Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED review

What started as a nice trackpad gimmick in 2018 - with the Zenbook Pro 15 - has quickly evolved into a whole new series of 'Duo' laptops. Each generation has made subtle but significant updates to make the concept seem less like a lab project and something you can imagine yourself using one day like any other conventional laptop. With the 2022 edition, aka Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED, Asus' dual-screen implementation has finally come of age, to the point where we can venture to say that dual-screen laptops have arrived. More importantly, they are here to stay.

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED specifications:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-12700H
• RAM: 16GB DDR5 / 4800 MHz
• GPU: Intel Iris Xe graphics and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti
• Displays: Primary: 14.5-inch, 2.8K (2880 x 1800) touch-sensitive OLED, 120 Hz refresh rate, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut; Secondary: 12.7-inch (2880 x 864) touch-sensitive, IPS-level, 120Hz panel, 100% DCI-p3 color gamut
• Storage: 1TB SSD PCIe Gen 4
• Price: $2,000

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED: Design and build

The Duo has gone through numerous iterations over the years. Asus has worked hard to find the best combination. What is impressive - and commendable - is that it has not given up going back to the drawing board, wiping the slate clean and starting afresh to get it right. The basic design inspired by the Zephyrus has remained unchanged.

The Pro 14 Duo follows the same rules. The idea, as in the past, is to place a second display in place of the keyboard, moving the keyboard itself to a more forward position. This secondary display can lift up a little - thanks to a movable hinge - when opening the laptop, to offer a more direct view while leaving sufficient space for heat dissipation.

This year, Asus made a small modification to this display, or Screenpad Plus. The lift angle has been increased from 7 to 12 degrees, and although it may seem insignificant on paper, in the real world the difference is quite significant. The aim of these displays is to offer an experience similar to that of a real screen on top of the mountain. The goal is to make this experience as simple as possible. We cannot say whether this is the best Asus can do, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.

The Pro 14 Duo's secondary display is smoother than before. The bezels are also thinner. This makes it look like the upper and lower displays are one connected entity, even though the panels are completely different. The top one is OLED and the bottom one is LCD.

Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED: Performance & Battery Life

The reworked design has allowed Asus to put some truly exceptional hardware inside this nimble machine. The maximum version we have on test has a 12th generation Intel Core i9-12900H processor paired with Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050Ti graphics, 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 1T PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD. The Pro 14 Duo has been positioned as a sleek multitasker for light content creation and gaming. Cooling inside the laptop is complex and involves the use of two fans and heat pipes. In addition, the lift-up hinge mechanism provides sufficient space for increased airflow compared to more conventional laptops in its class. 

The system runs quietly, unless you are stress testing it with multiple data streams or running benchmarks. Even then, surface temperatures never reached the maximum limit during our tests. Battery life, understandably, is not outstanding, especially when using both screens together. We recorded an average of 5-6 hours of usage, although we expect the Evo-certified models to be slightly better. The port selection is generous. There are two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, a full-size HDMI 2.1, a micro-SD Express 7.0 card reader and a combined audio jack.