A 17.3-inch tablet that folds in half and can therefore be used as a notebook: Asus’ Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is the largest device in its class.
Asus will launch its largest tablet to date in 2022. The highlight of the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED: The device can be folded in the middle and thus used almost like a classic notebook. There is no keyboard at the bottom, but an additional display area. You can have a virtual keyboard displayed on it for typing, or you can put on a small physical keyboard that is held in place with magnets.
When unfolded, the OLED display measures 17.3 inches. It displays 2560 × 1920 pixels in 4:3 format and completely covers the DCI-P3 color space. It also illuminates large areas with up to 350 cd/m² – up to 500 cd/m² are possible in certain areas. Folded up, the division corresponds to two 12.5-inch displays, each with a resolution of 1920 × 1280 pixels in 3:2 format.
The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED can be operated in all sorts of modes. If you want to use a particularly large screen, you can stand the device upright thanks to the kickstand and place the keyboard in front of it. Thanks to Bluetooth, no cable or plug connection is required.
Ten-core CPU with low TDP
Inside, Intel’s Core i7-1250U works with two performance and eight efficiency cores as well as an integrated Xe graphics unit that uses 96 execution units. The CPU belongs to the frugal 9-watt class, which can only go up to 29 watts for short boosts, such as when starting programs. There is also 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 1 TB PCI Express 4.0 SSD with preinstalled Windows 11 Home.
On the connection side, there are two USB Type-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 connection and an audio jack. The 75 Wh battery of the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is charged via one of the Type-C ports – so only one port is available for peripherals during the charging process. A radio module supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.
Folded with storage space for the keyboard
The device is 378.5 mm × 287.6 mm × 8.7 to 12.9 mm when unfolded – the Zenbook is slightly thicker in the middle due to the hinge mechanism. Incidentally, the latter was tested for 30,000 folding cycles. When fully closed, the two halves of the display do not lie flat, instead there is space to stow the keyboard between them. As a result, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is thicker than a classic Ultrabook when folded. Asus specifies the weight without the keyboard as 1.5 kg.
