The Asus Zenbook Duo gets a major update with its upgraded dual 14-inch OLED displays, slimmer removable keyboard, and lower starting price of $1,499, the DUO makes a strong case for folding Windows laptops.
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TechTranscript
00:00 Hello, I am the awfully English Jason England,
00:02 and these are the brand new ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14
00:06 and G16 gaming laptops.
00:08 Sporting the latest Intel Core Ultra Meteor Lake
00:10 and AMD Ryzen 8000 CPUs.
00:12 ASUS just announced these in its big event at CES 2024.
00:16 And with no new NVIDIA laptop GPUs launching at the event,
00:19 the laptop maker is going big on three key areas
00:23 for the new Zephyrus models.
00:24 The CPU, the design, and the display.
00:27 So let's start with what is currently topping
00:30 our best gaming laptop list, which is the G14.
00:32 We absolutely fell in love
00:34 with this portable gaming powerhouse,
00:36 and for the new year, we're getting a lot more of the same.
00:39 It starts with the new AMD Ryzen 8000 CPU,
00:42 otherwise known by its screen name of Hawkpoint,
00:44 which really brings the fight to Intel's AI NPU,
00:47 alongside some pretty tidy speed boosts.
00:50 The GPU can be specced up to an RTX 4070,
00:53 alongside 32 gigs of RAM,
00:55 and has a starting price in the UK of £1,899.
00:58 Now I know what a lot of you are thinking,
01:00 didn't ASUS do an RTX 4090 version of this machine?
01:03 Well, that last generation model will continue to be sold,
01:06 but we're not seeing that most powerful GPU
01:08 come to this mini machine.
01:10 And I think that could come down to the fresh redesign.
01:13 Gone is the anime matrix display,
01:16 and replaced with far more subtle slash lighting on the back.
01:19 Something I'd feel far more comfortable pulling out
01:21 in public and not embarrassing myself.
01:23 The machine is built around a single block of aluminium,
01:26 not aluminium, and ASUS has both minimised the size
01:30 and maximised what it's done with the space.
01:33 What do I mean?
01:34 Even though it is 18% thinner and 12% lighter,
01:37 ASUS has made the touchpad bigger,
01:39 made the six speaker system 250% louder,
01:43 with 125% larger dual woofers,
01:45 and made the keyboard's key caps larger
01:48 with the same amount of travel.
01:49 One thing to note is that the battery
01:51 is just a touch smaller now at 73 watt hours rather than 76,
01:55 but we'll have to see what that does to the battery drain
01:58 when we get round to it.
01:59 But most impressively,
02:00 these are the first ROG gaming laptops
02:02 since the Zephyrus S demo machine back in 2019
02:06 to come with an OLED display.
02:08 The same 16 by 10 aspect ratio as before,
02:11 3K ratio, 120 hertz refresh rate,
02:14 and a 0.2 millisecond response time,
02:16 and up to 500 nits of brightness.
02:18 Basically all the gaming performance you need,
02:20 but with the added benefit of a flash flood of color
02:23 and a 1 million to 1 contrast ratio
02:25 that OLED technology is known for.
02:28 The larger Zephyrus G16 benefits
02:30 from all the same premium design and OLED display updates,
02:33 as well as the G14, but with its increased size,
02:37 there are now some big differences,
02:39 including a full size SD card slot over micro SD,
02:42 the same liquid metal and tri-fan cooling
02:44 being complimented by a vapor chamber too
02:46 for both 4080 and RTX 4090 support,
02:49 configurations including Meteor Lake
02:51 up to Intel Core Ultra 9 185H,
02:55 and a larger starting price of 2,299 pounds.
02:58 They unmistakably feel more premium to the touch
03:00 than last year's models.
03:02 They have drop-dead gorgeous displays and better keyboards.
03:05 Without getting ahead of myself,
03:06 as we'll need to review them for a full opinion,
03:08 I think there's a lot to be excited about
03:10 when it comes to the ROG Zephyrus G14 and G16.