I have been a little bit obsessed with what the future of laptops will be in the next few years. This might sound a little bit silly but after most predictions about the laptops being killed by tablets turned out not be true, I am now fascinated by how the laptops will look like in the next few years. To keep up with the general trends, where people move around with their offices either in the form of a laptop or a tablet or a phone, the manufacturers have tried to make them as portable as possible. So the race at the moment is to make the laptop as small as possible but also I can’t stop thinking of other innovations being pursued out there.
One vendor that we are now watching closely is Asus. As mentioned a few days ago here, Asus are trying some line of innovations that might not be clear at this point but might turn out to be the real future of productivity devices. The idea of two or three laptop screens might look like a joke at this point but with the current young generations who can truly multitask, this might turn out to be a genius move in many ways. ZenBook Duo (UX481) Is the ultimate show of what Asus is trying in along this line. The device has three screen. Apart from the main screen and SceenPad Plus, which Asus calls secondary screen, there is also the trackpad that can be used as a number pad
ScreenPad Plus
Again I am excited about this secondary screen, though I am still at lost what to do with it exactly. ZenBook Duo comes with a full-width 12.6-inch secondary touchscreen and you can move window screens and apps flawlessly from the main screen to the ScreenPad Plus. Among other things, you can use Quick Key for one-tap automation of complex keyboard sequences, Handwriting to input text intuitively. There are also useful quick controls such as App Switcher, ViewMax and Task Swap for intuitive interactions between the main display and ScreenPad Plus. Task Group lets you lock into work mode by opening multiple tasks with a single touch. And now you can drag any Windows app or in-app toolbar onto ScreenPad Plus to give you more room to work on the main display, wherever you are.
In practical terms what are some of the things one can do with the secondary screen while using the main screen for either productive work or entertainment. So while typing this article, I tried to listen to YouTube music on the secondary screen. Because it took a bit of time to finish, also tried other things like watching the highlights of Formula 1 racing. The thing is entertainment on the secondary screen was the best fit use I could accommodate at the moment. That does not mean you cannot do the productive work on the secondary screen, it just because of my limitation, given the fact that I am terrible at the multitasking. For example, I got derailed a bit with Formula 1 highlights as I could not do that and still have a flawless typing on the main screen. But I found it very useful while I was looking at the database I have been using to track the Corona Virus Cases across Africa. The long excel worksheet overflow from the main screen to the ScreenPad Plus. The best part of is that you can seamlessly move the cursor from the main screen to the secondary screen and back. Basically it means one can edit part of the document on the main screen as well as the part of on The ScreenPad Plus.
Before a move from ScreenPad Plus, it is important to mention that it has its own menu on the left side. From it, you can adjust ScreenPad Plus brightness, assign task groups, task swap that enable the user to switch the apps between the two screens, app navigator, keyboard lock as well as the Settings.
Main Screen
We can talk for ever about the ZenBook Duo secondary screen because it is it sort of new innovation on the block but the main screen is top top, a fact that should not be missed. A 14-ich 1080P display with very thin bazels. The side bazels are just 3.5 cm wide, providing 90% screen to body ratio and a great viewing experience.
Computing Power
ZenBook duo comes with 10th Generation Intel Core i7 processor, GeForce Graphics , 16Gb Memory and 1TB SSD with up to 3.2GB/s read speeds. As I have said before, for me the computing power is the main defining aspect of any device. And ZenBook duo has it in plenty. GeForce Graphics guaranteed a decent gaming experience, photo and video editing applications.
WiFi Connection
With WiFi being the main way to connect to internet these days, it important to look at this feature. ZenBook Duo supports WiFi 6. The latest WiFi standards offers faster data transfer speeds. The maximum potential speeds of WiFi 6 is up to 40% higher compared to WiFi 5. WiFi 6 does it through more efficient data encoding, resulting in higher throughput.
Battery
It comes with a high capacity 70Wh battery. Expect upto 22 hours of video playback time. You can basically go for two days of usage without charging this laptop.
Price.
Yes, I left the best for the last. At least you have an idea what ZenBook Duo is made of and you should not be surprised when I tell you that the recommended retail price is Ksh. 235,000
One final phrase from me. It is worth it
