During CES, Asus presented one of the most spectacular laptops of recent years. With a whopping 17-inch size and a foldable screen, the Zenbook Fold OLED was unveiled thanks to one of the most disruptive designs and innovators of the moment. And now, finally, it arrives in Spain and we already know its price and availability.
It is, let us remember, a laptop with a folding OLED screen, in an ultra-compact and lightweight 12.5″ format that unfolds on itself to become a versatile 17.3″ device with 6 usage modes. And yes, despite its size, it is a kind of extremely light ultrabook in weight, since, without a keyboard, it only weighs 1.5 kg.
Despite being a folding device, it seems that Asus has solved one of the most recurrent complaints of this type of device in Zenbook Fold OLED. According to the company, the equipment features a precision-engineered, stepless 180° hinge mechanism that withstands at least 30,000 opening cycles.
Zenbook Fold OLED, technical characteristics
The most impressive feature is, without a doubt, its enormous FOLED type touch screen, in 17.3″ 4:3 format and with 2.5 K resolution. The panel has Dolby Vision validation, and incorporates four speakers with the signature of Harman Kardon and seal of Dolby Atmos.
But it is not the only thing that attracts attention, since this Asus team includes a 12th generation Intel Core i7 CPU with Intel Iris X graphicsand. In terms of connectivity, it also incorporates WiFi 6E and 2 USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports:
| CPUs | intel processors® Core™ 12th Gen i7-1250U |
| Screen | Unfolded: 17.3” foldable 2.5K (2560 × 1920) OLED touchscreen, 4:3 aspect ratio, 350 nits LED backlight Folded: 2 x 12.5” sections (1920 × 1280), 3:2 aspect ratio |
| Operating system | Windows 11 Pro/Home |
| Graphic card | Intel® Iris® Xand |
| Principal memory | Integrated 16GB LPDDR5 |
| Storage | 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD |
| connectivity | Intel Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Camera | 5 MP AI camera with 3D Noise Reduction technology HD camera with IR function and Intel Visual Sensing Controller Color sensor for automatic control of color temperature and brightness |
| I/O ports | 2 Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports (up to 40 Gbps), 1 audio combo jack |
| Audio | Four built-in speakers with Harman Kardon-certified Dolby Atmos, Built-in microphone with support for Cortana and Alexa voice recognition |
| Drums | 75 WhUp to 9.5 hours (12.5″ laptop mode); Up to 8.5 hours (17.3″ desktop mode) |
| AC adapter | 65W Type-C AC Adapter, Output: DC 20V, 3.25A, 65W |
| Dimensions | Unfolded screen: 378.5 × 287.6 × 8.7 ~ 12.9 mm Display folded: 287.6 × 189.3 × 17.4 ~ 34.4mm ASUS ErgoSense Bluetooth keyboard and touchpad: 285 × 182 × 5.5 mm |
| Weight | Without keyboard and touchpad ASUS ErgoSense Bluetooth: 1.5 kg With ASUS ErgoSense Bluetooth keyboard and touchpad: 1.8 kg |
Asus claims that the Zenbook 17 OLED has been tested to meet stringent US military standards MIL-STD-810H for reliability and durability. Logically, we will have to wait to see the constant use of the hinge and check if those 30,000 opening cycles comply with what was promised.
According to the company, the hinge system is prepared so that a user can open and close the laptop six times a day for more than nine years, well above the standard useful life of this type of equipment. It is quite likely that, given those numbers, the battery and other components will end their useful life before the hinge. But then again, this is numbers on paper.
Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, price and availability
Asus has confirmed that the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED will launch globally during the fourth quarter of 2022 and will start at $3,499 USD (without taxation). We still have no news about the final price based on the regional exchange rate, so we will have to wait once it lands in the different markets.
