It might be frivolous in these times of pandemic to be getting excited about weird laptop designs, but the new ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 could well cut through the cynicism. Unveiled today amid a heady flood of new performance laptops all using Intel’s latest 10th Gen Core H-Series processors, the dual-display notebook isn’t what we’ve come to expect from most gaming machines, and that feels like a good thing.
The first generation ZenBook Pro Duo felt a little like a gimmick. It was hard to tell how serious ASUS was about the secondary touchscreen – pushing the keyboard to the front edge of the notebook – and the company’s claims that it would virtually extend the primary display seemed a little hollow given the fact it was on a totally different plane.
I’m surprised – and pleased – to see that ASUS hasn’t given up, though. The new ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 doesn’t just switch out the old notebook’s CPU and GPU for the latest-and-greatest from Intel and NVIDIA. Instead, it shows ASUS really has been thinking about the form-factor, and how it could be improved.
The secondary touchscreen now tilts up, lifting at an angle. It looks, frankly, like a prop from a James Bond movie. Lower the lid, and it all closes up neatly. I find myself looking down at the Touch Bar on this MacBook Pro and wondering what new uses it could serve, were Apple only to make it a bit bigger.
No one goes to say the Zephyrus Duo 15 is a Skinny & Mild, however at 20.9mm thick and round 5.three kilos it’s not fairly the beefy boy you may anticipate it to be. For a Republic of Avid gamers machine it’s pretty restrained, too. Gaming notebooks are usually all wild case creases, multi-colored lighting, fins, vents, and styling cues that might go down properly at a mid-2000s’ LAN occasion. The brand new Zephyrus flagship does get some color-changing RBG and a foolish key font, however it’s not fully extreme that manner.
What’s significantly charming concerning the design of the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 is that it’s really surprisingly practical. There’s the ergonomic enchancment of getting the secondary touchscreen elevated to a extra usable angle, primarily based on the place you’re sitting, in fact. Meaning much less peering down on the keyboard to see the ScreenPad Plus show, and likewise helps it really feel extra like an extension of the first display.
Nevertheless ASUS has additionally taken benefit of the hole that cranked-up touchscreen creates. Lifted, the 13-degree angle leaves a large 28.5mm air consumption, which the Republic of Avid gamers designers use to spice up the laptop computer’s cooling.
Contemplating you’ll be able to spec out the brand new Zephyrus Duo 15 with as much as Intel’s 10th Gen Core i9 processor and GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER graphics, that additional air flow might be very welcome. It’s sufficient, ASUS says, for 30-percent extra airflow into the system. The outcome needs to be a potent laptop computer that’s quieter than you’d anticipate, or that holds as much as greater clock frequencies regardless of heavy hundreds.
Every time there’s a brand new technology of efficiency PC (hardware), we have a tendency to listen to the identical huge guarantees. The individuals need new and weird form-factors; they need 2-in-1s and two, perhaps three screens. Then we see the identical outdated rectangles hit retailer cabinets, and are introduced again right down to earth. Sooner, stronger rectangles, positive, however seldom extra attention-grabbing.
ASUS hasn’t stated how a lot the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 will value, although with the ZenBook Professional Duo coming in at round $2,800 for a reasonably-spec’d model, it’s not exhausting to see this new Republic of Avid gamers flagship be equally high-end. Right here’s hoping that a few of its creativeness trickles right down to extra inexpensive fashions within the ROG line-up – and nudges ASUS’ rivals to do some uncommon pondering too.
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