Tag Archives: Laptops

Framework Laptop 13 Pro arrives with major redesign, longer battery life, and touch display

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Framework is known for a league of laptops that other manufacturers dare not. Six years in, and the company is pushing its boundaries, building laptops that are robust, high on performance, yet respect the consumers’ right, allowing them the option to repair, upgrade, and run the software of their choice.

For 2026, the modular computing company returns with Framework Laptop 13 Pro, a new and upgraded version of its current favorite repairable laptop – Laptop 13. “Framework Laptop 13 Pro is a complete ground-up redesign,” the company informs. Before we get into the details, this new laptop and wireless touchpad keyboard coming our way via the Framework [Next Gen] Event 2026 are, according to the company, built based on the direct feedback received from its fans.

Designer: Framework

Laptop 13 Pro comes pre-loaded with Ubuntu. Its major highlight is the massive leap in battery life and the new full CNC aluminum chassis, which is first for any Framework laptop. Like the Laptop 13, however, the new model is repairable, upgradable, and fully customizable. It comes with an Intel Core Ultra series processor paired with LPCAMM2 memory, a haptic touchpad, and a purpose-built power-optimized touchscreen display.

Framework says that the Laptop 13 Pro is its first system featuring a chassis machined from a single block of 6063 aluminum. The construction makes it robust yet ensures its lightweight. The 15.85 mm thick laptop only weighs 1.4 kg. It is currently available for preorder starting at $1,199 for the DIY edition. The pre-built device with complete configuration will set you back $1,499. The shipping is expected to start in June 2026.

Framework has really worked on the battery life of Laptop 13 Pro, particularly because battery life was the primary concern that came up in the feedback received from fans. The system has an enhanced battery to 74Wh (rated for up to 1000 cycles), which is 22% better than that of the predecessor. Powered by a 100W GaN Power Adapter, the fast-charging battery can last for up to 20 hours while streaming Netflix in 4K, Framework’s test reveals.

A major update here is the inclusion of Intel’s latest Core Ultra Series processors. Laptop 13 Pro is available in Core Ultra 5, Core Ultra X7, and Core Ultra X9 variants, which makes the device “insanely efficient,” with up to 16 cores of processing prowess. This processing power is paired with equally capable LPCAMM2 memory, which is a modular LPDDR5x RAM format that runs at speeds up to 7467 MT/s. Available in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities, it is replaceable and upgradable. For storage, the laptop features a PCIe Gen5 M.2 2280 slot. It supports up to 2TB Gen5 SSDs or larger Gen4 drives.

A great leap from the predecessor, the 13.5-inch touchscreen 2880×1920 resolution display of Laptop 13 Pro is also particularly interesting. It now packs within a redesigned bezel, which arrives sans the rounded corners. Provided with a 30-120Hz variable refresh rate, up to 700 nits brightness, and an anti-glare matte polarizer for better visibility in bright light, the display is paired– for the first time in a Framework laptop – with a Dolby Atmos-enabled audio system.

Framework Laptop 13 Pro with a haptic touchpad that uses piezo electric feedback, is backward compatible. Laptop 13 users can replace the innards (or even the chassis) without having to replace the system entirely. For connectivity, the new laptop features Wi-Fi 7 and the BE211 radio. It also has four Thunderbolt 4 ports.

The post Framework Laptop 13 Pro arrives with major redesign, longer battery life, and touch display first appeared on Yanko Design.

ASUS Zenbook DUO (2026) Review: One Laptop, Two Screens, All Business

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PROS:


  • Beautiful, nearly identical 14-inch 144Hz 3K OLED screens

  • Narrower hinge creates a more immersive visual experience

  • Ceraluminum design adds visual and tactile character

  • Powerful Intel Panther Lake performance and impressive battery life

CONS:


  • Quite pricey

  • No built-in card reader

  • RAM is soldered

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) earns its premium with two stunning co-equal OLED screens, a sleeker hinge, and Intel Panther Lake performance built for serious work on the go.
award-icon

For a time, it seemed that foldable and rollable screens would be the future of laptops, just as they are positioned to be where smartphones are going. That was until people realized that what may be good for handheld devices might not work for 14-inch slabs with keyboards. Foldable laptops might still have their day, but they are too impractical and costly for now.

ASUS has chosen to instead design and deliver a solution for today’s needs and problems. Rather than a screen that folds just to save space, the Zenbook DUO has opted to expand the user’s workspace instead, bringing the productivity advantages of dual-monitor setups from desktops to laptops. This year’s ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) does more than just upgrade the spec sheet. It is also adding a touch of style and elegance that makes a power user tool feel more considered.

Designer: ASUS

Aesthetics

The 2026 ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) is quite stunning in almost any form, whether it’s closed shut, opened like a laptop, or especially when it’s wide open. The lid cover exudes not only minimalism but also character, with a reflective “ASUS ZENBOOK” logo engraved against the Elephant Gray “Ceraluminum” surface, creating a simple yet eye-catching visual and material contrast.

That Ceraluminum is, of course, ASUS’s latest material innovation that uses a special oxidation process to give aluminum some ceramic-like properties, particularly durability and higher resistance to scratches. The end result is a material that isn’t just nice to look at but also pleasing to touch, giving the lid a texture that almost feels like stone or, well, ceramic. There is also a certain visual “roughness” to the Ceraluminum surface, setting it apart from the brushed metal or anodized appearances of its peers.

Of course, the real show happens when you open the laptop and lift the keyboard away, revealing two gorgeous 14-inch screens connected together by a hinge, no messy or awkward cables. For this iteration, ASUS poured its efforts into making that connection look even more seamless, not only by shrinking the bezels between the displays but also by developing a new “hideaway” hinge that narrows the gap from 25.31mm down to 7.6mm. Make no mistake, there’s still a very obvious separation between the two, but it is now less jarring, making it feel like you’re working with a screen that just happened to be split into two, rather than two screens stitched together.

With the detachable Bluetooth keyboard resting on the second screen or when it’s closed, the Zenbook DUO (2026) looks almost like a normal laptop. You have a few (literally) ports on either side along with some air vents, and a wide-long grille at the bottom above the built-in kickstand. Your only clue that this isn’t a normal laptop is when you accidentally close the laptop lid without the keyboard attached, creating a very noticeable gap that, unfortunately, would also be an open invitation for small items to come in and scratch the screens.

Ergonomics

At 1.65kg (3.64lbs) with the Bluetooth keyboard attached, the ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) isn’t exactly lightweight compared to other 14-inch laptops in the market, at least the non-gaming kind. That said, it’s not exactly on the heavier side either, especially when you consider that you’re carrying two 14-inch screens, not to mention a 99Wh battery, in a single bundle. In that context, it’s actually amazing how much ASUS was able to reduce the heft without cutting corners.

That said, having two connected displays brings its own ergonomics puzzle, something that ASUS seems to have finally solved almost to perfection. You have no less than 5 ways to use the laptop, from a normal laptop to two screens vertically stacked to the side-by-side “desktop mode”. While the hinge does most of the hard work, the built-in kickstand literally carries the burden, supporting that full weight (minus the keyboard) on its own.

The new kickstand is stronger, sturdier, and stiffer, providing confidence it won’t just suddenly close down. It can open to a maximum of 90 degrees, which is the angle you’ll need for desktop mode. That said, it also means that you only have possible angle for the displays in that mode, unless you have a separate stand to prop it up, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a built-in kickstand.

One thing to note in desktop mode is that you will naturally be sacrificing one side of ports. Thankfully, you can turn the Zenbook DUO (2026) which ever side up, whether you need an extra HDMI and headphone jack, or an extra USB-A port. Thankfully, both Thunderbolt 4 ports are equal in capabilities, so you don’t have to make a sacrifice on that end.

If there’s one thing I found a bit cumbersome in the Zenbook DUO’s design is that the power button sits so flushed against the frame. On the one hand, that means it won’t snag with anything in your bag, nor will it get triggered accidentally. On the other hand, it also makes it harder to locate it without looking or fumbling with your finger sliding across the edge repeatedly.

Performance

The ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) is one of the early laptops to embrace Intel’s new Panther Lake chips, specifically the Intel Core Ultra 3 series. The dual-screen laptops comes in two options, one with an Intel Core Ultra 7 355 and the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H. In terms of CPU alone, these already represent a huge leap not just in performance but also in power efficiency, but the latter configuration pulls an even bigger feat.

The review unit we received comes with an Intel Arc B390 GPU based the latest 3rd-gen Intel Xe graphics. Forget what memories you might have had of integrated Intel graphics, because we’re entering an era where you can actually play games with decent settings on it. Of course, your mileage may vary and benchmarks can only provide some general idea, but that all these specs mean is that the ASUS Zenbook DUO (2026) is built for serious productivity and creative work.

It is, after all, designed for heavy-duty computer users ranging from knowledge workers to creators who need to bring the productivity they enjoy on the desktop to wherever they go. Productivity suites, video editors, graphics programs, 3D modelers, and even games won’t make this flexible laptop break a sweat. And yes, that includes some AI shenanigans, thanks to an upgraded NPU as well.

Of course, this also means that it has enough muscle to support running two screens which, by default, is set to extended (versus mirroring each other). The beauty is that these two screens are nearly identical not just in size but also in capabilities, where other dual-screen laptops skimp on the second screen more often than not. We’re talking two 14-inch 3K (2880×1800) 144Hz Lumina Pro OLED displays. Both support touch and, more importantly, both support the ASUS Pen stylus.

In reality, there are very slight differences between the two screens in terms of full color gamut and maximum brightness, but you won’t notice it too much unless you are actively looking for it. In practice, most people will keep content they’re working on in one of two screens anyway, leaving the other as an auxiliary for references or controls.

The latter is actually an interesting aspect of this dual-screen laptop, making the Zenbook DUO feel almost futuristic. While it does have a detachable keyboard, there might be times when you want to have more direct access to the lower touch screen without having to switch back and forth with the Bluetooth keyboard at the side. With a six-finger gesture, you can summon a half-height virtual keyboard, a half-height virtual keyboard with a virtual trackpad to the right, or a full-screen keyboard with a large trackpad below it, pretty much like the virtual equivalent of the physical keyboard.

Additionally, you can have other virtual knobs and sliders above the keyboard or as floating windows, thanks to ASUS’s Dial & Control app. These controls, which also include a numpad and an area for writing with a pen, can change depending on what app is currently in focus. With a browser window, it can have a button for a new tab or a dial for zooming in and out. Or it could be a knob for volume and a slider for screen brightness.

As for the detachable keyboard, it magnetically snaps into place, with retracting pogo pins creating a more stable connection than Bluetooth, though that is the only way to use it when it’s detached. That said, there are no notches or protrusions along the edges of the keyboard, so prying it away from that strong magnetic hold can take a bit of work. The keyboard charges when it’s lying on the laptop, but it can also be charged separately via USB-C. Key travel is decent, but the keys themselves feel a bit squishy. The large trackpad is sensitive, but the hydrophobic coating gives it too much resistance when gliding your finger across it.

The combination of the more power-smart Intel Panther Lake processor and the 99Wh battery tucked inside gives the ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) quite a long uptime, even with both screens enabled. Even a battery of benchmarks and hours of typing and browsing has left a good 12% of battery left, rounding up to a little over 15 hours of use, just a little below ASUS’s advertised 18 hours (with two screens). The included 100W USB-C charging brick helps mitigate the battery loss, and the fact that you can easily use power banks to top up on the go makes the battery narrative even more compelling.

Sustainability

ASUS didn’t use to speak much about the sustainability of its laptops, but that has changed in recent years. The invention of Ceraluminum adds another level to that story, though a bit indirectly. In a nutshell, the material is meant to increase the durability and longevity of the product by protecting it from small accidents. Whether the ZenBook DUO uses sustainable materials, or at least what percentage of it does, isn’t public information.

That longevity, however, is also affected by how much you can upgrade or even repair the laptop. Given how unconventional its design is, it’s really no surprise that there isn’t much here in the way of upgrade options. You do have easy access to the SSD underneath the kickstand. The Zenbook DUO (2026) can support up to 2TB with a full-sized M.2 SSD. The 32GB RAM, however, is soldered down.

Value

The ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) is a laptop on a mission. It is, in a nutshell, designed for people who thrive and need multi-tasking capabilities that they could only enjoy while chained to their desk (or awkwardly carrying a portable monitor). That actually covers a wide range of professions and industries, including creators, designers, office workers, executives, and, yes, gamers. In that sense, there can probably be no better tool for them than this.

In both performance and flexibility, the 2026 Zenbook DUO offers users the power they need, as they need it. Cramped for space on a plane? Just use it as a single-screen laptop, and no one will be the wiser. Need to collaborate with a team? Lay it out flat on the desk to give everyone the same perspective. Need to reference documents as you write? The book-like desktop mode has you covered.

That said, it’s definitely far from perfect. For a laptop aimed at creatives and professionals, the absence of a built-in SD card reader seems pretty odd. And then there’s the $2,699.99 price for the configuration that has the impressive Intel Arc graphics. That puts it way above most 14-inch ultra-thin laptops and in the range of gaming laptops. But then again, none of those have two 14-inch screens, either.

Verdict

Laptops with foldable screens admittedly look fancy and impressive. The big OEMs, including ASUS, are still playing around to find the formula that will finally make it feel more than just a fancy and expensive experiment. In the meantime, however, people need to get work done, and when it comes to that, nothing really beats using more than two screens.

You could always carry a portable screen along with your laptop, which is awkward, cumbersome, and inefficient, or you could grab the ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407). With an improved hinge, beautiful co-equal 14-inch displays, and an Intel Panther Lake processor that can handle almost anything you throw at it, the dual-screen laptop lets you choose the way you want or need to work. And it looks stylish to boot in any form, making sure you’ll be the envy of everyone in the coffee shop.

The post ASUS Zenbook DUO (2026) Review: One Laptop, Two Screens, All Business first appeared on Yanko Design.

ASUS Zenbook DUO (2026) Review: One Laptop, Two Screens, All Business

Posted on by

PROS:


  • Beautiful, nearly identical 14-inch 144Hz 3K OLED screens

  • Narrower hinge creates a more immersive visual experience

  • Ceraluminum design adds visual and tactile character

  • Powerful Intel Panther Lake performance and impressive battery life

CONS:


  • Quite pricey

  • No built-in card reader

  • RAM is soldered

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) earns its premium with two stunning co-equal OLED screens, a sleeker hinge, and Intel Panther Lake performance built for serious work on the go.
award-icon

For a time, it seemed that foldable and rollable screens would be the future of laptops, just as they are positioned to be where smartphones are going. That was until people realized that what may be good for handheld devices might not work for 14-inch slabs with keyboards. Foldable laptops might still have their day, but they are too impractical and costly for now.

ASUS has chosen to instead design and deliver a solution for today’s needs and problems. Rather than a screen that folds just to save space, the Zenbook DUO has opted to expand the user’s workspace instead, bringing the productivity advantages of dual-monitor setups from desktops to laptops. This year’s ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) does more than just upgrade the spec sheet. It is also adding a touch of style and elegance that makes a power user tool feel more considered.

Designer: ASUS

Aesthetics

The 2026 ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) is quite stunning in almost any form, whether it’s closed shut, opened like a laptop, or especially when it’s wide open. The lid cover exudes not only minimalism but also character, with a reflective “ASUS ZENBOOK” logo engraved against the Elephant Gray “Ceraluminum” surface, creating a simple yet eye-catching visual and material contrast.

That Ceraluminum is, of course, ASUS’s latest material innovation that uses a special oxidation process to give aluminum some ceramic-like properties, particularly durability and higher resistance to scratches. The end result is a material that isn’t just nice to look at but also pleasing to touch, giving the lid a texture that almost feels like stone or, well, ceramic. There is also a certain visual “roughness” to the Ceraluminum surface, setting it apart from the brushed metal or anodized appearances of its peers.

Of course, the real show happens when you open the laptop and lift the keyboard away, revealing two gorgeous 14-inch screens connected together by a hinge, no messy or awkward cables. For this iteration, ASUS poured its efforts into making that connection look even more seamless, not only by shrinking the bezels between the displays but also by developing a new “hideaway” hinge that narrows the gap from 25.31mm down to 7.6mm. Make no mistake, there’s still a very obvious separation between the two, but it is now less jarring, making it feel like you’re working with a screen that just happened to be split into two, rather than two screens stitched together.

With the detachable Bluetooth keyboard resting on the second screen or when it’s closed, the Zenbook DUO (2026) looks almost like a normal laptop. You have a few (literally) ports on either side along with some air vents, and a wide-long grille at the bottom above the built-in kickstand. Your only clue that this isn’t a normal laptop is when you accidentally close the laptop lid without the keyboard attached, creating a very noticeable gap that, unfortunately, would also be an open invitation for small items to come in and scratch the screens.

Ergonomics

At 1.65kg (3.64lbs) with the Bluetooth keyboard attached, the ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) isn’t exactly lightweight compared to other 14-inch laptops in the market, at least the non-gaming kind. That said, it’s not exactly on the heavier side either, especially when you consider that you’re carrying two 14-inch screens, not to mention a 99Wh battery, in a single bundle. In that context, it’s actually amazing how much ASUS was able to reduce the heft without cutting corners.

That said, having two connected displays brings its own ergonomics puzzle, something that ASUS seems to have finally solved almost to perfection. You have no less than 5 ways to use the laptop, from a normal laptop to two screens vertically stacked to the side-by-side “desktop mode”. While the hinge does most of the hard work, the built-in kickstand literally carries the burden, supporting that full weight (minus the keyboard) on its own.

The new kickstand is stronger, sturdier, and stiffer, providing confidence it won’t just suddenly close down. It can open to a maximum of 90 degrees, which is the angle you’ll need for desktop mode. That said, it also means that you only have possible angle for the displays in that mode, unless you have a separate stand to prop it up, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a built-in kickstand.

One thing to note in desktop mode is that you will naturally be sacrificing one side of ports. Thankfully, you can turn the Zenbook DUO (2026) which ever side up, whether you need an extra HDMI and headphone jack, or an extra USB-A port. Thankfully, both Thunderbolt 4 ports are equal in capabilities, so you don’t have to make a sacrifice on that end.

If there’s one thing I found a bit cumbersome in the Zenbook DUO’s design is that the power button sits so flushed against the frame. On the one hand, that means it won’t snag with anything in your bag, nor will it get triggered accidentally. On the other hand, it also makes it harder to locate it without looking or fumbling with your finger sliding across the edge repeatedly.

Performance

The ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) is one of the early laptops to embrace Intel’s new Panther Lake chips, specifically the Intel Core Ultra 3 series. The dual-screen laptops comes in two options, one with an Intel Core Ultra 7 355 and the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H. In terms of CPU alone, these already represent a huge leap not just in performance but also in power efficiency, but the latter configuration pulls an even bigger feat.

The review unit we received comes with an Intel Arc B390 GPU based the latest 3rd-gen Intel Xe graphics. Forget what memories you might have had of integrated Intel graphics, because we’re entering an era where you can actually play games with decent settings on it. Of course, your mileage may vary and benchmarks can only provide some general idea, but that all these specs mean is that the ASUS Zenbook DUO (2026) is built for serious productivity and creative work.

It is, after all, designed for heavy-duty computer users ranging from knowledge workers to creators who need to bring the productivity they enjoy on the desktop to wherever they go. Productivity suites, video editors, graphics programs, 3D modelers, and even games won’t make this flexible laptop break a sweat. And yes, that includes some AI shenanigans, thanks to an upgraded NPU as well.

Of course, this also means that it has enough muscle to support running two screens which, by default, is set to extended (versus mirroring each other). The beauty is that these two screens are nearly identical not just in size but also in capabilities, where other dual-screen laptops skimp on the second screen more often than not. We’re talking two 14-inch 3K (2880×1800) 144Hz Lumina Pro OLED displays. Both support touch and, more importantly, both support the ASUS Pen stylus.

In reality, there are very slight differences between the two screens in terms of full color gamut and maximum brightness, but you won’t notice it too much unless you are actively looking for it. In practice, most people will keep content they’re working on in one of two screens anyway, leaving the other as an auxiliary for references or controls.

The latter is actually an interesting aspect of this dual-screen laptop, making the Zenbook DUO feel almost futuristic. While it does have a detachable keyboard, there might be times when you want to have more direct access to the lower touch screen without having to switch back and forth with the Bluetooth keyboard at the side. With a six-finger gesture, you can summon a half-height virtual keyboard, a half-height virtual keyboard with a virtual trackpad to the right, or a full-screen keyboard with a large trackpad below it, pretty much like the virtual equivalent of the physical keyboard.

Additionally, you can have other virtual knobs and sliders above the keyboard or as floating windows, thanks to ASUS’s Dial & Control app. These controls, which also include a numpad and an area for writing with a pen, can change depending on what app is currently in focus. With a browser window, it can have a button for a new tab or a dial for zooming in and out. Or it could be a knob for volume and a slider for screen brightness.

As for the detachable keyboard, it magnetically snaps into place, with retracting pogo pins creating a more stable connection than Bluetooth, though that is the only way to use it when it’s detached. That said, there are no notches or protrusions along the edges of the keyboard, so prying it away from that strong magnetic hold can take a bit of work. The keyboard charges when it’s lying on the laptop, but it can also be charged separately via USB-C. Key travel is decent, but the keys themselves feel a bit squishy. The large trackpad is sensitive, but the hydrophobic coating gives it too much resistance when gliding your finger across it.

The combination of the more power-smart Intel Panther Lake processor and the 99Wh battery tucked inside gives the ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) quite a long uptime, even with both screens enabled. Even a battery of benchmarks and hours of typing and browsing has left a good 12% of battery left, rounding up to a little over 15 hours of use, just a little below ASUS’s advertised 18 hours (with two screens). The included 100W USB-C charging brick helps mitigate the battery loss, and the fact that you can easily use power banks to top up on the go makes the battery narrative even more compelling.

Sustainability

ASUS didn’t use to speak much about the sustainability of its laptops, but that has changed in recent years. The invention of Ceraluminum adds another level to that story, though a bit indirectly. In a nutshell, the material is meant to increase the durability and longevity of the product by protecting it from small accidents. Whether the ZenBook DUO uses sustainable materials, or at least what percentage of it does, isn’t public information.

That longevity, however, is also affected by how much you can upgrade or even repair the laptop. Given how unconventional its design is, it’s really no surprise that there isn’t much here in the way of upgrade options. You do have easy access to the SSD underneath the kickstand. The Zenbook DUO (2026) can support up to 2TB with a full-sized M.2 SSD. The 32GB RAM, however, is soldered down.

Value

The ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407) is a laptop on a mission. It is, in a nutshell, designed for people who thrive and need multi-tasking capabilities that they could only enjoy while chained to their desk (or awkwardly carrying a portable monitor). That actually covers a wide range of professions and industries, including creators, designers, office workers, executives, and, yes, gamers. In that sense, there can probably be no better tool for them than this.

In both performance and flexibility, the 2026 Zenbook DUO offers users the power they need, as they need it. Cramped for space on a plane? Just use it as a single-screen laptop, and no one will be the wiser. Need to collaborate with a team? Lay it out flat on the desk to give everyone the same perspective. Need to reference documents as you write? The book-like desktop mode has you covered.

That said, it’s definitely far from perfect. For a laptop aimed at creatives and professionals, the absence of a built-in SD card reader seems pretty odd. And then there’s the $2,699.99 price for the configuration that has the impressive Intel Arc graphics. That puts it way above most 14-inch ultra-thin laptops and in the range of gaming laptops. But then again, none of those have two 14-inch screens, either.

Verdict

Laptops with foldable screens admittedly look fancy and impressive. The big OEMs, including ASUS, are still playing around to find the formula that will finally make it feel more than just a fancy and expensive experiment. In the meantime, however, people need to get work done, and when it comes to that, nothing really beats using more than two screens.

You could always carry a portable screen along with your laptop, which is awkward, cumbersome, and inefficient, or you could grab the ASUS Zenbook DUO (UX8407). With an improved hinge, beautiful co-equal 14-inch displays, and an Intel Panther Lake processor that can handle almost anything you throw at it, the dual-screen laptop lets you choose the way you want or need to work. And it looks stylish to boot in any form, making sure you’ll be the envy of everyone in the coffee shop.

The post ASUS Zenbook DUO (2026) Review: One Laptop, Two Screens, All Business first appeared on Yanko Design.

Forget the Steam Deck, This Custom-Built Handheld Runs a Full Linux Desktop in Your Palms

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Before the iPhone arrived in 2007 and quietly buried the category, handheld PCs were shaping up to be something genuinely exciting. Devices like the Sony Vaio UX and OQO Model 2 promised a full desktop OS in your jacket pocket, and for a brief window, that felt like the obvious future of personal computing. Smartphones won that argument decisively, and the handheld PC faded into a footnote. A YouTuber who goes by Wisce decided that footnote deserved a second chapter, and built one himself from scratch.

The result is a fully custom x86 handheld computer built around the LattePanda Mu single-board computer, running Linux Mint on a 7-inch 1920×1080 120Hz display. It has a full QWERTY ortholinear thumb keyboard with custom-printed keycaps, a Joy-Con thumbstick repurposed as a mouse, a horizontal scroll wheel, four USB ports, a full-size HDMI output, USB-C charging, and a 4,500mAh battery pack with a three-digit readout that tells you exactly how much juice is left. Every single component was designed, sourced, or fabricated by hand.

Designer: Wisce

The LattePanda Mu is an x86 SBC that outperforms even the Raspberry Pi 5 by a notable margin, and Wisce built a custom carrier board for it rather than using an off-the-shelf solution. That board delivers four full-size USB ports, a full-size HDMI port, M.2 SSD and Wi-Fi slots, and internal USB connectors for the keyboard and audio subsystem. A 1TB SSD and a budget Wi-Fi card complete the internals. The operating system is Linux Mint, chosen partly on merit and partly because Wisce’s previous builds attracted considerable audience displeasure when they shipped with Windows 11. Linux also strips out the background process bloat that Windows tends to accumulate, giving the Mu’s x86 architecture more room to breathe.

The display decision alone took multiple iterations to land. Wisce initially planned to use a 1024×600 60Hz panel from DF Robot, the parent company behind the LattePanda line, but rejected it for its low resolution, large bezel, and limited refresh rate. The replacement is a 1920×1080 120Hz eDP panel with a much thinner bezel, connected directly to the Mu’s native eDP output via a custom PCB that reroutes a pin mismatch between the two connectors. That kind of problem-solving shows up everywhere in this build: when a straightforward solution didn’t exist, Wisce designed one.

The keyboard runs on a custom PCB with an RP2040 microcontroller integrated directly into the board, bypassing the need for a separate Arduino or Pi Pico. The switches are surface-mount tactile types rated for around two million presses, sized small enough to fit a full QWERTY layout without sacrificing the thumb-typing ergonomics the ortholinear arrangement was chosen to support. Keycaps were modeled in Fusion 360 and printed on an FDM machine using a 0.2mm nozzle and multi-material filament to get legible, sharp legends on each key. The Joy-Con thumbstick on the left handles cursor movement via a QMK profile that maps it as a mouse, and the horizontal rotary encoder scroll wheel on the right is, by Wisce’s own admission, one of his favorite things about the finished device.

The enclosure is a two-part construction: a translucent resin rear shell that keeps the internal geometry visible, and an aluminum front plate that was CNC machined, anodized, then repainted by hand after the factory “champagne” finish came out looking closer to a flesh tone than the golden bronze Wisce had rendered. The finished device is 36mm thick at its deepest point and weighs approximately one kilogram, which puts it in a different category from a Game Boy but well within the range of something you’d actually carry. A 3D-printed dock props it upright on a desk with the HDMI port and USB-C charging accessible, turning the handheld into a functional desktop workstation when paired with an external keyboard and mouse.

What makes this build genuinely compelling, beyond the craftsmanship, is how clearly it articulates a design philosophy that commercial manufacturers keep fumbling. Devices like the GPD Win 5 chase gaming performance and end up compromising portability or pricing out most buyers. The Steam Deck nails the gaming use case and handles general computing as an afterthought. Wisce’s machine is neither of those things. It’s a full x86 desktop OS in a form factor that fits in two hands, with physical controls that were chosen specifically for the way humans hold objects, a battery system that actually communicates with its user, and a screen bright and sharp enough to make the whole proposition feel current. The handheld PC category failed twenty years ago because the hardware wasn’t ready. This build suggests the hardware has been ready for a while, and we’ve just been waiting for someone stubborn enough to put it together properly.

The post Forget the Steam Deck, This Custom-Built Handheld Runs a Full Linux Desktop in Your Palms first appeared on Yanko Design.

DIY Water-Cooled MacBook Neo Just Got A 23% Performance Bump. Here’s How…

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The MacBook Neo’s entire premise rests on one audacious question: can a smartphone chip carry a laptop? Apple’s answer was to drop the A18 Pro from the iPhone 16 into a fanless aluminum chassis and ship it. For everyday tasks, the answer is largely yes. For gaming under sustained load, the answer hits a wall at 105°C, where the chip pulls back its clocks to avoid cooking itself inside a case with no fan and no active cooling to speak of. The MacBook Neo is a genuinely compelling machine, repairability included since Apple ditched adhesive entirely and built the whole thing around screws, but that thermal ceiling is a real and measurable constraint.

ETA Prime ran the experiment that every thermally curious engineer has probably daydreamed about: what happens when you actually cool this thing properly? First, a custom copper heat sink bridging the chip to the aluminum shell. Then a liquid-cooled thermoelectric Peltier unit clamped magnetically to the outside. Gaming framerates climbed from 30 to 80 FPS. Cinebench single-core jumped 23.5% over stock. The A18 Pro was never the bottleneck. The cooling was.

Designer: ETA PRIME

The copper heat sink is the more elegant of the two mods, and honestly the more important one. ETA Prime removed the stock graphene pad using a heat gun, cleaned the A18 Pro die with isopropyl alcohol, and applied Noctua thermal paste directly to the chip. A sheet of copper, cut to cover the full mainboard, sits on top. An Arctic TP3 thermal pad on the upper face of the copper makes contact with the MacBook Neo’s aluminum bottom shell when the screws are tightened back down, turning the entire chassis into a proper heat spreader. The graphene pad was cut in half and kept over the surrounding components for protection, but the CPU die itself is now in a real thermal pathway for the first time. With just this mod in place, No Man’s Sky jumped from 30-31 FPS to 58 FPS, average CPU temps dropped to around 83-84°C, and Geekbench 6 multi-core climbed 9.7% while single-core gained 15.2%. A sheet of copper and a tube of paste did what Apple’s entire thermal design could not.

The Peltier cooler is the wilder addition, and it is admittedly overkill in the best possible way. The unit ETA Prime used was originally designed as a phone cooler, a liquid-cooled thermoelectric device with three power settings topping out at 50 watts. One side extracts heat, the other reaches below-freezing temperatures, and ice visibly forms on the cold plate within about a minute of operation. It attaches magnetically to the bottom of the Neo, aligning with the copper heat sink beneath the shell, and pulls the chip’s average idle temp down to 23°C. Under gaming load in No Man’s Sky, the CPU sat at roughly 74°C, and framerates held at 58-59 FPS with VSync engaged. Over a 30-minute sustained session, the machine averaged around 80 FPS at 1408×881 on enhanced settings with Metal scaling set to balanced, compared to the low 30s it would have delivered in stock form.

The benchmark gains with the full liquid cooling setup are worth spelling out. Geekbench 6 multi-core reached 9,394, an 18.6% improvement over the stock 7,921. Single-core hit 3,636, up 17.52%. Cinebench multi-core landed at 1,741 against a stock score of 1,462, a 19% gain, while single-core climbed from 502 to 620, a 23.51% improvement. ETA Prime also tested Fallout 4 running through Crossover, the compatibility layer that lets non-Mac titles run on Apple silicon, and the Neo held a consistent 60 FPS despite relying on SSD swap for additional memory beyond its 8GB ceiling.

The 8GB cap remains the machine’s most stubborn limitation, and no amount of copper or Peltier magic changes that. When the unified memory fills, the Neo starts leaning on SSD swap, which is slower and adds latency that thermal improvements cannot compensate for. It is a real constraint for anyone expecting to run memory-hungry titles at length. That said, the performance ETA Prime extracted here from a chip that costs less than many gaming peripherals is genuinely impressive, and the copper mod in particular requires no permanent modifications and costs almost nothing.

The Peltier is obviously not a portable solution. It draws significant power, runs a liquid loop, and magnetically attaches to the outside of the machine like a barnacle. But the copper mod absolutely is portable, costs next to nothing in materials, and on its own delivers close to double the sustained gaming performance. ETA Prime also tested Fallout 4 running through Crossover on the liquid-cooled setup, hitting a continuous 60 FPS despite the Neo’s 8GB RAM ceiling forcing the system to lean on SSD swap for additional memory. The A18 Pro has more headroom than Apple’s thermal design ever lets it show, and a sheet of copper is apparently all it takes to prove it.

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LG Just Invented a New Metal to Build the Lightest 16-Inch OLED Laptop of 2026

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Every laptop manufacturer promises lighter builds, but most of them cheat. They shrink the battery, strip out ports, swap metal for plastic, or just make the screen smaller and call it progress. Real weight reduction without compromise requires inventing something new at the molecular level, which is exactly what LG did. The company spent the last year developing Aerominum, an in-house engineered alloy designed to be simultaneously lighter and stronger than the magnesium chassis that defined the gram line for a decade. The result is a 16-inch laptop with a 120Hz OLED display that weighs under 1.2 kilograms, a figure that sounds like a typo until you actually pick one up.

LG introduced three new gram models this week, all built on the Aerominum chassis: a 14-inch variant with Intel Panther Lake, a 17-inch with 32GB of RAM and an optional NVIDIA RTX 5050 GPU, and the headliner gram Pro 16. The Pro 16 pairs its sub-1.2kg weight with a 2,880 x 1,800 OLED panel running at 120Hz, powered by Intel’s latest Core Ultra processors. LG claims the new alloy meets military-grade durability standards while delivering scratch resistance that previous gram models couldn’t match. If the engineering holds up under real-world use, this could finally be the laptop that breaks the portability ceiling for 16-inch displays.

Designer: LG

Aerominum replaces the magnesium alloy LG has used across the gram lineup since 2015, when the series first launched internationally. The new material uses what LG calls an “aeroplate structure,” a term that suggests internal geometry optimization rather than just a change in chemical composition. The company also applies a refined atelier brushing technique to the surface, delivering a metallic finish that looks premium without adding the typical weight penalty of anodized aluminum. The scratch resistance claim addresses one of the most consistent criticisms leveled at ultralight laptops over the years: magnesium chassis tend to show wear quickly, and previous gram models were no exception. Whether Aerominum actually solves that problem will depend on how it holds up after six months in a backpack, but the intent is clear.

The gram Pro 16 carries a 2,880 x 1,800 OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a resolution LG markets as WQXGA+. The OLED panel is the differentiator here. LG’s 17-inch model uses an IPS display, which keeps costs down but sacrifices contrast and color depth. The Pro 16 gets the premium screen treatment, and pairing that with a 120Hz refresh rate makes it viable for light creative work and high-refresh browsing without needing discrete graphics. Intel’s Core Ultra processors handle the computing side, though LG hasn’t disclosed specific SKUs yet. The company does confirm support for both on-device AI (via LG’s gram chat powered by EXAONE 3.5 sLLM) and Microsoft Copilot+ PC functionality, which requires certain minimum performance thresholds that narrow down the chip options.

Weighing under 1.2 kilograms puts the gram Pro 16 in the same weight class as most 13-inch ultrabooks, which is absurd for a machine with a 16-inch OLED display. For context, Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Air with M3 weighs 1.24 kg. The Dell XPS 16 sits closer to 2.1 kg, and even Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon (a 14-inch machine) weighs 1.19 kg. LG has been chasing this kind of weight advantage since the gram line launched over a decade ago, and Aerominum is the material innovation that finally closed the gap.

The gram Pro 16 will compete directly with premium Windows ultrabooks from Dell, Lenovo, and ASUS, all of which have been adding OLED options to their flagship models over the past two years. LG’s advantage is weight. The weakness, historically, has been GPU performance and pricing. The Pro 16 skips discrete graphics entirely, which will limit its appeal to anyone doing serious video editing or 3D work. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but previous gram Pro models launched at premium price points that undercut Apple while overshooting most Windows competitors. If LG can keep the Pro 16 under $2,000, it becomes a legitimate alternative to the MacBook Pro 16. If it creeps past that threshold, the weight advantage starts to feel like an expensive novelty.

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LG’s World-First 1Hz Panel Gives the Dell XPS 48% More Battery

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Battery life has been one of the laptop industry’s most persistent design headaches, especially among Windows notebooks. Despite significant gains in chip efficiency, the display consistently ranks among the biggest power consumers in any portable computer. Most laptop screens refresh at a fixed rate regardless of what’s actually on them, which means the panel keeps drawing full power even when you’re sitting completely still, reading a document with nothing on screen changing at all.

LG Display’s new Oxide 1Hz panel is the first mass-produced LCD laptop screen that doesn’t work that way. Rather than holding a fixed rate, it reads what’s on screen and drops to 1 Hz when the content is static, then scales back up to 120 Hz for video or gaming. LG began mass production on March 22, 2026, claiming the first-ever achievement of this at scale.

Designer: LG, Dell

The technology relies on custom circuit algorithms and a new oxide material applied to the panel’s thin-film transistor. That oxide holds an electric charge longer than conventional LCD materials, letting the screen maintain a still image without continuously refreshing it. LG claims the result is up to 48% more use on a single charge versus existing solutions, which is a significant number if it holds up in everyday use.

In practice, this matters most during the parts of a workday you spend the bulk of your time in. Checking emails, reading through documents, and sitting on a static slide during a meeting are all moments where a 60 Hz or 120 Hz screen burns power for no real benefit. The Oxide 1Hz panel handles those scenarios at a fraction of the usual draw without any visible difference.

When you do pull up a video or launch something that demands smooth motion, the panel doesn’t hesitate. It detects the change and jumps back up to 120 Hz automatically. There’s no mode to switch into, no setting to toggle, and no trade-off to manage. It just adjusts based on what’s happening on screen, which is how this kind of feature should work in the first place.

The first laptops to ship with this panel are the Dell XPS 14 and Dell XPS 16 for 2026, both unveiled at CES 2026 in January. The LCD option on both models runs at 1920 x 1200 pixels and 500 nits of brightness. Dell’s OLED option only drops as low as 20 Hz, which means the more affordable LCD configuration actually wins on low-power behavior.

Here’s where it gets interesting from a design standpoint. The display is one of the biggest power consumers in any laptop, so a screen drawing significantly less power during typical use creates real headroom for designers. They can use that headroom to maintain battery size and gain extra runtime, or to trim the battery slightly for a lighter, thinner chassis without giving up the battery life buyers already expect.

Of course, LG is already planning a 1 Hz OLED version of this technology for 2027, which is when things could get more interesting. OLED handles contrast and color in ways LCD can’t match, and pairing that quality with proper low-refresh-rate behavior could push portable laptop design further than it’s been able to go. For now, the Oxide 1Hz LCD is in something you can actually go out and buy.

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Minimalist laptop with a secondary display minimizes distractions, maximizes productivity

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Minimalism in computing interfaces often promises clarity, yet many modern systems still struggle with cluttered notifications, layered menus, and competing visual elements. The Minimal Laptop UI concept explores what a truly distraction-free laptop experience might look like when both hardware and software are designed around the same philosophy. Inspired by the playful yet precise design language of Teenage Engineering, the concept imagines a laptop that feels equal parts creative tool and focused workspace.

The interface is built around the idea that the screen should serve the task at hand, not compete with it. Instead of filling the display with panels, toolbars, and notifications, the layout relies on strong visual hierarchy and generous spacing. Elements appear only where necessary, allowing content to take center stage. Typography is clean and consistent, icons are reduced to their most recognizable forms, and the overall interface feels calm rather than busy. The result is a digital workspace that encourages focus without sacrificing functionality.

Designer: Nicolas Fred

What makes the concept particularly interesting is how it integrates hardware into the experience. Just beside the keyboard sits a secondary display designed to handle the kind of information that typically interrupts the main screen. Notifications, widgets, quick system controls, and small utilities can appear here, keeping alerts visible without pulling the user away from their workflow. By shifting these elements to a separate display, the primary screen remains dedicated to productivity and creative work.

The secondary screen also introduces a playful dimension. Beyond system information and widgets, it can support lightweight interactions such as simple games or quick tools that users can access without minimizing their main task. This layered approach to interaction mirrors the philosophy behind minimal design: instead of removing functionality, it reorganizes it in a way that feels more intentional and less intrusive.

Visually, the laptop reflects the unmistakable influence of Teenage Engineering’s product design. Clean geometric forms, restrained color accents, and carefully balanced proportions give the device a distinctive character. The aesthetic leans toward soft tones and neutral surfaces, allowing subtle interface highlights to stand out without overwhelming the visual environment. It feels modern and creative, yet disciplined enough to support focused work.

Whitespace plays a significant role throughout the interface. Rather than compressing information into dense panels, the layout leaves breathing room around content, improving readability and reducing cognitive load. This approach mirrors principles often used in industrial and editorial design, where space itself becomes an essential component of the experience.

 

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Xiaomi Returns to Laptops After Four Years with a MacBook Air Rival That Outclasses It on Paper for $1,275

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The laptop market has a predictable rhythm. Apple sets the benchmark, everyone else reacts. Since the M1 MacBook Air landed in late 2020 and redrew the definition of thin-and-light computing, the entire Windows ultrabook category has essentially been running in response to that one product. Some challengers land close, most fall short on one or two crucial dimensions, and the cycle repeats. What makes Xiaomi’s return to the laptop space interesting is that the company has been watching all of this from the sidelines for four years, and the Book Pro 14 it just launched in China reads less like a desperate catch-up attempt and more like a deliberate, calculated swing at a very specific gap in the Air’s armor.

Xiaomi has just made a discreet release in the laptop segment after a four-year break, returning with the Book Pro 14, a capable thin-and-light that positions itself as a direct answer to the MacBook Air. The headline spec is the display: a 14.6-inch OLED panel with touchscreen support, 3.1K resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate, and a peak brightness of 1,600 nits. Under the hood, Xiaomi equips the notebook with Intel’s Panther Lake platform, up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 358H, with 24GB RAM on the base configuration and 1TB of SSD storage. Pricing, when converted from Chinese yuan, puts the laptop at approximately $1,275, just over $100 more than a base M5 MacBook Air, and for that small premium you get a higher-resolution 120Hz OLED panel, more RAM, and a more robust port selection.

Designer: Xiaomi

You’re probably itching to ask about ports, because the MacBook Air famously doesn’t pack enough of them. The Book Pro 14 includes Thunderbolt 4, USB-C, USB-A, HDMI 2.1, and a 3.5mm audio jack, compared to the MacBook Air’s two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a headphone jack. That is a meaningful difference for anyone who has ever reached for a dongle mid-presentation or had to choose between charging and connecting to a display. Xiaomi’s decision to include a full-size HDMI port and a USB-A jack signals an awareness that real-world desk setups are messier than Apple’s minimalist port philosophy acknowledges. Whether that matters to you depends entirely on your workflow, but it is a deliberate product decision and one that reads as a direct response to a documented frustration with the Air.

The Book Pro 14 achieves a weight of 1.08 kg and a thickness of 14.95 mm through a chassis built from magnesium alloy with a carbon fiber lid. That actually makes it lighter than the M5 MacBook Air, which tips the scales around 1.24 kg, and the thickness is comparable. Keeping the specs cool is a three-channel cooling system incorporating a high-performance fan, a 10,000mm² vapor chamber, and graphene cooling components capable of sustaining 50W of continuous performance. That last figure matters more than it might initially seem. Apple’s fanless MacBook Air is a thermally constrained machine, and sustained workloads do cause it to throttle, a tradeoff that has been well-documented since the M1 era, and a system that can sustain 50W continuously without a corresponding weight penalty represents a genuine engineering achievement.

Xiaomi makes bold claims on the Book Pro 14’s battery life, overshooting even the latest M5 MacBook Air by nearly two hours. The 72Wh battery is rated for up to 19.8 hours of continuous use, with the 100W fast charging system capable of restoring 50% in approximately 26 minutes. The MacBook Air M5 posts similarly impressive endurance numbers in real-world use, so this will be a tightly contested dimension. The Intel Panther Lake architecture powering the Book Pro 14 is also the first Intel mobile platform in recent memory that genuinely changes the conversation around Windows laptop efficiency, borrowing a page from Apple’s playbook by targeting the sub-10W idle efficiency range that made the M-series Macs so compelling. Independent testing will be the real arbiter here, but the stated numbers are ambitious enough to take seriously.

The Book Pro 14 is currently only available in China, with no clear indication of a global release date, which severely limits its immediate relevance for the overwhelming majority of potential buyers. Xiaomi has a track record of launching products domestically and gradually expanding to other markets, and given the attention this machine has received in the first 24 hours of coverage, the commercial logic for a global rollout is hard to argue against. The question is timing. If Xiaomi moves quickly, the Book Pro 14 could arrive in Western markets before the M5 MacBook Air has fully consolidated its footprint. If the rollout stalls or gets diluted through regional variants with compromised specs, the window closes. The hardware is genuinely compelling, and the only outstanding question that actually matters is whether Xiaomi’s global distribution ambitions match what the engineering team has clearly delivered.

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XbooK’s $1,999 Triple-Screen Laptop Is One Bag Instead of Three Monitors

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Anyone who has worked remotely long enough knows the moment a single laptop screen stops being enough. It’s usually the day you’re cross-referencing three documents at once, or the morning you realize your financial model needs a live chart in one window while you edit formulas in another. The standard fix is an external monitor or a portable screen extender, which works fine until you’re hauling a bag that feels like it’s punishing you for being productive.

The XbooK takes a different approach by folding three full 14-inch touchscreens into a single aluminum laptop body that closes to just 1.5 inches thick. At 7.5 lbs, it’s heavier than a typical ultrabook. The tradeoff, though, is straightforward: you’re not carrying a laptop plus accessories. You’re carrying the whole setup in one piece.

Designer: XbooK

All three screens run at 1920×1080 with 400 nits of brightness each. The machine is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD, with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.0 onboard. That’s capable hardware, though nothing unusual for a mid-to-high-range laptop in 2025. What makes those specs interesting here is what they’re pushing: 42 inches of combined touchscreen that unfolds in seconds without a single cable involved.

In full Workstation Mode, all three screens run simultaneously alongside an embedded mechanical keyboard and a 10-point touchpad. Connectivity covers Thunderbolt 4, two USB-C ports, and an AUX jack, with a 1,600×1,200 front camera that’s sharper than most built-in laptop cameras. The 70Wh battery has to power all of that, and battery life under a three-screen load is something any serious buyer should push the company on before committing.

For days when the full spread is overkill, the XbooK also works in a two-screen mode or as a conventional single-screen laptop. The latter folds everything up and makes the device look surprisingly ordinary from the outside, except for the two thick slabs sitting underneath the keyboard. That adaptability is one of the more genuinely practical aspects of the design: you’re not locked into the workstation configuration every time you open the lid.

At $1,999 (down from a listed $2,999), it’s priced for professionals who already spend that much on monitors and docking stations. XbooK ships from the US with orders promised to be processed within 3 to 5 business days. The refund-before-shipping policy and fulfillment language have the texture of a startup still scaling up. Spending that much on a device from a company with no established hardware track record is a different kind of commitment than buying from a brand with a decade of products behind it.

Screen real estate is one of the last things portable computing has consistently failed to solve, and most multi-screen laptop concepts have been either too fragile or too awkward for daily travel. The XbooK has a cleaner physical premise than anything built around magnets or external rails. How the hinges and chassis hold up after a year on the road, though, is still an open question that no amount of spec-sheet confidence can close.

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