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I tried Asus' latest ZenBook Duo, and it's a dual-screen laptop I'd finally use full time

I tried Asus' latest ZenBook Duo, and it's a dual-screen laptop I'd finally use full time
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Asus ZenBook Duo (2026) kept on a table.
Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET

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I love dual-screen devices, so I was delighted to see Asus’ new ZenBook Duo at CES 2026. Asus updated its design with meaningful, quality-of-life improvements — including a sturdier build, a better kickstand, an enhanced hinge design, and a larger battery. And all of it is packed in a comparatively smaller footprint.

Also: CES 2026 live blog: Latest news on TVs, AI, phones, more

The Asus ZenBook Duo (2026) features two 14-inch OLED touchscreens with a 2,880 x 1,800-pixel resolution (2.8K), a 144Hz refresh rate, and up to 1,000 nits peak brightness for supported HDR content. Each of them are in a 16:10 aspect ratio, which is the same as the M4 MacBook Air’s display.

Asus ZenBook Duo (2026) kept in a vertical orientation.

The narrower bezels around the hinge are particularly immersive if you use the laptop in vertical orientation.

Prakhar Khanna

This year, Asus expanded the screens to minimize bezels near the hinge, offering a 93% screen-to-body ratio and a more immersive experience. There’s still a thick bar at the top to house the Windows Hello-supported camera. However, it is a more immersive screen overall.

Also: New Asus 2-in-1 takes on Surface Pro with a bundled keyboard and lighter design

The company also worked on the detachable Bluetooth keyboard to include a larger trackpad and increased key travel. I haven’t typed on it for more than five minutes, but it should be more comfortable to type on than its predecessor.

Like other ZenBook laptops, the ZenBook Duo (2026) is made out of the company’s proprietary Ceraluminum material. This helps it offer an anti-scratch, anti-wear, and smudge-free finish, while keeping the weight in check. It measures 1.65kg in weight and 14.6mm in thickness (without the keyboard). It is slightly thicker at its thickest point due to a new hinge design.

Asus ZenBook Duo (2026)'s kickstand.

The new kickstand feels sturdier than before.

Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET

The Asus ZenBook Duo (2026) comes in two variants: one powered by the Intel Core Ultra 7 355 processor (with 48 TOPs NPU) and the other has a higher-end Core Ultra 9 386H chip (with 50 TOPs NPU). Both of them are paired with 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB of M.2 NVMe SSD.

I liked the last-gen ZenBook Duo, but it left me desiring a better battery life. I’m glad to report that the 2026 Duo has a 99Whr battery instead of 75Whr. The combination of more efficient processors and a bigger battery should ideally lead to improved endurance.

Asus ZenBook Duo (2026) displays.
Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET

Connectivity options include two Thunderbolt 4 ports, one HDMI 2.1 port, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, and an audio jack. For wireless connectivity, you get Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 standards. Plus, the new six-speaker system includes two front-firing tweeters and four woofers, so I expect the ZenBook Duo (2026) to be a media and productivity powerhouse.

Also: The 5 most exciting Windows laptops unveiled at CES 2026 – including this trackpad beast

I prefer having the thinnest and lightest laptop for my on-the-move lifestyle. That said, I was tempted to move to dual-screen laptops with the ZenBook Duo (2025); with a slimmer design, better screens, and a bigger battery, among other things, it looks like the ZenBook Duo (2026) is ready to replace my M4 MacBook Air.

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