Asus Zenbook Official Duo 15 OLED UX582 overview: A $3,000 pc computer esteem no varied

Without reference to whether you need to per chance luxuriate in got $3,000 to spend on a pc computer, or no longer it could be significant to appreciate Asus for the one it’s advance up with.

The Asus Zenbook Official Duo 15 OLED UX582 has two touchscreens, in conjunction with a 4K OLED disclose in the identical old station and a squatter OLED show staunch above the keyboard. It’s also a beastly machine, with an Intel Core i9-10980HK CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU, and 32GB of RAM.

You would possibly per chance push apart the Zenbook Official Duo as a gimmick, however Asus has been doing the dual-show pc computer dance since 2019. The UX582 refines each and every the assemble and second-show utility of the unusual mannequin. Asus is clearly committed to the concept that, and whereas it’s no longer for everyone, it does provide right utility for command material creators who luxuriate in a few big to burn.

Tech specs

Our one of one of the best Asus Zenbook Official Duo 15 OLED UX582 overview unit involves the following tech specs:

• 15.6-whisk 3840×2160 OLED disclose
• Secondary 14-whisk 3840×1100 OLED matte disclose
• Intel Core i9-10980HK CPU
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 (pc computer)
• 32GB DDR4 RAM
• 1 TB PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD
• 720p webcam
• Asus pen with 4,096 stress phases
• Ergonomic stand
• Backpack
• Left aspect: HDMI 2.1, headphone jack
• Lawful aspect: USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 2x USB-C Thunderbolt 3
• Weight: 5.16 pounds (1.52-pound energy brick)
• Dimensions: 14.17 x 9.81 x 0.96 inches

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Configuration choices are scarce on this pc computer. Adorama sells a $2,700 version with an Intel Core i7-10870H processor, and supposedly there’s a version with 16GB of RAM, however we haven’t discovered that one readily accessible for identify.

That you’ve got to silent pick up the older UX581, with a 9th-period Core-i9 CPU and RTX 2060 GPU (right here’s a refurbished mannequin for $2,019), however then you’d fail to tag the improved assemble, whereby the second show tilts up at an attitude rather than lying flat.

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Twin-show assemble

Whereas the Zenbook Official Duo is by no attain svelte, its 5.16-pound frame is lighter than you need to per chance quiz given every little thing interior. It comes in a greenish-blue shade, with an aluminum lid whose swirling pattern extends outward from the off-heart Asus impress. Whereas you pick the lid, a pair of hinges prop up the rear of the second show so it’s more uncomplicated to spy and touch.

Jared Newman / IDG

Asus is clearly happy with its work right here. The assemble of the Official Duo’s cardboard field mimics that of the pc computer itself, opening esteem a clamshell and lifting the pc computer out of its container. The outsized energy brick comes in a bask in field of its comprise.

The Official Duo also ships with a bunch of accessories, in conjunction with a palm leisure that slides as much as the pc computer’s bottom edge, an ergonomic stand that you just need to per chance stick on to the pc computer’s bottom, and a slim backpack. I had no complications packing every little thing into the accumulate, alongside with an external mouse, mechanical keyboard, and PlayStation 4 controller.

Jared Newman / IDG

As for the displays themselves, the well-known show is a 440-nit panel that covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 gamut, basically basically based on Asus. It’s one in every of the more shiny monitors you’ll pick up on a pc computer staunch now, and likewise you need to per chance conveniently spend it indoors at nowhere end to maximum brightness. The secondary LCD show has a matte assemble, which is good whereas you perceive it needs to construct some distance from reflecting overhead lights into your eyes.

Jared Newman / IDG

Placing the monitors to make spend of

From the attitude of Windows 10, the Asus Official Duo’s decrease show—or ScreenPad Plus, as Asus calls it—is correct a second visual show unit esteem each and every varied. That you can provide it a taskbar, adjust the disclose scaling, and tear windows from aspect to aspect at will.

Jared Newman / IDG

That by myself would bag the Official Duo more though-provoking than your realistic pc computer. Nonetheless the Official Duo is the uncommon occasion whereby loaded dealer utility is a welcome boost. By using Asus’ ScreenPad Plus utility, you need to per chance open up a bunch of most smartly-liked spend cases that you just gained’t bag with a second visual show unit by myself. Some examples:

• Location up a panel of touch controls in definite Adobe apps, comparable to Photoshop
• Exercise presets to prepare apps in a tiled format all around the 2 monitors
• Exercise the second show as a colossal trackpad
• Pop open a host pad that occupies the staunch half of of the decrease show
• Rapid flick windows between the 2 monitors

All of this does involve a finding out curve. Asus’ varied icons and menus aren’t constantly intuitive, and I had to search online to identify load Asus’ Adobe-optimized control panels. I also discovered the second show a tiny unprecedented to read with out increasing its stage of disclose scaling.

Jared Newman / IDG

Nonetheless after a few days, I bought the hang of using Asus’ tear-and-tumble shortcuts to transfer windows around, and I build of living up a few app presets for productivity. (My favorite example: internet browser on the well-known show, Typora all around the decrease two-thirds, and Plexamp in the bottom-staunch third.)

I easiest wish Asus had taken the shocking step of letting you spend the second show as a Wacom-model drawing floor for the well-known show. Whereas you need to per chance spend the stylus straight away on either disclose, the greater show sits at an awkward attitude for drawing, and the smaller one is simply too little. Being ready to reflect your pen strokes from the smaller show to the greater one would would bag the Asus Official Duo some distance more though-provoking to artists.

Keyboard and trackpad

The Asus Official Duo’s extraordinary assemble does hold some compromises on the keyboard and trackpad entrance, however it also creates some new opportunities.

I had no qualms with the everyday of the right keyboard, which gives easy typing with graceful tactile feedback, however it puts your hands in an miserable space unless you spend the incorporated wrist wrest.

Jared Newman / IDG

The trackpad, meanwhile, is plenty tender, however taller than it is wide, making it a mismatch for the widescreen disclose. And because it sits next to the keyboard, lefties will hate it. On the upside, the trackpad can transform true into a host pad by lengthy-pressing a button in its top-staunch nook, additional underscoring the postulate that Asus actually expects you to tear in an external mouse.

Audio, webcam, and security

Despite the cost, Asus actually skimped on camera and security functions. The webcam is the identical considerably-fuzzy 720p camera you’ll pick up on less costly laptops. Whereas you need to per chance disable it with a keyboard shortcut, it lacks that bodily shutter that some varied high-quit notebooks offer. The Zenbook Official Duo does make stronger face recognition for signing in, however it lacks a fingerprint reader, which I pick up some distance more reliable generally.

On the upside, the Harman Kardon-branded audio system are impressively loud. Whereas they don’t offer much bass for tune, high-quit clarity is substantial for videoconferences and shredding by arrangement of foes to your favorite first-particular person shooter. Microphone quality is magnificent as effectively, producing rich vocals for your next audio name or Twitch stream.

Performance

Allotment of the Asus Zenbook Official Duo’s charm comes from its desktop-esteem tech specs, actually giving you a conveyable PC workstation. Easy, our benchmarks show that it doesn’t somewhat withhold with varied high-quit gaming PCs, perhaps owing to the peculiarities of the dual-show assemble.

Having a stare upon HandBrake, for instance, the ZenBook Official Duo encoded our test video file in 24 minutes and 53 seconds, staunch barely beating out the Core i7-10870H in Gigabyte’s Aorus 17G and inserting effectively at the support of Asus’ ROG Zephyrus Duo, which has the identical Intel Core i9-10980HK. Whereas all of these laptops bag the job finished hasty, the Official Duo does a bit of underperform.

Jared Newman / IDG

The identical is completely correct in Cinebench, which assessments fast bursts of efficiency as a replace of the sustained so much of HandBrake. Whereas single-thread ratings had been elegant, the Official Duo used to be again at the support of the ROG Zephyrus Duo in multi-threaded efficiency irrespective of getting the identical processor.

Jared Newman / IDG

Gaming is a mixed accumulate as effectively. On paper, Nvidia’s RTX 3070 and RTX 2080 are identical, however we saw laptops with the latter edge out the weak in the ZenBook Official Duo. That used to be the case, for instance, in Upward thrust of the Tomb Raider’s benchmark tool, the build the ROG Zephyrus Duo again took the upper hand.

Jared Newman / IDG

3DMark’s Fireplace Strike 1.1 benchmark showed identical results, despite the indisputable truth that you just need to per chance as a minimal behold a clear advantage for the RTX 3070 over the RTX 1650, which continues to ship in many decrease-priced workhorse laptops today time.

Jared Newman / IDG

The results had been more favorable in 3DMark’s Fireplace Strike Extreme benchmark, a more taxing test that renders at 2560×1440 decision, versus 1080p for easy weak Fireplace Strike. Here the ZenBook Official Duo did prepare to outperform the ROG Zephyrus Duo’s RTX 2080 GPU.

Jared Newman / IDG

In note, you’ll wish to stick to 1080p most ceaselessly, and likewise you’ll luxuriate in no complications cranking up graphics quality in turn. 4K gaming is doable on this pc computer, however easiest with hits to graphics quality and framerate. In Loss of life Stranding and No Man’s Sky, for instance, 4K decision used to be most likely easiest at around 30 frames per second.

Battery lifestyles, meanwhile, used to be as pleasant shock given every little thing the Official Duo has going on. 4K OLED monitors are more most likely to be battery hogs. This pc computer has two of them, and its tech specs don’t lend themselves to longevity. Even so, the Official Duo held its comprise against varied workhorse laptops, lasting for six hours and 25 minutes in our looping video rundown test. We kept the second show on at its default 50-percent brightness for this test, however we performed video easiest on the first show at our common test brightness of 250-260 nits.

Jared Newman / IDG

Duo or desktop?

Benchmarks apart, the Asus ZenBook Official Duo is difficult to overview with varied PCs. Its closest competition could well be a multi-visual show unit desktop, or a pc computer with an attached disappear visual show unit. The Official Duo is more transportable and versatile than either of these choices, in particular with the utility tools Asus has thrown on top.

For a definite niche of artists, media creators, and avid gamers, all that will per chance well add as much as something special, even though it’s unattainable for the leisure of us.

• Asus Zenbook Official Duo 15 OLED UX582

  Asus’ dual-show workhorse is a formidable technical fulfillment with right utility for avid gamers and command material creators.

  Pros

  • Twin OLED monitors are a boon for cell command material introduction
  • Immense keyboard and additional-loud audio system
  • Involves a backpack, palm leisure, ergonomic stand, and stylus

  Cons

  • Small trackpad that hates lefties
  • Twin-show utility takes some getting weak to
  • Tech specs a bit of underperform associated laptops