Between the Zenbook 17 Fold, Project Precog and previous Zenbook Duo machines, it feels like ASUS has been working towards building a true dual-screen laptop for ages. And now at CES 2024, that time has come with the arrival of the simply named Zenbook Duo.

Similar to Lenovo’s Yoga Book 9i, the Zenbook Duo features two separate screens and a detachable Bluetooth keyboard that can be stashed inside the system for traveling. The difference is that ASUS’ OLED panels look even better, as they are slightly larger at 14 inches, while also offering a 3K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and stylus support. Plus, with a starting price of $1,500, it costs $500 less than the Yoga Book and not that much more than your average high-end ultraportable.

That alone would be enough to make it interesting, but what really elevates the Zenbook Duo is the polish ASUS has put into making it look and function just like a regular clamshell. Measuring just 0.78 inches thick and weighing 3.64 pounds (including its removable keyboard), it’s only a touch larger and heavier than a typical 14-inch notebook. And it doesn’t give up anything in terms of performance, with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU, up to 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD inside,. The same thing goes for connectivity, where you get two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB-A 3.2 slot, a 3.5mm audio jack and even a full-size HDMI 2.1 socket.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

But the best thing about the Zenbook Duo is its fit and finish. Even though what I got to mess around with was a pre-production model, it felt incredibly sturdy. When packed up with its keyboard sandwiched between the two screens, there are no gaps or wasted space. And despite its super shallow dimensions, the detachable keyboard features full backlighting and more than enough travel to make sure your fingers don’t get sore while typing.

ASUS also added something I wish Lenovo had included on the Yoga Book 9i: a built-in kickstand. By mounting one on the bottom of the laptop, it sidesteps the need to have a separate folding cover, which streamlines the process every time you have to pack up and go. The small downside is that the orientation of the kickstand promotes a stacked setup with one display on top of the other. Though I’m not that bothered since that’s my preference anyway. Technically, you can use the Zenbook Duo with vertical side-by-side mode, but because there’s no way to adjust the kickstand in this position, it’s not quite as flexible.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

As you’d expect from a system like this, you can use it as a standard clamshell with the Zenbook Duo featuring hidden magnets that allow the keyboard to snap neatly in place. However, when you have more room to work with, you can place the keyboard in front of the system and instantly double your screen space. There’s also a responsive virtual keyboard and touchpad you can use in a pinch along with handy widgets for the news, weather and monitoring system performance. And when you need to top up the removable keyboard’s battery, there are some thoughtfully placed pogo pins that allow it to trickle charge while it’s nestled inside the system.

Surprisingly, when it comes to battery life, ASUS managed to fit a 75 Whr power pack in the Zenbook Duo which is slightly larger than what’s available in the new Zephryus G14 (73 Whr), and that’s a gaming machine with way fewer moving parts. And ASUS claims the Zenbook Duo adheres to MIL-STD 810H testing standards, so it should be pretty durable too.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Last year, the Yoga Book 9i felt like a revelation; Lenovo combined all the right components needed to create an appealing dual-screen laptop. But ASUS has optimized that template even further by adding ports, moving to bigger and better screens, including a built-in kickstand and making it even more portable. And then there’s that surprisingly affordable $1,500 starting price. I’ve been waiting for years to switch over to a dual-screen laptop, and the Zenbook Duo might actually convince me to finally make that jump.

The ASUS Zenbook Duo is expected to go on sale sometime later in Q1 2024.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

Between the ASUS ROG Ally, the Lenovo Legion Go and the Steam Deck, AMD has a virtual monopoly over the chips powering high-end gaming handhelds. But for the Claw, MSI is partnering up with Intel to bring a little more balance to the portable PC performance wars.

On paper and in its design, MSI’s Claw shares a lot with the ROG Ally. It has a 7-inch full HD LCD screen with 500 nits of brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate. (I asked an MSI rep if the Claw also supports VRR, but they didn’t have an immediate answer, so stay tuned.) Even its case looks very familiar, with both handhelds sporting almost identical chassis, button layouts and power buttons with built-in fingerprint sensors, except that the Claw is black and has much bigger grips, which makes it way more comfortable to hold.

But that’s where the similarities come to an end, because on the inside, the Claw is powered by either an Intel Core Ultra 7 or Core Ultra 5 chip depending on the configuration. That’s a pretty big departure amongst the sea of AMD-based alternatives, and may have some people wondering if Intel’s first foray into high-end gaming handhelds can keep up. That’s because in addition to a new chip, developers will be relying on Intel’s integrated Arc graphics and a library of drivers that simply aren’t as deep or as well tested as AMD’s. It’s also unclear how much the NPU inside Intel’s latest chip will help with things like XeSS super sampling, which is sure to play a big part in the Claw’s capabilities.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

However, even on the pre-production models with unfinished software (including beta drivers) that I tested things were surprisingly smooth. Launching games was snappy and I only ran into a small handful of hitches. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pull up MSI’s built-in performance monitor, as its MSI Center game launcher is still a work in progress. A spokesperson I talked to claimed that, during internal testing, the Claw delivered 20 to 25 percent higher frame rates than an equivalent AMD-based handheld in 14 out of 15 popular titles. That’s a pretty big claim but, if those figures carry over to a larger library of modern games, AMD might soon find itself playing catch-up. But, that’s a big if.

Another benefit of going with an Intel chip is that it allows MSI to include a Thunderbolt 4 port (Thunderbolt is a proprietary connector owned by Intel), which brings super fast data speeds and the option of hooking up an external graphics dock if you want even more performance. MSI is even using one of Intel’s Killer modems that includes support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, so wireless connectivity is pretty much as good as it gets.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Also, while I didn’t have enough time to test its longevity, the 53Whr battery should give the Claw some significant advantages over the ROG Ally, which has just a40Whr pack. There’s huge mesh vents on its back too, which should help keep MSI’s handheld and your hands from getting too sweaty. Also, both the Claw’s buttons and joysticks use precise hall effect sensors, compared to the Ally whose sticks relies on potentiometers. In a lot of ways, the Claw feels like what a mid-life refresh for the Ally might look like, assuming ASUS felt like switching from AMD to Intel.

Even this early there’s a lot to like about MSI’s new Intel-based handheld. And when you factor in that the Claw starts at $699 with a Core Ultra 5 chip, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, $749 for a faster model with a Core Ultra 7 CPU or $799 for one with a 1TB SSD, it looks to be pretty competitive regarding pricing as well.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Unfortunately, there’s no word on an official release, though MSI says it’s shooting for a window closer to the end of Q1 instead of Q2. And as someone who loved the huge wave of gaming handhelds we got last year, it’s really encouraging to see MSI carry that momentum into 2024 with the Claw.

CES often sets the tone for all of a manufacturer’s products that year. And apparently the theme for MSI in 2024 is “big.” It’s kicking things with three new 18-inch gaming laptops at CES 2024, plus one of the best-looking budget systems around.

As usual, MSI’s roster of gaming notebooks is headlined by the Titan series, in this case the Titan 18 HX. For those familiar with the previous generations, you may notice a lack of a two-letter tag in front of the system’s names (e.g., GT, GE, et cetera), a move MSI is making across all of its laptops to simplify its naming scheme.

In addition to a revamped design based on a new magnesium alloy chassis, the Titan 18 HX is crammed full of the most powerful components you can fit in a laptop including up to a 14th-gen Intel Core i9-14900HX chip, RTX 4090 GPU, 128GB of RAM, three SSD slots, Wi-Fi 7 and more. In total, we’re talking about a TDP of 270 watts with stable clock speeds of up to 5.2GHz across the CPU’s eight performance cores.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Its display also shines thanks to what MSI claims is the world’s first 18-inch 4K Mini LED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, which boasts VESA DisplayHDR 1000 certification. Meanwhile, for gamers who don’t feel like plugging in an external mouse, there’s a haptic touchpad that boasts eye-catching RGB backlighting. The only drawback is that with a starting price of $5,000, the Titan is only for people with equally large bank accounts.

For those who want a big gaming machine that’s still very fast but a tiny bit more affordable there’s the Raider 18 HX, which starts at around $3,500 to $4,000 (exact pricing still TBA). It sports a similar design to the Titan, except this there’s a big lightbar in front to really show off your love of RGB. The Raider also supports up to an i9-14900HX CPU and RTX 4090 GPU, but with a slightly lower overall 250-watt TDP. Unfortunately, the model we saw wasn’t functioning, so there wasn’t much more to glean from it.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Then there’s the Stealth 18 AI Studio, which is the first time MSI’s best-selling thin-and-light line has been available in this size. At 6.3 pounds, it’s almost two pounds lighter than both Titan and Raider while still supporting up to an RTX 4090 (but with a lower 185-watt TDP). The main difference is that as its name implies, it’s based on a 14th-gen Meteor Lake chip instead of Raptor Lake refresh, so it has a dedicated NPU for handling AI tasks.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Finally, I saw the Cyborg 14 and, if you’re a fan of old-school gadgets made out of translucent plastic, you’re going to appreciate MSI’s new approach to budget chassis design. Instead of a bunch of bulky plastic with too much RGB, the Cyborg has smoky gray accents scattered across its body – from its WASD keys to its sides and bottom panel. And its specs are solid for a system starting at around $1,000. It has a 16:10 144Hz display, support for up to an RTX 4060 and 13th-gen Core i7 chip. So not blisteringly fast, but not too shabby either. It’s a good value and has a little flair that shows that a company put some thought into a product beyond the price. And while it may not get a ribbon, if Dell’s G-series was the best-looking budget laptop at CES last year, the Cyborg 14 looks to be the early favorite in 2024.

That said, these four laptops were only a sample of all the new systems MSI is launching in Las Vegas, which includes spec refreshes for existing systems like the Stealth 14/16 alongside bigger revamps for others like the Vector line.

MSI has yet to announce full pricing and availability info for the Titan 18 HX, Raider 18 HX, Stealth 18 AI Studio and the Cyborg 14, so stayed tuned for updates.

Update, January 8 2024, 6:16PM ET: This post has been updated with hands-on video.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

On Sunday night Samsung held its annual First Look event at CES 2024, where the company teased the world's first transparent MicroLED display. While there's still no word on how much it costs or when this tech will find its way into retail devices, Samsung showcased its transparent MicroLED display side-by-side next to transparent OLED and transparent LCD models to really highlight the differences between the tech. Compared to the others, not only was the MicroLED panel significantly brighter, it also featured a completely frameless design and a more transparent glass panel that made it easier to see objects behind it.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

In person, the effect Samsung's transparent micro OLED displays have is hard to describe, as content almost looks like a hologram as it floats in mid-air. The demo unit was freestanding and measured only about a centimeter thick, which adds even more to the illusion of a floating screen. Additionally, because of micro LEDs high pixel density, images also looked incredibly sharp. So far Samsung has only uploaded a single vertical video overflowing with EDM, but hopefully it gives you some idea what we saw:

According to a Samsung spokesperson, because transparent MicroLED displays have higher brightness compared to transparent OLED panels, they are also less impacted by ambient light. 

The bad news is that with Samsung's current crop of non-transparent MicroLED TVs currently costing $150,000 for a 110-inch model, it's going to be a decently long time until these new displays become anything close to affordable.

Coincidentally, Samsung isn't the only Korean company showing off a big transparent display at CES this year. Its eternal rival LG debuted the OLED T, which, unlike Samsung's model, is actually going on sale this year. The OLED T is apparently the first wireless transparent OLED TV, with 4K resolution and LG's wireless transmission tech for audio and video. That's building on the company's (non-transparent) M3 model, which debuted at least year's CES. The OLED T also features a contrast screen that rolls down into a box at its base that you can raise or lower with the press of a button.

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

Update, January 9, 2PM ET: This story was updated after publishing to include details on the LG OLED T.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.