Asus Zenbook DUO 2025: Dual-screen laptop gets an Intel Arrow Lake update, longer battery life on Elcajon News only

The Asus Zenbook DUO is a dual-screen computer with up to a 14 inch, 2880 x 1800 pixel, 120 Hz OLED displays connected by a hinge. Basically it’s a laptop that has a second screen in the spot where you’d normally find a keyboard. And if you want to use a physical keyboard, the Zenbook Duo comes with one: it’s a detachable wireless keyboard that you can either snap magnetically in place atop the lower screen or position in front of the computer if you want to see both screens at once.

When Asus launched the first Zenbook DUO last year, the company offered the notebook with up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H Meteor Lake processor. Now Asus has introduced a new Zenbook DUO (2025) with support for up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H Arrow Lake-H chip.

According to Asus, the result is a system that offers better performance than last year’s model, and longer battery life than would have been possible with an Intel Core Ultra 200V “Lunar Lake ” chip.

Asus will offer several configurations, including a top-of-the-line model with a 2880 x 1800 pixel OLED display, an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H processor, 32GB of LPDDR5x onboard memory and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280 NVMe SSD and (slightly) lower-cost options with 1920 x 1200 pixel displays and Intel Core Ultra 7 265H processors.

All models are reasonably compact computers that measure 14.6mm (0.57 inches) thick and weigh 1.35 kg  (2.98 pounds) without the keyboard, and has a 75 Wh battery.

Around the sides of the notebook are a set of ports that includes:

• 1 x HDMI 2.1
• Thunderbolt 4
• 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
• 1 x 3.5mm audio

I got a chance to check out a demo unit ahead of CES, and the Zenbook DUO (2025) does feel remarkably laptop-like when the keyboard is atop the lower display, while also giving you the versatility of a multi-screen device when the keyboard is in front. A built-in kickstand also makes it easy to prop up the screens so that both are easy to see when the keyboard is in front of the device.

Unfortunately in this mode you do need a little more surface space than you would with say, a GPD Duo dual-screen laptop (which has a built-in keyboard and two displays and a design that actually lets you use the system on your lap if you’re careful). But the Zenbook DUO (2025) does seem to provide a nice balance between a portable design and a lot of screen space without the need to carry a portable monitor separately.

By comparison, the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i is a similar dual-screen laptop, but that model does not have an integrated kickstand. Instead you need to use a folio stand case if you want to stand up the screens. That’s a design that has its pros and cons: on the one hand the external stand makes it easy to position the screens side-by-side in portrait orientation or one-above-the-other in vertical orientation. But it also means you have to carry one more thing with you.

Lenovo’s laptop also has a 360-degree hinge that lets you fold the screens so they’re back-to-back, allowing you to hold the computer like a tablet or prop it up like a tent so that you can mirror your screen and have it visible to someone sitting across from you. But the Asus dual-screen laptop has a 180-degree hinge. Basically the Asus is designed primarily for use as a laptop or as a dual-screen device with the displays stacked atop one another, and that’s it.

But I’m still loving the niche trend of dual-screen laptops that we’ve seen pop up in the last few years. As somebody who’s gotten used to using ultrawide and/or dual screens when I’m working from my home office, it’s really nice to have the extra screen space when working on the go.

What’d make me even happier though, is to see the prices of these dual-screen solutions fall a little bit. So far this has been a premium niche with the only models I’ve seen to feature starting prices under $1500 coming from small Chinese companies like ACEMAGIC, SZBOX, and Topton.