Hey guys, welcome back to another TekDep repair and disassembly guide. Today we have an ASUS Zenbook Pro Duo to work on. This unique laptop has two touchscreens, an OLED main display, a 10th generation Intel core, and an RTX 2060. If during the repair guide you see any parts or tools you might need to do it yourself, click the link here.
Before We Start
As I mentioned above, this laptop is fairly unique. It has two separate touchscreen displays, with the primary one being an OLED 4K screen. It also has a combo touchpad/numpad just to the right of the keyboard. As for repairability, this comes with its pluses and minuses. The bulk of the device is just like any other laptop, fairly standard to disassemble, but the secondary display above the keyboard can’t easily be removed and replaced, especially for people doing home repairs.
Opening it Up
To begin, we will start from the bottom as usual. First there are eight clearly visible frame screws which you will need to unscrew. Once they are unscrewed, there are two rubber plugs covering an additional pair of screws. The plugs on the Zenbook Pro Duo are in my opinion far better than the traditional adhered rubber pads. They are much easier to remove without damaging them. This makes it much simpler to disassemble and reassemble the device without worrying about aesthetic damage.
Once you have all ten screws removed, you can take off the back plate. It is held in fairly firmly, so you will need a pry tool. When you get a bit lifted away from the clips, it becomes easy to continue to to remove from the frame. After you remove the plate, go ahead and take off the black plastic sheet that covers the motherboard and battery connector, and finally disconnect the battery.
Removing the Components
First, the battery should be removed. There are a few screws holding it in which can all be easily removed. Once unscrewed, then it can be just lifted out. Once the battery is removed follow it up with the smaller components. There will be the SSD, Network Card, and Speakers. The SSD and Network Card are removed just like with any other laptop, unscrewed and removed from their m.2 slot. The Speakers are connected to each other via a cable and into the motherboard through one port. The antennae both are connected to the keyboard backplate, so do not remove them yet, just disconnect the cables. The two display cables at the top of the motherboard can also be removed at this point, as well as the ribbon cables at the bottom.
Taking Out the Board
Now, start to unscrew the fans and heatsink assembly. Once they are unscrewed, take off the heatsink assembly first, then disconnect and remove the two fans. They should pull off easily, but the thermal paste on the heatsink can make it cling to the board a bit. Now that the board is entirely uncovered, go through and unscrew all remaining screws in the board and ensure all ribbon cables are detached. Lift the board right up and out of the case, and while lifting make sure that you have in fact disconnected everything.
Removing the Display and Touchpad
Now that you have the boards removed and the cables are disconnected, you can remove the OLED screen with ease. There are just six hinge screws, three on each side, that you will remove. Once all of them are removed, you can open the laptop screen to spread the hinges, and then gently slide them out of the bottom case. Make sure the display cables are not snagging on anything as you remove them. Take care to remember there are two display cables, as opposed to the more common single display cable on most laptops today.
Finally, the touchpad can be removed. It is held in by just three screws within the backplate of the keyboard. Once the three are removed, pull the top back away from the frame before sliding it out of the device, as it does slot into place with two prongs on the bottom.
Final Notes
Now, this device is not fully disassembled, but I would not recommend going further into the disassembly. The touch display in the top case is adhered tightly to the frame, and requires heating to be removed. This heat unfortunately also carries the risk of damaging the LCD display of that bottom screen. If you do need to replace that screen, I would recommend replacing the whole top case, not just that screen. Aside from that screen however, the Zenbook Pro Duo from ASUS is not too difficult a repair and I would say it rates highly as far as repairability goes.