We take a look at & assessment the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED pill / convertible laptop computer gadget
The ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is one more pioneering gadget from probably the most revolutionary laptop computer producer on the market, who’ve spoiled us this 12 months with new iterations of assorted fascinating designs just like the ASUS ROG Circulation X16, ASUS ROG Circulation Z13, and the ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED House Version.
The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is the biggest foldable OLED show gadget at the moment accessible, and the Taiwanese firm has needed to overcome numerous technical challenges as a way to make it a actuality. It could change between a 17.3-inch, 4:3 2560 x 1920 pill and a 12.5-inch, 3:2 1920 x 1280 laptop computer with removable keyboard, in addition to numerous different partially folded configurations relying in your wants.
The distinctiveness of this pill/laptop computer in the marketplace does imply nevertheless that it fetches a really excessive value. The query is, is it well worth the cash? Let’s discover out.
ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED
Graphics
Intel Iris Xe (iGPU)
Storage
1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0
Display screen Measurement
17.3″ / 12.5”
Specs & upgradability
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4:3 2560 x 1920 / 3:2 1920 x 1280
2x Thunderbolt 4 (65W energy supply), 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
Professionals
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distinctive foldable design -
OLED show with unbeatable distinction & blackpoint -
good peak brightness -
good sRGB & DCI-P3 coloration accuracy & gamut -
good panel uniformity -
nice battery life -
nice construct high quality -
good aesthetic -
Helpful software program options & efficiencies
Cons
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display screen too smooth for many styluses -
underpowered i7-1250U CPU and Iris Xe iGPU -
extraordinarily costly contemplating the core parts -
not sufficient ports -
indifferent keyboard lacks angled stand -
central fold seen until seen straight on
ASUS made it clear that we weren’t allowed to take away the again of our assessment copy to take a look on the internals, nevertheless, they did provide us with some pictures. Eradicating the again could be achieved however requires the cautious elimination of the protecting leather-based binding part, and if you happen to’re contemplating this we’d advise ready for a video to return out exhibiting you precisely methods to do it.
The 16GB LPDDR5 RAM that comes with each gadget is soldered on, which sadly means upgrading the reminiscence just isn’t doable. The usual 1TB M.2 SSD can nevertheless be upgraded down the road, must you want, probably as much as one thing as excessive as 8TB from what we collect. The gadget comes with a WiFi 6E card.
The very best CPU choice accessible is the Intel Core i7-1250U, a twelfth gen U-Collection processor designed particularly for convertible thin-and-light laptops and tablets. Given it’s restricted to solely 2 Efficiency cores and eight effectivity cores, don’t count on a lot in the best way of processing energy in comparison with highly effective gadgets just like the Circulation X16, Circulation Z13, and Zenbook 14X OLED, which include ‘full-size’ laptop computer CPUs. It will have been good to see a minimum of a extra performance-focused P-series ultralight twelfth gen CPU (which include extra cores and better energy allocation than the U-series), and this loadout is considerably disappointing. Unsurprisingly for a pill, there isn’t any devoted graphics card, and the GPU is an built-in Intel Iris Xe mannequin.
Software program options & OS
The ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED makes use of Home windows 11 and you’ll make the most of the entire gestures frequent to different Home windows 11 touchscreen gadgets.
Like all pill, reorientating the display screen routinely rotates the window between panorama/portrait mode. Hovering your cursor over any maximize/restore down icon when you have got a window open provides you the choice to separate the display screen 50-50, 70-30, 50-25-25, or 25-25-25-25, which may be very useful while you’re manipulating home windows in your show.
The first proprietary software program on the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is MyASUS, which accommodates a variety of helpful options, as follows:
- Battery Well being Charging: choices to restrict the battery cost most to delay its lifespan.
- Fan Profile: Efficiency mode / Normal mode / Whisper mode.
- AI Noise-Canceling Microphone: Off / Primary reception optimization / Single presenter convention name / Multi-presenter convention name.
- AI Noise-Canceling Speaker: Filter out all sounds besides human voices from the laptop computer speaker.
- ASUS OLED Care: An array of choices to enhance the lifespan of the show amongst different issues, together with Pixel refresh / Pixel shift / Routinely cover Home windows taskbar in desktop mode / Home windows taskbar transparency impact.
- OLED Flicker-Free Dimming: A slider from 1-100 permitting you to guard your eyes at low brightness ranges from potential flickering results.
- Splendid: Gamma/coloration temperature presets and sliders, letting you view a extra vivid picture or enhance Blue Gentle Eye Care, relying in your necessities.
- Colour Gamut: Offers an choice of 4 coloration gamut show profiles to change between: Native (Default vivid colours) / sRGB (Normal internet content material colours) / DCI-P3 (Normal cinema colours) / Show P3 (Wider true-to-life colours).
- Tru2Life: A video enhancement expertise much like high-end TVs – optimizes the sharpness and distinction of video footage.
- Goal Mode: dims the brightness of all non-active home windows to avoid wasting battery and enhance show longevity.
- Webcam impact: Off / Lightning Optimization / Background Blurring / Eye Monitoring / Movement Monitoring
- WiFI Rangeboost Sensor: Dynamically adjusts sign energy for optimum WiFi protection.
- Operate Key lock
- AdaptiveLock: Solely accessible when the gadget is in laptop computer mode, this makes use of the HD InfraRed digicam to detect while you’re sat in entrance of or trying on the show to dim/lock the display screen for safety and battery saving functions: Stroll-Away Lock (routinely locks your laptop while you stroll away from it) / Wake on Return (routinely wakes the pc up while you strategy it) / Look-Away Display screen Dimming (routinely adjusts your brightness relying on the place you’re dealing with).
Design aesthetics
The ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is a smart-looking gadget. When folded up, the outside of the pill is half lined by a pretend leather-based wrap-around with a darkish greyish blue coloration, which serves to guard the hinge mechanism and accommodates the kickstand. This binding makes the gadget resemble a pleasant workplace binder/pocket book, as does the fake leather-based protecting journey case it comes with (with magnetized flap).
The uncovered part of the highest/entrance of the folded pill has a delightful reflective floor, with a darkish metallic tint, and a wierd optical phantasm impact that makes it look barely concave from sure angles. The Starfleet-esque ASUS triangle brand can be current on this part, and the entire thing appears very tasteful and positively workplace appropriate. The metallic floor does appeal to a variety of smudges although, as is typical for this kind of materials in different gadgets.
While you open up the Zenbook 17 Fold, the inside bezel of the gadget has an uncommon smooth matte rubberized really feel, virtually feeling like suede material. It’s a reasonably mid-sized bezel, however in comparison with the dimensions of the show it appears pretty unobtrusive.
The wrist relaxation space of the keyboard across the trackpad is fabricated from the identical fake leather-based because the binding of the pill, with the plastic keys and trackpad being of a barely darker shade.
There isn’t a RGB on the pill, and apart from the show itself, the one mild supply comes from the small energy/charging lights of the pill and removable keyboard.
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Measurement, construct high quality & ergonomics
The scale of the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED are as follows:
unfolded: 378.5 x 287.6 x 8.7~12.9 mm
folded: 287.6 x 189.3 x 17.4~34.4 mm
Wanting on the weight now:
tablet: 1.60kg / 3.53lb , pill & keyboard: 2.00kg / 4.4lb
The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED isn’t precisely mild in comparison with gadgets just like the Floor Professional or iPad, however we wouldn’t name it heavy both, and it’s fairly spectacular how moveable it’s and the way properly all of it matches collectively (keyboard included) – simply transportable in a small bag.
The ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED can be utilized in quite a lot of alternative ways. Utilizing the language of ASUS themselves there may be Laptop computer mode (when the keyboard attaches the ‘backside’ half of the show with a satisfying click on, and the display screen output routinely converts to the brand new 3:2 1920 x 1280 half display screen), Pill Mode (the gadget in its fullsized, unfolded state), or ‘PC Mode’ (basically simply pill mode however stood up on the stand and with the removable keyboard in entrance of it, mimicking the shape issue of a desktop monitor and keyboard, although with the {hardware} behind the show). You too can prepare it stood up in E-book Mode – curved barely alongside the bend of the central crease – although this has considerably much less utility.
When the kickstand is totally opened up the pill leans again at a few 40 diploma angle. The stand could be introduced nearer to the laptop computer, making the display screen stand extra upright (i.e. nearer to a vertical place), although relying on the angle you have got it at it’s not all the time steady if you happen to occur to knock the gadget.
General the construct high quality is excellent, like just about all ASUS gadgets. The apparent susceptible space (the bend in the course of the display screen) nonetheless manages to really feel comparatively sturdy, and ASUS claims it’s good for about 30,000 folds, which it equates to in all probability 5 years use if you happen to’re opening and shutting it about fifteen occasions per day. In fact, that is tough to inform in a assessment copy, and we’ll have to attend and see how patrons report again on sturdiness over the approaching years.
The one draw back in construct high quality phrases is the softness of the display screen itself. As we’ll talk about later, the fabric ASUS have had to make use of for the foldable OLED panel they’ve used is simply too smooth for use with most styluses, which suggests it is going to be very simple to scratch and harm. This can be a machine that can require dealing with with care, significantly given its very excessive asking value.
Keyboard & trackpad
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The Asus Fold bluetooth Keyboard is particularly designed for ASUS Zenbook Fold gadgets, and has the magnetic clip-on function already mentioned above.
The perform keys alongside the highest of the keyboard embody a button to allow/disable the touchpad, to venture the display screen to a different gadget (with PC display screen solely, Duplicate, Prolong, or Second Display screen solely choices), a Bluetooth settings shortcut, two shortcut buttons you may bind to completely different Bluetooth gadgets, a Snipping Device shortcut, and a MyASUS shortcut.
The Bluetooth shortcuts are significantly helpful, as you may pair the keyboard with one thing like your sensible TV say, and simply change between utilizing it to your Zenbook 17 FOLD and your tv with the contact of a button, then again once more.
The keyboard is sweet to make use of when magnetically hooked up to the gadget, feels good to sort on, however is certainly missing some kind of retractable stand/ft to angle it upwards when disconnected, as typing totally flat feels a bit uncomfortable after some time.
The trackpad feels good and has a satisfying click on however we had some points with it. In a single occasion although we’d paired the keyboard to the pill the trackpad stopped functioning briefly. After a good bit of pairing and unpairing and turning on and off once more it labored as soon as extra. We additionally observed that the responsiveness of the trackpad probably appeared to dip out and in as its battery cost obtained decrease, although this might have been another situation referring to the Bluetooth connection.
Alternatively, you too can use the on-screen keyboard with Home windows 11, if you happen to want touchpad performance.
Can you employ a stylus on the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED?
The official line from ASUS is that the foldable OLED show they’ve used is simply too smooth for use along side a stylus, which is an enormous disappointment in our eyes as this considerably reduces the potential performance of this gadget for graphic artists and the like.
You would presumably get away with utilizing a softer, capacitative stylus, nevertheless ASUS particularly requested we didn’t take a look at it with one, so we can not know for positive whether or not that is the case.
Hopefully, as ASUS (or a competitor) develop this expertise additional, we’ll see foldable OLED gadgets down the road the place stylus use is possible.
Webcam & microphone
The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED has a 5MP digicam of about the identical high quality as a Microsoft Floor Professional X (although worse than that of an iPad Professional). It’s able to as much as 1080p 16:9 30FPS video recording, or 4.9MP 4:3 2560 x 1920 / 3.7MP 16:9 2560 x 1440 images.
For some motive in our take a look at the 16:9 video was caught in portrait when the gadget was in laptop computer mode, solely switching to panorama when it was turned on its aspect. We hope this will probably be resolved in a future software program replace, because the portrait view while in laptop computer mode doesn’t take advantage of sense. The change in orientation to the 17.3” 4:3 display screen does additionally appear to cut back the effectiveness of the microphone pickup considerably, so it’s clearly positioned to be greatest utilized in laptop computer mode.
Each the webcam and microphone had been of a great high quality after we examined them. There was an audible hiss/hum picked up on the usual microphone mode, however after we enabled Single presenter convention name mode beneath the AI noise-canceling settings inside MyASUS, this was fully eliminated.
Along with the primary 5MP digicam there may be additionally the HD Infrared digicam and coloration sensor, which permit for Home windows Hey safety features, in addition to the AdaptiveLock options already mentioned above (beneath Software program). The colour sensor additionally permits for automated coloration temperature adjustments on the show, relying on the ambient mild of your environment.
Ports & sockets
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Ports and sockets are restricted to a 3.5mm audio combo jack and two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports (each with as much as 65W charging help and show output). One of many USB-C ports lies on the underside proper aspect of the show when it’s in laptop computer mode, the second is on the highest left of the highest bezel.
That is greater than you get with an iPad or iPad Professional, although these are significantly cheaper gadgets. Contemplating the value level of the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED we’d have preferred to have seen a USB-A 3.2 port (as could be discovered on the ASUS ROG Circulation Z13) and presumably even a mini-SD card reader, which could be discovered on 14-inch laptop computer gadgets just like the ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED House Version. You do a minimum of get a USB-A to USB-C adapter (feminine to male) is included that can assist you use any USB-A peripherals you may need.
Audio
ASUS is likely one of the higher Home windows laptop computer producers with regards to audio high quality, and the audio system of the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED are a minimum of pretty much as good as these of a Microsoft Floor Professional. There are speaker grills situated on the highest edge, left edge, and entrance edge dealing with the consumer when the Zenbook 17 Fold is positioned into laptop computer mode. The restrictions of the pill chassis do imply they don’t match as much as different (extra laptop-like) ASUS choices just like the ROG Circulation X16 although: there’s even much less bass replication, the sound is a little more muffled, and audio high quality suffers extra at excessive volumes. Nonetheless, the max quantity is fairly excessive for a pill.
The audio system of the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED are usually not fairly pretty much as good as these of an iPad Professional 2021 say, which is unsurprising given Apple’s dominance with regards to the audio high quality of their moveable gadgets.
Battery life
We performed our typical battery take a look at on the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED in each Pill mode (totally unfolded) and in Laptop computer mode with the removable keyboard hooked up to the gadget.
Inside MyASUS we set the fan velocity profile to Whisper mode, with AI Noise-Canceling and Tru2Life video sharpening each turned off. Goal Mode (which dims the brightness of any window in your display screen that isn’t at the moment lively, saving energy and enhancing the longevity of your show) is a setting that may positively enhance your battery life in real-world use, nevertheless given our take a look at is carried out with solely single lively home windows open anyway, we disabled it.
Equally, we disabled the entire AdaptiveLock settings in the course of the Laptop computer mode take a look at (the one time they are often activated), in order to make the take a look at truthful, though Stroll-Away Lock and positively Look-Away Display screen Dimming would make sure you enhance battery period usually use.
We switched all background functions off, the place doable performed two hours of fullscreen YouTube, after which spent the remainder internet searching and typing on GoogleDocs. The brightness was set to 63%, all through which is the equal on this gadget of 120 cd/m² – the beneficial brightness for indoor, daytime use (extra on this later).
Pill mode (17.3″) – c.8.5 hours
Laptop computer mode (12.5”) – c.9.5 hours
Contemplating that is an OLED show, the battery outcomes are moderately spectacular, significantly for the totally unfurled 17.3” pill mode. It’s not fully stunning, given the comparatively underpowered CPU, nevertheless they’re nonetheless fairly respectable.
That being stated, we didn’t use any contact display screen performance in our battery take a look at. Utilizing the touchscreen keyboard in Home windows 11 for example would virtually definitely sap the battery lifetime of the pill quicker.
Though we didn’t correctly take a look at its battery period, as talked about the trackpad of the removable keyboard did appear to carry out much less responsively as time went on till it was recharged.
Display screen
The OLED display screen of the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold is sort of shiny and reflective, although the excessive brightness (extra on this later) does assist to fight this.
When in laptop computer mode, the show appears like that of every other OLED 12.5” laptop computer, however when unfolded to its full-size, there’s a pretty noticeable band down the centera lengthy the fold line. In case you’re taking a look at this lifeless on it’s not very noticeable, although from every other slight angle it turns into pretty obvious, which can put some folks off who wish to use the gadget in workplace/screen-sharing settings. You do get used to it nevertheless, and the contents of the display screen are nonetheless legible.
This isn’t a gaming gadget, so the 60Hz most refresh fee of the show is fairly commonplace. The show has the standard very excessive response time of OLED shows (round 0.2ms), nevertheless given the 60Hz cap there’s not a large quantity of utility on this.
We performed the entire following coloration, distinction, and brightness exams with the display screen unfolded to its full measurement, propped up utilizing the kickstand. We examined the gadget on three of the completely different coloration gamut presets accessible inside MyASUS, which is a comparatively distinctive function, and one which coloration professionals will little doubt discover helpful.
ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED sRGB coloration gamut outcomes
ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED DCI-P3 coloration gamut outcomes
ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED Show P3 coloration gamut outcomes
ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED panel uniformity
We do a panel uniformity take a look at on all laptops we assessment after their calibration, which exams for each luminance and coloration accuracy. We begin on the centremost level as a reference after which take a look at all the opposite sections of the display screen (25 in whole) to see how they examine.
Typically, any common coloration variation beneath 1.00 is sweet and exhibits up as inexperienced within the picture above, although the typical client received’t be capable to inform a lot distinction under 3.00. Visible editors who work with coloration nevertheless might have a keener eye.
The outcomes we obtained on the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED had been superb. Most variation was under 1.00 common delta (in inexperienced), with solely the 2 segments within the high proper exhibiting a most variance of two.19 and a couple of.68 (in yellow). Which means the untrained eye possible will discover no variation in any respect on the display screen, with color-trained professionals with the ability to detect slight discrepancies within the high proper. Nonetheless, this specific result’s adequate for the overwhelming majority of creatives to work with until they’re working on the very excessive finish {of professional} requirements.
Remaining Phrase
The ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is a novel and spectacular gadget, however its monumental price ticket (just below $4,000 on launch within the US, and £3,300 within the UK) mixed with the shortage of stylus help will imply it received’t be of curiosity to nearly all of customers. It does have good coloration replication in sRGB and DCI-P3 ranges, in addition to coloration accuracy and panel uniformity adequate for professionals to work with, which can entice some, however the comparatively weak processor means you received’t be capable to do a lot in the best way of demanding render workflows or the like. Nonetheless, if you happen to’ve obtained deep pockets the novelty of this gadget may swing it for you, and we’re excited to see the place ASUS takes the expertise subsequent.
