KUALA LUMPUR: ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) announced the release of
groundbreaking ROG Zephyrus Duo 15, which integrates two displays in an ultra slim form factor to bring a new dimension of versatility to premium gaming laptops, without sacrificing any of the high-powered performance that defines ROG.
THE SECOND DISPLAY
Adding another display is no simple endeavour for ultra slim gaming laptops, where every millimetre matters.
The screen must be large enough to show useful information yet close enough to be within reach.
When opened, the ROG ScreenPad Plus tilts up at a 13 degree angle for comfortable viewing with touchscreen interaction. This fluid motion is carefully choreographed by a custom hinge that staggers the rise of the displays to prevent damage.
The 14.1-inch panel in ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 is the largest second display ever put on a
gaming laptop.
The IPS panel stretches wide viewing angles across the full width of the body, and its
3840 x 1100 resolution boasts a high pixel density that delivers rich details, crisp text, and flowing lines at a smooth 60Hz refresh rate.
The ScreenPad Plus can be used to turn the primary display into a more immersive medium for gaming, streaming, and content creation.
Users can get a more expansive view of their game, movie, or other media, while using the secondary screen to keep an eye on emails, social media, and more.
Currently, ROG is working with game developers like Techland to optimise AAA games like Dying Light 2, which artfully moves co-op chats to ScreenPad Plus for easy viewing, and adds touchscreen controls for easy switching between inventory items and quests.
A collaboration with Overwolf also allows gamers to download apps for games like League of Legends, Fortnite, and CS:GO to see real-time stats, build recommendations, and more — all to amplify the advantages that the multi-screen design offers.
The touchscreen also supports the ASUS Pen active stylus that makes scribbling and sketching seamless.
The ROG ScreenPad Plus secondary display also doubles as a crucial component of the overall cooling system.
The laptop has an innovative Active Aerodynamic System (AAS) Plus and having the touch screen tilt, it opens a larger air intake, 28.5mm to be exact, and allows the fans
to draw in cooler air from above the laptop instead of warmer air from beneath it.
This massive air intake increases airflow by up to 30 per cent, putting less strain on the internal cooling system.
GO HI-RES OR HI-SPEED
Displays determine how virtual worlds are experienced. There is no substitute for a good one, which is why ROG works closely with panel partners to ensure that each device can be configured in ways that fit every need.
For Zephyrus Duo 15, users can choose between an ultra fast 300Hz/3ms gaming panel or a high-resolution 4K UHD display.
E-sports enthusiasts can gain a serious competitive advantage at 300Hz. The ultra-high refresh rate surpasses the standard for tournaments and makes fast-paced encounters feel incredibly smooth.
The 3ms response time keeps the picture crisp and blur-free for precise target tracking.
For those who prefer high-resolution experiences, the 4K UHD display offers incredible visuals at the highest fidelity detail. Both of these displays are factory calibrated and Pantone Validated to guarantee colour accuracy, but this particular panel also covers 100 per cent of the Adobe RGB colour space.
Both primary display options also use NVIDIA G-SYNC technology to enable a uniquely engaging experience.
Game performance tends to vary with the intensity of the scene, but traditional displays
refresh the on-screen image at a constant clip. This disparity can cause visual tearing artifacts that disrupt immersion. G-SYNC synchronises the refresh rate with the frame rate to eliminate tearing, minimise stuttering, and reduce input lag.
SUPER-POWERED SPEED
A top-tier display requires a top-tier GPU to keep up. The new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER makes everything fast and fluid.
Thanks to advanced cooling and ROG Boost, the GPU can hit peak clock speeds as high as 1330MHz in Turbo mode.
The revolutionary Turing architecture behind the GeForce RTX series enables incredible visual realism. Lifelike lighting, shadows, and reflections render with speed across upgraded CUDA cores for programmable shading, RT cores for real-time ray tracing, and Tensor cores for AI processing.
These versatile cores can also accelerate workloads like image processing, 3D modeling, and deep learning.
BOOSTED PRODUCTIVITY
The laptop can support up to an 8-core 10th Generation Intel Core i9 CPU hitting speeds as high as 5.3GHz on a single core, and can engage up to 16 parallel threads with Hyper-Threading technology to power through heavy duty tasks.
With up to 48GB of combined onboard and SO-DIMM memory, the Zephyrus Duo 15 is ready for multitasking across multiple displays.
Its DDR4-3200 RAM outpaces the old 2666MHz standard, improving system speed and responsiveness.
It comes with two nimble NVM Express PCIe x4 SSDs that run in RAID 0 to provide plenty of high-speed storage and the dual-drive array makes the whole system feel more responsive, with lightning load times and quick access to data.
With up to 2TB of capacity, gamers and creators can take their entire game library and
professional portfolio wherever they go.
Beyond the hardware inside, the laptop also comes with USB Type-C (USB-C) with Thunderbolt 3 offering versatile connectivity for a wide range of powerful accompaniments. Gamers can hook up to high-speed storage for ultra fast multimedia editing and transfers, speed up gaming and rendering by plugging into external graphics, daisy-chain multiple monitors to augment the integrated displays, or connect to a fully equipped desktop dock with the simplicity of a single cable.
With peak theoretical interface bandwidth of up to 40 Gbps – 4X the speed of USB 3.1 Gen 2 standard – the Thunderbolt 3 can balance multiple performance-hungry devices and drive external displays up to 8K resolution.
REVOLUTIONARY COOLING
To carve out an even greater cooling headroom, the CPU of Zephyrus Duo 15 is coated with Thermal Grizzly’s liquid metal compound instead of standard thermal paste.
The cooling module strategically snakes five heat pipes to draw degrees from the CPU, GPU, and surrounding power circuitry. Each of the four heatsinks is filled with ultra thin fins that maximize surface area for heat dissipation while decreasing resistance to airflow. Dual n-Blade fans circulate air with superslim blades made of a special liquid-crystal polymer that’s strong enough to withstand high spin speeds.
The heat from powerful internal components can sometimes make laptop keyboards uncomfortable to use, particularly during marathon gaming sessions and with sustained heavy workloads. To keep hands away from the warmest parts of the machine and create more space for ScreenPad Plus, the keyboard is shifted forward. The design lets wrists sit on the table, like with a desktop keyboard, and there’s a detachable palm rest to improve user comfort.
STAY ACTIVE ANYWHERE WITH PORTABLE POWER
The Zephyrus Duo 15 squeezes power and premium features into an impressively slim body that’s just 20.9mm thin and weighs only 2.4kg. The sleek magnesium aluminide chassis is resilient, with clean lines, all-metal construction, for a professional feel.
It is also easier to stay productive anywhere with Zephyrus Duo’s high-capacity 90Wh battery. The laptop can also charge via USB Power Delivery, so users can take care of lighter work with a 65W USB-C adapter that’s much smaller than the standard unit required for full performance.
THE INS AND OUTS OF ON-THE-GO GAMING
Comprehensive connectivity lets this gaming laptop power a full battle station or workstation. The USB 3.2 Gen 2 port with Thunderbolt 3 supports Power Delivery and DisplayPort 1.4, and can be used to connect a G-SYNC desktop monitor.
There’s also an HDMI 2.0b output capable of driving a 60 Hz signal for 4K UHD monitors and TVs.
Three Type-A USB ports accommodate additional peripherals, including a mouse, gamepad, and VR tracking.
Wireless networking is essential for everyday productivity, so Zephyrus Duo 15 features superfast WiFi 6 (802.11ax).
When paired with a compatible router, WiFi 6 boosts peak interface bandwidth up to 2.4Gbps, and improves efficiency for busy networks. It also reduces latency, meaning less lag for sensitive activities like online gaming, and expands upstream capacity, which provides more bandwidth for live streaming.
The Gigabit Ethernet jack at the back offers the lowest possible latency for serious multi-player matches.
Two audio jacks make it easier to connect a standalone microphone and headset for streaming or voice chat, and a premium ESS Sabre DAC elevates the experience for gamers with high-end headphones.
The hi-fi DAC reduces noise and distortion, enabling clearer audio with wider dynamic range. Combined with virtual 7.1-channel surround sound, spatial immersion in games and virtual reality is deeper.
Hi-Res Audio certification guarantees fidelity for full-quality audio and other media, providing rich and detailed sound.
Onboard speakers deliver reliable and engaging audio with minimal distortion. Smart amplifier technology keeps the speakers within thermal and excursion limits, so the volume can be turned up higher without damaging the cones.