The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is an incredibly exciting, but expensive convertible

With the Zenbook 17 Fold, Asus has released a large 17-inch convertible with the ability to be folded-up. While Lenovo released a similar concept in the form of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold two years ago, Asus uses a significantly larger 17-inch OLED screen instead of the Lenovo's smaller 13-inch display. This makes the Zenbook Fold much more flexible and its 12.5-inch display in laptop mode stiil worth using for productivity. The true advantage is the possibility to set the large tablet down on a table (which can be easily accomplished thanks to the integrated stand) and enjoy the large OLED panel in its entirety. When folded-up, the Fold is significantly thicker than traditional, mobile laptops, which is something users will have to contend with. The laptop also weighs more than 1.8 kg including the Bluetooth keyboard, making it not exactly great in terms of portability.

When it comes to the build quality, the metal chassis and the folding mechanism are good, although the rubberized display bezels will attract grease and dust. The image quality of the OLED panel is excellent and Asus provides its own software solution to counteract distracting PWM flickering, which works well. Depending on the ambient light conditions, the fold in the center is very apparent particularly when the panel is off, although this is not a problem in practice. There is one more peculiarity concerning the surface, which is fairly soft in order for it to be able to bend (there is no additional protective layer unlike on most touchscreens) and thus unable to support digital pens without the risk of damage according to the manufacturer.