slide smoothly into your backpack and not weigh you down, the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED is a great option.

Samsung just made a huge foldable announcement. No, not the Galaxy Z Fold 5 — even bigger than that. During an internal Samsung event, the company revealed that Apple is working on a 20-inch foldable device.

As reported by Patently Apple, at the SID Review held in Seoul, it was confirmed that Apple is working with Samsung and LG Display to develop this “foldable IT product project.” This correlates with a report towards the end of last year, and seemingly corroborates with a rumor that we could see a foldable MacBook in 2026.

Of course, it could be a foldable iPad. But with the size of this device (when in a half-folded mode like a laptop, the display half is 15.3-inches), suspicions across the rumor mill seem to point more towards this being an evolution of Apple's laptop line.

Folding Out for a Hero

During this event, Samsung didn’t go into any concrete details about Apple’s foldable, but Baek Sueng-in, executive director of Samsung, did talk about how Cupertino’s debut into this market is a “necessary condition” for foldables as a whole to succeed. And to that end, Samsung Display is working on some key issues with them to meet Apple’s high standards:

• Folding crack
• Foldable crease
• Compressive stress
• Display buckling
• Folding torque
• Pen drop issues

In short, Samsung has a lot of work to do on eliminating the crease on the inner screen, and improving the reliability issues caused by the device’s flexibility. Beyond that, Sueng-in went into another intriguing area too, which is the dispersal of internal components. 

He noted that while “current laptops consist of the upper part of the screen and the lower part of the hardware and keyboard,” there are many companies that are interested in a “full display” foldable. Expect to see a more even distribution of internal hardware across the whole system — like the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold.

Outlook

There are a lot of obstacles, such as ensuring that glass materials over the likes of a transparent plastic film, and all the above Sueng-in mentioned above. But the future of the laptop seems to be clear — a foldable hybrid tablet-notebook.

Whatever your thoughts are on that (for me, it’s so long as we get a keyboard to place atop the bottom screen for proper laptop use), Apple entering this market will be a huge driver of adoption to this new form factor.

Don’t expect it anytime soon. As Sueng-in said, Samsung has worked “hard for several years'' on improving wrinkles in foldable displays, but they “haven’t completely disappeared.” I think The Wall Street Journal was on the money in saying 2026. Other rumors of Apple’s big screen foldable in 2024 seem a little optimistic.

Looking for the best cheap laptop deals — all under $1,000 — for Prime Day 2023? You've come to the right place!

As your laptop expert, I'm here to tell you about all the best budget-friendly laptops you can get for prime day. I'm extremely picky and I'm very judicious about which laptops I recommend (and Laptop Mag reviewed them all), so here are the laptops under $1,000 that will keep buyer's remorse at bay:

• Asus Zenbook 14 Q409ZA - $750, $669 @ Amazon
• Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 - $1,800, $932 @ Amazon
• Acer Swift Go 14 - $849, $779 @ Amazon

1. Why I recommend the Asus Zenbook 14 Q409ZA as the best Prime Day laptop deal

This laptop has an MSRP of $750, but it's now $669 for Prime Day (whether you have Prime or not). I have repeatedly shouted from the mountains that the Asus Zenbook 14 is the best cheap laptop you can get for less than $1,000. Why? It's packed with the following:

• A touchpad that instantly launches the Calculator app and doubles as a digital numpad
• A striking, 2880 x 1800-pixel OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate
• Nearly 11 hours of battery life, according to your in-house testing (a typical laptop only lasts 10 hours on a single charge)
• A satisfying mix of both modern and legacy ports
• A beautiful design inspired by Japanese kintsugi art style
• Lightweight and portable

Check out my full review of the Asus Zenbook 14.

2. Why I recommend the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 as the best Prime Day laptop deal

As a laptop reviewer, I can't figure out why everyone is gushing about the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon nor the Dell XPS 15. They're good business laptops, but are they the best? Not at all.

The best business laptop is the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16. And it's only $932 for Prime Day (down from $1,800). Let me breakdown why I recommend it as the best Prime Day laptop deal:

• It delivers a whopping 15-hour battery runtime (the average laptop lasts 10 hours)
• It outpaced all competitors in processor performance, according to our in-house testing
• It beat all of its rivals in graphics performance, according to our in-house testing
• It has military-tested durability, which means you can get away with dropping it a couple of times

Read my full review of the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16.

3. Why I recommend the Acer Swift Go 14 as the best Prime Day laptop deal

When the Acer Swift Go 14 came through to Laptop Mag's lab, were were blown away by its amazing performance scores, incredible performance, and stunning display. It runs so well, we called it a "MacBook Air killer." And it's only $779 for Prime Day (down from $850).

Here's why the Swift Go 14 is the best cheap laptop you can get on Prime Day:

• One of the most vivid displays of all time
• A satisfying, tactile keyboard
• Performance scores that blows competitors out of the water
• An eye-catching, silver aluminum design
• A portable, slim design
• A nice variety of ports 

Check out our full review of the Acer Swift Go 14.

Prime Day is here and we're seeing great deals on some of the best laptops, but if you're looking for a real steal, you need to look at those percentages and see which deals are actually giving you the most bang for your buck.

If you're looking to get your money's worth on Prime Day, here are 5 great laptops that are over $1,000 off that I would buy.

5 laptops that are over $1000 off for Prime Day

In our Asus Zenbook Pro 16X OLED (UX7602Z) review, we compliment the device for its solid content creator-centric specs, a stunning 16-inch display and awesome sound.

Looking at our MacBook Pro 14 review, we made it clear that this MacBook offers portability, power, endurance with plenty of ports, but at a high price point. With this deal, it makes it that much more valuable albeit dated.

In my Razer Blade 17 review, I loved that the Razer packed strong performance, great speakers, and decently long battery life. However, its dim display and egregiously expensive price point gives us pause. But like the MacBook, this deal can make up for that price con.

And in our Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 review, we wrote that the Gen 11 has many great aspects, including a compact form factor, featherweight heft and decent speakers, but its other highly praised features are arguably overhyped.

Finally, in our HP ZBook Fury 16 G9 review, we found that the G9 is a thick stunner with more than enough power to handle any and all workflows while delivering a gorgeous display and excellent audio.

All these products have one thing in common -- they're expensive as hell. But for Prime Day, that changes. Well, a little bit. Don't overspend, but it is better.

Prime Day is ushering in some of the best deals of the year, from Amazon and other retailers. Open your wallets [insert Jedi mind trick here] check out one of the best Prime Day laptop deals right here, like the Asus ZenBook Pro at 50% off.

You can find the Asus ZenBook Pro with an RTX 3060 for $1299 @ Newegg.

In our Asus Zenbook Pro 16X OLED (UX7602Z) review, we compliment the device for its solid content creator-centric specs, a stunning 16-inch display and awesome sound.

At the time, we thought the ZenBook Pro was too expensive, but at its current price it's an absolute powerhouse! We measured the Pro 16X’s display with a colorimeter, which covered an impressive 90.2% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and scored an average brightness of 345 nits.

The Zenbook Pro 16X RGB backlit chiclet-style keyboard is large and comfortable, with the optimal bounce and travel that must have been calculated with fine-tuned precision. Next to the touchpad is also a little dial that you can use to manipulate apps like Adobe Premiere or Photoshop.

As far as battery life goes, you might have to suffer along with just over 5 hours. But if you're someone that doesn't mind being plugged in (which you need to be to take full advantage of the GPU), then the ZenBook Pro is a great choice.

It’s time to get bent – in a good way. After years of teasing, the world’s first foldable 17.3-inch laptop is here and there is plenty to like. The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is a multi-pronged solution to work and play thanks to Asus’ proprietary hinge and a foldable OLED display created by both Asus and Intel. Speaking of Intel, the Core i7 U-series processor is no slouch, delivering a surprising amount of power for a chip that’s known for its focus on power efficiency. 

I had a blast using all of the modes, which thankfully aren’t gimmicky. And I definitely enjoyed the looks from friends and family alike as I went from watching movies on a huge tablet, to working on the couch to reading in the blink of an eye. 

As much fun as I had bending the Fold to my whims, the $3,499 pricing hurts my wallet’s feelings, especially in such a financially sensitive climate. And for the price, I expect a few more ports and a pen for my troubles. Still, the Asus ZenBook 17 Fold OLED is a joy to use and I can unabashedly say welcome to the evolution of the laptop. 

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED pricing

As of this writing, there’s only configuration of the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED and it costs an eye-watering $3,499. In addition to its 17.3-inch, foldable 2560 x 1920 OLED display you get a 3.5-GHz Intel Core i7-1250U processor with 16GB of RAM, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 SSD and integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics. 

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED design

Is it a ridiculously large tablet, a diminutive laptop or a stately e-reader? The answer is a little bit of everything and beyond. As the name suggests, the Fold does just that, transforming from a large display that can be used as a secondary screen or a Windows tablet into a laptop small enough to fit into a medium-sized laptop bag or backpack. 

The majority of the Fold’s chassis is made up of magnesium alloy in a color that Asus has dubbed Tech Black. When the light hits the rear panel at just the right angle, the inky black seems to glow in a captivating green. Think of the bioluminescent bays found in parts of the Caribbean and you’re on the right track. A glossy, stylized “A” sits top center above the leather panel protecting the hinge. Along the bottom left of the leather, you’ll see the words Asus Zenbook. Give the strip a light pull to reveal the large kickstand. 

Don’t be like me and almost destroy the machine because you think the entire leather panel is removable. It’s not. It’s a situation similar to the original Samsung Galaxy Fold, so pull gently and you should be fine. Rounding out the rear panel are two little feet to give the device a bit of lift when it’s in certain modes.

Without the included Asus ErgoSense Bluetooth keyboard attached, the Fold’s front is all screen. The bezels are a bit thick, but they’re lined with a nice black soft-touch material. The top bezel holds a 5-megapixel webcam. The top of the detachable keyboard is done in leather and houses a full-sized keyboard in a slight recess with the keyboard sitting just below. 

When it’s unfurled in Tablet or Desktop mode, the Fold weighs in at 3.3 pounds and measures 14.9 x 11.3 x 0.3~0.5 inches. It’s both bigger and heavier than the iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1.5 pounds, 11.04 x 8.46 x 0.3 inches). In Laptop mode, the Fold’s measurement shrinks to 11.3 x 7.5 x 0.7~1.4 inches and if you’re using the ErgoSense keyboard, the weight increases ever-so-slightly to 4 pounds. It makes the MacBook Air M2 (2.8 pounds, 12 x 8.4 x 0,6 inches) and the Dell XPS 13 Plus (2.7 pounds, 11.6 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches) seem light by comparison. Only the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 (12.52 x 9.06 x 0.6 inches) comes close to matching the Fold at 3.1 pounds.

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED modes

Thanks to its hinge and bendable OLED panel, the Fold is capable of transitioning between six modes. 

You have your traditional clamshell Laptop and Tablet modes, along with Reader mode in case you want to curl up with a good e-book. Desktop mode utilizes the integrated genuine leather kickstand on the back so the device can stand upright while you use the bundled Bluetooth keyboard just like you would with a regular monitor keyboard setup. If you need to multitask, there’s Extended mode which splits the Fold into a pair of 12.5-inch, 1920 x 1280 displays with a 3:2 aspect ratio. And finally, you have another Laptop mode (or laptop V as I like to call it). Where OG Laptop mode has you place the keyboard on the bottom portion of the Fold, Laptop Mode V offers a virtual keyboard. 

Switching between the modes is fairly seamless, although I noticed that a lag of just under two seconds when changing the orientation. Everything else seemed near instantaneous. 

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED ports

Break out the dongles, because you’re definitely going to need them with the Zenbook 17 Fold as it only has two Thunderbolt 4 ports at the top left and right side of the convertible. The volume button occupies the top right corner with the power button located on the right side above a small vent. The headset jack sits next to the second Thunderbolt 4 port. 

There’s a third Thunderbolt 4 port found on the right side of the Bluetooth keyboard. However, I imagine that you’ll be using that to charge the input device more than anything else. Next to the port is a small power switch. 

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED display

OLED. Just 17.3 inches of  beautiful, bendable OLED display in all its vibrant glory. Like most foldables on the market, you can see the crease made from the hinge. But it’s not so pronounced that it distracts from the overall beauty of the panel, especially when you’re gazing at it head on in Tablet or Desktop mode. In those modes, you get the full experience of the 2.5K (2560 x 1920) resolution and its 4:3 aspect ratio. 

I started my viewing journey on Netflix with an episode of David Attenbourough’s “Life in Color.” The detail was so sharp that I could see the tiny fissures in the sand-colored stone. Soon the screen was filled with the brilliant blue plumage of a peacock. And right before I got lost in the captivating sheen, the real show began as the tail feathers cascaded out, revealing the stunning eye spots amidst the wispy jade feathers. 

When the convertible is in either of the Laptop modes the screen shifts to a 12.5-inch, 1920 x 1280 panel. In Extended mode, you get a pair of 12 inchers. I watched the trailer for “The Inspection” in Laptop mode and wondered how it was possible to make actor Gabrielle Union look like a normal person. Although her skin was its usual honey brown, there were acne marks on her cheeks with noticeable bags under her eyes. Meanwhile actor Jeremy Pope’s red hoodie popped against the pastel colored blanket.

When we measured the panel’s color accuracy, it measured 108.5% of the DCI-P3 gamut, surpassing the 90.5% premium laptop average. It also proved it was more vibrant than the MacBook Air (80%) and the XPS 13 Plus (84.2%). However, the Yoga was the most colorful with 140.1%.

In terms of color accuracy, the Fold comes out close to the top with a Delta-E score of 0.24 (0 is best). That’s better than the 0.25 category average as well as the Air (0.3) and the Yoga (0.39). But the XPS 13 Plus was the most accurate at 0.21.

Where the Fold falls flat is display brightness. The device  averaged 323 nits on the brightness test, which is below the 428 nit average. The Lenovo, Dell and Apple hit 352, 366 and 386 nits, respectively. 

But if the default display settings aren’t doing it for you, you can always fiddle around with the Asus Splendid utility in the MyAsus hub. In order to protect that beautiful OLED panel from burn-in, Splendid also has a pixel refresh feature and other OLED protecting goodies. From there, you can adjust the color temperature and gamut. Or you can use Dolby Vision, which offers three settings (Bright, Dark and Vivid). 

The capacitive touch panel is fast and responsive. I just wish Asus thought to bundle a pen so I don’t have to mar the screen with my fingerprints, especially when you’re shelling out $3,499. 

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED audio

A chicken in every pot and a speaker in every corner. The Zenbook 17 Fold has a harmon/kardon speaker gracing every corner. That way, no matter how you’re using the Fold, you’ll have a full audio experience. Notice I said full, not good. Listening to Victoria Monét’s “Coastin’” I was disappointed at the tinniness on what’s usually a smooth bop. 

I tried adjusting the audio with the preinstalled Dolby Atmos software. But no matter the setting (Music, Movie, Dynamic, Game or Voice) and their myriad of presets, the best I could get was only OK at best. My best result came from the Music setting with the Warm preset. The only bright spot is volume, which got loud enough to fill my smallish living and dining room. 

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED keyboard

When I first saw the ErgoSense keyboard, I was a little skeptical. In my experience, detachable keyboards like these tend to be flimsy, uncomfortable messes. But typing out the entirety of this review switching between Laptop and Desktop mode, I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable the typing was. 

The keys are large with a slight curvature and the key travel is deep enough where I never bottomed out. Plus, the keys are nice and clicky, not mechanical keyboard clicky, but still satisfying. I do wish there was some backlighting for when I wanted to work in my bedroom with the lights out. 

But what the keyboard lacks in lighting it makes up with a few bells and whistles in the Fn row. There’s a key to launch MyAsus hub, which provides easy access to a host of helpful features. You’ll also find a trio of Bluetooth buttons. The F8 key handles Bluetooth management overall while the F9 and 10 keys let you switch quickly between two devices with the same keyboard. Asus also provides a screen capture key and a key that lets you determine how you want the display to respond when connected to another monitor. It can either act as its own screen, mirror the connected display or act as an extension.

But back to the typing experience. I easily reached 80 words per minute on the 10FastFingers typing test, sailing past my usual 70 wpm. 

The 2.4 x 4.1-inch touchpad is smooth to the touch. It’s agile and reactive and easily performs Windows 11 gestures. 

While I like using the keyboard in Desktop mode, I prefer Laptop mode with the keyboard. There’s something about how the panel switches from a massive panel to an ultraportable as soon as the keyboard touches it that does it for me. Asus has rated the keyboard for an estimated 24 hours of battery life. I’ve used it for nearly 3 days straight and have yet to run out of juice.

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED performance

The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is powered by a 1.1-GHz Intel Core i7-1250U processor with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 SSD. U-series chips are focused on power efficiency and are typically found in 2-in-1 laptops. And now it lends its power to the growing foldable market. A hybrid chip, the CPU consists of two performance cores and eight efficiency cores. According to Intel, the Performance cores or P-cores are designed to handle compute-heavy loads like gaming while the Efficiency cores (E-Cores) are there for all your multitasking needs.

The Fold allowed me my usual menagerie of 65 Google Chrome tabs which includes a mix of Google Docs, Sheets and Sidess along with a YouTube video or two, Tweetdeck, Facebook and a host of news sites and analytic trackers. The foldable kept plugging along without a hint of lag. 

The Asus foldable also stood its ground during our synthetic tests, starting with Geekbench 5.4, our overall performance test where the system posted 7,098. It handily defeated the 5,942 premium laptop average. However, faced with more powerful processors, there is a notable difference. The Yoga, for example, with its Intel Core i7-1260P CPU reached 7,150 while the XPS 13 Plus (Intel Core i7-1280P CPU achieved 10,621. The MacBook Air’s M2 chip scored 8,919. 

During the Handbreak video transcoding test, the Fold converted a 4K video to 1080p in 14 minutes and 16 seconds, which is slower than the 9:50 average, The Yoga, XPS 13 Plus and MacBook Air posted times of 12:18, 8:17 and 7:52, respectively. 

On the File Transfer test, the Fold’s SSD duplicated 25GB of mixed-media files at a rate of 1,480.3 megabytes per second, scorching the 1,142.3 category average. Both the Dell (1,502.1MBps, 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen 4 SSD) and the Lenovo (1,506.9MBps, 1TB SSD) obtained faster results. 

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED graphics

I’m still not sold on integrated graphics as a true gaming solution, but the Fold gave me a reason to perhaps reconsider that stance. We ran the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI benchmark and the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED’s Intel Iris Xe Graphics GPU reached 50 frames per second at 1080p, matching the premium laptop average while topping the XPS 13 Plus and Yoga with their own Iris Xe Graphics both got 23 fps. 

When we ran the test on the Fold’s native settings, it reached 68 fps while the XPS 13 Plus and Yoga only reached 15 and 14 fps. 

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED battery life

Asus outfitted the Zenbook 17 Fold with a 75W battery lithium-polymer battery, which when paired with Intel Evo certification (nine hours or more of battery life on FHD displays and four hours or more of charge in 30 minutes) should provide for solid battery life. But OLED and a higher resolution has a way of derailing the best laid plans. 

When we ran the Laptop Mag Battery test, the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED lasted 7 hours and 56 minutes, falling short of the 9:54 premium laptop average while surpassing the XPS 13 Plus’ 7:35. The Yoga lasted a bit longer at 8:06 while the MacBook Air ran the victory lap at 9:31. 

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED webcam

Just on color alone, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED’s 5MP webcam is one of the best I’ve seen. Not only did it accurately capture my red-and-white dress, it also got all the colors in my locs. Now, it definitely blew out the white wall in the background, but it also did a good job of not turning the white flowers on my dress into blobs. 

The excellent color is due to the integrated color sensor which uses ambient light levels to automatically adjust the brightness and color temperature for the best image. 

But the webcam really comes into its own during video conferencing. With snazzy features such as Lighting Optimization, Background Blurring, Eye Tracking, and Motion Tracking – all of which can be found in the MyAsus app. The camera also makes use of Asus’ proprietary 3D Noise Reduction technology that sharpens images and eliminates that pesky visual noise in real time. 

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED software

Aside from Dolby Access and Microsoft apps, the Zenbook 17 Fold is delightfully free of third-party software. Instead, you have several Asus-branded apps designed to help you get the most out of your shiny new foldable. We’ve gone over MyAsus which is your one-stop shop for a host of settings covering audio, visual, connectivity and security. It’s also where you can reach a tech support agent should trouble arise. 

Asus also included GlideX, a screen-sharing solution designed to make it easier to create a larger work (or play) space. It enables screen mirroring between the Fold and Android and iOS devices wirelessly or via USB. You can also extend the screen, allowing you to drag and drop content between devices. While there is a free version of GlideX, there are monthly subscriptions starting at $0.99 (Plus) that tops out at $5.99 (Ultra). 

The difference in the plans lies in connection and streaming quality. The free version only offers a wired connection and 720p streaming. Plus, there are ads. The $0.99 iteration allows both wired and wireless connections and strips ads. The Ultra version throws in streaming at 1080p and 2K.

The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED ships with a 1 year limited warranty. See how Asus fared during Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands, our annual special reports. 

Bottom line

It’s tough being first. You set yourself as the bar for the industry standard. And with nothing to compare against, there’s a high risk of failure. You won’t find that with the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED. It’s an elegant conversation starter, drawing all the oohs and ahhs as it transforms from a ginormous tablet to a dainty laptop. But most importantly, it’s easy to use. Like a lump of clay, you can bend and shape the Fold into whatever you need it to be for work or play. Need to bang out a paper? Try Laptop or Desktop Mode. Want to watch movies? Bask in the OLED goodness in tablet mode. Gotta multitask? Try Extended mode or connect a monitor, smartphone or tablet. Hell, you can even use it to curl up with a book. 

The U-series processor is more powerful than it has any right to be and the same goes for the integrated graphics. 

However at $3,499, which is definitely an innovation and first-at-bat tax, I definitely wanted a few more ports and a pen. Also, the battery life could definitely be better. The price is definitely a deterrent when you can get a fully tricked-out M2 MacBook Air for $1,000 cheaper. 

But if you want to play with the future right now, you can’t pass up the Asus ZenBook Fold.

Asus has quietly revealed two new laptops to add to its ultra-portable ZenBook lineup, equipped with the latest AMD Ryzen 6000 and 12th Gen Intel CPUs and dazzling 2.8L OLED displays.

The new Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED and Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip have yet to receive prices or release dates, but the specs under the hood look promising enough to go head-to-head with Apple's popular MacBooks. For a deeper dive into each device, read on. 

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Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED

The Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED gives us Zenbook 13 (UX325) OLED vibes, which sits at the top of our list of best Asus laptops. For good reason, too, as we adore its sleek, lightweight design, comfortable keyboard, and colorful 13.3-inch display. This new model comes with a number of notable upgrades, which is a good sign for how well it may perform

As detailed by Trusted Reviews, the Zenbook S 13 OLED can be equipped with up to an AMD Ryzen 7 6800U and AMD Radeon integrated graphics. You can also expect 16GB of DDR5 RAM and up to 1TB PCle 4.0 SSD. That's plenty of high-spec power to get everything from photo and video editing done in a pinch, and users can get work done on the fly thanks to its 67Wh battery that claims to offer 19 hours of battery life.

As for the 13.3-inch NanoEdge display, expect a 2.8K (2880×1800) OLED panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio, 60Hz refresh rate, and 0.2ms response time. It also comes with 100% DCI-P3 coverage, up to 550 nits of peak brightness, and Corning Gorilla Glass, which means a scratch-free vivid display.

The Zenbook S 13 OLED is apparently the lightest 13-inch laptop in the world, as Asus claims, weighing 2.2 pounds and measuring 14.9mm thin. Now that's ultra-portable power. As for ports, don't expect too many, but the Zenbook still features three USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports, a DisplayPort input, and a 3.5mm audio jack. That was hugely missed on the most recent Zenbook 13 OLED model, so we're happy to see it make a return. Oh, and the NumberPad 2.0 makes a return on the touchpad to offer fast access to zippy calculations.

Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED

The Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED is the bigger cousin of the Zenbook S 13 OLED, equipped with the same 2.8K (2880×1620) OLED panel except in a 15.6-inch display size. However, it comes with a few more differences, including a 120Hz refresh rate and a change in specs. 

The Zenbook Pro 15 Flip OLED features a 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H CPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 1TB SSD. As for the GPU, expect an Intel Arc A370M. This means it can play games at 1080p, and with the 120Hz refresh rate, the Pro 15 could make for a decent gaming laptop. That gives it an edge over MacBooks, but can't compete with the best gaming laptops on the market today.

Since it's a Flip model, the Zenbook 15 Pro can be used in multiple modes, including tablet mode or tent mode. Plus, with the laptop hosting a touchscreen panel and being able to support the Asus Pen 2.0, it's ideal for creatives. You'll also find an IR camera and an RGB-lit keyboard.

As for I/O, expect two Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI 2.0 input, a USB-A port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Asus did not state how long the battery will last, but we have high hopes with its 96Wh battery capacity.

We can't wait to get our hands on these new Asus Zenbook additions. Previous models are priced over $1,000, so expect these laptops to be around the same price range. Stay tuned for reviews, and in the meantime, check out our list of the best laptops you can pick up right now. 

The Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 is a unique dual-screen laptop with a 15-inch, 4K OLED panel up top and a smaller OLED screen above the keyboard. Asus’s take on dual-screen laptops has evolved since the first iteration of the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX481), with improvements in build quality and ergonomics addressing some of the original problems. Has it grown enough to make Asus’s vision of a dual-screen laptop something consumers clamor for? In some regards, yes, but it still feels like a niche device for a subsection of content creators (who have large budgets).

The ZenBook Duo Pro 15 UX582L brings a lot to the table with powerful specs for those who need them, and a second screen not only adds a wow factor but functionality. Some may not be fond of the keyboard and touchpad location, and the price is a serious deterrent, but the ZenBook Duo Pro 15 should be considered by content creators who need more screen real estate while on the go. While it's not technically a workstation, its performance and utility has earned its way on our best 4K laptops, best workstation laptops and best video editing laptops pages.

The question consumers will undoubtedly ask is: Is this powerful, multi-display laptop something I truly need? Is it the RedWing to my Falcon or the Shield to my Captain America? Let’s find out.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) pricing and configurations

The Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 we tested costs $3,099 and comes with an 11th Gen Intel Core i9-10980HK CPU, an Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU with 8GB of vRAM, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB M.2PCIe 3.0 SSD, and a 15.6-inch OLED 3840 x 2160-pixel Pantone Validated touchscreen display along with a secondary 14 x 4.5-inch 3840 x 1100 -pixel IPS touch display that supports a supplied active stylus. 

You can also get the ZenBook Duo Pro 15 with an Intel Core i7-1087H CPU, 16GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU with 8GB vRAM, and 1TB SSD for $2,299.99.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) design

The Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15’s celestial blue brushed magnesium-aluminum alloy is gorgeous and when opened, it’s better looking than 17-year-old me with abs and a tan. At slightly over 5 pounds, it’s not too heavy to carry around regularly. When you first open the lid, the secondary ScreenPad Plus display rises up and you face two bright and colorful OLED displays. The effect is mesmerizing. There had been complaints about the original Duo’s sturdiness, but this one seems robust. I pushed down on the ScreenPad Plus and checked the hinge mechanism and everything felt very well built. Better yet, the laptop passed several U.S. MIL-STD 810G tests.

When you’re not drooling over the nearly bezel-less Pro Duo’s dual screens, you’ll spot a webcam at the top of the main screen. It doesn’t have a physical shutter but you can turn it off by pressing the F10 key. The backlit keyboard, which is left of center due to the placement of the touchpad, takes a few moments to get used to (more on this below). The touchpad also has an odd placement to the right of the keyboard and doubles as a number pad. The Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 comes with an active stylus and a dedicated palm rest for when you’re using it on your desk. Using a separate palm rest wasn’t a problem for me but some may bemoan the lack of space for you to place your wrists. 

The ZenBook Pro Duo 15 measures 14.7 x 9.8 x 0.9 inches and weighs 5.3 pounds; it’s not the thinnest or the lightest of its comparison group but dual screens may add a few ounces. The Dell XPS 15 measures 13.6 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches and tips the scales at 4.5 pounds, followed by the Acer ConceptD 7 Ezel at 14.1 x 10.2 x 1.1 inches and 5.5 pounds. The Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model rounds us out, measuring 14 x 9.3 x 0.7-inches and weighing in at a svelte 4.4 pounds.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) security and durability

The Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 comes with an IR-capable camera that works in conjunction with Windows Hello facial recognition to securely lock up your laptop and protect data and files when you walk away from your laptop. The ZenBook Pro Duo also uses TPM (Trusted Platform Module), which adds an additional layer of system security using hardware-based cryptography to ensure the information stored on your computer is safe from outside software attacks. 

Another additional security measure is the ability to completely shut the webcam off by pressing the F10 key instead of fumbling around with a clumsy physical shutter.  

As I previously mentioned, the ZenBook Pro Duo 15  passed several military-grade durability tests against drops and spills, assuring us of its toughness.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) ports

The Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 is light on ports with only three USB inputs. 

On the left, you’ll find a 3.5 combo headphone/mic port, an HDMI port, and a DC power port.

On the right are two Thunderbolt 3 (not the newer Thunderbolt 4 variant) USB-C ports, and a USB-Type A port.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) display

The ZenBook Pro Duo 15’s 15.6-inch, 3840 x 2160-pixel OLED touchscreen display is bright and colorful, and can I stress how vivid it is for the people in the back? 

The smaller ScreenPad Plus display is also colorful, but it has an anti-glare surface, giving it a distinct appearance. The 14-inch ScreenPad has a sharp 3840 x 110-pixel resolution.

I watched the latest episode of Marvel’s What If series on Disney Plus and the main display’s color quality and sharpness were immediately apparent when we see Starlord’s back to the camera.

All the fine details in what he is looking at are crisp. When we get a shot of this timeline’s T’Challa as Starlord wearing his mask with the purple glow vividly rendered on the ZenBook Duo Pro’s screen. The 4K UHD screen shone when Nebula’s blonde hair beautifully juxtaposed her blue-hued skin. Watching this animated series on the ZenBook Duo Pro 15 was a special treat.

We measured the ZenBook’s display with a colorimeter and it covered a wide 143.8% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. It not only outscored its counterparts but blew them away and also crushed the premium laptop average score of 83.2%. The nearest competitor was the Dell XPS 15, which scored 93.7%, followed by the Razer Blade 15’s 87.8% and the Acer Concept D rounding things out with 76.7%. The unit's second display scored a DCI-P3 average of 101.9% and an sRGB of 108.4% which were also both above the premium laptop averages. 

The main screen on the ZenBook Duo Pro 15 tallied an average of 422 nits of brightness while its secondary screen scored 347 nits. The XPS led our group with 434 nits followed by the Acer Concept D 7 Ezel at 360 nits, with the Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model closing things out in this category with a score of 244 nits.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) ScreenPad Plus

The 14 x 4.3-inch, 3840 x 1100-pixel ScreenPad Plus is bright and colorful. And to answer your main question, yes, it’s useful. There is a handy app launcher menu on the left side of the ScreenPad plus that allows you to do things like launch apps, drag items into the display, and sign documents or draw. 

Keeping less important items off of the main screen yet still readily available on the ScreenPad Plus screen was very handy. I also found it useful while editing as I was able to use the second screen to keep an eye on my emails, music, and random news stories I could save for reading later in the day. 

I will add that there are not a lot of applications that can take full advantage of the ScreenPad plus, although for creators as is mentioned in our review of the ZenBook Duo (UX482)you can use it for certain prosumer apps like Premiere Pro, and gain some extra controls. However is that enough to warrant the extra expense, that is truly up to you? I made use of it while editing in Premiere, however, it wasn’t very functional when trying to edit in Davinci Resolve which is my main video editing software. 

Although videos render nicely on the smaller 4K screen, I didn’t find viewing them on the second display enjoyable, and the screen is far too small to truly get heavy document pushing done. At the end of the day, it’s still a very niche addition.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) audio

The ZenBook Pro Duo 15 comes with bottom-firing Harman Kardon-certified speakers that work in tandem with Asus SonicMaster audio technology to deliver a nice full-range audio experience. 

That said, I fired up Spotify and listened to Jamie Fox’s “Blame it.” The baseline hit so smoothly as I heard Jamie singing about “blame it on the Goose it got you feeling loose.”  The popping dance and hip-hop beat had me bopping my head and chair dancing, as the ZenBook produced a nice amount of depth. While it didn't quite fill the room,  the speakers did enough for me to jam out. 

I then listened to Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song,” and the vocals were reproduced with clarity and power as that Thor-empowering bassline drives us on to conquer all. The ZenBook Pro Duo 15 did a fine job of reproducing all the highs without getting tinny, and the bass guitar had fine depth.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) keyboard and touchpad

I admit I was concerned about the ZenBook Pro Duo 15 keyboard's small size and awkward placement. When you add that my hands are the size of an old 1970’s Buick, I feared the worst. 

On the 10FastFingers.com test, I reached 84 words per minute with 91% accuracy, so the strange keyboard placement didn’t affect my typing much. In fact, I would say the adjustment period took about half of a workday. Once I used the included palm rest and had it positioned to my liking, I retook the test and scored a bit better with the results being 88 words per minute and the same 91% accuracy.

The ZenBook’s vertical touchpad is located to the right of the keyboard and measures 2.5 x 3.4 inches, which is not the largest. Its positioning is troubling for some, but it offers enough space to get things done. The touchpad responds quickly to Windows 10 gestures, including two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom. The ZenBook’s touchpad also does double duty as the number pad and works well when punching in digits.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) performance

The ZenBook Pro Duo comes with an Intel Core i9-10980HK CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. The specs are impressive and are similar to what you find in other premium laptops (although most have switched to 11th Gen chips by now). I wanted to see how it handled multitasking so I tried to bog it down with 47 tabs in Google Chrome, three of which played YouTube videos simultaneously. I then launched a few Google Docs, one for images and the other a PDF I wanted to edit. The ZenBook handled it all with aplomb; there were no performance stutters to report. 

In our Geekbench 5.4 overall performance test, the ZenBook Pro Duo 15 scored 7,028, which is above the premium laptop average of 4,714 but was surpassed by the Acer Concept D, which scored 7,984 (Intel Core i7-10875H CPU). The Razer Blade 15 Advanced Model came in at 6,531 (Intel Core i7-10875H CPU), followed by the Dell XPS 15 with its 6,179 (Intel Core i7-10750H CPU).

On the Handbrake video transcoding test, which tests how fast a laptop can convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution, the ZenBook took 8 minutes and 17 seconds which surpassed the premium laptop average of 10:44. It was slower than the ConceptD which recorded a speedy 7:53, followed by the Blade 15 9:57, with the XPS 15 finishing in 10:06.  

The ZenBook’s 1TB SSD fared nicely in our file-transfer test. It duplicated a 25GB multimedia file in 28.3 seconds at a rate of 950 megabytes per second. This beats the XPS 15 (512GB SSD, 298 MBps) but placed it second behind the ConceptD  (1,291.4 MBps, 1TB SSD), with the Blade 15 (890.2 MBps 1TB SSD) rounding out the results.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) graphics

The ZenBook Pro Duo 15’s Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU with 8GB VRAM is a solid gaming machine and I went nuts playing Borderlands 2, but you can find a more affordable, capable gaming laptop. If you want a more purpose-built machine, check out our best cheap gaming laptops page.

We tested the GPU using Borderlands 3’s built-in benchmark. Our ZenBook Pro Duo scored 67 frames per second in 1080p and 28 frames per second in 4K. Both scores are above the premium laptop averages of 54 fps (1080p) and 24 fps (4K) respectively. The Blade 15 Advanced scored 57 fps in 1080p with its Nvidia RTX 3080 GPU. 

During our Red Dead Redemption 2 benchmark, the ZenBook Pro Duo scored 57 frames per second in 1080p, surpassing the premium laptop average of 50 fps. It was followed by the ConceptD and Blade 15 Advanced, which tied with 52 frames per second in 1080p.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) battery life

The ZenBook Pro Duo is a powerful machine, and with dual screens, I wasn’t expecting good battery life. I assumed wrong. 

On the Laptop Mag battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the ZenBook lasted 5 hours and 1 minute with both 4K screens on. With the lower screen turned off, the unit lasted 6:50, which is an improvement of 1 hour and 49 minutes. That’s not great and predictably below the premium laptop average of 10:44. 

The ZenBook’s single-screen competitors fared much better, with the Dell XPS 15 leading the way with 8:01, followed by the ConceptD with 7:00 and the Blade 15, which barely beat our two-screen unit at 5:14. 

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) heat

The ZenBook Pro Dup 15 is meant for powering through video and photo edits so staying cool is important. Add two 4K screens to the mix and you might expect a meltdown. And yet, the ZenBook Pro kept its cool.

During our heat test, which involves playing a 15-minute, 1080p video, the underside reached 113 degrees Fahrenheit, which is toasty but not concerningly so. The keyboard hit 86 degrees and the touchpad was a cool 82 degrees. The keys and touchpad temperatures are below our 95-degree comfort threshold.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) webcam

The ZenBook Pro Duo 15’s webcam is par for the course for laptop webcams; it’s not the best or the worst. It nicely reproduced colors, capturing my pink polo shirt and tan skin accurately. The webcam on the ZenBook will have some visual distortion and lacks sharpness in low-light situations, but most webcams do. If you want a better-performing webcam, check out our best external webcams page.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo 15 (UX582L) software and warranty

The ZenBook Pro Duo 15 comes with a few Asus-created applications like MyAsus, which comes with a few cool features like allowing you to connect your phone to the laptop and share files. It also gives you a rundown on how your system is performing and allows you to make adjustments, and control certain functions like the mic noise canceling and the color of the display. 

As is normal with Windows 10 systems, there's some bloatware, including Netflix, Spotify,  and Microsoft Solitaire. The one annoying piece of software is McAfee, as it just constantly reminds you it’s around and wants your money. Also, Amazon Alexa is available if you have the need to order Oreos at 4am. 

The ZenBook Pro Duo 15 comes with a one-year limited warranty. See how Asus fared in our annual special reports, including Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands. 

Bottom line

The ZenBook Pro Duo 15 is a good premium laptop for content creators who have the funds to splurge on this pricey machine. The Pro Duo benefits from its dual 4K OLED displays, which add to its versatility and essentially give you a built-in portable monitor. Performance is also excellent and the included stylus makes this a good choice for artists. Yes, the keyboard and touchpad take some getting used to but they shouldn’t deter you from choosing the Duo.

However, before you spend your money, consider whether two screens could benefit your workflow.  Although it’s perfect for a constant content creator like myself, others may find it too niche for their needs.

There’s just something about a ZenBook. They’re beautiful, tend to be incredibly slim and lightweight, and thanks to Asus, have some ace up their digital sleeves. In the case of the Asus ZenBook 13 UX325EA ($999 reviewed, $949 starting), the secret sauce is Intel’s new Tiger Lake chips. Under Intel’s new Evo initiative, Intel Tiger Lake chips offer more powerful performance, longer battery life and the introduction of Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6. Plus, you get the added bonus of the ZenBook’s beautiful yet durable chassis. 

Asus ZenBook 13 pricing and configurations

The base model of the Asus ZenBook 13 is available for $949, which has a 2.8-GHz Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor with 8GB of RAM, a 512GB M.2 PCI 3.0 SSD, and Intel Iris Plus Graphics. The $999 model I reviewed bumps the storage to 1TB and gets you Intel Iris Xe Graphics.

Asus ZenBook 13 design

The Asus ZenBook 13 is a looker, just like most ZenBooks. The entirety of the ZenBook 13’s chassis is made of Pine Gray aluminum alloy. There’s not a lot of bling save for the shiny chrome Asus logo embedded in the center-left. And once your eye is there, be sure to turn your attention to the concentric circles cascading out over the lid. While it doesn’t collect as many fingerprints as its convertible sister, the Asus ZenBook Flip S, it still picks up its fair share.

If the gray doesn’t suit your fancy, the ZenBook 13 is also available in Lilac Mist.

In case you need a little more sparkle on your laptop, just take a gander at the chamfered sides that add an unassuming twinkle to the laptop. Would I like it to be a little more pronounced like the gorgeous red copper accents on the Flip S? Yes, but some consumers prefer a more subtle look. 

The laptop’s interior has more of that pretty Pine Gray sans Asus’s concentric circles. Instead, you get a matte surface that’s cool to the touch. On the lower part of the deck is a  slightly raised palm rest on which you’ll find an absolutely giant touchpad. That palm rest gives way to a recess where the full-size keyboard resides. Opening the laptop reveals Asus’ ErgoLift hinge which raises the keyboard 3-degrees to make typing that much more comfortable. 

Asus is slowly slimming down the display bezels, with the sides measuring 0.16 inches while the top and bottom are 0.24 and 0.43 inches, respectively. It’s a start, but now that the Dell XPS 13 has extended its InfinityEdge bezels to all four sides, Asus’ NanoEdge bezels are not enough.

At 2.5 pounds and 11.9 x 8 x 0.5 inches, the ZenBook 13 is a serious lightweight system. The Acer Swift 3 (12.7 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches) is slightly heavier at 2.7 pounds. The HP Envy Wood Edition 2020 (2.8 pounds, 12.1 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches) and the MacBook Air (2.8 pounds, 11.9 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches) are the unlikely heavyweights in this review. 

Asus ZenBook 13 durability and security

But the ZenBook 13 isn’t just a pretty laptop, it’s also got some durability chops. The slim clamshell has MIL-STD 810G certification, meaning it can withstand extreme temperatures, drops, shocks, vibrations and extreme altitudes.

Asus doesn’t offer much in the way of security. The webcam is Windows Hello compliant for face recognition logins and the laptop includes a lock key for the Fn row. It’s not much, but it ensures that when the lock is enabled, no one can physically turn on your webcam. 

Asus ZenBook 13 ports

The ZenBook 13 has several useful ports and slots. There’s a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port on the right along with a microSD card slot. On the left, there’s a full HDMI 2.0 port and two Thunderbolt 4 ports, making the ZenBook 13 one of the first laptops to offer the next-gen charging standard. But what’s notably missing is the headset jack, which potentially ushers in a controversial trend of the disappearing headphone port. 

Asus ZenBook 13 display

The ZenBook 13’s display delivers a colorful experience with clean detail when you’re watching movies. When I watched the Still Here trailer on the ZenBook 13’s 13.3-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel matte display, I clearly saw the knit pattern in actress Zazie Beetz’s rose-pink sweater. The light glinted off her large, thin gold hoop earrings as the sun cascaded through her dark brown hair.

The ZenBook 13’s panel measured 76.1% on the DCI-P3 color gamut which is below the 83.4% premium laptop but above the 44.2% from the Acer Swift 3. It was not, however, enough to overcome the Envy 13’s 81.9% or the MacBook Air’s 80%.

Unfortunately, the ZenBook 13 isn’t as bright as I would have hoped. It averaged only 370 nits, which is better than the Swift 3’s 251 nits. They’re both dimmer than the 382-nit average, the MacBook Air (386 nits), and the Envy, which notched 401 nits.

Asus ZenBook 13 audio

I’m not a big believer in bottom-mounted speakers and the ZenBook 13 has not disabused me of this opinion. The Harman/Kardon speakers barely filled my living room and, even worse, when I listened to Janelle Monae’s “Can’t Live Without Your Love, “ the vocals sounded distant and hollow. The horns and strings didn’t sound any better, in fact, the entire production sounded like it was submerged. And when I switched over to Megan Thee Stallion’s “Captain Hook,” the bass had no punch and, while Meg’s verses were forward-facing, the triangle and other percussions took a backseat.

I got some minor relief from the DTS Audio Processing software with its four presets (Music, Movies, Gaming and Custom Audio), but not much.

Asus ZenBook 13 keyboard

The ZenBook 13’s keyboard is springy and comfortable. My fingers had plenty of space on the large, slightly concave keys and their generous spacing. I surpassed my 70 word-per-minute average on the 10fastfingers typing test, reaching 74 wpm. The LED backlighting is nice and bright, making it easy to read the lettering in my darkened living room. Even better, you can adjust the backlighting to make it brighter or dimmer. 

Asus ZenBook 13 NumberPad 2.0

This touchpad is enormous. Measuring 5.1 x 2.6-inches, the ZenBook 13’s glass surface acts as a traditional touchpad. Which meant I had no problems performing the usual multitouch Windows 10 gestures, such as pinch-zoom, two-finger scrolling and three-finger taps. 

But if you’re someone who needs to crunch a lot of numbers for whatever reason, the touchpad can transform into a calculator with the touch of an icon. Thanks to Asus’ NumberPad 2.0 technology, tapping the icon in the top-right corner turns the touchpad into a calculator. The LED-lit device gives you a full number pad complete with mathematical symbols. The lighting has two brightness levels that can be adjusted via an icon in the top-left corner. A left-sided swipe from that icon will also launch the calculator. 

Asus ZenBook 13 performance

Sigh, Ice and Comet Lake, we barely knew ye. But as the sun sets on Intel’s last-gen processors, it rises on its newest: Tiger Lake. Tiger Lake, Intel’s third 10-nanometer chip, is built on the new Willow Lake architecture, a chip layout designed to improve power efficiency and performance. Using Intel’s new SuperFin process, the company has successfully introduced higher clock speeds that Intel claims will translate into 20% better performance. 

For the real-world test, I launched 30 tabs of Google Chrome with the ZenBook’s 2.8-GHz Intel Core i7-1165G7 quad-core processor with 16GB of RAM. Some of the tabs ran YouTube, some ran Twitch streams, while others ran TweetDeck, various GSuite applications and random news pages. The laptop didn’t show any signs of sluggishness. 

The laptop continued to excel during our synthetic benchmarks; the system scored 5,084 on the Geekbench 5 overall performance test, pushing past the 4,030 premium laptop average. The Swift 3, with its AMD Ryzen 7 4700U CPU, came closest to matching the ZenBook 13 with a score of 4,862. The Envy (Core i7-1065G7 CPU) and MacBook Air (Core i5-1030NG7 CPU) hit 3,487 and 2,738, respectively.

The ZenBook 13 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 17 minutes and 51 seconds, beating the 18:47 category average as well as the MacBook Air (27:10) and Envy (24:56). However, the Asus couldn’t outpace the Swift 3 which clocked a time of 11 minutes.

During the Puget Photoshop benchmark, which loops through 21 different Photoshop tasks three times per run, the ZenBook 13 attained a score of 742, skating past the 598 average. The MacBook Air notched only 459 while the Swift 3 obtained 549.1.

When we ran the File Transfer test, the ZenBook 13’s 1TB M.2 PCI 3.0 SSD had a transfer rate of 583.6 megabytes per second after duplicating 25GB of multimedia files. The result is just enough to overcome the 571.1 MBps category average and the Swift 3, which reached 406.8 MBps.

Asus ZenBook 13 graphics

New processor, new integrated GPU. With the arrival of 11th Gen CPUs, we’re also getting a new integrated graphic chip, Intel Iris Xe. With this new component, Intel is promising gamers can play more games at 1080p by doubling the gaming performance of the previous generation chip.

OK, can you play AAA titles on these new integrated chips? Yes, but I’m still not convinced you should. I played Control on the ZenBook 13 at 1080p, but on low so it wasn’t the best-looking experience. Whenever I turned to take in my surroundings and scope out the environment for more lurking Hiss, there was heavy motion blur. Still, I made my way through the Astral Plane and onto my next objective at 24 frames per second. 

When I played the roguelike Hades, I got 56 fps thanks to its less-demanding workload. 

When we ran the Sid Meyer’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm 1080p benchmark, the ZenBook 13 reached 21 fps. However, it’s below the 26-fps premium laptop average and our 30 fps playability average. The Envy (13 fps, Intel Iris Plus) and MacBook Air (7 fps, Intel Iris Plus) scored lower while the Swift 3’s AMD Radeon Graphic achieved 27 fps.  

During the 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark, the ZenBook 13 put up an impressive 4,407, easily beating the Swift 3 (2,847) and Envy (2,071). 

Asus ZenBook 13 battery life

Intel’s 11th Gen processors also usher in Intel Evo, the second stage in the company’s Project Athena initiative. Evo comes with a number of requirements for laptops to receive Intel’s certification. One of those is at least 9 hours of battery life for 1080p systems. 

The Asus ZenBook 13 exceeds those expectations, lasting 13 hours and 47 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test (continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness). That’s more than three hours longer than the 10:01 premium laptop average. The Swift 3 lasted 11:09 while the MacBook Air tapped out after 9:31. The Envy had the shortest time of 6:31.

Asus ZenBook 13 heat

I spent a total of 13 hours with the ZenBook 13 comfortably in my lap. That’s because the laptop stayed well below our 95-degree Fahrenheit comfort threshold. We ran a 15-minute fullscreen YouTube video and measured certain spots on the laptop afterward. The touchpad measured 79 degrees while the center and bottom of the system registered 89 degrees. 

Asus ZenBook 13 webcam

Finally, a good integrated webcam! The ZenBook 13 720p camera is Asus’ new ultrathin module, which has a four-element lens. Paired with Asus’ proprietary camera algorithm, the webcam delivers sharp images and automatically corrects exposure and color balance, so there’s no excuse for a bad selfie. 

Even though the wall behind me was a bit blown out, the webcam did a great job capturing my skin tone as well as the blue and white in my shirt. The detail was just sharp enough that I could read the box in the background. 

Asus ZenBook 13 software and warranty

Thank you, Asus for keeping the bloatware to a minimum. The company even managed to keep Windows 10’s glut of software down to a manageable size. As far as Asus-branded software goes, there’s MyAsus. It’s essentially a hub where you can adjust the display’s color temperature, set fan speed, power settings and Wi-Fi connections.

McAfee Personal security is the only third-party app that makes an appearance on the ZenBook 13.

The Asus ZenBook 13 ships with a one-year limited warranty. See how Asus fared during Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands, our annual special reports. 

Bottom line

The Asus ZenBook 13 UX325EA straddles the line between business and premium. For $999, you get a system rocking the fetching good looks of the company’s top-tier laptops with some of the durability and security features of the ExpertBook, the company’s new business line. Plus, you get the added muscle of Intel’s new 11th Gen chips and all the features Intel’s Evo initiative brings, including over 13 hours of battery life. And you can even game in a pinch (just not at the highest settings).

However, if you’re looking for a laptop with a brighter, more vivid display, the HP Envy 13 Wood Edition is a good choice. If you’re in the market for something with a lot of power for under $700, there’s the AMD version Acer Swift 3. But if you want a laptop that’s durable, yet lightweight and stylish with great performance and excellent longevity, the Asus ZenBook 13 UX325EA is the way to go.

Asus knows how to make a splash. This time, the company is making waves with the Asus ZenBook Flip S, an absolutely bewitching 2-in-1 laptop. At $1,449, it’s one of the first laptops to feature Intel’s new 11th Gen processors and integrated GPUs, which offer better overall performance thanks to the new Intel Evo standards. Plus, you get Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. However, that beautiful 4K OLED touchscreen exacts a heavy toll on battery life, which might give some mobile professionals pause. But for those looking to be on the cutting edge of mobile technology, there’s no prettier way to do it than with the Flip S. 

Asus ZenBook Flip S pricing and configurations

As of press time, there’s only one model of the Asus ZenBook Flip S available. The laptop costs $1,449 and has a 2.8-GHz Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor with 16GB of RAM, a 1TB M.2 PCI 3.0 SSD, Intel Iris Xe Graphics and a 13.3-inch 3840 x 2160-pixel OLED touch panel.

Asus ZenBook Flip S design

The ZenBook Flip is incredibly stylish and elegant. It’s the laptop I dream of pulling out of a gorgeous Silver & Riley bag in preparation for a high-pressure business meeting. But until then, the all-aluminum laptop looks amazing, whether I’m sitting on my couch or at my Jarvis standing desk. 

The majority of the notebook is done in a color Asus is calling “Jade Black with Red Copper highlights.” The lid sports Asus’ signature concentric ring pattern that emanates from the gleaming logo in the center-left. The sides of the laptop have more of that sensational copper flair. It’s diamond-cut, so it can catch every little beam of light for that requisite sparkle. My only complaint is that the aluminum is a serious fingerprint magnet. Something this pretty shouldn’t be sullied with oily prints.

The Flip’s interior offers a more subtle take on the lid’s presentation. The keyboard deck is made from Jade Black aluminum but has a matte finish. The copper-lined sides add some bling that culminates toward the top of the deck, showing off the pair of 360-degree hinges. The keyboard resides in a slightly recessed deck and the black keys have copper lettering to match the overall aesthetic. The palm rest is slightly raised and houses a massive touchpad.

I’m going to need Asus to work on shrinking the display bezels –– they look downright fat compared to Dell and HP’s efforts of late. Particularly the chin that Asus tried to pretty up with a glossy Asus ZenBook emblem.

But back to the 360-degree hinges. The pair allows the laptop to smoothly transform from a traditional clamshell to a tablet, to presentation mode and back. Asus also added its ErgoLift hinge to the design, which raises the keyboard deck up 3 degrees for a more comfortable typing experience. 

At 2.7 pounds, the 12 x 8.3 x 0.6-inch Flip weighs just as much as the 13-inch HP Spectre x360 (2.7 pounds, 12.1 x 7.7 x 0.7 inches). However, its lighter than both the Dell XPS 13 (2.8 pounds, 11.6 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches) and the MacBook Pro (3.1 pounds, 12.1 x 7.7 x 0.7 inches).

Asus ZenBook Flip S security

The Flip is a little light on the security front. The webcam is Windows Hello compliant for visual logins and the laptop includes a lock key for the Fn row. It’s not much, but it ensures that when the lock is enabled, no one can physically turn on your webcam. 

Asus ZenBook Flip S ports

With such a slim frame, the Flip doesn’t have a lot of room for ports but Asus made it work. On the right, you have a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port and the power button. On the left, you’ll find a full HDMI 1.4 port and two Thunderbolt 4 ports, making the Flip one of the first laptops to feature the new connectivity standard. 

Although Thunderbolt 4 has the same maximum speed as Thunderbolt 3 (40Gb/s), it has some notable improvements, such as support for full data speed on cables up to 6.5 feet. The new port can also support two 4K displays or one 8K monitor.

And now for the elephant in the room. This is one of the first laptops I’ve seen that does not have a headset jack. I’m really not sure what to make of this. I mean, yes, most of my headphones these days are Bluetooth, but I never thought I’d see the day when I couldn’t plug a pair of headphones into my laptop. It’s a seriously controversial move, and I’m not really sure how I feel about it. 

Asus ZenBook Flip S display

Is there anything better than an OLED display? Nope. The 13.3-inch, 4K display is the motherlode of color. It made watching the The Cuban trailer that much more enjoyable as I watched actor Louis Gossett Jr.’s dark-brown skin awash in a bright red spotlight, guitar in hand ready to electrify the crowd. Although I could only see some of the detail in his gold ring, every strip in his plaid suit was crisp and easily visible. 

The OLED panel registered 113.1% on the DCI-P3 color gamut test. It’s much more colorful than the 83.5% premium laptop average. None of the competing systems could match it with the XPS 13, MacBook Pro and Spectre only notching 81.3%, 80.9% and 77.4%, respectively.

However, being the most colorful doesn’t equate to being the brightest as the Flip only averaged 375 nits, missing the 382-nit category average. It was, however, brighter than the
Spectre (369 nits) but not the XPS 13 (417 nits) or the MacBook Pro (485 nits).

Asus also included its Splendid utility which allows you to adjust the panel’s color temperature by offering several presets, such as Normal, Vivid, Manual, and Eye Care modes. I prefer Vivid as it delivers the deepest hues.

I really wish Asus would think about including a stylus with its touchscreen laptops. It’s really a shame to mess up such a lovely screen with fingerprints and smudges. Nonetheless, the 10-point capacitive screen kept pace with my multitouch gestures as well as when I drew a picture of a flower in Paint. 

Asus ZenBook Flip S audio

I’m normally not a fan of bottom-mounted speakers, but the Flip really impressed me. They’re just loud enough to fill my small living and dining room. And when I used the diminutive notebook in my lap, my comfy sweatpants didn’t muffle the sound. When I listened to Leela James’ cover of No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak,” I could hear every guitar strum and twang as well the tinkling bells that signified the transition to the bridge. I even heard the tiny crackles and pops mimicking an old-school vinyl recording. But most importantly, James’ soulful vocals were front and center, taking the song places Gwen Stefani could only dream of. 

Asus preinstalled DTS Audio Processing software which has four presets: Music, Movies, Games and Custom Audio. I found that Music gave the best performance whether I was watching movies or listening to songs on Tidal. 

Asus ZenBook Flip S keyboard

I really enjoyed typing on the Flip’s island-style keyboard. The keys are large with generous spacing and a surprising amount of feedback for such a skinny system.

I had no problems matching my 70 word-per-minute average on the 10fastfingers typing test. Despite the copper coloring of the letters on the keys, the backlighting made everything easy to see, even in a darkened workspace.

Asus ZenBook Flip S NumberPad 2.0

For such a tiny laptop, the Flip has a massive touchpad. Measuring 5.1 x 2.6 inches, the glass panel pulls double duty as a touchpad, seamlessly performing multitouch Windows 10 gestures, such as pinch-zoom, two-finger scroll and three-finger tap. 

But for those cases when you need a calculator or a Num Pad, tapping the icon in the top-right corner turns the touchpad into Asus’ NumberPad 2.0. The LED-lit device gives you a full number pad complete with mathematical symbols. The lighting has two brightness levels that can be adjusted via an icon in the top-left corner. A left-sided swipe from that icon will also launch the calculator. 

It’s a cool little add-on for people who have a lot of numbers to crunch. 

Asus ZenBook Flip S performance

So long Ice and Comet Lake, it’s time to meet Intel’s newest processor, Tiger Lake. Similar to Ice Lake, Tiger Lake is a 10-nanometer chip. However, where Ice Lake uses Intel’s Sunny Cove architecture, Tiger Lake is built on the new Willow Lake architecture, a chip layout designed to improve power efficiency and performance. Using Intel’s new SuperFin process, the company has successfully introduced higher clock speeds that Intel claims will translate into 20% better performance. 

Our first introduction to Tiger Lake comes by way of the 11th Gen Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor, which has four cores, a base clock speed of 2.8 gigahertz and a max speed of 4.7GHz. For the real-world test, I launched 30 Google Chrome tabs and ran a variety of streaming services, including Netflix, Twitch, Hulu and YouTube, as well as some tabs with TweetDeck, Google Analytics and a few other work-related tools. Combined with its 16GB of RAM, the ZenBook Flip S pushed through without any noticeable latency.

However, the chip left a lot to be desired during our synthetic tests. It scored only 3,880 on Geekbench 5.0, an overall performance test, failing to match the 4,017 premium laptop average. Armed with Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPUs, the XPS 13 and Spectre got scores of 4,648 and 4,074, respectively. The MacBook Pro and its Intel Core i5 processor delivered 4,399. 

It took the Flip 22 minutes and 5 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p. It’s a slower time than the 18:48 category average. The Spectre x360, XPS 13 and MacBook Pro were all faster with times of 21:13, 15:40 and 12:43, respectively. 

We also ran the PugetBench Photoshop benchmark, which loops through 21 different photoshop tasks three times per run. The Flip cruised past the 593 category average and the MacBook Pro’s 569. However, it was just short of the Spectre’s 657.

The Flip’s 1TB M.2 3.0 SSD produced a transfer rate of 1,296.2 megabytes per second, crushing the 723.2MBps average and earning itself some redemption. It also shot past the XPS 13 (512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD) and Spectre (1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD), which reached 642.5 and 312.2MBps, respectively. 

Asus ZenBook Flip S graphics

Along with the snazzy new processor, Intel also introduced a new integrated graphics chip: Iris Xe. With this new component, Intel is promising gamers can play more games at 1080p by doubling the performance of the previous generation chip.

I decided to put the claims to the test and downloaded Control. I was pleasantly surprised that the game ran, even though I was relegated to keeping the settings on low at 1080p. That meant I encountered a lot of disorienting motion blur as I made my way around the Oldest House exterminating Hiss. At the end of my run, I learned that the Flip only averaged 17 frames per second, which is below our 30-fps playability average. 

The Flip scored 16 fps on the Sid Meyer’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm 1080p benchmark, well below the 26-fps premium laptop average. With their Intel Iris Plus GPUs, the XPS 13 and MacBook Pro reached 19 and 18 fps, respectively. 

When I played Hades, the less-demanding roguelike, the notebook achieved 32 fps. 

During the 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark, the Flip attained 3,351, dusting the XPS 13 (2,837) and the Spectre (2,615). 

Asus ZenBook Flip S battery life

New processors typically mean better battery life. However, a 4K OLED panel is never the way to showcase that newfound longevity. The Asus ZenBook Flip S lasted 8 hours and 7 minutes on our battery test (continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness). That time is well short of the 9:59 premium laptop average. 

The MacBook Pro gave us a time of 10:21 while the XPS 13 tapped out at 12:39. The Spectre was the last laptop standing with a time of 13:19. Keep in mind that none of these laptops have 4K panels.

Asus ZenBook Flip S heat

The ZenBook Flip S keeps its cool...for the most part. It can get a little hot and bothered at certain points. We ran a fullscreen video for 15 minutes and then measured strategic areas of the notebook. The touchpad and center measured 83 and 92 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the bottom surpassed our 95-degree comfort threshold at 100 degrees. 

Asus ZenBook Flip S webcam

The ZenBook Flip S’ 720p camera is one of the better-integrated shooters I’ve used on a laptop. That’s thanks in part to the new ultrathin camera module with its four-element lens as well as Asus’ camera algorithm, which delivers sharper images and automatically corrects the exposure and color balance so your selfies always look well-lit. 

I was impressed with how well the webcam captured my skin tone and my orange locs, which are badly in need of some dye. The camera also did a great job of capturing the blue and white gradients in my shirt as well as the lilac of the facemask in the background.

Asus ZenBook Flip S software and warranty

The ZenBook Flip S is blissfully free of bloatware. Asus even found a way to avoid putting Candy Crush on the system. Instead, you get MyAsus where you can adjust settings for the display, battery, as well as run system diagnostics and contact tech support. The hub also includes the new ClearVoice Mic function that filters out ambient noise using four modes: Normal, Balance, Single presenter or Multi-presenter.

The laptop also ships with McAfee Personal Security in case you need extra protection against malware and the like. 

See how Asus fared on Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands our annual special reports. 

Bottom line

The $1,449 Asus ZenBook Flip S is a good showing for the future of computing according to Intel. Good, not great. Don’t get me wrong, with its stunning 4K OLED display and sublime, lightweight design, the Flip is an absolute head-turner. It’s got surprisingly powerful audio, a comfortable keyboard and solid performance. And that’s the problem. Thanks to the 4K panel and Asus going with a mid-level 11th Gen processor instead of one of the flagships, the Flip doesn’t get the chance to really shine the way you want it to against its peers. It’s a solid system for work, but with looks like this, you want more than solid. 

If you want more power and longer battery life, we recommend the Dell XPS 13. But if you want an extremely good-looking laptop with most of the bells and whistles Intel Evo has to offer, the Asus ZenBook Flip S is a good choice.

The Asus ZenBook 14 UX431FA is a good laptop for people looking to do a little bit of everything. For $799, you get solid mid-tier performance from a 10th Gen Intel Core i5 processor and over 9 hours of battery life. In addition to a comfortable keyboard, the laptop also has a pair of surprisingly powerful speakers. However, a dim display and polarizing design might give some shoppers pause. 

Asus ZenBook 14 UX431FA pricing and configuration

The ZenBook 14 I reviewed costs $799.99 and comes with a 1.6-GHz Intel Core i5-10210U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD and an integrated Intel UHD Graphics GPU. However, you can upgrade to an Intel Core i7-10510U CPU and discrete Nvidia GeForce MX250 for $899.99.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX431FA design

The Asus ZenBook 14’s spun-metal chassis possesses a shiny silver finish accented by a design resembling the striations found within a vinyl record. Those faint lines are deceptive, though, as the laptop is completely smooth to the touch. It’s also intended to possess a “Utopia Blue” hue, but this tint isn't noticeable. The shininess of the silver overwhelms any other shade.

Opening the lid reveals the same silver finish across the palm rest and keyboard deck. The keys are of a similar tint without the stylish striations, and the characters within the keys are colored dark bronze. This contrast is bold and original, but the combination of a muddy bronze and silver is a bit too industrial for my taste. However, if you increase keyboard brightness to its max, the bronze begins to glow and adds a shininess to the laptop that makes it far more pleasant to look at.

The speakers sit to the left and right of the keyboard while the trackpad sits directly below. The fingerprint scanner is placed within the top right of the touchpad.

The laptop has a 145-degree hinge and, when you pull it back far enough, the bottom of the screen props up the laptop and gives the base 4.5-degrees of breathing room.

The Asus ZenBook 14 measures 12.7 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches and weighs 3.3 pounds, making it the heaviest laptop compared to its competitors. The Acer Swift 3 AMD (12.7 x 8.6 x 0.6) is the lightest of the bunch at 2.7 pounds while the 2.6 x 8.5 x 0.6-inch Lenovo Yoga C940 and the 12.1 x 7.7 x 0.7-inch HP Envy x360 13 (2020) sit in the middle at 3 and 2.9 pounds, respectively.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX431FA security and durability

The Asus ZenBook 14’s fingerprint scanner works wonders with Windows Hello. I set up Windows Hello by placing my finger on the scanner in dozens of different ways. From there, I tested to see how well the laptop recognized my prints. Everytime I used my index finger, the laptop would log me in within milliseconds, and if I tried using any of my other fingers, it would deny me. ]

Despite its sleek looks, the ZenBook 14 is pretty tough. The notebook has undergone MIL-STD-810G testing, meaning it can withstand “extreme altitudes, temperatures and humidity” as well as a drop or two. The laptop is undeniably sturdy, but I noticed the bottom can sound a bit rickety. However, this only happens when tilting the laptop to its side.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX431FA ports

The Asus ZenBook 14 has enough ports to satisfy everyday users. 

On the left side, there’s one USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, a USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A port, an HDMI port and a DC-Jack. On the right side, there’s an SD card slot, an audio jack and a USB 2.0 Type-A port.

If you need more ports, check out our best laptop docking stations and best USB Type-C hubs pages.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX431FA display

The Asus ZenBook’s 14-inch, 1920 x 1080 display is quite good at presenting colorful, albeit slightly dimmer than average images. 

While watching the Greyhound trailer, the grittiness of the vast ocean and the lifelike explosions get propped up by the vivid composition. Additionally, the internal red glow of the submarine when it goes into an alarmed state beautifully shone across Tom Hanks’s face. And when it became dark and the crew had to get down in the face of a barrage of glowing bullets, the color contrast of the black night and glowing flames highlighted the striking moment.

If the color isn’t to your liking, you can adjust color, gamma and color temperature settings with the pre-installed Asus Splendid software. There are four presets: Normal, Vivid, Manual, and Eye Care. While Normal looks nice, Vivid is absolutely the best of the bunch. It allows for every color on the screen to pop, and when watching films, the texture becomes far more vibrant and immersive.

While measuring color reproduction, the Asus ZenBook 14 hit 104% of the sRGB color gamut, which is far higher than the Acer Swift 3 AMD (62%) and moderately better than the mainstream laptop average (96%). However, it falls short compared to the HP Envy x360 13 (108%) and ties the Lenovo Yoga C940.

The Asus ZenBook 14 averages 288 nits of brightness, which is higher than the Acer Swift 3 (251 nits). Unfortunately, it scores lower than the mainstream laptop average (315 nits), the Lenovo Yoga C940 (339 nits) and the HP Envy x360 13 (364 nits).

Asus ZenBook 14 UX431FA audio

Perhaps the most glowing praise the ZenBook 14 deserves is that the speakers are phenomenally crisp. Designed by Harman Kardon, two top-firing speakers present nearly every element of a track perfectly. However, the volume could be a bit higher.

I immediately defaulted to my latest obsession and began playing “Stronger Than You” from the Steven Universe soundtrack. Estelle’s emotional voice comes through with a crispness, and the electronic drops really compliment the drum and bass. To present these speakers with a more difficult test, I then tried “Crawling Into A Fireplace Cackling” by Lauren Bousfield. The chaotic nature of this track is kept intact and Lauren’s low voice could be heard as clearly as it would with solid headphones. 

However, these speakers seem to pick and choose which aspects should be louder or quieter. “Stronger Than You” came through at a solid volume, while “Crawling Into A Fireplace Cackling” was a bit quiet for the first half of the track. In general these speakers could definitely be louder, but the quality and crispness of the audio is undeniably incredible.

The laptop comes with a software called AudioWizard, which allows you to tweak certain speaker settings. Bypass, Music and Movies are its three presets. Activating Music mode allows for tracks to come to the forefront with their bass, greatly increasing intensity.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX431FA keyboard and touchpad

As someone who’s typically used to a large mechanical keyboard, getting used to the Asus ZenBook 14’s island-style keyboard was pretty easy. The keys are responsive and feel rather satisfying to click.

I took the 10fastfingers typing test and scored 108 words per minute with 96% accuracy. Next, I took the same test on the keyboard I have been using for about a year and scored 115 words per minute with a 97% accuracy. Scoring such a similar accuracy on a keyboard I had only been using for a day is quite a good sign.

The Asus ZenBook 14’s trackpad is pretty responsive when performing Windows 10 gestures, delivering quick reactions for pinch-zoom, three-finger tap and flick. However, the trackpad occasionally froze and did not respond to any swipes or clicks for about five seconds. 

Asus ZenBook 14 UX431FA performance

The Asus ZenBook 14 sports a quad-core 1.6-GHz Intel Core i5-10210U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 512GBf PCle SSD and an Intel UHD Graphics GPU. With these specs, this laptop is more than capable of handling YouTube videos, editing, document writing and crowded email inboxes. With many chrome tabs open running Twitch, YouTube, Discord, Google Docs, Gmail, Spotify and Slack, I only started noticing a slowdown when I ran movie trailers.

On the Geekbench 4.3 synthetic overall performance test, the Asus ZenBook 14 scored 15,309, which is slightly above the mainstream laptop average (15,001). However, the score is pretty underwhelming when compared to its competitors. The Acer Swift 3 (10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G1) scored 19,163, the Lenovo Yoga C940 (Intel Core i7-9750H) scored 18,672 and the HP Envy x360 13 (Ryzen 5 4500U) scored 19,064.

When we ran the Handbrake Video Editing test, the laptop took 12 minutes and 32 seconds to transcode a 4K video into 1080p. This is far quicker than both the mainstream laptop average (21:48) and the Lenovo Yoga C940 (19:32). However, the Acer Swift 3 has it beat at 11 minutes on the dot.

During the File Transfer Test, the Asus ZenBook 14 took 11.1 seconds to duplicate 4.97GB of mixed-media files for a transfer rate of 458 megabytes per second. The Lenovo Yoga C940 managed a transfer rate of 1,017 MBps while the HP Envy x360 13 managed a transfer rate of 318 MBps. It also surpassed the mainstream laptop average of 369 MBps.

Due to its integrated GPU, the Asus ZenBook 14 will likely encounter some trouble when running demanding titles. When we ran the Dirt 3 benchmark on Medium settings at 1080p, the laptop managed 27 frames per second, which is far below the mainstream average (56 fps) and considerably worse than its competitors. The Acer Swift 3 delivered the highest performance with 79 fps, while the Lenovo Yoga C940 and HP Envy x360 13 hit 51 fps and 78 fps, respectively.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX431FA battery life

The ZenBook 14 has a battery life of 9 hours and 27 minutes based on the Laptop Mag Battery test (continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness). It just surpassed the 9:25 mainstream average, but the time was well below its competitors. The Acer Swift 3, Lenovo Yoga C940 and HP Envy x360 13 (2020) clocked in at 11:09, 11:46 and 11:52, respectively.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX431FA heat

We streamed a 1080p YouTube video for 15 minutes and measured specific spots on the laptop once the time elapsed. The touchpad measured 81 degrees Fahrenheit, the middle measured 88 degrees, and the underside measured 91 degrees. At its hottest spot, just left of the middle underside, the laptop hit 94 degrees. None of those temperatures climbed over our 95-degree comfort threshold.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX431FA webcam

The ZenBook 14’s 720p webcam gets the job done, but it's not particularly good. In my test photos, my brown bed frame and blue shirt looked washed out while my hair turned into a poofy mess with no texture. If you plan on having many video calls and want to look as colorful and crisp as possible, consider investing in one of the best webcams.

Asus ZenBook 14 UX431FA software and warranty

The ZenBook 14 comes with a handful of software. MyAsus is the most useful, as it gives the user the ability to change the functionalities of the Fn key, enable WiFi SmartConnect and utilize Battery Health Charging, which effectively act as power settings. Additionally, it possesses Tru2Life, which is meant to enhance the quality of videos by making them clearer and more detailed.

The laptop also comes with standard Windows bloatware, including Netflix, Skype, Solitaire and Hotspot Shield Free VPN.

The ZenBook 14 comes with a one-year limited warranty. See how Asus fared in our annual Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands special reports.

Bottom line

The Asus ZenBook 14 is a solid laptop thanks to a handful of successful features. For $799, you get a colorful display, strong, mid-tier performance and a pair of surprisingly powerful speakers. The keyboard is also very comfortable and the battery life is relatively good.

However, if you’re looking for a brighter display, longer battery life and stronger performance, you’ll want to check out the HP Envy x360, which also costs $799. Overall, the ZenBook 14 is a solid mainstream laptop with a number of premium qualities.

Asus is making dual-screen laptops available to the masses with the ZenBook Duo (starting and reviewed at $1,499). The new laptop trades the "Pro" for a much lower price, but nearly all the same functionality as its pricier relative. Instead of having two 14-inch, 4K panels like the ZenBook Pro Duo, the ZenBook Duo has a 14-inch, 1080p screen and a secondary 12.6-inch panel. 

The Duo is the kind of device you'll feel proud showing off, and when you do, people will be amazed by its gorgeous color and second display, also known as the ScreenPad Plus. The shock and awe of the extra screen will get people reaching for the Duo at electronics stores, but the ScreenPad is much more than a spectacle; It's a useful tool for creative professionals and business users who need to maximize screen real estate. 

Add strong performance and long battery life to the mix, and the ZenBook Duo is a dream to use when you're crunching spreadsheets or editing videos. But to craft such a unique device, Asus had to make compromises to the keyboard and touchpad, so you'll want to think long and hard about whether the ZenBook Duo is the right device for your needs.

Asus ZenBook Duo price and configuration options

The ZenBook Duo currently sells in a single configuration. For $1,499, you can get the same unit we reviewed, which come with a 14-inch, 1080p touchscreen (and secondary 12.6-inch panel), a Core i7-10510U CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and Nvidia GeForce MX250 graphics.

Asus ZenBook Duo design

Where do I start? Asus gave me a feast to gaze at. I keep shiting my eyes between the metallic dark teal aluminum and the extra pixels on the deck shining up at me. It's a striking design that will satisfy your creative side without making you self conscious about using something overly gaudy. 

I had the pleasure of visiting Asus' design labs in Taiwan last year where I got to see how the company experiments with color. It helped me understand why the exact hue on Asus' ZenBook laptops is always so hard to pin down. In the case of the ZenBook Duo, it's something between navy, forest green and teal (Asus calls it Celestial Blue). When the light hits it just right, the laptop looks like a glistening jewel. Beautiful. 

On the lid of the ZenBook Duo are Asus' signature concentric circles and a stylish silver Chrome Asus logo. The back of the lid has an extra lip that hands underneath the ZenBook Duo when the lid is open. This angles the keyboard downward for a more comfortable typing position and brings the second screen up a notch for a better viewing angle. 

I'll go into more detail about the displays, keyboard and touchpad below but their uniqueness impacts the design; The second screen takes up the top half of the Duo's deck while the keyboard is on the front (nearest the user) and a vertical touchpad with discrete clickers is on the right side. 

The ZenBook Duo isn't the thinnest or lightest 14-inch laptop out there. Actually, it's pretty chunky compared with other 15W laptops. At 12.7 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches and 4 pounds, the Duo is thicker and heavier than the Samsung Galaxy Book Flex 15 (14 x 9 x 0.6 inches, 3.5 pounds) and Lenovo Yoga C940 (12.6 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches, 3 pounds).  

Asus ZenBook Duo ports

There is a decent selection of ports on the ZenBook Duo, however, all premium laptops should now have a Thunderbolt 3 port for fast transfer speeds and for connecting to multiple 4K monitors. 

On the right side of the ZenBook Duo is a USB 3.1 Type-A port, a microSD card and a headphone/mic jack. 

On the left side of the laptop is an HDMI port, another USB 3.1 input, an HDMI port and a USB-C input. 

Asus ZenBook Duo display

We'll focus this section on the primary 14-inch, 1080p display. Don't worry, we'll get to the secondary 12.6-inch panel later on. As for the main screen, it's great. The colors are more saturated than usual from a matte panel and details are crisp. And while I wish Asus used brighter screens, the ZenBook Duo's touch panel effectively reduces annoying reflections. 

When I watched a trailer for Proximity, I could distinctly see the small writing on an old video cassette containing abduction footage, and the salt-and-pepper strands of hair in Don Scribner's beard were clearly defined. Colors popped off the screen more than I was expecting given the matte finish; Forest foliage was a lush green while diner chairs had that nostalgic retro pumpkin orange hue. I also appreciated the accurate white color balance in a scene set in a white room with people wearing ivory robotic spacesuits.  

When we measured color coverage using a colorimeter, the ZenBook Duo's display captured 107% of the sRGB gamut. That's a good result but it doesn't quite meet the premium laptop average (123%) and it's not in the same class as the Galaxy Book Flex 15 (158%). The ZenBook Duo just edges out the Yoga C940 (104%). 

Asus tends to keep the brightness of their laptop displays -- even those on high-end machines -- relatively low. The same is true of the screen on the ZenBook Duo, which reached only 282 nits and was outshone by the Galaxy Book Flex 15 (381 nits or 565 nits with outdoor mode enabled), the Yoga C940 (339 nits) and the category average (368 nits). The ZenBook Duo makes up for it a bit with its matte finish, which improves outdoor viewability.

Asus ZenBook Duo ScreenPad Plus

The Duo's 12.6-inch ScreenPad Plus is an updated version of the secondary screen we first saw on the ZenBook Pro Duo back in 2018. Since that first effort, Asus has made many beneficial changes. 

There are some fun things you can do with the secondary panels and some of the built-in features are genuinely useful. The interface and stability of Asus' custom interface has also come a long way. Still, I hope Asus finds a way to improve the angle of the panel because it can be difficult to view when you're not hunching directly over it.

Opening the main menu is as easy as tapping an arrow on the left side of the secondary touchscreen. From the App Launcher menu, you can open an app called Quick Key, which gives you oft-used commands, like cut, copy, paste, undo, and more. Other Asus apps include a handwriting app for drawing or taking quick notes, a Number app that pulls up a virtual numpad, and a quick-access icon to MyAsus, AppDeal and Spotify. You can use the Task Group icon to open up to 5 apps (two on the main screen and three on the ScreenPad Plus) with a single tap. There are also useful buttons for moving windows around and changing the brightness of the second panel.

Dropping an app from the 14-inch display to the 12.6-inch ScreenPad Plus is as easy as dragging it onto a floating icon that appears when you adjust the window. When you drag the title bar of an app, three options appear: launch on ScreenPad Plus, pin to ScreenPad Plus Launcher or View on both screens. It's a clever system that works flawlessly and instantaneously. 

I had no problems dropping a specs sheet down to the ScreenPad Plus so I could read info while writing an embargoed news post about a laptop. It was as if I had a second monitor, which saved at least 15 minutes and made my work a lot easier. I also used the ScreenPad Plus for streaming music so I could change songs and adjust volume without searching for Spotify among the dozens of Google Chrome tabs I had open. 

Other practical uses for the ScreenPad Plus include video and photo editing -- the timeline or controls go on the bottom screen --- and gaming, where you chat on the lower screen and play on the main one.

The secondary screen isn't very bright or vivid on paper but it looks better in person than what our colorimeter clocked. The touchscreen covers 67% of the sRGB color gamut and hits 272 nits of brightness, the latter of which was a problem when I used the laptop outside.

Asus ZenBook Duo keyboard and touchpad

I love this keyboard, but I hate where it's placed. The same can be said for the touchpad, which I'll complain about later. For now, I'll focus my energy on the wasted potential of the Duo's keyboard. 

Instead of being located in the center or toward the back of the laptop, the keyboard on the ZenBook Duo is on the front of the deck. This causes a few problems. First, there is no place to put your wrists. It's not a huge issue on a desk, but typing with the ZenBook Duo on my lap was frustrating because it required me to hold my wrists up in the air or drop them below my fingers so I could rest them on my thighs. 

The other major problem with having a forward-positioned keyboard is that the touchpad can't stay where it belongs. On the ZenBook Duo, it also rotates; On the right side of the deck is a vertical touchpad. While responsive, the touchpad's narrow dimensions (2.1 x 2.7 inches) meant my fingers overlapped onto the deck every time I used pinch-to-zoom or three-finger tap gestures. On a positive note, the touchpad clickers feel great, although they can be awkward to reach.

I don't fault Asus for shifting the keyboard around to accommodate the ScreenPad Plus, but I also can't ignore the resulting compromises, either. And that's really a shame because the ZenBook Duo's keyboard is otherwise fantastic. The keys are snappy, bouncy and have a sweet audible click when actuated. I also like some of the shortcut buttons Asus added, like the option to turn off your webcam or open MyAsus with the tap of a key.

Asus ZenBook Duo audio

I jammed out to the funky beats of John Mayer's "Assassin" and totally forgot the sound was coming from a laptop, not a Bluetooth speaker. Drum hits had a chest-thumping heaviness and the percussions were crisp and clear. The midrange was the real highlight, with Mayer's smooth vocals taking center stage. While they're not super loud, the dual speaker on the front of the Duo filled my small office with ease.

Asus ZenBook Duo performance

It might use an 15W processor compared with the ZenBook Pro Duo's 45W chips, but the Intel Core i7-10510U CPU with 16GB of RAM in the ZenBook Duo did an excellent job keeping up with my demanding day-to-day workflow. Dozens of open Chrome tabs and various apps, like Play Music and Slack, didn't slow the laptop down one bit. 

It chugged right along even when I tried my darndest to find its breaking point by playing four 1080p YouTube videos and a Twitch stream simultaneously. The ScreenPad Plus was also pleasantly responsive -- I didn't notice a hint of lag when switching between displays or loading apps. 

The ZenBook Duo notched a 16,719 on our Geekbench 4.3 overall performance test, which is short of what the Galaxy Book Flex 15 (19,137, Core i7-1065G7) and Yoga C940 (18,672, Core i7-1065G7) scored. It also lands just below the premium laptop average (17,336). On the more demanding Geekbench 5 test, the ZenBook Duo hit 3,981, which, again, can't keep up with the Galaxy Book Flex 15 (4,416), Yoga C940 (4,055) or the category average (4,208). 

Rebounding from a rough start to our benchmarks, the ZenBook Duo converted a 4K video to 1080p resolution (using the Handbrake app) in 19 minutes and 3 second, which is faster than the Galaxy Book Flex 15 (22:18) and Yoga C940 (19:32) but not up to the average (18:37). 

The 1TB SSD inside our ZenBook Duo UX481 was super speedy when duplicating about 5GB of multimedia files. It took just 5 seconds to complete the task, which equates to a transfer speed of 958.4 megabytes per second. Somehow, even that awesome result doesn't top this list. The Book Flex 15 stole the prize with a speed of 1,379.2 while the Yoga C940 (1,017.9 MBps) also topped four digits. Each of these laptops crushes the premium laptop average (658.3 MBps). 

Asus ZenBook Duo graphics

When it comes to graphics performance, the Nvidia GeForce MX250 GPU inside the ZenBook Duo is as close to integrated as you can get. 

But hey, discrete is discrete and it showed in our benchmarks when the ZenBook Duo raced around the Dirt 3 track at a buttery 106 frames per second, outracing the Galaxy Book Flex 15 (52 fps, MX250), Yoga C940 (51 fps, Iris Plus) and the category average (64 fps). 

It did similarly well on the 3DMark Fire Strike test, hitting 2,769 compared with the Galaxy Book Flex 15's 2,215 and the Yoga C940's 2,138. 

Asus ZenBook Duo battery life

I owe Asus an apology. When I first saw the ZenBook Duo, my first thought was how poor the battery life must be given the dual displays. I was wrong -- very wrong. 

With both displays turned on, the ZenBook Duo lasted for 9 hours and 44 minutes in our battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi. When we turned the secondary screen off, the laptop went the distance, at 11 hours and 51 minutes. Those are some stellar results, although the Galaxy Book Flex 15 (15:44) and Thinkpad Yoga C940 (11:46) were up for the test. All three of those laptops outlasted the category average (9:07). 

Asus ZenBook Duo webcam 

It's practicality over picture quality when it comes to the 720p webcam on the top bezel of the ZenBook Duo. Even under the sunlight of a rare pleasant day in Michigan, a selfie I snapped was fuzzy and my beard was a mushy blob of brown. The sky behind me was also blown out to the point where there wasn't any blue left in it. 

And yet, the camera is more useful than most because it teams with IR sensors for facial recognition login via Windows Hello. If you haven't used it before, facial recognition is one of those you'll-never-go-back features. 

Asus ZenBook Duo heat

Cool as a cucumber after playing a 15-minute, 1080p video, the ZenBook Duo reached a maximum temp of 97 degrees. If we're nitpicking, that's over our 95-degree comfort threshold, but it's not something to worry about, especially since the keyboard (82 degrees) and the touchpad (83 degrees) were chill to the touch. 

Asus ZenBook Duo software and warranty

Along with all the software Asus packages in for the ScreenPad Plus, the ZenBook Duo has a fair amount of first-and-third party apps, including a few surprises. 

Asus strayed away from its heavy-handed tendencies, installing only the MyAsus app and AudioWizard (for EQ controls) on the ZenBook Duo. This useful program is where you can track the health of your laptop's battery, get the latest updates, change the fan profile, and even make adjustments to the color and white balance of the display. The user interface is fantastic and I appreciate that Asus bundled so many tools into a single app. 

I encountered a few third-party apps on the Duo. Already installed on the laptop out-of-the-box are the games Candy Crush Friends and Farm Heroes Saga. McAfee Security is also on here along with Microsoft's suite of Office apps. 

The ZenBook Duo comes with a one-year warranty. See how Asus did on our Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst brands special reports. 

Bottom line

The ZenBook Duo isn't as powerful as the ZenBook Pro Duo, but it delivers nearly all the same functionality at a significantly lower price. As a result, the Duo is a better option for all but the most demanding power users. First, you need to decide if the ZenBook Duo is right for you, or if a more traditional laptop, like the Samsung Galaxy Flex 15 or Lenovo Yoga C940 would be a better fit. 

If you spend your days editing videos or just want more screen real estate without buying an extra monitor, the ZenBook Duo is an excellent choice. For $1,500 (half the price of the ZenBook Pro Duo), the Duo offers fast performance, long battery life and a functional second display in a gorgeous design. 

But the ZenBook Duo is far from perfect. To accommodate the secondary display, Asus made compromises to the keyboard and touchpad. The Duo is also chunkier and heavier than other 14-inch laptops, so it doesn't make for the best travel laptop. However, if your work is done at a desk, or you're stuck inside working remotely and can buy an external keyboard and wrist rest, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better laptop than the ZenBook Duo for the price.

Asus has refreshed its 15-inch ZenBook Pro with a 4K display and new internals, and it's available today.

A direct competitor to the XPS 15 and MacBook Pro, the new ZenBook Pro 15 (UX550GE) is a touchscreen laptop designed for performance and portability. The slim, lightweight machine sports a stylish aluminum chassis with a dark blue finish and rose gold accents. It retains the thin bezels of its predecessor, except this year, they border a 4K display. Asus claims the new touch screen panel has a Delta-E score under 2 and that it can reproduce 132 percent of the sRGB color gamut.

Asus rates the ZenBook Pro 15's battery life at 9 hours, but we'd be surprised to see that endurance. Last year's 1080p ZenBook Pro lasted only 7 hours and 38 minutes in our Laptop Battery Test.

The Asus ZenBook Pro is relatively portable considering its display size. The chassis is just 0.7-inches thick, and its 83 percent screen-to-body ratio keeps things compact at 14.4 x 9.9 inches. At 4.1 pounds, the ZenBook falls between the 15-inch MacBook Pro (4 pounds) and the Dell XPS 15 (4.2 pounds).

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Asus claims the Harman Kardon-branded speakers are 1.4x louder than last year's model. With louder speakers and a 4K display, Asus has addressed the two biggest qualms we had with the 2017 model.

The new ZenBook comes with a strong selection of ports: 2 Thunderbolt 3, 2 USB 3.1 Type-A ports, an HDMI, a microSD card slot, and a headphone/mic combo jack. Other frills include a fingerprint sensor embedded in the touchpad and the latest Bluetooth 5.0.

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For $1,799, the laptop comes with a 15-inch 4K display, an Intel Core i7-8750H processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GPU. The Asus ZenBook Pro 15 is available today on Asus' website and through most major online retailers, including Amazon, B&H and Newegg.

We're looking forward to getting our hands on a review unit, and putting it up against the MacBook Pro and XPS 15.

At a press conference at Computex in Taipei, Asus announce the ZenBook S (UX391), a new clamshell laptop with an ergonomic design and new fun colors. The laptop will launch on June 11 for $1,199.

The most notable part is what Asus calls the ErgoLift hinge, which lifts the keyboard to a 5.5-degree angle when the machine is open. It looks sort of like Dell’s old design on the XPS Adamo from 2010, but far more sleek. The company also claims that this hinge lets the device keep cooler than previous versions thanks to increased air flow.

At just half an inch thick, the ZenBook maintains a slim profile, and we appreciate that it comes in both Burgundy Red and Deep Dive Blue, which will make it stand out from a number of other silver and black laptops on the market.

The laptop will come with either an Intel Core i7-8550U or Core i5-8250U quad-core processor, up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of PCIe SSD storage. There will be a 4K touchscreen option, or 1080p models with either glossy or anti-glare displays. Asus is claiming the ZenBook S has an 85 percent screen to body ratio, and that the display will offer 178-degree viewing angles.

The company is promising 13.5 hours of battery life, but we’ll be testing that in our own labs soon enough.

The ZenBook S will feature a single USB Type-C port and two Thunderbolt 3 ports, as well as a combo audio jack.

We’ll not only benchmark this notebook, but also test its heating and ergonomic claims, when it shows up in our labs.

Image credit: Asus

No matter how large or high-res your laptop's screen, you could always use some extra real estate for controls. With Asus's new laptops, the answer is right under your fingers.

Announced today at Computex Taipei, the ZenBook Pro 15 (UX580) and 14 have a 5.5-inch touchpad that doubles as a screen. This display provides a quick launcher, number pad, media player and app-specific toolbars. The 15-inch version of the laptop will be available in July for $2,299 with no U.S. release announced for its slightly-smaller sibling.

 The ScreenPad is a 5.5-inch FHD display that doubles as a touchpad with support for Microsoft’s precision drivers for Windows 10 gestures. It has a toolbar at the top that contains an app launcher, including built-in support for YouTube and Spotify, as well as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. It can also mirror a smartphone on your PC with the Asus Sync app.

In our brief hands-on with both laptops, we were impressed with the versatility of the different ScreenPad apps. We enjoyed using the numpad feature to enter digits and seeing a comprehensive list of favorite apps that we could launch with a single touch. The ScreenPad's display is bright and colorful, and has a matte surface that provides just the right amount of friction.

If you really want to, you can also use the ScreenPad as an extended desktop for windows and drag any app over there that you want. We successfully dragged over the Chrome browser and watched a YouTube video on the tiny display. However, in that mode, the pad was tracking our touches as mouse pointer moves so objects on widgets in the browser or YouTube controls didn't really work. If you buy the ZenBook, you'll probably try this parlor trick once for the heck of it then go back to regular ScreenPad mode.

Having a second screen is not without its costs. An Asus rep told us that the ZenBook Pro 15 lasts up to 10 hours, with the ScreenPad off (you can use it as a regular touchpad) but just 6 hours with it on. The 14-inch model should last 12 to 13 hours without the second screen on and just 7 or 8 hours with it powered up.

ScreenPad aside, these are some powerful laptops. The ZenBook Pro 15 will go up to an Intel Core i9-8950HK CPU, a 4K display, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GPU, and a 1TB PCIe SSD. It includes a wide variety of ports, including two Thunderbolt 3 ports, two USB type-A ports, an HDMI output, audio jack and a microSD card reader. The 14-inch model will go up to an Intel Core i7 processor, with a 14-inch 1080p display and Nvidia GeForce 1050 with Max-Q design. with two Type-A ports, one Thunderbolt 3 and an HDMI output.

Both ZenBooks are extremely attractive, with Asus's bold "deep blue" color scheme consistently applied throughout their chassis. The 14-inch model is even better looking than its big brother, thanks to a decorative metal bar that appears above the keyboard, a sleek dip near the hinge and some high-tech looking exhaust ports on the back. As you might expect, the 14-inch model is lighter, weighing just 3.5 pounds compared to 4.4 pounds for its 15-inch sibling. The ZenBook Pro 15 will also be available as a 4.1-pound, $1,799 model, the UX550, that comes without the ScreenPad.

Asus is pushing the displays on the 15-inch model, which it says are its first to be Pantone validated, and the company is also claiming 132 percent sRGB coverage and 178-degree viewing angles. Additionally, the audio is Harmon Kardon-certified, so we’re expecting loud, clear sound.

We’ll need more hands-on time in our lab to see what we think of the ScreenPads, but they’ll surely be compared to the Touch Bar on Apple’s MacBook Pro. On first glance, we prefer this because it doesn’t remove any of the function row keys. We were able to use it as an extended display This isn’t the first touchpad to feature a screen, though. Razer tried something similar with the Razer Blade Pro a few years ago, but ultimately ditched it. We’re cautiously excited by the prospect.

While the ScreenPad is innovative, Asus is not the first company to offer configurable touch controls. We're all familiar with Apple's Touch Bar, but many may not be aware that Razer had a touchpad that doubled as a screen on its Razer Blade laptop way back in 2012. The company ditched the concept a few years later. 

Whether you love the second screen or think it's nothing more than a fun gimmick, there's no denying that Asus has a pair of powerful, attractive laptops in the ZenBook Pro 15 and 14. We look forward to testing them when they come out later this year.

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