Folding screens are gaining momentum: after smartphones, the laptop may be the next playground for manufacturers. Asus seems in any case to be convinced and presents, on the occasion of CES 2024, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED. Open, we are facing a very large 17.3-inch tablet in 4: 3 format, equipped with an OLED panel in 2560×1920 pixels, all running under Windows 11. A hinge at the back allows it to be positioned vertically and thus becomes a real screen. You can then use the supplied wireless keyboard to work almost like on a desktop PC.
But the magic happens when you fold the whole thing up and the keyboard attaches magnetically to the lower part of the screen.. You then end up with an ultraportable PC in 12.5 inch format, displaying Full HD definition. Windows 11 also knows how to adapt and changes its interface when it detects the keyboard attached. The idea is therefore to take advantage of an ultra nomadic work machine and, once installed on a desk, a comfortable 17-inch display surface.
The disadvantage of this new design remains the rather heavy weight of the whole, since we are dealing with an ultraportable of 1.99 kg once the keyboard is attached to the screen. That’s a lot for a 12.5 inch PC. Without the keyboard, the Fold OLED weighs 1.6 kg. Same story for the thickness, raised to 3.2 cm with the magnetic keyboard.
Avant-garde in its design, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is also up to date when it comes to components. It incorporates a brand new 12th generation Intel Core i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM in LPDDR5, 1 NVMe SSD of 1 TB and WiFi 6E. The connection is however quite limited, with two Thunderbolt 4 compatible USB-C ports (including one on the detachable keyboard) and a jack port for audio. On the front of the screen, there is an HD infrared camera compatible with Windows Hello. Note that the Core i7’s iGPU is of the Iris Xe type and should allow some recent games to be played in 1080p provided the level of detail is lowered. For the rest, there is cloud-gaming.
To afford a Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, you will have to be a little patient and, above all, be ready to make a nice hole in your budget. The PC will be like this available “in the middle of the year 2024”, priced at € 3,999. This is the price to pay for avant-garde technology and we remind you that the very first Galaxy Fold from Samsung was sold for more than 2000 € when it was released.
