So Asus sent us one of their most cutting edge devices that they have developed in recent history. Don’t get me wrong, we have reviewed some pretty awe inspiring machines from Asus in the past, but this goes on to a whole new level, literally. It is both a giant 17-inch tablet and a 12.5-inch laptop with a physical keyboard. Achieving this through the form of a giant foldable OLED screen. You have to see it to believe it.
The ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, has the best of both worlds in the portable tablet vs large screen laptop debate. This is both a tablet and a laptop!
- Colorful, bright 17.3-inch big-screen in landscape mode.
- Sleek design in compact, folding form factor.
- Attractive 17.3-inch OLED touch panel can turn into 12.5 inch functional, regular sized laptop.
- Wireless keyboard and a stunning Harman Kardon-certified quad-speaker offer a rich experience for both work and play.
So, first things first. This is most definitely, not for everyone. I feel Asus built this as their “Halo Car”, so to speak. This is what people in the auto industry refer to as a proof of capability. A mighty demonstration of what is possible and what might eventually end up in your regular priced, everyday devices in the future. This is the Lexus LFA of the laptop world. You most certainly desire to have one but you know it’s highly unlikely as a regular joe. But we can still ogle and drool, respectably.
The form factor takes a bit to get used to. We had never seen a bigger, foldable screen before. You’ll sit there and admire how the super colorful touch screen folds in your hands, how you never knew you needed to see images and videos where your physical keyboard usually is in your regular everyday poor person laptop. It really takes a while to wrap your head around all the real estate suddenly available to your eye balls. Glorious.
You can open spreadsheets like you have never before, you can do presentations for designs or edit images and videos in ways otherwise not witnessed usually in regular laptops. It’s a super performer as well, coming in with a 16Gb RAM and Intel Core i7-1250U processor.
This is premium stuff. You have the ability to almost double your screen size by simply removing the keyboard and using the screen as a monitor in landscape mode. So many options to enjoy this experience. Gaming and Videos are super enjoyable, and the sound, crisp Dolby Surround through in built Harman Kardon-certified quad-speakers.
The display, in whichever format you use it in is just awesome. Rich colors from the OLED display, true blacks and great contrast overall. You can barely see the crease, even at an angle. The curve just works seamlessly and feels natural.
It’s fairly small when you close it up (with the keyboard fitting perfectly inside), put it into its leather carry case and you’ve got something that looks like a book or a fancy planner that’s easy to slip even into a purse. Convenience personified.
So why are we so impressed with the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED? Because it works in practical situations. The main reason and idea is being able to carry around a large display in your normal bag. A laptop that can transform into an expanded canvas. This flexibility and functionality puts it in a unique and perhaps lonely pedestal. Not too many companies are attempting this, yet. Perhaps a sign of things to come. Asus is pioneering the way here and we are all smiling.
The overall design of the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is fairly sleek, with a dark blue magnesium alloy chassis, black faux leather, and thick plastic bezels. It feels a bit chunky, but reassuring to hold. It’s also not light, weighing in at 1.5 kg without its keyboard and 1.8 kg with it. Solid.
When folded in the laptop position, you can scroll by touching the extended screen all the way to the base, but the big ‘wow’ moment comes when you place the keyboard on top of the lower display. Not only does this turn the setup into a traditional laptop setup, but Windows seamlessly and automatically shuts off the lower part of the screen, shifting the taskbar and all your app windows to the upper display instantly. Very satisfying. It’s a beautiful machine, feels premium and is certainly a luxury product packed with performance to match.
It may be an expensive vanity piece, but it works perfectly and that’s the whole point. Asus knows they won’t sell a bunch of these to the masses and I think they are ok with that. The fact that they have managed to pull off and deliver to market such a daring product that is actually functional in almost every way should give you a lot of confidence for the future.
In conclusion, we would have loved to have kept the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED and use it for everyday work, but the reality is it’s prohibitively pricey. Some well to do early adopters will get it and keep it as a collector halo piece of brilliant tech, but the rest will mostly find it an admirable engineering demonstration that represents a first step toward making similar technology more accessible in the future. Asus is going in the right direction.
Specs Sheet:
Model
UX9702AA
Operating System
Windows 11 Home – ASUS recommends Windows 11 Pro for business
Windows 11 Pro – ASUS recommends Windows 11 Pro for business
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7-1250U Processor 1.1 GHz (12M Cache, up to 4.7 GHz, 2P+8E cores)
Graphics
Intel® Iris Xe Graphics
*Intel Iris Xᵉ Graphics is only available in models with Intel® Core™ i5/i7/i9 processors and dual-channel memory.
Display
17.3-inch, 2560 x 1920 FOLED 4:3 aspect ratio, 0.2ms response time, 60Hz refresh rate, 500nits HDR peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, 1,000,000:1, VESA CERTIFIED Display HDR True Black 500, 1.07 billion colors, PANTONE Validated, Glossy display, 70% less harmful blue light, Touch screen, (Screen-to-body ratio)87%
Memory
16GB LPDDR5 on board
Total system memory upgradeable to:16GB
Storage
1TB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 4.0 Performance SSD
I/O Ports
2x Thunderbolt™ 4 supports display / power delivery
1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
Keyboard & Touchpad
Soft Keyboard, 1.4mm Key-travel, Touchpad
Camera
5.0M camera with IR function
Audio
Smart Amp Technology
Built-in speaker
Built-in array microphone
harman/kardon (Premium)
with Cortana voice-recognition support
Network and Communication
Wi-Fi 6E(802.11ax) (Dual band) 2*2 + Bluetooth® 5
Battery
75WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion
Power Supply
TYPE-C, 65W AC Adapter, Output: 20V DC, 3.25A, 65W, Input: 100-240V AC 50/60GHz universal
Weight
1.50 kg (3.31 lbs)
Dimensions (W x D x H)
37.85 x 28.76 x 0.87 ~ 1.29 cm (14.90″ x 11.32″ x 0.34″ ~ 0.51″)
Built-in Apps
MyASUS Features
System diagnosis
Battery health charging
Fan Profile
Splendid
Tru2Life
Function key lock
WiFi SmartConnect
Link to MyASUS
TaskFirst
Live update
ASUS OLED Care
AI Noise Canceling
AdaptiveLock
