ASUS debuted a 17.3-inch foldable tablet PC called the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED at CES in January, which drew a lot of attention.
Soon, if you have a few thousand dollars to spare, you’ll be able to own the device. At IFA 2022, ASUS announced that the foldable will start at $3,500 (£3,300 in the UK) and will be available globally by the end of the year.
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The Zenbook 17 Fold features a 4:3, 2.5K touchscreen and a 180-degree hinge that folds to form dual 12.5-inch, 1920 x 1280 displays with a 3:2 aspect ratio.
The screen has a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, a DCI-P3 color gamut of 100 percent, a 0.2 ms response time, a refresh rate of 60 Hz, up to 500 nits of brightness, and TÜV Rheinland-certified low blue-light emissions (ASUS says it has 70 percent lower blue-light levels than an LCD display).
Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos are supported. Four Harman Kardon-certified speakers are included with the Windows tablet. It also has a 5MP webcam, a color sensor, and an HD IR camera for face authentication.
The device includes a full-size ErgoSense Bluetooth keyboard (with an integrated touchpad) that can be placed on top of one half of the folded device. Alternatively, you can keep the entire display visible by placing the keyboard on your desk.
The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED Laptop has a thickness of 17.4mm. It weighs 1.6 kg (3.5 pounds) without the keyboard and 1.99 kg (4.4 pounds) with it.
The system can be configured with up to a 12th-generation Intel Core i7 processor with Intel Iris Xe graphics, up to 16 GB of RAM, and up to 1 TB of NVMe M.2 SSD storage.
Two Thunderbolt 4 ports enable fast charging of the 75 Wh battery as well as connecting the tablet to external displays. A 3.5 mm audio combo jack is the only other port.
It’s a fairly expensive device with what appears to be an early adopter tax. We haven’t tested the Zenbook 17 Fold yet, so it’s unclear how durable it will be in use.
We’ve seen all too many problems arise when a company creates an all-screen foldable for the first time, but hopefully ASUS has learned from Samsung’s problems with the first Galaxy Fold.
