Tech

ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED: the reinvention of the laptop

Innovation is complicated and risky. Complicated because it requires taking several steps forward with respect to the status whator current to try to determine what might be next. And risky because it means moving away from the security provided by continuing to do “normal”, “usual”, in short, what everyone expects to find, where and when they expect to find it. To innovate is to subvert our expectations and force ourselves to imagine what is to come from a different point of view.

I know that this introduction may seem a bit pretentious, but it only reflects the feeling that the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED has caused me since the first time I learned of its existence, a few months ago, and that has been confirmed as the company has been telling us more in detail about this system. We can call it a laptop, a 2-in-1 system, a tablet… it can have many names, but each of them would confine it to a specific profile, something that would not do it justice.

Trying to define it would be much more complex without using images, but even with them, it requires some additional explanations that allow us to better understand what we are seeing. And with this ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, what we have in front of us is a device that we can use as a 12.5 inch laptopas a 17.3 inch laptoplike a tablets 17.3 inches, like a reader… in short, an amazing number of modes, which we can always alternate based on our needs.

ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED: the reinvention of the laptop

To understand it better, imagine a foldable 17.3-inch OLED screen. And now imagine that this screen is actually a complete system, with Intel Core i7 Alder Lake, 16 gigabytes of DDR5 RAM… in short, a next-generation computer. And now combine it with a physical keyboard (although an on-screen keyboard can also be used) and start imagining the number of possible modes. These are the main ones:

  • 12.5-inch laptop: At 3:2 aspect ratio and 1920 x 1280 dot resolution, half of the screen is hidden (and disabled to reduce power consumption) under the keyboard.
  • 12.5-inch laptop with virtual keyboard: similar to the previous one, but instead of using the physical keyboard we will have an on-screen keyboard, located at the bottom of it.
  • desktop mode: 17.3-inch laptop with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,920 points in a 4:3 aspect ratio (with the screen placed horizontally) and the physical keyboard at the bottom of it.
  • 17.3-inch tablet: Either in landscape or portrait orientation, and fully unfolded.

Imagine, therefore, how versatile this ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED can be. But let’s take a moment to analyze its specifications, because as I have already indicated, we are faced with a system from which we can expect a more than remarkable performance.

Starting with its screen, which as I have told before we can use in the 12.5-inch mode and in the 17.3-inch mode, we are talking about a OLED panel with a response time of 0.2 milliseconds and a maximum brightness of 500 nits, but capable of offering a high level of realism and vivid colors at much lower brightness. It represents 100% of the DCI-P3 color space and is TÜV Eye Care certified, which guarantees the absence of flickers and a reduction of 70% compared to the average of harmful blue light emissions.

Already inside, this ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is motorized with a Intel Core i7-1250U. Let us remember that it is a chip with ten cores (two for performance and eight for efficiency) and 12 threads, with 12 megabytes of cache and that, in turbo mode, can reach up to 4.7 gigahertz. This chip also integrates graphics management with Intel Iris Xe. It is accompanied by 16 gigabytes of LPDDR5 RAM Y one terabyte of storage with M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 performance.

ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED: the reinvention of the laptop

Regarding its connectivity, and starting with the wireless section, we will have WiFi 6E (802.11ax) dual-band 2*2 and also with Bluetooth 5. And as for connectors, we will find two Thunderbolt 4 ports for data, display connection and power supply, along with a 3.5-millimeter combo audio (headphone and microphone) jack. And speaking of its load, it has a battery of 75WHrs that allows charging with any USB-C charger, something extremely practical. However, of course, it also includes its own 65-watt charger.

We must also pay attention to its magnetic Bluetooth keyboard (this is the fixing system it uses) but that we can also use, of course, decoupled from the equipment, whether we are using it in a horizontal or vertical configuration. Its size is 285 x 182 x 5.5 millimeters, which provides a full key size and a travel of 1.4 millimeters, and that is completed with a fairly large touchpad.

Officially presented today at IFA 2022, There is still no specific date for the arrival on the market of this ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED. However, ASUS already allows you to register as an interested user, to be notified when your presale is activated. And, as for its price, except for subsequent changes, it is 3,499.00 euros. High, no doubt, but we must not lose sight of the fact that we are dealing with an exceptionally innovative device.

More information: ASUS

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