ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16, first impressions: it is impossible to try it and not fall in love with its double screen

Few gaming and content creation laptops have the ability to give us the feeling of trying something new. Something different. ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 does. We thoroughly analyzed it two years ago, and we loved its overall performance. However, what we fell in love with was the experience that its two screens offered us and the impact that they proved to have on our productivity.

The new ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 to which we are going to dedicate this article takes up the witness of that laptop that we liked so much in 2020, and it does so by updating all the components that two years later it is necessary to update and refining those sections that had room for improvement. We have tried it, and, as you are about to discover, our feelings during this first contact are very positive.

In any case, before we go any further it’s worth pausing for a moment to take a look at the review setup we’ve seen in action. Its processor is an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX with 8 cores and capable of simultaneously processing a maximum of 16 threads.

Wrapping it up is 32 GB DDR5-4800, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics processor (the laptop version) and two 2 TB SSDs each with a PCIe 4.0 interface and configured in RAID 0 (striping). There is no doubt that they are top notch specs which, as we will see later, have a very obvious impact on the price of this laptop.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16: technical specifications

The second screen aims to improve our experience (and it has succeeded)

Before delving into the features and experience offered by the second screen, I suggest that we take a look at the main screen of this laptop. It incorporates a 16-inch IPS LCD panel with resolution WQXGA (2560 x 1600 dots) and mini-LED backlight. Its maximum refresh rate is 165 Hz, it has a response time of 3 ms, it is compatible with Dolby Vision content, and, according to ASUS, it is capable of restoring 100% of the color volume of the DCI-P3 space.

As you can see, on paper its characteristics look very good. During this first contact we have not had the opportunity to analyze its quality (credit goes to the NVIDIA graphics processor), 2 second generation USB 3.2 ports and type A, many others with the same characteristics but type C, one Gigabit Ethernet port, one Jack of 3.5 mm combined to which we can connect both a headset and a microphone, and, finally, a micro-SD card reader. In this section I have nothing to object.

It’s good and pretty, but not cheap

This first contact with this laptop has left a great taste in my mouth. It is robust and impeccably finished, it has very attractive specifications both for creating content and for enjoying any latest game, and, in addition, the second screen can have a profound impact on our experience if we get hold of it and integrate it into our workflow or leisure.

I hope that we will have the opportunity to thoroughly test it so that we can offer you a more in-depth analysis, but until that time comes, I can only give it a single snag: the 5000 euros that ASUS asks us for it put it hopelessly out of reach for most users. And it’s a shame because it’s a real team.