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The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is a large tablet with a 17.3 inch display… or a weird laptop with two 12.5 inch displays, including one that you can optionally cover with a physical keyboard.
First unveiled in January and kinda/sorta launched in August, the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is now available for pre-order for $3500.
The computer is powered by an Intel Core i7-1250U processor, which is a low-power 10-core, 12-thread chip with Intel Iris Xe graphics. Designed to consume between 9 and 29 watts of power, it’s an energy-efficient chip that might not offer all the performance you’d normally expect from a computer in this price range.
But what you’re paying for here is the big, high-res, foldable OLED display. And the processor should deliver much better performance than the Intel Lakefield chip that powered the first-gen Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold which was the first foldable OLED laptop/tablet hybrid to ship when it hit the streets in 2020.
The computer’s display is a 17.3 inch, 2560 x 1920 pixel screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio when unfolded and up to 500 nits brightness. It supports 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, Dolby Vision, and HDR, and the screen has a 0.2 ms response time.
You can hold the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED in your hands like a tablet or use the built-in leather kickstand to prop it up for use with a wired or wireless keyboard as if it were a portable desktop computer. But you can also fold the system at the center and use it like a laptop.
When folded, you effectively have two 12.5 inch, 1920 x 1280 pixel screens, each with a 3:2 aspect ratio. You can use the bottom screen as a virtual keyboard, drawing pad, or other input device. Or you can slap the Asus ErgoSense Bluetooth keyboard atop the bottom screen and use the system more like a traditional laptop.
Other specs for the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED include 16GB of LPDDR5 memory, a 1 TB PCIe NVMe SSD, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a headphone jack, a 5MP webcam, a 75 Wh battery, and support for WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. The computer measures 14.9″ x 11.3″ x 0.5″ and weighs 3.3 pounds.
If the $3500 price tag seems a bit steep, there is at least one other large-screen foldable on the way: Lenovo plans to launch a 2nd-gen ThinkPad X1 Fold soon with a 16.3 inch, 2024 x 2560 pixel foldable OLED display and a $2500 starting price.
That model will also be a little lighter, weighing just 2.8 pounds, while offering an extra USB 3.2 Gen 2 port (but no headphone jack), and optional support for 5G. But the entry-level version of Lenovo’s new foldable will likely have an Intel Core i5 processor and just a 48 Wh battery.
For now the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is pretty much in a category of its own. It’s available for pre-order from B&H, and there are coming soon pages at Newegg and Adorama. Asus has also indicate that the computer will eventually be available from Amazon as well.
Much cheaper to get the 2nd Gen Lenovo X1 Fold 2022 model.
(don’t get the Asus, or 1st Gen X1).
$3500 – as car price
I really like this concept.
However, I’m wondering what is the use case for the big screen when it’s unfolded. It feels like it would be too cumbersome to use as a tablet when unfolded, so most people would be using the full-screen to display something from a distance. There’s really not much games, movies, or books in that aspect ratio.
But I agree, this concept is great for laptop->tablet conversion, for a gadget designed to go into a backpack. The polar-opposite is a gadget designed to go into a pocket, and should convert tablet->phone. But that requires the screen be on the outside/hinge, and it fold from a square into a rectangle.
Sounds like devices of the future…
Personally I’d love it for work. The portability of a 13″ laptop but the screen of a 17″ laptop (technically 18.3″ 16:9 by screen area) once you reach a desk. Those laptop stands people use to put their laptop at monitor height and distance would make more sense too, no need for a separate keyboard and mouse when the built in one is removable.