DUO to the Max- Tips and Tricks for ASUS Zenbook DUO Users

Jan 10, 2024

The new ASUS Zenbook DUO is a great laptop for anyone who needs a device that enables multitasking wherever they are — stationary or on the go. It features two 14-inch 3K OLED touchscreens, and it can be set up in five different ways to best suit your needs.

Zenbook DUO is perfect for hybrid workers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, on-the-go professionals, some content creators, busy parents… and pretty much anyone who feels one laptop screen simply isn't enough for them. We are hoping to help these users all at once by expanding their horizons and delivering a strong laptop that features two full-sized OLED panels.

The design purpose aims to deliver a device that allows its users to stay as productive as they would be at their desk anywhere the laptop is set up, and allows them to use it in many different ways. This allows people to stay versatile and never feel limited by their device.

To unlock its full potential, check out these useful tips and tricks!

The new Zenbook DUO features two 14-inch 3K OLED touchscreens, and it can be set up in five different ways to best suit your needs. What if you could navigate this laptop in a similar way as you would a smartphone? Zenbook DUO features intuitive gestures to help you quickly take advantage of the dual-screen setup.

If, for instance, you don't have enough space to use the Bluetooth keyboard, but would like to take advantage of the lower screen, you can activate the virtual keyboard by tapping on the screen with six fingers. Then, you can decide if you want it to take up the whole lower screen or have it occupy the half closest to you, and either extend your display to the remaining part of the lower screen or open up the super-useful Utilities bar.

If you opt to use the Utilities, you swipe two fingers sideways across the Utilities window to switch between the available functions: Handwriting, NumberPad, Control Panel (perfect for content creators), or Quick keys — a set of pre-set or customized virtual hotkeys.

If you are using the laptop without the physical Bluetooth Keyboard and don't have your mouse with you, but would rather use the laptop in a familiar way with a touchpad rather than purely with touch gestures, you can call out the Virtual touchpad at any moment. You can choose to add it to the Virtual keyboard (that you've called out earlier with a tap of six fingers), or simply float it anywhere on the screen. Simply tap the screen with three fingers to do so.

If you want to switch on which screen a certain window will be displayed, we have an intuitive gesture for that as well. When in dual-screen mode, place your finger on the window you wish to move, and flick it up or down to move it to the upper or lower screen, respectively.

When one of the windows you're looking at requires a closer look, tap on it with five fingers to enable ViewMax — it will extend across both displays, occupying the whole, nearly 20-inch large, dual-screen space.

ASUS Zenbook DUO comes with the ScreenXpert 3.1 app, which is designed to make managing the dual-screen space a breeze.

For instance, you can decide which section of which screen each window will be displayed and switch its place precisely and without dragging your mouse or finger, keeping your virtual workspace neat. You can use the App switch function of ScreenXpert 3.1 for that.

You can group apps and open them up all at once with the Task group function. For instance, you can save a task group that launches a web browser on the top screen, and an email client and instant messaging app side-by-side on the lower one to kick off your workday in one click.

Perhaps you already know about Sharing mode. When users press the sharing mode icon, a floating action menu will pop up. Users can then either choose to mirror the main screen content or show different contents. The content on the main panel will then rotate 180-degree, as to show the person sitting across the table from you the screen contents in a natural way. This is great for in-person collaborations, discussions, or presentations. This, too, can be launched quickly and easily via ScreenXpert 3.1.

ScreenXpert also features plenty of more common, obvious functions, such as screen brightness settings — it's just much faster and easier to use than without the app.

The Zenbook DUO features many novel AI-powered functions, such as the Copilot and Designer — prompt-based AI utility functions from Microsoft. When coupled with the dual-screen format, these functions can really make a difference in how you will use your laptop and boost your productivity like you can’t even imagine.

Copilot assists you with your daily tasks. For example, it can accompany you during an online meeting by creating a transcription and summarising the meeting contents so that you never have to worry about forgetting to take meeting minutes again.

You can also use text to draft emails, notes, documents, and other pieces of text for you — just remember to review them before sending them out.

Designer, on the other hand, helps with another task that you likely deal with daily that probably eats up a good bit of your time that could be better spent. Designer helps you create attractive and informative presentations. You can ask Designer to turn a document into a slideshow (while finding stock images needed for it when needed, too), or help you enhance your presentation (turn a boring table into an attractive graph or infographic).

So how do these features translate into everyday scenarios? Here are some examples of situations where you will appreciate the dual-screen nature of the new Zenbook DUO.

Focused Yet with an Eye on Everything

If you're a working parent or a pet parent, this one will probably be familiar to you. If you're in the habit of observing your little one via camera while at work, what it probably looks like is you may have your smartphone set up next to your laptop with the screen showing the image from the camera. However, not only is this distracting because you constantly need to move your eyesight away from the laptop screen (and smartphones tend to distract us with notifications or messages, so there is always a risk of it absorbing a little more attention than you intended when just trying to check in on your child or pet), it also very quickly drains your smartphone battery.

Another option is simply displaying that on the laptop screen, but then every time you wish to take a look you’ll need to switch a window which is distracting.

Working parents or pet parents can instead set up their Zenbook DUO in the Dual screen mode and have the main working window displayed on the top screen, then have the feed from the camera shared on the lower screen with the email app. Through the useful design of dual screens you can always check what’s the latest without switching a device or an app on your main working screen.

Better than Your Notebook

The two touchscreens also come super-useful if you need to take notes (for example, during an online class, a meeting at work, or while reviewing a long document), and prefer handwriting over typing.

Lie your laptop flat on the desk. On one screen you can open what you need to take notes of — an online meeting app, a video player with a recorded online class, a document file, etc. On the other screen you can open a notepad app of your choice and grab a stylus to jot down notes. All this is doable on one device without needing to scan your paper notes or move the file between devices.

And if you’re taking notes of anything that involves voice, you can enhance your notes and make sure you don’t miss anything crucial by launching the Copilot and taking a transcript of the meeting or using speech-to-text functions.

Full Work Setup Anywhere

If you’re a digital nomad or travel a lot for work, you’re probably frequently finding yourself working in places that may not always be described as an ergonomic workspace, e.g. small café tables, plane trays, or even a coffee table in your living room.

Zenbook DUO takes a similar amount of space as a traditional laptop when in Dual screen mode, except it has two screens, so you never have to compromise on your ability to multitask when on the go. You can also set it up in Desktop mode for larger viewing space (or two vertical ones), and use the Bluetooth keyboard however is most convenient for you — by placing it on the laps, on the table in front of the screens, etc.

Now, you can take your full workspace setup with you anywhere you go.

Collaborate like a Pro

Sharing mode comes super useful during in-person collaboration sessions and discussions, and when presenting your work and applying feedback immediately — for example, when working with your colleague on a proposal slideshow for a client.

Set your laptop to a Sharing mode via ScreenXpert 3.1 while sitting across the table from your colleague. Then, launch the slideshow application, and get to work on the proposal. Your colleague will see what you're doing in real-time as you work on the slideshow, look through references, or search for information online. They'll also be able to also annotate, move things around, etc.

You can also task Copilot and Designer with making the slideshow, so you can focus on brainstorming and being creative. Oh! And once again, don't forget to task Copilot with making the transcript of your discussion to make sure you don't miss anything later and send out the AI-created meeting summary to your colleague after you finish.

Admittedly, Zenbook DUO is likely quite different from the laptop you’re used to, so some adjustments in usage habits may be needed. But it was designed to be as intuitive as possible. By taking advantage of some of the tips in this article, you should be able to handle the Zenbook DUO like a pro in no time — and in effect, be more productive and save more time. Don’t hesitate and discover more on the incredible features of this laptop now!