ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 (2022) review
We test & benchmark the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 gaming laptop
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The ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 is a unique dual-use workstation/gaming laptop for several reasons. The most obvious of these is the secondary touchscreen (the ScreenPad Plus) located underneath the main display, the common feature of all previous ASUS Duo laptops, but this time on a 16-inch device. Secondly, this is the first and only laptop currently available with the ability to switch refresh rate on the display (assuming this is the display option you decide to buy), meaning you can transition between a 4K 120Hz display, ideal for creative use and watching/editing native 4K video footage on, and a 240Hz 1200p mode, perfect for fast-paced competitive gaming. Couple this with options for some of the highest-powered components available, plus a powerful internal cooling system, and the Duo 16 is an enticing prospect – read on to see if it meets our expectations!
What about the AMD Ryzen 9 6980HX ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16?
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 was released around March 2022, but has been plagued by supply issues, to the point it’s proven difficult to get hold of the higher specced versions of the device (including our review copy). Originally, the highest SKU version was the only laptop to come equipped with the AMD Ryzen 9 6980HX: essentially a tweaked AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX capable of a Boost clock of 5.0GHz, compared to the 4.9GHz of the standard 6900HX. Unfortunately, ASUS has found it difficult to get a sufficient amount of these processors, and so in most markets, you will only find the 6900HX model for sale, and this is the one we have eventually been given to review. If you do manage to find a 6980HX unit then consider yourself lucky and snap it up quick. For everyone else though, you can take some comfort in the fact that the additional 0.1GHz boost clock performance is a relatively minor improvement, and it shouldn’t really sway you towards not getting this machine.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16
CPU
AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX / 6980HX
Graphics
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 (140W) / RTX 3070 Ti (150W) / RTX 3080 (165W) / RTX 3080 Ti (165W)
RAM
32GB / 64GB 4800MHz DDR5
Storage
1TB – 16TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe (Raid 0)
Screen Size
16″
Max Refresh Rate
120Hz & 240Hz / 165Hz
Specifications & upgradability
CPU
AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX / 6980HX
Graphics
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 (140W) / RTX 3070 Ti (150W) / RTX 3080 (165W) / RTX 3080 Ti (165W)
RAM
32GB / 64GB 4800MHz DDR5
Storage
1TB – 16TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe (Raid 0)
Screen Size
16″
Max Refresh Rate
120Hz & 240Hz / 165Hz
Resolution (main display)
16:10 3840 x 2400 & 1920 x 1200 / 2560 x 1600
Resolution (secondary display)
3840 x 1100
Panel Type
IPS / Mini LED
Touchscreen?
Yes (for smaller secondary display)
Webcam
720p InfraRed
Weight
2.50kg / 5.51lbs
Ports
2x USB-A 3.2 gen1, 1x USB-C gen2 (with 100W power delivery, G-Sync & DisplayPort 1.4a dGPU output), 1x USB-C gen2 (DisplayPort 1.4a iGPU output), HDMI 2.1, 1x RJ45 LAN port, micro SD reader, 3.5mm audio-combo jack
- unique secondary touchscreen display
- unique refresh rate & resolution switching option
- powerful GPU RTX 3080 Ti GPU option
- MUX Switch
- superb cooling solution
- 100% sRGB color replication
- FreeSync & Adaptive Sync
- good quality chiclet keyboard & trackpad
- mini-SD card reader
- great build quality
- good quality speakers for a Windows laptop
- Ryzen CPU not as powerful as Intel 12th gen
- color accuracy could be better for 4K/1200p version
- full-size SD card reader would have been preferable
- no G-Sync
- trackpad placement may put off left-handed consumers
- pricey
To open the back of the laptop you’ll need to remove 10 Torx screws and ideally make use of a prying tool to pop it open, or failing that your fingers (just be careful not to snap anything).
Inside the laptop there are two upgradable PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots for SSD storage, and two DDR5 RAM slots; these are both upgradable too, despite the unusual stacked placement of the RAM (you simply have to take the top one off before upgrading the bottom one).
The highest specced GPU option which we were sent comes with a 165W TGP RTX 3080 Ti, which is not quite the most powerful, but it isn’t far off (see our ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 SE review for a 175W version in action).
As mentioned we were given the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU version to review. The laptop also comes with a fairly unique AAS cooling setup that can draw in air from the gap beneath the secondary screen, as well as Conductonaut Extreme liquid metal cooling on the processor.
Software
The onboard software is the usual ASUS use for all their ROG gaming laptops: Armoury Crate. We’re well-versed in all its various features, and it does give a good degree of functionality but is a bit of a sensory nightmare to navigate, with lots of unnecessary visuals and advertisement bloat.
Still, the myriad tweakable options are welcome. Most of these controls are under the Home section, where you can select from Silent, Balanced or Turbo presets, or create your own Manual custom profile where you can allocate wattage to the CPU and GPU as well as set up fan profiles and save them so you can easily switch between them. You will also find the setting to enable the MUX Switch / disable MSHybrid here (which requires a restart).
Besides these settings, and the other options that allow you to either prioritize battery life or performance, the Duo 16 comes with unique features in Armoury Crate that allow you to switch between the 120Hz 4K display or the 240Hz 1200p option (again requiring a restart) and enable/disable the secondary display – both located under Home as well.
Outside of Armoury Crate there is also another onboard software for interfacing with the ScreenPad Plus, which can be accessed from the side menu on the secondary display, either using the touchscreen or just your mouse cursor. In contrast this a well-organized and fairly unobtrusive system. Pictures of the various features of this can be seen in the image gallery above after the Armoury Crate ones. From top-down, the functions are as follows:
- Brightness
- App Navigator (lets you rearrange and manage apps between the two displays)
- Link to MyASUS (allows you to pair your phone/mirror it on the ScreenPad Plus)
- Keyboard lock
- Show ScreenPad Plus desktop (minimizes any open windows on the secondary display)
- Setup new Task Group (lets you save a layout of different app windows to open as a shortcut)
- Settings (various resolution, brightness, repositioning, and accessibility settings)
Design aesthetics & RGB
The Duo 16 is a great-looking laptop, with a reserved elegance to it. The majority of the chassis is black with a silvery black outer lid that has a purple diagonal line running through it, separating a perforated side from the smooth side that has the ROG logo.
There’s not much in the way of RGB, besides keyboard backlighting and also a thin glass window between the secondary display and the keyboard that lets you look at some of the laptop’s internals.
The black body of the laptop does gather smudges, but no more than most of the competition. We did however find that the rubber wrist rest to gathered smudges in the extreme: after about 30mins of use it looked like it was turning gray.
Still, besides this very minor quibble, this is an aesthetically pleasing device, suitable for office use but with enough interesting details to make it feel like a quality product.
Size, build quality & ergonomics
The dimensions of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 are as follows:
Height: 2.05cm / 0.81″, Width: 35.5cm / 13.98″, Depth: 26.6cm / 10.47″
Looking at the weight now:
Laptop: 2.5kg / 5.5lb, (main) power adapter & cable: 0.95kg / 2.1lb, combined weight 3.45kg / 7.6lb
Although we didn’t received one in our review copy, the RTX 3080 Ti versions at least reportedly get an additional, lighter 100W USB-C charger.
This secondary charger weighs around 0.4kg / 0.88lb and is substantially less bulky than the main charging brick, though it won’t do for any kind of heavy-duty gaming or rendering involving the dedicated GPU as the power isn’t high enough.
The Duo 16 is about 0.9” thicker than other 16-inch ASUS laptops: the ASUS ROG FLOW X16 and the ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16, and approximately 0.55kg heavier, which is unsurprising give the secondary screen. Still, whilst not the lightest, or most slender it’s still reasonably portable.
The build quality on the mostly metal chassis was top notch: there were no loose hinges or keys, and the action when opening the laptop was nice and smooth, including on the secondary screen. The Duo 16 feels like a quality product, the only concern we’d have with it is the potential for the hinge mechanism on the secondary screen (slightly more complex than the one on the preceding Duo 15) to degrade over time, or for items to get stuck inside the mechanism/beneath the display. We’d advise treating the laptop with a bit of extra care for this reason.
Keyboard, trackpad & touchscreen
The chiclet-style membrane keyboard has heavier feeling keys than your average gaming laptop (i.e. a higher than average actuation force), feeling closer to a MacBook keyboard. This is not necessarily a bad thing though, and we found the keyboard to be nice and tactile, and a pleasure to use for the most part. The one exception to this was the spacebar however, which was disappointingly loose and not stabilized well enough, though this isn’t really that big of an issue for the overall typing experience.
The trackpad was responsive, precise, and felt nice and solid. It was satisfying to click, though we would say it takes slightly too much pressure to depress than is ideal. Again though, this is not much to complain about. The trackpad can also be turned into a digital numpad with the push of a button, should you need one.
The big difference between the Duo 16 and the competition in terms of the keyboard and trackpad is of course the positioning of both: with the trackpad being pushed to the right and the keyboard right to the bottom edge of the chassis, so as to make more space higher up for the secondary display.
We didn’t actually find the placement of the trackpad much of an issue, as it’s in the natural position you would reach for your mouse anyway, assuming you’re right-handed of course – lefties will likely find this quite off-putting, however.
The very close placement of the keyboard doesn’t give any space to rest your hands on the chassis, however, the Duo 16 does come with a separate wrist rest. We didn’t have any problems typing on the laptop with or without the wrist rest when placed on the desk, however, it does become a bit less comfortable when typing on your lap, as your hands have to work quite close to your body. The wrist rest does not attach to the body of the laptop either, so can only really be used on a flat surface/table.
Webcam & inbuilt microphone
The webcam the Duo 16 is equipped with is only 720p but we found it to be of a good quality in our testing. It also comes with InfraRed tech which means you can use Windows Hello.
The onboard microphone array has a maximum quality of 24bit and 48000Hz but sounded pretty good to our ears, We also found the quality of the array microphone to also be of a good quality when using it for video calls. Furthermore there is a Two Way AI Noise Cancellation feature, that can be turned on within Armoury Crate and applied to incoming and outgoing audio when on a videocall or streaming, in order to filter any errant background noises. In the brief test we conducted there was a discernable increase in audio clarity during a voice chat, though the feature does drain the battery faster than if it’s turned off.
Ports, sockets, and other features
On the rear of the device you’ll find a RJ45 Ethernet/LAN port, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, and the HDMI 2.1 socket.
On the left side of the device is the power socket, 3.5mm audio jack, another USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, a USB 3.2 Geb 2 Type-C port with with power delivery (100W as mentioned above), and a video output from the dedicated graphics card (i.e. the Nvidia card) – this is via a DisplayPort 1.4a connection and supports G-Sync on an external monitor. Finally there’s a microSD slot.
On the right side of the laptop, there is an additional USB-C port with DisplayPort 1.4a, though this one does not support charging, and connects straight to the iGPU.
Although there is a microSD (UHS-II, 312MB/s) reader, we would have really expected to see a full-size version. Overall the selection of IO ports on the Duo 16 is respectable, and it’s good to see some USB-A support, but in an ideal world, we’d like to have seen slightly more connectivity given this is a 16-inch laptop designed for creatives.
Screen
There are actually two different main display options for the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16: the matte-finish IPS version with variable resolution and refresh rate, and a 165Hz 1600p mini-LED model. We only got to test the former of these, though have commented a bit below on what those interested in the latter could expect in terms of results – basically, if your focus is toward color-accurate work this is your best bet.
We can’t say what the IPS version of the display is like, as we weren’t given one to review, but the mini-LED screen is The former is the better option for those who are either interested in fast-paced competitive gaming, with the 240Hz 1200p mode (with c. 3ms response time when overdrive is enabled), or really want to make use of the 4K resolution for creative purposes: be it native 4K video editing or something else. It would make a great option for a streamer on the move who also edits their own footage, particularly with the secondary display enabling them to view chat or their outgoing feed whilst gaming.
Unfortunately, the laptop does not come with G-Sync to help eliminate tearing, which is disappointing at this price, however, it does have Adaptive Sync.
Note: the below tests were only done on the main display, and not the secondary screen.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 color gamut
ASUS claims that the ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 covers both 100% of the sRGB spectrum and DCI-P3 spectrum. Our results, which you can see below, supports the sRGB statement, recording 99.9% sRGB (which is as good as 100%) but just fell shy when it comes to the 97.7% DCI-P3 result. Still, this is likely close enough to 100% DCI-P3 for most users, unless perhaps you’re working at the professional high end. Adobe RGB coverage was 90.2%.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 color accuracy out of the box
Before calibrating the screen, the color accuracy of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 out the box showed an average delta of 2.66, which is a bit disappointing, and above the 2.5 threshold that a screen needs to score below to get a respectably low level of variance. The white point however, was very good at 6421K, fairly close to the ideal 6500K result. Gamma was equally good at 2.21, almost at the 2.20 ideal. Black depth was adequate at 0.1192 cd/m², but we would have liked to have seen a better (lower) result (as close to 0 cd/m² as possible), and similarly, we would like to have seen a higher contrast ratio than the 1105.7:1 recorded.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 color accuracy following calibration
At least the main screen of the Duo 16 is Pantone verified, meaning it meets a certain standard and has been pre-calibrated prior to shipping. This means further calibration is likely pointless, but we gave it a go anyway.
Overall we saw virtually no change in the results, and what tiny changes there were were mostly negative, which supported the above assumption.
The white point stayed static, black point worsened by 0.001 cd/m² to 0.1193 cd/m² as did the contrast ratio to 1007.1:1. Average Delta improved very slightly to 2.65 and gamma worsened a touch, increasing to 2.23.
With the average delta remaining above 2.50, professionals working in fields where color accuracy is paramount may unfortunately not find this display suitable for their needs, even with the high gamut coverage. The majority of creatives who don’t have to be quite so industry-precise when it comes to color may still find it suitable, however.
Color accuracy of mini-LED variant
Although we didn’t get chance to test the mini-LED variant ourselves, the boys over at Ultrabook review found it achieved a 0.34 Average Delta, plus a far superior contrast and black point (unsurprisingly), with a very similar color gamut to the one we tested. For those interested primarily in color work who don’t mind the 165Hz cap, this could be a viable alternative.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 panel uniformity
We do a panel uniformity test on all laptops we review after their calibration, which tests for both luminance and color We do a panel uniformity test on all laptops we review after their calibration, which tests for both luminance and color accuracy. We start on the centremost point as a reference and then test all the other sections of the screen (25 in total) to see how they compare.
Generally, any average color variation under 1.00 is good and shows up as green in the image above, though the average consumer won’t be able to tell much difference below 3.00. Visual editors who work with color however may have a keener eye.
The uniformity readings we got on the ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 were very respectable. The majority of variation was below 1.00 average delta (in green), with only the bottom right corner and a couple of areas on the the left edge and bottom right averaging between a 1.15 and 1.5 score (in yellow), with the bottom right corner reaching a maximum of 3.07. This means that the untrained eye likely will notice no variation at all on the screen, and even color-trained professionals would probably only detect a discrepancy in the extreme bottom right.
This means the display is definitely good enough for most creatives to work with to color-accurate standards. It’s just a shame the actual color accuracy results detailed above (for the variant we tested) are not quite up to scratch.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 brightness
We finished off our color accuracy testing by running a luminance test. On the unit we tested, we got a peak brightness of 493.12 cd/m² and a minimum of 23.93 cd/m². This is an impressive maximum brightness and means the laptop is suited for working outdoors in sunny weather (further aided by the non-glossy matte screen), though bear in mind the impact setting it to maximum brightness will have on the battery life (see below for more on this).
When using the laptop indoors during the daytime we’d recommend matching the brightness to 120 cd/m² which equates to a brightness setting of 32% under the brightness controls for this laptop.
Audio
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 comes with a 6 speakers system, including two up-firing tweets behind the secondary screen, with the more bass-producing speakers underneath the front of the laptop.
ASUS laptops are generally among the better Windows laptops in terms of audio quality, and the same is true with the Duo 16, though to our ears it didn’t sound quite as good as either the ASUS ROG X16 FLOW or the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 SE which we reviewed recently. This is partly due to the muffling effect of the secondary display in between the user and the speakers behind it. Bass replication was minimal but better than most devices. Overall we’d say that the audio quality is good, but we would like to have seen slightly better in a device targeted at creatives.
Battery life
We tested battery life with the screen set to 4K and Panel Saver mode switched on, which automatically switches the maximum screen refresh rate to 60Hz when the power is unplugged. The fan/power profile was set to Quiet Mode. Brightness was set to 32%, which is the equivalent of 120 cd/m² on this laptop, and all other settings were turned on to maximize battery life (Panel Overdrive turned off, MSHybrid Mode turned on).
We conducted our usual test of 2 hours of YouTube playback followed by a mix of web browsing and word processing and got the following results:
- With the secondary screen turned on: around 4 hours
- With the secondary screen turned off: around 4 hours 45mins
Not exactly great times, particularly as in most cases you’ll likely want to make use of the secondary display if you purchase this laptop, though we’ve seen worse considering the power of the components and the high-resolution display.
Performance, noise & temperature
Noise
In general, non-gaming usage, when set to Silent mode within Armoury Crate the X16 was just that. Even Balanced Mode was almost inaudible, and this is probably the setting we’d recommend if you’re in the office or typing on the move, as it In general, non-gaming usage, when set to Silent mode within Armoury Crate the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 was almost silent (though not quite). This is the setting we’d recommend if you’re in a quiet office or on public transport.
On Balanced Mode the fans were definitely audible, though reasonably quiet. When gaming under Turbo or our own custom Manual preset (which is what we’d recommend for demanding titles to maximize performance), the laptop got loud, though no worse than most competing high-end laptops with this much power.
External temperature
The thermal design is another unique selling point for the Duo 16. Known as AAS Plus 2.0, in this design most of the fresh air goes into the two fans through the gap underneath the ScreenPad, and only some through the underbelly of the laptop, and that allows for good thermals with the laptop sitting on a desk. Traditional designs that draw air from the bottom struggle with this sometimes, as the rubber feet tend to choke up the fans in most cases, but that’s not an issue here.
Likely thanks to this system, the Duo 16 remained cool on Balanced mode when web browsing, watching YouTube and general word processing. Silent mode generated some slight warmth on the keyboard after prolonged use but definitely less than what you’d normally expect with a gaming laptop.
When doing some high performance gaming, we tested the laptop on both Turbo mode and our own Manual mode preset, with both the fans and power allocation to the CU and GPU set to the max. On these settings there was some warmth generated on the keyboard after a period of gaming as you’d expect, but it remained substantially cooler than any other gaming laptop we’ve tested, save perhaps the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 SE, with which it was roughly on par (though this is a bigger laptop).
Internal temperature
If we take a look at the graph above we can see the internal temperature results during the games we tested.
As per all of our tests, we set the wattage allocation to the CPU and GPU to the maximum within the onboard software, set the fans to the maximum under Home > manual mode, and turned off any energy-saving settings for the GPU and other components – this will put the maximum strain on the internal temperatures of the laptop, and isn’t necessarily what you’d want for day to day gaming, but gives the best idea of the maximum performance potential.
To give you a rough idea, the low-to-mid 90s is where thermal throttling starts to take place on a CPU, and the high 90’s is where damage to the longevity of components starts to occur.
These results were some of the best we’ve seen, with the CPU Max temperatures being lower overall than any other laptop we’ve tested, though the GPU Max results were higher than those of the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 SE we tested recently. This can probably be attributed to the vapor chamber cooling the RTX 3080 Ti version of that laptop comes with, which does a slightly better job of reducing the graphics card temperature.
The average temperature results for the CPU were a bit higher than we’ve seen on both the SCAR 17 SE and the ASUS ROG FLOW X16, though this might be attributed to the fact that we were running 4K benchmarks for the Duo 16, compared to a maximum of 1440p and 1600p respectively on these other laptops, thus putting more strain on the components of the Duo 16. The GPU average temp was slightly superior to the results of both the SCAR 17 SE and the X16. Regardless, the maximum temperatures being capped so effectively is the real takeaway here.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 benchmarks
We tested the ASUS ROG Flow X16 with Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti and AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS in both its native 1600p resolution and at 1080p across a range of titles on different graphical presets.
We made sure the MSHybrid/Optimus was turned off with the MUX Switch within the Armoury Crate software, which is how we recommend everyone has it set when playing demanding games, as the FPS uplift it brings can be as high as 50% in some titles.
Most laptops we test at their native resolution and at 1080p (assuming these are not the same thing), however with the Duo 16 we tested at both the 240Hz 1200p resolution and at 120Hz 4K, so there wasn’t time for the 1080p test. This means a direct comparison with some other laptops we’ve tested isn’t available, but the 1200p results can do as the closest thing, with an assumed rough 1-2% FPS handicap.
CS:GO (a more CPU-leaning game) underperformed relative to the XMG Neo 15 E22 with RTX 3070 Ti, hitting an average FPS around 20% lower at 1200p than the other machine did at 1080 (so say around 18% lower, like for like). This likely indicates the inferior performance of the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX relative to the Intel Core i7-12700H in the XMG machine. The ASUS ROG FLOW X16 (with RTX 3070 Ti and Ryzen 9 6900HS) performed about 5% worse than the Duo 16 on the higher settings at least (achieving similar FPS on the other settings), which points to the impact of the superior HX processor the Duo 16 is equipped with.
Conversely, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (a fairly balanced GPU/CPU reliant game) showed some of the best results we’ve ever seen – demolishing laptops with less powerful GPUs. Admittedly this is partly due to the recent addition of FSR support to the game (which we set to ‘Balanced’) but the performance wasn’t that far off the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 17 SE even (that we also benchmarked with FSR), which has a slightly higher TGP RTX 3080 and a more powerful Intel Core i9-12950HX CPU.
Far Cry 6 (another more CPU-focused title) again showed performance drops of 10-15% compared to the i7-12700H equipped XMG Neo 15 E22 with RTX 3070 Ti, once again pointing to the relative inferiority of the Ryzen 9 6900HX by comparison.
Doom Eternal had the most interesting combination of results. The game performed between 5-20% better in average FPS terms on the X16 compared to the XMG Neo 15 E22 with RTX 3070 Ti, across the range of different resolutions and graphical presets, with both Ray Tracing On or Off, with one exception: at the highest graphical settings with RT switched on, the performance tanked. This would typically point to a shortage of VRAM relative to what is needed at these settings, however the RTX 3070 Ti in the XMG Neo 15 has the same amount of VRAM, and if it was a clock speed or power limit issue you’d think it would outperform across the board on all settings. A puzzle indeed, but the chief takeaway is that you’ll get great performance from the X16, as long as you avoid playing at maximum settings with Ray-Tracing On.
Doom Eternal, however (a GPU-focused title) showed great results for the Duo 16, beating the XMG Neo E22 with RTX 3070 Ti by between 34%-114%, depending on the settings, and achieving almost as impressive gains over the FLOW X16. The largest FPS gains over these two laptops were on the highest graphical preset, with Ray Tracing turned on, pointing to the power of the higher VRAM the RTX 3080 Ti comes with. Indeed the only laptop we’ve tested that the Duo 16 did not beat in this game is the ROG SCAR 17 SE, also equipped with RTX 3080 Ti, which showed FPS results another 20% higher still on top of the Duo 16.
Gaming at 4K on the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 is an impressively smooth experience, and you can definitely make the most of the 120Hz refresh rate at this resolution. CS:GO actually performed better at 4K than at 1200p for reasons we can’t exactly fathom. Doom Eternal achieved an average 110 FPS even with Ray Tracing On at the maximum settings, and managed 147 FPS on max settings with RTX Off. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla averaged between 81-105 FPS, depending upon the preset. It’s only the demanding Far Cry 6 that really suffered on this resolution at the highest settings, averaging 62 FPS, though achieving 98 FPS and 110 FPS on medium and low settings respectively. Overall – very impressive results.
Final Word
The ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 is a unique, well crafted-machine that we like a lot, though the cost of its additional features mean it’s not worth it if you’re purely looking for the most powerful gaming laptop for the money. This dual-screen laptop is not designed for your average gamer (who would be better off considering the cheaper MSI Raider GE76 or XMG Neo 15 E22), but for those who will make best use of the secondary touchscreen display in editing workflows, streaming, or some other creative endeavour.
The AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU is relatively underpowered compared to even some cheaper Intel Core i7-12700K machines, nevermind i9-12900K models, which is disappointing for this price when it comes to CPU-heavy games or workflows/workstation tasks. Still, the RTX 3080 Ti version we tested, packs a powerful punch in more GPU-focused tasks, has some of the best internal cooling we’ve seen, and the variable 120Hz/240Hz 4K/1200p display we had to review is really quite an impressive feature, and a truly unique offering on the market.
The cheapest you will find the RTX 3080 Ti and Ryzen 6900HX version of this machine currently is around the $4,000 mark, though if you want to upgrade the SSD size above 2TB and the RAM above 32GB then this will cost you extra. Currently, we’re also finding it very hard to find the 120Hz/240Hz 4K/1200p version listed on any online retailers, it seems only the mini-LED 1600p option is widely available. This mini-LED version is the one people looking for high contrast, brightness, and color accuracy should go for, but at a max 165Hz it lacks the edge for competitive gaming. See our Where to buy the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 page for more info.
Those who aren’t too fussed about the secondary display but who are looking for a lighter, more portable dual-purpose creative/gaming machine may want to consider the ASUS ROG FLOW X16. But for those who can utilize this laptop’s unique aspects to their fullest, you won’t find another product like this.
ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16
