Review | Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED review: super cool folding laptop is ideal for digital nomads with US$3,500 to spare, but battery is weak

With a foldable screen that can serve as a large monitor, a touch screen or regular laptop screen with physical keyboard, the 17 Fold is versatile and useful

The software is set up for multitasking and the sound quality is great, but the battery doesn’t last long with heavy use and the US$3,500 price tag is too high

Reading Time:3 minutes

The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED laptop has a screen that folds out to form a 17.3-inch display and can be used with a wireless keyboard. It is ideal for digital nomads, but is overpriced at US$3,500 and its battery drains too quickly. Photo: Ben Sin

Published: 6:15pm, 29 Jan 2023

Once manufacturers figured out a way to bend a display panel, the technology was quickly adopted for use in smartphones. But arguably, a large screen that can effectively be halved in size by folding makes more sense for a laptop. Who doesn’t want a bigger screen while on the go?

Lenovo tried this idea two years ago with a product that had a lot of promise but was very rough around the edges; a supposedly improved sequel is set to launch this year, but Taiwanese electronics maker Asus has beaten Lenovo to the punch with a foldable PC of its own, the clunkily named Zenbook 17 Fold OLED.

This device is exorbitantly priced at US$3,500, but it is one of the coolest and most useful gadgets I have tested recently. I’m about to go on a month-long work trip across three continents, and I can’t think of a better product as a companion.

Hardware and design

The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED turns into a 12.5-inch laptop without a physical keyboard. Photo: Ben Sin

The Zenbook 17 Fold can be best described as a 17.3-inch (43cm) “all-in-one”, a term used by the computing industry to describe monitors with all the computing parts inside and without the need of a separate body.

Normally, a 17.3-inch screen would not be portable, but this screen folds up like a book. When closed, it is quite thick at 17.5mm (and slightly heavy at 1.5kg), but its height and width are manageable and it can fit into just about any backpack’s laptop sleeve.

The hinge is sturdy and steady at any angle; this allows the display to sit in an L shape. Just as on Lenovo’s device, Asus designed a thin wireless keyboard that can be placed on the bottom half of the screen, turning what was a 17.3-inch large screen into a 12.5-inch screen.

The idea is that when you have to work in a tight space, like in a coffee shop or on a plane’s tray table, the smaller will come in handy. But when you have the table space, you can unfold the display for a larger screen. The foldable screen supports touch too, so you can use it as a giant tablet if you so choose.