ZDNET hands-on: Asus ZenBook Duo (2026) gains sturdier build, bigger battery

ZDNET's Prakhar Khanna tried Asus' updated ZenBook Duo at CES 2026 and reported meaningful design and battery improvements that make the dual-screen laptop an appealing option for work travel. The ZenBook Duo (2026) features two 14-inch OLED touchscreens at 2,880 x 1,800 (2.8K), a 144Hz refresh rate, up to 1,000 nits peak brightness for supported HDR content, and a 16:10 aspect ratio.

Khanna noted Asus reduced bezels near the hinge to reach a 93% screen-to-body ratio, while a thicker top bar still houses the Windows Hello camera. Asus revised the detachable Bluetooth keyboard with a larger trackpad and increased key travel; Khanna wrote he hadn’t typed on it for more than five minutes but expected it to be more comfortable than the previous model.

The laptop uses Asus’ Ceraluminum finish, measures 1.65kg and 14.6mm thick (without the keyboard), and includes a sturdier kickstand and revised hinge. Two configurations are offered: one with an Intel Core Ultra 7 355 (48 TOPs NPU) and another with a Core Ultra 9 386H (50 TOPs NPU), both paired with 32GB LPDDR5X RAM and a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD.

The battery is now 99Whr (up from 75Whr), and Khanna said the combination of more efficient processors and a larger battery should ideally improve endurance. Ports include two Thunderbolt 4, one HDMI 2.1, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and an audio jack, with Wi‑Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 and a six-speaker system (two front-firing tweeters and four woofers).

Key Topics

Tech, Zenbook Duo, Asus, Ceraluminum