There is no other laptop quite like the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, at least at the time of writing. The laptop features a 17-inch OLED display that folds in the middle. Naturally, it opens up a world of possibilities and use cases, that regular, more conventional laptops can’t even begin to imagine. And obviously, it costs a lot of money too. We’ve reviewed the Zenbook 17 Fold at length, so be sure to check that out. Here’s the TL;DR version.
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The build quality of the Zenbook 17 Fold is premium and sturdy. Asus is using a combination of Magnesium-Aluminium alloy, faux leather, and glass. The all-round design is understated. When folded, it looks like a book. The Zenbook 17 Fold’s dimensions are quite compact for a laptop that folds, though it can still be a handful compared to a conventional counterpart. For quick context, it measures 8.7mm and weighs 1.5 kg.
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The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED has a 4:3 17.3-inch 2.5K touchscreen OLED display that folds in the middle to give you two 3:2 12.5-inch 1920x1280p displays. The panel is sourced from BOE and comes with 100 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut support and up to 500nits of peak brightness. It is also Pantone validated and can playback Dolby Vision HDR content. The display quality is quite good, no complaints there.
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Asus claims the hinge mechanism is designed to withstand over 30,000 full open-and-close cycles (that’s roughly 8 years of use with 10 cycles a day on average). Presumably, you’d open and close a laptop screen much less frequently than you would in case of a phone but you can’t be more careful with these things. For what it’s worth, the Fold exuded solid reassurance in day-to-day use right out of the box and it continued to do so throughout our 10-day testing period.
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Each half of the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED can be split into multiple windows and the contents arranged, using Asus’s ScreenXpert 3 and Mode Switcher apps. The folding form factor lets you seamlessly transition between multiple usage modes including full desktop, laptop, tablet, and reader. All this worked cohesively nearly 8 out of 10 times without any major hiccups during our review.
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You can use the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED as a stand-alone multimedia machine in landscape. There’s a handy kickstand tucked away neatly on the back for this which is a nice touch. Alternatively, you can fold the screen like a book and use it as a reader. Then, you can fold it into half –at 90-degrees— and use it as a laptop either by using Asus’s “extended mode” to run two different instances on the upper and lower half while continuing to use a keyboard or you can stash the bundled ErgoSense Bluetooth keyboard on top of the lower half and use the top as your primary screen. The software knows when you do this and instantly moves everything up.
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The Zenbook 17 Fold is powered by the 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1250U processor paired with Intel Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM and 1 TB of PCIe (Gen 4) SSD. The device is Intel Evo-certified. As a laptop, the Zenbook 17 Fold can do a little more than the basics including some light photo and video editing on it. The system can get hot when you stretch it any further, though.
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Connectivity options include two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports and a headphone jack. You get a quad-speaker Harman Kardon-certified Dolby Atmos sound system which can get quite loud and offer good stereo separation.
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Powering the package is a sizeable 75Wh battery with 65W fast charging available through the bundled adapter. We averaged about 6-7 hours on moderate use which is good, but not great.
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The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED price in India is set at Rs 3,29,990. Given that it’s an all-new form factor, understandably, it would largely appeal to early adopters who wouldn’t mind the high price for the promise of something new and daring. It is the first of its kind laptop to launch in India or even globally for that matter but it doesn’t look like a first attempt from any angle and for that Asus deserves a lot of credit. The Zenbook 17 Fold has a premium and solid build and a sharp display that can also fold and give you versatility like no other. Performance is good and battery life is adequate. The only downer could be the price, although there’s no way this thing can be called overpriced. (Photos credit: Saurabh Singh/Financial Express)
Also Read | Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED review: The best foldable in the market today
