The not-so-quiet revolution that’s taking place in the foldable smartphone space has also reached laptops. If you have loved the idea of using a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, you would be interested in the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, the world’s first 17.3-inch foldable OLED laptop, now available in India. Whatever one may feel about the pricing, a hat tip to Asus for coming up with tech that is genuinely innovative.
The reaction to the product has three stages. Take out the laptop and prop it up to elicit wows but then comes the second part: “Why should anyone get a folding laptop?” Then comes the third part after watching the device in action for a few minutes: “Oh, I can think of many use cases for a folding laptop.” The Zenbook 17 Fold can unfold into a 12.5-inch laptop or a 17.3-inch mobile workstation. There is a Bluetooth keyboard, which you may or may not use.
You can use it as a big tablet and hold it in your hand like a book while reading documents or checking your email, or you can fold it in half, in somewhat like the Flex mode on Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4. Most of the time I found myself using it with the kickstand at the back alongside the Bluetooth keyboard, which doesn’t need to be attached to the machine. In other words, the machine can be used at a cafe, on a plane or while lying on the bed.
However you use it, there is a beautiful 17.3-inch OLED screen with enough brightness and very high contrast ratio, making it legible under all lighting conditions. To get the most out of the screen, there is a ScreenXpert button that gives you quick access to three ways of splitting the screen. The screen is big enough to have two-three apps side by side. This is a flexible screen, so there is a slight crease down the centre which you wouldn’t mind after 10 minutes of usage; it doesn’t bother me at all. I can imagine taking the laptop to a meeting, giving a presentation on it. Or, use it in 12.5-inch laptop mode on the plane. If not anything, I can use it full-screen to watch movies.
You can fold the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED halfway through, like the Flex mode on Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 smartphone
Windows need to focus on folding screens
It boils down to performance on this Windows 11 laptop. The processor running the show is Intel Core i7-1250U processor, which offers high-level performance. For graphics, you have to depend on integrated Iris Xe. There is 16GB DDR5 and 1TB storage (PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD). Most of the time, you can breeze through tasks, like keeping multiple Chrome tabs open, video playing in the background and making a PowerPoint presentation. General programmes work well. The fan profile can be changed to performance mode and it’s handy while playing complicated games.
The only performance issue here is Windows and not Asus. We have had touchscreen devices for long but Microsoft still hasn’t got its game right. Windows 11 needs to be better optimized for touchscreens. For example, most of the time, it takes almost a second with orientation changes.
Since we are on the subject of things that can be improved in future iterations, weight needs be brought down from the present 1.5kg, which is fine for a laptop but bulky when used as a tablet. Second, the keyboard is brilliant but needs to have backlighting, plus an option to charge wirelessly.
The device is sturdy
What has been pleasantly surprising is battery life. The 75WHr battery can easily give six-seven hours of on-screen time, which is fantastic for a folding laptop. The 65W adaptor that comes bundled is also quite nice.
What does the future look like?
What Asus has achieved is impressive quality across the board. The all magnesium aluminum alloy chassis ensures there’s no flex anywhere and having two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C (40 GB/s data transfer) and a 3.5mm audio combo jack is acceptable. I got through all the daily tasks you can imagine doing in office and playing a game like League of Legends is not an issue. Unlike folding phones (beyond China), there is competition in the folding laptop space from Lenovo. Asus is in a unique space, considering the innovative products it constantly comes up with, like ROG Zephyrus Duo gaming laptops. At the moment, I can see CEOs and influencers walking around with the Asus folding laptop, which is actually three devices in one — tablet, desktop and laptop.
Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is definitely a step forward in laptops. It’s compact, eye-catching and can be used in different screen sizes. Give it time and the folding laptop will become a common workstation option. For the moment, the machine offers a window to the future of computing.
When the keyboard is taken out one can see the fold
At a glance
Device: Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED
Price: Rs 329,990
High notes
- Foldable OLED screen
- It can be used as a laptop, a tablet or a desktop
- Excellent battery life for a folding device
- Sturdy device that looks professional
Muffled note
- No backlighting on the keyboard
- Expensive