Future Of Laptops Looks Exciting And Cool, And It's All Thanks To Dual-Screen Design

When Microsoft released Windows 8 about seven years ago, we first started to see some interesting laptop designs. Now, at Computex 2019, it seems like brands really aren't afraid to go crazy, and the result are some intriguing new builds that are cool as heck.

Specifically, a lot of them are now trying out dual-screen laptops.

HP Omen X 2S

HP Omen X2S

The first we saw was actually a few days before Computex. It's a gaming laptop from HP called the Omen X 2S with a traditionally large 15-inch 1080p display at 144Hz/240Hz, and a 4K HDR option as well. The really cool thing though is that, with the keyboard shifted down right to the edge of the laptop, the remainder of the body space is taken up by a secondary 6-inch 1080p display.

The second display is designed to be used in real time with a screen-mirroring feature. You can use it to zoom in on a minimap while playing a game for instance, use it to keep track of a livestreaming platform like Twitch without swapping windows, or even just keep an eye on your laptop's performance.

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo

Asus also introduced a dual screen laptop in the form of the ZenBook Pro Duo. Aside from the 15-inch 4K primary display, there's also a 14-inch 4K screen along the width of the laptop above the keyboard. You can use it in the same way you would the Omen's second display.

On the other hand, there's also a custom software that you can use to have the main display extend into the secondary one, or even use it to display multiple windows. Additionally, the traditional trackpad on the side also features a new design Asus developed last year, where it also acts as a digital 5.5-inch number pad

Intel Honeycomb Glacier

Intel 'Honeycomb Glacier'

This one is probably the craziest of the dual-screen laptop designs this year, and that's saying something. It's a prototype device from Intel called 'Honeycomb Glacier'. This incorporates a 15.6-inch main display with a 12.3-inch secondary display on the main body. The main difference between this and the Asus however is that the device features a double hinge.

You could just use it like the previous entry, in a quasi-traditional laptop form. Or, you can use that double hinge to raise the primary display further and up to a more vertical alignment. That also yanks the secondary display up to a more oblique angle, while the keyboard remains flat.

It's basically a laptop masquerading as an ergonomically-built full desktop.

Of course, as cool as all of these devices are, their success or failure ultimately depends on Microsoft. It's up to the OS-maker to design features into Windows that advantage of these secondary screens in an efficient fashion, or they just end up being useless gimmicks. But with the right kinds of ideas, these designs could actually become standard for laptops in the near future.