ASUS Zenbook Pro Duo 14 OLED
Is this dual-screen laptop a travelling producer’s salvation? Si Arblaster logs in
CONTACT WHO: ASUS WEB: asus.com KEY FEATURES Intel Core i9 13900H 14 Core-Processor, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB, 14.5” 2.8K 120 Hz OLED screen w/2nd display, 1x USB 3 Type-A, 2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x HDMI,1x 3.5mm jack, Micro SD reader DIMENSIONS: 323.5 x 224.7 x 179 ~ 196mm WEIGHT: 1.75 kg
How often do you find yourself creating music on the go only to be hamstrung by a lack of screen real estate, wishing you were sat with that big second monitor? I’m sure, like us, many of you have often pondered splashing the cash for a second mobile monitor but stopped short at the realisation of how inconvenient wielding two screens on a train would be. So when we spotted that renowned laptop manufacturer, ASUS, had a model featuring a second display, our interest was piqued.
The Zenbook range from ASUS is pitched at ‘Creators’; photographers, graphics designers, video creators, etc. You know how it goes, every creative industry is listed except music. It’s amazing how few manufacturers list music-making and audio production as a target audience for high-end PC laptops. ASUS is one brand that does but in the case of its Creator range of laptops, the message is somewhat buried, probably because visual arts dwarf our tiny corner in the creative industries. Hence, it’s little wonder that you won’t find music-making or audio production listed on the website when searching for products. Drill a bit deeper, though, and you will find that Zenbooks are aimed at music makers. We’ll look at how well this 14” laptop with dual screens handles the task shortly, but first a quick look at the specs. The Zenbook 14 Pro Duo comes in a range of configurations and for our test unit, we’ve been given the top-spec model with an Intel Core i9 processor, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. This model costs £2,999, but prices start at £1,999.
Much like the main display, the secondary one is also touchscreen, but with a matt finish instead, much better at keeping those greasy paw prints at bay. The screen itself is cantilevered on opening the laptop so sits up at an angle from the keyboard, which delivers a better viewing angle and accessibility for touch. During our test, we were using Bitwig Studio, which has several pre-prescribed layout options for multiple displays and they worked perfectly here. Of course, you can drag any window onto the secondary display so it’s easy to customise and expand your workflow.
However, with Bitwig Studio, we found the optimum layout was using the extra space for displaying devices and a keyboard or drum pads.
We can’t fault the screen itself as it does a job and it does it well; the snag here is that it has created an unfortunate issue with the keyboard and trac
