Don’t buy the Asus ZenBook 17 Fold OLED. This is my advice to everyone. Not just those looking for a practical hybrid working device, or those who wouldn’t consider a device costing around $3,500, but even super early adopters who have the cash burning a hole in their pockets for such a purchase.
Asus knows this, too. WIRED spoke to the freshman foldable manufacturer for an exclusive piece on the device’s prototyping process, and during our chat the director of technical marketing for gaming and PCs, Sascha Krohn, confessed: “Clearly price was not a consideration,” before adding, “this is not a mass-market product, this is not for everyone. ” Indeed.
The ZenBook 17 Fold OLED certainly isn’t ready yet, but … I love the idea. And between Lenovo and Asus—the only foldable PC makers around right now—there’s a future here. Despite my reluctance to recommend anyone buy this device, after using the ZenBook 17 Fold for a few weeks now, I’m fully onboard with folding PCs.
The main appeal is being able to carry around a large display in your bag. Some may think of this device as a laptop that can transform into an expanded canvas. However, something akin to a portable display with Windows onboard, rather than a laptop with a folding screen, is a more accurate description—especially when it comes to highlighting the best of this design.
When folded out and rested on the attached stand, the glorious 17-inch OLED screen is an ideal size for multitasking, or just tasks—like working in spreadsheets—that benefit from a larger display. The ZenBook 17 Fold OLED comes with a Bluetooth keyboard included in the package. The slim component can be tucked away inside the device when folded or carried separately.
It’s a good shape, size, and weight, akin to a 13-inch laptop’s keyboard, and can either sit on top of half of the machine when folded (to which the display will respond accordingly) or can be placed separately on a desk. The latter is my favorite way to use this device—a big and bright screen with the keyboard sitting in front. And, if the included keyboard and trackpad combination isn’t to your liking, you can always connect your own.
Conversely, I’m much less of a fan of the laptop mode. Asus says it has gone as big as it can with the 17-inch display here, but it still isn’t quite enough, as for this incarnation the screen size is halved. It becomes the size of a typical 13.
3-inch clamshell machine, but thick bezels mean the display is 12. 5-inches. The keyboard typing experience is worsened in this mode, too, with the accessory flexing more when not on a flat surface.
Overall, though, the typing experience is strong, if lacking a bit of travel, and the trackpad is pleasingly clicky. Having had hands-on time with its rival Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold (2022), Asus has it well beat. I’ll return to more points of comparison with its sole competitor later.
In fairness, my first impressions of the laptop mode were worse than they are now, as the large bezels, initially jarring, do fade a little and it is possible to get used to the rather small 12. 5-inch display size—especially if it’s only required when space is limited. The device is also usable with the keyboard removed from laptop mode, offering half of the screen facing you and half the screen flat.
Asus showcases this as another mode, but I’ve yet to find a real use for this that would prevent me from just using the display fully folded out. The innards of this foldable offer up solid productivity laptop-like specs—and resulting performance. There’s a lower power U-Series 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor alongside 16-GB RAM, and 1-TB SSD.
As such, with no dedicated graphics card, don’t expect gaming or editing capabilities. The typical performance is what you’d expect, and the device rarely gets all that warm. However, the battery life isn’t great—hitting around 5 to 6 hours of screen time in a day.
This can somewhat be forgiven with the impressive big and bright display inevitably causing some of this deficit. Away from productivity performance, when folded out, the ZenBook 17 Fold OLED is just an amazing device for watching videos. Admittedly, the crease becomes more visible when viewed at an angle, hindering the experience, but it’s pretty easy to ignore.
I had a blast watching sports on the 17. 3-inch panel, and you can do some big-screen game streaming, a workaround for the lack of internal gaming performance. So, this device’s performance is capable, but has a few form factor-related hurdles to overcome.
Throughout my use of this device, the separate keyboard has regularly ground to a halt for anything between 30 seconds and a minute, introducing a whole lot of lag—likely down to Bluetooth connectivity. Then, something you’d expect to be a fundamental of a foldable PC is rather unreliable: adjusting modes and screen orientation. The orientation does not always automatically switch between portrait and landscape mode, and the machine also regularly fails to respond to the placing of the keyboard on the display.
The problem was often fixed with a swift restart, but not always at the first attempt—an annoying quirk for a device prided on its changeability. Like with the laptop mode, I’ve come around to the overall portability of this foldable PC. Yes, it’s much thicker than your average laptop, but it’s to allow for a humongous display.
Furthermore, the smaller surface area can initially make this device feel heavier than it is, but, at 1. 5 kg, it weighs less than a MacBook Pro 14 (1. 6 kg).
It’s not a machine you’re going to feel weighed down by. Being able to take a 17. 3-inch display on the go with relative ease feels like the true selling point of the ZenBook 17 Fold OLED.
To expect a lot from the port selection and speakers here would be foolish as it is such a slimline device, but it costs $3,500, so only so much leeway can be given. It matches up with most higher-end productivity laptops these days, with limited ports—just two Thunderbolt 4s and a headphone jack. On the sound, I was pleasantly surprised.
The ZenBook 17 Fold OLED can get pretty loud while remaining satisfyingly rich and accurate. There is a lack of bass though. The overall design of the device is fairly sleek, with a dark blue magnesium alloy chassis, black faux leather stand, and thick plastic bezels.
It looks far less like a book than the rival Lenovo X1 Fold does and more like a large wallet-cum-laptop. You also get an actual wallet to store the device and keyboard. The leather-like coating used on the keyboard does leave a bit to be desired, with the way it slightly lies over the edge of the peripheral inviting wear.
But it is hydrophobic, meaning water just wipes off. As a full package, though, it doesn’t scream $3,500 worth of quality, that money is going to the innovation rather than luxe design. To reiterate, at this astronomically high price, and given the teething problems, it’s impossible to recommend this device, but foldable PCs are going to become a thing.
Foldable PCs have a clear purpose, maybe more so than foldable phones that have felt the need to claw at various quirks to justify their form—see Samsung promoting its, admittedly great, Galaxy Z Flip 4 as a camcorder when you hold it sideways at 90 degrees. These devices can be a laptop when space is limited or a big-screen, portable, monitor-like, all-in-one PC when you want to stretch out. And aside from distracting you from that price, Asus has another task—beating Lenovo, which is two years ahead.
The differences between this machine and Lenovo’s first attempt are evident. Lenovo’s first X1 Fold was a 13. 3-inch display when folded out, making for a tiny “laptop mode.
” However, Lenovo has now revealed its second generation ThinkPad X1 Fold. I’ve had hands-on time, and our review will come before its release date in November, but let’s just say Asus has a formidable competitor on its hands. In many ways, this Asus is just a large version of the original X1 Fold, with a better keyboard.
The second generation Lenovo has learned lessons from the last. It’s now 16. 1-inches, offers slimmer bezels, and has shed weight by making the stand a separate component completely.
Lenovo is also far more comfortable than Asus with the use of a stylus on its display. Asus states that only a capacitive pen should be used on its panel. The real kicker is that the Lenovo costs $1,000 less than the ZenBook 17 Fold OLED.
Asus still definitely has the X1 Fold beat with its keyboard, but I’ll await further testing before making a full judgment on what appears to be smart moves by Lenovo this time. But despite the lack of appeal of this specific device, the Asus ZenBook 17 Fold OLED has convinced me of the case for foldable PCs. Big-screen Windows, anywhere.
It’s just a matter of getting the price down, modernizing the look, and improving connectivity. The Asus ZenBook 17 Fold OLED will be available to buy in Q4 2022 for $3,499 (£3,299). .
From: wired
URL: https://www.wired.com/review/asus-zenbook-17-fold-oled/
