![]() ![]() While you can disable it with a keyboard shortcut, it lacks that physical shutter that some other high-end notebooks offer. The webcam is the same somewhat-fuzzy 720p camera you’ll find on much cheaper laptops. Audio, webcam, and securityĭespite the price, Asus really skimped on camera and security features. On the upside, the trackpad can transform into a number pad by long-pressing a button in its top-right corner, further underscoring the idea that Asus really expects you to plug in an external mouse. And because it sits next to the keyboard, lefties will hate it. The trackpad, meanwhile, is plenty smooth, but taller than it is wide, making it a mismatch for the widescreen display. The wrist rest is a nice touch, provided you remember to take it with you. I had no qualms with the quality of the actual keyboard, which offers quiet typing with satisfying tactile feedback, but it puts your hands in an uncomfortable position unless you use the included wrist wrest. The Asus Pro Duo’s unusual design does create some compromises on the keyboard and trackpad front, but it also creates some new opportunities. Being able to mirror your pen strokes from the smaller screen to the larger one would would make the Asus Pro Duo much more appealing to artists. While you can use the stylus directly on either display, the larger screen sits at an awkward angle for drawing, and the smaller one is too cramped. I only wish Asus had taken the obvious step of letting you use the second screen as a Wacom-style drawing surface for the main screen. (My favorite example: web browser on the main screen, Typora across the lower two-thirds, and Plexamp in the bottom-right third.) Jared Newman / IDGĪsus’ software includes a control panel for popular Adobe apps such as Photoshop.īut after a few days, I got the hang of using Asus’ drag-and-drop shortcuts to move windows around, and I set up a few app presets for productivity. I also found the second screen a bit hard to read without increasing its level of display scaling. Asus’ various icons and menus aren’t always intuitive, and I had to search online to figure out how to load Asus’ Adobe-optimized control panels. Quickly flick windows between the two screensĪll of this does involve a learning curve.Pop open a number pad that occupies the right half of the lower screen.Use the second screen as a gigantic trackpad.Use presets to arrange apps in a tiled layout across the two screens.Set up a panel of touch controls in certain Adobe apps, such as Photoshop.The oversized power brick comes in a fancy box of its own. The design of the Pro Duo’s cardboard box mimics that of the laptop itself, opening like a clamshell and lifting the laptop out of its container. The 240W power brick adds an extra 1.52 pounds to the total package.Īsus is clearly proud of its work here. When you lift the lid, a pair of hinges prop up the rear of the second screen so it’s easier to see and touch. It comes in a greenish-blue color, with an aluminum lid whose swirling pattern extends outward from the off-center Asus logo. While the Zenbook Pro Duo is by no means svelte, its 5.16-pound frame is lighter than you might expect given everything inside. The right side is where you’ll find all the Pro Duo’s USB ports. You can still find the older UX581, with a 9th-generation Core-i9 CPU and RTX 2060 GPU (here’s a refurbished model for $2,019), but then you’d miss out on the improved design, in which the second screen tilts up at an angle instead of lying flat. Adorama sells a $2,700 version Remove non-product link with an Intel Core i7-10870H processor, and supposedly there’s a version with 16GB of RAM, but we haven’t found that one available for purchase. ![]() Port selection is decent, but photo editors might wish for an SD card slot.Ĭonfiguration options are scarce on this laptop. Weight: 5.16 pounds (1.52-pound power brick).Right side: USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 2x USB-C Thunderbolt 3.Secondary 14-inch 3840×1100 OLED matte display. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |