Battery life remains stellar, the keyboard and touchpad are excellent, and the OLED displays are gorgeous.
Intel Core Ultra “Arrow Lake” H-series chips offer a meaningful boost to performance.
Battery life has improved, hitting 11+ hours in “Best Performance” mode.
A small logo on the corner of the lid lends a professional look to the laptop.
Vibrant 3K OLED touchscreens are outstanding.
Thoughtful dual-screen design is easy to operate and useful, metallic stand is sturdy.
ASUS absolutely floored me last year when it introduced the Zenbook Duo (UX8406) dual-screen laptop.
1.Price, availability, and specs2.Design & build quality3.Dual screen modes4.Performance benchmarks5.Battery and thermals6.Competition7.Should you buy?
ASUS hasn’t made any major changes to the 2025 Zenbook Duo beyond a bump to performance hardware.
The Zenbook Duo (UX8406) for 2025 ultimately remains the best dual-screen laptop on the market.
Port location is about the only physical change compared to last year’s Zenbook Duo (sitting on top).(Image credit: Future)
Let’s get to it.
This review was made possible with a review unit provided by ASUS.
The company did not see the contents of the review before publishing.
Ports on the left side of the Zenbook Duo 2024 (on top) and 2025 models.(Image credit: Future)
Whereas the older models started at $1,500, the 2025 models nowstart at $1,600.
I considered the 2024 price a real steal, and the $100 increase isn’t meaningless.
That’s not bad at all.
The Zenbook Duo is thicker than your average 14-inch laptop due to the detachable keyboard between the screens.(Image credit: Future)
There’s better news for those who want the more powerful Core Ultra 9 285H model (UX8406CA-PS99T).
It still costsabout $1,700, which is in line with 2024’s pricing.
A built-in metal stand that folds out when needed is on the bottom of the laptop.
The folding stand has a small logo on the outside.
It certainly adds to the weight and thickness, but it’s well worth it.
The slight incline also helps typing feel a little more comfortable.
I love typing on this laptop, and you make no sacrifices for the extra display.
The stand’s hinges hold securely, making the laptop quite sturdy in any mode.(Image credit: Future)
ASUS achieved something special with the keys.
I love typing on this laptop, and you make no sacrifices for the extra display.
The 2025 ASUS Zenbook Duo is built every bit as well as the 2024 model.
A small vent for airflow is located on the back edge of the bottom panel.(Image credit: Future)
Exhaust venting is found on either side of the laptop, directed out and away from the PC.
Port selection remains the same as last year, though positioning has changed.
An HDMI 2.1 port joins the Thunderbolt 4 input on the right side.
This small air intake seems to be enough to keep the laptop from throttling.(Image credit: Future)
Technically, the first key in uses the lower OLED touchscreen as a virtual touchpad and keyboard.
Immediately swapping the contents of screens 1 and 2 can be done with the F7 key, too.
Finally, ‘sharing mode’ is exactly what it sounds like.
Stacking the screens is but one way to use the Zenbook Duo. The keyboard is rigid enough to be used on your lap.
However, those hoping to land anAI PCwithCopilot+abilities will be disappointed.
Does that really matter?
It depends on how you use the PC.
The screens can stand vertically or horizontally, with the stand on the back keeping them in place.
That’s not the case here.
Just watch out for overheating (more on that in the next section.)
Despite the NPU’s relative impotence, I also put the laptop through some of Procyon’s AI benchmarks.
A six-finger tap brings up the virtual keyboard, touchpad, and handwriting fields.(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
It’s an AI PC, but just barely.
That’s quite impressive.
However, the differences are even slimmer this time around.
The on-screen virtual keyboard can be as transparent as you like, or hidden completely.(Image credit: Ben Wilson | Windows Central)
The bottom screen reached 377.6 nits at max, which isn’t really noticeable to the naked eye.
The OLED screens look fantastic, especially when they dynamically switch to 120Hz on AC power.
The OLED screens look fantastic, especially when they dynamically switch to 120Hz on AC power.
Sharing mode makes for more comfortable handwriting and proves its worth in small-scale demonstrations.
ASUS has not skimped on its displays at all, and you could expect the same greatness from both.
The ASUS Pen 2.0 adds inking abilities, which add just another way to interact with the PC.
The only drawback is a glossy finish that shows more glare than usual.
Disabling the lower screen provides an ergonomic setup that helps prevent neck strain, reaching a comfortable eye level.
Something that’s more anti-reflective would go a long way.
The runtime dropped to 7 hours and 37 minutes, still a great result.
The included 65W AC adapter is compact and offers fast charging abilities for the PC.
The Core Ultra 9 285H pulls ahead of its predecessor in GB6 but falls behind AMD’s Ryzen AI chips.(Image credit: Future)
I ran a prolonged stress test on the system to see how well the cooling works.
CPU temps remained below 60C, leveling out to a 30W power draw following the Turbo boost.
Unsurprisingly, it’s hottest on the bottom panel, hitting about 50C.
Strong performance again from the Core Ultra 9 285H in Cinebench 2024, though it’s outperformed by the X Elite in the Surface Laptop 7.(Image credit: Future)
you’re able to see exactly where the CPU sits inside with the FLIR imaging.
I would have liked to see at least the addition of a webcam shutter.
This is where Ben and I disagree.
It’s truly impressive that an integrated Arc 150T GPU can nearly match an RTX 3050L in Time Spy.(Image credit: Future)
It’s a flawed mixture that’s redeemed by the appeal of its dual-screened form factor.
I agree with Boddy’s analysis.
$100 more gets you a Core Ultra 9 chip.
ASUS uses a speedy M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD in the Zenbook Duo (2025).(Image credit: Future)
Not bad at all.
Display
5/5 Dual 3K OLED touch displays.
It also lacks a powerful NPU.
The Core Ultra 9’s wimpy NPU doesn’t make a splash in OpenVINO.(Image credit: Future)
Battery
5/5 Battery life remains roughly the same as the last generation, but you get higher performance.
It’s a wonder how ASUS assembled such a fine set of keys on such a thin slab.
Other features
3/5 The 1080p webcam lacks a shutter and is just average in terms of picture quality.
Crossmark measures full system performance, and the Zenbook Duo is bested only by the MacBook Pro 14 M4.(Image credit: Future)
The speakers are louder than last year, but they’re still on the flimsy side.
Zenbook Duo UX8406 (2025): Should you buy it?
You’ll need the desk space, but it’s a joy to use.
A strong Windows ML result from the Core Ultra 9 285H.(Image credit: Future)
However, adding a stylus makes it viable for collaborating and quickly showing presentations in otherwise unusual work environments.
It’s more than a simple markup tool.
Updates to the 2025 model only improve the Zenbook Duo.
The system’s components perform very well, topping the chart in PCMark 10.(Image credit: Future)
Updates to the 2025 model only improve the Zenbook Duo.
The new Intel Core Ultra 9 285H outperforms its 185H predecessor, and battery life has slightly improved.
Not a bad deal.
Color reproduction from both displays is identical, with 100% sRGB, 95% AdobeRGB, and 98% DCI-P3.(Image credit: Future)
Like the first Zenbook Duo (UX8406), the 2025 model is just plain fun to use.
Tone response is also practically identical between the two displays.(Image credit: Future)
The top screen gets slightly brighter at 382 nits compared to 377 nits, but you won’t really notice in everyday use.(Image credit: Future)
A look at both 3K OLED screens stacked horizontally.
A look at temperatures in Celsius for the attached keyboard, bottom display without a keyboard in place, and the bottom panel.
We still have a long way to go with ultra-compact webcam sensors. You’d be better off using an external solution.
Lenovo’s Yoga Book 9i is practically the only competition for the ASUS Zenbook Duo.
The Zenbook Duo UX8406 looks fetching as a standard laptop, though it’s certainly thicker than most.
