2022 was the year foldable smartphones finally took off as we saw new innovations in that space. However, alongside, a new innovation was upcoming and we finally saw its fruition – laptops with foldable screens. The new ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED (UX9702AA) is the world’s first foldable 17.3-inch laptop and it is finally available in the UAE at a starting price point of AED 12999.
Design
The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED comes packed with a flexible OLED panel with an ASUS-exclusive foldable hinge. It was co-developed by ASUS, Intel, and the BOE Technology Group. When folded, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is an ultraportable, easy-to-carry 12.5-inch device and when unfolded, it’s an expansive 17.3-inch OLED display that gives you an outstanding user experience.
Inside the box, you get the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, along with the Bluetooth keyboard, a carry case with a leather finish, the power adapter, and some paperwork. The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED can be used in six different usage modes.
This includes the Laptop Mode with a virtual keyboard, another Laptop Mode with the bundled Bluetooth keyboard, Desktop Mode when fully unfolded and set in 4:3 format, Tablet Mode when laid flat on the desk, Reader Mode in 4:3 folded e-book format, and Extended Mode in 3:2 format with two 12.5-inch display setup.
The chassis of the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is made of magnesium aluminum alloy and comes finished in a Tech Black colour. It also features the new ASUS logo design with the “A” in the ASUS name pointing upward. The total weight tips the scales at just 1.519-kgs without the keyboard. The laptop also features a built-in leather kickstand to protect the chassis and keep the device upright, when needed.
Display
As mentioned before, the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED accompanies a 17.3-inch OLED touchscreen with an aspect ratio of 4:3. You get a resolution of 2560-by-1920 pixels and a screen-to-body ratio of 87%. The display also offers a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, a response time of 0.2 ms, and a refresh rate of 60-Hz.
The screen has been certified for VESA DisplayHDR 500 True Black, which can support up to 500 nits of peak brightness and 0.0005 nits of deep black brightness, which will be particularly useful for content creators. The display also offers an ultrawide colour gamut of 100% DCI-P3 and is PANTONE Validated to provide better colour accuracy.
Hardware Specs
Under the hood, the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED comes packed with a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 U-series processor. You also get up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD storage. The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED also meets the requirements of the Intel Evo platform, which guarantees a certain set of hardware specifications and key experience targets for an exceptional mobile experience ― including instant wake and long battery life.
In terms of I/O ports, you get two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports and a 3.5mm audio combo jack. The laptop also comes with a 75-watt-hour battery, which offered enough juice for a day’s work on a single charge. Since the laptop also supports USB-C Easy Charge, you can even charge the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED with airline chargers, portable chargers, and power banks.
Software
The ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED comes with the ASUS ScreenXpert tool, which allows you to switch the selected window quickly to a designated display. So, when the laptop is connected to an external display or used alone, the ScreenXpert UI will appear when you move a window. You can then select the display icon on ScreenXpert UI and switch the selected windows to the designated display immediately.
In addition, the ASUS ScreenXpert toolbar features an App Navigator function which allows you to view all open apps in a window and quickly select those that you need. The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is equipped with ASUS WiFi Master Premium technology, which has a built-in dual-band WiFi-6E wireless network for a faster wireless connectivity experience.
Other Features
Inside the box, ASUS also bundles the ASUS ErgoSense Bluetooth keyboard with the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED. The keyboard provided a very comfortable typing experience. The keyboard achieves a 19.05 mm pitch and offers many commonly used function keys, enabling you to type comfortably. The keyboard and touchpad also feature a subtle 0.2mm dish-shaped indentation and a 1.4mm key travel.
The ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED also accompanies a 5-megapixel camera that combines a colour sensor, the ASUS 3D Noise Reduction technology, and AI webcam effect functions, thus providing you with an excellent video conferencing experience. The webcam also offers lighting optimisation, background blurring, eye tracking, and motion tracking.
In terms of audio, the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED has been tuned by experts from the ASUS Golden Ear team and certified by audio specialists Harman Kardon to ensure the very best sound for all kinds of content. The laptop also features quad speakers with Dolby Atmos support. Dolby Atmos provides an all-new listening experience that lets you hear music, movies, or podcasts in a detailed aural environment, with perfect clarity and lifelike spatial separation.
What’s more, the laptop also supports GlideX, which is a cross-device screen-sharing solution. Using wired or wireless connections, you can create a bigger and better work or play space. With Screen Mirror you can easily project your mobile device’s screen to a Windows laptop and run your Android or iOS apps on your laptop’s display. You can even turn any Android mobile device into an extension of a linked PC screen. This allows you to drag images, play videos, or open documents on either the mobile device or the laptop’s screen.
Performance
The overall performance of the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED was very good. In order to gauge the overall performance of the device, it was subjected to a bunch of benchmarks, namely Cinebench R23 and PCMark 10. In the Mult Thread test of Cinebench R23, the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED scored 5409 points, while the Single Thread test came up with 1438 points. In PCMark 10, meanwhile, the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED registered an overall score of 4368 points, while in Digital Content Creation, it scored 4937 points.
The ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is now available at a price point starting at AED 12999. If you are in the market for an innovative laptop that offers a foldable display, and budget isn’t a constraint, you can’t go wrong with the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED.
Price: AED 12999 onwards
ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED (UX9702AA) AED 12999
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Final Rating
Summary
Under the hood, the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED comes packed with a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 U-series processor. You also get up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD storage. The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED also meets the requirements of the Intel Evo platform, which guarantees a certain set of hardware specifications and key experience targets for an exceptional mobile experience ― including instant wake and long battery life.
