The moment I saw Asus Zenbook Duo and Asus Zenbook Pro Duo getting launched today at computex.
Immediately, I knew I gotta speak about this.
Guys, this is big.
And no I am not going to pump you up with stupid non-sense, just because a new gadget is launched.
We all know, new gadgets are launching at a pace that it isn’t news anymore.
But these two laptops, Asus Zenbook Duo and Asus Zenbook Pro Duo may just be the beginning of something really special.
And that is precisely why I am sharing this post with you.
Asus Zenbook Duo Lineup : Why Is This launch Special ?
So what is it that is so special about asus zenbook duo ?.
Is it just way it is designed ?.
Or the newer and faster technology that is implemented into it ?.
Well, yes and no.
I mean newer faster tech is good and all but I want to provide a different perception to you about the whole thing.
The moment I saw this laptop what I felt was how many dimensions can innovations have.
When innovation is the point of discussion, our heads are biased against a simple understanding that innovation means having more firepower.
New tech pieces, faster tech and more features.
Well that is fine if you think about it, but my question is, Is innovation just that ?.
Evolution Of Laptops
Let’s see how laptops have evolved over time.
We are very well versed with traditional laptops. You are probably using one right now while reading this. A screen and a keyboard attached with a hinged connection that can be folded. And a nice little touchpad in the middle for mouse movement.
So I am not going to waste your time by talking about basic features a laptop offers.
Now let’s look at the innovative aspects that various big laptop companies have introduced over a period of time.
Razor five years ago introduced are touch screen beneath the mousepad and also decided to place it on the right side of the keyboard.
Apple decided to remove the function keys altogether and replaced it with touch bar.
Like everything else, some people liked that some people disliked that and most people agreed that the price premium that was imposed on by the introduction of a touch bar was a tad bit more than it should have been.
In any case, the point I am trying to make is there have been continuous inputs into upgrading laptop technologies in a variety of different ways.
So in this post I am not trying to discuss the different kind of technologies that have been introduced per say because you already are aware of how things have been progressing in this direction.
What I am want to discuss with you guys through this post is how innovation can be introduced in a piece of tech in a variety of different fragmentary ways and not just in the ways that are absolutely obvious to us.
Allow me to elaborate.
There is NO Such Thing As Technology Saturation,
I have seen many people wander about this. At many points in time I have seen comments about what will be the end point in technology.
When I say end point I mean that state where we think okay this is it, this is magic and there’s nothing more they could do.
Remember that day when you got your first smartphone ?.
When you switched from the ol’ keypad WLL to a screen touch Wi-fi enabled smartphone.
I am sure you might have just like me thought, man this is it !!. I don’t think they will beat this tech.
Lo and behold, the very next iteration featured a front camera that knocked the socks of your phone’s camera.
Innovation Or Marketing Gimmick,
Moreover, not all innovations are accepted the same way all the time.
We know for a fact that people are very eager to have smartphones that feature more real estate in terms of screen usability.
Which is precisely why new smartphones are introducing new teardrop notch for front camera (Vivo V11 Pro) or are even going to an extent to incorporate front camera in a separate animated entity as is the case in (Vivo V15 Pro).
In this digital world, I feel there are two existential facts.
Everyone knows everything.
And nobody knows a damn thing.
Here is what I mean by that in this context.
If companies are introducing a gimmick just for the sake of being “innovative“.
People will sense that.
Oh yes they will, and they are gonna shout about that all over social media.
This is something that we saw when Razer Blade was launched.
Many people saw the animated touchpad innovation as a gimmick.
When I say a gimmick they argued whatever new feature that they are getting into their device has a price premium that is not justified.
Asus Zenbook Duo Lineup : Gimmick Or Something Real
I also said in this new world, nobody knows anything.
What I mean is knowledge always goes hand in hand with ignorance.
There’s no complete knowledge about anything.
And why that is good is because this tends us to keep exploring newer dimensions in life and technology.
So when I saw Asus Zenbook Duo and Asus Zenbook Pro Duo today, my tech senses immediately started scanning everything about them.
And I saw something that most reviewers out there are not seeing. And I wished to share it with you.
I immediately perceived something new in how technology has been advancing.
And what are the various parameters or dimensions into which we can expect technology to go.
Computex 2019 : A Fresh Introduction
The introduction of asus zenbook duo and asus zenbook pro duo laptops at computex 2019 is giving us a deeper insight as to how technological companies are looking to advance their gadgets going into the future.
Let me again pull up our previous example of switching between smartphones.
So the moment we have something new in our hands. We almost make a conclusion that this is the way things are and we wonder whether are there any other things in which tech can push through.
Saturation has and will always exist in our minds. It’s not an existential reality.
The innovation in Asus Zenbook duo lineup proves just that.
In the technologically advancing civilization that we are a part of we tend to always look at technological advancements in terms of hardware and software upgrades.
And I am questioning the whole conditioned understanding into technology.
Is hardware and software upgrades the only upgrades that lead to innovation. High price premiums and high end tech pieces.
I understand that yes, both these things are important. But are they the only driving force for innovation.
Asus in it’s zenbook additions is touching something very intelligently.
It is basing its hardware and software drive towards a subtle aspect and letting that drive the hardware and software capabilities.
And that basis is.
Productivity
When everyone is using a laptop. Just creating a better laptop isn’t worth it is it ?.
It has to touch something that in a subtle form benefits everybody. And these subtle things are innumerable in nature.
What does an innovation needs to tackle really ?.
Enhancing human activity, isn’t it ?.
How to get a task done in the most effective way possible that reduces human effort is what all of these things should be directed towards.
So all of these advancements that we have seen over the years in laptops whether it be Razer blade with its animated touch pad or the Touchbar in Macbook Pro seem to follow along in this direction.
And one thing that the Touchbar gave, especially to video content creators is the ability to append audio transitions in the beginning and ending of the video clip using it.
In both these cases, there were a lot of arguments whether the introduced innovations were useful or just a gimmick ?.
And yes, like everything else people were divided in the argument each group having its own “idea” on the matter.
Where Does Asus Zenbook Duo Lineup Stand ?
Now let’s look into what Asus Zenbook Duo lineup offers and is it any good.
Because upgrading one version of your laptop to a different version by just introducing a faster processor is not an innovation after all is it ?.
But introducing some kind of aspect in a laptop that subtly enhances productivity to a whole new level is what truly innovation is.
This is what I feel Asus with their new asus zenbook duo lineup is trying to achieve.
People have no problem whatsoever in paying, they just don’t want to pay for something that isn’t worth.
With due consideration to exceptions where we stop thinking and just throw our money because something looks good. :P. *cough* *cough* Titan XP.
And incorporating innovation craftily is what I feel Asus has achieved in this introduction.
And isn’t this something that every technological company needs to pay more attention into ?. Trying to capitalize on subtle things ?.
Subtle But Effective,
When I use the word subtle this is what I mean.
Innovation doesn’t necessarily mean you have to put in more firepower into the system.
It simply means paying attention to what a customer really needs and incorporating it in a crafty form in the system.
Asus is capturing a very beautiful need that new creators desperately want from their system.
If you are a digital marketer like me.
Look at what kind of things I can do. Maybe I want to write a comprehensive review on a new keyboard that is being released.
I have my post on which I am going to write on the secondary screen of the asus zenbook duo.
I can have a video going on the main screen and maybe the official spec sheet along with it on split screen.
Since I don’t necessarily need to look onto my screen while writing that much. I can split secondary screen in three parts.
One for writing, second can be a planner app like trello or maybe a slack window. And on the third split maybe I am just browsing memes :P.
It’s Not Just About Laptops,
So, is this innovation only about laptops.
Or is this a general perception that any company can take.
A car company, a phone manufacturer, a truck manufacturer you name it.
Let’s take an example of car manufacturers.
In my experience of working in an automobile company I actually came onto one such innovation presented by someone in the workspace.
What he did suggest was provide a mechanically folding gear lever or gear stick, that can be converted to align horizontally with the cabin floor.
What this allows to do is provide more space for driver to rest when he is sleeping.
Simple but so effective.
Because truck drivers especially in India are mostly sleep deprived. They take their fleet overnight through long distances.
Rest deprivation affects their driving. They then tend to rely on nerve stimulants to keep driving or worse in most cases using alcohol to keep themselves awake.
Do you still wonder why there are so many accidents, animal accidents on roads.
This is innovation.
Why Laptops When PC Is Much Powerful For The Same Price Point,
Good question.
And again the simplistic answer would be.
Portability. Man stop satisfying yourselves with other people’s answers.
No, It’s not just portability.
Have you seen more and more people are now basing their office on their laptop and travelling the world.
Photographers, content creators, YouTuber, Bloggers, e-commerce, entrepreneurs you name it.
Laptops are the centers of almost all creators now.
So portability is of course something that is important but what is far more important is laptops that can handle large work chunks like editing video with ease and promote productivity.
So portability, power and productivity is why laptops are forming the biggest market share in electronics industry.
And all three areas are wide open for innovation.
Who Else Can Use Asus Zenbook Duo,
Now let’s look, is Asus Zenbook Duo lineup touching all the check boxes.
Let’s remove portability factor because well it is a laptop.
Now let’s talk power.
And you might be forgiven to think if you really want power you must actually go for a PC.
We have talked on all of this in great detail in how to build your own pc post.
But can you see the reason behind why we want more power on laptops.
Editing videos require high core counts on the processor side if you are a video creator. A good and powerful graphics is just a norm if you think about gaming.
And a good and efficient power management if not present you won’t even bother with laptops. Plus, how can we forget a nice bright and beautiful screen.
Thankfully, it seems asus zenbook pro duo is hitting all of those segments out of the park.
You can check all the specs on their official website here.
Since it is not a review post but a post on perception so I am not going into exact essential details here as far as specs are concerned.
But one look and you will say yup this looks like a beast.
Some More Use Cases,
Video Content Creators
I can see so many productive aspects that creative human beings can make use of the dual screen.
For example, let’s say you are a video creator.
So when you are working with an app that lets you edit videos like premiere pro.
In PP, there is this main timeline and there are so many different windows that you work with.
Now if you are working on a PC there is a chance that you can just go ahead and get a screen which has large real estate.
And you can sit at your home spread PP’s Windows everywhere and get everything that you want to do in just one place.
But when we talk about laptop they inherently have less real-estate because of their portability.
So if a video creator decides to go with a laptop like Asus zenbook Pro Duo what he can do is just drag his timeline over onto the second screen.
Which very conveniently is placed just above the keyboard.
And now you can focus completely on using the real estate that is left on the main screen to open up windows like color correction and maybe an audio mixer window.
So in this way having more real-estate can enhance video creators productivity in creating better videos because if this scheme was not there the reduced real estate in causes more video creation time.
Music Creators
And not just with video editors let’s say you are somewhat of a music creator I can see so many uses that you can have with the help of this laptop.
I saw one such video on YouTube in which the secondary screen was being deployed to play Piano.
The guy was playing piano really bad though but that’s not the point .
Therefore, if you are a professional piano player you can use the secondary screen to play piano and on the main screen you may have a music sheet. Or music theory indicator thingy, I don’t know I am not a musician.
But you get the point.
For Non-Specific Uses
Now let’s just talk about how you can use this laptop and enhance productivity as well.
let’s say you are booking a holiday trip.
On the main screen you can browse for flight tickets.
Whereas, on the secondary screen you may have a calendar, a calculator and maybe a screen browsing various destinations.
So effectively what is happening is multitasking is increasing.
And with increased multitasking you will find the effective hours in getting the task done for your work is getting reduced and thus there is an increase in productivity.
With these examples, I hope I was able to put forth the very essential aspect that I wanted to put forth.
The point being that innovation has a variety of different dimension and not just upgrading hardware or software capabilities.
And true innovation is that which in some way or the other enhances human capabilities to a whole new different level.
AMD Coming In With A Bang With Ryzen
Another very interesting thing that has been happening in computex is AMD slaying it with awesome Ryzen 3rd gen lineup.
AMD is apparently taking the PC gaming / productivity / creator space by storm I mean look at the the product line up they have been introducing.
And this without any doubt, is one of the best thing that is happening in the computer space.
The space in which people like to build a computer for themselves.
For the first time gamers, creators or anyone who wants faster and stronger computers are having so many options to choose from.
Options which are not just fast and process things incredibly well but also are very light on our pockets.
And AMD is as a result receiving lots of love from the tech community.
Our Tendency To Divide And Form Conclusions About Everything : Is It Doing Any Good ?
One thing that is bound to happen when something like this happens in the world is.
People always get divided into different segments and start commenting on the happening in a very opinionated sense.
I am not saying you can’t have your opinion. But it is very important to understand that opinions always have a basis of limited knowledge that one has in his or her head.
Forming an opinion and then trying to force it down someone else throat just because you think it is right is borderline abusive.
I know many people won’t like this statement but that’s fine.
When you don’t have a personal touch to your input your words go from opinions to perception.
Now you say things like a solution and you are open to suggestions rather than a commandment that probably only you think is true.
Let’s not be arrogant. Is there something wrong in being arrogant.
Nothing wrong. It’s just that you will never know true well being that’s all.
What Can Be Our Response In This Case
So the things people say on social media are.
Intel Is Dead.
Or Intel Is This Or That. And things of that flavor.
By the way this is coming from a guy who rocks an AMD Ryzen 6 1600 with Sapphire RX 580.
Nothing dies in this world. Everything evolves from one phase to the next.
What is definitely a fact is over the years Intel has been enjoying a monopolistic market over the years.
What is also a fact is after many years tech enthusiasts and pc builders are enjoying a time where they have bounty of options.
Should we take this time as an opportunity to form conclusions.
Or should we take this opportunity to capitalize and rejoice on the power shift.
Intel is a resourceful company and has all the essential resources to produce something fantastic.
What we as consumers can do is become aware and sensible.
Don’t go ahead and pick an Intel chip just because you “love” the company. Or don’t ditch the fact that Intel is a powerful company and is very capable of producing something if “It wants to“.
And Intel will do it if “We Want To“.
Yes. When are we going to realize that the power is in consumer’s hand.
Power that a company apparently holds is an illusion. Tell me what will happen if we decide to stop buying products.
But there is a tendency within us to get attached to things and we tend to make our decisions not based on what is needed but what we think.
So when a company sees that old things are not working because their customer base is aware. They will start bringing in new innovations.
What Can Be Intel’s Response In This Case
What I’m trying to say is the very thing that is happening right now is much bigger and much more fantastic than our mere labels.
Now you might be thinking why I am discussing this aspect in a post about Asus zenbook duo.
Because there is a sweet relation between the two things.
What Intel may need to do right now is introduce some kind of innovation that the market or its customer base has not seen before.
What is it going to be ?.
Well, I don’t know. I don’t have the knowledge base to say that. But gues what Intel definitely does.
What I am trying to say is innovation may not be necessarily hidden in just technological upgrades.
It may very well be hidden in what users are looking for. This is what Asus achieved with their Asus Zenbook duo lineup.
And I am fairly sure Intel can do that too.
Finding innovation not in hardware necessarily.
But in what users are looking for. And ofcourse hardware upgrade can follow.
Did that make sense.
I hope it did.
Moving Beyond The Competition Instinct,
One thing that our education system hasn’t been able to make students transcend is competition.
Forget about transcending it. Education system is virtually based on it.
Be better but be better than somebody else.
My question is what if the other guy is a monkey.
If I become better than him I am just a better monkey.
Competition is a very self defeating way of growth.
I am not saying you should learn what is happening out there and benchmarking things. But is it not important to continuously explore new dimensions.
Growing without any carrot in front of us. If you catch my drift !!.
This will happen only if there is love in our hearts. There is no other way.
A loveless basis of action will just see how to make more money.
And earn whatever God damn money you want. Don’t think you will have ease and peace as a consequence of money. Life doesn’t work like that.
And why else do you think a company establishes monopoly.
Simply because we haven’t transcended this stupid stupid illusion of ME, ME and ME.
When are we going to share together, think together, grow together.
The whole point being let the driving factor of a company especially a technological company not just be beating the competition.
The most important thing when a company is doing something let it do it for the people.
Of course, it is the most sensible thing to be aware of the competition as a benchmark as to how things are.
But when that benchmark, becomes a driving force mediocrity sets in.
Fall In Love With Your Customers.
And the success you will see will have a perfume you have never tasted before.
The very grounds on which technological advancements that are happening today unfortunately is still competitive.
Creating processes which are absolutely fantastic and hold their ground in a sense that they are very consumer-oriented is the need for the moment.
Let’s rejoice and create fantastic gaming and productivity computers with the gifts that we are being showered.
And at the same time let’s be aware and conscious as customers and do the necessary actions that leads Intel to bring forth something truly fantastic.
Because we know they have the necessary resources and capabilities.
And at the same time let’s keep AMD at it’s toes by showing it love and a lot more challenges.
Collecting Everything And Summarising
So it’s necessary to use this awareness not just in forming groups and saying this is bad and that is good and this is good and that is bad or dead.
But also to arrive at a point where we constructively see everything as a boon.
In the sense, that we are capable of seeing all those marketing gimmicks and arrive at that which benefits us.
So one more thing that I would like to point out before wrapping up this post is another thing that we guys do.
Let’s say one company is doing good today as far as customers is concerned. We all form a movement and take sides and start chanting their names.
Hypothetically then let’s say, this company turns its marketing tactics to core profits rather than customer satisfaction.
Then we get hurt and say oh this is so bad from so and so company.
And same thing happens on the other side as well. Today they are doing what you don’t want and you hate them.
Tomorrow they do something good and Oh they are so nice.
Is this all we are going to do.
We have to realize that what they produce is dependent on what we want. It’s a democracy. You see.
If we attach ourselves to a brand, you push them into a lax state where they start thinking Oh produce whatever produces maximum profit.
They will anyway buy what we produce.
This is where the imbalance of power happens. A renewed consumer awareness is required.
Where we are in love with everything but not attached to any damn thing.
Only then we will see clearly what is going on.
And companies don’t need to worry about innovation. Look at what Asus did with its Asus Zenbook duo lineup.
If you care about your customers, they will tell you what to produce. And that is what I feel Asus is capitalizing on.
That is when you start seeing innovations like productivity innovations.
And you are not just working on upgrading the potential of hardware purely but also focusing on exploring other dimensions of creativity that people will just love.
And we have to thank Asus for taking a step in that direction.
