Review: Asus Zenbook Pro Duo

The best laptop for content creators on the market?

Introduction

The Asus Zenbook Pro Duo is a highly innovative laptop notebook computer. Not only does it boast a top of the line Intel i9 CPU (processor) and Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 GPU (graphics processor) but also introduces a never seen before dual-screen layout. The Asus Zenbook Pro Duo features a large OLED 4k touchscreen and a half size LCD 4k touchscreen positioned where the keyboard typically is located on most laptops. 

The unique design opens up new possibilities for multitasking. With the Asus Zenbook Pro Duo, you can be working on your main screen, monitoring a Slack channel, sitting in on a video call, and listening to Spotify all without obstructing your view of any of those windows. I’ve spent over a month using this laptop and I’d like to share the reasons why I believe it is the best laptop on the early 2020 market for content creators.

Specifications

To truly understand the “under the hood” power of this laptop you have to see the amazing specs it has been equipped with:

• Processor: Intel? Core? i9-9980HK 2.4GHz 8 core with Turbo Boost (up to 5.0GHz) and 16MB cache
• Graphics: NVIDIA? GeForce RTX? 2060
• Video memory: 6GB GDDR6 VRAM
• Primary Display: 15.6” OLED 4K (3840 x 2160) 16:9 touchscreen 100% DCI-P3 (RGB colorspace representation)
• Secondary Display: 14” 4K UHD (3840 x 1100) touch display
• Memory: 32GB 2666MHz DDR4
• Storage: 1TB PCIe? x4
• Inputs/Outputs: 1 x Thunderbolt? 3 USB-C?, 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A, 1 x Standard HDMI 2.0, 1 x Audio combo jack

Benchmark Testing

For on the go content creators, one of the most important metrics when determining which laptop computer to purchase is high performance with popular content creation tools including Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere Pro.

Puget Systems, a custom computer company, distributes benchmarking tools that provide scores that can be compared against other computers. To run the tests I downloaded a test project file from Puget Systems and run an included script file which then automatically went through various tests to see how well my computer runs. I ran tests for three programs: Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere Pro. I have attached screenshots for Photoshop and After Effects and a table showing data for Premiere Pro.

Adobe Premiere Pro Results (screenshot not available for Premiere Pro test):

• Overall Score: 391
• Standard Live Playback Score: 26
• Standard Export Score: 52
• GPU Score: 35

The above data may be a little hard to interpret if you’re unfamiliar with Puget Sytems’ scoring methods so below you can find a brief explanation.

For Photoshop and After Effects, an overall score of 1000 represents a benchmark build that has an Intel i9 8 core processor, RTX 2080 GPU, and 64GB of RAM. It’s interesting to note that the computer used to establish the benchmark is only slightly better than the Asus Zenbook Pro Duo but instead of being a laptop it’s a desktop. So that goes to show that when it comes to performance laptops are handicapped and can’t beat desktops. If mobility is not a priority the Asus Zenbook Pro Duo is not the laptop for you.

The scoring for Premiere Pro is a little bit different. For Premiere Pro, scoring is based on the time it takes to complete a task. A score of 100 would mean that the task is completed in real-time. By real-time, I mean the same amount of time it takes to play the video after it is exported. (Example, it takes 30-seconds to complete a task on a 30-second video) In contrast, if the task takes twice as long as the video, the score would be 50. (Example, it takes 60-seconds to complete a task on a 30-second video) The playback score being only 26 may seem like a low score but the video being tested is 4K RAW footage filmed on a RED cinema camera. At such high quality, even short 10 second clips are over 1GB in file size.

My Thoughts

Specs and benchmarks are great but to really understand how the Asus Zenbook Pro Duo works it takes hands-on experience. I’ve used this laptop for over a month and I’ve been able to see the good and bad. I have been highly impressed by how versatile this laptop is but I’ve also noticed a few downsides.

The Bad:

Overall it’s hard to find something bad to say. It’s truly an extraordinary piece of equipment. However, if battery life is a big deal for you this may not be the laptop for you. I’ve found the fully charged battery life to be approximately 5 hours. If you do a lot of work away from a desk that could be an issue.

The second issue I have found is the trackpad. Normally laptops have their trackpad in the center below the keyboard, but to make room for the extra screen this laptop has the trackpad pushed into the bottom right corner. For most people, this isn’t a big deal but for lefties like myself, it can be inconvenient. I’ve resulted to using an external wireless mouse which is great when at my desk but hard to use when working outside or off my desk. 

The third issue isn’t really an issue but more of something that requires getting used to. Since the keyboard is pushed up closer to you it removes any room for your hands to rest while typing. In order to solve this problem, Asus included a small removable hand rest that can connect to the front of the laptop and made the trackpad dual function. (The trackpad can act as both a mouse and number pad) Even when not using the hand rest I have not noticed any discomfort, however, having the hand rest for sure makes things feel more natural. One advantage of this solution is that the rest is slopped. That removes the awkward and uncomfortable ledge that everyone writing with other laptops knows all too well.

Pros:

If I could only pick one feature, it would be the second screen. The dual-screen configuration is, in my opinion, the greatest thing ever put into the laptop. I’ve worked with two full-size screens on desktop computers and even other laptops but they never feel natural. Without turning my head I can have access to all the information and programs I need. Even though it may not sound like a big deal, the increase in productivity for me has been amazing.

Overall:

If you are in need of a workhorse laptop that can handle virtually anything you can throw at it the Asus Zenbook Pro Duo is for you. I hope that Asus and other laptop companies will start to integrate the dual-screen setup into more laptops including lower-spec laptops designed for office and light workloads. The second screen has changed the way I work for the better and that feature alone makes this laptop worth it to me. If you are in the market for a new laptop I highly recommend you consider the Asus Zenbook Pro Duo.

About The Author: Mackenly R. Jones

Mackenly Jones is a Creative Developer and Entrepreneur. Mackenly spends his time managing his business, Tricities Media Group, and working on side projects and apps. Mackenly enjoys contributing to open-source software and helping others learn to grow their businesses through digital marketing.