ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo UX 581 review: Are two displays better than one? (Updated!)

The ScreenPad Plus experience

What can the ScreenPad Plus do?

Windows sees the ScreenPad Plus as a second display so you can practically use it to display anything you want. To ensure users are familiar with the ScreenPad Plus, there’s a ScreenPad Plus tutorial that launches the first time you boot the ZenBook Pro Duo up. Additionally, ASUS has built-in a couple of tools to make the ScreenPad Plus easy to use.

The main tool is a contextual menu that pops up whenever you click and start dragging an app or window. The pop-up gives you three options: you can quickly move the app to the ScreenPad Plus, add it to the Launcher (more on this later), or view the app in ViewMax mode which expands the window across the main display and ScreenPad Plus. And when you move your app over to the ScreenPad Plus there’s a windows management feature that automatically resizes your app to help you fit multiple apps into the ScreenPad Plus.

There’s also a little on-screen button on the ScreenPad Plus that launches the aptly named Launcher ― think of it as a Start menu just for the ScreenPad Plus. Here, you can access the ScreenPad Plus settings and adjust things like brightness, quickly launch your favourite ScreenPad Plus apps, and access other tools that ASUS has built specifically for the ScreenPad Plus like the Task Group.

The Task Group lets you define app groups to launch at a press of a button. With this, you can open up to 5 apps simultaneously and have them open in a pre-defined arrangement. You can have up to two apps in the main display and three apps in the ScreenPad Plus. Then there’s Task Swap, which simply swaps the apps opened in the main display and the ScreenPad Plus. There’s also an app switcher that lets you browse apps that are opened.

The built-in tools aside, the ZenBook Pro Duo also comes with an ASUS Pen stylus that can be used for sketching and handwriting. This turns the ZenBook Pro Duo into a notebook with a built-in drawing pad and that can be a very attractive option for digital artists.

So, is the ScreenPad Plus useful?

It depends. I certainly found it to be handy but that could be because of my penchant for working with large monitors and multiple windows. I use an ultra-wide 34-inch at home and a 27-inch at work.

What I can say is that, insofar as practicality and functionality are concerned, the ScreenPad Plus is a step up from the ScreenPad of the ZenBook Pro 15. That’s largely due to three factors: size, position, and flexibility.

The ScreenPad Plus’s ultra-wide 14-inch display gives it a huge advantage over the ScreenPad’s tiny 5.5-inch display. Size aside, it’s also much easier to see what’s on the ScreenPad Plus because it’s positioned right under the main display. This is further aided by the ErgoLift, which lifts the ZenBook Pro Duo up at an angle so that the ScreenPad Plus falls just right on the periphery of your field of vision. And if you are the kind that likes to sit slightly higher than average on your chair, it’s even easier to see the ScreenPad Plus.

The older ScreenPad fails in this respect because it is essentially the trackpad and therefore at the furthest possible point from the main display. You have to move your head and eyes far too much to go from one display to the next. Finally, the flexibility to display anything you want on the ScreenPad Plus just makes it so much more useful than the ScreenPad.

Here are a handful of use case scenarios that ASUS has come up with for the ScreenPad Plus:

Ultimately, it depends on your usage habits. Have you always been comfortable working on a small display with limited real estate? If you are, then the additional display real estate might go unused and unappreciated. But if you are like me, and you are used to working on large or even multiple displays, then the ScreenPad Plus goes a long way in alleviating one of the biggest shortcomings that come with working on a notebook ― namely a smaller display, without lugging around a separate portable monitor.

Having said all that, I must also warn you that they are some shortcomings and niggles that come with the ScreenPad Plus.

Shortcomings? What are they?

Perhaps the most pertinent ones are performance and battery life, which I will touch on in later pages. But very briefly, drawing all those pixels on the ScreenPad Plus costs some performance and puts a drain on battery life.

There are also some minor niggles. If you are used to swiping to the bottom of your screen to search or to click on the taskbar, you might find yourself overshooting and ending up in the ScreenPad Plus. Also, if you are running a full-screen app like a game, accidentally tapping on the ScreenPad Plus will cause you to exit and minimise your app. But I think these can be overcome once you get used to the ZenBook Pro Duo.