We are used to seeing convertible laptops and even folding smartphones on large technology shows such as CES, but Asus appears this year with a very interesting folding device. Today, Asus announces Zenbook 17 OLED, and while the name just makes our ears excited, it doesn’t really express how ridiculous this laptop is.
To start things, Zenbook 17 folding OLED comes with an OLED 4: 3 17.3 inch screen, as the name suggests it. Asus said that the display was developed as part of the partnership between TI, Intel, and the BOE technology group. However, this is not just a 17-inch laptop, because the display can be folded into two to produce two 3: 2 1920 x 1280 displays which every hour at 12.5 inches.
With a folded display, the user can shift one half under the accompanying keyboard to change the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED into a 12.5-inch tiny laptop. In addition, the display can be folded around the keyboard for transportation, changing it into a machine “which is smaller than a photocopy paper,” according to Asus (although it was quite thick from a piece of paper, clearly).
Overall, Asus said that Zenbook 17 folding OLED has six different usage modes: PC, laptop, tablet, keyboard on the screen, book, and extend. It seems that some of these use modes are fully dropped the keyboard, and we hope some are more popular than others. However, Zenbook 17 folding OLED will offer more options than traditional 2-in-1 laptops, and the fact that you can delete the keyboard from a fully equation means that users must compete with more bulk when using zenbook on a tablet mode.
The display on the Zenbook 17 fold sounds very impressive, because Asus said that it was Pantone validated and supported Dolby Vision HDR when covering 100% of DCI-P3 color gamut. This machine displays a quad-speaker array that supports Dolby Atmos, and IR HD cameras can use AI to notify when the user is nearby.
It may not be surprising to know that Zenbook 17 folds will use an Intel 12-gen processor, but instead of the H series, we will get the i7 U-Series series processor here. However, the fact that this laptop uses the 12th U-Gen Series processor means that it will also support WiFi 6E. It seems that the Zenbook 17 fold will be available in several configuration options, because Asus said the machine would come with “up to” 16GB of RAM and SSD PCIE 4.0 1TB.
Folding Zenbook 17 will also be certified Intel Evo, so if you are looking for a fast machine, you might find it here. Intel EVO certification also shows that Zenbook 17 folds will offer a good battery life that lasts more than 9 hours even though the OLED screen is large. Finally, Asus also said that Zenbook 17 Fold will have two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports that support fast charging and 5 MP webcams that use the ASUS AI Tech 3D noise reduction.
Zenbook 17 Folding OLED will launch one time to the middle of this year, but what is important, the company does not reveal the details of today’s prices. While today’s announcement seems to suggest that there will be at least some configuration options, we expect everything expensive. Zenbook 17 Folding OLED is a cool laptop for sure, but such functionality will definitely come at a steep cost.