Having an equipped workplace is always nice. A pair of monitors, a large widescreen option, or even a combination of these can greatly simplify everyday tasks, increasing not only comfort, but also speeding up the performance of certain tasks. Or improve leisure. However, we do not always have a prepared workplace, and when going on a business trip or vacation, it is difficult to have two monitors at hand. However, various concepts of laptops from ASUS can still offer a solution to such a problem. So today we will talk about one of them - ASUS Zenbook DUO - the most successful attempt to provide a laptop with two screens.
ASUS Zenbook DUO (2025) UX8406CA specifications
| Displays | Two 14-inch OLED 3K, 2880×1800 pixels, 16:10 aspect ratio, 0.2ms response time, 120Hz refresh rate, 500cd/m² peak brightness |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-9700H |
| RAM | 32 GB LPDDR5X |
| Refuge | 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 |
| Graphics | Intel Arc |
| Ports | HDMI 2.1, USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, combo audio port, two Thunderbolt 4 |
| Wireless modules | Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
| Cell | Full HD camera, infrared sensor with Windows Hello support |
| Audio | 2-speaker speaker system, Dolby Atmos |
| Keyboard | Island-style keys with backlight |
| Battery and charging | 75 Wh, 65 W power supply |
| Dimensions | 313.5×217.9×14.6-19.9 mm |
| Weight | 1.35 kg without keyboard and 1.65 kg with keyboard |
| Recommended price |
Package contents
Given the unusual features, the laptop has a decent set of features. Along with the laptop itself and a small power supply, the delivery includes an ASUS Pen stylus with a short cable for charging it, a folding stand, an envelope case and even a backpack. That is, the manufacturer really puts a lot of emphasis on portability and immediately assumes that the user will need appropriate accessories.
The only question that remains open is how to connect other devices. Probably, depending on various circumstances, the user may need additional classic USB ports. So, perhaps, a hub will not be superfluous. But if the calculation is made specifically for portable work and does not provide for such scenarios, one port may be enough. But it is advisable to pay attention to this right away.
Design and usability
The new ASUS Zenbook DUO has practically no external differences from the previous year's model and has not changed the concept. It is still a standard laptop when first opened, except for a relatively thick top case. The keyboard with magnetic fasteners is easily removed, opening the second display. And then the "magic" of adjusting to the individual requirements of each user and individual use case begins.
So such a laptop can be used: as, in fact, a regular laptop; the second screen can become a keyboard; there is a stand on the bottom of the top case, which will allow you to put two screens in front of you in landscape or portrait orientations; or the two screens can be opened 180° for some kind of demonstrations. Moreover, no one forbids additional options that the user can independently arrange for himself at the workplace. Here, the variability is limited only by the owner's imagination.
Last year's remark about the design remains valid - when you put the laptop in "portrait" mode, the screens will not be at the same level. Perfectionists will not last that long. However, I personally doubt that this is a frequent use case among owners of such a model. During testing, I spent more time with two screens one above the other when working at a desk, and in the "traditional" laptop format in my free time when I was browsing something from the couch. At first, the first option seems very unusual, but, like all good things, I got used to it very quickly. And continuing to work with the keyboard attached and with one screen, I almost did not feel the difference from other regular laptops.
We must give credit to the manufacturer, because the ASUS Zenbook DUO, despite all its features, cannot be called large. With two 14-inch displays, the dimensions of the case are 313.5×217.9×14.6-19.9 mm. The weight depends on the keyboard attachment. Since it is a bit cumbersome without it, you should expect 1.65 kg. But in case the laptop is traveling or moving without the keyboard, the total weight will decrease by 300 grams.
The bulk of the body is made of plastic, with aluminum only on the top cover with the relatively new corporate logo silhouette. The stand is also metal (which, by the way, allows you to adjust the viewing angle between 40 and 70°). The latter feels surprisingly confident and almost immediately dispels doubts about its stability.
For more reliable fixation of the position on the top case, classic rubber feet are provided in the support places. All this behaves correctly on a flat surface, in general there should be no problems. Another thing is that there is no fixation on the sides, so in the "book" format the design does not provide for legs. But, again, this is hardly a popular use case.
The build quality is okay. Of course, elements such as the keyboard mount or the stand directly on the case do not add points to the appearance. But the design is significantly more complex than ordinary laptops, so you should treat this with understanding. And it is not very noticeable, and the advantages of two displays still remain more. Moreover, the laptop has passed the MIL-STD-810H endurance tests, which adds extra confidence. The model is available in only one color - Inkwell Gray. And it looks pretty good, and also visually hides the design features relatively well.
Still, there are a couple of points that I would like to fix. The flagship Zenbooks and some even ROG gaming models have already started to spoil the lack of noticeable cooling vents, and here they remain. They are, of course, necessary, and this point definitely does not fall into the shortcomings. However, aesthetically it would be more pleasant if there was an option to hide them. And the activity and connected power indicators can definitely be moved as far as possible from the user's field of vision.
In all other respects, the ASUS Zenbook DUO is one of the most unusual, in a good way, laptops on the market. It can have a completely traditional look, or it can adapt to situations that are completely unattainable for most competitors. And yes, this is definitely not a laptop for every user who has to fit certain requirements. But for those users who have such (photo and/or video editing, many open windows, etc.), such a laptop can become a real game changer.
Displays
ASUS has quite a different experience with placing two screens in one device. There were laptops with an additional display in the trackpad, above the keyboard or on the back of the display unit. In short, there were options. But this one is, in my opinion, the most successful. Moreover, the displays here are already at a completely different level, if you compare them to what was before.
So, fans of multitasking are provided with two identical 14-inch screens manufactured by Samsung. The characteristics meet the most demanding requirements: a resolution of 2880×1800 pixels, an aspect ratio of 16:10, a maximum refresh rate in both cases of up to 120 Hz with adaptive capabilities. In other words, the displays are not far behind the flagship offerings. For myself, I only changed the scaling from the recommended 200 to 175%. In places, of course, it is a bit small, but mostly it increased the comfort of work. Although this will depend on the peculiarities of vision and the personal perception of each individual user.
Moreover, both panels are touch-sensitive. They respond perfectly to touch and work with the included stylus. Thus, the laptop is prepared not only for "advanced" office work, but also for creative tasks with, say, graphics or photo editing, which is also a kind of advantage. Of course, with a professional tablet, there will most likely be some difference, but as a portable replacement - why not? However, it is worth always having a special cloth with you to remove fingerprints from the displays from time to time for a neater look.
The image is also great. Both matrices are OLED, provide 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, support HDR and have several more certificates of compliance with various standards, like the flagships of the Zenbook line. And the image is really excellent and does not differ depending on the display. If necessary, the user is left with changeable color profiles, the ability to add saturation, adjust the image temperature, etc. And all manipulations can be performed with only one selected screen.
Standard tools for saving matrices for ASUS laptops, which we have seen in other models, are also here. Among them, I would like to highlight the peculiarity of the Target mode (darkening the background around the active window). If in other models the user's focus remains on one window, then this still makes little sense. Here there are more screens, and accordingly a much larger area is darkened. This looks quite awkward, and the whole point of multitasking disappears. So in this case, such a function is not very useful.
Since the displays are touch-sensitive, they are protected by glossy Gorilla Glass. With a maximum brightness of 500 cd/m², the displays are generally able to overcome glare indoors. On the road or on open terraces, the experience may be different (especially with a dark interface). However, again, given the other features of working with such a laptop, it is not difficult to forgive such things. And the brightness is really enough for most standard work cases. There is also a rather comfortable automatic backlight adjustment, which works synchronously for both screens.
Ports
Circumstances have developed such that the ASUS Zenbook DUO has a rather limited number of ports, like in ultrabooks of the same line. Therefore, on the left side of the top case there are USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, Thunderbolt 4 and a combined audio port. On the opposite side there is HDMI 2.1 and another Thunderbolt 4. The minimum set of necessary things is still there.
However, I would not rule out that in some cases a hub will be needed at the workplace for a larger number of simultaneously connected accessories. And I also doubt that a potential buyer of such a laptop still does not have one, because now mostly gaming models can do without a hub (and even then not all). However, it should not be ruled out that modern monitors are able to cover such needs, and also charge the connected laptop at the same time.
I would also like to note that connected devices or cables in certain positions of the case can stick out funny from the middle. Probably, this is the exception when you would like to move the ports closer to the user on the top case. But, obviously, not this time.
Security
As is traditional for this line, ASUS Zenbook DUO is able to scan the owner's face for quick authentication. And it can do it just as well in different lighting conditions. For this, there is a set of IR sensors next to the webcam, which the system will offer to configure when you first turn on the device.
The laptop can also lock itself when the user leaves it unattended and turn on when they return. Of course, after making sure that it is its owner. This is a convenient feature that can not only provide additional protection, but also save a little battery life. Of course, this behavior can be turned off if necessary.
Manipulators
In this section, the ASUS Zenbook DUO can be quite surprising, compared to most other laptops. With the keyboard attached, it is not at all obvious that it is removable, unless you know it. And there are no questions about the attachment at all. At the same time, the keyboard is charged via a small 6-pin pad.
The keyboard is about the same size as on regular Zenbooks, so working with texts, instant messengers, and everything else is great on it. The 1.4 mm key travel is completely unexpected. Detached from the top case, I would like to put something under it for more comfortable work, but for me it was not critical (in fact, this material is completely prepared from it, and there was no significant discomfort). The keyboard even has a white backlight with three "steps" of brightness.
Taking into account the specifics of the laptop, the keyboard has additional keys for controlling displays. So, F7 can quickly change operating modes, F8 will "flip" windows between screens, and there is also a separate key for turning off the second display.
There is also a small Bluetooth switch on the keyboard itself, in case you need to turn it off, and USB-C for charging. It doesn't have feet, so it's still advisable to clean up any fine dust, food crumbs, and anything else that might get under it before putting it back in place so as not to "injure" the second display. And it's unlikely that the developers have many options for solving this issue, so you'll have to take it into account one way or another.
It also found a place for a trackpad measuring approximately 130×74 mm. This may not be a record for today, but there is no significantly larger space either. In any case, the touch surface was enough for comfortable work and the introduction of new gestures for adjusting the volume, backlighting, as well as quickly moving through the timeline of playing media. And it all works as it should.
And, of course, that's not all. You can display a numeric keypad on the second screen, which will repeat the physical one. It's hard to say that it will be convenient to type large texts with it, but a conditional short message in the messenger will work. Its size can also be adjusted, and a trackpad, a panel with quick actions or handwriting recognition can be added or removed. Again, such functions are unlikely to be very common, but the manufacturer's efforts can only be praised.
Our kit also includes the ASUS Pen 2.0. It comes with three interchangeable "pens", a small tool for replacing them, and a short USB-C cable for charging. The stylus itself also has auxiliary keys and a hidden port. With 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, it will clearly help individual users in their creative work. In other cases, it is unlikely to become anything more than a toy for children, unless the owner wants to make handwritten notes or sketches. However, when working with both screens, someone will definitely come in handy with this option. The only thing is that there is no separate place for storing it on the case.
Based on my own experience, I didn’t have enough wireless mouse in the kit. Since I worked mostly with two displays, moving the cursor in such a plane with a trackpad is minimally more difficult than within a single screen, and the mouse increases comfort. So for me, I would rather choose a mouse instead of a stylus. Although I agree that finding one in our time is not a problem at all.
Camera and sound
The standard media attributes in the ASUS Zenbook DUO are practically the same as those we saw last year in the flagships of the line or gaming models. Among them is a 2-megapixel webcam, which, together with AI, captures images quite well, the quality of which is sufficient for communicating on the Internet. Additional functions with automatic framing and background "blurring" are also available.
A pair of microphones located nearby also work not without the help of artificial intelligence, which also perfectly copes with background noise, random sounds and everything else that can get into the conversation. At the same time, there is a set of additional sound capture modes, if circumstances require it. In short, you can participate in an online meeting or chat with distant friends without any problems.
With sound reproduction here it is 50/50. Two speakers are located on the bottom of the case, so they are directed downwards. In such cases, the calculation is made on the reflection of sound from the working surface, which is a variable situation in ASUS Zenbook DUO, since it is not always in exactly this position. Because of this, some of the sound may be lost.
In addition, these are not the top-of-the-line speakers that the company uses. There are no subwoofers, so surround sound (as far as it can be in laptops) is lacking here. Therefore, music playback may be relatively "flat". But for everything else, the capabilities of the speakers will be sufficient.
Productivity and software
Among the internal layout options in stores, you can still find models with the first generation of Intel Core Ultra processors, and now the second one is appearing. In all cases, there are only integrated graphics and Intel AI Boost NPU. The RAM is soldered on the motherboard, so you need to choose the required volume right away, and more than 32 GB is not offered. With the storage device, it is easier, because it can still be replaced. That is, the situation is quite similar to ultrabooks.
I was lucky enough to get to know the flagship model, which is equipped with: 16-core Intel Core Ultra 9 285H (6 powerful cores, 8 energy-efficient and 2 more very energy-efficient, 16 threads, up to 5.4 GHz, up to 35 W), built-in Intel Arc graphics accelerator, 32 GB LPDDR5X and 2 terabyte storage. This model does not provide anything else. There is also support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.
And in performance tests, everything is really good. Unexpectedly, as for a similar model. But it should be noted that the processor will not be able to fully "open up", because such a chassis still implies a number of limitations, not to mention the graphics. However, for comfortable work, there is everything here, even taking into account the operation of two high-resolution screens. Yes, it will be difficult to surprise gamers, but for photo or video processing, image creation, productive work with many windows, etc., the ASUS Zenbook DUO should not disappoint. More than a week of daily work with it left an exceptionally pleasant impression of the system's capabilities.
Cooling is also not idle, in stress tests the average processor temperature reached 74 degrees, and the throttling noticed by the system occurred only at the start of the test, until the fans accelerated. So under load the system will work properly.
Without a connected power supply, a considerable part of the power will be lost in the economy mode. However, with undemanding office work, the user will not notice this. Both with one screen and with two - an excellent level of support is maintained without problems. Therefore, everything will be OK with work on the road or away from the workplace.
| Chain | Battery | |
| 3DMark (Steel Nomad Light) | 3,692 | 3,429 |
| 3DMark (CPU Profile, max threads) | 9,936 | 5,034 |
| CineBench R24 (single/multi core) | 126 / 937 | 57 / 583 |
| PCMark 10 | 7,951 | 5,233 |
And under undemanding conditions (messengers, browsers, Office, mail, organizational applications, etc.), the cooling system will behave quietly. A pair of coolers may occasionally quietly remind you of themselves, but these are not frequent "actions". On the other hand, if the laptop is heavily loaded, it will be difficult to call it quiet work. But this is also a common feature for any models, and not a feature of this one specifically. What you will have to pay attention to here is the side cooling slots, which cannot be hidden anywhere (one way or another, but in certain working positions of the case the warm air outlets will still be open).
The manufacturer also mentions the presence of an NPU more than once. As in most cases of portable systems, this unit is there to help with basic tasks such as processing webcam images or filtering microphone noise. With 13 TOPS, this is not the solution that the user will want to use to generate photorealistic video. However, it reduces the load on the processor in everyday routine (as stated), so we will consider it a nice bonus.
CPU – ONNX / CPU – OpenVINO / GPU – ONNX – DirectML / GPU – ONNX – Intel Arc / OpenVINO – NPU
What's more than usual here are proprietary "software" solutions. But let's start with the traditional MyASUS, where the user can change system settings, image, sound, minimally diagnose problems, get updates, etc. Everything is simple, clear and understandable.
But the possibilities for working with two screens will be much more interesting. For example, if you move a window, an auxiliary active overlay appears next to it, with which you can quickly move the window to another screen and even choose the desired location for it. You can also push the window with your finger, after which it will "fly" to another screen. Through ScreenXpert, you can view all active applications and place them on the desired screens, launch additional panels (which we mentioned above), switch screen operating modes, block the accelerometer, change the brightness of a separate display, etc. If you devote a little time to all this, the benefits of such things will be felt.
These are the main apps that should help with settings and make routine tasks easier. Also included is the proprietary GlideX app for advanced mobile work (has subscription plans) and CapCut.
Battery life
Two displays, but still one battery. Its capacity is 75 Wh, which is quite good for a regular 14-inch. And that's how it turns out. The autonomy test with one display lasted almost 13 hours. Outside of synthetics, for a standard example, simply watching a two-hour movie cost 18% of the charge. Not bad.
With two active displays, autonomy is noticeably lost. The synthetic office test reduced the result by a third - 8.5 hours. And if you watch the same two-hour movie on one screen, and work with documents and a browser on the other, you can lose more than 30% of the charge in the same time. And considering that everyone prefers different levels of brightness, I would not advise counting on a whole working day with two displays.
However, the complete 65W power supply is very compact and lightweight, taking it with you to the office or on a business trip will not be a problem. But if, say, you have an extra power supply with USB-C at work, you can not think about it at all. And to fully charge the battery with the complete unit will take a little less than two hours.
