Laptops are Fun Again!
Crazy designs like the Asus Zenbook Duo and the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i are shaking up the laptop scene.
After years of uninspiring black-and-gray clamshells, laptops are suddenly kind of fun again. How did this happen? PC makers are taking yet another shot at breaking free of conventional design wisdom, deconstructing the idea of a screen and keyboard/touchpad joined by a central hinge.
The last major attempt at shaking up the portable PC aesthetic came in 2012/2013 with the launch of Windows 8 and the effort to remake Windows laptops as part-time iPad-like tablets. It didn't really catch on, though Yoga-style laptops that adopted the 360-degree hinge are still around, and detachable screens live on in the Microsoft Surface Pro and similar products. But these devices are still predicated on spending most of their time as traditional clamshells.
In the past month, I've been able to play around with the Asus Zenbook Duo and the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i. Both feature two OLED screens joined by a center hinge. They also include slim add-on physical keyboards and custom on-screen keyboards, giving you multiple ways to type. (In the photo at the top, the slightly larger Duo is on the left, the Yoga Book on the right.)
No, these aren't the first dual-screen laptops — the first one I remember seeing was the Acer Iconia, way back in 2011. That was way ahead of its time, with clunky software and weighing more than six pounds. But it was an idea I knew would eventually come back around, and both the Zenbook Duo and Yoga Book 9i seem to understand that flexibility and portability are what will make these laptops catch on (at least with enthusiasts — mainstream consumers may take another few generations).
Above: the on-screen keyboard and touchpad on the Yoga Book 9i.
In particular, I liked how both of these systems offer several ways to flip, fold and arrange their screens. They can work as standard clamshell laptops, with the physical keyboards sitting on top of the second screen, as touchscreen laptops with on-screen keyboards/touchpads or as mini all-in-one desktops, with the two screens arranged horizontally or vertically. The on-screen keyboards are better than they used to be, but still not a replacement for physical keys.
That's exactly what I like the most about these — arranging the two screens, one on top of the other, creating a portrait-style view (hey, like your phone!). The Zenbook Duo uses a built-in kickstand to hold the screens in place; the Yoga Book 9i uses a clip-on folding magnetic case.
Is one of these going to be your next laptop? Maybe not, but combined with a couple of folding-screen models (again, Lenovo is doing a lot of the work here with products like the X1 Fold) and handheld Windows PCs like the Legion Go, Asus ROG Ally and MSI Claw, we're breaking the clamshell stranglehold and giving people options. More importantly, computers are regaining some of their sense of experimentation and inventiveness, and maybe just a little bit of fun.
Ex-Editor-in-Chief Roundtable Revisited
A few weeks ago, I published a long-form roundtable with several other former Editors-in-Chief of tech websites. That conversation, which included me (former EiC at Gizmodo and current EiC at Micro Center News), Sherri L. Smith (former EiC at Laptop Mag), Roger Cheng (former EiC at Cord Cutters News) and Dana Wollman (former EiC at Engadget), was more than an hour long, so you may not have gotten around to watching the whole thing yet. ;)
That's why I've pulled some of the best bits out into shorts, which you can watch on YouTube or TikTok. I'll publish some additional shorts in the coming weeks, so stay on the lookout for that. I've included one short below, and the playlist of shorts is here.
You can find the full roundtable at this YouTube link and the audio-only version on SoundCloud.
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