The Acer Helios 700 ($2,199.99 as tested) is the only 17-inch laptop in the bunch, and felt a necessary inclusion with its unique sliding keyboard. Only 17-inch powerhouse laptops are generally more expensive (and some, like the Asus ROG Mothership, are thousands of dollars more). The Zephyrus Duo is the most expensive in the batch, but that has more to do with its display and massive storage than pure performance. The top portion of the keyboard gets hot, but it's not too bad, and the rest of the build and touch screen avoid getting too warm. This is pretty effective at keeping the laptop cool, since the fans pull in cool air from the top unobstructed, and exhaust out the sides and rear. The Zephyrus Duo combines the two, putting an advanced cooling system beneath the elevated display. Several premium Zephyrus laptops have put their touchpads there, a necessity when the panel above the keyboard has been dedicated to cooling. This might be a surprise, but that unusual location is not unique to the Duo, or only due to the presence of the ScreenPad Plus. ![]() You'll have noticed the touchpad is relegated to the right side of the laptop, in line with the keyboard layout. This is one concept that I wouldn't be surprised to see in many more laptops in some shape or form in the future. We have seen some some increasingly alien form factors recently (the Predator Helios 700 and its sliding keyboard, the Asus Mothership GZ700 and its tablet/AIO-style detachable design), and I'm on board with useful innovation in a space that has seen the same shapes and designs for decades. But I do think it's cool, and legitimately useful beyond just a gimmick, if you’re part of the small slice of the market who can afford it. You can also disable the ScreenPad Plus entirely with a dedicated button above the touchpad, which is useful for when you just don’t need it on or want to conserve battery.ĭo I think the ScreenPad Plus is necessary, or that Asus expects everyone to buy a laptop this expensive? No, it's hardly essential, and this is more of a halo product and technology showcase than a likely volume seller. Using the screen is also not perfect-text is definitely smaller on the ScreenPad Plus, but as long as it's not your primary screen, it works for its supplementary purposes. I noticed that some interactions don't mix well with games that are in full screen, as they will minimize if you click onto the ScreenPad Plus, but running games in borderless windowed mode or windowed fullscreen (both of which I frequently use, anyway) gets around this issue. You could also keep Spotify up for easier access to your music, or if you're streaming, keep your stream controls or chat opened on the second screen. You could always have a game map or some sort of reference material in a browser tab open on the ScreenPad Plus while you play, which is that much easier to pan or press with touch capability. It’s easy to imagine extending that concept to other uses cases from there. Since you can put virtually any window or application there, its usefulness is really up to what you try to do with it. It's cool, sure, but is it useful? The quick answer is that I wouldn't say it's essential, but that doesn't mean it's not helpful. The main question, though, is about the ScreenPad Plus' utility. This saves you the dragging, which can be especially awkward with the touchpad.īecause of the added screen, the Zephyrus Duo certainly looks and feels high-tech, like something out of a sci-fi film or TV show. ![]() Asus created a clever software solution to help with this: When you first grab a window, a tooltip bar pops up by your cursor and offers a couple of buttons to snap the window to the lower screen. Doing so is slightly more difficult than with a full second screen, as your window and cursor become fairly small once you move them onto the ScreenPad Plus. ![]() You can drag and drop any windows from the main display onto the second screen as you would with a traditional second monitor. The ScreenPad Plus is a completely usable second display, complete with touch capability. How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill.How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad.How to Block Robotexts and Spam Messages.
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