ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED assessment

We check & assessment the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED pill / convertible laptop computer system

Desk of Contents
Desk of Contents

The ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is one more pioneering system from essentially the most modern laptop computer producer on the market, who’ve spoiled us this yr with new iterations of varied attention-grabbing designs just like the ASUS ROG Stream X16, ASUS ROG Stream Z13, and the ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED House Version.

The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is the most important foldable OLED show system at present accessible, and the Taiwanese firm has needed to overcome numerous technical challenges to be able to make it a actuality. It might probably 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 individuality of this pill/laptop computer in the marketplace does imply nonetheless that it fetches a really excessive value. The query is, is it well worth the cash? Let’s discover out.

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

Execs

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  distinctive foldable design
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  OLED show with unbeatable distinction & blackpoint
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  good peak brightness
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  good sRGB & DCI-P3 colour accuracy & gamut
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  good panel uniformity
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  nice battery life
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  nice construct high quality
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  good aesthetic
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  Helpful software program options & efficiencies

Cons

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  display screen too delicate for many styluses
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  underpowered i7-1250U CPU and Iris Xe iGPU
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  extraordinarily costly contemplating the core parts
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  not sufficient ports
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  indifferent keyboard lacks angled stand
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  central fold seen except considered 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, nonetheless, they did provide us with some pictures. Eradicating the again could be finished however requires the cautious removing 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 displaying you precisely the best way to do it.

The 16GB LPDDR5 RAM that comes with each system is soldered on, which sadly means upgrading the reminiscence is just not doable. The usual 1TB M.2 SSD can nonetheless be upgraded down the road, do you have to want, probably as much as one thing as excessive as 8TB from what we collect. The system comes with a WiFi 6E card.

The best CPU possibility 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 anticipate a lot in the way in which of processing energy in comparison with highly effective units just like the Stream X16, Stream Z13, and Zenbook 14X OLED, which include ‘full-size’ laptop computer CPUs. It could have been good to see at the very least 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 a 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 all the gestures widespread to different Home windows 11 touchscreen units.

Like several pill, reorientating the display screen mechanically rotates the window between panorama/portrait mode. Hovering your cursor over any maximize/restore down icon when you’ve gotten 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 could be very useful if you’re manipulating home windows in your show.

The first proprietary software program on the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is MyASUS, which incorporates plenty of helpful options, as follows:

• Battery Well being Charging: choices to restrict the battery cost most to lengthen its lifespan.
• Fan Profile: Efficiency mode / Commonplace mode / Whisper mode.
• AI Noise-Canceling Microphone: Off / Fundamental 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 / Mechanically disguise 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/colour temperature presets and sliders, letting you view a extra vivid picture or enhance Blue Gentle Eye Care, relying in your necessities.
• Colour Gamut: Provides an possibility of 4 colour gamut show profiles to change between: Native (Default vivid colours) / sRGB (Commonplace net content material colours) / DCI-P3 (Commonplace 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 save lots of battery and enhance show longevity.
• Webcam impact: Off / Lightning Optimization / Background Blurring / Eye Monitoring / Movement Monitoring
• WiFI Rangeboost Sensor: Dynamically adjusts sign energy for max WiFi protection.
• Perform Key lock
• AdaptiveLock: Solely accessible when the system is in laptop computer mode, this makes use of the HD InfraRed digicam to detect if 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 (mechanically locks your laptop if you stroll away from it) / Wake on Return (mechanically wakes the pc up if you method it) / Look-Away Display screen Dimming (mechanically adjusts your brightness relying on the place you’re going through).

Design aesthetics

The ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is a smart-looking system. When folded up, the outside of the pill is half coated by a fake leather-based wrap-around with a darkish greyish blue colour, which serves to guard the hinge mechanism and incorporates the kickstand. This binding makes the system 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 lovely reflective floor, with a darkish metallic tint, and an odd 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 seems very tasteful and definitely workplace appropriate. The metallic floor does entice plenty of smudges although, as is typical for this type of materials in different units.

While you open up the Zenbook 17 Fold, the inside bezel of the system has an uncommon delicate 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 seems pretty unobtrusive.

The wrist relaxation space of the keyboard across the trackpad is product of the identical fake leather-based because the binding of the pill, with the plastic keys and trackpad being of a barely darker shade.

There is no such thing as a RGB on the pill, and in addition to 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 size 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 units 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 other ways. Utilizing the language of ASUS themselves there’s Laptop computer mode (when the keyboard attaches the ‘backside’ half of the show with a satisfying click on, and the display screen output mechanically converts to the brand new 3:2 1920 x 1280 half display screen), Pill Mode (the system 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). It’s also possible to 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 couple of 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’ve gotten it at it’s not all the time steady if you happen to occur to knock the system.

General the construct high quality is excellent, like nearly all ASUS units. The plain weak 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 instances per day. In fact, that is tough to inform in a assessment copy, and we’ll have to attend and see how consumers 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 are going to focus on later, the fabric ASUS have had to make use of for the foldable OLED panel they’ve used is simply too delicate 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, notably given its very excessive asking value.

Keyboard & trackpad

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The Asus Fold bluetooth Keyboard is particularly designed for ASUS Zenbook Fold units, and has the magnetic clip-on characteristic already mentioned above.

The operate keys alongside the highest of the keyboard embrace a button to allow/disable the touchpad, to undertaking the display screen to a different system (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 units, a Snipping Software shortcut, and a MyASUS shortcut.

The Bluetooth shortcuts are notably helpful, as you may pair the keyboard with one thing like your good TV say, and simply change between utilizing it in your Zenbook 17 FOLD and your tv with the contact of a button, then again once more.

The keyboard is good to make use of when magnetically hooked up to the system, feels good to sort on, however is unquestionably missing some type 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 bought decrease, although this might have been another situation referring to the Bluetooth connection.

Alternatively, you may as well use the on-screen keyboard with Home windows 11, if you happen to choose touchpad performance.

Can you utilize 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 delicate for use along side a stylus, which is a giant disappointment in our eyes as this considerably reduces the potential performance of this system for graphic artists and the like.

You possibly can presumably get away with utilizing a softer, capacitative stylus, nonetheless ASUS particularly requested we didn’t check it with one, so we can’t 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 units 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 cause in our check the 16:9 video was caught in portrait when the system was in laptop computer mode, solely switching to panorama when it was turned on its facet. We hope this might 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 finest utilized in laptop computer mode.

Each the webcam and microphone have 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 utterly eliminated.

Along with the principle 5MP digicam there’s additionally the HD Infrared digicam and colour sensor, which permit for Home windows Hi there security measures, in addition to the AdaptiveLock options already mentioned above (beneath Software program). The colour sensor additionally permits for automated colour 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 assist and show output). One of many USB-C ports lies on the underside proper facet 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 units. Contemplating the value level of the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED we might have appreciated to have seen a USB-A 3.2 port (as could be discovered on the ASUS ROG Stream Z13) and presumably even mini-SD card reader, which could be discovered on 14-inch laptop computer units just like the ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED House Version. You do at the very least 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 among the higher Home windows laptop computer producers with regards to audio high quality, and the audio system of the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED are at the very least pretty much as good as these of a Microsoft Floor Professional. There are speaker grills positioned on the highest edge, left edge, and entrance edge going through 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 Stream 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 aren’t 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 units.

Battery life

We carried out our traditional battery check 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 system. 

Inside MyASUS we set the fan pace 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 present lively, saving energy and bettering the longevity of your show) is a setting that may positively enhance your battery life in real-world use, nonetheless given our check is carried out with solely single lively home windows open anyway, we disabled it. 

Equally, we disabled all the AdaptiveLock settings throughout the Laptop computer mode check (the one time they are often activated), in order to make the check truthful, though Stroll-Away Lock and definitely Look-Away Display screen Dimming would be sure you enhance battery period normally use.

We switched all background functions off, the place doable performed two hours of fullscreen YouTube, after which spent the remaining net searching and typing on GoogleDocs. The brightness was set to 63%, all through which is the equal on this system of 120 cd/m² – the advisable 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, notably for the totally unfurled 17.3” pill mode. It’s not utterly stunning, given the comparatively underpowered CPU, nonetheless they’re nonetheless fairly respectable.

That being mentioned, we didn’t use any contact display screen performance in our battery check. Utilizing the touchscreen keyboard in Home windows 11 as an illustration would virtually actually sap the battery lifetime of the pill quicker.

Though we didn’t correctly check 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 seems like that of another 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. If you happen to’re taking a look at this lifeless on it’s not very noticeable, although from another slight angle it turns into pretty obvious, which can put some individuals off who wish to use the system in workplace/screen-sharing settings. You do get used to it nonetheless, and the contents of the display screen are nonetheless legible.

This isn’t a gaming system, so the 60Hz most refresh charge of the show is fairly commonplace. The show has the everyday very excessive response time of OLED shows (round 0.2ms), nonetheless given the 60Hz cap there’s not a large quantity of utility on this.

We carried out all the following colour, distinction, and brightness exams with the display screen unfolded to its full dimension, propped up utilizing the kickstand. We examined the system on three of the completely different colour gamut presets accessible inside MyASUS, which is a comparatively distinctive characteristic, and one which colour professionals will little question discover helpful.

ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED sRGB colour gamut outcomes

ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED DCI-P3 colour gamut outcomes

ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED Show P3 colour gamut outcomes

ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED panel uniformity

We do a panel uniformity check on all laptops we assessment after their calibration, which exams for each luminance and colour accuracy. We begin on the centremost level as a reference after which check all the opposite sections of the display screen (25 in whole) to see how they examine.

Typically, any common colour variation beneath 1.00 is nice and exhibits up as inexperienced within the picture above, although the common client received’t be capable of inform a lot distinction under 3.00. Visible editors who work with colour nonetheless could have a keener eye.

The outcomes we bought on the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED have been superb. Most variation was under 1.00 common delta (in inexperienced), with solely the 2 segments within the prime proper displaying a most variance of two.19 and a pair of.68 (in yellow). Because of this 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 prime proper. Nonetheless, this explicit result’s ok for the overwhelming majority of creatives to work with except they’re working on the very excessive finish {of professional} requirements.

Ultimate Phrase

The ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is a singular and spectacular system, however its huge price ticket (just below $4,000 on launch within the US, and £3,300 within the UK) mixed with the shortage of stylus assist will imply it received’t be of curiosity to the vast majority of customers. It does have good colour replication in sRGB and DCI-P3 ranges, in addition to colour accuracy and panel uniformity ok for professionals to work with, which can entice some, however the comparatively weak processor means you received’t be capable of do a lot in the way in which of demanding render workflows or the like. Nonetheless, if you happen to’ve bought deep pockets the novelty of this system may swing it for you, and we’re excited to see the place ASUS takes the expertise subsequent.