The latest from ASUS ROG series of gaming laptops is the Zephyrus Duo 15. It is the first laptop in the ROG series with dual screens, just like Zenbook Duo that we reviewed earlier, and presents itself as a laptop for enthusiast gamers and content creators.
The ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 offers up to a 10th gen Intel Core i9, RTX 2080 Super Max Q with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM, 48 GB of DDR4 3200MHz RAM and up to 2 TB of NVMe PCIe SSD storage capacity which also supports RAID 0 configurations.
In terms of connectivity, the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 offers Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.2 Gen. 1 Type A, USB 3.2 Gen. 2 Type A, as well as Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.
The Zephyrus Duo 15 has a 15.6-inch main display, available in two configurations: 4K IPS 60 Hz with a 100% Adobe RGB color gamut, Pantone Validated, and supports G-Sync; and a Full HD IPS with a 100% sRGB color gamut, Pantone Validated, also supports G-Sync but with a refresh rate of 300 Hz. Both panels have no touch functionality.
Apart from the main screen, the Zephyrus Duo 15 also offers a second screen. Known as the ROG Screenpad Plus, introduced last year with the ASUS ZenBook Duo and the ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo, this is a 14-inch IPS panel with a UHD resolution of 3840 x 1100 pixels, a 60 Hz refresh rate and comes with touch functionality.
Compared to the ASUS ZenBook Duo, the Screenpad Plus raises at an angle of 13° when the notebook is opened which makes the display more visible and also improves cooling.
Regardless of the display you choose, there is enough power under the hood for serious performance. It’s a powerhouse that competes with high-end desktop alternatives while still offering the portability and convenience of a compact laptop.
While it is primarily aimed at enthusiast gamers and content creators, The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo is not a notebook for everyone. Definitely not for anyone looking for an ultraportable laptop with high-end performance, but for those who need a professional and portable workstation.
The model we tested is the top-end model, the Asus ROG Zephyrus 15 Duo GX550LXS offering an Intel Core i9-10980HK processor, 32 GB of 3200 MHz DDR4 memory, 2 TB of total SSD storage and dual graphics with a dedicated Nvidia RTX 2080 Super Max-Q GPU and Intel UHD Graphics.
DISPLAY
The Zephyrus Duo 15 has a 15.6-inch main display, available in two configurations: a Full HD screen with IPS panel with 100% sRGB accuracy, refresh rate of 300 Hz and response time of 3 ms, which is better for gaming enthusiasts, and a UHD screen with IPS panel with 100% AdobeRGB color accuracy and 60 Hz refresh rate, which is better for content creators.
Our test unit has the UHD 4K display. The screens are calibrated as accurately as possible right out of the box. The panel has excellent readability, a high brightness of 400 nits which is good for productivity tasks as well as gaming.
Screenpad
The secondary display is called ROG ScreenPad Plus. It has an aspect ratio of 21: 9, half the resolution of the UHD panel (3840 x 1100 pixels), uses an IPS panel with an sRGB coverage of almost 100% and is touch-sensitive. However, you will notice the problems with brightness, readability and color accuracy caused by the narrow angle.
The ScreenPad Plus can be used like any other display. Windows recognizes it as a separate display and apps can be dragged here to automatically launch on the ScreenPad instead of the main screen. You can tap to swap apps between the upper and lower screen. Also, there is a floating menu that appears when you move a program or window that allows you to instantly add it to the ScreenPad screen, maximize it on both screens, or pin it to the ScreenPad launcher.
SOFTWARE: ARMOURY CRATE
The Armory Crate software provides information on the hardware performance, helps switching between profiles and control the RGB lighting. You can control the fans with different performance profiles, the laptop offers four energy profiles by default: Silent, Performance, Turbo and Manual. Turbo and Manual profiles are only available when the laptop is powered by the wall.
The display profiles includes default settings such as Landscape, Vivid, RTS, FPS, and eye care. You can also open Armory Crate on the second screen and monitor your performance or adjust settings during the game.
PERFORMANCE
The ROG Zephyrus Duo offers some serious hardware with its 10th-Gen Intel Core i9-10980HK with 8 cores and 16 threads, 32GB of DDR4 3200MHz RAM, Nvidia RTX 2080 Super Max-Q and 2TB NVMe PCIe SSD.
The Zephyrus Duo 15 has different modes of operation depending on what you’re doing – Windows, Silent, Performance, Turbo. Turbo offers the best performance and allows Nvidia’s Dynamic Boost to get the best performance out of the computer while gaming.
CPU, GPU & RAM
The ROG Zephyrus Duo sports a 10th-Gen Intel Core i9-10980HK with 8 cores and 16 threads, currently the flagship solution in Intel’s line of processors.
