Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 (2022) overview: A twin display laptop computer that may do all of it

Worth When Reviewed

$3,825

Finest Costs Immediately: Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16

$3699.00

$4399.99

The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 is a exceptional laptop computer, not solely benefiting from a chipset improve that make it sooner and extra highly effective than predecessors, but additionally a design revamp that delivers a brand new and improved twin display viewing expertise.

What’s much more spectacular is that Asus manages to bundle all this right into a chassis no greater or thicker than that of a laptop computer with a single show. Granted you don’t thoughts utilizing a smallish sized trackpad, the Duo 16 is the type of laptop computer that can entrance you with its visuals and impress you with its zippy efficiency in each video games and productiveness apps.

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16: Specs and options

The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 is available in CPU configurations as much as AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX. The specs of our overview unit are as follows:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX
• RAM: 32GB DDR5 / 4800MHz
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
• Shows: Main: 16-inch QHD (2560 x 1600) MiniLED, 165Hz refresh charge, one hundred pc DCI-P3 coloration gamut. Secondary: 14.09-inch UHD (3840 x 1110), 60Hz refresh charge, IPS stage, touch-sensitive
• Storage: 1TB SSD PCIe 4
• Ports: 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (DisplayPort), 1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (DisplayPort and 100W Energy Supply), HDMI 2.1, microSD card reader, 3.5mm audio port, RJ-45 Ethernet port
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.2
• Dimensions: 0.81 x 13.98 x 10.47 inches
• Weight: 5.73 lbs (2.6kg)
• Colour: Darkish Tech (Black)
• Battery capability: 90WHr
• Worth: $3,999.99

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16: Design and construct

Regardless of being a twin display laptop computer, the Duo 16 seems each bit as fashionable as some other Asus ROG gaming laptop computer. From its fantastic edges to the ROG slash and emblem and dot matrix patterning on the highest cowl, it’s remarkably elegant.

That styling, after all, helps to differentiate it from the extra productivity-skewed twin display laptops in Asus’s steady, just like the Asus ROG Zephyrus Professional Duo 14 – the Duo 16’s closest relative being the extra gaming targeted Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE. Nevertheless it additionally offers it that high-end attraction that makes you’re feeling proud to point out it off wherever you go, whether or not that be your gaming den or office.

Asus

Asus deserves reward for squeezing two panels into such a light-weight and skinny chassis. The Duo 16 measures simply 0.81 x 13.98 x 10.47 inches, which amazingly places it on par with some single show laptops just like the HP Victus 16. It additionally weighs simply 5.73 kilos, which suggests it’s by no means a burden to hold round.

Whereas the Duo 15 SE was a category act in its personal proper, Asus have pushed the envelope additional, constructing upon that best-in-class design to make the Duo 16 the obviously higher choice.

For one, its major show is now greater, bringing to life visuals in a extra satisfying 16-inches. It’s additionally taller and has thinner (4.3mm) bezels that body it up in a 16:10 ratio as a substitute of a 16:9 ratio that now feels a bit dated within the Duo 15 SE.

The primary advantages of those adjustments are apparent: In case you’re a gamer, you’ll undoubtedly see extra motion within the periphery of the Duo 16’s show. Creators, however, will enjoy how a lot simpler it’s to match spreadsheets, run apps side-by-side, or view a number of home windows—all issues that at the moment are a lot less complicated.

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16: Keyboard and trackpad

Becoming two superb shows into the Duo 16 has meant its trackpad is sort of small—that’s regardless of Asus rising its dimension year-on-year. It’s additionally positioned on the far proper hand aspect of the laptop computer’s chassis, which feels a bit awkward.

Regardless of these small grievances, the keyboard is each very snug and enticing. It sports activities spacious keys which can be neither too bouncy nor too squishy, with beneficiant 1.7mm journey between them.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

The keyboard’s per-key lit RGB backlighting can be a sight to behold, wanting stunning any time of the day. You gained’t get any ugly halo results across the keys both, even on the brightest setting. The RGB lighting will also be simply personalized by way of the Aura Sync utility within the Armory Crate software program app.

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16: Twin shows

My overview unit’s QHD (2,560 x 1600 pixel) ROG Nebula HDR major panel with 165Hz refresh charge produced beautifully detailed photographs and clean, constant frames that made gaming and watching movies a blast. The 14.09-inch UHD ScreenPad Plus was equally gorgeous, and being touch-sensitive, it saved me a ton of time – I might merely transfer recordsdata and icons round with my finger.

The first show is powered by MiniLEDs with 512 zones of illumination, so it’s rather a lot brighter than normal LED shows. I measured 1039 nits by my Lux meter, which trumps some rivals by almost 600 nits of brightness. It additionally has a 1000:1 distinction ratio.

If that seems like overkill, wait till you see the colours and darks it could possibly produce; it renders a few of the richest hues and deepest blacks I’ve seen at this decision, making it supreme for artistic work involving images or shading. The colour accuracy on this one hundred pc DCI-P3, VESA DisplayHDR 1000 licensed panel can be prime notch, so it’s excellent for evaluating photographs.

Asus

Though I didn’t get to attempt one, Asus additionally provide the choice of a Twin Spec major show. This allows you to swap on a dime between a productivity-friendly UHD decision with 120Hz refresh charge, or an esports-primed FHD decision with 240Hz refresh charge. This is a superb alternative if you happen to intend on utilizing your Duo 16 for each work in addition to aggressive gaming.

Compared to the Duo 15 SE, there’s additionally a lot better visible continuity between the shows. This may be attributed to the brand new positioning of the ScreenPad Plus.

Similar to within the Duo 15 SE, it tilts up at a 13-degree angle, however its new residence 25 mm nearer to, and instantly beneath, the first show renders the underside bezel nearly invisible, providing you with a extra complete view of each panels without delay.

To say this makes multitasking simpler than within the Duo 15 SE is an understatement. For instance, the place earlier than it will have taken me a complete second cross-referencing a gaming map or studying my Discord chats, within the Duo 16 it took simply milliseconds.

One can solely predict the impression it will have on customers’ gaming efficiency or productiveness. Suffice to say, it’s going to make for a way more gratifying expertise general.

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16: I/O choices and audio

With video games and video content material now shared between my units each day, I would like my laptop computer to have a superb choice of ports to maintain up. Fortunately, the Duo 16 had simply what I wanted, together with two USB-A ports and two USB-C ports, a HDMI 2.1 port and a microSD card slot for fast file swaps.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

The Duo 16 additionally comes with subsequent era Wi-Fi 6E wi-fi connectivity, which harnesses an additional 1200 MHz on the 6G frequency band in comparison with normal Wi-Fi 6. This can be a should have for avid gamers who need the quickest potential latency in high-performance video games, nevertheless it’s additionally actually helpful for content material creators juggling giant recordsdata within the cloud.

With not two or 4 however six audio system onboard, together with twin force-cancelling woofers, the Duo 16’s audio is surprisingly resonant for a laptop computer so skinny. It additionally sounds very crisp. Dolby Atmos assist additionally helps ship a cinema-like encompass sound expertise, so watching motion pictures with dramatic storylines is an actual deal with.

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16: CPU efficiency

The Duo 16 sports activities an 8 core, 16 thread Ryzen 9 6900HX cell processor belonging to AMD’s 6000 Collection. This CPU has a base clock of three.3 GHz and a most increase clock of 5.0 GHz – pretty first rate working speeds by anybody’s requirements.

AMD says its 6000 Collection processors are 1.3x sooner than the earlier 5000 Collection era of cell processors, which suggests the Duo 16 will get a pleasant pace increase over the Duo 15 SE. What’s extra, these chips are extra vitality environment friendly, benefiting from roughly 50 built-in power-management options, together with some for the laptop computer’s fan and cooling system.

Whereas we didn’t have benchmark scores on file for the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE, we did have outcomes from a panoply of highly effective laptops to match and distinction our Duo 16’s efficiency to. These included laptops that includes Intel’s nearest CPU equal—the Core i7-12700H CPU, just like the 2022 Razer Blade 17.

First check off the block was Maxon’s Cinebench R20 Single-Threaded benchmark which exams only a single core of the Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU. Under, our graph exhibits the Duo 16’s efficiency was simply common in comparison with the comparisons.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

This consequence isn’t all that surprising; AMD’s personal benchmarks present solely modest positive factors for Ryzen 6000 CPUs over earlier era CPUs in single-threaded duties, however greater positive factors in multi-threaded duties. However, the Duo 16 will nonetheless don’t have any bother operating light-weight packages, or apps.

Nonetheless within the Cinebench R20 program, we accomplished the Multi-Threaded benchmark. Right here, each core of our laptop computer’s CPU was put to work rendering an in depth picture on its major show. At check’s finish, it scored 5,398, a consequence that proves it could possibly simply deal with AAA video games or demanding productiveness packages.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

The free HandBrake utility was the subsequent port of name. That is our go-to program to check how properly a laptop computer can keep the course when processing a CPU-intensive activity earlier than it will get too scorching and must throttle efficiency.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

As you possibly can see in our graph, the Duo 16 completed within the quickest time of 1,018 seconds. Severe avid gamers, or creators that do encoding or video enhancing will likely be properly inspired by this consequence that suggests the Duo 16’s CPU can keep cool and energy on, even when some competitor laptops fall by the wayside.

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16: GPU efficiency

Our Duo 16 overview unit featured an Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti discrete GPU—a really highly effective RTX 30 Collection card that’s extremely coveted by avid gamers and content material creators alike for its capacity to supply quick body charges.

This almost-top-tier cell GPU has plenty of highly effective cores onboard, together with 232 Tensor Cores and 53 Ray Tracing Cores. It additionally advantages from Nvidia’s newest software program assist, together with DLSS AI rendering and Dynamic Enhance know-how. Let’s see how the Duo 16’s RTX 3080 Ti fared in our graphical exams…

The 3DMark Time Spy 1.2 Total benchmark supplied a very good snapshot of the GPU’s talents throughout the framework of our laptop computer’s componentry. On this check, the Duo 16 positioned second in our subject of comparisons—greater than proving its suitability for rendering excessive constancy graphics in gaming or video purposes.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

In our first gaming benchmark for Rise of the Tomb Raider, the Duo 16 outclassed the Asus ROG Strix G15 Benefit Version, however was pipped on the publish by two of probably the most highly effective gaming laptops launched throughout the final 12 months—the Razer Blade 17 and Alienware X15 R2.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Lastly, we ran the benchmark for the sport Shadow of the Tomb Raider. As you possibly can see within the graph, the outcomes are extremely in step with our earlier outcomes, in that the Duo 16 fell shy of manufacturing framerates as excessive because the Razer Blade 17 or Alienware X15 R2, however nonetheless outpaced a group of different very succesful laptops.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

So, what’s the decision? Though it didn’t prime our charts, these outcomes present the Duo 16 to be a robust performer in graphics-based duties, which isn’t any imply feat for a laptop computer with not one, however two shows. By demonstrating persistently excessive body charges, we are able to confidently say the Duo 16 is wholly as much as the duty it was designed for.

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16: Battery life

To check the Duo 16’s battery we juiced the laptop computer as much as one hundred pc cost then let it run right down to standby by taking part in a 4K Hollywood film on repeat. Following that, we examined the battery utilization report which confirmed that the Duo 16 lasted simply shy of the six hour mark.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

This isn’t stunning, nor a foul consequence for a gaming laptop computer. The battery longevity of gaming laptops is common at greatest, since they have an inclination to have probably the most power-hungry {hardware} onboard. That stated, in an unplugged gaming state of affairs the Duo 16’s battery is more likely to drain down in double time, so you possibly can anticipate roughly three hours gaming when away from an outlet.

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16: Conclusion

Twin show laptops have all the time been an fanatic’s alternative and at round $4,000 you’ll should be fully bought on the twin show expertise to purchase one. The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 doesn’t change that truth, nevertheless it does make the proposition of switching to 1 extremely interesting. Players and content material creators will undoubtedly revel within the excessive energy, stunning visuals and glorious portability this laptop computer has to supply.