The ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582 is nothing but a creative individual’s dream machine that can’t carry a Desktop PC around with them.
It comes with minor improvements over its predecessor the UX482, one of the prominent ones being the inclusion of Intel Alderlake processors which gives a significant performance boost compared to previous Intel offerings
Unfortunately, some of the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo are still present in the UX582 model which we are going to discuss in detail as we move forward with our review.
Specs at a Glance
CPU: Intel Core i9 12900H | GPU: RTX 3070ti 90W | RAM: 32GB | Display: 15” 3840 x 2160 / 14” 3840 x 1100 | Storage: 1TB SSD | Battery: 92Wh | OS: Windows 11
Chassis & Design
Speaking of the design of the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo, not much has changed here. The entire body is made of manganese aluminum alloy which gives the Zenbook Pro 15 Duo quite a solid feel.
As for the design itself, it’s exactly the same. We see the same spiral metallic finish on the lid of the laptop which looks quite premium. Though sadly it’s a fingerprint magnet so you will see smudges on it as you use the device.
Though Asus manage to drop about 100g from last year, the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo still feels quite heavy at around 5.16 lbs (2.1kg). This is not a laptop you would be carrying in one hand.
Apart from the heavyweight, what also indicated serious power inside the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo is its thickness coming around at 215mm (0.85 inches). Its also 359mm (9.81 inches) in length and 249mm (9.81 inches) in width which is the same as last year.
Asus has also seemed to not compromise on the cooling of this laptop and it shows. Wherever you look, Asus has not missed the opportunity to give the Zenbook Pro 15 Duo some breathing room. On both sides of the laptop, you would find vents along with the bottom of the laptop.
When you open up the laptop, the hinge not only lifts the laptop itself but also raises the secondary display. This gives more breathing room to the laptop while also positioning the display in a more ergonomic position.
I/O Ports
The ports on ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582 are somewhat disappointing with the lack of an SD card reader. As a machine targeted towards productivity and creative individuals, you would expect it to have I/O accordingly but it lacks this important one.
You would have to carry a USB-C dongle with you. It also has a single USB 3.2 Type-A port which would be obviously occupied by an external mouse, as you probably won’t use its touchpad. ( More on that later.)
Apart from these two complaints, the I/O is fine. It has dual USB C Thunderbolt ports meaning you could get access to high-speed networking via a 10G NIC or connect to an external SSD.
Along with that, it has an HDMI 2.1 port which can come in handy if you want to connect a high refresh rate display for gaming.
And it also has your usual audio combo jack and a charging port. The latter is not really a surprise considering this laptop has powerful hardware that can only reach its full potential with its 240W power brick.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Keyboard
It’s still quite unpleasant to type on the keyboard of the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582. Don’t get me wrong, the keys themselves feel great to type on. They are quiet, perfect for using them in a work environment where you won’t want to disturb people around you with the clicks and clacks of your keyboard. And the keys have decent travel with nice tactile feedback which makes typing enjoyable.
Unfortunately, what ruins this enjoyment is the weird angle you would have to rest your palm on. Usually, on a laptop keyboard, you have some palm rest to keep your palm on, but since the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo does not have that, you would have to rest your hand on the desk.
To ease this pain, Asus does include a wrist rest which significantly improves the typing experience, however, it’s just another thing that you would have to carry with you.
Touchpad
This is also something that has remained mostly unchanged from last year’s model. The vertical touchpad is definitely not for everyone, and it would require some getting used to it. And if you are a lefty, you would probably hate this.
The lack of vertical space and wrist rest makes it difficult and awkward to use the touchpad, though it tracks and works accurately as you might expect from a premium laptop.
Also, if you wanted a Numpad with a keyboard, it’s available in a capacitive form on the keyboard, so you can use that.
Speakers & Webcam
Speakers
The speakers have improved from the previous ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX482. This time the speakers can go loud without distorting and sounding like a mess. They do sound good with clear mids and highs and a little bass, though we have clearly seen better from the competition like the Dell XPS and the Macbook Pro.
Then again, if you are planning to do serious audio work on the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582, you would probably use something like external audio monitors or headphones with it.
Webcam
I am surprised to see that Asus cheaped out on the webcam considering the Zenbook Pro 15 Duo is an all-out device. It comes with a mediocre 720p webcam that does fine when you provide it with enough light. Though it falls apart under poor lighting conditions and becomes a grainy mess.
If you are someone who takes regular zoom meetings and you care about quality, consider grabbing an external webcam.
Display
It’s time to address the elephant in the room. The main display on the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582 is a stunning 4K OLED display, As you might expect this display is great for content consumption thanks to its pitch blacks and amazing contrasts.
Though what makes the display even greater is the 100% DCI P3 color space coverage which makes it the go-to option for any creative work be it video editing in Premiere Pro or color grading in Photoshop.
Asus also includes a pretty nice stylus in the box which you can use on its displays to draw illustrations or to do some animation work. It also gets quite bright around 400 nits, and though it’s not the brightest display out there, it’s still quite good. My only complaint with the main display is that it’s quite reflective which may get annoying in a bright environment.
But still, there’s no doubt that the main display on the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo is the ultimate choice for a creative individual on the go.
And we haven’t talked about the second display yet. Asus has improved the second display from the previous model by also making it color-accurate too, covering 100% DCI P3 color space.
This is a significant improvement considering that the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX482 secondary display had poor color accuracy.
The secondary display has its own set of features thanks to its on software. For instance, the ScreenPad Plus software allows you to use your entire second display as a touchpad, or use it as a control panel for certain Adobe apps like Photoshop or Premiere Pro.
You can also use it as a Numpad or just a secondary display. The possibility is endless and it’s up to you how you use them.
It’s disappointing that both displays are capped at 60Hz, considering that this display is capable of gaming it would have been nice to game at a high refresh rate. Though you can still connect an external high-refresh-rate display via the HDMI 2.1 port.
But overall, nothing can come close to the monsters that are on the display of the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582.
Performance
The performance is what you would come to expect from a laptop like this. The Asus Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582 shreds through whatever you throw at it. It’s quite obvious that it does all the basic office stuff like spreadsheets and word documents.
Where the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582 shines is in multi-threaded workloads. This machine is a creative individual dream. You can throw the most complex Premiere Pro project or Illustrator project at it and it will handle it like a champ. Video editing is fun on this laptop with the great screen real estate you get with it.
It didn’t disappoint in synthetic benchmarks either. In Geekbench 5 single-core it got a score of 1840 which is 14% faster but where it really shined was the multi-core score, achieving 12753 which is 70% faster than the previous tiger lake Intel offering.
Cinebench R23 shows a similar trend where the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582 got a single-core score of 1973 which is 17% faster and a multi-core score of 17025 which is 27% faster than the 11th-gen core i9.
There’s simply no doubt that the 12th gen i9 is a monster and it can handle almost anything. And its pairing with the RTX 3070ti results in an amazing performance in games.
It’s a shame that the primary display on the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582 is capped at 60Hz because most games at 1080p ultra/very high run at over 100 frames. Games like Far Cry 5 and Shadow of Tomb Raider run at over 135FPS, along with games like GTA V and Witcher 3 that also run above 120FPS.
To push the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582 to its limits, we played Cyberpunk 2077 which tanked the framerate down to 60FPS though it was still playable. Though our average framerate jumped back to over 100 frames as we booted up Elden Ring.
You can plug in a high refresh rate TV or a monitor via the HDMI 2.1 output and utilize the high framerate ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582 outputs.
Even though the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582 is not built with the intention of gaming, you can still play games on it with no issues.
However, if you like to have the Asus dual display config purely for gaming, then you might find the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 interesting. It has a high refresh rate display, RGB, and other gaming features.
Battery
The ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582 comes at a cost; its battery life. Despite packing in one of the biggest batteries at around 92Wh, it struggles to last an entire day.
The best you can get out of it is 4 hours of light use. And if you plan to do something intensive such as rendering a video or compiling code, then expect this laptop to die within an hour. If its not obvious use the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582 plugged into the wall.
Upgradability and Expandability
The lack of upgradability on the ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582 disappointed me. Considering that this is a performance-focused laptop. Though the 32GB soldered RAM is plenty for many people, it may get limiting over time.
At least the SSD is replaceable, though it would have been better if it had an extra M.2 slot because as a content creator, you would be storing tons of files. I am pretty confident that you would run out of the 1TB SSD pretty quickly if you work on big projects.
Conclusion
The ASUS Zenbook Pro 15 Duo UX582 is a powerhouse of a laptop. A perfect machine for those who love to multitask and want insane performance on the go. However, such greatness comes at a hefty price tag.
It also compromises on expected laptop features such as weight, battery life, and proper keyboard and touchpad position. If you are willing to deal with these drawbacks, then you are going to have fun using this laptop.
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