If you’re in the market for one of the most powerful and innovative portable gaming systems money can buy, look no further
- Manufacturer: ASUS ROG
- Model: Zephyrus Duo 16 (2022)
- Part number: GX650RX-LB011
- Price when reviewed: £4,499
- Supplied by: ASUS
ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 Review
The Zephyrus Duo 16 is ASUS’s premier gaming flagship. Not only does it feature cutting-edge specs, but it’s also a showcase for incredible new technology like the world’s first dual-spec display that can be switched between 4k/120Hz and 1080p/240Hz. Whether you’re into AAA gaming on the gorgeous 4k display, smashing out some esports titles in 1080p/240Hz or creating content utilising the well-supported and surprisingly useful secondary display, the Zephyrus Duo 16 can do it all.
ASUS ROG’s Zephyrus Duo 16 is a definite improvement over its predecessor, the Zephyrus Duo SE (my favourite laptop of 2021). It’s not enough to warrant upgrading if you own the old model, but if you’re in the market for one of the most powerful and innovative portable gaming systems money can buy, look no further.
Design and build
Whoever ASUS hired to update the designs of their 2022 range deserves a massive pay rise because the Zephyrus Duo 16 is simply gorgeous. The core design is similar to the old model, but they’ve refined it in significant ways.
The micro-indents still run diagonally across the lid, but the effect is very subtle, and the ASUS ROG eye is now very discreet. Rather than shiny chrome or RGB backlit elements, the Duo 16 has stunning reflective violet elements that glisten in the light, and I freaking love it.
It’s when you open up the Zephyrus Duo 16 that the magic happens, though. As the lid moves back, the secondary screen slides back and raises up, revealing a glass panel between the screen and keyboard with RGB backlit elements. It does nothing apart from adding some frivolous visual flair, but I adore it regardless.
The tilting secondary screen serves a far more practical purpose; not only does it angle the ultrawide touchscreen screen pad and make it more visible and easier to use, but it also opens up a pair of wide additional vents that sit directly over the fans, sucking in cool air and working wonders in keeping the Zephyrus Duo’s temperatures in check.
Whilst gaming, the temperatures of both the CPU and GPU never exceeded 73℃, which is an exceptional achievement, and the fans were surprisingly quiet. In our sustained CPU test using Cinebench on a loop, the CPU peaked at 93℃ whilst maintaining a solid 4.3GHz clock speed (turbo mode), though the fans spooled up significantly louder in the process.
After much negative feedback due to the lack of webcams in ASUS’s 2021 range, you now get a 720p infrared camera, which works with Windows Hello and allows it to operate in low-light conditions. I was surprised how well it actually worked. In a dark room, it managed to detect my face and unlock the laptop with only the display backlight for illumination. It’s a tiny camera, so it doesn’t create pin-sharp photos or video, but it’s more than good enough for basic web chats.
As you’d expect for a flagship product, the Zephrus Duo 16 is incredibly well made. The chassis and outside of the lid are made of sturdy but lightweight metal, whilst the keyboard tray and display bezels are made of strong plastic, with no notable flex. Everything about this laptop screams premium.
Internals and upgrades
To access the inside of the Zephyrus Duo 16 you’ll need to remove some small screws from the base, but rather than the Philips head screws they usually use, ASUS has used mini hex screws instead.
As usual, upgrades are limited to storage and memory. If you do need to upgrade or replace these components, both M.2 SSDs can be replaced along with both memory SODIMMs. The model we were sent has 64GB of DDR5-4800 memory and 4TB (2x 2TB RAID0) of blisteringly fast PCIe Gen 4×4 storage, so unless something goes wrong I can’t see many people needing to upgrade this during the life-cycle of the laptop.
Keyboard and trackpad
The ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 has a tenkeyless layout, with a small bank of hotkeys across the top-right. Numerous Fn key shortcuts are available, allowing quick access to frequently used adjustments such as display and keyboard backlight adjustment, performance mode switching, snipping tools and much more.
Due to the additional screen, the keyboard is pushed to the front of the tray, but it is still a natural typing position. ASUS has included a wrist rest in the box, which is appreciated and arguably essential, as without it your wrists have to bend awkwardly.
Although this is a TKL keyboard, you can use the trackpad as a number pad by pressing in the top left corner of the pad, which illuminates a series of number keys. If you regularly use a mouse, this is a great use of the otherwise wasted space.
Typing and gaming on the keyboard is excellent. The keys are well-weighted and very quiet, but exceptionally reliable. There’s full per-key addressable RGB, and it’s clear and easy to see in all lighting conditions. ASUS’s Aura Sync software takes a few minutes to get to grips with, but once you understand how it works it’s possible to create some impressive lighting effects, including timed transitions, reactive modes and much more. These can be saved in profiles and set to activate depending on the game or app you are using.
The keyboard is fantastic, but the glass-coated trackpad is underwhelming. Even though it’s small it is big enough for light usage, and I am a huge fan of the separate LMB and RMB buttons beneath the pad, but I had some problems with sensitivity, where the pad didn’t accurately respond to my inputs. I didn’t have these issues with the old Duo SE, so it may just be a unit-specific issue, but it’s worth mentioning.
Connectivity and I/O ports
There’s an excellent selection of ports on the Duo 16, which can be expanded further with the use of a USB type-A or type-C hub. The display connection options are particularly impressive – the HDMI port supports HDMI 2.1, and both of the USB-C ports support DP over USB-C, with one also supporting G-Sync. Content creators will also appreciate the addition of a micro-SD slot.
I like the addition of ports at the rear, but I wish they’d put the power connector at the back because the cable and barrel connector is quite large and intrudes on the desk somewhat. It’s a minor niggle, though, and aside from this, I can’t fault the Zephyrus Duo 16’s IO capabilities.
Display
The Zephyrus Duo 16 comes with a choice of two panels. There is a QHD+ (2560×1600) HDR1000 certified panel with ASUS Nebula HDR technology, but the model we received has a first-of-its-kind Dual-Spec display. The 16:10 panel can be set to run at either 3840×2400 at 120Hz, or 1920×1200 at 240Hz. To switch between the two you simply flip a toggle in the Armoury Crate software, but you have to restart the laptop for it to take effect.
It really is the best of both worlds, and it’s a technology that I hope makes it into mainstream monitors in future because it’s such a simple but ingenious concept. If you’re playing graphically intensive games or watching movies, you can enjoy them in pin-sharp 4k resolution, but if you want to play a few matches of CS:GO or Warzone, you can get the benefits of the super-smooth 240Hz refresh rate in 1080p, which the Zephyrus Duo 16 is more than capable of achieving.
Fancy new technology aside, this is a beautiful panel. Gamut coverage is exceptional: sRGB coverage is 100% with 151.6% volume, AdobeRGB coverage is 87% with a volume of 104.4%, and DCI-P3 is 99% with 107.4% volume. This is up there with the best IPS gaming displays available.
Peak brightness was recorded at 532.3 cd/m², with a black level of 0.50 cd/m². This brightness is well above average for a laptop display (though not quite the level of the HDR variant), and the black level is what we’d expect of a typical IPS display. At full brightness, the contrast ratio is 1070:1, which remains constant down to around 200 cd/m², but it does drop off at lower brightness levels.
Out-of-the-box colour accuracy is outstanding, with an average DeltaE of 0.26 using the pre-installed display profile. This is highly accurate and very impressive. The native colour temperature of 7000K is a fraction cooler than the 6500K I usually aim for, but it’s not noticeable to the naked eye. Native gamma of the Zephyrus Duo 16 measured at 2.3, which results in colours that are slightly darker than the ideal 2.2 curve in the mid-range, but the difference was negligible compared to my full calibration.
The responsiveness of the panel is great, with no visible smearing or trailing on fast-moving objects when gaming, and no artefacts or overshoot when using the 3ms panel overdrive. There’s a very subtle trailing edge blur when using 4k120Hz mode, but this is reduced significantly in the 1080p240Hz mode. Once again, ASUS has produced an exceptional display.
ROG Screenpad Plus
ROG’s Screenpad Plus is a 14” 3840×1100 resolution IPS touch-screen display that sits beneath the main display and can be used in exactly the same way as a regular secondary display you may be used to using.
The Screenpad Plus is far more useful than it may first appear, though. For streamers, it’s a handy way to keep your stream chat, controls and more constantly in view, while creatives can use the full screen for their project, and move timelines or contextual commands to the ScreenPad. It also supports bespoke controls for things like Photoshop and video editing software.
I fill it with useful apps, my emails and browser content I’m referencing while I’m working, and I monitor system performance with ROG Armoury Crate software, watch videos and manage my song playlist while gaming. My favourite use for it so far, however, is when playing Dying Light 2:
Dying Light 2 has native support for the Zephrus Duo laptops, with a custom setting in the options. Turn this on, and it brings up your inventory on the Screenpad Plus, so you can monitor and select items and weapons without pausing the action on the main display. It also allows you to see active missions and more, and it’s a brilliant use for the secondary display that I hope becomes integrated into more games.
There are a few preloaded tools that you can also use with the display; Quick Key brings up a row of frequently used shortcuts, like cut, copy and paste, and you can also create your own hotkey combinations: Handwriting lets you write notes with your finger or a stylus, which will then appear wherever your cursor is. It’s very accurate, and can even transcribe my sloppiest cursive scrawl: Number Key brings up an oversized number pad, but I preferred to use the touchpad for this.
You can also group your favourite apps and launch them in a prearranged layout with a single click or tap. There are loads of different ways you can use the second screen, so it’s down to you what makes the most sense.
Audio
The speaker arrangement in the Zephyrus Duo 16 is powerful, with remarkable clarity, excellent depth, and punchy bass and mid-tones. At its loudest, the Duo 16 creates dynamic room-filling sound, with no hint of distortion or compression of frequencies. ASUS is crushing it with its laptop audio – these speakers surpass the best gaming monitors and even modestly priced desktop speakers.
Performance
Unlike many of its other 2022 range of laptops that use the outstanding 12th gen Intel i9-12900H, ASUS has given the Duo 16 the new AMD Ryzen 9-6900HX. It’s a potent processor and slightly more powerful than the R9-5900HX in single and multi-threaded applications, but it still falls behind the new Intel CPUs. The new RTX 3080 Ti makes up for this, especially at higher resolutions, but I was certainly surprised that, in the mobile space at least, Intel has the edge over AMD. Where the R9-6900HX excels, however, is in power efficiency and battery life. The Zephyrus Duo 16 nearly doubled the battery life of the Duo SE (2021) in some of our tests, but we’ll cover this in more detail later.
The real star of the Zephyrus Duo 16 is the RTX 3080 Ti 16GB, which runs at a max TGP of 165W. This translates into much better gaming performance than the RTX 3080 used in the Duo SE, but the biggest gains come when the GPU is being pushed at higher resolutions. We’re not quite at the level where we can hit 60fps at 4k on everything, but we’re very close, and with a few minor settings tweaks you can comfortably enjoy smooth motion in any game. Thanks to the Dual Spec display, of course, we have the option of gaming at 1080p, too. If esports games are your jam, you can happily run most at very high frame rates up to 240Hz.
The Zephyrus Duo 16 isn’t just a jack of all trades, though, it’s a master of everything. Whether you’re encoding huge files, rendering video or playing the latest blockbusters, the combination of Ryzen 9 CPU, massive 64GB of superfast RAM and prodigally fast SSD array will smash the most intensive tasks you can throw at it.
There is another major advantage to the new Ryzen CPU that may be overlooked by many, and that is how good the iGPU is. Trying to game on older iGPUs often resulted in stuttering frame rates or games just flat-out refusing to load. With the Duo 16, you can play games on the iGPU at 1080p on a mixture of low, medium and even high settings, depending on the game. This makes a massive difference to battery life, and you can get over 2 hours of gaming from a full charge – pretty much double what you’d get using the dGPU.
It’s worth considering which kinds of games you want to play, because if you will mostly be playing esports games that rely more heavily on the CPU at 1080p, we actually got better results from the Scar 15 (2022), which had an RTX 3070 Ti and i9-12900H pairing. If high resolution (1440p and above) is your preference, however, or you’ll often be plugging into external displays, this is a great laptop.
Although I haven’t effused over the Zephyrus Duo 16 as much as I did the Duo SE, it has still managed to achieve the highest frame rates we’ve ever recorded in many of our gaming tests; It’s stupendously powerful. Now that Intel is back in the game, though, I don’t expect the Zephyrus Duo 16 to hold that crown for too long.
Benchmarks
All benchmark tests were carried out with the performance mode set to Turbo in the Armoury Crate software, which overclocks the GPU and runs the CPU at its maximum, dynamically adjusting fan speed to keep everything cool.
Benchmarks were recorded at 1080p, 1440p and 2160p using an external display connected via DisplayPort over USB-C for our comparisons. If DLSS was available, it was set to performance mode unless stated otherwise.
(I also ran all benchmarks at 1080p and 2160p using the in-built display, which has slightly more pixels due to the 16:10 aspect ratio. All of the results were lower, but only by 1-4 fps. As these results are so close to the comparison results I have omitted them for conciseness.)
Additionally, I ran benchmarks at 1080p using the iGPU, with performance mode set to silent, refresh limited to 60Hz at 1080p, and aggressive power-saving turned on. (Frame rates and graphics settings can be pushed higher if you reduce the power saving, but the goal here was to find out the best battery life you could get while gaming.)
Gaming Benchmark Results
Performance comparisons
We’ve selected computers with similar new and older generation CPUs and GPUs for comparison to give you an idea of how it compares against a range of system configurations and potential improvements over any existing laptop you may have. We find these comparisons useful for consumers looking for not only the best overall performance but the best value, too.
We’ve made sure to include the previous Duo SE, as well as some of the best laptops we’ve recently tested.
| Laptop/PC | ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 | ASUS ROG Flow Z13 XG Mobile | ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo SE | ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR 15 2022 | Acer Predator Triton 500 SE |
| Model | GX650RX-LB011 | GZ-301ZE-LD220 (2022) | GX551QS (2021) | GZ533 | PT516-51S |
| Processor | R9 6900HX | i9-12900H 45W 5GHz 16c20t | R9 5900HX | i9-12900H | i9-11900 |
| GPU | RTX 3080 Ti 16GB | RTX 3080 16 GB | RTX 3080 16GB | RTX 3070Ti 8GB | RTX 3080 8Gb |
| GPU TGP/TDP | 165W | 150W | 115W/130W Dynamic Boost | 125W/150W Dynamic Boost | 110W |
| Ram | 32GB DDR5-4800 | 16GB DDR5-5200 | 32GB DDR4-3200 (16+16) | 16GB DDR5-4800 | 32GB DDR4-3200 |
| SSD | 2x 2TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 Raid0 | 1TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 2230 SSD | 2 x 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD | 2TB PCIe M.2 NVMe SSD | 2 x 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD |
| HDD | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Price | £3,299 | £3,499 | £2,299 | £2,699 |
System Benchmark Results
Cinebench R23
- CineBench – CPU (Single)
- (High-performance mode / Turbo Fan):
- CineBench – CPU (Multi)
- (High-performance mode / Turbo Fan):
3DMark – Time Spy (DX12)
| ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 | ASUS ROG Flow Z13 XG Mobile | ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR 15 2022 | Acer Predator Triton 500 SE | |
| Time Spy Score | 12340 | 12261 | 11719 | 10309 |
| Graphics | 12649 | 11977 | 11509 | 10428 |
| CPU | 10842 | 14171 | 13078 | 9683 |
3DMark – Fire Strike (DX11)
| ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 | ASUS ROG Flow Z13 XG Mobile | ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR 15 2022 | Acer Predator Triton 500 SE | |
| Fire Strike Score | 27861 | 26385 | 25682 | 22687 |
| Graphics Score | 32617 | 29477 | 29519 | 26800 |
| Physics Score | 27092 | 30516 | 31328 | 23877 |
| Combined Score | 13586 | 13261 | 11439 | 10194 |
PCMark 10
| ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 | ASUS ROG Flow Z13 XG Mobile | ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR 15 2022 | Acer Predator Triton 500 SE | |
| PCMark 10 | 7512 | 7783 | 8223 | 6956 |
| Essentials | 10420 | 11010 | 11173 | 9499 |
| App start-up | 14705 | 16278 | 17431 | 12005 |
| Video Conferencing | 7959 | 7922 | 7583 | 7921 |
| Web Browsing | 9667 | 10351 | 10554 | 9015 |
| Productivity | 9510 | 10475 | 10665 | 9743 |
| Spreadsheets | 11123 | 13261 | 13240 | 12908 |
| Writing | 8131 | 8275 | 8592 | 7335 |
| Content Creation | 11610 | 11095 | 12665 | 9869 |
| Photo Editing | 17666 | 13843 | 16387 | 14191 |
| Rendering & Visualisation | 15104 | 15219 | 17533 | 11734 |
| Video Editing | 5866 | 6484 | 7071 | 5774 |
Storage
The 2x 2TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSDs are configured in a RAID0 (striped) array, where data is spread between both drives, effectively doubling the read and write speeds. PCIe Gen 4 is already capable of fast speeds, but this is exceptionally fast. System responsiveness is excellent and games and apps load rapidly. The huge 4TB capacity is a definite advantage for gamers and creatives.
Sequential read and write speeds of 12468 MB/s and 9790 MB/s respectively are fantastic and complemented by equally impressive random read/write operations.
CrystalDiskMark
The following are the results recorded in CrystalDiskMark, with figures measured in MB/s
Battery life
The Zephyrus Duo 16 is an ultra-powerful laptop, but battery life from the 90Wh battery is significantly improved over the Zephyrus Duo SE. Using aggressive power-saving and refresh rate limiting you can stretch the battery life out considerably, while still achieving respectable levels of performance.
Watching 1080p video played back from an external hard drive, we got around 9 hours of battery life. For standard productivity and browsing, we used PCMark 10 running on a loop and averaged around 7.5 hours on a full charge. Performance understandably takes a hit with extreme battery-saving switched on, but it’s an acceptable compromise for battery life that should see you through the day.
Gaming using the RTX 3080 Ti lasted around an hour, but when using the iGPU the battery lasted just over two hours before needing a recharge. This is still nowhere near Ultrabook levels, but for a meaty dual-display gaming machine, it’s highly impressive.
Recharging the Duo 16 is fast, with 0-50% taking just 35 minutes and a full recharge taking just over an hour and a half.
Pricing and alternatives
There’s no way to sugarcoat this – in the spec we received, the Zephyrus Duo 16 GX650RX-LB011 costs an eye-watering £4,499. The performance is incredible, but I’m not convinced it’s worth upwards of £2,000 more than some of the other laptops we’ve reviewed for a comparatively minor increase in frame rates. That’s the price of cutting-edge tech, though. If you want the best of the best, you’ve got to pay.
A worthy alternative that we’ve recently tested is the ROG Strix Scar 15 (2022). At £2,299 with an RTX 3070 Ti, the ROG Strix Scar 15 offers exceptional value and performance, as well as also supporting the brand new DDR5 and PCIe technologies – and best of all, you’ll still have £2,200 left over.
Summary
What ASUS has achieved here is remarkable, fitting two stunning displays into a slimline case. The secondary touchscreen is useful beyond being a gimmick, and the styling and display quality are stunning. When you factor in the massive 64GB of ultrafast RAM, massive SSD capacity this was always going to be an expensive machine, but at £4,499, the Zephyrus Duo 16 is a hard sell. Even with the stratospheric performance on offer, it will be hard to justify for all but the most ardent of enthusiasts and early adopters. If your pockets are deep enough, this is a very desirable piece of engineering, but it’s likely to be out of reach for most gamers.
